It’s Not About the Jews
The journalist asked how “the Jews” view the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Inasmuch as “the Jews” do anything in unison, the “Jewish position” (aside from the natural revulsion that accompanies murder and suicide bombing) should be a clarion call for the United States and the West to understand that “it’s not about the Jews.”
The journalist asked how “the Jews” view the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Inasmuch as “the Jews” do anything in unison, the “Jewish position” (aside from the natural revulsion that accompanies murder and suicide bombing) should be a clarion call for the United States and the West to understand that “it’s not about the Jews.”
The Bush Administration – and the Israeli government – made a big push for Israeli-Palestinian “peace” so the countries of the region could unite against the threat of Iran and radical fundamentalism. It was “necessary” they said to remove the “Palestinian issue” from “the Arab street.” The Arabs could work with the United States – and even Israel – if Israel would just stop occupying Palestinian land and “fueling the radicals.”
Bunkum. Hogwash. Tripe.
The Middle East, North Africa and Southwest Asia are awash in radical ideology that is jackboot, brownshirt absolutist and fascist, even more than it is religious or tribal. The goal is the disruption of fragile societies to collapse the current order in favor of its own domination, or minimally to engender a repressive government response that will lead to that collapse. Iran and al Qaeda (which is no more a single organization than cancer is a single disease) are fountainheads of money, arms and ideology flowing to groups and institutions that share their interest in wrecking. Pakistan is a wreck.
Palestine, to the extent that it registers with radicals, is a metaphor for the creation of chaos in one more place to undermine moderate, secular, pro-western governments. Palestine is meant to replace not only Israel, but Jordan as well. Iran and al Qaeda offshoots are trying it in Iraq and being pushed back by the hard work and dedication of the American military, coupled with Iraqis who finally understood that al Qaeda in Iraq was about al Qaeda, not Iraq. Musharraf in Pakistan may have said he was, and may even thought he was, controlling at least some of the extremist groups some of the time, but he never was.
There were two little-noticed meetings before Bhutto’s assassination – between Musharaff and Hamid Karzai, and between Bhutto and Karzai. Tossed out of Afghanistan and losing in Iraq, al Qaeda could not have been happy about the potential for Afghan-Pakistani cooperation to increase stability in border region. Stopping the Pakistani election, getting rid of Bhutto, undermining Musharraf would all have been high on the agenda. There were assets in place to do the job.
President Bush was right when he characterized our 21st Century war as “a war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them.” A radical ideology with the attributes of statehood – territory, population, money, arms, passports, media and Internet connections – has the ability to create hostages, victims and martyrs, and intimidate everyone else. Without state assets, the advantage shifts to the good guys.
For poor Pakistan, there is only a vague hope that the public may be galvanized against radicalism the way the Iraqis were when pushed too far. For the rest of us, there is little comfort in the fact that “it wasn’t about the Jews.” It is about the future of the world that will, or will not, be hospitable to the Jews, the modernists, the moderates and the tolerant.