I had dinner last night with an old friend. She immigrated with her parents to the US from Israel in the '70s, when she was a child, because her dad was a political dissident. She is very knowledgeable, very nuanced, very political (left wing), and very intelligent (Harvard Law grad, if you need laurels, later turned special ed reading/math specialist at an inner city school).
A few takeaways that I found interesting:
1. According to her, everyone in Israel understands that Hamas's tunnels must be destroyed and there is no giving on that. The bombings and activity we see know in Gaza are directed there and Israel is providing notice of what they are going to do. There is a split on how to handle Palestinian civilians but she thinks about half of Israel doesn't believe that turning off the water, food, electricity a good idea and that was a stupid move strategically because it just gives fodder to the anti-Israel crowd.
2. She does consider the left response on college campuses to be driven by anti-semitism, although she agreed with me that the majority of young kids showing up to protest aren't anti-semitic, they're just cosplaying as civil rights activists and think this is the cause du jour. After all the talk of safe spaces, etc. on campus and policing speech in the name of empathy, she's really soured on campus activities.
3. She is very down on the Netenyahu government. She showed me videos of voluntary assocations and movements that are mobilizing to get food and aid to the Israeli refugees that have fled the north in fear of Hezbollah rocket attacks or an invasion, along with those from the south. Pretty incredible. But they are doing it, in part, because the government is paralyzed. Netenyahu apparently didn't go on TV to address his nation for a few days after the attack, and when he did, he blamed the left for the intelligence/military breakdown that led to the attack.
4. She thought the government also missed a golden opportunity to strengthen bonds with its fledgling allies. She is furious that Netenyahu didn't immediately turn to the Saudis, Jordan, Egypt, Europe and the US, while sympathies were high and say: this is terrorism. This can happen to you. This radical element has no business in the religion of Islam and must be eradicated. Let us work together to end this scourge and move forward together. (In the same way, it would be a way to isolate Iran). Instead, she thought it a mistake for Israel to essentially say, this is our problem and we will handle it alone, like we always do, because she thinks Israel is already becoming isolated internationally.
It's a good point, although I'm not sure if it would work.
fox59.com
