There are none so blind,
Reader comment on item: Israel, U.N. Favorite

Submitted by John W. McGinley (United States), Dec 5, 2005 at 19:07

Professor Pipes, as those who WILL not see. The analytical acuity of Daniel Pipes is wasted in delivering the news that since at least 1967 the United Nations is plagued with a pathological double standard when it comes to the state of Israel.

Perhaps some would need the analytical acuity of a Daniel Pipes to notice that Prime ministers such as Barak, Netanyahu, Rabin, Peres, and even Golda Meir all shared an unattractive trait of being overly enamoured of personal and Israeli acceptance on the world stage, be that stage the UN or the Nobel Committe. Fine. You did your job. But, true to form, you remained in your endemic blindness by grouping Sharon in this genus. No doubt Ariel's mental (and perhaps physical) eyes momentarily welled up in the face of what turned out to be just another hypocritical positive reception on the part of the General Assembly for an Israeli leader all in the service of lining the guy up for a sucker punch. He too, is human.

But when you have a belly as big as Sharon's, you don't survive long unless you keep two steps ahead of the hypocrites. So look at the reality. Sharon's resolution is now on the record: i). Now the General Assembly will be forced to take a public stand when it refuses to Israel alone the right to be represented in the Security Council. ii). The withdrawal from Gaza was not initiated and successfully carried through for the sake of acolades from a body as tawdry as the General Assembly. The Gaza move, in conjunction with the fence/wall, constitutes a very pragmatic and intelligent move in the service of a larger goal.

The goal? With OR WITHOUT peace with the Palestinians, Sharon will go down in history as the man most responsible for annexing into what will be an expanded and Greater Israel signifcant portions of the West Bank and insuring that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel and Israel alone.

Five years from now, Professor, if we are both alive, I will treat you to an expensive dinner at a place of your choice if I prove wrong. John W. McGinley

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Daniel Pipes replies:

You're on.
DP