Israel's defeat (I am being devil's advocate)

Submitted by Prashant, Aug 6, 2017 at 14:37

Dear Dr Pipes,

Your reader PezDispenser took exception to the fact that some Palestinians and their supporters are predicting Israel's defeat. He stated that Palestinians have not shown any great achievements in any realm to match Israel's. I will play devil's advocate and point out that PezDispenser misses a very important point: the Muslim population of Israel.

According to many sources, about 17% of Israel's population is Muslim. If you take into account the single-minded focused thinking in favor of Islam practiced by Muslims, the 17% fraction of Muslims is equivalent to 34% non-Muslim fraction. You see, the Druzes, Christians and Jews of Israel will be liberals and conservatives and communists and socialists and capitalists and wise and ignorant. But when it comes to Muslims, a huge majority of them belongs to just one school of thought: Islamic. Sorry for saying this but after observing tens of Islamic TV-pundits and hundreds of people on social media with Islamic names, I can say with confidence that not many Muslims stand up for universal secular values (such as separation of church and state) that apply to all people. I think it will not be too long before Israeli liberals start siding with Muslims and Islamists and the people who want diversity in Israel (but not in Jordan or Egypt!) become a majority in Israel. This is sad but it is a real possibility that should not be ignored. Illegal immigration into Israel from the huge of oceans of Islamic nations around it will further accelerate this process.

The fact that Palestinians are behind Israel in all realms (e.g. military strength and economics, as mentioned by PezDispenser) actually goes in favor of Palestinians. All humans want prosperity but for political Islam winning land is more important (just see India's J&K, South Philippines, northern Nigeria and Sudan if, so called, Palestine is not enough of an example). Poor people make better stone pelters than rich people.

Though it might sound so, this message is not anti-Islam or anti-Palestinians. If the silent-majority of Muslims start talking about the French and American revolutions, different schools of economic thoughts, different schools of philosophy, and other such things, our problem will be solved. It does not matter which land and which mind is Muslim or otherwise as long as every land and every mind is free to think. That is where fundamentalist Islam needs to be defeated. That is our only hope.

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