re: #582 tsionguy

Thank you for your honesty. Now let’s deconstruct your statements.

1) “plenty of Israelis who would disagree with you…”

That’s not an argument, but I can find many more Israelis who agree with me.

Then that’s not an argument either.

2) “whatever Israelis can grab and hold before a negotiated agreement..”

You accuse total strangers of stealing land that you have never seen and know nothing about. You mindlessly repeat propaganda you have heard, without making even a feeble attempt at verifying these accusations. I can show you several examples of settlements, deep in the West Bank, that were bought and paid for. The Palestinians want to drive all the Jews out. The Palestinian Authority has decreed that selling land to Jews is a crime punishable by death. How does this square with your sense of justice?

You’re asserting that I made a blanket statement about all settlements. Not true. Nor am I talking about “land that I have never seen and know nothing about”. Don’t make assumptions. My Israeli friends would surely take you to task if you met me and them in Jerusalem.

And you insult me by saying I’m mindlessly repeating propaganda.

I know full well the differing status of various settlements. The question is, do you?

You failed to address my point: “You surely don’t believe that every set of trailers held by a few fanatics ought to be eternalized, do you?” Do you deny that there are illegal settlements? Ones that Israel would very much like to close down? Should they all be defended to the death, regardless of the cost to Israeli society as a whole?

3) “There was nothing anti-Semitic about the withdrawal from Gaza…”

Well, what can I say. One man’s anti-semitism is another man’s justice.

Your turn.

And now you imply I’m an anti-Semite.

I see no future for this debate on such terms, and unless I’m very much mistaken, you will not respond in a way that will alter those terms. Of course, you may surprise me.

Thank you for your honesty.