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Friday, January 9, 2009

Friedman Op-Ed

Here's what I consider to be a balanced look at the latest Palestine Israel conflagration, from Tom Friedman writing for the New York Times. Comments anyone?
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Friedman is a Jew, but he does make an interesting argument. I can't understand those who have knee-jerk sympathy for Hamas, which is quite clearly a terrorist organization bent on destroying Israel (and also preventing more moderate voices in the Palestinian community from leading toward a solutions).

The bloodshed is a direct result of Hamas waging a tactics war against Israel, shooting rockets until they retaliate, and then hiding behind civilians in order to get coverage from CNN.

Shame on the Left for playing into this nonsense. There can be no progress until the moral distinction between Hamas and the state of Israel is made clear.

January 9, 2009 at 6:20 PM
Erik J. Larson said...

Anonymous, thanks for the comment. I agree with the substance of your remarks but take issue with the comment about Friedman being a "Jew". Whether or not this is true, it's hardly relevant to his position. No ad hominems please, and no racial slurs on this blog. But I do agree with the substance of your comments. It is indeed a shame that the Left can't seem to draw a clear moral distinction and has this "knee jerk" sympathy for all things against Israel, when it is quite obvious to moderates (and of course the political right) that a very clear moral distinction exists. I also agree with your ending comment, which is that we must begin with acknowledgement of the moral distinction, and then can make some progress. Getting the terrorist organization Hamas -- funded by Iran -- out of power so that the Palestinian people can have some brighter days ahead would seem to be the first step. Let's hope that Israel can accomplish this.

January 9, 2009 at 6:41 PM

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