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Last update - 09:47 28/08/2008
VIEWPOINT / The Down with Israel Syndrome
By Judea Pearl
Tags: Judea Pearl 

Each year, in preparation for Israel's birthday, American newspaper editors feel an urge to invite Arab writers to tell us why Israel should not exist. Typical this year were the Los Angeles Times (Opinion, May 12 "Forget the two-state solution", by Saree Makdisi) and the Christian Science Monitor (Ghada Karmi "A One-state Solution for Palestinians and Israelis", May 30, 2008), where the elimination of Israel were advanced under the usual euphemism of a "one-state solution."

I presume this exercise gives editors some satisfaction, of the kind one would get in inviting officials of the Flat Earth Society to tell us why the earth should not be round, and do so precisely on Earth Day, lest the wisdom would escape anyone's attention.

Undoubtedly, the banalization of absurdity has its kicks. It is sporty, admirably "out-of-the-box-ish" and, if only it did not involve a dangerous experiment with the lives of millions of human beings, could be considered mighty cute.
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But this practice is adult matter, and the result is a depressing Kafkaesque choreography, in which Israel is put on trial for its very existence, while less radical commentators, if they are invited, deal with Israel's future, difficulties and achievements, but leave the accusations unanswered.

There is some wisdom to ignoring insults and unfounded accusations. By answering one tacitly bestows credence, however minimal, upon the arguments that put you on the accused bench -- the last bench that a birthday celebration deserves.

So, perhaps it is wise to write chapter and verse about Israel's achievements (as Bill Kristol did May 12, and Tom Friedman did June 8) and let the "colonial" and "apartheid" accusations hang there, unanswered, as living testimonies of the Orwellian mentality of the accusers?

I am not totally convinced.

I am concerned about the possibility that a non-negligible percentage of American readers, especially the novice and the hasty, would interpret the publication of opinion articles calling for the dismantling of Israel as evidence that the arguments and conclusions presented are deemed worthy of consideration in the eyes of editors whose judgment the public has entrusted to protect us from Flat-Earth type deformities.

This concern becomes especially acute when news reporters too begin touting the "one-state" slogans, with unmistaken sympathy, under the cover of "World News."
(e.g., Richard Boudreaux and Ashraf Khalil "For some Palestinians, one state with Israel is better than none," LA Times, World News, May 8 )

I am concerned because evil plans begin with evil images. Once the mind is jolted to envision deviant imagery it automatically consructs a belief structure that supports its feasibility and desirability. The first phase of Hitler's strategy was to get people to envision, just envision, a world without Jews -- the rest is history.

Today we are witnessing a concerted effort by enemies of co-existence to get people to envision, just envision, a world without Israel - the rest, they hope, will become history.

The American press seems to fall for it.

In fairness to the editors of some newspapers, articles calling forthe elimination of Israel are often balanced by articles discussingthe prospects for a peaceful settlement of the dispute. But, ironically, this "balance" is precisely where the imbalance cries out loudest, for it gives equal moral weight to a provocation that every Jew in Israel considers a genocidal death threat, most Jews view as an assault on their identity as people and most Palestinians view as an incentive to undermine or forestall peace negotiations.

Balance has its norms, logic and responsibilities, mirrored and shaped by sound editorial judgment. We do not rush to "balance" each celebration of Martin Luther King Day with articles by white supremacists, and we do not "balance" a hate speech with a lecture on breathing technique; a hate speech is balanced with a lecture on the evils of hate.

A true, albeit grotesque, moral balance would be demonstrated only if for every "down with Israel" writer the newspaper were to invite a "down with Palestinian statehood" writer.

But editors seem to have strange takes on morality; for some, questioning the legitimacy of Israel's existence is a mark of impartiality, while questioning the legitimacy of Palestinian aspirations is a moral taboo. Decency should somehow inform these editors that both "down with" calls are morally reprehensible and insulting to readers' intelligence, hence, both should be purged from civil discourse and marginalized into the good company of white supremacy and Flat-Earth rhetoric.

But until decency reigns, we can be sure to see them again at Israel's birthdays, the predators of peace, paraded by the press, demanding their annual prey: once more to envision, just envision, a world without Israel.

Ironically, Arab commentaries published around Yom Haatzmaut can actually be of some service to Israel, for they provide a faithful mirror of the prevailing sentiments in the elite ranks of Palestinian society and thus gauge how ready this society is to accepting a peace agreement, whatever its shape, as permanent.

This year, the LA Times (May 11), The Nation (May 26) the New York Times (May 18) the Washington Post (May 12) the Christian Science Monitor (May 30) and others lured an impressive group of Arab intellectuals into unveiling their worldview to American readers.

Highly educated, mostly secular, champions of modernity and masters of communication, these authors are keenly attuned to grass roots sentiments
and, enticed by the limelight, revealed the naked landscape of the Palestinian mindset.

Sadly, what they revealed in 2008 is not what Mahmoud Abbas and public opinion polsters would like us to believe. They revealed what we feared all along but were afraid to admit: the notion of a two-state solution never began to penetrate the surface of Palestinian consciousness.

In vain would one search these articles for a shred of an idea that morally justifies a two-state solution, or that acknowledges some historical ties of Jews to the land, or that makes an intellectual investment contrary to the Greater Palestine agenda.

One by one, the articles depict Israel as a temporary outpost of Western imperialism, a entity to oppose not to neighbor.

This does not mean that the two-state solution is dead - after all, it is the only proposal worthy of the word "solution" - but it means that the current efforts to reach a peaceful settlement should begin to address one key obstacle: the ideological landscape as revealed to us by our Arab brethren on Yom Haatzmaut.


Judea Pearl is a professor at UCLA and president of the Daniel Pearl
Foundation (www.danielpearl.org), named after his son, which
promotes dialogue and understanding. He and his wife
Ruth are editors of "I am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the
Last Words of Daniel Pearl" (Jewish Light, 2004), winner of the
National Jewish Book Award for anthology.
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  1.   NOT ONLY IN LEBANON AND OCCUPIED TERRITORIES 10:07  |  indrajaya 28/08/08
  2.   Why did Haaretz publish this trash? 10:15  |  Tarik 28/08/08
  3.   You must be kidding !!!! 10:21  |  Swiss (Dino) 28/08/08
  4.   Down with Israel syndrome? We are just getting started 10:24  |  Natallie Durson 28/08/08
  5.   I am not surprised at all 10:36  |  Israeli citizen 28/08/08
  6.   In derence to Prof. Judea Pearl 10:39  |  Esther 28/08/08
  7.   Maybe editors tired of waiting for Israel to accept two states. 10:51  |  Michael 28/08/08
  8.   Whingeing 11:01  |  Peter 28/08/08
  9.   israel has pussyfooted for 60 years and this is the result 11:10  |  vhardman 28/08/08
  10.   Judea Pearl You worry too much! 11:22  |  Jim 28/08/08
  11.   3-State Solution 11:31  |  US CITIZEN 28/08/08
  12.   invalid premise 11:33  |  potobac 28/08/08
  13.   ridiculous! 11:39  |  pitcher 28/08/08
  14.   #6 Israeli Citizen 11:43  |  Jim 28/08/08
  15.   MICHAEL 2 states where does Hamas the government recognise that? 11:51  |  PETER SM 28/08/08
  16.   Just what every Zionist settler in the West Bank needs - ... 11:51  |  Maureen Ann 28/08/08
  17.   there is always a final solution for Jews 12:00  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 28/08/08
  18.   You know Michael.. 12:03  |  Thinka 28/08/08
  19.   Truly dreadful article 12:05  |  Sylvie 28/08/08
  20.   #6, Esther 12:10  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 28/08/08
  21.   Perhaps at long last 12:18  |  Chris Linthwaite 28/08/08
  22.   Jim do more homework please 12:19  |  Israeli citizen 28/08/08
  23.   I back a one-state solution 12:26  |  Matt Frei 28/08/08
  24.   PETER Do the Arabs have their rights to exist publicly dissected 12:27  |  PETER SM 28/08/08
  25.   erratum #10 12:54  |  Jim 28/08/08
  26.   A father grieving for his son 13:06  |  Palestinian in UK 28/08/08
  27.   Judea Pearl, on predators of peace. 13:14  |  Stephen 28/08/08
  28.   A red herring article, deflecting the outrage of the OCCUPATION 13:22  |  Ivar 28/08/08
  29.   Rewrite 13:32  |  Peter 28/08/08
  30.   To quote Jon Stewart on the subject... 13:32  |  Aphemia 28/08/08
  31.   Yes, Mr. Pearl 13:36  |  Murray 28/08/08
  32.   srael bashers replying to article illustrate the problem 13:36  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 28/08/08
  33.   Here`s a 3-state solution for a true end to the conflict 13:48  |  G Marcus 28/08/08
  34.   #15 maureen SPINS only PART of the story. As usual. 13:55  |  CK Tan 28/08/08
  35.   Maureen, 15: US Foreign Policy hijacked by religious dogma 14:05  |  Ivar 28/08/08
  36.   #7 Michael -UK - where have you been for 60 years 14:11  |  * BEN JABO 28/08/08
  37.   Professor Pearl 14:21  |  Yosemite 28/08/08
  38.   One-state solution 14:25  |  Purple Canary 28/08/08
  39.   MAUREEN.There are quality educational facilities on the W.Bank 14:25  |  PETER SM 28/08/08
  40.   "The Accused" 14:45  |  AliciaYasmeen 28/08/08
  41.   19 You`re living in the past Ben. 14:52  |  Michael 28/08/08
  42.   "Accused" on what grounds? 15:02  |  AliciaYasmeen 28/08/08
  43.   Better wake up...... 15:09  |  William 28/08/08
  44.   well written & true on how the liberal media have failed in this 15:12  |  ivo 28/08/08
  45.   One state = `world without Jews`? Nonsense! 15:15  |  Hank N Tennessee 28/08/08
  46.   Part 2 15:16  |  AliciaYasmeen 28/08/08
  47.   potobac # 12 Your Comparison Is Invalid 15:18  |  Jeff Northridge 28/08/08
  48.   NOT ONLY IN LEBANON BUT ALL CCUPIED TERRITORIES 15:20  |  indrajaya 28/08/08
  49.   ANTI ZIONISM = ANTI SEMITISM 15:25  |  Nicole 28/08/08
  50.   Yosemite (Post No. 25) 15:28  |  Johnny Weintraub 28/08/08
  51.   Pearl`s account of Political Zionism? 15:32  |  Mike Friedman 28/08/08
  52.   Dino #3:we`re talking about the actually influential outlets here 15:37  |  ivo 28/08/08
  53.   Maureen Ann 15:41  |  17 28/08/08
  54.   Margie in TA knows not Israel`s true friends 15:47  |  Ivar 28/08/08
  55.   erratum #10 15:50  |  Jim 28/08/08
  56.   #27 William - It is you that has to wake up 15:59  |  * BEN JABO 28/08/08
  57.   Here you are, "17" 16:27  |  Murray 28/08/08
  58.   Golda Meir was right 16:39  |  Jason 28/08/08
  59.   # 47 Murray " Here you are..." 16:40  |  17 28/08/08
  60.   "promot[ing] dialogue and understanding"? 16:55  |  Eric Blair 28/08/08
  61.   Don`t Worry About It Too Much, Prof. Judea Pearl 16:59  |  Jeff Northridge 28/08/08
  62.   # 43 ivo 17:11  |  Swiss (Dino) 28/08/08
  63.   With friends like Kristol 17:49  |  examiner 28/08/08
  64.   sorry, "17", simply wrong 17:59  |  Murray 28/08/08
  65.   West Bank should not go to Jordan 18:00  |  lady from USA 28/08/08
  66.   #59 murray you can only occupy sovereign territories 18:08  |  victor hardman 28/08/08
  67.   There will be a one-state solution if / when.... 18:09  |  dovvod 28/08/08
  68.