By Daphne Anson
“Because the Palestinians want there to be no Jewish State more than they want a state of their own.”
Now, here’s a conversation worth listening to (no need to have one’s eyes glued to the screen!)
The indefatigable Professor Alan Dershowitz talks, for just under an hour to Rabbi Marc Golub, about his steadfast championship of Israel, the Six Day War, the lamentable impact of Arab rejectionism (by both the PLO and the PFLP), the difficulties he has experienced from the antisemites and anti-Zionists of the Hard Left (including the so-called “Jewish Voice for Peace”), the “very frightening” erosion of support for Israel among the left of the Democratic Party and among the party’s younger elements, why Bernie Sanders is beyond the pale, the pernicious influence of J-Street (“Is J-Street Anti-Israel?” “No. It Just is Not Pro-Israel …It Tries to Appeal to the Extreme Left”), why he himself remains a member of the Democratic Party, and much more.
However, by contrast to the Arab hardliners, Ed Husain wrote recently in The Spectator:
‘A new narrative is emerging in the Middle East. New maps of the Muslim mind are being drawn and old hatreds are on the run. The anti-Semitic craze to destroy Israel was powerful in the 1960s, uniting Egypt’s President Nasser with his fellow Arabs. But now, Sunni Arab neighbours are changing course. Islamist leaders are losing their appeal — at a time when Iran, with its brand of theological fascism, poses a threat to Israel and the Arab world alike.
Polls show that the percentage of Arabs expressing trust in Islamist parties has fallen by well over a third since the uprisings of 2011. Three-quarters of Iraqis say they do not trust Islamist parties at all, and the number of young people who say they’re ‘not religious’ is also on the rise. This generation wants Arab leaders to increase economic prosperity and minimise political conflicts. And to build alliances, including with Israel…. Israel is coming to be regarded as a benign neighbour….
There are enough historical and scriptural narratives of Muslim-Jewish fraternity to form the basis for rapprochement. The enmity has, historically, been a recent blip. With an assertive Iran and an uninterested West, the Arabs and Jews have a shared interest in building a lasting alliance with each other.
This may yet be the decade of peace.’
Read Husain’s entire article here
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