Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Historical and Other Analogies

Bradley Burston, a columnist in the left-wing Haaretz who is not hesitant about criticizing Israel's policies when appropriate, or about urging empathy for the Arab side, has some tough words for critics of the Israeli Gaza op.

He takes up three analogies, one of which is historical--the by now uniquitous Warsaw Ghetto trope--which thus qualifies his remarks for inclusion here.  Excerpts:

Analogy One: A fanatical religious party wins a string of elections in Mexico's northern states, then stages a civil war to drive out the federal government and take full control.

The party's charter demands the return to Mexico of the occupied territories of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas.

Firing homemade rockets and more advanced projectiles smuggled in from Iran and China, the party's gunners can hit a total of one of every seven Americans, or 43,598,000 people. . . ."

Analogy Two: A man comes into your home. He has a gun he made himself. He points it at your family. He fires, but misses. The gun has little accuracy. He fires repeatedly, missing again and again.

You have a much better gun, made in a real factory. It is in the drawer in the bedroom.

Demonstrators in London and San Francisco - who are distant relatives of the gunman - stage a protest, calling you a murderer and demanding that you keep the well-made gun in the drawer because it would be a disproportionate response. . . .

Analogy Three: Gaza as the Warsaw Ghetto

Jew-haters the world over adore this one. It solves a number of problems at once . . . .

As a bonus, pro-Palestinian demonstrators in San Francisco [where else?], referencing the the Warsaw Ghetto analogy, recently beat up a small number of pro-Israel demonstrators, reportedly shouting "Slaughter the Jew" at them in Arabic.

Way to bring peace.

(full article:  "Gaza War Diary III: If Mexico shelled Texas, like Hamas shells Israel," 5 Jan.)

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