Open Thread Time Again

Holding A Wolf By The Ear

Doodad

An interesting idiom; one I had never heard before until I came across it in a novel I was reading recently. It struck me that it described perfectly the situation in which Israel finds itself. One does not have to think very hard to see see just how it does.

I found two reference to this idiom. The first, Auribus teneo lupum, is attributed to the Roman  Emperor Tiberius commenting on the dangers that threatened him on every hand in ruling the Roman Empire. The second was Thomas Jefferson discussing 

slavery and the Missouri question/compromise (admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state to keep the balance in Congress between slave and free states). We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.

Surely Israel has been holding a wolf by the ear for a long time and to let go, as it eventually must, is fraught with danger.

Now the wolf is a ferocious beast and once you let go it will tear you into pieces. Palestine has been nipping at Israel for a very long time. The solution is to have never have taken hold of that wolf, especially by the ear but I think we know how and why that happened. Nevertheless, it's time to let go.

In my mind, the only way not to get torn to pieces is to kill the wolf before you let go. And I mean this literally. You can't make peace with a wolf. Wolf lovers will call you cruel and insist you got yourself into this mess in the first place and will just have to take your chances or what's coming to you. I say ignore them. Self preservation takes precedent. Kill the wolf soon.

Open Thread Friday

Doodad

You know the drill.

Peace With Palestinians Can Never Happen

Doodad

At least not in this lifetime or many more. The reason is that Palestinian children are taught only to hate Jews but also that the day will come when Israel is no more. Check out PMW's latest post for all those details. 

A Palestinian teacher and her school's principal appeared on official PA TV, and the teacher openly expressed the school's educational methodology, teaching students about the anticipated end of Israel. An exhibition at the school featured a map of "Palestine," which included all of Israel and the PA areas, and displayed numerous small ripped Israeli flags and large whole Palestinian flags. The flags represent Israeli sovereignty being replaced by Palestinian sovereignty over all of Israel. To make sure there is no doubt about the meaning, the teacher stressed: "We hope to liberate Palestine." The PA TV host thanked the principal for this quality education of Palestinian children:

 If some kind of peace deal was reached tomorrow, it would take many generations for the hate to die out. Just look at American racism against blacks to see what would likely happen. Just look at the Jew/Israel hate in Israel's current erstwhile peace partners. Luckily, Egyptians and Jordanian killers have less access to Jews than Palestinians might have given peace.

Another is the paying of terrorist salaries to killers of Israelis. Abbas et al aren't about to ever give up that practice so the incentive to kill is strong. What Israel takes away in tax revenue, the international community will and does make up in misguided attempts to ease the pain....a wholly self inflicted pain.
Of course I'm preaching to the choir here I know but, hey, talking truth is important.

Consider this also an open thread because I don't mind off topic  stuff as long as it is important to you and us.

Not overplaying the Ilhan Omar tirades

Sar Shalom

Note that I use the term "overplay" and not "overreact." Omar deserves all the vitriol she has received and more unity in issuing it, however it does not look like we can pull that off. Nonetheless, it is possible that when the 117th Congress takes the oath of office, Omar will not be among them. The people who will decide whether or not she is, and who will replace her if she is not, are the voters of Minnesota's 5th District. Our efforts must reflect that fact.

Fortunately, there are indications that some of Omar's constituents are open to turning on her. Two items of note stick out. First, Mohamed Ahmed related how his daughter chose to write a report about Omar as someone she admires, then,

... as Ms. Omar’s comments about American Jews and Israel drew bipartisan rebukes in recent weeks, culminating Thursday with a House vote condemning anti-Semitism [sic] and other forms of hate, Mr. Ahmed had a conversation with his 8-year-old daughter about Ms. Omar.

Then, describing another constituent's thoughts about the Jews,

“When religion is under attack, they stand by us, because they’ve been there,” said Zahra Ali, a Somali-American resident of Minneapolis who once saw Ms. Omar’s election as a beacon of hope but who did not plan to vote for her again.

What the second examples shows is that demonstrating what we can do for them pays dividends. Conversely, albeit speculatively, calling them deplorables for having voted for Omar in the first place is unlikely to convince many to vote for anyone more agreeable to us. We need to work with Omar's constituency to find a mutually agreeable alternative who will both show that Omar's identity as a Muslim and as an African immigrant are not grounds for objection and will demonstrate tolerance of Jewish rights both here and in their indigenous homeland. Ultimately, that is how Omar can be removed entirely from Congress.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with demonstrations against Omar across the country. However, we should have operatives in her district keeping tabs on her constituents' opinions in order to provide us with an early warning system regarding their openness to other alternatives.

Per Mr Cohen's Request

Talk about what you will. I'm having a bit of writer's block lately.(Doodad)