He was respected in his eight years of near-death, with no sacrilegious cartoons to damage his reputation; and he will, be assured, receive the funeral of a hero and a peacemaker. Thus do we remake history
ROBERT FISK Sunday 12 January 2014
Any other Middle Eastern leader who survived eight years in a coma would have been the butt of every cartoonist in the world. Hafez el-Assad would have appeared in his death bed, ordering his son to commit massacres; Khomeini would have been pictured demanding more executions as his life was endlessly prolonged. But of Sharon - the butcher of Sabra and Shatila for almost every Palestinian - there has been an almost sacred silence.
Cursed in life as a killer by quite a few Israeli soldiers as well as by the Arab world - which has proved pretty efficient at slaughtering its own people these past few years - Sharon was respected in his eight years of near-death, no sacrilegious cartoons to damage his reputation; and he will, be assured, receive the funeral of a hero and a peacemaker.
Even in death they have to harass and besmirch.
And what's the complaint this time?
That Sharon was not harassed and besmirched nearly enough while he spent 8 years in a coma.
And, excuse me, but why is it that Sharon gets the lion's share of hatred for Sabra and Shatila when we all know that it was Lebanese Christians that committed the massacre? Menachem Begin famously declared, and I paraphrase, "Christians kill Muslims and both blame the Jews."
And now we have western leftists doing their damndest to condemn a Jewish leader in death.
What I would say to these foul individuals is that Sharon was not half the monster that you claim and you are not nearly the angels of justice that you present yourselves to be.
I knew this kind of thing was coming as soon as I heard that Sharon was at death's door, but even I did not expect leftists to bemoan the fact that this man was not reviled enough while in a coma for the last 8 years.
One of the things that I have been chewing over for awhile now are the boundaries of acceptable hatred within progressive-left political discourse."
Who is it OK to hate and who is it unacceptable to hate?
That's the question and one part of the answer is that it is always acceptable to hate Jewish leaders, particularly someone like Sharon who was a lifetime soldier.
I would very much like to know just what the posthumous charges are? They can't lay Sabra and Shatilla at his feet, although there is talk of an incident in the 1956 Suez Campaign.
In any case, whatever Sharon's alleged crimes they have effectively turned him into a Jewish monster.
The progressive movement is no friend to the Jewish people.
ReplyDeleteI dropped by Ria's old place, FireFlyDreaming, to see this posted by mishima, a piece by Robert Fisk initially published by the UK Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/ariel-sharon-peacemaker-hero-and-butcher-9053699.html
Ariel Sharon: Peacemaker, hero... and butcher
He was respected in his eight years of near-death, with no sacrilegious cartoons to damage his reputation; and he will, be assured, receive the funeral of a hero and a peacemaker. Thus do we remake history
ROBERT FISK Sunday 12 January 2014
Any other Middle Eastern leader who survived eight years in a coma would have been the butt of every cartoonist in the world. Hafez el-Assad would have appeared in his death bed, ordering his son to commit massacres; Khomeini would have been pictured demanding more executions as his life was endlessly prolonged. But of Sharon - the butcher of Sabra and Shatila for almost every Palestinian - there has been an almost sacred silence.
Cursed in life as a killer by quite a few Israeli soldiers as well as by the Arab world - which has proved pretty efficient at slaughtering its own people these past few years - Sharon was respected in his eight years of near-death, no sacrilegious cartoons to damage his reputation; and he will, be assured, receive the funeral of a hero and a peacemaker.
Even in death they have to harass and besmirch.
And what's the complaint this time?
That Sharon was not harassed and besmirched nearly enough while he spent 8 years in a coma.
And, excuse me, but why is it that Sharon gets the lion's share of hatred for Sabra and Shatila when we all know that it was Lebanese Christians that committed the massacre? Menachem Begin famously declared, and I paraphrase, "Christians kill Muslims and both blame the Jews."
And now we have western leftists doing their damndest to condemn a Jewish leader in death.
What I would say to these foul individuals is that Sharon was not half the monster that you claim and you are not nearly the angels of justice that you present yourselves to be.
I knew this kind of thing was coming as soon as I heard that Sharon was at death's door, but even I did not expect leftists to bemoan the fact that this man was not reviled enough while in a coma for the last 8 years.
As usual, Robert's comments ain't nuthin' but Fisk.
DeleteHere's a toast to Sharon...a force for good, doin' the best he could to make the world a better place.
He fought in '48, '56, '67 and '73.
DeleteHe took bullet to the belly in '48 - as a kid - and almost died.
It's always particularly precious when progressive peacemongering becomes so hardcore it actually ends up resembling vicious hatred, isn't it?
DeleteOne of the things that I have been chewing over for awhile now are the boundaries of acceptable hatred within progressive-left political discourse."
DeleteWho is it OK to hate and who is it unacceptable to hate?
That's the question and one part of the answer is that it is always acceptable to hate Jewish leaders, particularly someone like Sharon who was a lifetime soldier.
I would very much like to know just what the posthumous charges are? They can't lay Sabra and Shatilla at his feet, although there is talk of an incident in the 1956 Suez Campaign.
In any case, whatever Sharon's alleged crimes they have effectively turned him into a Jewish monster.
It's not a long list, but they sure make up in depth what they lack in breadth.
DeleteAnd don't forget the near-monopoly Daily Kos-types possess on humanitarian racism.