Monday, September 13, 2010

Time - 'Israelis/Jews Too Busy Making Money And Partying to Make Peace'

I waited a bit on this post to see what the reaction would be in the media from this story. It was underwhelming. Time seemed to say that Israeli Jews are to busy making money and enjoying the high life to be bothered with peace. Jewish stereotypes apparently now qualify as legitimate news commentary; not only disgusting, but rather sad and a bit worrisome.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2015602,00.html (bold mine)

"In the week that three Presidents, a King and their own Prime Minister gather at the White House to begin a fresh round of talks on peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the truth is, Israelis are no longer preoccupied with the matter. They're otherwise engaged; they're making money; they're enjoying the rays of late summer. A watching world may still define their country by the blood feud with the Arabs whose families used to live on this land and whether that conflict can be negotiated away, but Israelis say they have moved on.

Now observing 2½ years without a single suicide bombing on their territory, with the economy robust and with souls a trifle weary of having to handle big elemental thoughts, the Israeli public prefers to explore such satisfactions as might be available from the private sphere, in a land first imagined as a utopia.
...
But wait. Deep down (you can almost hear the outside world ask), don't Israelis know that finding peace with the Palestinians is the only way to guarantee their happiness and prosperity? Well, not exactly. Asked in a March poll to name the "most urgent problem" facing Israel, just 8% of Israeli Jews cited the conflict with Palestinians, putting it fifth behind education, crime, national security and poverty. Israeli Arabs placed peace first, but among Jews here, the issue that President Obama calls "critical for the world" just doesn't seem — critical.
"

http://www.mererhetoric.com/2010/09/06/time-israelis-too-busy-making-money-and-partying-on-stolen-arab-land-to-make-peace

"Obviously that poll actually shows that Israelis are preoccupied with educating their children, keeping their families safe from crime, and not getting killed by neighboring countries. Ergo listing those as priorities one, two, and three. But why let mere numbers get in the way of “Jews are too busy ‘making money’ to embrace negotiations?”
...
In fairness, this is more “Israelis are uninterested in peace because they can’t get rich from it” than “Israelis are uninterested in peace because they’re already getting rich elsewhere.” Though you’d think that continuing Arab hostility toward the Jewish State as such would dominate any analysis of Israeli burnout, as opposed to how it financially impacts those Israeli Jews who spend their time fantasizing about getting rich. Apparently not so much.
"

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