PrintJune 12, 2010
Rosie O'Donnell in All Her Glory
Is she merely uninformed or interminably stupid? Anti-Semitism from every corner of the world is deafening, and yet Rosie O'Donnell cannot seem to understand the negative connotations of Helen Thomas' latest retort about sending Jews back to Europe. This is the Europe that permitted the Nuremberg Laws and gave Jews second-class citizenship status at best. This is the Europe that seventy years ago was comfortable looking the other way while Jews got rounded up, endured the whip of slavery, and then got burned in gas ovens.
Surely glib Ms. O'Donnell cannot be that ignorant of these recent historical events. Author Jan Gross in his book entitled Fear writes about the brutal Nazi occupation of Poland during the Second World War. Close to five million Polish citizens lost their lives as a result. More than half of these were Jews. Thus, three and a half million of the second-largest Jewish community in the world were wiped out. And, Ms. O'Donnell, when the remaining survivors returned to their hometowns in Poland, they experienced widespread hostility, including murder at the hands of their "neighbors." The bloodiest peacetime pogrom in 20th-century Europe took place in the Polish town of Kielce, one year after the war ended, on July 4, 1946.
Of course, it did not take too long for O'Donnell to show her true colors when, right on cue, she used the deliberately false notion so casually bandied about by the know-nothings of this world: that Israel is an occupier of the land. So once again, the history lesson must be repeated. Jews have been in Israel since time immemorial. There are archaeological remains that attest to this fact. The holy books of the Jews and the Arabs also confirm this. So Jews don't have to go back home -- they are already home. The Jews in Europe, Asia, and America are in the diaspora because they were summarily expelled from countries throughout the ages. The term "wandering Jew" comes from the historical facts that Jews were expelled from England in 1290; from France in 1393; from Berne, Switzerland in 1427; and from Spain in 1492, to name only a few places.
In her book From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine, author Joan Peters proves with historical data and other archival information that Jews did not displace Arabs in Palestine -- just the reverse: Arabs displaced Jews. In fact, the blurb of this 1984 book relates that
[a] hidden but major Arab migration and immigration took place into areas settled by Jews in pre-Israel Palestine; that a substantial number of the Arab refugees called Palestinians in reality had foreign roots; that for every Arab refugee who left Israel in 1948; there was a Jewish refugee who fled or was expelled from his Arab birthplace at the same time. [...]
Recently, filmmaker Pierre Rehov created the film entitled The Silent Exodus about these Jews who were kicked out of their Middle Eastern homes. Between 1946 and 1974, there were a million forgotten Jewish fugitives expelled from the Arab world. These Jews had been living in Arab lands for thousands of years, but their homes were stolen from them; they literally had nothing but the clothes on their backs when they fled. They were received in Israel. They did not remain refugees; they had no special United Nations agency to assist them. Israel welcomed them, and they rebuilt their lives.
Of course, we have come to expect from these ignorant "pundits" like O'Donnell that the next charge to be leveled at Israel is that it is an apartheid country. While she did not state this outright, it usually accompanies the same dreary anti-Israel tirade of these people.
Alan Dershowitz speaks about the alleged apartheid, as does Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh in his article entitled "What About the Arab Apartheid?" He wonders why no one speaks about the fact that tens of thousands of Palestinians have been massacred in Lebanon over the past four decades. He notes that Lebanese law bars Palestinians from working. In addition, Palestinians cannot obtain Egyptian, Moroccan, or Kuwaiti citizenship. Toameh writes:
Can somebody imagine the outcry of the international community if Israel's parliament, the Knesset, passed a law today prohibiting Arabs from working in certain professions or receiving medical treatment? Ironically, the Arab citizens of Israel enjoy more rights in the Jewish state than their Palestinians brothers do in any Arab country.The same applies to Palestinians living in most of the Arab countries. While Israel has never stripped its Arab citizens of their citizenship, Jordan has begun revoking the Jordanian citizenship of thousands of its citizens who are of Palestinian descent. [...]Is it not absurd that Jordan and Egypt have been arresting Palestinians who demonstrate in support of their brothers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip or collect donations for them while Israeli citizens hold almost daily protests inside Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians?And is it not ironic that the government of Binyamin Netanyahu is doing more to boost the Palestinian economy in the West Bank than any Arab country?
In fact, the mistreatment of the Palestinians must stop. So, Ms. O'Donnell, why not tell Egyptian leaders, who will not give loans to Palestinians; or Lebanese rulers, where 390,000 Palestinians have no legal status; or Kuwait and Libya and Syria, who also do not bestow citizenship rights on Palestinians, that they should change their ways?
Of course, O'Donnell and her fellow dolts will still hold true to their misinformation about Israel and her land holdings. Let's set that record straight as well.
In July 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton convened a peace summit between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Barak offered Arafat approximately 95% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem. Sixty-nine Jewish settlements would be ceded to Israel. Arafat rejected this offer. Clinton reportedly requested that Arafat make a counteroffer, but Arafat proposed none. Clinton blamed Arafat for the failure of the Camp David summit.
As a result, Arafat's PLO Intifada II launched a terror war that killed 1,000 Israelis.
In 2002 and 2003, Israelis withdrew from Gaza and dismantled Israeli settlements there.
Nevertheless, terrorists launched a terror war which sent rockets and bombs to Israeli cities, particularly Sderot.
In August of 2005, Israel completely dismantled 21 Jewish communities and evacuated almost 10,000 Jews from their homes in the Gaza Strip. No Jews are present in the Gaza Strip any longer. This dismantling cost Israel $500 million. Nonetheless, there was a continuing terror war which sent rockets and bombs into Israeli homes, schools, and hospitals, with seven thousand rockets fired at Israeli citizens!
In 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert made another generous peace proposal to Abbas.
Abbas dismissed the proposal without even engaging in a dialogue.
This is why the Israelis look upon the past fifteen years and see the futility of trying to hand over territory in the hope that peace will finally emerge. It does not. The result has been a corrupt, militarized Palestinian authority which has permitted Hamas' terrorist activities. To this day, Hamas and Fatah charters still call for Israel's liquidation. They refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist. Abbas said, "I do not accept the Jewish State, call it what you will."
The Arabs reject every plan to divide the land into adjacent states, one for the Arabs and one for the Jews. After the 1967 Six Day War, Israel offered to exchange the land it had won for permanent peace with its neighbors. The Arab response was no peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel.
The settlements issue is bogus. Before 1967, there were no Jewish settlements.
When the Arabs did control the West Bank and the Gaza Strip before 1967, did they work to create a peaceful Palestinian state? No, the Palestinians lived in squalor and misery because their leaders were corrupt. Arafat stole money that was intended for his people. Corruption was rampant. Schooling is aimed at teaching hatred of Jews and Israelis.
So, Ms. O'Donnell, before you open your mouth to spout venom, please verify what you say. You have the power to influence many with your show. You have seriously abused that power with your ignorance and hate-inducing rhetoric.
Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com.
