Fisting Syria

Israel is a vital country. I do not deny this. I am not among the fanatics who call for its abolishment, its destruction, nor do I approve any Islam-inspired pogrom against it. Last week I found myself pouring over the musings of Theodor Herzl. Mr. Herzl is oft misunderstood because, in light of the ethnocentric perspective that he had, that perspective was wholly justifiable in light of his particular slice of the European Zeitgeist. He had it right! Had there been no state of Israel created it was very likely that additional violence be visited upon European Jews after WWII. In fact, the creation of the modern State of Israel gave to Jews a sense of rooted nationhood; connection to land, and this was no small thing indeed.

Allow me to reveal my politics further; I for one am happy that the Jewish State exists in the demarcation set out by the American and British cartographers. I don’t think that the Uganda initiative sought by many, including Herzl, would have worked out – indeed the history of the Ismali (who in some extreme Islamist circles hated even more than Jews) and their flight from Uganda demonstrates clearly that political stability around and within a country is necessary for that nation’s long-term hope and happiness especially for immigrant populations.
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