LOL csteele

Let me answer all your questions

--I am Jewish

--I am a supporter of Israel

--I think it blindingly obvious that much of the bile directed against Israel is motivated by anti-Semitism. Much of the rest is motivated by a desire to cuddle up to Arab oil and money bosses. For example, the City of London would suffer greatly if Arab oil bosses withdrew their money.

I post this for information only. For the reasons I outlined in my posts directed at David Singer I am not going to debate the matter. To borrow a metaphor:

>>I think it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to change someone’s mind about Israel.>>

Or, to adapt a much quoted line from Star Trek:

>>Debate is futile>>

Does that answer all your questions csteele?

Feel free to ask more.

Dear Stevenlmeyer,

Thank you. It should have been a given but I always like to be sure. It is kind of like meeting a young earther and assuming they are Christian but I did meet one who wasn't. Strange dude but that's another story.

All is right with my universe now. No further debate required.

Thanks again.

#stevenlmeyer

You ask why do I keep posting articles?

I do so because I believe I have the right as much as anyone else to express my opinion on important developments in the ongoing Arab-Jewish conflict.

I am sure that there are a lot more OLO readers out there who are prepared to fairly consider my analysis than the same very few who repeatedly seem to become very vocal, critical and personally offensive when my articles are published.

Readers - as you yourself has - will judge these people's views and attach to them what they will. Some may be impressed. You clearly are not.

You will also note that OLO is frequently being indirectly asked by the same few - mainly anonymous - posters to deny me the right to have my views published on OLO.

For so long as OLO is prepared to publish my articles, I intend to submit them. OLO has its own policy and publication of my articles is not always guaranteed. These critics are entitled to write to the Editor and ask him to accede to their demands. If this were to happen I would hope that I would be given the opportunity to respond.

As I repeat all the time - attacking the messenger and failing to address the message is a waste of time. If anyone wants to challenge the contents of my articles, correct any facts in them, or require further explanation or elaboration I am prepared to do so.

My allegation that all four Goldstone Commissioners were biased because of the public statements made by them before their appointment and because of the failure to disclose their close professional association- still remains unchallenged. If anyone out there has a different view - then let them tell me why by giving their reasons.

>>My allegation that all four Goldstone Commissioners were biased because of the public statements made by them before their appointment and because of the failure to disclose their close professional association- still remains unchallenged.>>

If they were not biased they would not have been appointed in the first place.

If Goldstone were not a "judge for hire" vouched for by, among others, Gadaffi's good buddy, Nelson Mandela, he would not have attained prominence as an international "jurist*"

The intention was to set up a kangaroo court from the beginning. Anyone who takes a dispassionate look at the antics of the UN Human Rights Council will see that in an instant. (see for example my post of Thursday, 7 April 2011 2:54:06 PM)

>>I do so [post] because I believe I have the right as much as anyone else to express my opinion on important developments in the ongoing Arab-Jewish conflict.>>

I am not denying your right. I do question both the wisdom and utility of doing so.

>>I am sure that there are a lot more OLO readers out there who are prepared to fairly consider my analysis..>

That’s what we call a “faith based statement.” You have no evidence for that and I doubt that is the case.

The accepted story among Israel-bashers is that the wicked Jews so pressured poor Goldstone that he buckled.

*I use the word loosely.

stevenmeyer states "I think it blindingly obvious that much of the bile directed against Israel is motivated by anti-Semitism."
You may consider this blindingly obvious but I certainly don't. I am not in any way an anti semite. I do not dislike Israel because it is populated by Jews. I dislike it because it is a racist state that carries on a decades long military occupation, all the while transferring its population to the occupied territories. It dismisses any resistance as terrorism. It allows Jews from any nation in the world to move there yet will not allow the native population who were driven out at the formation of the state to return. It frequently wages war on its neighbours and thinks nothing of taking the lives of hundreds of civilians. Yet at the same time it claims to be a bastion of liberal democracy in the Middle East. This simply gives liberal democracy a bad name.
There are certainly worse regimes in the world, but they tend not to enjoy the unflinching support of nations like Australia and the US. That is why people like myself find Israel's behaviour to be abhorrent.
The thing I dislike most about Israel is the manner in which its supporters slander Israel's critics by calling them anti semites, or in the case of Jewish critics, self hating Jews. This is the equivalent of Australians blaming criticism of our past treatment of the aboriginals as being based on some innate hatred of the English.
But I guess if it enables you to keep a clear conscience then you can continue with your little fantasy.

Dear Stephenlmeyer,

As you said this is for information rather than debate.

You said “>>I think it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to change someone’s mind about Israel.>>

I know I'm a fairly thin bastard but I managed it.

I fell in love with the idea of Israel in my mid teens after reading Mitchener's 'The Source'. I was pretty keen on getting myself to the country after studies and kept in pretty good touch with what was going on in the region. I remember thinking being an Israeli came a fairly close second to being an Australian. It took nearly twenty years for the enthusiasm and support to fully dissipate. Now I am both sad and angry with what the country has become.

I retain a sense of Jewish history, of substantial contributions to the rest of the world, of an innate sense of social justice, and of an appreciation of Jewish culture.

I also retain a sense of guilt as a cultural Christian about what the Jews have suffered through Christian history culminating in the Holocaust. That now extends to what has befallen the Palestinians since our trespasses have inflicted European Jewry upon them.

At times I do envy the ability to be so devoted to an ideal, or a religion, or a people, or a state, that there is no right or wrong, just us or them. Perhaps the closest I come is family and the unconditional love and support that those ties require of me.

And while most of us Aussies mightn't be zinging with the spirit of the Lord, nor overly fussed about a bill of rights, nor does Advance Australia Fair have a patch on the Star Spangled Banner, but we do have a pretty strong ethic of supporting the under-dog and of getting fairly ticked off toward bullies.

And I have to tell you we are jack of the belligerence of both the Israeli government on settlements and of its supporters tossing around accusations of anti-Semitism.