gdp's Comments

Commentary Magazine : No Time for Silence on More Iran Sanctions

Fri, 1 Nov 2013 21:23:56 +0000

What's the point here? Isn't it the case that only anti-semites believe these organizations are influential? If they aren't influential, why would the White House beg them to lay off on the sanctions issue?

Commentary Magazine : The PA’s Revealing Silence on Syria

Thu, 31 Oct 2013 23:52:17 +0000

It is praiseworthy that Israeli hospitals are treating some Syrians. But I don't see Israel taking in any Palestinians, as Jordan and Lebanon are in vast numbers. There are, of course, reasons for that reluctance. But if you are sitting on land that belonged to those folks, or their parents and grandparents, it is a bit much to sit in judgment of others.

Commentary Magazine : The PA’s Revealing Silence on Syria

Thu, 31 Oct 2013 22:56:11 +0000

I have no doubt that some Syrians are being treated in Israeli hospitals, which is a good thing. But I don't see Palestinians, even ones married to Israeli citizens, being admitted to Israel for humanitarian reasons, not even people over 65, who can't reproduce and aren't likely to strap bombs to themselves. What I see is the gradual uprooting of Palestinians. There are reasons why the Israelis don't take in Palestinians, and I don't want to thresh that old straw in a combox. But Lebanon and Jordan have a huge burden, and have taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria. If anyone is to judge them, or even Abu Mazen, let it be someone other than the Israelis, who justly or not are living on land that used to belong to the ancestors of the present Palestinian refugees.

Commentary Magazine : The PA’s Revealing Silence on Syria

Thu, 31 Oct 2013 19:00:49 +0000

Oh, good grief! Crocodile tears.

Commentary Magazine : Dems: Maybe We Should Let People Keep Their Insurance

Wed, 30 Oct 2013 21:10:12 +0000

It probably wouldn't have helped if they had read the bill. Only the old-fashioned among us expect that, anyway.

Commentary Magazine : Nothing Legitimate About Anti-Semitic Slur

Tue, 29 Oct 2013 16:37:28 +0000

I would say "strongly influence" rather than "control." Many factors influence foreign policy. In this particular area, the Israel Lobby is a pretty significant one. My problem is that critics of our policy are anathematized if they notice the influence.

Commentary Magazine : Nothing Legitimate About Anti-Semitic Slur

Tue, 29 Oct 2013 16:33:43 +0000

No. I think the polls are correct. There's a generalized sympathy for Israel, that is greater than for their opponents. However, this generalized sympathy does not translate into political clout particularly, because for very few voters is our Middle East policy, or foreign policy generally, an important motivator, unless we are at war. Nor do I suggest that the Israel Lobby is omnipotent, which is nearly what they would have to be to secure the release of a man who spied for a foreign power for money. The fact that organizations would advocate for this shows how immune to criticism and ridicule they believe themselves to be. The fact remains that the Israel Lobby is extremely influential, and its influence is founded less upon votes than upon money, organization, and effective propaganda than upon some groundswell of support from the rubes. Using First Amendment rights to advocate for a cause is allowed in this country. What's strange is to succeed and to voice outrage when your critics describe your success . . .

Commentary Magazine : Nothing Legitimate About Anti-Semitic Slur

Mon, 28 Oct 2013 22:25:44 +0000

This is rather disingenuous. Jews are a rather small part of the electorate, and they are a predictable bloc vote for the Democrats. Even among that portion of the electorate, Israel is way down on the list of salient issues. It is to be doubted that even the dispensationalist evangelicals vote one way or the other because of Israel policy. Jews, on the other hand, are disproportionately represented in the financial and political élites, and provide a disproportionate amount of political contributions. The notion that US policy on Israel is due to some popular will and not to organized élite and money influence is a nice propaganda trope, but it doesn't pass the plausibility test. It reached the point that before Obama did his 180 on Syria, he begged the Zionist groups to help him with Congress, full-court-press style. It's not because he thought they had no organizational ability or influence. It's all First Amendment-protected stuff. The Zionist organizations boast about their influence when they're raising money, but when it's part of the debate, anyone who points the same thing out gets tarred as antisemitic.

Commentary Magazine : The Anti-Israel Peace Partner

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 16:53:10 +0000

Silly. Whether or not the 2-state solution talks are a fool's errand, why should you expect even a semi-Quisling Palestinian leader like Abbas to say nice things about Israel?

Commentary Magazine : Turkish Jews Begin to Leave

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 19:03:54 +0000

Of course not, but Jewish polemics against antisemitism usually ignore Jewish behavior entirely. The entire Jewish community didn't develop the polio vaccine, either, but there's a certain amount of boasting for that sort of thing.

Commentary Magazine : Turkish Jews Begin to Leave

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 17:19:47 +0000

If the Iraq war was promoted in Borough Park, the perps have covered their tracks. The Wolfowitzes and Feiths of the world don't wear black hats, and they shave.

Commentary Magazine : Obama Advisors Try to Salvage Their Reputations

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 17:12:01 +0000

The President was right on this one. He shouldn't have said "Assad must go" or drawn the "red line" on chemical weapons, because he didn't mean it, but his instincts were correct. We have no vital interests in Syria. As for Hillary, I can't see what she's accomplished other than staying married to a President and serving time as a Senator and Secretary of State.

Commentary Magazine : Will Israel Strike Iran? Iraq is No Precedent

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 15:19:35 +0000

The comment thread here shows that collective insanity is alive and well. At least, for the moment, the United States seems unlikely to initiate an attack on Iran.

Commentary Magazine : Turkish Jews Begin to Leave

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 15:15:51 +0000

Of course, the organ-selling thing really exists.

Commentary Magazine : Even Weakened Hamas Retains Peace Veto

Mon, 21 Oct 2013 16:35:07 +0000

After numberless posts on the futility of the 2SS talks, this one doesn't have much to add. The truth is Hamas and the Zionist right aid and abet each other's rejectionism. Tell us something we don't already know. Or propose a policy that involves something other than more of the same old, same old.

Commentary Magazine : Is 2016 Behind Christie's Immigration Flip?

Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:30:37 +0000

Wrong on numerous counts. 1. Mass deportation is logistically possible, and indeed, is consistent with current law. What is required is political will. 2. The Jewish obsession with liberal immigration policies is literally suicidal--just what you need--more Muslims, Catholic Mexicans and Central Americans, and smart East Asians to compete with your children and grandchildren. White Protestant America has treated Jews better than just about any country. Multiculturalizing it is folly. 3. The notion that liberalizing immigration is a salient electoral issue for the GOP is an inside-the-belway, MSM truism, but if you examine the evidence, there isn't much to support it. If you tell the truth--Mexican illegals are competing blacks into unemployment, and driving blacks out of Compton and South Central LA at gunpoint, you might go from 10% to 20% of the black vote. The problem is the big business guys want cheap labor and globalization at any cost.

Commentary Magazine : Stop Intelligence Sharing with Turkey

Thu, 17 Oct 2013 17:34:21 +0000

Stole the words right away from my fingers. Remember, the United States is an ally of Israel, but Israel is not an ally of the United States.

Commentary Magazine : Why We Separate Church and State

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 00:04:32 +0000

There are rationales for the non-establishment of religion, but basically the problem was there was no predominant version of Protestantism throughout the country. More recent "separation of church and state" agitation is largely motivated by hostility to religion generally, by some Protestants' fear of Roman Catholicism, and by Jewish fear of Christianity in particular. Non-orthodox Jews have been leading advocates of things like bans on school prayer and religious symbols on public property. Orthodox Jews would prefer to have state subsidies for their institutions, and don't mind if the goyim get subsidies for theirs.

Commentary Magazine : Russia to Proceed with Iran Missile Sale?

Thu, 10 Oct 2013 17:31:06 +0000

Israel and the US are threatening to bomb Iran. Of course they want the ability to defend themselves. What else would anyone expect? It's what nation-states do, if they can.

Commentary Magazine : Obama Blunders Again on Egypt

Thu, 10 Oct 2013 01:22:21 +0000

I'm not certain stopping the aid does advance our interests. We're doing it, presumably, in the name of democracy, which is not on in Egypt, a poor, undeducated country where people marry their cousins and as a result are loyal to their extended families. A somewhat stable military-backed government will keep the Suez Canal open and is more likely to avoid confrontation with Israel. We have some interest in both.