Listen now | We welcome Chuck Freilich, former deputy national security advisor in Israel, long-time senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School and now at INSS, back to our podcast.
As useful as it is to hear the views of an expert, this presentation of the facts on the ground and prospects going forward offers nothing new: this is just a rehashing of the 2-state strategy with different clothing. These proposals still rely on an understanding that this is a conflict over land. By now it should be clear that it is Muslim ideology that perpetuates the conflict. It is not so much that the Jews have usurped their land as it is that Jews are a lesser form of life and their existence and control in the presence of Islam is an intolerable insult to Allah. This is not the first time Jews have been seen to be lesser life forms— the Nazis had no compunction about treating us like lab rats to do what they saw as scientific research. Our neighbors in Gaza and the West Bank see us in the same way — without feeling the need to advance their scientific knowledge while simultaneously eliminating us. I’m afraid that solutions that offer land swaps and security guarantees simply are not willing to accept the now very clear reality that this will never remove an existential threat. Trump may be uninformed or juvenily simplistic, but at least he is changing the nature of the discussion.
I love to hear “experts” proclaim their visions of the world to be. In many ways it’s like the arrogance of legislators who honestly believe that by passing a law they will change human behavior.
Albert Einstein is said to have defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome “. The Palestinians have been offered a state repeatedly and repeatedly refused, but we insist on offering it again.
Finally voices are heard that we should stop. The singular beauty of the Trump plan is that it upsets the apple cart and changes the dialogue. If we decide, in advance, that neither it or any variant of it is impossible, we will create a self fulfilling prophesy.
Recently, Elon Musk was quoted as saying that the primary source of peace in this situation would be real education of the Palestinians to a peaceful coexistence. He is the first person of note and public standing that I have heard say this and I am certain he is right.
We should be careful not to pronounce the “baby” DOA even before the birth.
As useful as it is to hear the views of an expert, this presentation of the facts on the ground and prospects going forward offers nothing new: this is just a rehashing of the 2-state strategy with different clothing. These proposals still rely on an understanding that this is a conflict over land. By now it should be clear that it is Muslim ideology that perpetuates the conflict. It is not so much that the Jews have usurped their land as it is that Jews are a lesser form of life and their existence and control in the presence of Islam is an intolerable insult to Allah. This is not the first time Jews have been seen to be lesser life forms— the Nazis had no compunction about treating us like lab rats to do what they saw as scientific research. Our neighbors in Gaza and the West Bank see us in the same way — without feeling the need to advance their scientific knowledge while simultaneously eliminating us. I’m afraid that solutions that offer land swaps and security guarantees simply are not willing to accept the now very clear reality that this will never remove an existential threat. Trump may be uninformed or juvenily simplistic, but at least he is changing the nature of the discussion.
I love to hear “experts” proclaim their visions of the world to be. In many ways it’s like the arrogance of legislators who honestly believe that by passing a law they will change human behavior.
Albert Einstein is said to have defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome “. The Palestinians have been offered a state repeatedly and repeatedly refused, but we insist on offering it again.
Finally voices are heard that we should stop. The singular beauty of the Trump plan is that it upsets the apple cart and changes the dialogue. If we decide, in advance, that neither it or any variant of it is impossible, we will create a self fulfilling prophesy.
Recently, Elon Musk was quoted as saying that the primary source of peace in this situation would be real education of the Palestinians to a peaceful coexistence. He is the first person of note and public standing that I have heard say this and I am certain he is right.
We should be careful not to pronounce the “baby” DOA even before the birth.