Saturday, May 09, 2015

Fifty Shades of Zakaria

I'm a masochist. I must be. I see a link to Fareed Zakaria's musings and I can't help but put in the ball gag, don the leather (I really apologize for that visual), and read his thoughts.

Zakaria has thoughts on Israel's best interests at this moment in time.

Basically, he thinks that since Israel's enemies are either in disarray, at peace with Israel, or worrying about Iran, that Israel can exploit this better strategic environment to--wait for it!--capitulate to Palestinian extremists:

So while it faces real dangers, Israel has policies to fight them with force and effectiveness. The danger for which it has no defense is that it continues to have control over Gaza and the West Bank, lands with 4.5 million people who have neither a country nor a vote. The feeling on the Israeli right, which now rules the country, seems to be that if the Palestinian problem is ignored, it will somehow solve itself. But it won’t, and the tragedy is that this is the moment, with so many stars aligned in Israel’s favor, when enlightened leadership could secure Israel permanently as a Jewish democratic state and make peace with its neighbors. It is a golden opportunity, and it is staring Netanyahu in the face.

I'd like to note that Israel does not in fact have control over Gaza. There are no Israelis there to govern or control the Gazans. And Israel shares control of Gaza's border with Egypt.

Also, Gazans had a vote after Israel left--once. Hamas didn't see fit to have another vote.

I don't believe that the Israelis are ignoring the Palestinians as much as they are refusing maximalist Palestinian demands that view any deal with Israel as a mere stepping stone to destroying Israel.

Why on Earth would Israel give ground to fanatical jihadis like Hamas when Israel has a stronger negotiating position?

As we've been told on other issues, no deal is better than a bad deal. But as Zakaria shows on this issue, the Left doesn't actually believe that.

Any deal is just fine with them. The deal is the objective, for some strange reason. And if it hurts our side? Well, we probably deserve it. That's the enlightened way to view submissive behavior.

Zakaria couldn't find his own buttocks with both hands and a GPS signal. But I've noted that before, I'm sure you recall.

If the Palestinians want a deal, let them stare their reality in the face and adapt to their far inferior strategic environment by offering something acceptable to Israel that isn't just a ten-year pause prior to wiping out Israel.