Saturday, December 10, 2011

Why Israel matters

Why write about Israel? It is a part of Western civilization, whether or not this idea appeals to the Europeans. Israel is the canary of Western civilization in the dark mine, filled with noxious fumes that is the Middle East.

Watching the second intifada in Israel in 2000, I thought that it was naive of the West to think the antipathy of Arabs was limited to the Jews, and not necessarily applicable to the rest of the West.

That is an extremely naive, but dangerous view.

The hatred of Europe for Israel and the Jews is not uniform, and quite complex. However, the wide-spread antipathy is a fact, and has important implications for the future of the continent. Because of these connections, I will have a discussion thread on Israel and its relationship with the West.

Europe has finally started to wake up to the danger that is Iran. Will common interest with Israel be enough? The Europeans are likely to strengthen sactions, which are barely effective, but unlikely to provide any assistance to Israel, which will have to do the heavy lifting in halting Iran's nuclear ambition.

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