mentalblog.com comments:
Yes, shalom chaver, indeed.
The whole idea behind Oslo - we were told by his deep voice - was “to prevent Hamas and other Islamic extremists from taking power." It now succeeded - uvegadol!
Of course, they can always say: "if only the Oslo plan was more aggressively implemented, it would have worked."
May be G-d will still save the Jews from themselves and the Arabs will descend into a civil war between Hamas and Fatah...
!! :-)
I dunno about anyone else, but I think that this is not such a bad thing.
In my opinion there is little real difference between Hamas and Fatah, except how they portray themselves... and I'd rather that the palestinians be represented by a group whose positions are known to the whole world, than by a group that has everyone convinced wants peace (sic).
What's worse: An enemy that says he's your enemy, or an enemy that smiles to you while plotting your destruction?
CE, the world is looking for a face-saving way to be machshir Hamas. Specifically, they are waiting for Israel to provide the hashgocho. They do not care if the heschsher will be lemehadrin min hamehadrin – es is doch “af em di aveire”. That is all that's going on. Even you are old enough to remember when PLO was as treif as Hamas is today.
I do agree with you that there is a silver lining to this, but IMHO it isn't what you say it is. The Hamas victory COULD be used by Israel as an opportunity to say: “We tried, but there is clearly no one to talk to, so we are kicking their asses out of here.” But we all know what the chances of that happening are... So, I am afraid, it is all bad...
Berl,
All true... but I am going with the glass-is-half-full approach here. Or, in the words of the T"T:
"Tracht gut vet zain gut."
(But if we really beleive that then we should probably think big and say, "Geula is only a moment away" - but that's another story...)
Furthermore, Arab strategy in nothing short of brilliant, alas. Since the only concession they are willing/expected to make is to "renounce the aim to destroy Israel", they need to keep manufacturing new "extremists" not willing to do so, while Israel will be willing/expected to make real concessions to yesterdays extremists that have sufficiently “moderated” their position (to prevent the "real extremists" from taking power, naturally).
Now, you do the math. At this rate who will run out of things to concede first?
CE, leave the spin for others. Look at history and worry. This is not your job to spin, the bastards in MSM will do it 100 times better than you. Our job is to worry, because nobody else gives a s. The liberals who are now promoting this will be first to flea the country.
TA, ditto.
I don't see why it makes a difference who's in charge, everything the Israelis have done recently has been unilateral. The same goes for their future plans, Olmert has already said that. So, if it's unilateral who cares who's on the other side? :(
I appreciate the opportunity that you've been giving me here, TA.
Perhaps the leftists in Israel will wake up and realize that their problem is not the Settlers. Their real problem is the Hamas terrorists.
Hopefully, many more Israelis will vote now for the right wing parties. I hope this will be the downfall of Olmert and Kadima.
My point was not meant to be spin - I just think that the problem is not, was not, and never will be, hamas; the problem is this entire israeli-palestinian peace process.
So the "election" does not get me excited either way - fatah is no better than hamas, and the palestinans themselves are hamas supporters whether they elect them or not. Therefore, I don't think that this election changes things so drastically by finally calling hamas what it is: Mainstream palestinian sentiment. There is a possibility that this can turn out to our benefit, and with this in mind, I chose to hope that the outcome will be as such.
CE, Tzig,
You’re right in saying that it only matters what Jews do. I do not disagree with that at all. My point was that every time Israel misses an opportunity to reverse the fatal Munich-course it’s on, things get worse...
Does anyone here doubt that Hamas victory presents such an opportunity? Does anyone feel there is even a slightest chance Israel will put this opportunity to proper use? I hope I am 100% wrong this time...
Great post Tzemach. And I mean that very very seriously. A picture truly IS worth a thousand words.
mnuez
It is so good that Hamas won the elections, really. Shoher argued for years at his www.SamsonBlinded.org to involve them in politics, to make efficient soldiers inept, corrupt, and non-delivering politicians.
I heard that Rabin, like the late "Mekubal" Kaduri, did not take into the lungs.
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