March 21, 2006, - 11:40 am
One Little Lamb & 3+ Bad Wolves: A Short History of the Mid-East Peace Process
[Note from Debbie: This article is written by my father, H.L. Schlussel, who taught me almost everything I know about the Middle East and Islam. His wealth of knowledge dwarfs most of the so-called terrorism and Mid-East “experts” you see on TV and cable. DS]
By H.L. Schlussel, MD
A recently released Turkish Film, , is breaking all box office records in that country.
The story line in the movie is as follows: A Jewish doctor pays U.S. soldiers in Iraq, commanded by a psychopathic Christian fundamentalist, to murder Muslims so he can obtain their organs to sell to wealthy Jews in Tel Aviv and New York. In the course of their predations, the U.S. soldiers shoot up a Muslim wedding, killing the groom in front of his bride and a little boy in front of his mother.
But reality is different from the movies.
A recent atrocious suicide bombing attack on a Muslim wedding at a hotel in Amman, Jordan, resulted in the bride’s father and many in the wedding party being killed. But–surprise, surprise!–the attackers were not U.S. soldiers or Jews, but a devout Muslim couple with close ties to Al-Qaeda’s genocidal leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. We know this because the Jordanian security services apprehended the woman of the couple, who chickened out at the last minute.
This time, leading Muslim clerics were not able to claim it was an Israeli or U.S. plot, as they did regarding 9/11, the infamous Danish cartoons, AIDS, bird flu, the destruction of the mosque at Samarra, etc., etc., etc. . . .
This brings me to the reason I am writing this article. You see, back in the early ’90s, after the Gulf War, Bush I/Baker forced Yitzchak Shamir, who was then Prime Minister of Israel, into the International Madrid Peace Conference, guaranteed to solve all the problems of the Middle East. The Turks, who, at the time, were close allies of the U.S. and Israel, were reluctant to participate, because they thought this conference was a “Kurtlar Sofrassi” (“A Wolves’ Table”). Secretary of State James Baker said he had Shamir “in [his] sights like a turkey.” The “hunting of the Jew” metaphor apparently resonated on the left, as well. Leslie Gelb of the New York Times wrote an op-ed in which he approvingly stated that Baker had Shamir “treed.”
Baker felt such a conference was a slippery slope. Who knows where it would lead once it got started? Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Lubavitch, one of the outstanding rabbis of the Twentieth Century, agreed. He forcefully urged Shamir not to participate. Well, it turned out that both Baker and the Rabbi were right. The Madrid Conference led to Israel’s signing on to the suicidal Oslo I Agreement, which led to Oslo II, which led to Wye, which led to Camp David, which led to open season on Jews all over the world, and international enmity unprecedented since World War II.
Israel, itself, is demoralized and riven by polarization. The government recently , with a large percentage still living in cramped, temporary quarters without jobs or hope.
That brings me to my third wolf story, from the brilliant Benjamin Franklin. He said, “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.”
Israel’s current “temporary” Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, is a visionless political hack, who was a former Mayor of Jerusalem. His most noteworthy act, since becoming Prime Minister, was to . In this action, there were 200-300 casualties. Two members of the Israeli Parliament, both ex-Generals, were rendered unconscious. One of them sustained a fractured hand, and the other a possible fractured skull. (Disturbing photos at Sultan Knish.)
In a speech before the left-leaning “Israel Policy Forum,” in July 2005, Olmert stated, “We are tired of fighting, tired of being courageous, tired of victories, tired of defeating our enemies.”
With a guy like this leading the charge, can Israel survive? Doubtful! The leftist journalist, Ari Shavit, wrote in the left-wing newspaper, Ha’aretz, that Olmert’s victory in the upcoming Israeli elections would be “the beginning of the end.”
H.L. Schlussel, MD is a physician, Vietnam-era U.S. Army Veteran and Middle East expert, who speaks several languages.
Tags: Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda, Amman, Amona, Ari Shavit, Benjamin Franklin, Camp David, Ehud Olmert, former Mayor, genocidal leader, H.L. Schlussel, Haaretz, Iraq, Israel, Israeli Parliament, James Baker, Jerusalem, Jordan, Kurtlar Vadisi - Irak, left-wing newspaper, leftist journalist, Leslie Gelb, Mayor, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Middle East, New York, Oslo, physician, Prime Minister, Rabbi, Secretary of State, security services, Sultan Knish, Tel Aviv, The New York Times, Turkey, United States, United States Army, Vietnam, Visionless Acting Prime Minister, Yitzchak Shamir
Father knows best! You should have your dad guest-contribute more often.
THANKS. GOT ANOTHER PIECE FROM HIM COMING.
DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL
Yiddish Steel on March 21, 2006 at 1:14 pm