Friday, February 29, 2008

Israel love overfloweth

I've recently been particularly bothered by the blind hatred of Israel, the sympathy for terrorists and the general...lack of awareness around me. I have created this for myself as a way to document and compile everything I have, and can find in support of Israel. Feel free to leave comments with criticism or further support.

Economic Benefits
The United States has done a cost/benefit analysis and has concluded since the '70s that having a allied democracy in the Middle East is worth around $240 billion (total since '73). The fact is Israel is the 151st-smallest country (It could fit into Florida 8 times!), with 11% of the world's population but has the 24th highest per capita GDP, and a $100 billion economy (larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined). Despite global criticism (World to Israel: "Tough Luck"), incessant terrorism, constant barrages of missiles into Israel, and the terrible quagmire of discontent, Israel's economy still manages to outperform that of the United States, Europe, the UK, and Japan. Israel has the second highest percentage of university graduates in the workforce (behind only the US) and the lowest percentage of adult illiteracy and the highest percent of primary school enrollment in the Middle East (higher than the US).

Technology
It has designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security and U.S. officials use Israel for advice and technology in handling airborne security threats. Israel has the highest concentration of high-tech companies in the world apart from the Silicon Valley. The Israeli Company, Givun-Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera (PillCam), used to view the small intestine from the inside, to detect cancer and digestive disorders and other Israeli researchers have developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood -- an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The Israeli government plans to invest$230 million in nanotechnology research and development over the next five years, which would make nanoscience one of Israel's most heavily invested R&D fields.

Military
Of course, Israel invests in weapon technology. They have created "small flying robots" (the "bionic hornet") which are a further development of the pilot-less "drones" which our government already uses in our war on terror. Just in case Israel seems 'war-mongering,' remember that it is a country surrounded by enemies who have tried many times in the past to destroy her, as well as currently shelling her cities and ambushing her civilian population. Necessity is the mother of invention and, Israel has the manpower, education, and intelligence to be up to the task.

Agriculture
In the late 19th century Israel was considered barren due to deforestation, soil erosion, and drought. The fact that agricultural production continues to grow despite severe water and land limitations is solely attributable to the cooperation between researchers and farmers. The agricultural sector in Israel is based almost entirely on science-linked technology from which the US benefits. Basically, despite the fact that Israel is in the middle of the desert, and has only 5% of its populace acting as farmers, it still feeds itself and exports $4 billion in agriculture each year. (Just in case you were curious, Israel's total exports are $42.86 billion/year.) The United States (and other countries) receives a great deal of benefit from collaboration with Israel in the form of technology, innovation and imports. For example, The Middle East has been growing date palms for centuries. The average tree is about 18-20 feet tall and yields about 38 pounds of dates a year. In comparison Israeli date palms are now yielding 400lbs/year,are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder, and have medicinal benefits.

Media Controversy
I think it's important to note that despite criticisms of a Zionist controlled media, there is little proof to back that up. Check out this senior editor of TIME.COM, who displays his hatred of Israel. The media fails to publish accurate data on Israel. I.e., the Guardian claims only 10 rockets landed in Israel contrary to multiple sources including Hamas' own reports. There's also that part where the UN, which consists of primarily pro-palestinian nations, unjustly criticizes Israel and denies clear truths. The media and the UN, however, overlook claims that Israel is a dirty microbe, governments which participate in the indoctrination of youth to desire death in order to kill Israel, and downplay the advances in more humane military technology. Despite being proud of their suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism, the media portrays Palestinians sympathetically, using sickeningly inaccurate terms like "resistance" and "militants". It even calls firing 11 rockets peaceful, and skews images to make it seem like the Palestinians are packed behind "border" fences looking longingly into Israel (from a fence over 1/2 mile from Israel!). Old photos are re-posted to make current events seem more dramatic. Just glance at headlines to see the clear bias merely with the choice of words.

It's all quite ironic given the fact that the Palestinians are ruled by the terrorist organization Hamas, which has, written into its charter, an acceptance of proven anti-Semitic lies and a desire to kill all Jews. Leaders long for a map without Israel, replaced by an Islamic republic, because the fundamental struggle can end only when all Jews are destroyed. Sometimes, Hamas tries to say it does not want all Jews dead but merely wants Israel to disappear. They're lying.
A site keeping track of the daily attacks on Israel from the palestinians.

Silly "News"
Hah! In April 2006, NBC News’s Dateline attempted to stage an Islamophobia sting on NASCAR fans.

In November 2007, ABC News’s Primetime Live attempted to stage a homophobia sting in Birmingham, Alabama.

Now, Primetime Live replicated the same thing in Texas!

Here are some suggestions I like (credit goes here):

Set up a Southern white guy wearing a pink shirt with a popped collar and some uggs with hidden cameras, put a George Bush T-Shirt on him and have him walk down a street in Pakistan. Or, better yet, have him walk down a street in Detroit.

Have a man, or woman, wear a pro-life t-shirt to a Women’s Studies class.

Oooh! Ooh! PUBLISH CARTOONS WITH MOHAMMED IN THEM…


Charles Johnson points out that CAIR acted as "authorities" for this piece. Hey, ABC News stage managers: How about sending someone undercover at a CAIR office for a month and seeing what bigotry and fraud you turn up?

Oh, and here’s a helpful reminder from IBD based off data compiled by the FBI:


FBI data unequivocally shows that anti-Muslim hate crimes are plummeting, in spite of CAIR’s allegation to the contrary. Besides, given the number of faked hate crimes, how do we know which are true. (I hate the fact that this question is raised, though, because I think ALL hate crimes are terrible. They can be addressed, however, only if the truth is known.)

Why is it that we watch reality television for entertainment and watch theater for news?

Hopefully, this will end soon
I think if the Palestinian leaders suspended the constant rocket fire that has been raining on Israel for quite some time, they'd have more luck in convincing the Jewish State to halt its military.

If another government sponsored the firing of over 3,000 rockets into Chicago (150 of which were in the past few days), I'm pretty sure far that government would soon find itself obliterated (as would be expected). This isn't someone getting shot. This is a country's people living in fear. Just because people are living in their basement bomb shelters does not mean that Israel is not justified in trying to allow it's people to live without terror. In fact, many Israelis feel they have tolerated the attacks for too long and will no longer stand to be the most heavily bombed place in the world.


Yeah, a think that if it would be ok to hunt an individual who shot and killed a single guy in Chicago, it is also ok to fire 150 rockets into a place from which 800 rockets have been fired in the past two months. It would be senseless for Israel to continue to allow these rockets to fall on its citizens without doing what it can to stop the attacks.

Survey estimates
that "only" 7% of Muslims are extremists. If seven percent of the world’s Muslims are radical, we’re talking about 91 million people. That's a lot!

Edsel: vernonFL: Ending this crisis is so simple:


Hamas = stop shooting rockets at Israel

Israel = loosen the borders a little to make life better for people.


If I was Condi Rice I would tell both sides to agree to the above or no more $$$ for either.

I agree with you. Unfortunately it's politically impossible to put any types of sanctions or constraints on Israel, and Hamas doesn't get any aid from the U.S. by law.


Wait, why do the Palestinians need U.S. aid in order to stop shooting rockets into Israel? It seems like they would save money if the cut back a bit on the rockets, maybe from 200/week to just 100? I mean, I guess the rocks massive stones are pretty cheap, but maybe they could use those to build infrastructure instead? But, well, if the Palestinians stopped fighting, they would be betraying Islam (see Hamas' charter) and would stop creating the poor oppressed martyr image they have carefully cultivated.

*whew*

On a lighter note, just for fun, here's the world's tiniest Bible. I think it's amazing that such a small country has been able to accomplish so much. Looking at all of this evidence, I have no idea how someone could feel that the US should retract all support for Israel. I mean, the US is making a smart decision in investing $3 billion/year in the country. Of course Israel is not perfect, but it not worthy of hatred.

/I know some of my sources are biased, but there's a gazillion of them, and combined, it's pretty decent.

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