More Knesset Snippets

I’ve seen and heard lots of snippets of Bush’s speech yesterday to the Israeli Knesset, the most “controversial” of which are now on Talk Tadio and all over the Blogosphere. If you want to read the whole transcript (as I did), you can find it here on NewsBusters.

Here are a few blurbs from the speech (in italics) along with my comments:

We gather to mark a momentous occasion. Sixty years ago in Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's independence, founded on the "natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate." What followed was more than the establishment of a new country. It was the redemption of an ancient promise given to Abraham and Moses and David — a homeland for the chosen people Eretz Yisrael.

Like our own Founding Fathers, Gen-Gurion and friends found certain truths to be self-evident and pushed through to the establishment of a new and democratic nation. The birth of the state of Israel in 1968 resonated with Americans because it reminded us of our own history.

Eleven minutes later, on the orders of President Harry Truman, the United States was proud to be the first nation to recognize Israel's independence. And on this landmark anniversary, America is proud to be Israel's closest ally and best friend in the world.

And so, we became BFFs.

The alliance between our governments is unbreakable...

I hope W is right, but I wonder. Obama’s been hinting around that under his leadership we'll be having fewer slumber parties with Israel and may be catching an occasional dinner and a movie with Amajinadad. If he/we continue to delude ourselves into thinking that diplomacy will work with neo-fascist, murderous Islamic despots, and if our nation's citizenry continues to devolve away from the roots of our Judeo-Christian faith, will we really remain passionate about being friends with the Jewish state? Or will the friendship fizzle out?

We believe in the matchless value of every man, woman and child. So we insist that the people of Israel have the right to a decent, normal and peaceful life, just like the citizens of every other nation. We believe that democracy is the only way to ensure human rights. So we consider it a source of shame that the United Nations routinely passes more human rights resolutions against the freest democracy in the Middle East than any other nation in the world.

It is indeed outrageous that the U.N. so disproportionately chastises Israel. Just one more reason to question the moral and political legitimacy of the U.N.

....the founding charter of Hamas calls for the "elimination" of Israel. And that is why the followers of Hezbollah chant "Death to Israel, Death to America!" That is why Osama bin Laden teaches that "the killing of Jews and Americans is one of the biggest duties." And that is why the president of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for Israel to be wiped off the map.

There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the darkness in these men and try to explain away their words. It's natural, but it is deadly wrong. As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously. Jews and Americans have seen the consequences of disregarding the words of leaders who espouse hatred. And that is a mistake the world must not repeat in the 21st century.

Not sure “natural” is the best word for the tendency to ignore, explain, justify, or defend wrongdoing. Intentions may indeed be good, but the proverbial road to hell-on-earth is paved with too great a tolerance for too many wrongs.

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.Some people suggest if the United States would just break ties with Israel, all our problems in the Middle East would go away. This is a tired argument that buys into the propaganda of the enemies of peace, and America utterly rejects it.

Words can be powerful, but people can believe in their ability to influence through rhetoric far too much. Jimmy Carter's recent meeting with Hamas was just the most recent example of such Hubris. There are many political occasions that call for talking, reasoning, and negotiating; there are some that do not.

We must confront the moral relativism that views all forms of government as equally acceptable and thereby consigns whole societies to slavery. Above all, we must have faith in our values and ourselves and confidently pursue the expansion of liberty as the path to a peaceful future.

All men are created equal; all governments are not. Arguments that we cannot and should not try to force democracy upon the nations of the world are valid. Democracy, by its very nature, must be conceived and carried in the minds of common men. Liberty must be desired, even at the cost of one's own life. The fear of death must be overcome by the will to live freely and well . The birth of a republic follows long, difficult labor.