The state of Israel continues to be fertile ground for ideologues whom tend to favor tilting at windmills yielding little in the way of advancing rational discourse on the subject country.
Two cases in point are illustrated in separate articles in today's Washington Post.
From one ideological camp we have the "Israel is the root of all evil" charge and from another ideological camp we have "How dare you criticize Israel".
While I am a supporter of the state of Israel I find both camps to be wrong and wrong-headed as Israel is neither pariah nor saint.
From Anwar Ibrahim, one of the leading voices of democracy in Malaysia, we learn of recent comments he has made stating
strident rhetoric about Israel and alleged "Zionist influence" in Malaysia. He recently joined a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur where an Israeli flag was burned. He's made dark insinuations about the "Jewish-controlled" Washington public relations firm Apco Worldwide...
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alleging that Apco was manipulating the government to support Israeli and U.S. interests. He also said that Israeli agents had infiltrated Malaysia's security forces and were "directly involved in the running of the government."
While such conspiracy theories may be found to be innovative in their 'logic' they certainly detract from serious discussion of the highly volatile issues surrounding the Middle East.
And not to be outdone in the realm of illogical statements we find Jon Voight's slavering rant against President Obama in an
op-ed in the Moonie Times
You will be the first American president that lied to the Jewish people, and the American people as well, when you said that you would defend Israel, the only Democratic state in the Middle East, against all their enemies. You have done just the opposite. You have propagandized Israel, until they look like they are everyone's enemy — and it has resonated throughout the world. You are putting Israel in harm's way, and you have promoted anti-Semitism throughout the world.
You have brought this to a people who have given the world the Ten Commandments and most laws we live by today. The Jewish people have given the world our greatest scientists and philosophers, and the cures for many diseases, and now you play a very dangerous game so you can look like a true martyr to what you see and say are the underdogs. But the underdogs you defend are murderers and criminals who want Israel eradicated.
And as Brad Hirschfield notes in his column illuminating the wretched Voight writing none of the above screed is supported by any semblance of facts.
Of course, it is more viscerally satisfying to call the President a liar, but what evidence do either Mr. Voight, or any of those who are circulating his letter, adduce to prove that claim? Answer, none.
Ultimately, this open letter substitutes personal invective for reasoned argument. Sadly, that is increasingly typical of all public debate in this country, especially about issues of real concern, and nobody is well served by it.
Those who agree with Voight may get a quick hit of moral superiority and righteous indignation off of his letter, but will anyone not already in agreement with them be convinced? Of course not! So what's the point? Clearly, it's not to make things better. And if it's not to make things better, even as understood by Voight, he should put down his pen until he figures out a real answer to the question of what would.
Two camps, two massive cases of failed logic, and one state, Israel.