Arafat's surprising popularity

[sharonbn]

I think you'll find it funny...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53847,00.html

[elke]

I am sure sociologists and psychologists will find plenty of explanations for this phenomenon: Arafat vs. "Hero". I can't wait for those! :D

[Vic]

quoted from the above:

"I sell at least three boxes (150 bags) of Abu Ammar daily"

[L@mplighterM]

Arafag is seen as the underdog fighting against all odds against a giant evil empire. It has taken plenty of PR work to portray him in this manner. He’s also one of the greatest pathological liars that I’ve ever witnessed in my living memory.

He’s been sold to the EU, Arab World and the rest of the world by the media. One of the dumbest things I ever witnessed was when Israel left him in his compound for three weeks and let him have access to the outside world. He was provided with more publicity than money could buy.

He became the David and Israel became the Goliath.

[Mediocrates]

Originally posted by L@mplighterM
He’s been sold to the EU, Arab World and the rest of the world by the media. One of the dumbest things I ever witnessed was when Israel left him in his compound for three weeks and let him have access to the outside world. He was provided with more publicity than money could buy.

You give people too much credit. The Arafat supporters of the world don't generally proffer him any higher purpose than naked power. There is nothing heroic in even their praise of him. It is merely the completion of a cold calculus framed by abstract concepts like moral equivalence and conflict resolution. The endless roster of quibbling about this UN resolution or that has replaced thought, common sense, decency or any embrace of normal humanity.

The Goddess of political theory must be served and if most of the Israelis have to be sacrificed on that pyre then that's simply a cost all of the apologists are willing to yield. It's nothing more than dullness, fatigue and amorality masquerading as aspirations. An olympian indifference pretending to be hardheaded fairness.

The Osterizer Food Processor theory of social politics. You could just as easily apply their reasoning to the position the US Army had for the extermination of the Native Americans. It's simply a dead process that has to be obeyed blindly because pieces of paper say so.

Arafat and his bootlickers never talk about right and wrong. No they talk about the process of executing a UN warrant. Right and wrong simply don't enter into the equation because those are postions that moral relativists are unable to process or reflect on.

An Israeli life is an 'acceptable loss' to that process. Really a rounding error in the great march toward the new world. Really it is, just ask them. It's like talking to a remorseless ant colony.

[L@mplighterM]

I firmly believe that Palestinian support far outweighs Israeli support. If 1000 people were surveyed I think 900/1000 would support Palestinians.

Even the Administration of the US refused to label Arafag as a terrorist. If he isn’t a terrorist then he must be a Freedom Fighter leading his people to the Promised Land.

I’m in a minority in my support for Israel at least that’s how I see it from my perch.

[Mediocrates]

Originally posted by L@mplighterM
I firmly believe that Palestinian support far outweighs Israeli support. If 1000 people were surveyed I think 900/1000 would support Palestinians.

Even the Administration of the US refused to label Arafag as a terrorist. If he isn’t a terrorist then he must be a Freedom Fighter leading his people to the Promised Land.

I’m in a minority in my support for Israel at least that’s how I see it from my perch.

I think that in America that's a regional distinction. I find that here in the Bible Belt, while the Southern Baptists are not entirely sympathetic to Jews they are somewhat sympathetic to the cause. It's not merely a case of anti Arabism either. I believe there are large swaths of the Chrisitian Right in the US that are generally supportive or Israel and the Jews. Their reasons are their own. They can run from individual sympathy for what's right to a general support on religious grounds, to the existance of a Jewish state in the Holy Land which fits in well with some Protestants' religious belief systems concerning the role the Jews play in their Apocalyptic vision of the world.

I wouldn't say the ratio is a big majority but nowhere near as small as 10% - maybe 50%.

[gev]

Originally posted by L@mplighterM
I firmly believe that Palestinian support far outweighs Israeli support. If 1000 people were surveyed I think 900/1000 would support Palestinians.

Even the Administration of the US refused to label Arafag as a terrorist. If he isn’t a terrorist then he must be a Freedom Fighter leading his people to the Promised Land.

I’m in a minority in my support for Israel at least that’s how I see it from my perch.

I don't know, The reports we are getting in Israel is that while there is some decrease in support to Israel, the majority of the US public supports Israel's operations.
is it true?

[gev]

Originally posted by sharonbn
I think you'll find it funny...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53847,00.html

Should be monitored. the maker say he donates 25% of the earnings to the "palestinian cause" - could be funding terror organizations.

[NewsGuy]

Originally posted by gev
I don't know, The reports we are getting in Israel is that while there is some decrease in support to Israel, the majority of the US public supports Israel's operations.
is it true?

Yes, this is true.

The vast majority of Americans I am familiar with remember the faces of the Arab al Qaeda members who carried out the 9-11 attacks. Americans understand perfectly well that Israel and the U.S. are facing the same Muslim terrorism.

That is why the U.S. congress voted overwhelmingly to support Israel and the original draft of the bill blasted Arafat and blamed the Palestinians for the terrorism.

The international position of U.S. diplomacy, though, is much more pro-Arab than the position of the vast majority of Americans because of the involvement of the Arabist State Dept.

But any "even handed" approach, or pro-Palestinian approach contradicts the position of the American people who are solidly pro-Israel.

[kauffner]

The polls I''ve read say 50 percent of Americans are pro-Israeli vis 10 percent who are pro-Palestinian.