As to context, would anyone consider a scholar honest who wrote about the destruction of German cities by allied bombers, claiming these were war crimes (as they may well have been), but failed to even mention the German bombing of English cities early in the war? In his 2003 article, MacDonald asserts that the Israelis have adopted a more aggressive posture toward the Palestinians and are more supportive of the West Bank settlements. No mention is made of the context in which this change of sentiment took place. After the peace treaty with Egypt and the handing over of the Sinai, no real normalization of relations materialized between the two countries even though this had been stipulated in the agreement. Egyptian schools and media continued the demonization of the Jews in the most virulent terms. MacDonald, in his recent post, fails to consider the response of the Palestinians to the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and its effect on Israeli public opinion regarding peace with the Palestinians.
Perhaps Israelis, much like increasing numbers of people in the West, are beginning to finally grasp the true nature of Islamic relations with non-Muslims, as outlined so well in the works of Serge Trifkovic. Any non-Muslims on lands claimed by Muslims must be murdered, expelled or, or at the least transformed into Dhimmis subservient to Muslims. As is becoming increasingly clear to Europeans, fundamentalist Muslims, as poll after poll shows, represent a majority of Muslims, do not wish to adopt Western values as immigrants in Europe and have no desire whatsoever to tolerate non-Muslims in their midst. Why would the presence of Jewish communities in an Arab state be an impediment to a peace agreement, when Muslim communities exist in Israel? MacDonald never addresses this obvious question.
MacDonald also failed to take into account the context of the establishment of the Jewish state in the aftermath of World War II. That war produced enormous numbers of displaced persons and caused the realignment of national boundaries in every region of the world. The Jewish state was supported by the European powers in large measure because no state would accept displaced Jews and sending them to Palestine seemed a relatively safe solution to the problem. No sooner was Israel founded than she was attacked by her neighbours and virtually every Arab country expelled their Jews who, in most cases, had no place to go but Israel. To go into greater length on this and related issues is far too complex to discuss here. Needless to say there are now many, including many Jews, who have begun to question whether the European solution to Jewish displacement was based in sound thinking. Certainly, few at the time of the establishment of Israel could have anticipated the demographic explosion in the Middle East, which is certainly at the root of much of the current unrest in the region. A fair assessment of Israeli actions in recent years would have to take these factors into account. Anyone familiar with Israeli politics knows that there are profound differences among her citizens as to how to deal with the Palestinian issue and few believe the current situation is desirable. Those differences, however heated they are, take into account the context in which Israel finds itself. Unfortunately, MacDonald fails to do so and in this failure abandons serious scholarship.
