First, let's be honest. As progressive and as lofty-minded as we (you, the typical reader of this blog, and me) think we are, we wouldn't want a bunch of impoverished refugees living next door to us. But it is a bit ironic that many Israelis a) don't want to allow refugees from a war-torn country in and b) complain that foreigners are a menace and have no right to take their land and resources.
The word "irony" sums up Israeli politics very succinctly. I have nothing constructive to add, it's hard to be constructive when you're spitting mad.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that ironic when we consider that early Zionists wanted to occupy, inhabit, and develop a barren desert, turning a wasteland into a land of greenery and civilization. Compare this unimaginable (to me, at least) ambition with the present Sudanese (and other) refugees who want to inhabit a developed, reasonably prosperous nation. Early Israelis wanted to build a new kind of country. It's not at all clear that the Sudanese are looking for anything more than an escape.
ReplyDelete@Peter
ReplyDeleteI think the irony which Alan speaks of is that Jewish people have short memories when it comes to being forced to escape war, death, oppression, etc... They left central Europe for the USA, UK and other developed, reasonably prosperous nations. Did they not?