Explain to me Israeli support

Sorry Davey,

I'm no expert on this matter but I recall some details, and others are easy to find. Oldie and Paq will no doubt have more to offer, they were probably there!

The United Resistance was the name given to the overall grouping of all of the various dissident Jewish underground factions. As most terrorist organisations now do, there was a legal mouthpiece, the Jewish Agency, which fronted groups like the Haganah and the Irgun and Lehi. The link between them was proven inconclusively when documents were seized in a raid and openly displayed.

The Haganah command settled on three actions against the British and sent word in a letter to Menahin Begin who was I think the head of the Irgun, (the ex-Prime Minister I mentioned), setting the action against the Hotel. Despite giving a 20 minute warning to the French across the road, and it is surmised to the British themselves, (British incompetence possibly raises its head here), this was carried out with the deaths I posted about.

The fear then was of a British backlash, which never really came. But the leaders of the Jewish Agency and most other factions all distanced themselves from the perpetrators and made a public statement to that effect. To their credit Irgun stayed more or less silent for a year, then when the United Resistance broke apart they saw no need to not go public and made their statement.

One humourous side to this is that the British were blown out of the water politically afterwards when it came to light that some idiot Army officer in charge had decided on a policy of banning all British personnel from consorting with any Jewish businesses as he said that "The aim of these orders are to punish the Jews in a way the race dislikes as much as any, namely by striking at their pockets". This was so antisemitic that we lost face and our high moral position petered out somewhat through it.

So the short answer is "We" is the Irgun who committed the offence, the United Resistance is the political grouping of most of the Jewish underground groups to which they were allied. But when have you ever known me to offer the short answer?

Another aspect of this problem not touched on yet is the cultural and character divide. While peoples all over the world differ in their character and social makeup, considering the way our territories butt up against each other and the way our commercial lives are intertwined, (to our detriment I feel), the differences between the Western and Arabic peoples are more extreme that any others. Unfortunately the extra allowances which should be made to accomodate this aspect seem to be diminishing rather than growing.

The history laid out here so concisely by you guys is of academic interest to most of us. To the Arab mind it is something that he has inherited, lives with everyday, and still has a responsibility to lay to rest to preserve the dignity of his people and ancestors. Old grievances can never really be forgotten. The veneer put on when they adopt our Western attitudes to deal with us is glued with flour paste and drops off at the first opportunity. We cannot relate to this. I say this from personal experience and in no way to criticise them.

It is an unfortunate fact that the doggedness of the average American with his brashness and loud proclamations of national superiority are a red rag to the bull of that Arab character. You are just oil and matches I am afraid. And while the average Israeli is not of the same mould, having a large proportion of Arabic in him, their attitudes are nowadays leaning towards those of America more than anywhere else from their own close ties with you.

The European has been dealing with the Arab nations for better or worse, right or wrong, for many centuries. We have also been dealing with each other and coping with differing beliefs and attitudes for our whole history. We are somewhere in the middle, with our own peculiarities and weaknesses but more knowledgeable and adaptable in matters like this. You are just coming out of a long period of isolation from involvement the affairs of the rest of the world and have not gained the experience to easily deal with them.

The question now is, who is the more pliable and will bend to accomodate the other's stiffness opening the door to progress?