I got an email today that made me feel really disgusted. And it wasn't the kind that tells me how I can make my peni$ three inches bigger! The message text and my response follow...
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The message:
Interesting article written by a Japanese person on the "Palestinians." This letter written by someone with no vested interest in either side really nails it. Please take the time to read it, and if you agree with its importance perhaps you will consider distributing it to your e-mail distribution lists. It is important for people to know the truth....... If you are so sure that Palestine, the country, goes back through most of recorded history I expect you to be able to answer a few basic questions about that country: .
When was it founded and by whom?
·What were its borders?
·What was its capital?
·What were its major cities?
·What constituted the basis of its economy?
·What was its form of government?
·Can you name at least one Palestinian leader before Arafat? ·Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation?
·What was the language of the country of Palestine?
·What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine? ·What was the name of its currency?
·Choose any date in history and tell what was the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese Yuan on that date.
·And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur?
If you are lamenting the low sinking of a once proud nation. Please tell me, when exactly was that nation proud and what was it so proud of?
And here is the least sarcastic question of all: If the people you mistakenly call Palestinians are anything but generic Arabs collected from all over -- or thrown out of -- the Arab world, if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in the Six Day War? I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern day Palestinians to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology for history won't work here. The truth should be obvious to everyone who wants to know it. Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of destroying Israel; they still cherish it today. Having time and again failed to achieve their evil goal with military means, they decided to fight Israel by proxy. For that purpose, they created a terrorist organization, cynically called it the Palestinian people and installed it in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. How else can you explain the refusal by Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the West Bank and Gaza, respectively? The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria have much less claim to nationhood than that Indian tribe that successfully emerged in Connecticut and California with the purpose of starting a tax-exempt casino: at least that tribe had a constructive goal that motivated them. The so-called Palestinians have only one motivation: the destruction of Israel, and in my book that is not sufficient to consider them a nation -- or anything else except what they really are: a terrorist organization that will one day be dismantled. In fact, there is only one way to achieve peace in the Middle East. Arab countries must acknowledge and accept their defeat in their war against Israel and, as the losing side, should pay Israel reparations for the more than 50 years of devastation they have visited on it. The most appropriate form of such reparations would be the removal of their terrorist organization from the land of Israel and accepting Israel's ancient sovereignty over Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. That will mark the end of the Palestinian people. What are you saying again, was its beginning? You are absolutely correct in your understanding of the Palestinians murderous motives. I am afraid however that you, along with 99% of the population of this planet, have missed the beginning of WW III (they call it Jihad) quite a few years ago. The siege of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, an event to which the latest Nobel Peace Prize winner had so miserably failed to respond, can be very well used as the day WW III stepped out of the pages of the Koran and into the current events. I pray the United States and Israel lead the world to victory in this war. Come to think of it, there is no choice, be you a Christian, a Jew, or even, believe it or not, a Muslim.
This letter was written by Yashiko Sagamori on Nov 6, 2002.
My response:
Hoax? Well, I'm sure it is actually somebody's opinion, and they are entitled to their opinions... but to be blunt, I think this is hate-fomenting trash, and I'm frankly really upset that anybody is taking it seriously. A five-minute search on Google for this guy's name made it pretty clear to me that he's not a reliable authority on this issue. Just a few points that leap out:
-- "This letter written by someone with no vested interest in either side" -- that should set off warning bells right there. Besides, the guy is not Japanese -- he uses a pen name, by his own admission. http://www.middleeastfacts.com/yashiko/
-- His entire premise is faulty. It's one thing to condemn the attacks on Israel. It's another thing to say that because a group of people don't have their own currency, by definition, their claim to nationality is void. Israelis themselves had no currency of their own until relatively recently in history! -- Nor is language in and of itself a defining feature of nationhood.... if that was the case, there would be no Canada or U.S.; we'd just be part of the U.K. still.
-- The fact that people can't name Arafat's predecessors speaks more to our lack of knowledge of history than of their lack of existence. -- He makes hyperbolic statements without backing them up or giving evidence. For example, here's an excerpt from another article by this guy. "In the face of the Islamic invasion, Westerners remain blissfully ignorant about Islam. Really, what do we know about it besides the fact that it has sponsored most mass murders of the last two decades? Not much. Following September 11, 2001, we've been reminded multiple times that Islam is a religion of love and piece, although the few excerpts from the Koran that have become widely known to the Western public suggest that the love of the Moslems is directed exclusively towards the faithful, while we, the infidels, are dealt with by ways of jihad -- a "holy" war whose goal is to free the world from our vile presence" (http://www.middleeastfacts.com/Articles/Yashiko/Hadith101.htm) This is a blatant distortion of Islam, bordering on hate speech, IMHO.
Remember, not everyone who supports Israel (Tom DeLay comes to mind) has good motives for doing so, and I think writings like this do a lot of harm.
