Does the Washington Post back Hizbullah & Hamas?

Just in case you thought the international community had finally begun to see the light and recognize the justness of Israel's cause – think again.

In a piece appearing in yesterday's Washington Post, veteran op-ed columnist Richard Cohen published a screed so offensive, and so outrageous, that it should prompt every clear-headed individual to shun the American capital's paper of record and cancel their subscriptions forthwith.

Believe it or not, Cohen's article begins by embracing the central tenet of Hizbullah and Hamas ideology: namely, that the State of Israel has no right to exist.

Here is how Cohen himself put it: "The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now."

Yes – you read that correctly. Cohen believes that "Israel itself is a mistake", and heaps the blame for everything that has happened since 1948 squarely on the shoulders of the Jews.

Sound familiar? It should – because that is exactly the same message being promulgated by Hamas fanatics, Hizbullah thugs, and their paymasters in Teheran. The only difference is that Cohen's diatribe appears in English (perhaps it was translated from the Arabic...).

In case you had any doubt about what Cohen thinks of Hizbullah rocket attacks or Hamas suicide bombings against innocent Israeli civilians, here is the vaunted journalist's take on the subject: "There is no point in condemning Hezbollah. Zealots are not amenable to reason. And there's not much point, either, in condemning Hamas. It is a fetid, anti-Semitic outfit whose organizing principle is hatred of Israel. There is, though, a point in cautioning Israel to exercise restraint -- not for the sake of its enemies but for itself."

Thanks for the advice, Dick. I'm sure your forbears are shepping nachas (i.e. taking pride) to see you defending the murderers, rather than their victims.

Comments

[blogrfactor]

I agree that this columnist's view on Israel is uneducated, irreligious, anti-jewish and close-minded. This Op-Ed piece probably does not represent the view of the majority of the readership of the Washington Post. A response to such a column should not be a boycott; it wouldnt be successful anyway given that it is usually very difficult to get any group of educated Americans to stand up for an issue more than the one day it is a considered a "hot issue". An appropriate response would be a well written, critically thought out counter/column or letter to the editor that educates the Post's readership that puts this "veteran editor" in his place. That is not to say that this editor is not entitled to his opinion but given the timing of this column etc. I think that this Op-Ed piece was written to cause controversy and "buzz" around a newspaper that is likely losing readership due to the internet and real time news reporting.

[nul]

Unfortunately, nothing new in this approach. You are right, his article could be translated from Arabic. And, by the way, has this, or so kindly condescending, gentleman forgotten about Israelis from Middle Eastern countries?

[rafe]

Another knee jerk response from the Israeli right!!!! Did you read the article? Cohen may have chosen a controversial term "mistake", but there is not doubt what his message is. The scum that attack Israel are implacable foes and Israel, fully justified in its existence, needs to remember that when fighting them. Thats all he wrote .. full stop. I can see why a rightist may disagree with that approach... as do I, but to accuse Cohen of being in league with Hamas and Hizbullah is hyperbole that serves no purpose. Sure it lays the blame at Israel's feet; Not because Israel is evil, but because Israel is more humane and righteous than the scum that attacks it. I suggest you take some time to read more carefully before attacking with such loaded verbiage!

[Fred]

I have been reading Cohen's columns as guest columns in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles) Daily News for several years (at least I would peruse the first paragraph, which is all I could stand). For years he has been patronizing Israel, as if as a detached, smarter American he could see more clearly than the Israelis.

But now his fundamental dishonesty emerges. I can understand a person who does not believe that Israel should exist. I disagree with them completely, and I can't honestly say that I respect their position (I don't think I can afford to), but I understand it. What I can't understand is a person pretending to give detached, dispassionate advice on the Middle East without ever revealing that fact. I am afraid that too many in the US State Department agree with him, while pretending to fulfill the role of "honest broker" of Middle East peace.

[rench]

The Wash.post generally lives in a different world.The overall theme of the posts coverege in the mideast is poorly edited historicaly nieve moraly ambigious and politicaly correct.Yet they do have right to there coverage.Whats so troublig to you and I is such a sorry state of thought exists and is cheered and given such influance.Non the less there is a accurate history.Regardless of the posts coverage,editorial power etc..The facts will stand.So ya in part and by implied statments the editorialsts postion is in support of the same failed path.Uwilling to recongnize the threats and failers of the past.And by implacatioun supports, the countiued support, of the Islamic terro groupings that are so plaqing the world today.

[Stan]

http://www.fromisraeltolebanon.org/
Check this out

[yehoshua]

Amalek is alive and well in the person of Richard Cohen. Unfortunately, Jewish anti-semitism is nothing new, and this piece of filth should crawl back into the nearest gutter. We are obligated to kill Amalek when we find him in our midst. Where is Zarkawi now that we need him! Cohen should be put out of his misery and have his head chopped off.

[Maxine]

Cohen;
You leave no doubt in my mind that what ever slime bog you slithered up out of is badly in need your rapid return. However should you choose to remain amough the human element and you one day find yourself tied to a stake and the fella with the torch asks if you have a last request, I suggest, DICK, that you ask for dry wood.
Momentarly I will be a former subscriber of the Washington Post.

[joanne hirschfield]

WHAT CAN I SAY WHEN SUCH EVIL COMES FROM THE PEN OF A JEW???WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD???WE MUST STAY STRONG AND PRAY!! MAY G-D BLESS US AND KEEP US AS G-D HAS IN THE PAST.

[L. C. Cain]

Thank you for pointing out this ungodly man's vile message. Cohen obviously is ignorant of the Word of God. He DOES NOT speak for all americans. Yes, freedom of press allows you to execise your free will which is given to us from GOD--but you are accountable for how you use it. All heart-filled christians KNOW how the Lord feels about HIS chosen. This man shall one day be shown why his statements are so VERY wrong.

[Osher Deed]

Many Middle-Eastern Jews who run for their life from Muslim countries are living in Israel, as well as European Jews run for their life from Nazzi Germany.

Cohen is no other than a vicious anti-semistic,as Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and other Islamo-Fashists,who are terrorising not only Israel by all the world Cohen and these viscous savage destroyer of civiliaation WILL NEVER PREVAIL!!!

[Osher Deed]

Many Middle-Eastern Jews who run for their life from Muslim countries are living in Israel, as well as European Jews run for their life from Nazzi Germany.

Cohen is no other than a vicious anti-semitic,as Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and other Islamo-Fashists,who are terrorising not only Israel but all the civilized world Cohen and these viscous savage destroyer of civilization WILL NEVER PREVAIL!!!

[Blackie Owens]

Richard Cohen is quisling cretin!

I sent your website address to all on my email mailing list and and informed them to check you out if they are tired of the biased reporting by our drive-by-media and want an honest account of your fight against islamofascist terrorist's.

We are with you 100% Israel!

blackie
Oregon, USA

[Daniel von Ravensbug]

Israel is the Center of the World. If there's any doubt go to Haifa.. to the base of Carmel and look up and see the future. Israel need not take advice from any nation and David's Neutronic Sling should NOW be released to the East while there is yet time. Yes... Release and hold fast and all nations will bow in astonishment and supplication because this is the moment.

[Margaret Lerner]

Cohen.... hmmm what a slur on a holy name. This self-hating Jew should be immediately escorted to Southern Lebanon to dine with his pals. Although I doubt he would last long... oh well....

[Thomas]

Cohen speaks for a minority of Americans that are vested in defeat of Israel and America. They consist of a bunch of socialist, stalinist, anti-Jewish freedom haters called the current Democratic Party. Until Iran and Syria are taken out of the picture, nothing will change. The target packages have been drawn up. The dictator terrorists will find out what a 500 pounder on their backsides feels like. It's coming time for America to tell the U.N., the French, and all the rest to put up or shut up and get down to the business of taking out the worlds trash. The pot-bellied, dog eating short man with elvis hair that resides in North Korea comes next. Go IDF!

[M. D'Souza]

What else can one expect from the Washington Compost? It is as bad as the New York Slimes! Both have lost their readership, because they S-T-I-N-K liberal trash, like the article of Richard Cohen.

Sooner or later the Washington Compost may go down the same path of down-sizing their staff as well as the sheets in their newspaper as the New York Slimes has slid.

One cannot believe a Cohen could write such trash, as the stuff he put in the paper, that should line the bottom of our bird cage.

[Justin]

I do not beleive that Cohen "heaps the blame for everything that has happened since 1948 squarely on the shoulders of the Jews."
He said the creation of the state was a mistake, he does not say who committed that mistake. History shows that the mistake lies in the hands of the controlling nations following WW2. His language describing Hamas and Hizbullah clearly points out that those organizations are beyond contempt, they are so clearly evil that it is not worth the effort to redeem or condem them.

[Harold Reisman]

You should direct your readership to the site "Dhimme Watch". Cohen is the prime example of the Western dhimme; in fact, he is the poster boy. He surpasses those Jews in 1938 Germany who told US Jews to back off; Hitler could be dealt with.

[Matthew Dickinson]

I think I support Hizbullah and the Lebanese now. The more I read about this war, how the Israelis are killing much more Lebanese than the other way around, it seems only fair to support the underdog, even though I wish they would give up the two Israeli soldiers and stop firing the rockets. No, it's not true that Israel is the underdog, because everyone knows that Israel has America's support, and America is the biggest superpower in the world by such a large margin that it is laughable (we have enough nuclear power to destroy all life on the planet). As this conflict widens into Syria and Iran, it will become a world war, and America will begin fighting, too, and it will be this phony Israel that foisted their problems onto the world. Jesus, a Jewish rabbi and the Messiah, he was right all along! We are to turn the other cheek. We are to follow the wisdom in the Sermon on the Mount. Because the state of Israel should be founded later when the world accepts the idea, not when the world hates the idea. Until then Israel must be an idea only, something that can only remain in the hearts of the righteous.

[Matthew Dickinson]

I really do think it is likely that America will begin using nuclear bombs if this present conflict between Hizbullah and Israel escalates into a war with Iran, Syria, etc. I don't hate the Jewish people, only their government. A lot of people are going to be dying soon, I fear, and it won't just be Jews and Arabs. Israel is supposed to be a light unto the nations, but they don't believe that Jesus is the messiah, and so God is angry at them. That is why the Holocaust happened, and why a new holocaust is afoot. It is punishment. God uses the gentiles to punish the Jews.

[Rob]

(matthew above) 'it seems only fair to support the underdog' - and I presume you've been cheering for bin Laden too, as he's been the underdog ever since his brutal attack on the world trade center?

This comment alone should prove wrong all those who believe Hamas and the Al Aqsa brigades attack Israel because of 'the occupation'. Even for someone living in America, a heap of ignorance together with a bit of religous hatred result in wishing for the destruction of Israel. In Gaza (and clearly much of Lebanon), considering the type of propaganda Arafat spread (yes possibly even worse than this random Washington Post guy we're all calling a Nazi and terrorist) it's all that much easier to become influenced to suicide bomb in pizza shops.

[Thomas]

The falsities of "the cause" manifests itself in many ways, apparent for all to see, but ignored in the media and elsewhere. The poor Americans stranded in Lebannon. Most hold dual citizenship. At the height of their hypocrisy they support and cuddle with Hizbollah, yet reside in America where they enjoy all the benefits of a free society that those which they support would deny them. Mexicans legal and illegal suck the benefits of America, yet during Cinco de Mayo, celebrate the founding of a country that has kept them and their fathers and mothers in poverty for decades, not to mention a country they left behind for that very reason. They have not learned the greatest lesson in life, that being, you can't have it both ways. It's one thing to celebrate your heritage, but quite another to want the cake and to kill the baker. Better be getting yourself on one side of the street or the other Matthew. The Lebanese made their choice. So have the rest. Unfortunately in life, we all have to deal with the consequences of our choices.

[Matthew Dickinson]

Yes I love Osama. He lives in my basement in hiding, and I tell others this, but they never believe me.

[Dave]

Hey Thomas, who appointed you judge, jury, and executioner of Lebanese civilians, or Americans for that matter? Israel? Does Israel's right to exist trump everyone else's right to life and liberty? At least ask the questions, instead of conducting your inquisition. Instead of resorting, like most of the people who left comments here, to tarring and feathering the people with whom you have ideological differences. This article said nothing remotely against Jews, it only said the establishing the state of Israel was a mistake. The state, not the people. The state is such a sacred cow that even broaching the topic of the wisdom of establishing the state brings criticism. But no one here is making anything close to an empirical argument - they're just sounding off on their feelings about their sacred cow, the state of Israel. Show me an empircal argument for why it would be better for the state of Israel to exist. The article here argues (maybe not so well) that it's not worth it. Argue the reverse, instead of abandoning your fellow countrymen to their fate in the name of ideological consistency. Being in Lebanon does not make you a traitor to America. And not supporting Israel is not betraying America!