A Veteran Israeli Military Officer’s Advice

Posted by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist in At TMV.
Aug 31st, 2006 | 5 responses

5 Responses to “A Veteran Israeli Military Officer’s Advice”

1. Rudi says:

   August 31, 2006 at 12:57 pm

   Interesting link and post, the US has the same problem. If Israelis learned Arabic they would also learn more about the Arab culture. Some in the US and Israel believe their culture is superior to other cultures and they don’t have to understand the “enemy”. The US educational system has fallen since a foreign language is no longer required for secondary or undergraduate education.
2. C.Prez says:

   August 31, 2006 at 2:26 pm

   The former Israel Defence Force officer says that while Israel has flourished economically and technologically, modelling itself like a European nation, it is culturally alienated from its Arab neighbours.

   “The immediate effort (to make up with the Middle East) should centre on language,” he said.

   Couldn’t've put this better myself!
3. Holly in Cincinnati says:

   August 31, 2006 at 3:23 pm

   Swaaraj, many Israeli Jews DO speak Arabic and/or Farsi because they were born in Arab countries or Iran or are children of those who were. Also, Israel is a tri-lingual country where most things are posted in Hebrew, Arabic and English. It would really make far more sense for non-Israeli Arabs to learn Hebrew.

   BTW, one of the college students from my synagogue has been studying Arabic for the last couple of years.

   Because spoken Hebrew and Arabic are very similar, I can safely claim that I know more Arabic than most people know Hebrew.
4. Pyst says:

   August 31, 2006 at 11:26 pm

   “Avi Azrieli says in the International Herald Tribune that one problem Israel faces is very few Israelis speak Arabic even though it is one of the country’s two officials languages alongside Hebrew.”

   Holly….nevermind, it won’t matter, you always know more than the people that live there, I forget your amazing abilities.
5. C.Prez says:

   September 1, 2006 at 8:58 am

   Holly you know I *heart* u, but…

   Israel is a democracy that protects the human rights of its citizens. In its battle against guerilla forces, however, Israel has a pattern of disregarding the rights of civilians and accepted international humanitarian law. Furthermore, Israeli security forces commit human rights abuses against Palestinians and others in the occupied territories.

   According to section 4 of the Arms Export Control Act, U.S. arms may only be used for the purposes of “legitimate self-defense.” But what defines self-defense? Israel’s 1981 bombing of the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq, the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and the 1985 bombing of PLO headquarters in Tunisia elicited little response from the U.S. government. On 15 July 1982 the Reagan administration said that Israel’s invasion of Lebanon “may” have violated the 1952 U.S.-Israeli Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement, but no action was taken. (Richard F. Grimmett, CRS Report for Congress [86-18F], 6 February 1986, p. 6.)

   http://www.fas.org/asmp/profiles/israel.htm

   You really need to stop playing the victum role constantly.