Click above for the video Benjamin Netanyahu (then "Ben Nitay") discusses the PLO, the West Bank, a Palestinian State and human rights. In this video, Netenyahu is 28 years old. |
In his autobio “Bibi: My Story”, Benjamin Netanyahu talks of his time in the United States in the mid 1970’s, during which he took part in a TV program called “The Advocates” (above), at the time going by the name of “Ben Nitay”.
“Ben Nitay”?. Bibi explains in his autobiography (which is very readable), that it was the name his father had used when in the United States, as he thought that the locals could pronounce it better. This is thoughtful, and along the lines of what I said the other day about racism in Australia. Which was...
… that I chose a Chinese name when I went to China because it’s easier for the Chinese. Similarly, when you go to Australia, and you have a name you think might be difficult for locals, and you’re planning on living there, go ahead and change your name to something easier for the locals to pronounce. There’s no shame in that! Study from Bibi, from his dad and from me!
Back in the US, in the 70s, Bibi came to a realisation that’s as true today as it was then. This was when he was studying at MIT and Harvard, ducked off to fight in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, and still finished both courses in double-quick time. Whatever you think of the man -- I happen to be a fan -- you can’t doubt his intelligence.
His realisation:
"What was clear was that the Arab radicals didn’t hate the West because of Israel, they hated Israel because of the West. Israel represented the kind of open and liberal Western society they detested."In those days these conclusions were downright heretical. Many Western intellectuals and diplomats believed that the Arab and Muslim world’s hostility toward the US and Europe was solely rooted in American support for Israel. Once that support ceased, or Israel ceased to be, the anti-Western hostility would disappear."Yossi [Riemer] and I did our modest part to help debunk this false proposition by coming up with a simple chart. We listed numerous violent attacks reported in various conflicts within the Arab world in a single month. None had anything to do with Israel. How then could Israel be the cause?"And anyway, why was the Middle East “conflict” always in the singular and not in the plural? The region suffered from a surfeit of conflicts: Arabs against Arabs, Arabs against non-Arabs, Shiites against Sunnis, Islamic radicals against moderates, and nearly everyone against the West.”
-- p.100 of 724 in Kindle (13%)
(1) Convert to Islam(2) Pay the Jizya tax(3) We kill them