Guy Bechor: Obama Doesn’t Get It
YNET NEWS: US president seeking instant Mideast solutions that show his ignorance

When I read that President Obama will call for normalization of ties between the Arab world and Israel at the early stages of his “peace plan,” I shrugged. Yet when I read that he intends to settle the Palestinian refugees in the Arab states they currently live in, and grant them monetary compensation, I was amused.

These are pipe dreams, just like the “Arab democracy” vision of his predecessor that collapsed loudly and brought disaster to the region. This is a rookie plan of an intern who believes that the Israeli-Arab conflict can be resolved with a quick and arrogant gesture. It is clear that whoever came up with this plan lacks understanding of the history, demography, and mostly the fears of the region.

Arab states will never renounce their demand to send back Palestinian refugees to Palestine, that is, to the State of Israel, and some of them, maybe, to the Palestinian Authority. Why? Because these are holy issues.

These refugees define the aspirations of the Arab world, its politics, and its article of faith; this is something that one does not renounce. The demand for returning the refugees is the only common denominator connecting Hizbullah and the Christians in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and it’s worth more than gold.

The Arab political establishment wishes to realize the “right of return” not for the sake of the Palestinians, heaven forbid, who are hated in most Arab States, but rather, in order to weaken Israel, destroy it from within, and sink it in the sea of returning Palestinians.

For the Arab world, this is not about the fate of the “Palestinians,” but rather, the fate of the “Palestinian problem,” and these are two separate issues: They hate the Palestinians, but admire the Palestinian problem. They hate the refugees, but admire their right of return. The Arab states have not been maintaining the refugee problem for more than 60 years in order to renounce it. >>> Guy Bechor | Monday, June 22, 2009

Guy Bechor Asks the Question: Can Jews Live in Europe?
YNET NEWS: For increasingly helpless European Jews Israel is the solution, not the problem

Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe. Sadly, Guy Bechor feels the need to ask if Jews really have a future in Europe. Photo courtesy of YNet News
It's hard to believe that this question is being asked [a]gain, but sadly, after 70 years it has emerged nonetheless: Is there room for Jewish existence in Europe? Can Jews continue living as a proud community, in 2009, in that same continent with the terrible memories? The answer, in light of what has been materializing in the past few weeks – yet not only because of this – is negative.

A Jew can no longer walk the streets while displaying Jewish trademarks, or visit Jewish institutions that are not surrounded by police officers and guards; they must remain behind locks and bars, scared for their lives.

Meanwhile, those who hide any Jewish attributes and assimilate into society will continue to live – until they face an unpleasant situation with their colleagues, at school, or anywhere else in life.

In recent months I visited and spoke before several Jewish communities in European countries, including Turkey, France, and Britain – even before the Gaza operation. During the trip I saw with my own eyes the miserable Jewish existence. Yes, if they hide the Star of David and the unique dress, and if they agree that their synagogues will look like locked fortresses, like ghettos in fact, and if they are forced to experience threats on the street and hear about the growing number of anti-Semitic incidents – well, we can say that there is Jewish existence; scared, embarrassed, and submissive.

But what about feeling secure in their countries? There is none of that.

Anti-Semitism is a European phenomenon*, with millions of Muslims sweeping the continent and turning the conflict with Israel and the Jews into a cause that enables them to reinforce their hold on Europe. The global economic crisis is being exploited in order to incite against the Jews and against the investment banks which the world enjoyed for half a century. Yet now, when we see losses, "Jewish money still rules the world," as the South African deputy foreign minister startlingly asserted.

The trend is growing across the world and it has nothing to do with Israel: Israel is the tool used in order to secure achievements. Israel is what the Jews used to be in the past.

When we see, in Turkey or Italy, Jewish-owned stores being marked so the locals refrain from buying there, what kind of future do the children of the 750,000 Jews in Western Europe have? You worked for a country that will always view you as foreigners. Following World War II, you made some countries rich, but now we see a quiet Jewish rally in the Swedish capital being banned because of fears of Muslims violence there. What kind of future do you have in this continent, which is becoming increasingly Muslim? >>> | Friday, March 6, 2009

*Really? What about the anti-Semitism in the Muslim world?

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