Christopher Hitchens speaking about Zionism....

His premise is severely flawed. It’s not Arab land. The Jews have been there for thousands of years.

The one issue I disagree with him on because its a one dimensional and frankly superstitious understanding of the history and the conflict. It also assumes it occured in a vacuum. "Arab land" was not a thing, it was ottoman and legally purchased, for example. Many inaccuracies

The 'Palestinians' were offered a State in 1948. They rejected it. As they have a number of times since. That’s why they don't have a state like the Israeli's do.

Christopher Hitchens

What about the North African, Mizrahim, and Jews from across the Arab nation states? Not all Jews are Azkhenazim.

There’s not a Palestinian State because they declined the offer in 1937, 1948, 2000 and 2008.

I disagree with Hitchens' concession a Jew born in Brooklyn has a right to a state in Palestine. But Hitchens was a Jew, after all.

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Let's not sing the praises of Hitchens, he was a big advocate of the war against Iraq.

Except that his own country (Britain), refused to allow Jewish refugees in, either before, during and after the Holocaust. Ditto the US and most other countries. They left the Jews no other viable option other than Israel and no they wish to turn back the clock?

He later found out he had some Jewish heritage and I strongly suspect if he were alive after October 7th, would have become an avowed defender of Israel's right to exist as a nation state, particularly as a nation state free of the exterminationist aggression from its terrorist neighbours.

Do they do a lot of farming in Israel these days? Is that how they got to be a rich nation? “It guaranteed a quarrel with the Arabs.” Oh, okay. Maybe their refusals guaranteed quarrels with the Jews. Whose problem is it?

Sadly The palestinians WANT to live that way Given the choice between peace and progress Palestinians always choose terrorism and death

Burying the lead. Israel was set up as an power base for European imperialists bent on controlling the Middle East oilfields and preventing pan-Arab nationalism. First the British, then the French, now the USA. Without such sponsors, Israel would evaporate like Rhodesia did.

The dispute is not over land you dullard IT NEVER WAS. It’s over Islams hatred of everything but uniquely Jews.

Israel’s not a nation of farmers and peasants, though they are a world leader in agricultural technology.

Hitchens never pretended the founding idea was anything but messianic and foolish. He also never pretended that a state, once established, could simply be erased because its origins were imperfect. The fuller record is clearer than the selective cut.

يجب معالجة هذه الجريمة وليست مجرد خطأ،وذلك بتفكيك دولة الإحتلال الإرهابية وعودة الفلسطينيين إلى أرضهم ومنازلهم،هذا هو الحق وهذا هو العدل،من قال بأن من حق اليهودي من بروكلين بانتزاع بين فلسطيني؟أعرف أنه لم يقل هذا ولكن هذا ما يحدث فعلا"

Hitchens right for once, I guess even trots can be correct at times.

That feels like AI because Hitchens was also very clear about the total lack of willingness to negotiate from the side of Palestinians. He said multiple times that a 2-state solution wouldn't happen because the Palestinians want the destruction of Israel first.

perfect pitch

And he was also pro invasion of Iraq. I don't think people need his validation.

My dad was a Jewish Palestinian, born in Jerusalem in 1942. Who is he talking about?

Notice this former Marxist thinks Israel is comprised of Europeans and Americans. It helps make his case to say that. If he were to say it's comprised of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews from the middle east and North Africa for the most part his narrative implodes.

In the 7th century CE, Arab Muslim armies from the Arabian Peninsula conquered the region historically called Palestine, Egypt, and what is now Jordan, from the Byzantine Empire. They imposed new political rule and accelerated the spread of Arabic and Islam.

How can a man be so clever and so stupid?

shame he became a neocon later on

Except the quarrel with the Arabs started long before modern Zionism.

Make zionism illegal worldwide

And yet he is wrong on the conclusions. Israel is one of the great farming communities in the world, those people were farm innovators, they used water more efficiently. Israel is also the home to more patents than almost any other country. Could that critical mass have been achieved without the existence of Israel.

Hey @TRobinsonNewEra . He's your hero when he talks about Muslims.

He speaks the truth eloquently.

Hitchens claimed to be Jewish on his mother's side, I think

@Free_to_leave When was this from?