Saving Israel

Victor Davis Hanson is a mensch, about as sharp as they come. His latest Townhall column is, "Can Israel Survive?" Here are his concluding paragraphs:

The Arab Middle East damns Israel for not granting a "right of return" into Israel to Palestinians who have not lived there in nearly 70 years. But it keeps embarrassed silence about the more than half-million Jews whom Arab dictatorships much later ethnically cleansed from Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and sent back into Israel. On cue, the Palestinian ambassador to the United States again brags that there will be no Jews allowed in his newly envisioned, and American subsidized, Palestinian state -- a boast with eerie historical parallels.

By now we know both what will start and deter yet another conflict in the Middle East. In the past, wars broke out when the Arab states thought they could win them and stopped when they conceded they could not.

But now a new array of factors -- ever more Islamist enemies of Israel such as Turkey and Iran, ever more likelihood of frontline Arab Islamist governments, ever more fear of Islamic terrorism, ever more unabashed anti-Semitism, ever more petrodollars flowing into the Middle East, ever more chance of nuclear Islamist states, and ever more indifference by Europe and the United States -- has probably convinced Israel's enemies that finally they can win what they could not in 1947, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 and 2006.

So brace yourself. The next war against Israel is no longer a matter of if, only when. And it will be far more deadly than any we've witnessed in quite some time.

Also at Townhall is the indication that, as vacuous as Obama's speech yesterday to the UN was, at least there's still a smidgen of dignity left in his administration because our delegation to the UN walked out during Ahmadinejad's diatribe before the UN General Assembly. Good for them!

Unlike Obama, however, I hold out no hope for peace. "Peace is hard work," the President said at the UN, and it's true. But only if both sides are willing to do the work. And right now, the enemies of Israel aren't willing.

Random Questions

Bekah at Bekah's Bits answered some questions she found in a magazine, and I can't resist this kind of thing, so I'm going to answer them too.

Has anyone ever thought you were pregnant when you weren't?
No. But I did that to my boss one time, and she was horrified. I kept my job, but ever since then I never say anything to anyone about their pregnancy until I know for certain that's what the belly is all about.

What level of SPF do you wear?
70. I hate the stuff on my face, because it makes me break out. But that's much better than burning to a crisp.

What is one lesson you learned in school that you'll never forget?
I took a Shakespeare Extensive class in college, and in Shakespeare's day, they had a concept called Right Reason, which was the perfect balance between using your emotions and using your reasoning. All decisions should be made using the proper balance and should never be based on just one or the other. Unfortunately for King Lear, he made the biggest decision of his life based solely on emotion, and because he failed to use Right Reason, he went mad. It was the appropriate result of what he did.

What's always in your refrigerator?
French Vanilla creamer. I just bought more because I was getting low. Must. Not. Run. Out.

What is the craziest thing you've done while sleep deprived?
I'm always sleep deprived. And I don't really do crazy, so probably the craziest thing was going upside-down on the Mickey roller coaster at Disneyland's California Adventure. Three times. Once with my daughter. Once with my now-roomie. And once with my very good friend the astrophysics major (who has now graduated and is a space cadet or something). I hated the roller coaster every time and only did it for them. I believe they appreciate my sacrifice.

What do you do to make your mornings less hectic?
That's not possible.