Comments on: It bears repeating: Eric Hoffer on Israel

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 17:41:09 +0000

There are a few MAJOR differences between the Cubans and Arabs. 1. A large majority of those Arabs left their land. They planned to come back, but only once Israel was destroyed. They also initiated the war.

2. The Cubans became productive members of the society they joined. (The Arabs have kept the Palestinians from ever having decent lives in their countries with the exception of Jordan. The Palestinians have accepted this treatment and look what they did in Lebanon years back.

The piece people seem to miss is that these Arab countries were also made up by the west and these countries keep trying to wipe out Israel. Israel did not attack them for a bigger slice.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 15:38:03 +0000

Douglas: So ask Israel to give the Arabs whose property was taken over in 1948, and who had to leave, to give them their day in the court of law. Israel refuses to do so.

There’s a clear case of double standard going on here. One set of standards for Israel, another for Cuba. This is a hypocrisy that neocons must face up to, if they have any spine.

By: douglas

douglas — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:31:49 +0000

of course, those Cubans could actually demonstrate their loss, specifically… and would presumably be doing this in a court of law with words, rather than in a market place or pizza parlor or nightclub with a bomb-vest.

“[ADDENDUM: Change “the Arabs and their Russian backers” in Hoffer’s essay to “the Arabs and Iranians and their (fill in the blanks) backers.”]”
I think that’s “the Syrians, Hizb’allah (party of god), the Palestinians, and thier Iranian backers”.

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 17:58:29 +0000

Synova: See also:

“The Caribbean Basin Fund also has been researching companies that had property confiscated by the Castro government, and which might be able to reclaim those assets in post-Castro Cuba. ”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,206748,00.html
Fox News, Aug 2, 2006

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 17:55:53 +0000

Synova, here you go:

“Americans have fresh memories of the Mariel boatlift in 1980, when Mr Castro allowed thousands of people to leave the island.

On the other hand, many exiles believe that after Mr Castro is gone, they will automatically be able to return to Cuba – and hope they will be able to renew acquaintances with relatives and reclaim property they left behind after the revolution.”

BBC News
July 12, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/americas/1435437.stm

By: Synova

Synova — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 08:07:59 +0000

Pete, saying that Cuba is a typical communist state with all the lack of freedom that goes with it doesn’t equate to thinking that Cuban ex-pats are right about their specific goals. I don’t even know what their specific goals are. I imagine they differ a bit between individuals.

Can you show that most, or even some, expect to return to Cuba and be *given* back their property?

By: Pete

Pete — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 18:24:22 +0000

Stumbley: The funny thing is that the neocons, by and large, tend to support the Cuban-American claims. This shows a double standard: when the expropriator is a political “enemy” (such as Castro’s Cuba), the reaction of the neocons is of one kind; when the expropriator is a “friend”, such as Israel, the reaction is of another kind.

This shows that opportunistic politics, rather than principle, is what is guiding the neocons.

—

By: stumbley

stumbley — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 12:14:04 +0000

Yo, Pete:

and the Cuban-Americans will have exactly as much luck getting their property back as the Arabs have had with theirs. Spoils of war, and possession being 9/10 of the law, and all that.

By: Pete

Pete — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 07:52:22 +0000

neo-neocon wrote: Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people, and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it. Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchmen. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese–and no one says a word about refugees.

But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab.

It is simply not true that Israel is the only country for which such demands are made.

Consider the Cuban-Americans in Miami, many of whom left after the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The government of Cuba expropriated their property. Most of these Cuban-Americans plan to go back to Cuba and lay claim to their former property once they succeed in defeating the current Cuban government. The Arabs who had to leave Palestine are doing exactly the same thing as these Cuban-Americans, in my opinion.