So the Danish Ambassador defended Europe's holding Israel to a higher standard than it does the Arabs (I'll post the link from The Blaze because the Post tends to charge for viewing its articles). Jeff Goldberg has made a similar defense in The Atlantic.
This position tends to generate a fair amount of outrage in the quarters one would expect, but it really shouldn't -- at least not for the obvious reason. If we restate "holding to a higher standard" as "expecting better of", then of course we expect better of Israel. We'd have to ignore a century of Jewish and Arab behavior to expect otherwise.
It's true that the Europeans' finger-wagging and threats, their holding Israel to a higher standard than not-only the Arabs but themselves, is simply contemptible, and Caroline Glick quite properly lambasted the Ambassador for it. (Of course the past century also teaches us to expect more of the Jews than of the Europeans, but if the Europeans raise that point it should be with an attitude of shame, not superiority.) Still, bottom line: We have to admit that we're way better than our neighbors.
No, the problem isn't the double-standard; it's the failure to follow the double-standard's implications. It's only rational to expect the Palestinians to maintain their desire for Israel's destruction; to have no qualms about lying to us, to themselves and to the world about, well, anything; to encourage violence against our civilian population; to seek to militarize regardless of any negotiated undertakings. But to give them a pass on their peccancies while insisting that Israel treat with them as moral equals, negotiate on the assumption of their good faith and their desire, and ability, to live peacefully with us, well, that just makes no sense at all.
This position tends to generate a fair amount of outrage in the quarters one would expect, but it really shouldn't -- at least not for the obvious reason. If we restate "holding to a higher standard" as "expecting better of", then of course we expect better of Israel. We'd have to ignore a century of Jewish and Arab behavior to expect otherwise.
It's true that the Europeans' finger-wagging and threats, their holding Israel to a higher standard than not-only the Arabs but themselves, is simply contemptible, and Caroline Glick quite properly lambasted the Ambassador for it. (Of course the past century also teaches us to expect more of the Jews than of the Europeans, but if the Europeans raise that point it should be with an attitude of shame, not superiority.) Still, bottom line: We have to admit that we're way better than our neighbors.
No, the problem isn't the double-standard; it's the failure to follow the double-standard's implications. It's only rational to expect the Palestinians to maintain their desire for Israel's destruction; to have no qualms about lying to us, to themselves and to the world about, well, anything; to encourage violence against our civilian population; to seek to militarize regardless of any negotiated undertakings. But to give them a pass on their peccancies while insisting that Israel treat with them as moral equals, negotiate on the assumption of their good faith and their desire, and ability, to live peacefully with us, well, that just makes no sense at all.
