What the Mainstream Media Doesn't Tell You About Israel

I think it's fair to say my blog posts have never been emotional but having just watched this six-minute video about Israel, I feel the need to write this emotional post.

No doubt, Israel has overreacted at times. Mightn't you if your neighbor's government, Hamas's charter called for your annihilation and was firing bombs near your home? How'd you feel if you were an Israeli and you knew that the Palestinian people selected Hamas as its government and has its military armed by Iran, a soon-to-be-nuclear power led by a Holocaust denier who is in solidarity with Hamas' pledge to destroy Israel?

And now Egypt will likely be run by a government far less accepting of Israel than Hosni Mubarek is. The Muslim Brotherhood, with ties to Al Qaeda, is among the leading contenders. And the U.S. president is the least Israel-friendly in history. To top it all, the mainstream media is growing ever more leftist, which means it advocates for economic have-nots, without regard to their merit. As is demonstrated in the video, Israel is not yet an economic have-not and thus will always get worse media coverage than the poor Palestinians.

As you decide how much to support Israel vs. the Palestinians vs. the countries surrounding Israel, and as you decide whether the mainstream media uses a double-standard to judge Israel compared with the Palestinians and other Middle Eastern countries, I invite you to at least consider the facts in this video. At minimum, you'll find the music uplifting.

Although rationally, I can't take pride in others' accomplishments, emotionally, I find myself proud that a people whose genetic roots I share has done so much good for the world, including for Muslim people whose leaders want to exterminate the Israeli people, just as the Nazis wanted to.

P.S. This second video highlights many more of Israel's amazing contributions. I believe that watching that eight-minute video will make even the most anti-Israeli person more pro-Israel. I am in awe at what Israelis have done for the world.

What I'd Say to the United Nations

If I were to give a talk to the United Nations in light of the coming regime change in Egypt, here is what I would say:

The lack of well-paying jobs, especially in countries that are subject to political and religious extremism, for example, Egypt, will result in continued increases in terrorism.

Those increases will engender ever greater risk of worldwide cataclysm as weapons of mass destruction become ever more miniaturized.

Think, for example, what would happen if a terrorist released a vial of highly communicable deadly smallpox in an international airport check-in area. (That's before the TSA screening.) Or a terrorist in one of the millions of trucks that visit crowded downtowns detonated a suitcase- or larger nuclear or radiologic device.

The solutions are:

1. We must talk with terrorist organizations. Engagement has a better risk/reward ratio than vilification. More important,

2. We must be far smarter in how we spend our money. We currently spend fortunes far in excess of their likely benefit on, for example, military adventurism, stopping airline shoe bombers, space exploration, politically popular social programs known not to work, and dubious schemes to try to cool the planet.

We must redirect that spending to efforts far more likely to improve humankind, for example:

• teaching entrepreneurship (the key to creating jobs)
• encouraging an Assistance Army, in which people are encouraged to hire assistants: new-parent helpers, parenting coaches, homework helpers, personal assistants, companions for the elderly, etc.
• decreasing people's belief in materialism. There will no doubt be times when there are not enough well-paying jobs to go around. People need to realize that materialism, even the holding of private property, is not key to the life well-led. In the end, kindness, productivity, and simple pleasures are more central.
  
• the primacy of ethics. Regarding the latter, everyone must be taught again and again, through adults' actions as well as their words, that all of us must consider, before undertaking any action, what's best, not just for us, but for humankind.

Even as I write this, I worry that perhaps I'm overestimating the potential for the full range of humankind to behave according to universal wisdom. After all, I must admit that typically, my behavior is altruistic only as long as it doesn't hurt me. Too often, I forgo the unpleasant altruistic act. Occasionally, my behavior is even mildly malevolent, as when I sneer at a driver who's driving only at the speed limit unlike my usual 10 mph over.

But I prefer to err on the side of optimism. So I would like to close by stipulating to my proposed solutions being very difficult to implement although perhaps not as difficult as the effort to cool the planet. But I believe the results, even if imperfect, would do more to improve the lives of humankind than anything else, yes, anything else. Certainly, my plan is far better than what we're currently doing. Should we begin?