Learning the Hard Way
November 19, 2002

by Joe Sobran

     "The Israelis now possess all the nuclear secrets of 
the United States."

     This is the conclusion of Sean McDade, an 
investigator with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 
after studying a sophisticated Mossad computer theft 
operation against the United States two years ago. 
Evidently the Mounties don't spend all their time riding 
horses.

     "Compared to this espionage coup," McDade added, "it 
can be categorically stated that the Jonathan Pollard 
case is insignificant."

     McDade's memorandum is quoted in Gordon Thomas's 
recent book SEEDS OF FIRE (Dandelion Books), which also 
deals extensively with Israel's secret dealings with the 
Chinese government. Since China sees the United States as 
its enemy, U.S. nuclear secrets would be a precious 
bargaining chip for the Israelis.

     McDade surmised that this story, "if made public," 
might cause a "major scandal." That depends on whether 
the American media and American politicians want to make 
an issue of it. And when it comes to our Israeli 
"allies," they are very, very forgiving. The Israelis 
have never paid a penalty for Pollard's spying, though 
they still refuse to return, or even to identify, the 
stolen documents. So the full damage still can't be 
assessed. And the Israelis keep pressing American 
presidents for Pollard's release from prison!

     Israel, we are told, is "our only reliable ally in 
the Middle East." It's bad enough having Israel's 
friendship, but we also get its enemies into the bargain. 
All this for a mere five billion bucks a year! What a 
deal!

     When it comes to foreign policy, the U.S. Government 
isn't playing with a full deck. It's naive, weak, and 
corrupt. No other Western government has been foolish 
enough to get so deeply entangled in Jewish-Muslim 
hostilities. And Thomas's book makes it clear that the 
United States is as far out of its depth in international 
intrigue as in general policymaking.

     Pro-Israel pundits like Daniel Pipes urge us to read 
the Koran in order to learn what the Islamic world really 
thinks of us "infidels." Good advice, but we should also 
acquaint ourselves with the Talmud to learn how the 
Israelis regard us "goyim." Neither religion flatters us, 
though the Talmud is far more insulting.

     It might come as a shock to most Americans to 
discover that neither Jews nor Muslims live by the New 
Testament. When President Bush called Islam "a religion 
of peace," he displayed the typically American assumption 
that all religions preach justice, mercy, and universal 
benevolence. Isn't that what religion means?

     Well, not exactly. Many religions have celebrated 
conquest and extermination. Christians have even managed 
to interpret the New Testament as authorizing rough 
stuff. The Old Testament offers precedents enough for 
wiping out your enemies, right down to the infants and 
livestock. The colorful Aztec religious festivals 
culminated in human sacrifice, nice and slow. The Talmud 
teaches that all gentiles deserve death; and though it 
doesn't urge Jews to kill us all, it does help explain 
Ariel Sharon.

     Even most American Jews are naive about this. In 
America, Judaism, like Catholicism, has been "refined" 
into a virtual Protestant denomination, part of what has 
been called our "civil religion." Muslims in this country 
are beginning to be similarly protestantized.

     But in the Middle East, people of all faiths still 
practice that old-time religion. They don't attend 
interfaith brotherhood banquets. In Israel, a Christian 
who tries to convert a Jew is apt to serve a longer 
prison sentence than a Jew who murders a Christian. In 
some Muslim countries, a Christian who preaches publicly 
will be put to death.

     This is the world America is eager to barge into, 
hoping to cajole, bribe, and if necessary bomb these 
countries until they embrace pluralistic democracy and 
women's rights. Visualize liberated Mecca: a city of neon 
lights, porn shops, and abortion clinics, girls with 
faces and navels exposed.

     Why is the world's most powerful country also one of 
the most provincial? Having lost our own cultural roots, 
we seem to have no sense of the depth of foreign 
cultures. Isn't everyone just like us, really? Aren't the 
differences only superficial? And can't these people see 
how much better off they'll be if they just abandon their 
ways and adopt ours?

     Assuming that the other fellow is just like you may 
be a kindly attitude, but in the Middle East it's a good 
way to get your pocket picked.

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