This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- At U.N., Israel’s Netanyahu says that Israel will live forever
- Palestinian president Abbas launches blistering attack on Israel
- Iran’s Ahmadinejad awaits the arrival of the Mahdi
- More on the Sunni versus Shia television debate
- Generational Dynamics World View now available through e-mail
At U.N., Israel’s Netanyahu says that Israel will live forever
There have been two days of drama at the United Nations, as worldleaders spoke to the General Assembly. Saying that Israel will liveforever, Israel’s President Benjamin Netanyahu used his speech tocontrast Israel against the dark forces of militant Islam:
Three thousand years ago, King David reigned over theJewish state in our eternal capital, Jerusalem. I say that to allthose who proclaim that the Jewish state has no roots in ourregion and that it will soon disappear.
Throughout our history, the Jewish people have overcome all thetyrants who have sought our destruction. It’s their ideologiesthat have been discarded by history.
The people of Israel live on. We say in Hebrew Am Yisrael Chai,and the Jewish state will live forever.
The Jewish people have lived in the land of Israel for thousandsof years. Even after most of our people were exiled from it, Jewscontinued to live in the land of Israel throughout the ages. Themasses of our people never gave up the dreamed of returning to ourancient homeland.
Defying the laws of history, we did just that. We in gathered theexiles, restored our independence and rebuilt our nationallife. The Jewish people have come home.
We will never be uprooted again…
For today, a great battle is being waged between the modern andthe medieval.
The forces of modernity seek a bright future in which the rightsof all are protected, in which an ever-expanding digital libraryis available in the palm of every child, in which every life issacred.
The forces of medievalism seek a world in which women andminorities are subjugated, in which knowledge is suppressed, inwhich not life but death is glorified.
These forces clash around the globe, but nowhere more starkly thanin the Middle East.
Israel stands proudly with the forces of modernity. We protect therights of all our citizens: men and women, Jews and Arabs, Muslimsand Christians – all are equal before the law…
Yet the medieval forces of radical Islam, whom you just sawstorming the American embassies throughout the Middle East, theyoppose this.
They seek supremacy over all Muslims. They are bent on worldconquest. They want to destroy Israel, Europe, America. They wantto extinguish freedom. They want to end the modern world.
Militant Islam has many branches – from the rulers of Iran withtheir Revolutionary Guards to Al Qaeda terrorists to the radicalcells lurking in every part of the globe.
But despite their differences, they are all rooted in the samebitter soil of intolerance. That intolerance is directed first attheir fellow Muslims, and then to Christians, Jews, Buddhists,Hindus, secular people, anyone who doesn’t submit to theirunforgiving creed.
They want to drag humanity back to an age of unquestioning dogmaand unrelenting conflict.
I am sure of one thing. Ultimately they will fail. Ultimately,light will penetrate the darkness.
The last portion of Netanyahu’s speech was a science lesson on how tobuild a nuclear weapon. He held up a cartoon picture of a bomb with afuse, and drew a red line on the cartoon, saying that Iran will haveenough highly enriched plutonium to build a bomb by next spring orsummer. He asked that the United States and the United Nations draw apolitical red line threatening military action against Iran if itcontinues to produce highly enriched plutonium. Latinos Post
Palestinian president Abbas launches blistering attack on Israel
In a speech that Netanyahu called “libelous,” Palestinian Authoritypresident Mahmoud Abbas began by saying that “I speak on behalf of anangry people,” and launched a blistering attack on Israel:
Developments over the past year have confirmed whatwe have persistently drawn attention to and warned of: thecatastrophic danger of the racist Israeli settlement of ourcountry, Palestine.
During the past months, attacks by terrorist militias of Israelisettlers have become a daily reality, with at least 535 attacksperpetrated since the beginning of this year. We are facingrelentless waves of attacks against our people, our mosques,churches and monasteries, and our homes and schools; they areunleashing their venom against our trees, fields, crops andproperties, and our people have become fixed targets for acts ofkilling and abuse with the complete collusion of the occupyingforces and the Israeli Government.
The escalation of settler attacks should not surprise anyone, forit is the inherent byproduct of the continuation of occupation anda government policy that deliberately fosters the settlements andsettlers and deems their satisfaction to be an absolutepriority. And, it is the inherent byproduct of the racist climatefueled by a culture of incitement in the Israeli curriculum andextremist declarations, which are rife with hatred and are rootedin a series of discriminatory laws created and enacted over theyears against the Palestinian people, as well as by the securityapparatus and courts, which provide excuse after excuse for thesettlers’ crimes and for their accelerated release should one ofthem happen to be arrested, and by official and militarycommissions of inquiry, which fabricate justifications forsoldiers who have committed what are clearly considered to be warcrimes and perpetrated acts of murder, torture and abuse ofpeaceful civilians.
Abbas said that this year he will not allow the United States to stophim from applying to the United Nations General Assembly forrecognition of the State of Palestine as a non-member state of theUnited Nations. This will qualify Palestine to join allU.N. organizations, and, if desired, to pursue Israel in InternationalCriminal Court. Latinos Post
Iran’s Ahmadinejad awaits the arrival of the Mahdi
Speaking for the 8th and last time at the United Nations, Iran’spresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used his speech to propose a new worldorder based on the imminent coming of the Mahdi. Ahmadinejad is adevout believer in the Mahdaviat — the Shia Muslim belief that theMahdi (or “the 12’th Imam” or “the Hidden Imam”) is coming to savemankind. This belief is roughly equivalent to the Christian belief inthe second coming of Christ, or the Buddhist belief in the Maitreya –that a new Buddha is to appear on earth, and will achieve completeenlightenment. In 2011, Ahmadinejad used his belief in the Mahdito justify disobeying the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On Wednesday, he said:
God Almighty has promised us a man of kindness, a manwho loves people and loves absolute justice, a man who is aperfect human being and is named Imam A1-Mahdi, a man who willcome in the company of Jesus Christ (PBUH) and the righteous. Byusing the inherent potential of all the worthy men and women ofall nations and I repeat, the inherent potential of “all theworthy men and women of all nations” he will lead humanity intoachieving its glorious and eternal ideals.
The arrival of the Ultimate Savior will mark a new beginning, arebirth and a resurrection. It will be the beginning of peace,lasting security and genuine life.
His arrival will be the end of oppression, immorality, poverty,discrimination and the beginning of justice, love and empathy.
He will come and he will cut through ignorance, superstition,prejudice by opening the gates of science and knowledge. He willestablish a world brimful of prudence and he will prepare theground for the collective, active and constructive participationof all in the global management.
In more prosaic portions of his speech, he said that the UnitedNations is useless, and it should be replaced by the Non-AlignedMovement organization.
What was surprising about Ahmadinejad’s speech were the things thatwere omitted. He didn’t attack Israel, he didn’t mention Syria, andhe didn’t mention Iran’s nuclear program. Latinos Post
More on the Sunni versus Shia television debate
In yesterday’s world view, Iquoted a televised exchange between Sunni and Shia activists thatdevolved into name-calling and violence.
The Sunni said that the Shiahad been renounced by his own father and brothers, and the Shiaretorted: “Your wife is contacting Shi’ites, offering to engagethem in ‘pleasure marriage.’ … Do you want me to providerecordings?”
A web site reader has informed me that this was NOT just an irrelevantpersonal attack. A “pleasure marriage” is a temporary marriage undera contract that specifies a fixed time period. It’s permitted by ShiaIslam, but not by Sunni Islam. And so the remark was intended to sayto the Sunni, “Even your own wife is following Shia practices whichshould be blasphemous to you.” Memri
Generational Dynamics World View now available through e-mail
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