Charlie Rose

ShalomFreedman  11/17/2010 02:25 AM Report

I would just like to mention one point which seems to be not at all understood in this discussion. Thanassis Cambanis correctly analyzes Hizbollah's attitude to war. They preach perpetual war and violence and conquest and hatred of the non- Islamic 'other'. So going to war for them is part of their sacred goal and mission. For Israel the story is not simply different but completely opposite. The Israeli society is one which values the life of each and every human being. The Jewish religious tradition places first value on the idea of 'Shalom' which means peace and more than that, a kind of overall well- being and wholeness, a harmonious goodness for individual and society. Israeli society is concerned with the well- being of each of its soldiers. Do you imagine any other country on earth going to the degree of effort Israel has made , giving the communal attention Israel has given to one prisoner, Gilad Shavit. So going to war for Israel is something undesirable, something done not as offensive action but rather in defense only. This means that Israel does not want the wars even if it wins them because it also loses a great deal in them.

I think it important to understand the distinction between these kind of Islamist societies which endlessly proclaim the value of death and martyrdom, and the Jewish society which places first priority on 'Life' and risks and takes life only in order to save life.

ShalomFreedman  11/16/2010 10:53 AM Report

It would behoove Charlie Rose to listen to the implications of what Thannasis Cambanis says. Cambanis just told him that Hizbollah is a radical Islamic jihadi group whose aim is destruction of Israel, and perpetual war against the West. It is not in other words just another 'alternative force'. It is Evil and the Enemy of any decent human being who cares about basic human values. Charlie Rose speaks of Hizbollah and also his beloved Hamas (Can't any staffer help Charlie with pronouncing the name of Khaled Maashal?)as if they were Boy Scout troups. They are terrorist Islamic organizations whose doctrine is that Islam should rule the Middle East, and the World. Doesn't he understand every basic human freedom is opposed by these fanatics? Doesn't he understand that they stand for human backwardness, primitiveness, narrowmindedness, ignorance?

In this upside down world the single democracy in the Middle East, the one truly decent country Israel is endlessly charged with 'human rights' violations. Charlie went into the 'occupation of Gaza' bit again. Doesn't he know that Israel withdrew totally from Gaza, removing its own civilians from there, and received as reward thousands of missiles?

One more point. Hizbollah rearmed, and super- armed in South Lebanon under the watchful eyes of the U.N. and the International Community who were supposed to prevent that.

Mr. Rose. Can't you have a bit of sympathy for democratic Israel when you see the array of religious fanatics, and violent militarists aligned against it?

Israel is one small democratic and free country facing a whole phalanx of terrorist totalitarians.

I commend Mr. Cambanis for presenting a realistic picture of what Hizbollah is and what it has done and is doing to Lebanon.

doodah  11/13/2010 06:01 AM Report

Too much Cannabis?

lyn117  11/12/2010 09:57 PM Report

I'm sorry Cambanis comes off at best like an ignoramus, repeating such cliches as that the Hezbollah fighters are ready to die for Islam. And sorry to say, Charlie Rose questions neither the cliches upon which he has based his book nor does he in any way challenge the author. Israel attacked Lebanon at least 3 times, invaded it and occupied its territory for 18 years, massacring many civilians in the process. There's plenty of evidence Israel made Lebanese civilians a deliberate target. If Hezbollah is making war against Israel, just show me where all the Hezbollah tanks rolled into Israel and the regular violations of Israeli airspace by Hezbollah fighter jets. I just wish I could believe Cambanis wasn't deliberately trying to sell propaganda, but I don't. Anyone with a fair mind should reject his book out of hand. Hezbollah was utterly right not to help him promote Israel's wars against the Arabs through his propaganda efforts, he isn't an unbiased observer. I'd recommend "Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict" by Charles D. Smith as a starting text on the subject.

DavLev  11/12/2010 04:06 PM Report

All the interviewee did was to tell the facts.

Hezbollah has openly given its goal of destroying Israel (and killing every Jew), Lebanon is at war with Israel, and paid a price for it (after hundreds of guerrilla attacks). For 20 year, Israel occupied a strip in Southern Lebanon..allied with some Lebanese factions. For years, Muslims killed other Muslims and Christians (Falange) in Lebanon,k a once jewel of the M.E. Now look at it.

Hezbollah is a thug organization..and on our USA terrorist list. Its agenda is simple..make Palestine Judenrein (w/o Jews). It is a govt within a govt..and has benefitted from a week Lebanon. It now has 60,000 rockets..even though it violated UNSC resolutions which established a cease fire.

Its cleric leader has been in hiding..and is himself a joke.

Does anyone really think Israel lost the last war with Hezbollah. It had 50,000 troops surrounding Hezbollah positions, which cleverly used civilian areas to hide.

Just prior to the final onslaught by the IDF, the cease fire ( thanks Livni and Hillary) became effective.

The Arabs are good at starting wars..continuing them, then when losing, pleading to the UN for cease fire. They did it

effectively this time. The fact they held out for 30 days is irrelevant. Israel didn't concerntrate fully on destroying their military, and ( I admit) hit at Beirut in error.

Hezbollah will never give up its goal..even if Israel makes peace with Fatah ( W Bank). Why Charlie Rose would intimate this is beyond me? Israel is not at war with Lebanon. There are no IDF troops in Lebanon and none in Hamastan ( except the captured Shalit, now over 4 years). There is a definite border which Hamas always tries to undermine.

Hezbollah has repeatedly said its goal is to destroy the Jewish state. It cares less about Abbas, Fayyad and Erekats

negotiations.

If I were Israel, I would compromise with Fatah..and give them their small state. But, understand Hezbollah and Hamas must be destroyed, sooner or later. Goldstone be damned.

Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods could be under some Jordanian control (the real Palestine).

Hezbollah's chldren are taught to hate we Jews.and fight us. Or as a friend told me, "someone shoots at you, you shoot back". The Arabs (Shia) seem never to learn.

But to think Hezbollah will simply fade away..by Mr. Rose

is absurd, and he knows it.

REMant  11/12/2010 11:52 AM Report

I tend to agree with Hezbollah about him. But at least he writes about the people involved and their situation. He is, BTW, of Greek descent and Orthodox religion and his father was a math professor in North Carolina. I don't think acting like Father O'Malley is going to change any Palestinian minds, Charlie. The description given fits the Black Panthers about as well. But also natives in most every place and period. We might be able to buy them off with blankets and firewater, but I wouldn't bet on it. And by all accounts Hezbollah, like any good political machine, takes care of its own better than the government. I would not call any of it diabolical. The problem is that most of us are simply not familiar with this kind of thing, or if we are it is only in a negative sense, as with the Mafia. In the late 19th c, when we had about killed them all off, we decided the Indians were a noble race. But of course by then it was sheer sentimentality. Some I suppose are already sentimental about "the Arabs," but I think it would be nice if the rest of us could find a way to respect them before we do them in. The only caveat I would have re the Lebanon situation is that there as in several other places, Sunnis and Shiites don't always see eye-to-eye.