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Rebekah Lee's avatar

Re: "From the point of view of those who hate Israel, this is nothing less than a dream scenario. From Israel’s point of view, a living nightmare. So what happened?"

I suggest Proverbs 21:1 - "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will."

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David Kopel's avatar

The British electorate rejected Churchill after the war and so goes Netanyahu. It won't matter. He's already notched his position in history.

Netanyahu is the world's worst nightmare: the Jew with power unafraid to use it. The Jewish bankers of the Protocols were merely despised. Netanyahu is despised and feared.

Israel will not achieve acceptance or peace through love. Only when its enemies tremble at its might will that happen. That unfortunately is world Israel lives in and that will not change.

I was 11 during the Six Day War and almost 70 for the Twelve Day War.. Nothing's changed in between except the rhetoric.

Hate drives the world. Love, not so much.

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Ehud Neor's avatar

I wrote that a week after Oct.7. The only thing I might add is that today I think that Netanyahu can remain PM as long as he wants. If we finish off Hamas he has earned the right to see us through the expansion of the Abraham accords, but in the end he should resign. But it wil be his decision to make.

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David Kopel's avatar

I think he's earned the right to stay in office until his term expires but he will leave on his own terms.

Do you know what the current Pope said about him before he was Pope?

"He's a necessary man for these dangerous times."

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Ehud Neor's avatar

David, I correct myself: His right to be in office is a result of being elected. If there were elections today he would be re-elected. I agree that he will leave on his own terms. When the dust settles, those terms need to come to the fore. Then he can take a well-deserved retirement.

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Mary F Holley's avatar

I feel the same about Trump. No one else would have bombed Iran with such gusto. He's a narcissistic playboy and grifter with the principles of a jellyfish drifting with the tides, but he was the right man for this job. Don't the rabbis say someone can be born for the sole purpose of doing someone else a favor?

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Ehud Neor's avatar

Something like that. Maybe it goes for all of us; we’re all born for the sole purpose of doing someone a favor.

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David Kopel's avatar

I don't think a man should be defined strictly by his past, especially when its so sordid. Never have I witnessed in a person in public life so unburdened by his past as Trump (except maybe Al Sharpton.). Nevertheless, he has redeemed himself in many ways and not just accidentally. He honestly believes that he has been chosen for a mission. That might just be another one of his vanities, but what important historical figure has not been driven partly or mainly by ego? So I forgive him his trespasses. The rest is up to Hashem and if his accounting skills are sound, Trump will come up on the positive side of the balance sheet.

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Mary F Holley's avatar

His encounter with a bullet has changed him I think. He still lies like a bandit, but only says the lies he really believes, and that is improvement. He avoids confrontations now where he used to relish them. Its been slow. But unmistakable. He hangs around with fundamentalist Christian "prophets" and they tell him he's on a mission from God. Maybe he is.

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David Kopel's avatar

This is where Christianity has it all over Judaism. You can be "born again", slough off your former self and remake it in either God's or your own image. In Judaism, you always have one foot mired in the past. Such a drag!

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