In the first piece we published after Hamas’s attack on Israel last Saturday, Noah Pollak was quick to recognize the parallels between October 7, 2023 and September 11, 2001. In both cases, an illusion of security was shattered; a fiercely ideological enemy targeted civilians; and the magnitude of the horror transformed the nation—and the geopolitical paradigm.
If there’s anybody who knows about the decisions the United States made after 9/11, it’s Condoleezza Rice, who was national security adviser on the day of that attack, and went on to become secretary of state. I was already scheduled to talk to Secretary Rice for Honestly this week, but I threw my old questions out and instead we had an urgent conversation about the present crisis and the changing global order.
You can listen to that conversation, which includes her defense of America’s response to 9/11, here:
But 9/11 should also serve as a cautionary tale for Israel in its moment of crisis, argues George Packer, a staff writer at The Atlantic. In a piece we’re republishing in The Free Press today, he writes that the comparison between 10/7 and 9/11 “might lead to unexpected places.” For more on how Israel might learn from America’s policy mistakes, scroll down to read his piece in full.
For more coverage of the war in Israel, read Daniel Pearl’s cousin Ilan Benjamin on why his hope for peace is dead.
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I am Jewish and support Israel, but I am sorry Bari, getting Condoleezza Rice or any one else from Bush Jr administration is not helping to build trust for anything.
Bush administration has lied us into Iraq war, we have wasted trillions of $$$, 1000s of Americans died and over 1 million of Iraqis, all based on a lie. By destroying Iraq we have, destroyed Irans biggest regional enemy.
We shouldn't under any case rehabilitate Condoleezza Rice or anyone who supported war in Iraq.
I think at root the conflicts in Israel continue because, and only because. of Useful Idiots in Western media and the academic environments whose propaganda births and nurtures their Very Bad Ideas.
Israel can't and should not grant the Right of Return, which is really the core demand, which amounts to "Let's pretend the 1948 War didn't happen, we didn't root for the other side, the other side didn't lose, and we didn't leave in the meantime while rooting for them. Let's also pretend it is 1948 and we get a reset again, so we can work out better plans for killing all of you that will work this time."
Israel really can't give any more land back without creating a security nightmare. So there is really nothing they can do. There are no concessions they can make, and in practice the '48 refugees don't want any. They want to kill all the Jews in Israel, and go back to 1948.
Obviously, the Israelis cannot grant this, and the refugees cannot force it. Israel is much too powerful to be conquered militarily, particularly since it has nukes and if it had to would unquestionably use them.
So why don't the '48 refugees simply accept a peace deal? This is the billion dollar question. Their children would live better lives, this would lead immediately to economic progress, and in terms of what is physically possible, that is the shortest and best path to getting it.
But their leaders benefit from the situation. Every time they initiate violence and Israel responds, there is a chorus of support in Western media. If a '48 refugee punches an Israel in the nose, it only becomes news if the Israeli punches him back. The rest they don't care about.
If you doubt this, just look at the coverage of the one of the most horrific Horroristic--there is a neologism for you, Horrorism, which is terrorism with decapitated babies--attacks ever. Somehow the focus is STILL on the bombs that seem to have been dropped arbitrarily and for no reason.
So in my view, starting violence and creating violence in response gets people in the West to send money. Various governments send money to the Gazan and West Bank governments. These governments are corrupt, and siphon off much money like Zelensky does.
And the two can be usefully compared. Zelensky is sending tens of thousands of Ukrainian men into a meat grinder or shooting gallery, where they cannot hope either to gain ground or even survive. Why? He is being told to do this by the people sending him money. And if he stops getting money, he stops being able to fund the posh lifestyle that he and his friends have come to enjoy.
There is every reason to suspect the same of no doubt low grade charming and persuasive sociopaths who live in Qatar and elsewhere, whose mansions are funded by money that was sent to "help Palestinians". War is business. And their business is funded by Western governments that are duped by Western media, which refuses to even attempt moral clarity, honest history, or accurate reporting.