The new consensus, led by Michael Walzer: defeat the settler movement. I'm all for it, though it is a little like closing the barn door after the horse is gone. Here is Hitchens at Slate:
The zealot settlers and their clerical
accomplices are establishing an army within the army so that one day,
if it is ever decided to disband or evacuate the colonial settlements,
there will be enough officers and soldiers, stiffened by enough rabbis
and enough extremist sermons, to refuse to obey the order. Torah verses
will also be found that make it permissible to murder secular Jews as
well as Arabs. The dress rehearsals for this have already taken place,
with the religious excuses given for Baruch Goldstein's rampage and the
Talmudic evasions concerning the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Once
considered highly extreme, such biblical exegeses are moving ever
closer to the mainstream. It's high time the United States cut off any
financial support for Israel that can be used even indirectly for
settler activity, not just because such colonization constitutes a
theft of another people's land but also because our Constitution
absolutely forbids us to spend public money on the establishment of any
religion.
accomplices are establishing an army within the army so that one day,
if it is ever decided to disband or evacuate the colonial settlements,
there will be enough officers and soldiers, stiffened by enough rabbis
and enough extremist sermons, to refuse to obey the order. Torah verses
will also be found that make it permissible to murder secular Jews as
well as Arabs. The dress rehearsals for this have already taken place,
with the religious excuses given for Baruch Goldstein's rampage and the
Talmudic evasions concerning the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Once
considered highly extreme, such biblical exegeses are moving ever
closer to the mainstream. It's high time the United States cut off any
financial support for Israel that can be used even indirectly for
settler activity, not just because such colonization constitutes a
theft of another people's land but also because our Constitution
absolutely forbids us to spend public money on the establishment of any
religion.
Thanks to Dan Sisken.
