Comments on: David Brooks suggests ‘bombing schools’ in Gaza was moral necessity in taking on ‘satanic’ Hamas

By: Citizen

Citizen — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

He's just another apologist. When it comes to Israel, their logical and moral faculties shut down.
Such people are those Hitler knew well for he was one of them himself. In so many ways, Israel
shows Hitler's ideas have won after all. Or were they really Hitler's ideas? Hitler would say he was merely retaliating in kind, given the lay of the land in terms of power, which of course (USA course), currently favors Israel.

By: rykart

rykart — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Brooks is a psychopath. He belongs in a nut house.

By: tommy

tommy — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Satanism is often used to rationalize violence. Many American meth users and fundamentalists, after killing their children, claim those children were possessed by the devil.

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Brooks’ argument has two linchpins. In addition to Islam being as fundamentally evil and threatening to the West as were Communism and Nazism, the second linchpin is that Israel is on America and the West's side in this battle of ideologies, and shares Western values, one of which is separation of religion and state.

I don't buy either of Brooks' contentions, and the second linchpin listed above is demonstrably false.

By: Chris Berel

Chris Berel — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

I see that Citz has come full circle. It is morally justified to bomb a school when class is out and the entire Hamas leadership is in a classroom, along with the missles they are hiding there.

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

PS: It doesn't surprise me one bit that EJ Dionne is soft on Communism. I don't even want to know where he's had that big fat tongue of his. I wonder if he and Brooks got together after the interview.

By: DICKERSON3870

DICKERSON3870 — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

RE: "It is morally justified to bomb a school when class is out and the entire Hamas leadership is in a classroom, along with the missles they are hiding there."

MY COMMENT: Is this a hypothetical? If not, please provide some citations for the facts alleged.

By: D.

D. — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

"But even in the face of pure evil, all violence is not justified."

To understand why people like Brooks don't see things this way, it's necessary to explore another one of the pillars of Jewish identity. We've spent most of our time here on just one: choseness (and its corollaries apartness and "antisemitism"). But another core concept of modern secular Jewish identity is survivalism -- the notion that ultimately we survive (enjoy an "afterlife") through the group's continuity, and that ultimately more important than how we live is this group survival.

I'm not saying Brooks is wrong to think this way (although I personally find it repellent), but as a matter of understanding why he thinks the way he does we're going to have to start exploring the ideology of survivalism.

(By the way, the third pillar of contemporary Jewish ideology, that we also haven't spoken much about but will have to one day, is legalism.)

By: MRW.

MRW. — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Dickerson, Berel's assertions were debunked even before the war ended. This was discovered to be Israeli military propaganda, and they had to apologize for it. (Citation Haaretz).

By: Joshua

Joshua — Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Another one terming this conflict as "good vs evil". What movie is he trying to make this like?