Jewish chauvinist Jeffrey Goldberg has undertaken a further declension of the Nakba, putting it not just in quotations, but lower-case. Take it away, Jeff:
Jeet Heer writes to ask: Quick question: why is Nakba in quotes in your recent post? Do you think that the Nakba didn’t happen?
[Goldberg, I presume] The war that gave Jews freedom in their ancient homeland three years after the Holocaust was not a "catastrophe," which is what "nakba" means in Arabic. Did the war result in misery and displacement for a great number of Arabs? Yes. Did it result in misery and displacement for a great number of Jews as well? Yes….
Was the misery of the Jews who were displaced from Arab countries brought about by the decision of Arab leaders? Also yes. The difference between these competing miseries is that the Arabs who professed brotherhood with their displaced cousins did nothing to help them. The Jews who professed brotherhood with their displaced cousins resettled them in Israel.
So, no, the "nakba" didn’t happen. The return of a persecuted people to its ancient homeland is what happened. And a series of disastrous mistakes some made by the returned Jews, most made by the Arabs, resulted in what Arabs refer to as a catastrophe, a catastrophe which, of course, could have … etc.
