The end of "their favorite fantasy"

Jonathan Rosenblum over at Cross-Currents makes an important contribution to the discussion of the conflict between the West and certain forms of Islam, and the challenges to many intellectuals:

"QUITE SIMPLY, ISRAEL AND THE WARS THAT IT MUST CONTINUALLY FIGHT against those who have vowed to wipe it off the map, prevent Western intellectuals from engaging in their favorite fantasy: the belief in a completely rational world, in which men of good will can iron out their differences over the conference table without resort to violence. It is a worldview that denies the existence of irreconcilable goals, and sees all conflict in terms of interests that can be compromised ....

It is far more comforting to imagine that Islamic anger is fueled solely by the Israeli “occupation” than to confront the worldwide scope of the jihadists’ ambitions and the non-negotiability of their demands. If only the historical mistake of creating Israel in the first place, and the “anachronism” of a state based on religious identity – or at least one based on Jewish identity – removed, then the rest of the world could simply sit down and discuss things rationally.

Israel’s crime is that it will not go along with the plan as peacefully as Czechoslovakia did."

Read his article here