While most of my family are rabid Israel haters, I have supported the country ever since Lebanon fell into civil war and my cynicism at Arab politics was completed. If you think the stupendous sight of Arab oligarchies falling apart are bad, wait till you see the Islamists regimes that might very well replace them.
My assumption is, the Arab civilians will gain food and education and lose civics freedoms: which is exactly what happened to Iran. The risk to Western civilization is immense and the thought of a Middle East without Israel protecting our interests is more terrifying than ever.
This is at the heart of the conflict in 2013.
Let’s not be childish here, Palestinians have no water supply and are at the mercy of Israel. A situation nobody would want to be in and the situation is a nightmare but still, if Palestine would stop pretending that their only problem is Israel perhaps they could get their economy actually running and feed their population. There must be more the Palestinians can export than martyrs? I had many Palestinian friends when I was in Lebanon, these were cosmopolitan kids like I was and where are they now? In Switzerland, of course.
Anyway, any side Roger Waters finds himself on is a side I’d rather pass on as a rule of thumb. Alicia Keys is playing the Tel Aviv Nokia July 4th and Waters sent Alicia a message: “Please, Alicia, do not lend your name to give legitimacy to the Israeli government policies of illegal, apartheid, occupation of the homelands of the indigenous people of Palestine.”
Alicia’s statement in the New York Times to to the pressure that had everyone from Costello to the Pixies canceling gigs? “I look forward to my first visit to Israel. Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show.”
Alicia Keys is one of the most boring women on earth but once you’ve said that good for her.