oneworldtalk

Michael Backman, in the business pages of The Age, blames Islamist terrorism on arrogant, penny-pinching Israelis

ISRAEL'S utter inability to transform the Palestinians from enemies into friends has imposed big costs on us all. We have paid for Israel's failure with bombs on London public transport, bombs in bars in Bali, and even the loss of the World Trade Centre towers in New York. It is not true that these outrages have occurred because certain Islamic fundamentalists don't like Western lifestyles and so plant bombs in response. Rather, it is Israel - or more correctly the treatment of the Palestinians - that is at the nub of these events.

Of course, today Israel must defend itself. If the residents of Bendigo started firing rockets into Melbourne, you would expect Melbourne to retaliate. But what must Melbourne have done to Bendigo to make it do such a thing?

Trekking in Nepal is fashionable among young Israelis. So much so that many shops in Kathmandu and Pokhara have signs in Hebrew. But many guesthouses in this poor country will even tell Israeli trekking groups that they are full rather than accept them. They say that the young Israelis are rude, arrogant, and argue over trifling amounts of money even though they clearly have means.

Israel needs to change. The Parsees of India might provide a model. They are not flashy or arrogant. They have established hospitals, libraries, schools, museums for everyone. So the Parsees have peace and the Israelis do not.