(LINK http://www.npr.org/2012/08/31/160346085/israel-finds-itself-a-partisan-election-issue-in-u-s
)
Welcome to week #4 of NPR’s
World Story of the Day from NPR This is also our 14th week. This
unit, we’ll hear about various stories from across the world. This unit also
has a heavy emphasis on the Middle East. September and August were ripe times
for international news. This marks the beginning of a spotlight on two other
Middle-Eastern countries: Israel and Afghanistan.
This lesson comes from August 31st, 2012. The
central issue behind this one is: What if you’re a nation being used as a
political issue, much like Israel has been used? Is it a good thing for your
nation, or, is it a bad thing?
Here are the discussion questions:
1) Why
is this election “different” in terms of Israel’s role in the election?
2) Why
is the “politicization” of Israel a bad thing in the eyes of the speaker in the
article?
3) According
to the other speaker, why is the politicization of Israel a good thing?
Homework:
1) If your
country was politicized, would this be a good thing or bad thing for your
country?
Above all, I suspect that this is a matter of Benjamin Netanyahu (who deserves the last two syllables of his name, ALL too well) trying to start a war with Iran, and wanting a gung-ho, right-wing president who will back him up. Alas, he may be wrong on 2 counts: he may neither be able to swing this election, nor to convince Romney to back up his war if he does.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, back to the main question.....
It could be argued the my country *is* quite politicized, already: people around the world have to specify whether they do, or do not, distinguish between America's government and its people as a fundamental political stance, and the world seem perpetually divided into those who are our allies, and those who aren't.
Has it been good for us? Hell, no! Americans feel unwelcome and hated everywhere, are unwilling to even read about, much less to go see, the outside world, are under pressure to either bullheadedly defend OR to self-effacingly criticize their country even at home, and are perhaps the world's most insular great nation.
Israel has even less to gain. As it stands, far too much of the Arab world is under the influence of conspiracy theories which accuse the United States of being ISrael's puppet. If he hasn't convinced himself already that these stories are true, then Netanyahu is trying to MAKE them true, and doing so will shred the last hope for peace in the Middle East.
Your comment about Americans being unwelcome and hated everywhere is perfectly true. I live in Alberta, Canada. Our two countries share the longest undefended border in the world, are each others largest tourist attractions and trade partners, and have a significant influence on the world with a cooperative military alliance. You'd think we're all happy neighbours?
DeleteNope! I can't count how many people in my class call Americans dumb, bad, evil, murderers, racists, gun lovers (ok, that one might be true), warmongers, capitalists, conservatives, right-wings (the latter three were actually meant as insults), a dictatorship, military over-spenders (another possibly true one), and just being a plain wrong country. Sometimes I want to slap their faces and tell them how much our countries have done for each other and evolved with the other's support, and how neither of them would be where they are today without each other.
Anyway, end of rant.