PAT CONDELL FINALLY GETS IT

On the Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur, we are reminded that we do not pray for the demise of our adversaries.  Rather, we pray that they have a change of heart.  Sometimes, time doesn't allow us to do that, but in the case of Pat Condell, time was on my side.  He never was particularly hostile to Jews or Israel.  He just didn't have much empathy and certainly didn't know some basic, obvious facts.  But most of that is behind us now, thank Gd!  Pat seems to have finally articulated some obvious things about the War Against Israel.  This is worthy of a TINSC post and a note of thanks to the Creator that Pat doesn't (yet) believe in. 

On June 29, 2007, Pat Condell uploaded a commentary titled "What about the Jews?"  My friend Debbie Schlussel used this video to point out that Pat Condell was not a friend of Jews and Israel.  Many in the so-called "counter-jihad" are pro-Israel and supported Condell's statement about Muslims.  The 2007 commentary by Condell was a source of contention between some of my friends.  I agreed with Debbie and the 2007 video gave good reasons to support her viewpoint.

In that 2007 commentary, Condell offered several theses that were not only anti-Semitic (perhaps unintentionally) but counter-argued many of the theses Condell had proposed regarding the hostility of Islamists toward the west.  Some of these theses included:

"... the problem is it's (Israel) in the wrong place.  because if there were any justice in this world, Israel would currently occupy half of Germany."   (Author's note: this proposal was offered by King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia.)

"But Israel really is not really about justice. Is it!  It's really about Jerusalem which is really about scripture and prophecy, which as we know is really about insanity."  (Author's note: I find this rather insulting.  Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people in our ancestral land.  The fact that Israel is the ancestral land of the Jewish people is not merely established by scripture.  It is established by archeology and modern history.  I'm certain my Zionist friends can provide additional rebuttal to this statement.)

"... Israel has ignored so many United Nations resolutions telling them to get out of the occupied territories which they just can't bring themselves to do because of Jerusalem and the Temple and scripture and prophecy...."  (Author's note: Virtually all UN resolutions require the Arabs to negotiate territories and boundaries with Israel.  The notion that the UN has ordered Israel out of the "occupied territories" is not well supported in fact.  To the extent that any UN resolution has required Israel to vacate territory, there is no provision by the UN to ENFORCE such resolutions.  The UN enforced their resolution to remove Iraq from Kuwait.  The UN has not enforced any resolution regarding Israel and the territory they live in.) 

"You know, I think the Jews would do themselves a huge favor if they came to their senses and let go of Jerusalem.  It doesn't belong to them and they're only holding on to it because of religion which is the worst possible reason to do anything on this planet."  (Author's note: If the Jewish people thought that letting go of Jerusalem would lead to world peace, we would do it in a heartbeat.  The beauty of this statement is that Pat Condell ultimately comes to the conclusion that this statement was wrong.)

"But right now, the Jews happen to control it (Jerusalem) and, well, the Christians are really happy about it because they know how this pisses off the Muslims...."  (Author's note: Pat is saying that Jewish control of Jerusalem angers Muslims; as if this is the sole source of Muslim anger toward Jews and Israel.)

"But Jerusalem is NOT a Jewish town.  It's an Arab town and it's time we all started to acknowledge that"  (Author's note: Archaeological findings demonstrate that Jerusalem was founded by Jews.  In addition, census records from the Ottoman Empire show that Jews were a majority population in Jerusalem throughout the empire's existence.  There has been a consistent Jewish presence in Jerusalem for over 3,000 years.  At the time, Condell was obviously quite unaware of that.)

"So please Jews, do us all a favor: give it (Jerusalem) back and help put a stop to all this madness.  The whole world will thank you for it. And you know what?  You will probably end up as the most popular people on the planet."  (Author's note: The thesis that Jews and Israel are to blame for world strife is a common anti-Semitic theme.)

So OK.. if you listened to Pat Condell's latest commentary, he seems to have changed his perspective on all this.  It did not come overnight.  On May 26, 2011, Pat Condell uploaded a commentary titled "Let's blame the Jews".  The title is satirical and Condell in his articulate way, makes a passionate defense of Jews against anti-Semitism.  In this commentary, he retracted his call for Israel to relinquish Jerusalem noting in effect that no good deed goes unpunished by Muslims.  In this commentary, Condell says:

"I no longer believe that the Israelis should give back Jerusalem.  I still believe they're holding for a stupid reason: religion.  And it doesn't get any more stupid than that"  (Author's note: apparently the fact that hundreds of thousands of Jews live there hasn't occurred to him as a rationale for Israel's keeping Jerusalem.)

"But experience has taught us that the Islamic mentality would use any concession as weakness to be exploited further.  And besides, too many so-called Palestinians seem less concerned with peace and freedom  than with driving the Jews into the sea so the bombings wouldn't stop."  (Author's note: Finally, Condell realizes that Jews, Israel and the capital city of Jerusalem are NOT the source of the War Against Israel or Muslim enmity toward the West.  This was a significant change from his 2007 commentary.)

"I think Israel's in the wrong place.  I've said it before.  They couldn't be in a worse place given the hateful mentality of its neighbors but it's a bit late to do anything about that now."  (Author's note: Thanks Pat!  That's mighty gracious of you.  Hey!  I'm just glad you finally came to grips with the consequences of changing the simple fact that Jews live in Jerusalem.  As you now seem to know,  it will require a good old fashioned massacre to remove them..)

"The fact that a Jewish State needs to exist at all, and it DOES need to exist, is an indictment on all humanity and especially the Catholic Church whose centuries-long program of aggressive Jew-hatred has been ingrained right into the European psyche so that it takes almost nothing to bring it out...."  (Author's note: This is a hard thing for a European to tell fellow Europeans, even if Condell is a professed atheist.  It's a theory to be sure, but it's sound and reasonable.  History lends substantial support to it.  I'm not sure Condell had to single out the Catholic Church, but his basic thesis that the NEED for a Jewish State is an indictment on all humanity was one of the first signs that Condell was finally becoming confrontational toward anti-Semitism.  Finally, he recognizes the manner in which anti-Semitism is being used to fuel strife and tyranny.  From this point forward,  I found myself warming up to Condell.)

And now we have his latest commentary "The great Palestinian lie".  With this commentary, I can only say: 

"By George!  I think he's got it!"

This was a mighty fine commentary by Pat Condell.  The guy who had barely a clue about Israel's existence and its presence in Jerusalem appears to have evolved into someone who finally understands why Israel exists and holds its capital in Jerusalem.  I believe Pat is sincere in his articulate statement.  Above all, regardless of what he said in the past, I don't think Pat Condell's holds anti-Semitic sentiment instinctively.  Deep in his heart, he likes Jews even if he doesn't totally understand us.  After all, it's pretty hard to expect an avowed atheist to understand Jews, Israel and Jerusalem the way he does in his latest commentary.  Pat has come a long way in his understanding about Jews, Israel and Jerusalem.  In my humble opinion, this understanding  is a miracle from the Gd, even if Pat Condell doesn't (yet) believe.