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OF HICKS AND HOMELANDS.
Mike Huckabee, the candidate for transfer:
When asked about a Palestinian state, Gov. Huckabee stated that he supports creating a Palestinian state, but believes that it should be formed outside of Israel. He named Egypt and Saudi Arabia as possible alternatives, noting that the Arabs have far more land than the Israelis and that it would only be fair for other Arab nations to give the Palestinians land for a state, rather than carving it out of the tiny Israeli state.
Right, because it's not as if Palestinians have any connection to the land in which they've lived for generations. Git 'em up, move 'em on! You can imagine the response if a candidate were to suggest anything like this in regard to Israel: Abe Foxman's tie would spin around, Commentary's server would crash, and Marty Peretz would order James Kirchick to crush a paper cup.
Also, that candidate's campaign would be over, and deservedly so.
But this is America, and these are the Palestinians we're talking about, so there's absolutely no political downside to suggesting that they can just be herded into a neighboring country. I mean, one Arab state is just like another, right? What's funny here is that Huckabee is apparently so ignorant of the history of Israel and Palestine that he doesn't think to suggest Jordan as a Palestinian homeland, which tends to be the more commonly preferred site for transfer among ultra-Zionist rejectionists.
Not that we needed any more proof that Mike Huckabee's actual knowledge of the Middle East ends with Revelation, but it's a sign of the tragic imbalance in the discussion over the Israel-Palestine conflict in the U.S. that a statement this radical and offensive by a leading candidate for president can pass almost completely without comment by the mainstream media.
--Matthew Duss
COMMENTS (13)
I guess the only question is was this self conscious policy call for actual transfer or just off the cuff expression of his complete and total ignorance?
In Israel the Kahane Kach folks are not allowed to run for office, and even the most right wing parties keep the transfer talk to sote voce.
Who are his alleged foreign policy shop folks? Where did he find folks to right of Rudy!tm
Posted by: DrSteveB | January 8, 2008 3:23 PM
...and Marty Peretz would order James Kirchick to crush a paper cup.
I declare today to be Matthew Duss Day.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 8, 2008 3:44 PM
DrSteve, I think it's far more likely that the Huck was speaking from ignorance. The reported exchange between Huck and some Orthodox Jews in NH apparently happened back in October, long before anyone in the mainstream media was taking him seriously as a candidate. I hadn't heard of it until now; obviously someone on the campaign trail should ask him if he stands by those crazy remarks. But since he barely mentioned Israel or Palestine in his Foreign Affairs article (I think he just said "I will support Israel's security" or something while not mentioning the Palestinians at all), I'm guessing that whichever advisors helped write it for him realized that he knew nothing about the issue and decided to gloss over it entirely, for the time being.
The type of Christian Zionist right-wingery on Israel-Palestine issues that Huck was expressing are basically a combination of literalist Bible-thumping and decades old right-wing Israeli rhetoric. Hard-right "no Palestinian state in Palestine" types like Daniel Pipes are fully aware of the violent forced-transfer implications of their views, but they tend not to mind when Christian Bible literalists adopt the same position without paying much attention to the actual political realities at play (after all, that's just silly politics, not the true word of God).
So the people who openly advocate for "no Palestinian state" or "let them have their state somewhere else" either (a) know enough about the issue to realize that it equates to "the forced violent expulsion of millions," so they gloss over that inconvenient fact because they know it won't fly unless they somehow fool enough people, or (b) know so little about the issue that they don't realize what the implications are. It seems far more likely that the Huck belongs to the latter camp than the former, doesn't it?
Posted by: Haggai | January 8, 2008 4:06 PM
With Huckabee, the default explanation should always be that he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Another problem that he came of age in evangelical la-la land (Ouachita Baptist University, then assistant to James Robison), and doesn't realize that, among civilized people, the ravings of John Hagee et al are a little outre.
For all that, he's the future of the GOP, the only one who will get another bite at the apple in 2012.
Posted by: kth | January 8, 2008 5:02 PM
Remember, to a disciple of Pastor Hagee like the Huckster, Palestinian Christians don't count.
Posted by: pseudonymous in nc | January 8, 2008 6:24 PM
OK so Huckabee is a pro Zionist with fascist policies (ethnic cleansing)
Meanwhile Ron Paul turns out to have published a newsletter with anti-semitic, homophobic and racist views under his name for decades.
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=e2f15397-a3c7-4720-ac15-4532a7da84ca
And as for Rudy Giuliani, he has been a fund raiser for terrorists for years as NYC mayor.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_08/011847.php
So that leaves McCain, Romney and Thompson as not proven totally whacko.
Posted by: PHB | January 8, 2008 6:29 PM
Aww, heck, we did it a 'hunerd yeers ago with them injuns...
Posted by: dbh | January 8, 2008 7:51 PM
Better yet, let's just move Manhattan to New Mexico. Ugh..
The Palestinians are different than other Semitic groups (Phoenicians, Moabites, Hebrews etc. etc.) ethnically, historically, religiously, etc. Huckabee should know that since it's in the Bible!
Posted by: edb | January 8, 2008 8:15 PM
... Marty Peretz would order James Kirchick to crush a paper cup.
Hysterical.
Posted by: John-Paul Pagano | January 8, 2008 9:54 PM
"Better yet, let's just move Manhattan to New Mexico."
That already happened. It's called Santa Fe.
Posted by: Erik Loomis | January 9, 2008 1:11 AM
1)hickabee! Huckleberry!!
2) Could someone give me a clue about this whole MP/JK crushing a paper cup thing, cause I have none.
Posted by: Aaron | January 10, 2008 9:14 AM
he's the future of the GOP, the only one who will get another bite at the apple in 2012.
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