AN ALIEN’S VIEW ON ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO EXIST
Manfred Gerstenfeld
An alien sent to the Earth to report to his superiors on the characteristics of humanity rapidly runs into problems. It is far too complex an assignment. After a time he stumbles on a small issue which gives him some insight. He discovers in the major media a disproportionately large number of mentions of a state called Israel.
The alien finds that Israel is a small state with only one thousandth of the world’s population. He encounters many statements from non-Israeli sources that Israel has the right to exist. When looking at the rather crude Freedom House Index he can find no explanation for this. Israel is not at the top of the most free countries list but far from the bottom, somewhere in the upper range.
After intensive interviewing the alien starts to understand why he has so much difficulty describing the characteristics of humanity on Earth. There have been many different periods in history. The current era is called post-modernity. It is characterized by the fragmentation of ideas and attitudes. This realization leads him to comprehend that his major mission is impossible. Yet he can find some issues which receive disproportionate attention. By studying these, he will be able to return to his planet with at least a number of answers.
Israel is such an issue. The alien writes in his report: “Israel’s right to exist is such a frequent statement because there are so many who claim that it has no right to exist. The worst statements come from Iran. Their leaders often declare that their country intends to destroy Israel.”
The alien’s report continues: “Humanity is divided in many ways. One such division is religious affiliation. Most people believe in, and in different ways, serve a supernational being they call God. This being should not be confused with an alien. The claims that Israel should not exist mainly come from parts of, but far from all, the believers of one big religion called Islam. Its adherents are called Muslims. Yet there also many others.” In this way he has identified one important characteristic of humanity: ‘hatred.’
The alien also explains in his report that the world is divided between people who possess many of the earth’s resources and others who have access to far less. Those who control most resources are Westerners. They use their intelligence to develop new ideas and new technologies. There are also a few countries with many resources that are found in the soil of their lands. Oil is particularly important. Some Arab countries possess a disproportionately large share of it.
There are other parts of the alien’s report that are relevant to Israel. He wrote: “Israel is the only Jewish state. There are more than 50 Muslim states. The latter are usually low on the Freedom House Index, mainly because they are not free. Many of them hate Israel. This makes him conclude that ‘envy’ is also a widespread characteristic of humanity.
The alien went on to wonder why Israel, democratic like the Western states, was not supported more by these nations, in particular the European countries. He wrote: “Why do they say that Israel has the right to exist instead of saying: ‘Iran, which thinks that Israel has no right to exist, therefore has no right to exist.’”
The alien added that the most powerful country, the United States of America, even had a president who initiated an agreement with Iran that if it did not develop a certain type of bomb for a number of years, it would be safe from attack by Western countries. This agreement left Iran free to develop another dangerous weapon, long range missiles. This agreement also made it possible for Iran to promote terror in neighboring countries without fear of being attacked by the West. The alien concluded that this president had been an indirect supporter of terrorism.
In his report the alien went on to say that many of the Western nations were cozying up to the Iranians. When Iran broke agreements, these nations overlooked it. He wrote down another characteristic of humanity: ‘The wealthier parts of humanity are cowards.’
It had not taken the alien a long time to understand that there was a body in which all of the nations on Earth were members. This organization claimed to have lofty ideals. Yet the various key characteristics of humanity he had discovered were all expressed there: hatred, envy and cowardice. Once again, he stumbled on Israel because more than three quarters of the United Nations General Assembly’s condemnations of nations were directed at Israel.
The alien found that the UN has a variety of associated bodies. The biggest cheater was called the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). It aimed to promote what they called ‘human rights.’ Yet the UNHRC looked away from the violations of many of the worst offenders. It focused most of its condemnations on Israel. He wrote down another characteristic of humanity: “false morality.”
The alien had been charged to write a balanced report on humanity’s characteristics. He ended up with far too much text about a small country, Israel. This reflects the disproportionate attention of the world’s media on Israel. He also learned much from his analysis of that country and finally managed indeed to arrive at a general conclusion: “Humanity is greatly unbalanced.”
