<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; David Harris</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/author/david-harris/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2014 07:56:08 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	
	<item>
		<title>How Can You Defend Israel?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/david-harris/how-can-you-defend-israel/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=how-can-you-defend-israel</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/david-harris/how-can-you-defend-israel/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Dec 2010 04:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[David Harris]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=80511</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes, I’m proud to speak up for Israel. A recent trip once again reminded me why.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/is.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-80634" title="is" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/is.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="233" /></a></p>
<p><strong>[This article is reprinted from <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Default.aspx">The Jerusalem Post</a>.]</strong></p>
<p>I was sitting in a lecture hall at a British university. Bored by the  speaker, I began glancing around the hall. I noticed someone who looked  quite familiar from an earlier academic incarnation. When the session  ended, I introduced myself and wondered if, after years that could be  counted in decades, he remembered me.</p>
<p>He said he did, at which point I commented that the years had been good to him. His response: “But you’ve changed a lot.”</p>
<p>“How so?” I asked with a degree of trepidation, knowing that, self-deception aside, being 60 isn’t quite the same as 30.</p>
<p>Looking me straight in the eye, he proclaimed, as others standing nearby  listened in, “I read the things you write about Israel. I hate them.  How can you defend that country? What happened to the good liberal boy I  knew 30 years ago?”</p>
<p>I replied: “That good liberal boy hasn’t changed his view. Israel is a liberal cause, and I am proud to speak up for it.”</p>
<p>Yes, I’m proud to speak up for Israel. A recent trip once again reminded me why.</p>
<p>Sometimes, it’s the seemingly small things, the things that many may not  even notice, or just take for granted, or perhaps deliberately ignore,  lest it spoil their airtight thinking.</p>
<p>It’s the driving lesson in Jerusalem, with the student behind the wheel a  devout Muslim woman, and the teacher an Israeli with a skullcap. To  judge from media reports about endless inter-communal conflict, such a  scene should be impossible. Yet, it was so mundane that no one, it  seemed, other than me gave it a passing glance.  It goes without saying  that the same woman would not have had the luxury of driving lessons,  much less with an Orthodox Jewish teacher, had she been living in Saudi  Arabia.</p>
<p>It’s the two gay men walking hand-in-hand along the Tel Aviv beachfront.  No one looked at them, and no one questioned their right to display  their affection. Try repeating the same scene in some neighboring  countries.</p>
<p>It’s the Friday crowd at a mosque in Jaffa. Muslims are free to enter as  they please, to pray, to affirm their faith. The scene is repeated  throughout Israel. Meanwhile, Christians in Iraq are targeted for death;  Copts in Egypt face daily marginalization; Saudi Arabia bans any public  display of Christianity; and Jews have been largely driven out of the  Arab Middle East.</p>
<p>It’s the central bus station in Tel Aviv. There’s a free health clinic  set up for the thousands of Africans who have entered Israel, some  legally, others illegally. They are from Sudan, Eritrea, and elsewhere.  They are Christians, Muslims, and animists. Clearly, they know something  that Israel’s detractors, who rant and rave about alleged “racism,”  don’t. They know that, if they’re lucky, they can make a new start in  Israel. That’s why they bypass Arab countries along the way, fearing  imprisonment or persecution. And while tiny Israel wonders how many such  refugees it can absorb, Israeli medical professionals volunteer their  time in the clinic.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/david-harris/how-can-you-defend-israel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>18</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

<!-- Performance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: http://www.w3-edge.com/wordpress-plugins/

Object Caching 324/335 objects using disk
Content Delivery Network via cdn.frontpagemag.com

 Served from: www.frontpagemag.com @ 2014-12-31 08:38:26 by W3 Total Cache -->