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There was no Romney gaffe in Israel
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Candidate
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| Contributor | Imperator |
| Last Edited | Imperator Aug 01, 2012 02:53pm |
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| Category | Opinion |
| Author | Marc A. Thiessen |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Wednesday, August 1, 2012 08:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The media is accusing Mitt Romney of having committed another “gaffe” abroad — this time when he suggested that cultural differences help explain why the Israelis are so much more economically successful than Palestinians.
One small problem with that: What Romney said was not a gaffe. He was absolutely right.
In reporting the so-called gaffe, the New York Times explained that Romney simply does not understand that the Palestinians’ economic problems are all Israel’s fault: “The Palestinians have long complained that their economy is in a chokehold from Israeli security measures,” the Times declared, adding “The West Bank is subject to trade restrictions imposed by the Israelis, while Gaza was subject to a near-total Israeli blockade on people and goods after Hamas took control of its government five years ago. Mr. Romney mentioned neither during his speech on Monday.”
But these security measures are the direct result of culture — the culture of terrorism that permeates the Palestinian territories. In 2009, the Pew Global Attitudes Project showed support for suicide bombing on the decline across the Muslim world, with just one lonely exception: the Palestinian territories: “[M]ajorities or pluralities among eight of the nine Muslim publics surveyed this year say that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilians can never be justified to defend Islam; only in the Palestinian territories does a majority endorse such attacks.” [Emphasis added]. |
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