Over the past week, I have been commenting on a blog called The Victim's Voice. The blog, maintained by Mr. Stephen M. Flatlow, who lost his daughter in a terrorist attack, is largely an apologia for Israel. The majority of the posts, at least that I've seen, focus on defending Israel against accusations of imperialism and racism.
Unfortunately, this defense at times translates into opposition to any sympathy for the Palestinian cause, no matter how measured. For example, the post which provoked my ire attacked a speech by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who praised the courage of Palestinian refugees who've endured in spite of conflict.
Flatlow contends that rather than praising the refugees, Ki-Moon should be attacking Muslim countries for not integrating the refugees into their own populations. Never mind the fact that the Palestinians as a whole seem to want to return to their original homes.
Flatlow's response to this point is that the Palestinians voluntarily left in order to allow Arab armies to attack Israel. Even if one ignores the general dictates of prudence, which suggest that one should flee an area if a military force is approaching, this ignores the evidence presented by Ilan Pappe, a Jewish Israeli historian, has uncovered evidence that Zionist leaders planned to expel Palestinians before the war started. One commenter on the blog, Shana Maydel (apparently a pseudonym, as shana maydel is a Yiddish phrase for "pretty girl") attempted to discredit Pappe as a bad historian, incidentally throwing in that he is a "Communist" and "anti-Zionist." Though if he was such a bad historian, one wonders why they felt the need to drive him out of the country.
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