By Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Who are the “LIERs“?
The LIERs represent a consortium of Libertarians, Internationalists, Egalitarians, and Relativists.
The LIERs dominate the news and other opinion–making media.
A favorite pastime of the LIERs is Israel-bashing. Media bias against Israel assumes obscene proportions whenever Israel retaliates against Arab terrorists—be it Hamas in Gaza, Fatah in Jenin, or Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Some commentators attribute the media’s anti-Israel bias to Arab threats against journalists. Probably true in some cases, but Arab threats do not account for all the venom the LIERs spew against Israel.
Other commentators attribute the mediacracy’s bias to anti-Semitism. There’s some truth in this, but it’s superficially understood. I’ll come back to this later.
Still others ascribe the anti-Israel bias to the LIERs‘ underdog mentality. Israel is portrayed as the Goliath in its conflict with those poor, little people, the “Palestinians,” who are compelled to use their own children as human bombs in this uneven conflict.
But is it right to sympathize with Arab terrorists that use women as human shields? I ask these questions because it’s absurd to apply the Geneva Convention to Arab terrorists. When you think seriously about these terrorists, when you behold their cruelty, their inhumanity, their contempt for human life, it’s not only absurd to endow these monsters with the rights of the Geneva Convention; it makes that Convention a mockery of human dignity.
But for the Vatican to join the LIERs and align the Church with the Palestinian Authority’s quest for statehood when the PA virtually drove Christians out of Bethlehem is more than hypocrisy. It’s using the PA to gain control of Jerusalem!
This may explain why the “Religion of Love” denounced the IDF’s counterattack against Hezbollah operating from Lebanon. Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israel has a right to defend itself. Whoever questioned this right? Isn’t national self-preservation an axiomatic duty of government? But having descended to psycho-babble about Israel’s right to defend itself, Bibi has repeatedly implored the PA to recognize Israel as a Jewish state! Where does this Jewish Don Quixote come from?
Probing deeper, where did this ridiculous need to invoke the axiomatic principle of national self-defense and consequent use of force against foreign aggression originate? Here’s the story.
Back in the 1920s, Julian Benda, a most insightful Frenchman, warned of the pacifist mentality that was emasculating France, a mentality that would lead to the Second World War. In The Treason of the Intellectuals, Benda anticipated what I call the LIERs—the Libertarians, Internationalists, Egalitarians, and Relativists of today’s opinion-makers. He noted that in the perverse minds of these LIERs justice becomes suspect when backed by force.
I am not suggesting that “might makes right.” But to denigrate right when it is invested with might is to ensure the victory of the wicked. This is the crime the LIERs of the media perpetrate by their slanderous attacks against Israel. Let’s probe deeper into these LIERs.
Given their Libertarianism, LIERs oppose all restraints on their freedom of expression. As a case in point, a member of their ilk in the U.S. Senate fantasized about getting the FCC to shut down Fox News!
When all is said and done, however, it’s hard to understand why LIERs, given the meaning of each letter of this acronym, side with illiberal and despotic Arabs and are so often hostile toward democratic Israel. Here we return to anti-Semitism.
Israel, perceived as a Jewish state, symbolizes nationalism. This offends the Internationalism of the LIERs. Moreover, the Bible refers to the Jews as the “Chosen People.” This offends the Egalitarianism of the LIERs. The LIERs also oppose any display of the Ten Commandments in the public domain. This offends the moral Relativism of the LIERs.
Israel therefore represents the absolute antithesis of what the LIERs represent. Now one can better understand why the LIERsdemonize and want to delegitimize Israel, the Nation which, through blood and tears, carried the Truth from Sinai.?
@ vivarto:
Yes, you would think that the LP wouldn’t be interested in Israel but their pundits (Jacob Richman, for example) bought into the Arab propaganda. I attempted to refute their false assertions but got piled on by their (non-thinking) fans.
An irony is that Libertarians (note capital L) talk about how we all have the right to defend ourselves but Israel doesn’t.
BTW, Prof Eidelberg was an American who emigrated to Israel in 1976. He always has an interesting thing to say.
@ vivarto:
Libertarian Party
I think the author is talking about the so called “Liberals” no the “Libertarians”.
“Libertarians” are mostly isolationists and don’t much care about foreign politics.
On the other hand the so called “Liberals” really are Bolsheviks and have nothing to do with any liberty. They are internationalists and they are the ones who hate Israel.
Perhaps Prof. Paul Eidelberg is not from America.
@ paulb1776:
What is “LP”?
@ paulb1776:
Thank you for the info. I just looked up the LP and find that about 10% of the people “lean” towards the LP but most don’t vote for it. So there was no point of just throwing your vote away election after election. I see that many of their aims are also Republican, so you made a wise move..
@ Edgar G.:
Libertarian Party
@ paulb1776:
Please excuse my ignorance..but what does LP stand for other than Liquid Petroleum…? Is there a functioning, shadowy “Libertarian” Party….??
@ dan kaplan:
Yes, very much so. The existence of the Jews, through all their travails,, gives the absolute “lie” to the whole Christian Faith. The Jew should not even exist, and would not have, if Christianity had been the uplifting, G-D Given Saviour based belief that they promulgated with such fire and sword vigour, and still stick to, even though plainly they are wrong, making a compelling case for the falsity and foolishness of their own devious, concocted and malicious existence.
Even their mumbo-jumbo, pomp, gilded and peculiar vestments, supposed to be conveying dignity, look like “imaginative silly looking, fancy dress at a Purim party”…
The lose on ALL counts. And they KNOW it…..!!
i guess that the “pope’s people” hate the jews more than they loved bethlehem’s christians
Exactly. One of the reasons that I switched from the LP to the Republican Party. I and others tried to address this with the LP Exec Committee but they refused to even listen to what we had to say.