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David Kudish: Guest opinion

David Kudish
Special to The Aspen Times
Aspen CO Colorado

Over the past decade, the rantings of Sue Gray have appeared in this and other local newspapers; most people of intelligence conclude she is a disturbed malcontent who promotes an agenda of “hate Israel” and “despise the Jews.”

Gray knows little about Middle East history other than what she chooses to embrace is prima facie evidence of her embedded orientation. She has embraced such cold-blooded killers as Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat – whom she referred to as “men of peace.”

How could Israel be accused of improving its image when people such as Gray are blind to realities in front of their noses? No vision chart could convince those like her who are pre-disposed to denigrate (or out-right hate) for the sheer joy of being “contrary,” and using every half-truth and distortion to build their “case” by vilifying the most socially enlightened and most progressive culture in the region.



I challenge her to find a country – any country – in the region as progressive and liberal as is Israel on many levels of social enlightenment. For example (and this is only a partial list):

• Woman’s rights,




• Rule of Law (with an independent Supreme Court that has frequently overturned the military charged with keeping out terrorists and their forsworn leaders),

• Respect for property rights,

• Benign – even accepting – attitude toward gays and lesbians,

• Free press,

• Right to criticize the government,

• A plethora of political parties across the spectrum in contrast to the one-party dictatorships of virtually every regime in the Middle East, including so-called “moderate” Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

And, don’t forget Gray’s flirtation with Saddam Hussein’s heinous regime years ago. Gray, in a rash decision, offered her body to prevent the U.S. from declaring change on this evil regime (now finally deposed to the joy of most Iraqis – Shi’as, Kurds and Sunnis).

To counter her fictional account of the reason Israel is sponsoring a massive field hospital in Haiti is simple: Israel feels compelled to provide its considerable medical expertise because it is a recognized world leader in the fields of medicine, biology, physiology, engineering, and related sciences – to alleviate suffering wherever and whenever.

Let’s step back a moment; Israel continues to set an example in delivering emergency aid in response to natural disasters – even those involving Muslim countries. In contrast, there has never been reciprocation by the Muslim-dominated countries in the region, even when those suffering were Muslims.

Israel always responds and only doesn’t get the opportunity to set up rescue efforts when its efforts are blocked by the autocratic Muslim nation, which would rather sacrifice its own people than to permit its citizens to have an opportunity to experience Israel’s humanitarian efforts first hand.

Playing politics and sacrificing lives. Some inhumane trade-off!

In Haiti, the shock is not the Western response to the horrible disaster. Instead, it’s the lack of response by the 50 some-odd majority Muslim states that could not give a damn about the horrors visited upon these people of color. The lack of tzakat (“charity” in Arabic) – the extreme penuriousness of the billionaire oil-rich sheikdoms – is a deafening crescendo of silence, financial non-responsiveness and irresponsibility to a world otherwise in mourning for these downtrodden folk.

Gray’s audacity is monumental in accusing Israel of war crimes, human rights abuses and other “atrocities” in the Gazan Operation in January 2008 – in fact, this was Israel’s attempt to halt the indiscriminate shooting of shrapnel-containing explosive rockets into populated areas in the south of Israel on a virtually daily basis.

Now for some facts: The terrorists in Gaza – the Muslim Brotherhood – are some of the same terrorists trying to penetrate the U.S. They hate us for the same reasons they hate Israel, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia…the English-speaking democracies that form the spinal column of the West’s resistance to radical Islamic hegemony. They hate us because we refuse to submit (in fact, the meaning of “Islam” when translated to English!).

These jihadist killers make it a practice of hiding behind women and children while reigning destruction by random rocket firings onto peaceful villages in the south of Israel just over the Gazan border. These terrorists use the physical cover of schools, UN facilities, hospitals and mosques. They use these facilities to hide weaponry and explosives. They seek to instigate a military response by Israel who has been using diplomatic means to attempt to convince the civilized peoples of the world to try to restrain these evil elements and save the innocent victims – the Muslims themselves – from their horrendously poor leadership.

The Goldstone Report was a set up – in a technique to use a misinformed Jew against the Jewish people to condemn Israel by those who would prefer to supervise Israel’s demise – thinking that they can successfully curry peace with a terrorist regime … whether Hamas (in Gaza) or Fatah (Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority in the West Bank). These organizations promote terrorism and prey on innocents – mainly their own women and children. These innocents are the ultimate pawns of this cynical attempt to use hatred rather than engagement to promote a lasting peace in the region.

Israel’s goal is co-existence with its Palestinian neighbors; the Palestinian leadership wants to continue to promote the destruction of Israel as its “end game.” One just has to read the charter of the PLO or Hamas. Contained in these terrorist documents are the raison d’être for these organizations’ continued hostility toward Israel that Gray conveniently sidesteps or denies.

These documents are the proof statement of intent and objective so elusive to the exhaustive “research” of people like Gray. One side – Israel – has sacrificed many times for peace. When the Palestinians truly desire peace, then and only then will a “deal” be negotiated.

Gray is correct in stating, “Israel is (a) diverse and vibrant bastion of democracy.” For it is home to about 1 million Christian and Muslim Arabs, many of whom take pride in their Israeli citizenship and do not want to be removed from Israel or rejoined to the successors of Arafat’s inhuman, incompetent and corrupt governmental entities.

She falsely asserts that “in Israeli-occupied Palestine, a system of apartheid is utilized to keep both Christian and Muslim Arabs separate from the Jewish population.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

There are virtually no Jews remaining in the Arab countries.

In a similar fashion, the number of Christians in the Arab countries is diminishing. Why? Because of statist policies that remain un-criticized in the halls of the United Nations. Some of these authoritarian governments officially support the killing of Christians, Hindus or Buddhists. These killings – murder in any other context – are sanctioned and protected. Look at the terror thrust upon the Christian communities in the West Bank under the PA, in Iraq, in Turkey and even as far away as Nigeria or the Philippines.

Gray falsely asserts that Israel’s “declared goal is to create a homogeneous Jewish state.” Conveniently ignored is the fact that there are more than 1 million Muslims and Christians and Muslims who live in Israel proper. Find a Christian in Saudi Arabia (other than the oil company compounds). Find a church being built in a Muslim country versus the thousands of mosques being built in the Western countries. There are none.

Contrary to Gray’s assertions, all modern ethnic cleansing has been practiced by the Muslim authoritarian states such as in Darfur, Sudan, a fact conveniently never mentioned by her. What is so ironic is that this is ethnic cleansing by Muslims on Muslims (also ignored by her). Her accusations of Israeli “intimidation, imprisonment, starvation, eviction, denying access to jobs, farms, medical care, food and clean water” is mere fantasy.

She asserts “as final proof of their intent to eliminate Arabs, Israel sends medical help to people thousands of miles away, while actively preventing humanitarian aid from reaching people right next door.” This is such a perverse statement! The fact is that the smuggling tunnels from Egypt into the Gaza Strip are used virtually exclusively to bring armaments for later use against civilians (shrapnel doesn’t distinguish between Jews, Christians and Muslims).

She asserts that “Arabs [are] denied humanitarian aid because they belong to the same ethnic group or religion as ‘terrorists.'” No, Sue. It is not because they are in an “affinity group.” It is because many are terrorists and are therefore kept out of their country… just as most Americans think should happen here. Case No. 1 is the Christmas Day attempt by that jihadist Nigerian, who was brought up in America.

Your readers need to know that Gray is an uniformed and vile racist who covers her tracks with the crap spread by other uninformed and anti-democratically minded people in her cabal.

I know her personally. I know she seeks an unusual (and anti-social) manner in which to gain recognition (vilification?) in her community.

Ordinarily, there would be a line around the corner waiting to go toe-to-toe with her in verbal jousting … to decimate her in a formal debate. But this would be tantamount to giving a public airing to a ranting lunatic who denies that the Earth is round. Why bother?

Let’s agree to leave her filth in Carbondale where she sells papers to those who line their birdcages with the op-ed sections where her novel conspiracy theories and hate speech are printed. Let us agree to keep her and her Holocaust-denying friends in the cesspools where their theories are formulated.