Dear Fox and Friends,
The next time Mr. Rivera is on your show advocating his vapid ideological drivel as though it might contain some deep geopolitical insight, please point out four things to him:
First, “the” problem in the Middle East neither Israel’s unwillingness to return to the pre-1967 war borders nor even the Arab-Israeli conflict. The problem is the unrelenting hatred of Israel and the rampant anti-Semitism of far too many Middle East Muslims. This hatred is aided and encouraged by Arab (and Persian) governments, who have done virtually nothing for the Palestinians, except to use them as stalking horses for their own evil political ends; the aim of those governments seems only to use anti-Israeli sentiment to distract from their corrupt and dictatorial policies. Let Mr. Rivera point to a single Arab government that shows any evidence of respect for human rights, including the rights of women and minority religions (perhaps Mr. Rivera might ask the Coptic Christians in Egypt what they think “the” Middle East problem is). That is the Middle East problem — the hatred and intolerance that animates the Muslim states and their citizens, generated by a deep ignorance and sustained by an unwillingness to change.
Second, Mr. Rivera can point to no moral principle, no international law that requires Israel to return territory that has been used on three separate occasions to mount attacks on Israel, with the sole purpose of extinguishing the state of Israel and exterminating Jewish citizens. Mr. Rivera can point to no evidence that the Golan Heights or the West Bank would not soon be used — undoubtedly with the cooperation of Iran — to again mount attacks on Israel, attacks meant to threaten if not end the existence of a Jewish state. Unfortunately, there is no reason hope that in the next two or three generations that the Arab/Muslim governments and their citizenry will finally forswear their hatred of Israel.
Third, Mr. Rivera is flatly inconsistent. While he applauds the U.S. sending troops into Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to defend itself. Indeed, I suspect that even someone as driven by ideology as he is would allow the U.S. to hold on to territory that there was every reason to believe would be used to attack the United States. President Kennedy took the U.S. to the brink of nuclear war in order to “neutralize” a territory that threatened us. Mr. Rivera cannot consistently applaud the one while decrying the other.
Finally, ask Mr. Rivera if it comforts him to know that he is in the same intellectual company as Helen Thomas. Just as surely as anti-Semitism drives her, an empty, uninformed, and completely historically-blinded ideology drives Mr. Rivera.
(Note: The author of this letter has requested to remain anonymous)
