The real map of Israel

Iran, a country that is neither free nor democratic, just held an election that was, arguably, neither free nor democratic. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man who has called for "a world without Zionism," was re-elected in a landslide.

Two Israeli officials, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Vice Premier Silvan Shalom, expressed their concern that the election results underscore the threat Israel faces from Iran's nuclear ambitions.

On Google News, this story was illustrated by the map that is typically used to illustrate any story about threats to Israel's existence:



Here's a closer look:



That's Israel in the middle, with the dashed lines indicating the tiny little Gaza Strip on the left and the bigger, but still relatively small, West Bank in the center-right. That's Egypt to the left, Jordan to the right, Saudi Arabia next to Jordan and Syria just north of it.

Doesn't Israel look like a power player? Doesn't it look like Israel is a big presence in the region, throwing its weight around to crush the Palestinians and deny them the smallest sliver of land for their own state?

Look again. This is the same map, if you zoom out:



Can you see Israel? It's that little diamond-shaped outline in the center of the map. Look closely and you'll see the word "Israel," which juts out into Egypt because the text won't fit inside the borders of the country.

That little dot is Israel. That's all the land Israel has.

The Palestinians want a state, and U.S. President Barack Obama wants Israel -- not Jordan or Syria or Egypt or Lebanon or Saudi Arabia -- to give up land so they can have one.

Will the Palestinian state have the full sovereign powers of all other states around the world?

Will it have a military? An airbase? Treaties with other nations?

Will it renounce the goal, stated by the elected Palestinian leadership, of destroying Israel?

Details, details.

Did you know that the Israelis won the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in a war that was launched against them by neighboring countries?

More details.

It's just a distraction from the main point, which is that Israel is expected to volunteer for suicide in the name of "peace."

Don't expect that to happen.

"Never again" means "Never again."

There are enough Holocaust museums, thanks very much.


Copyright 2009

Editor's note: You might be interested in the earlier posts, "Sen. Joe Biden erases Israel," "Ayn Rand's advice and the Gaza Strip pullout," and "Why the Arab-Israeli peace process didn't/doesn't/can't work."

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