"Everybody loves the Underdog and wants them to win, unless you happen to be playing against the underdog" Stephen K. Shaw
Today is Israel ’s
66th birthday. I remember an
old story back when Assad’s father still ruled Syria
with an iron fist. He was so anti-Israel
that when the nation’s school system received blow up globes of the world, he
had his principals cut out Israel
from the map as if it didn’t exist. Of
course the teachers couldn’t blow up the globe because the air kept escaping
where Israel should
have been. The moral of the story is
that the world wouldn’t exist without Israel . Here is a link to 18 Israel
inventions that just could save your life.
http://israel21c.org/health/18-israeli-inventions-that-could-save-your-life/?utm_source=Yom+Ha%27atzmaut+Newsletter&utm_campaign=Happy+TA&utm_medium=email
Yet, if Israel
is so great, I wondered why so many people favor the Palestinians over the
Israelis in the conflict? Israel is
certainly not perfect. Life under Israeli rule is hard and at times unfair. We could and should do a better job as our
tradition and the Declaration of Israel’s Independence
demand of us. Nevertheless, Israel is a democracy where there is an independent
judiciary. All Arabs can seek justice.
Israeli Arabs have the right to vote and serve in the Knesset. An Arab sits on the Israel Supreme
court. There is a free and open press
and the right to protest. But living
under the Palestinians rule nothing like that exists. Everybody agrees that the P.A. and Hamas
governments are corrupt. Human rights
are trampled upon especially if you are a woman or a homosexual. Honor killings and murder of homosexuals are
common place. There is no right of
assembly and free press. Members of the
opposite party are harassed and even out right murdered. Palestinian terrorist have lobbed thousand
upon thousands of missiles at civilian targets. Suicide bombers have killed
innocent men, women, and children at bus stops, restaurants, discothèques, and
even at a Passover seder. Gilad Shalit,
an army soldier, was kidnapped and the Red Cross wasn’t permitted to visit him
during his years of captivity as allowed by the Geneva Convention.
Unfortunately the list of these crimes is longer than I have time to share. In other words the Palestinians are not
always the best neighbors in the world to share a backyard.
Believe it or not the answer to my question can be found in
this week’s Sports Illustrated issue (5-5-14 ). I was
reading the article “Long Shots” by Chris Ballard. Upsets do happen in the NBA, but no league
serves up fewer postseason upsets. He
writes,
“Why do we love
upsets? Plenty of social scientists have
studied the matter. In 2010, Slate
published a lengthy article citing the findings of this research-how, all else
being equal 81% of us choose to root for underdogs; how once a presidential
candidate is described as an underdog he or she is immediately perceived as
more liable; how we naturally assign positive attributes to underdogs.
In the end it’s
simple math: the more unlikely the success, the more rewarding it is. And therein lies the frustration, and the
allure….
No doubt about it.
The Palestinians are the underdogs and garner all of the world’s
sympathy. That’s almost ok with me. I’d rather have the status of a strong,
resilient, and thriving Jewish State in our ancestral homeland than being the vulnerable
wandering underdog relying solely on the good will of others as we were the
2000 years before 1948. That didn’t turn out so well for us Jews especially if
you remember all the expulsions, inquisitions, blood libels, pogroms, and the
Holocaust. Now is definitely better.
