Monday, July 17, 2006

Bob Dylan on Israel

A few words written a couple of decades or so ago by a certain Jewish philosopher...

“Neighborhood Bully”

Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.

He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.


Source: Copyright © 1983 by Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

robert zimmerman?

Anonymous said...

Sderot Town

Take a trip with me to Sderot town.
It's a bright sunny day, then the Red Warning sounds
Then it's hell come to earth as the rockets rain down
Just a typical day in Sderot town.

Just a stone’s throw away from the Gaza Strip
And the people living there, well hatred’s their trip
They aim their rockets to the east and the let’em all rip
Into Sderot Town from the Gaza Strip.

Tell me how much innocent blood must run?
How many more parents mourning daughters and sons?
Till war will be over and killing all done
Tell me how much innocent blood must run?

Already eleven have been killed and we pray that's the end
And as G-d holds each soul each one's blood He'll avenge
And that He deem this the time his Mashiach to send
Already eleven have been killed and we pray it's the end.

www.kernersongs.com

Anonymous said...

Congratulations in quoting the lamest Dylan-song ever.
This is a racist song, where Dylan indiscriminately labels a group of people as "maniacs" and "dogs". If I were to call Jews maniacs and dogs, it would instantly make me a fascist anti-semite. Luckily for me, and unlike some of the bloggers in this thread, I am too intelligent to think this way or let such idiot wind blow through the corners of my teeth.

This embarrasing song was released on the album Infidels in 1983, truly an expendable moment in the genius' legacy. At this point in history, in case you don't remember, Israel played the infamous role as a parttime Hitler in Lebanon - massacrating civilians in Sabra and Shatila. One should think that by then history would have taught the government of Israel and its supporters a few lessons on ethnic cleansing, but perhaps this is just the case; the unfortunate volatile result of the Jewish people's tragic history.

I equally despise the terrorists on both sides of this heartbreaking conflict. The fascist policies of Israel directed towards the Palestine people is no more righteous than the violent acts of Palestinian extremist groups. Innocent civilians are targeted on both sides, although the Palestinian extremists still have a lot of killing to do to get anywhere near the deathcount Israel has brought upon the Palestinian people.

From the outside - in a historical perspective - this conflict is hard to understand. Traditionally, Jews and Muslims have always coexisted peacefully.

While Jews where prosecuted and victims of horrible atrocities in Europe and Russia, the relationship with the Arab muslims was always good. Even in the "Arab/muslim era" - while Europe was in its Dark Ages and Jews were reviled and persecuted here - Muslims in Spain during the same period worked side by side with Jews in developing literature, science and art. Together, they translated classical Greek texts into Arabic. This task later helped Europe move out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance.

In the parts of Europe under Arab rule, the forces that had led to the progressive isolation and disruption of Jewish life were not only checked, they were dramatically reversed. In the near East, north Africa and Spain, Jews threw their support behind advancing Muslim Arab armies. Jews flourished under Muslim rule in Egypt, where they achieved very high positions in government.

The Israeli-Palestine conflict is young in a historical context. The deterioration in Muslim-Jewish relations was triggered by the emergence of Zionism, the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland by Zionist Jews and British colonizers. The following Israeli opression of the Palestinian people and gruesome retaliaton acts of Palestinian and Arab extremists, have hardened the conflict towards present time.

This blog is indeed a symptome of the worthless polarization of this conflict, useful only to people living in deniance, wishing to shed the darkness in a situation that seems more and more hopeless for an increasing number of people.


The following lyrics by his Bobness I dedicate to all vindictive supporters of violence on both sides of the conflict.


Masters Of War

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Now drop out of the collective paranoia and tune into something that might expand your mind in regards to generalizing "the other side":

http://blip.tv/file/610783/

_ _ _ _ _

For all Palestinians and Israelis in the world; Peace!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(If you delete this posting, I will unfortunately not be surprised, as freedom of expression often is not a virtue that is reflected in blogs like these. However, I hope to be proven wrong; that "comment moderation" is not synonymous to "censoring unpopular opinions". Thank you!)

Freedom Fighter said...

Hello Martin and welcome to Joshua's Army.

I don't run this site as an echo chamber, likewise dislike comment moderation, and in the beginning, JoshuaPundit didn't have it. However, as the site got more popular I found comment moderation a necessity in order to filter out trolls, racist and anti-Semitic comments, spam, and people selling viagra, porn and vacations.

Your comment isn't in that category,although it sadly reflects the moral relativism and lack of knowledge about the Middle East and the Arab -Israeli conflict that's fairly common in some circles.

And that's exactly what Dylan is talking about..the narrative that's been pushed by the Left and in the dinosaur media as opposed to the reality.

Israel has been attacked with genocidal intent ever since its founding, and that hatred shows no signs of diminishing...because the Arabs keep it alive in the their mosques, schools and media.

What's more, it's based not on any nonsense about the 'Palestinians' who the Arabs couldn't care less about but the refusal of the Arabs to live next to Jews in peace and equality. The reverse isn't the case, as you know if you've ever been to Israel.

Here are a few questions for you to ponder, if you don't mind:

-Who has killed and/or expelled more 'Palestinians', Israel or the Arab states?

-After the failed attempt by 7 Arab nations to create a new Holocaust in Israel, there were about 450,000 Arab refugees from what became Israel, many of whom left voluntarily. Roughly 100,000 Arabs stayed in Israel and became full Israeli citizens.

After the same conflict, almost 1 million Jews were ethnically cleansed from the Arab world, with few if any of them leaving voluntarily. The Jews resettled most of them in Israel.Why didn't the Arabs do the same with their refugees?

- If the 'Palestinians' are a nation, why did their 'nationalism' only manifest itself after Jordan's illegal occupation of Judea and Samaria was ended in 1967?

- If you made a real estate deal with someone to transfer property to them and they didn't fulfill the terms of the contract, wouldn't you be justified legally in taking your property back and evicting them?

By the way Martin, here's what a just and fair Middle East Peace Plan would look like..which is precisely why the Arabs would never agree to it.

ff

Freedom Fighter said...

Sorry Martin, wrong link. Try this one instead.

ff