The Buzz of Justice Served

This is an open letter to Thomas Friedman

Mr. Friedman,

On Meet the Press, July 30, 2006*, you spoke of the "buzz" that several Syrian writers displayedover seen Hezbullah confront Israel. That "buzz" is probably a sense of a form of justice served. Until Israel is held accountable for injustices of the past, this "buzz" is legitimate, and the violence will likely continue.

I urge you to write about the need to indict and convict certain Israelis for war crimes in order to induce the healthy "buzz" of justice served.


* Partial Text of "Meet the Press" Interview:

MR. FRIEDMAN: Well, it was, it was a dinner with a group of Syrian writers arranged by some friends of mine. Say, you know, one woman was saying how she’s just really—believes Israel should be, you know, eliminated, and another Arab journalist was saying how much pride—how much pride he gets by seeing Hezbollah fight the Israelis to a standstill and inflict these casualties. And a third, very interesting, was saying, “This Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, he’s a disaster for us.”

But there are too many people, Tim, outside of Lebanon, in the Arab world, getting their buzz, frankly, off seeing Hezbollah stand up to Israel while Lebanon gets decimated. Lebanon, the first Arab democracy. And I, I real—I have a real problem with that because it’s time for the Arab world to stop getting their buzz, OK, off fighting Israel and to overcome their humiliation that way. It’s time to start building something.

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