Straight from British eyewitnesses in Haifa, October 2, 1948: “Jewish authorities urged all Arabs to remain in Haifa and guaranteed them protection and security … However, of the 62,000 Arabs who formerly lived in Haifa, not more than 5,000 or 6,000 remained. The most potent factor was the announcements made over the air by the Arab Higher Executive, urging the Arabs to quit … those who remained and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades.” They didn’t flee because of “Zionist ethnic cleansing.” They fled because Arab leaders ordered them to get out of the way so their armies could “drive the Jews into the sea.” Then they lost the war they started — and spent the next 77 years rewriting history to blame the Jews. The “Nakba” you were taught? Pure revisionist fiction.
In the months before the British abandoned its mandate & Israel declared independence, civil war raged as Arab factions tried to prevent the Jewish state from being born.
Of course, had the Arabs agreed to the UN’s partition plan, they would have had yet another state & there would have been no war in 1948.
But their goal was not another Arab state; it was to ensure there would be no Jewish state.
Meanwhile, 5 #Arab armies amassed on the borders & waited for the British to leave so they could push the Jews into the #Mediterranean Sea. As Secretary-General of the Arab League Azzam Pasha put it on the day of the Arab #invasion: “This will be a war of extermination & momentous massacre, which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades.” Or as the then war #criminal & fugitive #Nazi Grand Mufti Amin al-Husseini put it during the invasion: “Murder the #Jews. Murder them all!”
But before the invasion began, & starting as early as Dec 1947, Arab officers began ordering Arab residents of specific villages to flee. Their reasoning? Arab citizens not involved in active fighting could only: (1) “treacherously” abide the creation of a the Jewish state &/or even become citizens of same; or (2) be in the way of Arab #military deployments & potentially get caught in the crossfire. And so, for example, on this day (March 8) in 1948, the Arab Higher Committee ordered all Arab women, children & elderly to leave Jerusalem.
The order continued, “Any opposition to this order … is an obstacle to the holy war … & will hamper the operations of the fighters in these districts.” In fact, the Arab Higher Committee ordered the evacuation of dozens of Arab villages between April & July of 1948 (see photo of Arab citizens fleeing below). Meanwhile, on April 19, 1948, Jewish forces secured Tiberias, which had a population of ~6,000 #Arabs – all of whom chose to leave. In fact, they left under British military supervision. The Jewish Community Council immediately issued a statement regarding Tiberias’ Arabs: “We did not dispossess them; they themselves chose this course …
Let no citizen touch their property.” At around this same time, in early & mid-April of 1948, an Arab faction led by Fawzi al-Qawukji was attacking Haifa & attempting to take the city. Then, rumors spread among Haifa’s Arab community that Arab air forces were about to bomb the city & ~25,000 of Haifa’s Arabs fled. As U.S. Consul-General in Haifa Aubrey Lippincott noted on April 22, 1948: “local mufti-dominated Arab leaders … [urged] all Arabs to leave the city, & large numbers did so.” On April 23, 1948, however, #Jewish forces fought back the Arab attack & retook Haifa. Three days later, on April 26, 1948, a British police report from Haifa noted: “Every effort is being made by the Jews to persuade the Arab populace to stay and carry on with their normal lives, to get their shops and businesses open and to be assured that their lives and interests will be safe.” What were some of those “efforts?”
Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, sent future Prime Minister Golda Meir to Haifa with the direct instructions to “persuade the Arabs to stay.” Ms. Meir was unsuccessful, however, as Haifa’s Arabs told her they feared that if they stayed, they would be branded “#traitors.” And so, another ~25,000 of Haifa’s Arabs fled. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but despite facts on the ground, Arab leaders at the #UN began demanding the end to a fake “#massacre.” Specifically, #Syria‘s UN Ambassador Faris al-Kouri, said the Jewish victory at Haifa was a “massacre” that provided “evidence that the ‘#Zionist program’ is to annihilate Arabs within the Jewish state if partition is effected.”
The #British were still on the ground, however, & the British Ambassador to the UN, Sir Alexander Cadogan, told the UN the very next day both that the fighting in Haifa had only begun as a result of “continuous attacks by Arabs against Jews” & that the “reports of massacres & deportations [were] erroneous.” Meanwhile, after Israel declared its independence & was invaded by five Arab armies, the newly established
#IDF issued an Order on July 6, 1948, making it clear that non-combatant Arab civilians were not to be harassed or expelled, nor their villages touched. But the Arabs were being given a very different message. #Iraqi#PrimeMinister Nuri Said announced: “We will smash the country with our guns & obliterate every place the Jews seek shelter in. The Arabs should conduct their wives & children to safe areas until the fighting has died down.” This used to be known. In fact, Arab leaders for years after the war had no qualms about repeating it. For example, Syrian Prime Minister Haled al Azm later wrote:
“Since 1948, we have been demanding the return of the #refugees to their homes. But we ourselves are the ones who encouraged them to leave. Only a few months separated our call to them to leave & our appeal to the UN to resolve on their return.” Similarly, #Jordan‘s King Abdullah wrote: “The tragedy of the #Palestinians was that most of their leaders had paralyzed them with false & unsubstantiated promises that they were not alone; that 80 million Arabs & 400 million #Muslims would instantly & miraculously come to their rescue.”
Similarly, Edward Atiyah, Secretary of the Arab League Office in #London wrote: “This wholesale #exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boastings of an unrealistic #Arabic press & the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States & the #Palestinian Arabs enabled to reenter & retake possession of their country.” Even as the war still raged on Aug 16, 1948, the Arab #Greek Orthodox Catholic Bishop of the Galilee told #Beirut newspaper Sada al-Janub: “The refugees were confident their absence would not last long, & that they would return within a week or two … Their leaders had promised them that the Arab Armies would crush the ’Zionist gangs’ very quickly & that there was no need for panic or fear of a long exile.”
A few months later, on Feb 19, 1949, the Jordanian newspaper Filastin confirmed: “The Arab States encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies.” Even many of the Palestinian Arab refugees themselves admitted their reasons for leaving. For example, on June 8, 1951, Habib Issa admitted to #NewYork Lebanese newspaper Al Hoda: “Azzam Pasha assured the Arab peoples that the #occupation of Palestine & #TelAviv would be … simple … He pointed out that they were already on the frontiers & that all the millions the Jews had spent on land & economic development would be easy booty, for it would be a simple matter to throw Jews into the Mediterranean …
Arabs of Palestine [were told] to leave their land, homes & property & to stay temporarily in neighboring fraternal states, lest the guns of the invading Arab armies mow them down.” Similarly, Asmaa Jabir Balasimah recalled being told by Arab leaders to “evacuate the village & return after the battle is over,” & that she & others in her village left all their possessions behind “based on the assumption that we would return after a few hours.” Again, however (& most importantly), had the Arabs agreed to Partition or even agreed to negotiate different borders with Zionist leaders who begged Azzam Pasha to make any counteroffer instead of invading with #genocidal intent, there would never have been a single Palestinian #refugee. #Education#Israel#Palestine
Standing at an electric vehicle charger at a rest stop, halfway through my drive from Princeton to Arlington, Virginia, I held my breath on my final attempt to power up. I had already tried three machines, which had all failed. Another machine, the last one, displayed “out of order” on its screen. This was it – or I’d need to go somewhere else. The thought of adding even more travel time on top of the extra hour I’d budgeted for charging was hard to stomach.
My noble steed, a blue 2019 Chevrolet Bolt, is the type of car that hints at a mass-market EV future. It’s on the lower-end cost-wise at $32,000, with 259 miles of range on the 2022 model. In comparison, a Tesla Model 3 starts at $45,000 for a 272-mile range. The Porsche Taycan, which Bill Gates owns, starts at $84,000 with a 225-mile range. So, the “Bolt” – as we call it in my family – comes in as a solid, relatively mass-market EV. When home over the holidays, I chose to drive the car, which my parents own, further than they’d ever done before. I wanted to see if it was possible, and even remotely enjoyable.
So there I was, my fingers freezing in 20-degree weather as I tapped through the setup screens yet again. A few hundred feet away, an endless stream of cars sped past on I-95. I plugged in the nozzle and waited, expecting to see the familiar “CHARGING FAILED.” But a few moments later, “CHARGING IN PROGRESS” miraculously appeared. Success.
It’s experiences like this, or even worse ones with no chargers available at all, that President Biden has made it his mission to improve. The infrastructure bill, which passed in November 2021, allocates state funding to build “the first-ever national network of EV chargers.” The goal is to boost public confidence in EVs to the point where they represent half of all car sales by 2030 – up from just 4.5% in 2021.
“This, to me, is a national experiment,” says Joseph Schofer, professor emeritus of engineering at Northwestern University. “[The states have] been thrown a ton of money to do some stuff, and an important question is how are they going to evaluate it? What data will you use to bootstrap the next decision when there is more money for charging stations?”
The rest stop in Maryland was the first test on my 200-mile journey, during which I needed to charge multiple times. The fast chargers there– also known as “Level 3″ or “DC” (direct current) chargers – were the most road trip-friendly option. They could give the car about 100 miles in under an hour. To get the same at a Level 2, those found in public parking lots, might take four hours. On a level 1, which plugs into a home outlet, this could take as much as 10 hours. After the trip, I asked Matthew Wade, the CEO of the Electric Vehicle Institute, the charging company, why the machines gave me so much trouble. Don’t miss the best in editorials, opinion columns and commentary from NJ.com writers. Add your email here:
“We spend a lot of time maintaining them,” said Wade. “Inside, there’s software that’s constantly generating data. If a machine has a high failure rate, we send a technician out to look at it.” Wade explained charging could fail because of the charger itself, the car’s battery, or the technology inside the car that communicates with the battery.
Having a network of reliable fast chargers is essential to convincing Americans to buy an EV, just like Tesla has done with their “Supercharger” network. But at $1 million apiece – including the machine itself, installation, and maintenance – they cost significantly more than level two chargers. That means states like Alaska, with its $52 million in funding, would need to choose between installing about 60 fast chargers or 1,000 level 2 chargers. So, the infrastructure funds may result in fewer total chargers, but it’s a necessary tradeoff. In fact, the Maryland Department of Transportation told me they plan to use the infrastructure funds for almost all fast chargers.
After a few days in Arlington, I navigated to the closest EV station on Google before the return trip. It turned out the charger was inside a private condo. I tried another. Same thing. And another, but this time a public parking garage that cost $11.
Frustrated, I surrendered the money. They only had level two chargers, so it took two and a half hours of reading a book in the cold until the car had enough power. The next day, I drove back to the fast chargers in Maryland. They were finicky again, but ultimately successful. Now all I had to do was make it home.
Thirty minutes from my house, a “Low Battery – Charge Vehicle Soon” message surfaced. Confident in the 40 miles of buffer on top of what I needed to get home, I continued. But the cold December weather was draining the battery faster than I anticipated. Fifteen minutes later, the warning message upgraded to a mysterious “PROPULSION POWER IS REDUCED.” Then, just one mile from home, the final blow: “OUT OF ENERGY, CHARGE VEHICLE NOW.”
Admitting defeat, I pulled over and called my parents. I figured the last thing they wanted to do on Christmas Eve was to tow a dead car. After much discussion, we decided I would “just go for it.” I gripped the steering wheel as the car hugged the curves up the hill to my house. Finally, I made it to the top and turned into the garage.
Despite it all, I remain an EV supporter. There’s just something to the smooth ride of a battery-powered car, and the miracle of transportation without emissions.
But I’m not ready to put my own money down for one. I’d like to see the states use the federal funding as a proof point that stress-free EV trips are possible, even if for only a segment of the population to start. Until then, I’ll be watching – and waiting – to join the future of driving.
NATO is in far bigger danger than anyone realizes. And the reason has nothing to do with defense budgets.
The real danger is psychological. It’s cultural.
Europeans didn’t just free-ride on American security for 80 years. They built an entire identity around the idea that they evolved past the Americans protecting them.
That identity is now the single biggest obstacle to Western survival. And the darkest irony is: we helped build it. After World War II, Europe wasn’t just economically shattered. Its culture was in ruins. The cities, the universities, the concert halls, the museums. Rubble.
The Marshall Plan rebuilt the economy. But culture wasn’t a priority. Not at first. Then the Iron Curtain dropped. And suddenly culture became a weapon.
American diplomats, academics, artists & scholars flooded Western Europe. We funded their universities. Supported their orchestras. Rebuilt their museums. Promoted their intellectual life. Not because European culture needed saving for its own sake.
Because Eastern Europeans were struggling for Maslow’s mist basic needs.
We needed the view from the other side of that Wall to be intoxicating.
So America built Western Europe into a showcase of self-actualization. Art. Philosophy. Cafe culture. Long vacations. Universities where people studied literature instead of surviving. We were manufacturing jealousy.
And it worked. The Wall came down.
But here’s what no one accounted for.
When you give a society self-actualization on someone else’s tab long enough, they forget it was a gift. They start believing it was organically theirs.
And when they look at the country that funded it all, a country busy building aircraft carriers and semiconductor fabs and shale fields instead of reaching the Maslow’s pinnacle.
An overweight American in a ball cap who can’t tell Monet from Pissarro. Who eats fast food. Who drives a truck. Who builds strip malls instead of piazzas.
And to a culture trained in aesthetics but stripped of strategic awareness, that American looks uncivilized.
So the arrogance takes root. And once a culture decides another is beneath them, they stop listening.
Americans say wars are sometimes necessary: crude.
Oil is the backbone of prosperity: unsophisticated.
Kids build companies in garages that reshape the planet: crass.
Wall Street finances the global economy: vulgar.
Europe has no world-class technology sector. No military capable of strong defense. No energy independence. No AI capacity.
What Europe has is culture. The culture we paid for at the expense of us reaching Maslow’s pinnacle.
For decades that was fine. We funded the museums, protected the sea lanes, and tolerated the sneering because the arrangement worked.
Then Europeans stopped keeping the contempt private. They started saying it to our faces. In their media. In their parliaments. At every international forum. “Americans are stupid.
Americans are violent. Americans are a threat to democracy.”
We could have moved the Louvre to NY. We could have built a Venice here. We could have stolen your best artists, designers, philosophers and more… like your conquering armies did for centuries.
Instead we funded them. And all we asked for in return was to let us visit.
You don’t have the military to defend your borders. You don’t have the technology to compete. You don’t have the energy to heat your homes without begging dictators.
What you have is an 80-year superiority complex FUNDED BY AMERICANS, protected by American soldiers, and built on the false belief that self-actualization is civilization.
It isn’t. Civilization is the ability to sustain itself. By that measure, Europe isn’t a civilization at all. It’s a dependency with better wine.
That’s not a threat. It’s a weather report.
Build a Navy. Or don’t. But stop lecturing the people who made you “better than us”
Our “crudeness” our “stunted liberal education” our “ugly strip malls” are because we sacrificed our culture to support yours.
Here Are 5 Uncomfortable Facts Showing How Bad Europe is compared to America:
Mississippi, which is the poorest state in the entire country is now wealthier than Europe’s top economies – Wealthier than the UK, Italy, France, Germany and Spain.
European spending power is collapsing. Disposable income for the average American is now 80% higher than UK or French citizens, and 50% higher than German citizens.
European counties have stagnated. Nvidia alone is worth more than Germany, France and UK stock markets combined. In a fun and zippy twist, NVIDIA is worth more than the entire Canadian economy. Europe has the lowest fertility rate of any continent.
Using the current trajectory Europe will cease to exist in 100 years due to the failing fertility rate.
Europe is not competitive in anything related to high tech. Not blockchain, crypto, robotics, AI, space technology or drones. Absolutely nothing.
So, when Europeans say that the United States thinks we’re better than they are, they’re right. We do.
The Snake Den 