-1O0Pinions To Io
 By Joe O'Neill


Gaza Debate: At Least It Was Collegial
ey've done this before, has "habitually and consis- missiles fired from Gaza to
vehicles vary, the subject tently used violence to get its southern Israel over the last
't. way.... They're the most power- three years.
k Ross and Ahmed Be-' ful nation in the Middle East... "There's a pattern," empha-
each speaking truth and The actions of its military and sized Ross. "They re-arm dur-
as they know it. About hardliners have furthered the ing cease fires. They provoke
and Muslims. About Is- radicalization of the Palestin- a military response. Until they
and Palestinians. About ians." take responsibility, this won't
 What they've done in Gaza, end."
he end, they don't agree stressed Bedier, "doesn't send And, yes, the amorphous
ough, but they do per- a message of peace. When you subject of a "solution" inevita-
hope. That's because treat Palestinians like animals, bly came up.
a member of the Ameri- you're going to get animal According to Bedier, any
rael Public Affairs Com- behavior. Palestinians don't meaningful sense of a solution
, and Bedier, the Mus- hate Jews. They hate the treat- would have two prerequisites.
resident of the Tampa/ ment. They hate what they see. First, a halt in "killing Pales-
orough County Human 'Never again' should apply to tinians and treating them like
Council and radio talk- all people all the time." animals." Second, a "return to
co-host, are as collegial And while he found "con- pre-1967 borders."
y are articulate. demnable" the acts of civil- Ross: "But who do you talk
y both agree that the ian-targeting "terrorists" and to who can deliver?"


violence and resultant human
suffering in both Gaza and
southern Israel are deplor-
able. They both- agree that
peace is a goal.
 End of agreement.
 But this, of course, wasn't
the frustrating, tragic crucible
that is Gaza. This was the
eminently civil political forum
that is the Tiger Bay Club of
Tampa luncheon at Maestro's,
comfortably ensconced within
the Tampa Bay Performing Arts
Center.
 Bedier went first and de-
cried the "collective punish-
ment" meted out by Israel over
the actions of a few "criminals"
and "terrorists" in Gaza. He
labeled such disproportionate
response as "Nazi-like tactics."
 Israel, underscored Bedier,


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"un-Islamic" suicide bomb-
ers, Bedier found more moral
culpability on the Israeli side.
"Yes, these [Gaza residents]
are terrorists, and I personally
condemn what they do," he
insisted. "But that's [Israel's]
government. We expect more."
 What the Palestinians have
done, countered Ross, is to
continually miss opportuni-
ties going back to the Oslo
Accords of 1992 and through
the Camp David compromise
that Yasser Arafat walked away
from in 2000 for a realistic,
two-state solution. They in-
stead, said Ross, chose an
Intifada strategy and elected
Hamas, which sponsors terror
and has refused to recognize
Israel. The predictable result:
A deal-breaking "land for in-
security" reality that Israel
cannot countenance and has
been forced to combat with its
land-air-sea barrage.
 Ross cited "truce violations
by Hamas" and the "10,000


\4


 Bedier Outtakes
 Afterward, Bedier elabo-
rated on a couple of points.
 *He had indicated earlier
that a Muslim version of a
"Reformation" along the
lines of those experienced by
Judaism and Christianity -
could, indeed, occur. But if so,
he averred, it would likely be
propelled by Muslims living in
Western democracies.
 "The Muslims there [in the
West] are a bit more detached
from the ongoing political
situation," explained Bedier.
"They enjoy the freedoms of
democracy. They can express
themselves more effectively.
Remember that Muslims in
America responded to the Dan-
ish cartoons differently than
in the Middle East and South-
east Asia. Here, there were no
protests. They wrote letters to
the editor.
 "The people in the Middle
East are too close to the ac-
tion," added Bedier, a native of


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Cairo, Egypt. "Politics is closely
mixed with religion."
 *Bedier then addressed the
 issue of outrage. The word is
 all too applicable when refer-
 encinrg the Middle East. He has
 been consistently outspoken in
 his condemnation of terrorist
 tactics.
 But where was the global
 Muslim outrage as expressed
 by massive crowds, burning
 effigies, government-controlled
 newspaper editorials and key,
 influential leaders over the
 INTENTIONAL targeting of in-
 nocents from 9/11 to Mumbai
 to southern Israel? Where was
 the in-the-streets outrage over
 sadistic beheadings and the
 cherry-picking of the Koran to,
 justify the.world's division into
 believers and "infidels"? Why,
 candidly, did Dutch cartoons
 elicit more of a response in
 Muslim countries than mass
 murders?
 "The area is evolving," said
 Bedier. "Absent any Gandhi-
 like leaders in that part of
 the world, there are still signs
 that people are speaking out.
 Especially in Saudi Arabia,
 Morocco, Egypt. There have
 been protests against suicide
 .bombers in the West Bank.
 There have been peace demon-
 strations. Especially in Iraq."
 The problem, maintained
Bedier, is context. Israel and
the U.S. are seen as occupiers
who have ceded the moral high
ground.
 "It's hard for peace dem-
onstrators to be empowered
when, for example, Israel has
a policy of political assassi-
nation, and they will bomb a
whole block to get one terror-
ist," noted Bedier. "Th is what
undermines moderates."
 But where there is dialogue,
there is hope.
 And where the word "mar-
tyr" is not sacrilegiously in-
voked, there is hope.
 And wherever George Mitch-
ell takes his "special envoy"
portfolio, there is hope.
 That will have to do for now.
 Birth of an Indignation.
 Whether you voted for Presi-
dent Obama or not. Whether
you like his stimulus and mort-
gage plans or not. Whether
you think we are too politically
correct or not.
 That cartoon in the New
York Post was unconscio-
nable. The one that obviously
likened the African-American
president as the writer of the
stimulus bill to that crazed
chimpanzee recently in the
news.
 The First Amendment, of
course, permits the tasteless
and the unfunny. It can also
countenahtce the racist mas-
querading as parody. And,
alas, it can give cover to the


Uby Travis Puterbaugh
 by Travis Puterbaugh


 (continued from page 10)

 ultimately prevailed, 9-7, to
capture the 50-minute set and
the momentum for the rest of
the match.
 Emerson raced to a 5-1 lead
in the second set by dictating
play from the net. Santana
went out meekly without a
point in the final game of the
set, which ended 6-2 in favor
of Emerson. The Aussie then
cruised to a 5-0 advantage in
the third, but had to withstand
a furious comeback by the
proud Spaniard, who won four
straight games to make things
interesting. On serve with a
chance to even up the set,


w~~eLOWDOWN ON SCHOOmi~i: [L BOARD MONKEY B] ~14 US:3INESS *~i
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Santana could produce just
one more hold and thus relin-
quished his title to Emerson.
 It would by no means be
Emerson's final title of the
year. He went on to have one
of the finest years of his career,
winning three Grand Slams -
including his first Wimbledon
title and at one point, won 55
consecutive matches while los-
ing only six times in 115 tries.
 And in spite of all the hub-
bub, the LTAA relented and
Emerson competed for Aus-
tralia in the Davis Cup. It paid
off for the Aussies, as Emerson
won the deciding match of the
Cup finals over Chuck McKin-
ley of the United States.
 Travis Puterbaugh is the Col-
lections Manager for the Tampa
Bay History Center. He can be
reached at tampasportshis-
tory@gmail. com.


LA GACETA/Friday, February 27, 2009/Page 13


sort of knuckle-dragging jour-
nalism the New York Post is
notorious for. It was the Post's
perfect storm.
 Then the Post made it worse
 with its PR 101 "apology" when
 reaction exceeded what it had
 expected and desired from
 its intentionally provocative
 black stereotype. It reiterated
 that its purpose was merely to
 mock the stimulus bill, but "to
 those who were offended by the
 image, we apologize."
 In other words: "We draw
 the cartoons; you're free to
 draw the wrong conclusion. If
 you weren't hip enough to get
 it because you're some thin-
 skinned, politically correct,
 diversity-cuddling, knee-jerk
 liberal who doesn't read the
 Post anyhow, we apologize."
 Personnel Matters
 Wasn't-there a time when
 the nomination of Hillary Clin-
 ton as secretary of state domi-
 nated editorial pages, talk ra-
 dio and cable news as the most
 problematic of cabinet picks?
 Seems a long time ago.
 First Class Exit
 A lot of folks probably
missed the recent retirement of
Joe Calzaghe. He's the Welsh-
man who stepped down as
the undefeated super middle-
weight champion with a 46-0
record. His last two wins were
over prominent American light
heavyweights Bernard Hopkins
and Roy Jones, Jr. Calzaghe,
36, was champion for more
than a decade.
 The significance is that
he went out on top, and that
few elite athletes do. Michael
Jordan couldn't do it. Neither
could Willie Mays, Hank Aaron
or Babe Ruth. Joe Namath,
Johnny Unitas and Brett Fa-
vre hung on too long. As did
Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray
Leonard. They overstayed their
skills and left a last impression
unworthy of their careers.
 Part of it was the money.
A few more paychecks while
their name still had cachet and .
marketability. The other part
was ego.
 "It's tough to leave center
stage," acknowledged Leon-
ard, who never- should have
un-retired.
 Olympic Absurdity
 This week the International
Olympic Committee will get
an application from the Inter-
national Amateur Boxing As-
sociation requesting the inclu-
sion of women's boxing in the
Olympics starting with the
London Games in 2012. The
chances look favorable.
 That is the same year, inci-
dentally, that the Olympics will
drop (women's) softball.
 Boxing and women's wres-
tling was added in 2004 but
no softball? That's absurd.


N