Is Andrew Sullivan Suffering From Dementia, Bias, or Is He Just Plain Stupid?

I did not weigh in on the controversy about Andrew Sullivan and Anti-Semitism, simply because it was wrong to brand the guy a Jew-hater. I do believe, however, that he is either suffering from dementia, or bias, or he is just plain stupid.  How else could he get so many facts wrong.

Last month it was the City of Hebron. When Israel put the Cave of the Patriarch on the Heritage Site list,  Sullivan objected because of the horrible 1994 incident where one lone demented Israeli went to the Cave and began shooting, killing 29 Arab worshipers. He called a massacre (and it was). If Sullivan wanted to use History to rationalize why Jews should keep their hands off of the Cave of the Patriarch, then he should half told the full story of Hebron, especially the massacre of Jews in 1929. After all the city was predominantly Jewish from biblical times till that  horrible Sabbath Day 81 years ago.

Yesterday Sullivan posted an article which, unlike the Hebron piece did not ignore history, this article lied about History:

 One thing apposite to the current attempt to force Palestinians out of parts of East Jerusalem and give their homes to extremist Israelis, celebrating the mass murder of Muslims at prayer, and to build Jewish settlements there as rapidly as possible, is that Jerusalem was 84 percent Arab in 1946 and well within Palestinian authority under the partition plan the Palestinian Arabs rejected. It is undoubtedly true that Palestinian and wider Arab refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist has been a huge part of this problem - arguably the central reason for this conflict. But it remains true to my mind that the current Israeli government needs an attitude adjustment, and soon.

First of all even in the article Sullivan is citing, the "celebration" Sullivan is talking about was done by a few sick individuals.  At the time he said,

No, this is not representative of all Israeli opinion, as massive Israeli demonstrations against this latest provocation reveal, 

Israel never has, and never will "celebrate" the death of others. What Golda Meir said to Anwar Sadat is still the feeling of most Israelis.

"I can forgive you for killing my boys, but I can never forgive you for making our boys kill yours."

 Sullivan's remarks are just part of his continued effort to de-legitimize the Jewish state.

Sullivan says Jerusalem was 84% Arab in 1946, that line belies the truth. The Chart below details the population of Israel from 1844-1948.

Source: Manashe Harrel, "The Jewish Presence in Jerusalem through the Ages" in Sinai and Oestericcher, eds., Jerusalem, John Day, 1974.

Jews were the majority of the Jerusalem Population from 1844 through the establishment of the State Of Israel.

Maybe Sullivan was confused when he used that 84% number.  Maybe he was looking at at a doctor's report detailing his IQ score, or maybe he was just lying.  As he does in his next charge that the UN Partition plan established Jerusalem as a Palestinian Arab city. 

UN General Assembly Resolution 181 [which divided Palestine into Jewish and Arab Countries] declared Jerusalem to be a corpus separatum - a separate body, to be run under an international UN administration. The area to be run in this way included all of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, to encompass the Christian holy sites. Jordan took over half the city during the 1948 for Israel's Independence, and it has been Israel's united capital since 1967.
 
So once again, Andrew Sullivan is wrong when it comes to basic history. I don't know what it is with the man, he is either suffering from some sort of dementia, is he biased, or just plain stupid.  Its a question I cannot answer for you, but whatever his problem its time for the Atlantic to take away his computer until his malady is figured out. He is embarrassing the proud tradition of the Magazine.

Is Andrew Sullivan:
	Suffering From Dementia
	Biased Against Israel
	Misinformed
	Just Plain Stupid
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