The greater beeper bomber caper reminds me of a wonderful moment in My Cousin Vinny.
Northern college students Ralph Macchio and Mitchell Winfield are on trial for murder in a small Georgia town. Macchio decides to hire as his lawyer Cousin Vinny, Joe Pesci, who has never tried a case but is renowned for his argumentative ability in an exceptionally argumentative family. Winfield instead goes with local recommended lawyer Austin Pendleton who alas proves to have a disabling stutter when in court.
Then Vinny gets up and utterly destroys the first prosecution witness. Winfield leaps to his feet, tells Pendleton he’s fired, points at Vinny and shouts “I want him!!!”
That’s how I feel about Israel today. I want those guys on my side.
(In another great Cousin Vinny moment, the two college students are arguing about who is better at arguing. Machhio turns to Winfield (whose character is name Stan Rothenstein) and says, “Stan, all due respect, but I seen your parents argue. They’re amateurs.” This is a widely held opinion among Italian Americans about their Jewish friends, despite the latter’s undoubted argumentative skills.)
Mr. Vigilante & community, I have been a subscriber on this Substack for awhile now and a reader for an even longer time—
I ordered the new version of the Israel Test by George Gilder.
Yet today I come with a genuine question: does the religious Zionist party (who controls Israeli politics largely) desire to “take back the Promised Land”? I have been widely pro-Israel, both biblically due to Romans 9-12 and economically due to your and Gilder’s work, yet I am struggling to see Israel as the champion of the free world— if they, well, are taking the land in tropes due to their believed biblical mandate.
What are your thoughts?
The Beeper Caper is the feel good story of the year and we better enjoy it while we can because Israel is probably going to invade Lebanon like today-ish and I suspect that things won't be as fun for a while...But they have certainly struck a huge blow. And the meme generation alone...