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Well, the neighborhood (something in the vicinity of another thing, in this case numerous Arab countries) bully (sarcastic: Israel picks on all the other nations in the Middle East) he’s just one man (yet the Arab countries have enough military might to overpower him if they were unified) His enemies say he’s on their land (the Palestinians claim that Israel is theirs) They got him outnumbered about a million to one (there are well over a billion Muslims in the world who intend to insure that he comes to an unpleasant end) He got no place (a locality used for a special purpose) to escape to (no country is going to give the Jews asylum) no place to run (no country to where he can be a majority and be in control) He’s the neighborhood bully The neighborhood bully just lives to survive (Israel exists to guarantee the continued existence of the Jewish people) He’s criticized and condemned for being alive (he is persecuted) He’s not supposed to fight back (make an effort to survive) he’s supposed to have thick skin (to be able to accept insults without being upset) He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in (when his enemies give him the opportunity to do so and his country is invaded by hostile troops). The neighborhood (something in the vicinity of another thing, in this case numerous Arab countries) bully been driven out of every land (the Jews were expelled from Israel, Spain, England and numerous other nations) He’s wandered (moved aimlessly about) the earth (in the material, not the spiritual world) an exiled man (until the founding of the State of Israel) Seen family scattered (divided into ineffectual small portions and caused to separate in different directions) his people hounded (pursued or chased relentlessly) and torn (forcibly taken to concentration camps) He’s always on trial for just being born (he is always looked at in a special light and his faith and his loyalty are always being tested. Also he is persecuted, not prosecuted, simply because God created him as a Jew) Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized, Old women condemned him, said he should apologize. Then he destroyed a bomb factory, (the Iraqi reactor) nobody was glad. The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad. He's the neighborhood bully. Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him, 'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back And a license to kill him (this ties in with Dylan's poem about the Jewish Defense League, "Who Is Going to Take Away [the Nazis] License To Kill?) is given out to every maniac. He's the neighborhood bully. He buys (acquires by sacrifice) obsolete weapons and he won’t be denied (America is willing to sell Israel weapons that it no longer uses and profits by this) But no one sends flesh and blood (their children, people of an identical genetic heritage) to fight by his side (to defend Israel’s right to exist) He’s the neighborhood (something in the vicinity of another thing, in this case numerous Arab countries) bully (sarcastic: he’s the enforcer of repression in the Middle East. Chronicles 2004: “He comes across as a thug or a bully") Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace, They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease. Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep. They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep. He's the neighborhood bully. Every empire that's enslaved him is gone, Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon. He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand, In bed with nobody, under no one's command. He's the neighborhood bully. Now his holiest books (the Torah, the Five Books Of Moses) have been trampled upon (were destroyed by the Nazis and others) No contract (peace treaty) that he signed (took credit for agreeing to) was worth that what it was written on (had any real value) He took the crumbs of the world (he took a small fragment of land that was mostly desert) and he turned it into wealth (and he changed its direction and made it into cities like Tel Aviv and collective farms known as kibbutzim. He also took the Palestinians, who were some of the lowest Arabs on the earth and had worked with the Nazis during World War ll and gave the ones that remained in Israel the highest standard of living in the Arab world) Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health (he drained swamps and stopped the spread of malaria and brought productivity and economic prosperity to a region that had not experienced it for decades) He’s the neighborhood (something in the vicinity of another thing, in this case numerous Arab countries) / bully (who is mischaracterized as an evil thug What’s anybody indebted to him for? (what does the world owe the Jewish people? Numerous Jews have received Nobel prizes in science and literature) Nothing, they say He just likes to cause war (Israel just likes to destabilize the Middle East - Mel Gibson - Israel is responsible for all the war) Pride (unjustified arrogance of others that he is inferior to them) and prejudice (discrimination against him) / and superstition (religious hatred such as the Blood Libel) indeed (that’s an understatement) They wait for (eagerly anticipate accusing) this bully (Israel) like a dog (a loser or predicted loser in a struggle or contest) waits (eagerly anticipates) to feed (to profit from this hatred in an exploitative manner; He feeds on her insecurity). What has he (the Israelis) done to wear (have or show the appearance of) / so many scars? (permanent wounds, reminders of past military battles) Does he change the course (accustomed procedure or normal action) of rivers? (of people’s freedom since there were no democracies in the Arab world when this poem was composed) Does he pollute (mislead using the language of peace) the moon and stars? (the insane preeminent leaders of the Arab world).” Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill (Israel, making its stand on top of things) Running out the clock (using as much time as possible that remains, beating the deadline for its demise) time standing still (because the current state of affairs concerning the status of Jews and Israelis has changed now that they have tanks, missiles, bombs, guns to defend themselves with Copyright © 1983 Special Rider Music |
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