Aaron Levitt was one of the demonstrators outside the Marriott last night as the settlers of Hebron held a big fundraiser inside. Levitt says in a press release on the event:
Aaron Levitt, an activist with Jews Against the Occupation-NYC who has spent time in Hebron
as a human rights monitor, noted that, "We made a lot of noise, but
I don't know if the settlers heard us at the dinner. Some of them
cast agitated looks in our direction as they entered, and I engaged a
few in conversation. The subtext of what I heard from most when I
described the settler attacks on Palestinians that I had witnessed in
Hebron was that they see no equivalence in the moral worth of non-Jew
and a Jew. This is racist in a deep and meaningful way. And it is a
worldview that allows settlers in Hebron to throw stones at
Palestinian girls every day as they go to school, and to drive
Palestinian families from their homes."
as a human rights monitor, noted that, "We made a lot of noise, but
I don't know if the settlers heard us at the dinner. Some of them
cast agitated looks in our direction as they entered, and I engaged a
few in conversation. The subtext of what I heard from most when I
described the settler attacks on Palestinians that I had witnessed in
Hebron was that they see no equivalence in the moral worth of non-Jew
and a Jew. This is racist in a deep and meaningful way. And it is a
worldview that allows settlers in Hebron to throw stones at
Palestinian girls every day as they go to school, and to drive
Palestinian families from their homes."
Yesterday my friend James North said to me again, Why have the western media accepted the term "settlers"? There is a precise description of what these people are, they are colonists. Settlers of course gives it a good sound. Orwell's quarrel with Orwellian language was that it prevented people from thinking clearly. This is such an instance.
Yep, just like white South Africans (or, for that matter, many white Americans in the past) didn't see an equivalence in moral worth between whites and blacks.
>Yesterday my friend James North said to me again, Why have the western media accepted the term "settlers"?
To make the destiny of the Palestinians manifest.
What is kosher?
Look to Postville Iowa. Agriprocessors treatment of animals and
figurative animals (employees)–as well as the notion of a law onto itself, divorced from host nation law.
"Colonist" is a name-call. "Settler" is a heroic frontiersman.
Neither represent. Both terms are "Orwellian".
You'd have to DEFINE the term colonist in a meaningful color-blind way, and INQUIRE of the individuals widely enough to draw reasoned conclusions.
Otherwise, the terms are JUST rhetorical. Possibly true, possibly malevolently untrue.
I've had acquaintences with some individuals that live in settlements in the West Bank. They each had blinders. That was obvious to me. And yet, the few that I knew were also individuals that I would invite to be neighbors, with a predisposition to kindness to their neighbors.
The wrong isn't settlers existence. The wrong is less than legal land acquisition, preferential treatments (re: roads, IDF protection).
If the law of the land allowed for Jewish ownership (which it doesn't), and Jews legally bought the land and developed it, and were law-abiding Palestinian residents or citizens, then their presence would be a GOOD.
SPECIFIC behavior is the question as far as the individual settlers.
SPECIFIC policies of the state is the question as far as expansion.
And, if you are a journalist worth his salt, you'd research those specifics.
You'd learn Israeli law, Jewish theology, Palestinian law, Islamic theology, Hebrew and Arabic.
You wouldn't take potshots then hide behind, "I'm an American journalist only, writing only about American issues."
Its an innaccurate self-description.
Sorry for that last dig.
It bothers me when you invoke a Pavlovian rallying cry, with a generalization.
Witty, as a proponent of the rule of law, you must agree with the recent Israel council initiative to quit funding settler posts?
The founding and expansive settlements were never officially a part of the Israel government's platform. Certainly too, Americans have always been officially against them.
Yet they've been allowed to breed de facto by both the USA and Israel. More, they've been fed by US and Israel taxpayer funds.
Is that a problem for you, Witty?
It is a problem for me that the Israeli state has alternated between active promotion of expansion of the settlements, and willingly turning away from seeing.
I consider the manner by which many settlers have acquired and exagerated their title, to be illegal, requiring restitution at least.
I OPPOSE the political approach that denies persons their day in court.
And, I oppose the political emotion that would willingly displace people from their homes, unless literally necessary.
If there were indeed actual Americans present who have militantly colonized a portion of Palestine, they should have been arrested for the same crimes John Walker Lindh was prosecuted for. These American terrorists should be serving decades in federal prison.
"If the law of the land allowed for Jewish ownership (which it doesn't), and Jews legally bought the land and developed it, and were law-abiding Palestinian residents or citizens, then their presence would be a GOOD"…witty
Oh gawd here we go again.
Before Israel was "created" by the UN jews lived in and owed land in Palestine…28,000 of them according to the official census.
When your terrier settlers go into Palestine land they go in as Israelis to take and make that land part of Israel…they don't go in and 'buy' land and ask to be part of Palestine.
"I consider the manner by which many settlers have acquired and exagerated their title, to be illegal, requiring restitution at least."…witty
Restitution? maybe the Palestine want their land back instead. "exagerated their 'title'…you must be kidding me. The IDF bulldozing Palestines off their land and replacing them with settlers and 'outposts'is an exagerated "title"?
I can't believe your head hasn't exploded from your dishonesty tumor.
Witty’s ongoing rhetoric and Zionist rationalizing is a prime example of the kind of mentality that Talmudic minutia creates. The idea behind Talmudic minutia is that a justification can always be found for absolutely any Jewish imitative or behavior vis-à-vis the “other,” no matter how loathsome, so long as it is broken down into continuously smaller parts, and those smaller parts are validated. The final product is an upside down belief system where good is bad, right is wrong and black is white.
In terms of maintaining the cohesiveness of a tight-knit community or culture, this may well be an effective strategy in the same way that sheer ruthlessness and demonization of the “other” in any rough and tumble environment is conducive to survival. But the problems begin when the Talmudic mentality is in a position to preside over non-Jews, because it has been trained, indoctrinated and engineered towards contempt for the non-Jew.
We can see the repercussions of this in Jewish treatment of the “other” in the Levant, and we can see the repercussions of this in the new Jewish elite in America’s contempt and scorn for the ethics and norms of the American people, which gets picked up by the gentiles in elite institutions and media who are constantly rubbing shoulders with them.
In short, we are being governed by an elitist cabal that quite literally despises us. How can any country survive under the governance of a cabal that despises them, and means them harm? The Palestinians can’t survive, and non-Zionist Americans won’t be allowed to survive, either. No wonder we have fallen so far so fast. They are slowly but surely attempting to squeeze the life out of this country.
Actually,
Individuals deserve their day in court.
SPECIFIC cases.
And tested against the law (not anger), and remedied for the greater good (not vengeance).
And you guys call yourselves Americans, yet don't loudly affirm an individual's right to their day in court?
Talmudic minutia
Yeshiva sophistry.
Do you guys know what the Talmud is?
Its not rules and authority, it is the documentation of dialog.
If it were one-dimensional it would be useless.
Yeah, follow the facts, and the days in court of Agriprocessors in Iowa, and their textile mill in PA.
Witty, what do you say about those Orthodox Jews and how they
have settled in America since 1945?
Gives a de facto meaning to the adjective "kosher."
Let's have a Jerry Seinfeld episode on that.
The unredacted Talmud is is clearly a dialogue, distinguishing between animals and humans. The Jews are the humans.
@ Richy, there's no point at explaining to them what Talmud is. To them it is our evil book of anti-goy rules. Honesty and truth has no meaning to them.
I think the reason they are not called "colonists" is because a colony is an economic enterprise.
"And you guys call yourselves Americans, yet don't loudly affirm an individual's right to their day in court?" — Witty
This coming from a Jewish supremacist who divides the world between Jew and gentile, and works to establish and maintain the expansionist, institutionalized Jewish Zionist supremacist apparatus both in the Levant and increasingly in America under the canard of Jewish salvation from anti-Semitism?
'State Department: Anti-Zionism is the New Anti-Semitism'
"This coming from a Jewish supremacist who divides the world between Jew and gentile"
@ Ed,
Do you acknowledge that there is such a thing as a non Christian? Then you divide too.
"supremacist"?
Odd.
Its obvious to me from experience that there are all kinds among all groups.
I've met haredi that I admire, and haredi that turn my stomach. I've met Palestinians that I admire, and Palestinians that scare me with hatred. I've met Christians that inspire, and Christians that are most bigoted of any.
Human beings.
@ MichaelW: “Do you acknowledge that there is such a thing as a non Christian? Then you divide too.”
Where is the Christian-supremacist state, being underwritten by the US taxpayer? Where are the laws institutionalizing preferential treatment for Christians over non-Christians? Where are the US State Dept investigations of anti-Christian activities in America?
It’s not that organized Jewry divides the world between Jew and gentile; it’s that organized Jewry first divides, and then seeks to use the State to institutionalize and impose its own notions of its own supremacy over others. It then declares opposition to this be anti-Semitism. So, in essence, it defines "hate" as any opposition to Jewish supremacism.
חלוץ halutz is fairly literally invader.
מתיישב mityashev should be translated as interloper.
מתנחל mitnahel should be translated as (land) usurper.
Palestinians use the term مستعمرات colonies for יישובים and התנחלויות.
Ed,
For many of the "US is a Christian nation" advocates, the US is a "Christian-supremacist" state.
I thought that is what you advocated for.
The Zionist propagandists are dependent on widespread use of Newspeak and oxymorons to sell their Project to the American public.
There is nothing "settling" about the jewish colonies on the West Bank, and calling this monstrosity "security fence" is an insult to every thinking human being.
@Witty: 'For many of the "US is a Christian nation" advocates, the US is a "Christian-supremacist" state.'
Saying 'the US is a Christian nation' is NOT the moral equivalent to institutionalized Jewish supremacism in both the Levant and in America through the usurpation of our tax dollars to finance Zionism. Besides, the Founders established the separation clause to protect freedom of religion, not to institutionalize the supremacy of one sect over another, which is anti-religious freedom, nor to give the government license to harass Christians, which is anti-religious freedom as well.
Organized Judaism seeks to institutionalize the supremacy of its own sect, and use the government to harass and intimidate others. In addition to making it supremacist, that also make it un-American. The same problems that Islam brings to the Western table in terms of resistance to assimilation into the religious freedom ethic, Judaism brings as well, only in a different way. Islam wants to impose itself ON society, whereas Judaism wants to impose itself OVER American society and basically turn non-Jewish Americans into Zionist manservants, and use the government to police this imposition.
The Founders must be spinning in their graves that Americans would tolerate this. Zionists are an existential threat to the underpinnings of America’s founding ethic. I know it, you know it, and they know it. About the only people who haven’t figured this out yet are average Americans, largely because they’ve been dumbed down by left-liberal Jewish-American Zionist’s self-serving interpretations of religious freedom, which regards the US government as a Jewish satrap.
There is nothing "settling" about the jewish colonies on the West Bank, and calling this monstrosity "security fence" is an insult to every thinking human being.
That's why I don't call it the "security fence," but rather the Peace Barrier.
You all should examine Michael W's point carefully–Zionism is not colonialism because it is non-profit in nature.
Luckily Israel doesn't have to file a tax return (yet).
Mr Witty mentions a "predisposition to kindness to their neighbors". Of course the same can be said of the Klan, locals call them klukluckers nice folks. None of the comments here seem to deal with the sheer ugliness of the teachings of some of the Rabbis who administer or did once administer to the parasites of the occupied territories. This has been the situation for many years. I have heard mention of Schneerson and the Kooks. Non jews have a soul comparable to an animal. It's ok to kill them. HIDEOUS!!
Jim,
I know that YOU never heard or read them directly state what you repeated.
You heard from somewhere. You are being played.
Ed,
I and nearly all Jews love the separation of church from state. We fight the encroachment of church into state in the US, as has occurred frequently and over extended periods.
The separation of religion from state exists in Israel as well, and comparably. (I know you don't believe that, but it is true.)
It would be wonderful if you could EVER post without invocation of slogans.
"Colonialism", "settlers". BOTH terms are pejoratives among 'dissenters'.
But, it is now and over an extended period, and with long historical precedent, home.
That it is also Palestinians' home deserves respect.
@Witty: "I and nearly all Jews love the separation of church from state. We fight the encroachment of church into state in the US, as has occurred frequently and over extended periods."
Jewish Zionists SUPPORT the encroachment of synagogue onto state by lobbying for US tax dollars to underwrite the Jewish state frequently and over extended periods. This money is also recycled back to the US on behalf of Jewish Zionist causes here. So, you do not support separation of religion and state on principle, you only support the separation of religion and state with regard to other religions besides Judaism. When it comes to Judaism, you fight tenaciously to overthrow the concept of separation. This is consistent with Jewish supremacist doctrine. Most Jews who have fought for separation of church from state were and are Zionists. Their scowling hypocrisy flows from their racial supremacism.
Bull Ed.
I know that that equation fits into your odd worldview, but it is self-talk.
I've NEVER heard a Jew advocate for establishment of Judaism in US government law, policy or anything ever.
You might be speaking "figuratively", but then your equation would deserve to be examined (we know that you won't bother to self-examine).
hitnaheliot? oh, those verb prefixes …