I tell you: this is the anti-67 war. It will unrally American Jewry and make them wake up to what Zionism has built in the Middle East. Brit Tzedek has failed the test, not surprisingly: its statement on the slaughter seems to blame both Israelis and Palestinians. It has missed the moment. It has refused to see what is before its eyes. But here is a supporter of Brit Tzedek who doesn’t fail the test: Rabbi Brant Rosen, a Reconstructionist leader– read his whole beautiful post:
The news today out of Israel and Gaza makes me just sick to my stomach.
I know, I can already hear the responses: every nation has a
responsibility to ensure the safety of its citizens. If the Qassams
stopped, Israel wouldn’t be forced to take military action. Hamas also
bears responsibility for this tragic situation…I could answer each and every one of these claims in turn, but I’m
ready to stop this perverse game of rhetorical ping-pong. I don’t buy
the rationalizations any more. I’m so tired of the apologetics. How on
earth will squeezing the life out of Gaza, not to mention bombing the
living hell out of it, ensure the safety of Israeli citizens?We good liberal Jews are ready to protest oppression and
human-rights abuse anywhere in the world, but are all too willing to
give Israel a pass. It’s a fascinating double-standard, and one I
understand all too well. I understand it because I’ve been just as
responsible as anyone else for perpetrating it. [beautiful, Rabbi!]So no more rationalizations. What Israel has been doing to the
people of Gaza is an outrage. It has has brought neither safety nor
security to the people of Israel and it has wrought nothing but misery
and tragedy upon the people of Gaza.There, I’ve said it. Now what do I do?
On the downside, I'm now listening to that great progressive, Rachel Maddow, rationalize each and every Israeli atrocity committed against Gaza.
I would have thought she, of all people given her progressive rep, would have sung a different tune–at least a little bit.
If the US were doing this to Iraqis or in Afghanistan, she would be the first to denounce the US government.
Did anyone listen to 'All Things Considered' on NPR today? They had a Hamas official speak. Here is what he said, "This has nothing to do with rockets because there are no rockets fired." He later goes on to say that it is collaborators asked by Israel to fire rockets from Gaza.
Here is the link and judge for yourself.
link to npr.org
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I was hoping that Maddow would echo some of the same criticisms of the Gaza attacks as Glenn Greenwald. Not!
On Campbell Brown's show on CNN, a guest host had on 3 pundits and each was pro-Israel. The neocon Diane West, Democrat strategist named Zimmerman, and some other jerk off.
The Democrat Zimmerman stated that Israel's war in Gaza is part of America's Global War on Terror. Fucking asshole.
Sorry, this is the correct link
link to npr.org
No rockets.
Could the Gaza attack be all about getting in one last dirty lick to the Palestinians before Bush leaves office — in case Obama might have objections to same?
Hamas could certainly be lying through its teeth about collaborators firing rockets. But so could the Israeli government. Israel has a well-established history of false-flag operations. Remember the Liberty? I do. And I also remember how many extremist Zionists were part of the bunch who lied us into invading Iraq. Don't take my word for it. Look for yourself.
What has come out in the Israeli press about the extensive and meticulous planning for the attack, and the (I think) relish with which it was carried out, it seems reasonable to me to suggest that Israeli command authority REALLY, REALLY WANTED IT TO GO FORWARD. This is not 1939, where Germany could provide some half-ass de rigueur false-flag operation to blame Poland before they invaded it, and they didn't care how flimsy it was because world opinion was not an important factor.
This war fundamentally affects American national security. IT IS VITAL for Israel that Hamas be seen as the instigator, whether it was or not, to retain American public support. Allegations of Israeli collaborators firing rockets to frame Hamas warrant investigation, and Israeli claims that Hamas violated the ceasefire must be validated by more than the kneejerk yammerings of AIPAC-affiliated politicians or anonymous sources in the New York Times.
You want America dragged into yet more conflict? Cash and carry only: show us the proof.
Photos don't lie Colin. The only question you could have is whether Hamas is ordering the firing, encouraging the firing, or merely allowing them.
If they have jurisdiction and changed from no allowing them to allowing them even, THEY are responsible.
It is a ludicrous assertion that is more a test of dissenters' gullibility, than of fact. Its up there with Nasrallah publicly claiming, and Juan Cole believing, that the 2006 Hezbollah abduction occurred within Lebanese territory.
Truth is important.
In 1953, the U.S. and British-orchestrated Operation Ajax used "false-flag" and propaganda operations against the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammed Mosaddeq. Information regarding the CIA-sponsored coup d'etat has been largely declassified and is available in the CIA archives.
In 1954, Israel sponsored bombings against US and UK interests in Cairo aiming to cause trouble between Egypt and the West.[5] This operation, later dubbed the Lavon Affair, cost Israeli defense minister Pinhas Lavon his job. The state of Israel (where it is known as "The Unfortunate Affair") finally admitted responsibility in 2005.
Are the Israelis hoping to draw Iran (hence USA) into this conflict?
All TV news channels keep repeating 4 ISRAELI DEATHS in fourth day
of pounding Gaza (3 civilians, 1 IDF) –still no mention of Palestinian deaths at all.
If a few qassam "rockets" is an excuse for full-scale war, then Palestinians have the moral right to wage perpetual war against Israel. Israel isn't fighting Hamas any more than Iraqis and Afghans are fighting Republicans. Israel is making war on Palestinians.
Maybe it's time to organize freedom rides into Jewish neighorhoods? Then the rest of us can claim the moral authority to rule, and sing songs, about what we did in the summer of '09. I wonder if the media is up to one more civil rights stunt? My guess is that it's a no-go, since the issue isn't an American issue.
israel..that shitty little country.
The U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, former Princeton University law professor Richard Falk, has labeled what Israel is doing to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza “a crime against humanity.” Falk, who is Jewish, has condemned the collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza as “a flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.” He has asked for “the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation, and determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law.”
Falk’s unflinching honesty has enraged Israel. He was banned from entering the country on Dec. 14 during his attempt to visit Gaza and the West Bank.
“After being denied entry I was put in a holding room with about 20 others experiencing entry problems,” he said. “At this point I was treated not as a U.N. representative, but as some sort of security threat, subjected to an inch-by-inch body search, and the most meticulous luggage inspection I have ever witnessed. I was separated from my two U.N. companions, who were allowed to enter Israel. At this point I was taken to the airport detention facility a mile or so away, required to put all my bags and cell phone in a room, taken to a locked, tiny room that had five other detainees, smelled of urine and filth, and was an unwelcome invitation to claustrophobia. I spent the next 15 hours so confined, which amounted to a cram course on the miseries of prison life, including dirty sheets, inedible food, and either lights that were too bright or darkness controlled from the guard office.”
The foreign press has been, like Falk, barred by Israel from entering Gaza to report on the destruction.
MURDER as cover for THEFT is NOT self-defense! ~ LT
——-
“The tragedy of the people of Palestine is that their country was ‘given’ by a foreign power to another people for the creation of a new state. The result was that many hundreds of thousands of innocent people were made permanently homeless. With every new conflict their numbers increased. How much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty? It is abundantly clear that the refugees have every right to the homeland from which they were driven, and the denial of this right is at the heart of the continuing conflict. No people anywhere in the world would accept being expelled en masse from their country; how can anyone require the people of Palestine to accept a punishment which nobody else would tolerate? A permanent just settlement of the refugees in their homeland is an essential ingredient of any genuine settlement in the Middle East.“
- Bertrand Russell, statement to the International Conference of Parliamentarians, 3 Feb 1970; cited in Palestine and the Palestinians: A Social and Political History by Samih K. Farsoun & Naseer Hasan Aruri (second edition, p.370).
—
This, as with every entry speaking truth to power will be scrubbed from the LA Jewish Journal God Blog as they do not want discussion but rather to control the narrative. They do the same for any Madoff discussion on their "Swndler's List" heading, following the ADL claim that sugesting that Madoff may have diverted money to Israel is anti-Semitic. Apparently even asking the question is anti-Semitic.
Herr Goebbels would have been proud.
~
What an excellent post, Colin.
Photos don't lie Colin.
No, Richard, except when it's a photo of Beirut burning and the photog photoshops a little more black into the plumes of smoke.
Then it's "Photos can't be trusted."
Please, Richard Witty, you of all people lecturing about the truth. It's like Groucho Marx lecturing on decorum. Hopefully the irony is intentional?
Because like I wrote over on Fleshler's site–you show a willingness to sacrifice any inconvenient truth at the altar of comfortable zionist mythology. Your zionist apologia has never been bounded by actual facts. Your role here is hasbara, perception management.
Nobody here believes a word you say.
We can be sure Witty never served in a US military uniform or even an IDF one. We can also be certain that if his son ever does wear a military uniform it will be the IDF one. As an accountant, Witty knows
how to play the shell game. And he knows numbers, yet he avoids
the current 4:400 kill ratio going on in Gaza. Calls Phil to account
for not castigating the Palestinians on his web site, one of the very few citizen blogs shining a Jewish spot light on the status quo narrative with any depth as a service to his nation (USA).
Yes truth is important. So why do you have such an aversion to it, Witty?
Who broke the cease-fire, Witty?
Who has been dishonest in their dealings regarding peace?
Who continues to obscure the real issues by emphasizing irrelevancies?
If there is one constant with the zionists it is there unbending willingness to lie and lie again.
It's so constant that I wonder how much influence that extreme Judaic doctrine has in this historically consistent dynamic.
I mean thats what the lobby does – it lies to perpetuate American support for Israeli fascism.
Why do you think zionists lie so much, Witty?