Yishai, an Israeli reservist, occupied a Palestinian home in Gaza during the recent assault. The family had fled. He saw that they had a computer and were privileged. He felt he could explain it all to them, and left them a letter. It's on Camera's blog. It includes this:
As soon as you agree with me that Hamas is your enemy and because of them, your people are miserable, you will also understand that the change must come from within. I am acutely aware of the fact that what I say is easier to write than to do, but I do not see any other way. You, who are connected to the world and concerned about your children's education, must lead, together with your friends, a civil uprising against Hamas.
Imagine someone occupying your house and killing hundreds of children and then leaving you this note. Would you take the teaching? Or as the Iraqis said when we invaded and destroyed a country: Is this how democracy works? (Phil Weiss)
You have to be kidding me. The soldier had time to type out that 1350-word letter, and apparently make a copy for himself, or email it to himself…
The pains the letter goes to mention a modem and computer seems a preemptive attempt to ward off the bs-detectors.
And we are to believe the computer was working, and the modem, and there was electricity? or did he have a backpack generator?
This all seems like an attempt to counter the accounts of graffiti, excrement and general ransacking of Palestininan homes.
and this is priceless:
Maybe there is something to be learned from the Jewish people who rose up from the most destructive human tragedy of the 20th century, and instead of sinking into self-pity, built a flourishing and prospering country.
ie, find a colonial power to hand you someone's country, and then a neocolonial power to arm you to the teeth.
My thoughts exactly, ahmed. But hey, let's give the IOF the benefit of the doubt, shall we? Let's assume the whole thing is kosher. Then there's these words of wisdom:
You, who are connected to the world and concerned about your children's education, must lead, together with your friends, a civil uprising against Hamas.
The IOF needs to realize that families aren't going to rise up against a group that has shown strength and resistance in the face of brutal occupation and has provided the humanitarian and civil services that Israel refuses to allow through.
AND it was originally published in Hebrew, according to Camera, so the soldier wrote to the poor arabs in Hebrew?
An example of the thing I dislike most about Zionism–it's so sanctimonous.
AND the letter mirrors the exact sentiments hammered home repeatedly by the IDF spokespeople.
It's also spookily like this bit of theatrics–
"Today, I know that deep in your hearts you wish for the demise of this beast called Hamas who has terrorized and murdered you, who has turned Gaza into a trash heap of poverty, disease and misery. Who in the name of “Allah” has sacrificed you on the bloody alter of pride and greed. I can only wish for you that Israel will do the job we all know needs to be done, and finally rid you of this cancer, this virus, this monster called fanaticism, today, called Hamas. And that these killers will find what little compassion may still exist in their hearts and STOP using you and your children as human shields for their cowardice and crimes."
- Achinoam Nini. 'Noa'. God, it's sad.
If it is true, it is an impressive display of arrogant self-delusion.
"killing hundreds of children"
What's your source? Hamas? The Electronic Intifada?
link to nowpublic.com
/>
Italian journalist Lorenzo Cremonesi, who works with the Corriere della serra newspaper, reported Thursday that Hamas had vastly overstated the number of civilian deaths in Gaza. While Hamas claims that 1,330 residents of Gaza were killed in the operation and approximately 5,000 wounded, the real number of casualties was far lower, Cremonesi says.
Cremonesi's report was based on his own findings after touring hospitals in Gaza and talking to families of those killed or wounded. “It is sufficient to visit several [Gaza] hospitals to understand that the numbers don't add up,” he explained.
Cremonesi estimated that between 500 to 600 people were killed in the fighting. Most were young men between the ages of 17 and 23 who were members of Hamas, he said…"
The current impasse is that Hamas doesn't want to eliminate its only military strategy from its options. And, relative to Egypt it doesn't want to renounce ties to the Muslim Brotherhood that advocates for removal of Mubarak and establishment of a Sharia state in Egypt.
Hamas doesn't want to say firmly, "we will permanently stop all rocket fire and all assaults on civilians in Israel in exchange for normalization of the border crossings."
Thats not enough for them. They insist on 67 borders for all of Palestine, or we will fight on.
So, they fight on.
Its not unraveling now. Its getting more tangled.
It could theoretically untangle, but only if the settlers agreed to move out or accept Palestinian jurisdiction, and Israeli state sought to enact that.
Its going the other way. Netanyahu is likely to win the Israeli election next month (at which point I cease defending Israel), and has declared that he intends to expand the settlements and NEVER recognize a sovereign Palestinian state on the West Bank.
I then have no possible goal to work for.
Its sad.
What is sad is that Weiss has personally blamed the single soldier of deliberately murdering children. No proof, nothing.
If that soldier were to listen to Weiss, he would realize that there truly are people who don't get it.
This is an excellent idea, what Elliott Abrams, his brother, wrote to the nobody Arabs, on their computer. The Israelis have much to teach us, about how to make democracy work, for us, and not against us.
Elliott Abrams, his gang, he showed us that way before, in Nicaragua, and it worked. Nicaraguans, they registered and voted overwhelmingly for Daniel Ortega, his Sandinista Party, on November 4 1984 — 67% of the vote, with 76% of the registered electorate voting, in the freest and fairest election in the history of Latin America.
And by 1991 — bombs, bullets, rapes, kidnaps, murders, destruction, embargos — Nicaraguans, they got Elliott Abrams, his message, surveyed their gloomy future, and obeyed, voted as their master directed, for their master's designated candidate. Who promptly withdrew the ICJ lawsuit, which Nicaragua had already won (1986), then in the process of fixing, exactly, how many billions of dollars in damages was it, the U.S. was obliged to pay, for its crimes and its torts, the 15 judges found the U.S. guilty of.
We did the exact same thing in Vietnam, tortured, murdered voters, arrested elected Parliamentarians. And that worked. To avoid the pain, the South Vietnamese obeyed the U.S., all the way to the bitter end.
We should do this, now, ourselves, citizen militias, attack rich neighborhoods in selected U.S. towns and cities, bomb half the houses, write notes to the other half, who they should vote for, and who they should not, and then kidnap ("arrest") 44 elected members of Congress, the House and Senate (or the higher number proportionate to those elected Hamas members of the Palestinian Parliament, Israel disappeared), take them to a hidden prison, for the duration.
Might work. A message to voters. A better campaign method.
"You have to be kidding me. The soldier had time to type out that 1350-word letter, and apparently make a copy for himself, or email it to himself…"
I would guess that it was a pre-prepared text document on a USB key, intended for this purpose. There were some working computers, as evidenced by a few blogs originating from inside Gaza.
I wonder what percentage of Jewish Israelis concur with the thinking in that letter?
Is Hezbollah fixing for another "victory"? Or is this just culling season?
LEBANON: Hezbollah says war with Israel is always a possibility
The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said today that he was confident that his Shiite militia's military capacity would make Israel think twice about trying again to weaken the organization by launching another military confrontation.
During a rare press conference, during which he appeared to reporters on a giant screen for security reasons, Nasrallah maintained that the possibility of a war is always present.
Hezbollah’s chief was speaking on the occasion of the “freedom day," a date marking a major swap of prisoners with Israel in 2004.
Beyond the rhetoric that a new military confrontation would be “highly costly” and “highly difficult” for Israel after their first "failed" war in July 2006, Hezbollah’s leader was generally careful to make no signal of any plan to provoke a fight with the Israelis.
With the first anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah’s main military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, last February approaching, Nasrallah remained vague about a plan to retaliate for a killing largely believed to have been conducted by Israel.
Nasrallah said that all the evidence gathered so far indicates that Israel's clandestine Mossad service was behind the assassination of Mughniyeh, but said he would not divulge details regarding the time and the place of any Hezbollah response.
Israelis are concerned that Hezbollah might try to avenge the killing during the upcoming anniversary. The Israeli media constantly cite confidential sources alleging failed attempts by the Lebanese group to attack Israeli targets in Europe, Africa or Latin America.
With the crucial Lebanese elections in the coming soon, Hezbollah is aware of the heavy costs of a military confrontation with Israel.
Nasrallah repeated Hezbollah’s stance that it was not aware of the party that launched rockets on two separate occasions into northern Israel during the conflict in Gaza.
“We are still a resistance present to defend Lebanon. We did not get out of the circle of the conflict … What we did [for Gaza] was the maximum possible in Lebanon.”
In his first public statements after the cease-fire in Gaza, Nasrallah called the Israeli attack on Hamas a failure and continued to voice support for the Palestinian resistance group:
“The actual aim of the Gaza war was to subjugate and wipe out the resistance and topple the Hamas government … Israel has failed politically and militarily in Gaza.”
He added however that Gaza is still suffering from a blockade preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians.
“The blockade of Gaza continues amid dire humanitarian and economic conditions … The war and aggression in Gaza is still going on, but in different form.”
Obama has been teaching the world the relative value of Muslim and Jewish lives: Nuremberg, Israeli Jews, Pakistani Muslims.
Is it something he learned at Harvard? See Harvard: Jews Better Than Muslims.
What I understand from the CAMERA link is that reservist Yishai wrote this as an 'open letter' after returning from Gaza. Thus the statement 'My friend, I would like to call you by name, but I will not do so publicly' in the 3rd-to-last paragraph. The implication in the Mondoweiss lead that Yishai 'left them a letter' in a Gaza apartment is probably mistaken.
What's striking about Yishai's letter are the repeated references to hatred –
————
'I am convinced that you hate me with unbridled hatred … we entered the Gaza strip, into your neighborhood, in order to remove those who want to kill us. If the citizens of Gaza were busy … instead of dwelling in self pity … and nurturing a hatred to your Israeli neighbors, your homes would not be in ruins right now. If your leaders were not corrupt and motivated by hatred, your home would not have been harmed.
Maybe there is something to be learned from the Jewish people who … built a flourishing and prospering country.
————
This is not really a personal letter, left in a sincere attempt to reach out to someone. It in fact sounds like a hasbara exercise, published in Hebrew in Maariv for Israelis to read and feel good about themselves. If not, it's by an author who's totally blinded by his own side's propaganda.
After invoking the tiresome Holocaust paranoia riff of 'hatred … hatred … hatred,' Yishai ends with a characteristic Zionist flourish … 'WE MADE THE DESERTS BLOOM.'
What is so utterly comical is that CAMERA claims with a straight face that Yishai's self-conscious little essay shows 'the compassion and humanity of Israeli soldiers' — as he lectures the destitute victims that 'You don't have money, you tell me? You have more than you can imagine.' Exactly what Jewish refugees were told long ago, when stereotyped as wealthy merchants and lenders.
Scooped again, damn it. Where is the letter from the NATO soldier to the Afghan family whose house he just blew up? Man, it feels good to be compassionate and human. Here's to us!
Is Hezbollah fixing for another "victory"? Or is this just culling season?
I dunno, Suzanne; wtf do you mean exactly?
Suzanne, you are so weird, I can't figure. You've heard this before, incidentally:
My enemy's enemy is not necessarily my friend.
It really bears some thought.
David Duke types always think I'm weird–For being so mainstream….and normal. haha!
Actually, the saying goes "The enemy of my enemy is the enemy of my enemy, nothing more and nothing less."
Time for Philip to start moderating the comments. This place is becoming infested with the usual pro Israeli garbage that's all over the internet.
Don't they know that Israel is worse than David Duke? Think about it, how many homes David duke has demolished or has ordered to to demolish? How many children david duke has murdered or asked others to murder?
Israel is the closest thing to the reincarnation of nazism, way worse than serb nationalism. Comments by fascist enablers like chris bebel and suzanne should be eliminated so the rest of us can continue our constructive path towards the overthrowing of the Zionist regime.
"They insist on 67 borders for all of Palestine, or we will fight on."
How is this an extremist position? Zionists complain that Hamas won't recognize Israel, then when they show willingness, Zionists complain that Hamas won't recognize colonies outside the 1967 borders? You want them to recognize your claim to their socks and underwear too?
Do Zionists ever wonder why the world is turning against them? It's not all about antisemitism.
The rush to defend David Duke here is HILARIOUS! I love it!
This blog should be renamed WeissSupremacistsagainstJews.com lololol!
I strongly disagree, anon. Let them speak and have their words and values judged in the open along with those of everyone else.
The rush to defend David Duke here is HILARIOUS! I love it!
I can't see anyone 'defending' him anywhere in this thread. Your empty-headed prattle is beginning to suggest mental sub-normality, Suzanne. Would you mind telling us how old you are, chronologically, so that we can compute your IQ?
"Netanyahu is likely to win the Israeli election next month (at which point I cease defending Israel), and has declared that he intends to expand the settlements and NEVER recognize a sovereign Palestinian state on the West Bank."
Yes, he is going to win, probably. Seems to me that someone needs to get over there quickly and persuade him to accept the 5-state solution.
Unless Israel sees something compelling and convincing–that ensures national security better than settlements allegedly have–this is the unfortunate road they're going to take.
That is a more grown up comment altogether, Suzanne, congratulations. Let them elect Bibi, I say. Not a problem in my world at all.
Let them speak and have their words and values judged in the open along with those of everyone else.
I agree, but if a clear pattern of disruptive intent can be established, with no constructive give and take being offered, then banning the person should be discussed. Suzanne is very close to this line.
Bibi is just an efes gadol.
now, caroline glick, she'd be fun.
Don't they know that Israel is worse than David Duke? Think about it, how many homes David duke has demolished or has ordered to to demolish? How many children david duke has murdered or asked others to murder?
David Duke's ideas about maintaining "white" culture exactly parallel supremacist Jewish ideas about preserving their own culture.
I don't agree with either.
Tom Friedman's op-ed in the NYT the other day advocated more violence in two paragraphs than Duke has ever advocated in his entire career. Duke's a supremacist, to be sure, but he doesn't advocate violence to achieve his ends, unlike many of our well-known Zionist "journalists".
I think C Glick has the archetypal personality of the Huntress. Her delivery is so fast, it's like machine-gun fire. Almost every detail is factually wrong, but they are hammered together in such short lengths, with such skill, it is truly fascinating.
Daddy Dan…if I promise to behave (or conversely spew spiral-eyed David Duke hate utterances about Jews) can I stay? Can I? Can I?
I guess I'm not surprised at the paternalistic condescension here–the nazis are famous for that stuff.
Rowan: yeah, I bet you're fantasizing about "D day" –or is it Into the Sea day?– if Bibi wins. lol!
Indeed, Suzanne. I am amazed at the number of defenders of David Duke exist on this blog. I remember one person actually defending Hitler.
But I am not amazed by the names I see defending those two.
Rowan–go read the most recent posts on the Passaic New Jersey candidate for freeholder–and then come back and tell me that David Duke isn't favored here.
instead of "lololol"-ing all the time, you could cite them, in brief, and give a link. do some actual work.
Suzanne (quoting): "Netanyahu … expand the settlements and NEVER recognize a sovereign Palestinian state on the West Bank."
Suzanne (commenting): Unless Israel sees something compelling and convincing –that ensures national security better than settlements allegedly have — this is the unfortunate road they're going to take.
CJH (commenting): How about this, is this "something compelling and convincing"?:–
Obama orders a public inquiry, conducted by his Justice Department, which discovers the public, have been lied to, that what Israel has been doing since 1967 are war crimes (confiscation/population, the settlements) and what Hamas has been doing are not crimes and they are not a "terrorist organization."
Obama then goes to the U.N. Security Council, and tables a resolution for sanctions against Israel, expelling all diplomats and Israeli nationals, grounding El Al flights, blockading commercial trade (except humanitarian supplies), terminating money, arms, diplomatic support, until Israel terminates its blockade of Gaza and removes its 500,000 settlers from Palestinian land (1967 oPt).
Is this "something compelling and convincing" enough? to get Mr. Netanyahu's attention? or will he shrug that off, and continue on down, his "unfortunate road."
Details: "Israel-Palestine: Criminal lies"
suzanne, you gotta check this out, it is totally your style of humor:
CJWarlock
errrmmmm…thanks for sharing your wet dream with us.
Are there ANY realists here amongst the ULIs?
I believe there is a smiggen of realism in some of them. But not a lot.
I love that punk photojournalism. the laconic understatement. the way she totally drops it at the end in frank disinterest.
"I believe there is a smiggen of realism in some of them. But not a lot."If you come across an example of it, can you point it out? I've tried a telescope, magnifying glass, anti-glare sunglasses…but I still can't see it. Thanks! :-)
I have found that most on this blog come up with a nugget of truth, but then wrap it in so many layers of bullshit as to make that truth, for a lack of a better description, shitty.