Jeff Blankfort writes:
I finally got to to San Francisco
last week and went to see Waltz with Bashir. It was as I expected,
designed to make the Israeli soldiers appear as victims and use the
massacre at Sabra and Shatila--which we are explicitly told was
committed by Chritsians-- as a disguise for the far greater crimes that
the Israelis , including, I suspect, the soldiers involved in the
movie, had committed against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in the
three plus months that elapsed from the June 6,1982 invasion to
mid-September when the massacre was committed.
The vast majority who will have seen the film will never know that the Israelis, as in Gaza,broke a cease-fire, that they killed over 17,000 civilians,wounded tens of thousands more using white phosphorous and cluster bombs, besieged Beirut for 76 days, and as in Gaza, attacked ambulances and refused to let Red Cross vehicles bring aid and medical supplies to wounded civilians.
The vast majority who will have seen the film will never know that the Israelis, as in Gaza,broke a cease-fire, that they killed over 17,000 civilians,wounded tens of thousands more using white phosphorous and cluster bombs, besieged Beirut for 76 days, and as in Gaza, attacked ambulances and refused to let Red Cross vehicles bring aid and medical supplies to wounded civilians.
When I was in Israel
in 1983,I interviewed a number of Israeli reservists who had become
part of Yesh G'vul, the reserve soldiers refusal movement, some of whom
had refused to serve from the beginning,and some who went into Lebanon
with the 80,000 man invading force and then, outraged at the atrocities
they saw their fellow soldiers committing, refused to return. What
they told me a year after the invasion was totally different than the
message contained in the film, which no doubt explains why the Israeli
consulates around the country are promoting it. The former Israeli tank
officer with whom I stayed outside of Jerusalem
told me that every building on the road to Beirut had been blasted by
Israeli tanks, what I thought was an exaggeration until I took a trip on
the road myself. Another resister, also a tank commander, told me that
they had left nothing more than a meter high in the refugee camp of Ain
Helweh outside of Sidon. This was pretty evident from the nature of the
rebuilt houses when I visted there in 1983. In relation to the truth of
that war,the film is a lie. The director Ari Folman, like Israel, is
still in denial.
No wonder he kept his mouth shut at the Golden Globes. Sad.
Here's an account of the actual history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre
The animated film strikes me as an artistically well done rendition
of the event by a former IDF soldier of low rank; an analogy would be a young Wermacht soldier trying to get to the bottom of his own
guilt and confusion concerning events his company once took part in, in OCT; where the Wermacht provided all the support but did not actually partake in various direct actions against resisters and
assumed resisters. The IDF (violating at least three agreements, two with the USA) led by Sharon, gave the direct murderers jeeps to get there, provided light night enough to light up a sports field, turned back all fleeing victims, ignored over-heard messages that clearly indicated a massacre was occurring, etc.
A lot Israelis protested against it–relatively more than Americans
who protested the descent into the Iraq death spiral, or more than who have recently protested against the Gaza massacre…
American leaders could have put a stop to all three events; instead they enabled in each case. Then covered up.
Makes me so proud.
"A lot Israelis protested against it–relatively more than Americans
who protested the descent into the Iraq death spiral, or more than who have recently protested against the Gaza massacre…"
Pardon me, but more then the world has protested the Gazan spanking. Perhaps the world, through ommission, is telling you the Israelis are justified in taking on Hamas as they did.
"Gazan spanking"
Wow, Chris, as if we needed any further insight into your mind.
Himmler, the ex-chicken farmer, always said die Juden needed a good spanking.
Insight? Try to find out why more Jews protested Sabra then people everywhere protested the latest corporal punishment of Gaza.
"Try to find out why more Jews protested Sabra then people everywhere protested the latest corporal punishment of Gaza."
Because in 1982 there were still many Israeli humanists. They have been emigrating en mass, leaving the country to its more savage elements. It is pointless for Europeans or Americans to protest Israeli savagery, the protests will be ignored. That is why political activity is focused on boycott, divestment and sanctions.
We like that you post here Chris, it gives us real insight into the modern Zionist soul.
I don't conclude that "Israel broke the cease fire" in Gaza.
In 1982 America still had professional journalists. In 2008 most Americans think Gazans are either alien monsters or zombies.
If that Gaza assault is a spanking, then what are the rocket attacks.. pin pricks, if even that?
I like how Zionists want to have it both ways… the multitude of protests about Gaza show rising anti-Semitism. But there really aren't many protests, showing that Israel was right in what it did!
Stick me with a pin, Ahmed, and I'll make you curse your mother for giving birth to you. Your right to life ended when you lifted a pin against me.
Chris – you remind me of the Nazis who said that the life of one German was worth more than the lives of 100 Jews.
By the way, Chris, if the Israelis and the Jews who support them don't want to have bad things said about them, then they shouldn't do bad things – such as occupation, land theft, bulldozing homes, killing kids throwing stones, starving a people, enclosing a million and a half people in the world's largest outdoor prison etc.
Richard Witty – you may not believe that Israel broke the cease fire but the truth is that while the US was intent on the Nov. 4 elections, the IDF crossed into Gaza and murdered six members of Hamas. Israel has a long history of breaking cease fires. This was not the first time nor do I expect it to be the last.
>> Stick me with a pin, Ahmed, and I'll make you curse your mother for giving birth to you. Your right to life ended when you lifted a pin against me.
Wow! I mean, Holy Fuckin' Shit! Open threats! You da Man, Chris! You da Man!
Slap your wife around too? Like, only when she's bitch, I mean. Or when your kid talks at you on the phone, do you cuff them in the head? If a clerk at the store doesn't say "you're welcome", do you grab them by a tuft of hair and smash their face into the counter? Just asking…
Don't fuck with Chris! He da Man!
Last night (4 November), IDF and security forces uncovered a tunnel meant for the immediate abduction of IDF soldiers a distance of 250 meters from the security fence of the Gaza Strip. The operation was carried out by an IDF force close to the security fence inside the Gaza Strip, in order to thwart the intended terror attack. The force completed its mission and returned to Israel this morning.
The force successfully located a structure, under which a tunnel, designed to enable the immediate abduction of IDF soldiers, had been dug. During the operation, armed terrorists inside the structure opened fire at the IDF forces. The forces returned fire and identified positively hitting a number of them. Two IDF soldiers were moderately wounded and two were lightly injured. They were taken to hospital to receive immediate medical treatment.
The IDF Spokesperson emphasizes that this was a pinpoint operation intended to prevent an immediate threat. There is no intention to disrupt the calm, rather the purpose of the operation was to remove an immediate and dangerous threat posed by the Hamas terror organization. The building of the tunnel, located adjacent to the security fence, and intended for the abduction of Israeli soldiers, is a blatant violation of the calm.
The uncovering of the tunnel was facilitated by the joint efforts of the IDF Intelligence Branch, the Southern Command and the ISA.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%20Obstacle%20to%20Peace/Terrorism%20and%20Islamic%20Fundamentalism-/IDF_uncovers_Gaza_Strip_tunnel_intended_for_terror_attack_5-Nov-2008.htm
Chris: Stick me with a pin, Ahmed, and I'll make you curse your mother for giving birth to you. Your right to life ended when you lifted a pin against me.
so, drive me out of my home, bomb me, injure me, kill my family, what does that entitle me to do, you little twerp.
A SOMEWHAT RELATED ARTICLE:
My Military's Moral Low
by Simcha Leventhal – Published 02/02/09 by CommonDreams.org
Since the major military operations in Gaza stopped last week, the full effects of the heavy-handed assault that my country conducted there have become increasingly clear. Our leaders' responses to the carnage are shocking: after each "misfire" of our artillery, hitting a school or hospital, some high-ranking general or politician apologizes for the "mistake." Usually they talk about a Hamas militant firing from the area or using civilians as human shields.
As a former soldier in the artillery forces of the Israel military, I watch and shake my head in disbelief. From the Qassam rockets falling on Sderot and other Israeli cities in the South, we know that Hamas intentionally targets civilians with their bombs, but I wonder how the men and women of my country's artillery corps can do what they are doing while our leaders speak with such cynicism. I wonder what has happened to the moral compass of the Israeli military……
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to commondreams.org
ANOTHER SOMEWHAT RELATED ARTICLE –
Guest Columnist: Innocence, morality ravaged in Gaza
By HOWARD J. GALE – Published 02/02/09 by The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
[Howard J. Gale is a Seattle research psychologist and Jew, with family and friends in Israel.]
"Every bomb ever made falls on all of us." — Alice Walker
Israel has dropped tens of thousands of pounds of U.S.-made and/or U.S.-paid-for munitions on one of the most densely populated regions on Earth. Israel has been firing on known United Nations schools, killing dozens of civilians.
There are credible U.N. reports that Israel has bombed shelters to which Israel evacuated civilians 24 hours earlier. Israel is using artillery shells, widely banned cluster munitions and white phosphorus munitions, all of which guarantee an increasing proportion of civilian casualties (more than 50 percent of the more than 1,000 Palestinians killed)……
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to seattlepi.nwsource.com
Hey Chris, we all know the IDF said the ceasefire was broken by the Israelis making a preemptive raid on a tunnel the IDF claimed was
about to be a receptacle for kidnapped IDF soldiers. But we always consider the source of the claim. In the interest of objectivity since we all know you are a truth seeker, here's what HAMAS claims:
Hamas speaks
A Hamas official insists that a 'legacy of suffering' under Israel is what fuels Palestinian resistance.
By Mousa Abu Marzook
January 6, 2009
From Damascus — While Americans may believe that the current violence in Gaza began Dec. 27, in fact Palestinians have been dying from bombardments for many weeks. On Nov. 4, when the Israeli-Palestinian truce was still in effect but global attention was turned to the U.S. elections, Israel launched a "preemptive" airstrike on Gaza, alleging intelligence about an imminent operation to capture Israeli soldiers; more assaults took place throughout the month.
The truce thus shattered, any incentive by Palestinian leaders to enforce the moratorium on rocket fire was gone. Any extension of the agreement or improvement of its implementation at that point would have required Israel to engage Hamas, to agree to additional trust-building measures and negotiation with our movement — a political impossibility for Israel, with its own elections only weeks away.
_________________________
The nearest possible IDF soldier that could've been targeted for kidnapping was a long way from that tunnel.
Chris – The IDF has shown itself to be major liars so why should anyone believe anything they say? I say that the way that one can tell if a mouthpiece for the IDF (Israel Death Force) or the Israeli government is lying just look at their mouth. If their lips are moving you know they are lying.
I guess that before they executed the six members of Hamas they questioned them as to the reason why they dug a tunnel. Yeah, sure they did. And maybe, just maybe there was no tunnel. Just typical Israeli lies to cover up murder. It wouldn't be the first time.
Ahmed, you discussed attacking me. I suggested that your death would be so painful you would curse your mother for giving birth to you, with your dying breath. Nothing more, nothing less.
I could care less what happens to your family as long as they do not attack me or encourage your sister to done a suicide belt to come after me. You don't want to know what would happen to your family after that. And you wouldn't. Because you'd be dead.
Jan, any other truly stupid thing you have to say?
Jan and Citizen,
From November 4 through November 18th, there were exchanges between Hamas and IDF that can be attributed to retaliation relative to the November 4th action.
My personal sense is that both Hamas and Israel were "testing the waters". As the two parties never sat in the same room and firmly agreed and clarified what they were agreeing to, by testing the waters, that was their means of clarifying what exactly the cease-fire entailed.
After November 18th, BOTH sides publicly and through channels indicated that they wanted the cease-fire to be restored, that the skirmishes were an aberration, and NOT a permanent renunciation of the cease-fire.
Calm was maintained largely through December 18th (the day before the formal ending of the cease-fire), in which other militias began shelling southern Israel.
Hamas didn't claim to be shelling Israel until the 20th, with wild misses.
Israel didn't begin military engagement in Gaza until the 28th after repeated warnings that continuing shelling would result in military response.
I don't see that responding militarily by Israel was wrong in any way.
I do agree that the extent of the response was very intense, and that Israel lost its early quite high level of discipline as to its selection and implementation of targets.
Once an exchange becomes military, an entirely different logic comes into play. It is no longer negotiation. Leadership considerations shift from some balance of intrinsic good, PR, prospects for reconciliation, to strictly mission implementation goals.
Israel didn't begin military engagement in Gaza until the 28th after repeated warnings that continuing shelling would result in military response.
The war was planned months beforehand. You conveniently forgot to mention that, Richard.
Instead of spending so much time on apologia for Israel's noncompliance with the ceasefire (you don't even address the blockade, an act of WAR, naturally), couldn't you state in unequivocal terms that murdering 1300 people is WRONG?
Is stating that too difficult for you? What if you were related to Palestinians, instead of Jewish? Do you really imagine you'd be obsessed with Hamas' actions?
The offensive was planned months in advance, in fact, Yuval Steiniz said 8 to 9 months.
That is, just around the time Hamas made a public statement that there was an opportunity to negociate the recognition of Israel along the Green Line. That was horrible. Hamas had joined the international consensus. Israel probably made the decision to launch the offensive at that point.
The raid of november 4th cannot be excused by any tunnel. Obviously, if you know where the tunnel is, then you also know approximately where it's headed, and your soldiers can simply be moved around. The cease-fire consequently did not have to be broken by Israel.
Also, you must believe Israel on its very dubious word that Hamas had the intention to use it to abduct soldiers. Richard and Chris may do that. I can't.
The timing of the action, in the middle of the US elections, was obviously intended to attract as little attention as possible. It proves this was not a strategic decision by the IDF to protect its soldiers, but rather a political one to have Hamas resume the rocket fire.
You could add to that the fact that the war was already planned at the time the raid was launched. Even a child can see the interest of Israel in having Hamas resume the rocket fire, so as to provide our homegrown propagandists here with some kind of weak argument to defend their support.
All the signs point to Israeli manipulation. As a result, only fervent Zionists fall for it, as can be observed right here.
*
Don't mean to be rude but is the US still a serious country? I'm cribbing this from somewhere but increasingly I have the sense, observing the US from abroad, that Rome is becoming Italy.
control the message – part and parcel of zionist tactics from the beginning
you used to fight the racist, now you are the racist.
jews must be so proud of israel…..gosh you guys sure are humanitarian, for sure the holocaust taught you all some very important humanitarian lessons. http://original.antiwar.com/zunes/2009/04/29/pelo... Pelosi the Hawk by Stephen Zunes, April 30, 2009 Reports by international human rights groups and from within Israel in recent weeks have revealed the massive scale of war-crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law, committed by Israeli forces during their three-week offensive against the Gaza Strip earlier this year. Despite this, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has steadfastly stood by her insistence that the U.S.-backed Israeli government has no legal or moral responsibility for the tragic consequence of the war. This is just one episode in a long history of efforts by Pelosi to undermine international humanitarian law, in regards to actions by a country she has repeatedly referred to as America’s most important ally in the Middle East. It’s also part of her overall right-wing agenda in the Middle East. As the powerful Speaker of the House, Pelosi could very well undermine efforts by President Barack Obama in the coming years to moderate U.S. policy toward that volatile region. Support for the Gaza War During the height of Israel’s devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip in January, Pelosi pushed through a resolution putting the House of Representatives on record calling "on all nations…to lay blame both for the breaking of the calm and for subsequent civilian casualties in Gaza precisely where blame belongs, that is, on Hamas."[emphasis added] Not only did the resolution ignore Israel’s attacks in Gaza in November and other violations of the cease-fire that served to "break the calm," it put forward an extreme reinterpretation of international humanitarian law apparently designed to absolve any nation that kills large numbers of civilians, as long as the other side allegedly initiated the conflict.