(Screen shot captured by Justin Elliott)
Note that the heroic Iranian woman on the CNN page is about to throw a stone. Have you ever seen coverage of a Palestinian throwing a stone during a protest highlighted so prominently and positively?
Joseph Dana has pointed out the similarities between the popular resistance being displayed on the streets of Iran and that in the West Bank. While Robert Fisk sees similarities in the repressive response of the Iranian and Israeli governments:
Unleashing a rabble of armed government forces on to the streets and claiming that all whom they shoot are “terrorists” is an almost copy-cat perfect version of the Israeli army’s public reaction to the Palestinian intifada. If stone-throwing demonstrators are shot dead, then it is their own fault, they are breaking the law and they are working for foreign powers.
When this happens in the Israeli-occupied territories, the Israelis claim that the foreign powers of Iran and Syria are behind the violence. When this happens on the streets of Iranian cities, the Iranian regime claims that the foreign powers of the United States, Israel and Britain are behind the violence.
And it is indeed an intifada that has broken out in Iran . . .
For all the similarities in the inspiring David vs Goliath imagery, it has been crushing to see the vast difference in the way Iranian protest is being handled in the US versus the ongoing Palestinians nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. And it’s not just in the media. Today in a press conference President Obama said:
The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.
I’ve made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering with Iran’s affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and the dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.
If Obama is to be judged by his actions, that last sentence is simply a lie. In the first six months of the Obama administration at least two Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while nonviolently protesting the theft of their land without a comment from the US. Israel even shot and critically injured a US citizen during a nonviolent protest in the West Bank and the administration had nothing to say.
This is in no way to take away from the outrage or solidarity people feel when watching incredibly brave people taking to the streets in Iran. But there are brave examples in other places as well. And in the case of Palestine, the US is funding the repressive regime putting the protests down with over $3 billion a year.
During the question portion of the his press conference today President Obama commented on a video of an Iranian protester who was killed over the weekend. The woman, Neda Agha-Setan, has become a face of the protests and the video of her death has become the iconic image of the protest so far. From the press conference:
All right. Last question. Suzanne.
Q Thank you. Back to Iran, putting a human face on this. Over the weekend, we saw a shocking video of this woman, Neda, who had been shot in the chest and bled to death. Have you seen this video?
THE PRESIDENT: I have.
Q What’s your reaction?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking. And I think that anybody who sees it knows that there’s something fundamentally unjust about that.
Mr. President, we’re waiting for your comment –
Related posts:
- WINEP Cites Geneva Convention Re Iranian Rebels, Forgets About It When It Comes to Palestinians Under Occupation
- Stop the Bomb (But Allow Iranian Nuclear Enrichment)
- Walt: Iranian clerics would never nuke the third-holiest site in Islam
- Why Columbia President Bollinger Should Be Celebrated for Inviting Ahmadinejad
- There he goes again: Ken Pollack says the Iranian people will trust us over their own leaders
{ 60 comments }
We in the west have known for decades that throwing rocks is extreme violence and it gives the state the legal right to use lethal force against the rock throwers. The Iranian protesters are undermining that understanding. Definitely Israel has reserved the right to kill rock throwers since the first intifada. We should hope that what we are seeing in Tehran is license for the Palestinians to start throwing rocks again. Remember the scandal when Edward Said threw his symbolic rock from Lebanon into Israel. The local zionist were in conniptions denouncing his use of terrorist violence. These images from Iran must be preserved. Every time the Israelis kill another Palestinian teenager for rock throwing, we must insist on the legitimacy of that act as an act against repression.
Syvanen omits one crucial fact. The Palestinians have a legal right in international law to throw stones or rocks against an illegal occupying army. They are resisting the aggression of Israel in the same way the French resistance fought Nazi Germany. That is where comparisons between Israel and Iran end. Iranian dissidents are seeking to overthrow their own government. Palestinians are seeking the removal of a foreign government.
So are you saying that the Iranians do not have the right to throw stones but the Palestinians do? Sorry doofus, but the Iranians are in the process of claiming that right. It is the dynamic of the street. The point I tried to make is that international opinion has declared that Palestinians cannot do that because it has become defined as as act of terrorism. I was trying to make a point of a double standard. Let me be more explicit: acts of violence against America's enemies are considered good, such acts against our allies (i.e. the Israelis) are immoral. That my friend is the what the world's last super power can impose on the rest of the world.
My only question to each and everyone is this: Why can't we all just get along? Huh?
Sizer is right; the situations are very different. The Palestinians are using violence to resist an occupation that is illegal under international law. In contrast, the Iranian protests are purely an internal matter (at least I hope they are), and don't fall under any kind of international juristiction.
This is not a conflict of ideologies. It's about land and resources. Jewish immigrants wanted Palestinian land and resources. Before the 48' War, the Americans offered a possible mediation. The Jews refused and declared their illegal and immoral State (the UN and Imperial West have no authority to create States), with the full knowledge that the Arab States would attack. Contrary to the image of poor poor little Israel, the strength of the Arab armies was overestimated. Israel eventually got various weapons deals moving (notably one with Czechoslovakia I believe) and yada yada yada, won the war decisively. The Arabs only fault was that they were weaker. They lost. But power does not imply virtue. Power is just more consistent. Overwhelmingly more consistent.
Some students were bayoneted, tear-gassed, and shot at Kent State: http://cafecamuspoliticalcoffeehouse.blogspot.com... The local politicians said the students were being led behind the scenes by radical outside forces. Actually they were protesting Nixon's Cambodia entry, which they saw as an extension of the war. Similar to Iran now? The Pals are resisting a foreign invader-occupier.
That's the new "progressive" spin. The reality was the Arabs were far stronger. Man power weapons etc. They should have easily won. I suggest you read Morris' 1948.
First on the picture of the girl "throwing" the rock. Anybody that has ever thrown a rock will tell you that that rock is not going to travel more than five feet. The picture is absurd.
Of course the news is being manipulated! And of course there is a double standard, entirely biased in Israel's favor. The contrast between the American MSM treatment of the massacre of Gaza and the treatment of the riots in Iran couldn't be more flagrant. My personal experience with the subject of this thread, was to have the following video, which I put together at the height of the Gaza massacre, pulled from YouTube with a stern warning about being under six months probation with the possibility of having my IP banned forever…. within a half hour of uploading the video. Here is the link to the video itself: http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc105/seatonsn... Harmless it isn't, but there is a lot rougher stuff on youtube that doesn't touch Israel and stands without problems. My conclusion is that Google is biased, very biased, unselfconsciously biased and so is most of the American media. The death of Neda, sad as it is, cannot compare with dropping white phosphorus on children, but…. why go on?
In another fake injury, what are you people stupid?
In re US News Coverage: Makdisi Overlooks US Journalistic Nazification Dutch newspapers are becoming concerned with American Jewish interference in Dutch politics: [de Volkskrant] Wilders gaat steeds een stapje verder
Now that Dennis Ross, who knows nothing about Iran, is hunkered down adjacent Obama in the White House–what's he whispering in Obama's ear about Iran daily? http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp06232009.html
Dimwit is at it again, spewing hasbara lies that have long been uncovered: http://desip.igc.org/The48ArabInvasionDeconstruct...
This article is stupid and is clearly written by someone who knows zero facts about the Israeli palestinian conflict. The Palestinians have no right to throw rocks at israelis when israelis are just driving down the street. WHY IS THAT OK? Innocent civilians being attacked is justified to you??? Clearly something is coo-coo in your head if you think innocent civilians deserve to have rocks thrown at them.
The film clip was as fake as a $3 bill!
Under Nuremberg Law, Palestinians have every right to kill any Israeli Zionist anywhere in Occupied Palestine (the Occupied Territories) or Stolen Palestine (pre-1967 Israel). As a signatory to the International Genocide Convention, the USA is under obligation to provide relief to the Palestinian population. The most obvious sort of relief is the removal or the obliteration of the Criminal Genocidal Zionist Conglomeration (CGZC) in Stolen and Occupied Palestine.
The only one coo-coo in your head is you(If your post was meant to be sarcastic I apologize.)
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thedimmi is lying blatently; and if he read Morris' 1948 he's a double liar. I doubt he read that book. Among Morris' conclusions in his book are: – the Yishuv was not heavily overwhelmingly outnumbered and out-gunned by the Arabs. Far from it, the Yishuv was far better organized and ready for war than the Palestinians and the neighboring Arab states ever were. -The fact that the Israelis did engage in what could be called "ethnic cleansing." -The fact that both the Israelis and the Arabs and Palestinians committed war crimes in the course of the fighting, but the Israelis committed more.
That's all you creeps can do eh? Every time evidence of Israels crimes is presented you scream FAKE! Simply pathetic.
Yeah, why not use Apache attack helicopters, F-16s, white phosphorus, Merkeva tanks, gas canisters etc? Bunker busters? Surely civilians deserve at least that much.
How so?
Don't expect the kind of sympathy from the left-liberal mainstream media that the Iranian dissidents are getting. Remember, the MSM is filled with Jewish Zionists and Judeophile liberals, Jewish Zionists comprise a disproportionately large component of the Democratic Party and its donor base, and left-liberal media have a long history of studiously looking the other way and papering over history when Jewish racists and their Statist partners engage in organized terror and mass murder, be it on a massive scale in the Soviet Union or on a lesser scale in Palestine. [con't]
Adam, you and Phil have missed the obvious parallel (or rather, lack of) between Rachel Corrie's death and that of the Iranian woman who is seen shot to death on the video. In the case of Corrie, we know for sure that she was killed by an IDF bulldozer, but the US media hardly did much about it except condemn her for her sensitivities and/or stupidity. In the case of the Iranian woman, whose death seems real even if we haven't been able to verify the shooter, she's become a world icon. Funny, isn't it?
Wow. Did you read Morris' 1948? Were we reading the same book?
Adam, you've gone and said what needed to be said again!
I wonder if the Palestinians can co-opt the green of the Iranian protesters – though it could cause some concern amongst their goverment supporters in Tehran. The media would love such a simple narrative ' Obama inspires a peaceful protest movement which has spread from Iran to Gaza'
Wonder what the response would have been if an American had been shot in the Iranian demonstrations?
Mr. President, 1.300 civilians were killed by Israel's military in Gaza, and they were not even protesting. Mr. President, you killed sixty people at a funeral in Pakistan yesterday. Mr. President, you have already killed more people than President Ahmadinejad. One shot kills are the specialty of US Special Forces, which are operating in Iran, and organized crime. Neda was probably sacrificed for the Peacock Throne.
David Seaton, I'm afraid your link points to a 'Page not found'.
Yeah obviously! Don't be so idiotic
These Iranians are traitors. While predator US/Israel is licking it's chops this is no time for a coup in Iran. They are being courted by the U.S. and loving it. Like traitor Cubans during the revolution.
lol. The next time I want a legal opinion about as baseless as yours I'll know to call Harriet Miers. The fact that you've made up acronyms to make it seem as if you know what you're talking about doesn't help. Epic fail.
Try reading the Geneva convention. And then maybe you'll understand why YOUR post is an epic fail
(this was in response to thedhimmi, not antihasbara)
If the Iranians trying to overthrow their government using violent means are a minority, and not the majority, what does that make them?
I agree with you David that there is a clear double standard in what events are condemned and what are conveniently ignored, going all the way up to the Obama administration and Obama himself, and sadly we are not able to access your video….
The fact that you feel the need to justify incitement of violence and justification for murder does not add to your credibility. The fact that you have no argument other than repeating what I've said = another sign of intelligence. The most obvious relief will be to free readers here of the Psychotic Pseudo-Intellectual known as Thors Provoni or Joachim Martillo (PPIKATPOJM).
I think we all know the answer to that question….Our so-called civilized world bases its humanity on double standards….
This is an old PBS report by Bill Moyer to keep in mind: The Secret Government (CIA Overthrow of Mossadeq) http://quotes.gophercentral.com/ **** Myths And Lies – by Jaffer Ali http://quotes.gophercentral.com/
Nuremberg tribunals made no distinction between acts of resistance to German Nazis in Bohemia (legally annexed under international agreement) and in Poland (occupied). Palestinians have the right to blow up Israeli Zionists in pre-1967 Israel and in the Occupied Territories.
Try again here
Well, next time try to address the points made by Joachim instead of making ad-hominem attacks and then I would have bothered to post a proper reply. Resisting an occupation is not only a right, it's a moral duty and to help a people in resisting an occupation is also a responsibility. Like it was when we helped the Kuwaitis in 1991, it's also our responsibility to help the Palestinians. The Geneva convention, which many Americans deem too strict, provides for people resisting an occupation. The irony is that you were probably one of those people that supported the Gaza onslaught.
Good work David!
No, the Geneva Convention in no way sanctions suicide bombings or other means of violence against innocent civilians. Period. Go back to International Law 101, or read the thing again. It's not rocket science.
Do innocent civilians have a right to be free from 1000 pound bombs dropped by IAF F-16s? Amazing how your "innocent" civilians argumetn only protects the Jews. Actually, it's pretty typical of Zionist "thinking."
this website attracts anti-semites (whoops I mean anti-zionists who hate all jews except anti-zionists) like flies to shit – this website is a big fail
It would make them revolutionaries.
Again, you haven't addressed the point I made, which was they have every right to kill whoever they want in occupied Palestine (i.e. the West Bank and Gaza). It's Israel that's breaking International Law by transferring it's own population into occupied areas and illegally kidnapping Palestinians and transferring them into Israeli territory. Nowhere have I mentioned or justified suicide bombings in Israeli territory.
Nope, this website attracts people that want honest discussion about the Israeli-Palestine conflict and aren't worried about baseless allegations of anti-Semitism, which many Israel supporters routinely resort to when the fallacy of their arguments are exposed.
It does not take to much acumen in the field of acting to see that this was staged. There are real clips from both sides and a lot of propaganda but what else is new it has been going on since the beginning of time and now the world is resorting to its original tribality. May the best man{tribe} win.
The reason Palestinians are not viewed as victims is that their constant terrorism gives them the reputation of being hostile. There isn't much sympathy for people who fire rockets at civilians on a daily basis. When Israel retaliates, there isn't any sympathy left to go around.
Have you ever wondered why they fired rockets in the first place? I suppose we shouldn't have given sympathy to the Russian Jews who routinely set off bombs in Tsarist Russia because they were 'terrorists'.
Only a moron would attempt to draw comparisons between protests in & against a corrupt, tyrannical Islamic theocracy with a secular Jewish state simply fighting for survival. This site is bigoted GARBAGE.
Yeah, 1300 "civilians". If you beleive that, I've got a bridge to sell you. And how many armed gunmen were killed? UN and Israeli statistics confirm 500 or more of these 'civilians' were the garden variety Hamas terrorist.
Yes it,s always about poor Israel fighting for survival, forced to kill people and takeover their land. Why don't the Arabs understand that God gave the Jews this land and that God wants them to fuck off somewhere else? Why is there so much injustice in the world?
Strahl: Read a book or two written by people who actually fought in the War of Independence, otherwise you come off looking like a jackass when you don't your history!@!!!! Israel began the war with only a few planes and NO heavy artillery, fewer troops and more land to cover. Compare that to the Arabs with more military equipment and 5 organized armies attacking on all fronts, with training & arms by the British and French. Yes, Israel got weapons LATER, in the war from the Czechs but also had help from a few wonderful Americans, one was a big shot in Las Vegas. Overall, your rambling about Israel makes you sound like a child that never finished high school (or still is in one).
A "secular Jewish" state? Does this mean a state for secular Jews or a Jewish state that is allegedly secular. Isn't a Jewish state a form of theocracy? And how exactly do the occupied native Muslim and Christian Palestinians fit in to this "secular" Jewish state simply fighting for survival? You also talk as if the Israeli governments have been free of corruption and tyranny which is why they never seem to last, LOL!….
Some very good advice: Stay Out of Iran’s Evolutionary Process by Philip Giraldi, June 25, 2009 http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2009/06/24/st...
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