Seham writes:
So
far this is turning into the year that American Jews made hajj to
Palestine, whether to break the siege on Gaza or to participate in and
document the resistance to Israel's land grab in the West Bank. I must
admit that it's been exhilarating to watch. It's much different from
when Arabs and non-Jews go to observe and then report because
those groups are quickly dismissed as anti-Semitic or they're just
ignored. But, you can't really accuse Jews of being anti-Semitic
because it's too messy to explain to Americans and it does sound more
sensational when Jews attack Israel's policies because Arabs are
expected to bitch about Israel. So finally, for the first time in my
life, a real discussion about what Israel is doing is taking place, and
it turns out that everything we heard about the power of the lobby to
control what is told to Americans about Palestine is not true because
the lobby doesn't control the Internet.
I know that I often complain about the media in the U.S. preferring
to hear from Jews rather than Palestinians when it comes to… Palestinians. But I want to be clear that I am not dismissive of the
role that Jews have taken in fighting for justice in Palestine. And I
do not minimize their sacrifices: in the case of Ezra Nawi, potentially
his freedom is at stake, and with Norman Finkelstein, his career. And it definitely seems that a well-greased and orchestrated campaign is taking place against Max Blumenthal–oh and he gets mail.
I mean, I wonder who wrote to Huffpo and asked them to kindly
remove all his content when it's about Israel. Must have been someone
very high-up on the Zionist ladder.
Highlights from this year's hajj:
- Summer Abu Zeyad
- Watching Max squeeze between buildings at the Balata camp
- Naomi Klein in Bilin
