I am surprised, to say the least, by your posting :"Nobel Prize all about Israel..". Is "trying to effect history" to be equated with making history? Obama tried to "effect history" when he asked Israel to freeze settlement construction. Instead Netanyahu made history by ignoring the US president and proceeding. Had hope been enough to "effect history", its course would have already changed. Millions of people would like nothing better than to raise their children and grandchildren in peace. Instead Palestinians are still living in refugee camps in the Arab world, in exile around the world, and in Gaza some are still living in tents. Peace to them– nothing but a meaningless word.
Your article follows the same rationale promoted by those who focuse on Iran’s "intention" to build a nuclear bomb as opposed to Israel’s existing arsenal. Are intentions more dangerous than facts, and wishful thinking more trustworthy than reality? Reading you, I thought of something Marcuse wrote in his essay on "Repressive Tolerance": "For the facts are never given immediately; they are established, "mediated" by those who made them; the truth "the whole truth" surpasses these facts and requires the rupture with their appearance." ("A Critique of Pure Tolerance " Beacon Press, 1965- p.99). Granted you do not make facts, but the way you mediate them tends to establish a reality of its own, because your voice carries quite a bit of weight. I am one of your readers, but not this time, I’m afraid, as the whole truth isn’t adequately represented.
As the Arabic saying goes: "The mistake of the bright is worth a thousand mistakes". I read you very often, generally agree with you, but this is the first time I am writing "the bright "! Hoping not to write anytime soon.
P.S. [Asked to elaborate on the Arabic saying] If a stupid person makes a mistake, one tends to understand/forgive because one doesn’t expect much from someone stupid. A bright person however has no such excuse, his/her mistake is much worse, the disappointment more acute. Another saying along these lines: "he who has no brain commits no sin."
Brilliant post. How can Obama claim the Nobel Peace Prize (I’m sure he stays up at night wondering this) while the citizens of Gaza squat in the rubble of what was once their homes? While Israel decries the Goldstone Report as biased, it is attempting to whitewash its long-stated military goal of terrorizing the civilian population of its neighbors. This is the so-called “Dahiya Doctrine,” which is a form of collective punishment imposed on non-combatants.
Source: link to khaleejtimes.com
Yep, this is our best friend in the region, the only true democracy, the people we have the most in common with in the Middle East . . . the most shared values.
Professor Finkelstein speaks often about the “Dahiya Doctrine” and explains in detail in several of his talks on university campuses. The majority of them can be found on YouTube.
Thanks for posting this.
I forgot to add that given such “confessions” by Israel’s top military commanders, it’s quite ironic that Israel’s current PR strategy is to label the Goldstone report as biased and anti-Semitic.
I think Israel’s position is perfectly consistent. Their military strategy is massive war crime. They don’t deny this policy. Their response to the Goldstone report is not to deny their war crimes but to complain that it might hamper them in carrying it out in the future, which is their clear intent.
Good point, potsherd.
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I remember the Republican call to “bomb them back into the stone age ” in 1963. In the end, the complexity played out differently. My first vote as a young American citizen was in accord, my vote now, as somebody with much more knowledge, is much to the contrary.
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