My cup runneth over. The University of Pennsylvania alumni magazine publishes a memoir by Joel Chasnoff, who graduated from the school 14 years ago and thanks to an ethnocentric family background that caused him to think, "It wasn’t fair that we American Jews called Israel our homeland but left Israelis to defend it," joined the Israeli army before becoming a writer in New York. A lot like Jeffrey Goldberg, another Penn graduate and writer (though Goldberg was, I’ve heard, a jobnik– a desk-wallah). Chasnoff:
Most captivating of all were the Israeli soldiers. Here they were, just a year older than me, flying F-16s, carrying Uzis, and strutting around Jerusalem in olive-green uniforms and Ray-Bans. Compared to them, I felt like such a putz: they defended the homeland like Jewish Rambos…
I lean in for a closer look. The poster is a crude, hand-drawn sketch of a Lebanese hillside. In the picture, three Hezbollah guerrillas set booby traps under a full moon. The guerrillas have dark skin and beards. They wear sneakers, white T-shirts, and jeans. One guerrilla stuffs dynamite into a fake rock. A few yards away, his buddy covers a land mine with a branch. The third guy holds a remote control device that, I suppose, will blow up the explosives in the rock.
I peer at the three guerrillas. In their sneakers and jeans, they look more like high school riffraff than enemies of the Jewish state. I try to imagine what it’s like in that nightmare called Lebanon, where monsters in T-shirts and jeans set booby traps by the light of the moon. Suddenly, I’m overcome with a fresh wave of fear. It hits me that my stint in the Israeli Army isn’t just some crazy adventure. It’s real.
Thanks to Seth!
My views on the general issue of dual loyalty, the Lobby, etc. are here:
link to palestinechronicle.com
Dual loyalty? Please. This lousy traitor is a fucking Israeli, and that’s all. This motherfucker should be stripped of his US citizenship pronto. Thanks to a loophole inserted by Congressional scumbags, service in the Zionist terror brigades incurs no penalty; a situation that’s unique. Any service in any other foreign military is grounds for loss of citizenship. The U. of P. should be ashamed of promoting this lousy traitor.
David Green,
Thanks for that link to your piece. On a quick read, I very much agree with your perspective.
As the “Seth” who sent this piece to Philip, let me say that it was not any of the “dual loyalty” stuff that bothered me about this. My own leftist perspective is that I couldn’t care less about the notion of “loyalty” to a country. There are no “U.S. interests”, hence nothing to be loyal or a traitor to in that sense. What are called “national interests” are always the interests of a minority of the population.
What bothered me about the piece is the complete blindness to the violence carried out by Israel. He refers to the “monsters” planting landmines in Israel, apparently unaware that his heroes in the Israeli military, at least some of them, are actually the ones who have littered South Lebanon with cluster bombs (courtesy of the U.S., of course). There is also the nice touch of referring to the “dark skin” of such monsters, apparently unlike the incredible cool Israelis “strutting around Jerusalem”.
Precisely.
How could this guy have a problem with Lebanese guerrillas defending their homeland by booby trapping strategic locations on a hill top?
Does he not realize that Lebanon does not have a history of invading and occupying Israel but that Israel has a long bloody history of invading and occupying Lebanon?
Ziocaine (thx Mooser) is one hell of a drug.
Thanks–of course I understand your concerns.
Mr. Green concludes: “But an ecumenical American movement for the rights of Palestinians is better served by efforts to challenge the Lobby’s rhetoric rather than to become obsessed with its influence—”:
Mr. Green has the cart before the horse. Rhetoric gets nowhere unless pulled by real Influence. Otherwise, yes, who wants to be loyal to the old or newest replacement set of greedy
elites.
Otherwise, yes, who wants to be loyal to the old or newer, coalition replacement set of greedy, exploiting
elites?
Mr. Green ignores that part of America that is not under the umbrella of the
“proposition nation.” Or is there nothing out there? No cohesion other than
what consumer products falsely afford? At any rate, Israel is not
such a proposition nation.
Rhetoric also gets nowhere unless it accords with “U.S. interests.” That’s my point. Your point, as far as I can tell from following this blog over the months, is to support American nationalism. My point in writing the article was to oppose that “principle” as a basis for Palestinian rights. I don’t think that you necessarily reflect the overall views on this blog, but you share part of the problem
reading that quote from Chasnoff’s article, I thought at first that the “monsters” quip must have been an attempt at a satire of sorts. From the desxcription, the bomb planters look every bit the part of Che Guevara guerillas, fighting for a country and/or indigenous population being run over by a far superior, technologically advanced enemy, supported perhaps by a superpower. But looking through the rest of the article I realized this was no satire. And it’s the earnestness of the writer that turns it into pathos. One has to chuckle at the amazing notion that it is the infinitely superior, well shielded and armed-to-the-teeth israeli army “grunt” who feels threatened by the “reality” of “war”.
In another setting, at another time, and by a writer with different agenda, it would be t the T-shirt-clad partisans of hezbollah who are the heroes in this scenario. Because what they do is quite what the partisans of France and east Europe did back in the days to desperately try and stop the march of the invading German tanks.
Now, what twisted ideology makes our Goliah here believe that he is but one small David, armed with nothing but a uniform, tank, night vision guns and hellfire missiles? As james bradley says below, it must be the ziocaine. There’s simply no other explanation.
And did I mention yet just what a dangerous drug this is? you just know that our band of patriots-under-the-influence would find a way to justify using tactical nuclear weapons against lebanon – or gaza, for that matter – if they only saw a way to get away with it. Every day they bemoan the injustice of it all, the geography that makes it too close for comfort, their critics with cameras, who dare to deconstruct their actions, ignoring manifest destiny.
Good piece-de-resistance you found there, Seth. And a good article from David Green too.
RE: “What are called “national interests” are always the interests of a minority of the population.”
Are you saying there are no national interests to be loyal to, simply
because the predatory elite use “national interests” as a cover for its theft, exploitation, and diverse oppression of the masses, both domestically and abroad, including through proxy regime elites?
I’ll field this one.
The earth has been divvied up. There’s no more to go around. We now share each others water, each others air. Communications are almost instantaneous from any part of the globe. One might as well call the planet a collective. At least, that’s the trend.
Pretty much, yes. It’s not because “elites”, however one may define that, use the term as a cover, but because people in the country don’t have the same interests. I guess in principle it’s possible to come up with counter-examples, such as it’s a “national interest” that the U.S. not go fascist, or that the world is not blown up, but I would categorize those as in the interests of all humanity.
But yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody in a position of power or influence talk about “national interests” or particularly “American interests” without it being a cover for theft, exploitation, etc. Likewise, in general those who speak loudest about “national security” are those doing the most to undermine any sort of real security for the people of the country, those talking the loudest about their love of democracy are those who most despise it, etc.
But that was really just a passing remark. Of all the criticisms to be made of someone like the author of that article, “traitor” is just about the most wrong-headed criticism I can think of. I think something like “fanatical supporter of violence and terrorism” is a better description.
Seth, to augment your descriptor of “fanatical supporter of violence and terrorism”, I’ll push forward again my favorite meme of “cult-like behavior”. For some time now, one couldn’t help but notice how many common elements there are between the new-new zionism (ie zionism on steroids, or, as I refer to it sometimes “ultra-zionism”) and cult-like phenomena. I don’t necessarily mean religious cults, though the behavior may be informed by certain religious allegiances. Am thinking more along the line of new-age cults like the Branch Davidians. Admittedly, new-new zionism can draw upon much larger pool of historical and contemporary rationalizations, studies, population and what not than a Johnny come lately cult like Branch Davidians. But on a psychological level, followers are held captive to a mind frame they cannot shake off without traumatic consequences. I would add also that not all cults are messianic in nature, some are more collective with, say, some ‘sacred texts” fulfilling the role of strong central “dear leader’ figure. In the case of zionism, there’s an analogy to the messianic element with the “state of israel” elevated to near-mythical proportions . More can be said on this analogy and perhaps we can elaborate in the future. The point here that relates to your comment is that thedie-hard zionist supporter – whether they serve in the IDF or not – is able to rationalize their support of extreme violence against another group of people only to the extent they are under the influence of group-think. It is very much like the supporters of say, “Al-Quaeda” which, by my little analysis is also more of cult than a real religious movement.
As an aside, a necessary ingredient of most, if not all, cults is a high degree of paranoia, ie fear of the malevolent intentions of the “outside”. Demonizing “outsiders” is an essential ingredient for maintaining group cohesion. This kind of applies to many of the currents we see in israel – as well as among some jewish supporters. Just as much as it applies to radical muslims and christians.
And this is where I come to agree with citizen, on at least one level. Cults are often constructed outside the larger group identity, so that the primary allegiance is to the cult, and not to the larger group, in this case, a nation, or even a family or a clan. A cult follower may well act in ways opposed to the interest of the national group he/she is a member of. The reason I don’t rush with the “traitor” label is for the same reasons I was not inclined to label the Mormon sect or branch davidian members as traitors or terrorists. Such labels can be too facile and do not capture the extent of estrangement between cult followers and the society at large. This is the level where I partially agree with David Green. Some labels may just not be so useful, and if I were to try and de-program a cult captive, I’d probably avoid harsh descriptions as they’d only serve to trigger a potentially-violent – and virulent – defense mechanism.
This guy likes to immerse all of his writing in iconic language familiar to average Americans and disarming colloquial, and than he slips in his bullshit –
I don’t know how to swim
I’m afraid of needles
I’m a peacenik. I hate guns
Peter, Paul & Mary
Simon & Garfunkel
John Lennon
give peace a chance
I don’t hate Arab
lactose-intolerant
Pile on the spiel – “In these Israeli soldiers, I saw a new narrative: Jews who kicked ass…” and give peace a chance, defend the homeland – no, steal more land – kiss my ass
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I’m a little surprised that the comments on this post seem to be missing the essential reality. This is a recent post of an article in the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Association. The article itself can best be described as Jerry Seinfeld does the IDF. The purpose is to establish a positive connection between the target audience and Israel. The Palestinians are “them.” The Israelis are “us.” Discussions of dual loyalty, etc. are irrelevant. The article needs to be evaluated primarily in terms of Israeli hasbara.
“we American Jews called Israel our homeland ”
Presumably born in the USA (hush up, Springsteen), brought up in the USA, school and university in the USA, citizen of the USA, and calls a country on the other side of the world his “homeland”!
Lunacy.
The US needs an Avigdor Lieberman who will impose loyalty tests on every citizen, thus any American who is merely sponging off the US while considering Israel to be his true homeland would be deported.
Avi,
The US does NOT need an Avigdor Lieberman, it needs grass roots with balls that will root out (pun intended) and squash these people who received the benefits of American citizenship and upbringing, but feel no loyalty to the USA, and are only to happy to run off to their “homeland” and play GI Jew.
Matter articulates anger well here, but there is a contradiction in the presentation:
“This motherfucker should be stripped of his US citizenship pronto. Thanks to a loophole inserted by Congressional scumbags, service in the Zionist terror brigades incurs no penalty; a situation that’s unique. Any service in any other foreign military is grounds for loss of citizenship.”
If the Congressional and indeed Executive scumbags are at the beck and call of The Lobby, who do you expect to strip the motherfucker of his US citizenship?
Ergo, there is no possibility of an American “Avigdor Lieberman”, but there is the need for anger among the middle class, a grass roots movement growing up that will protect the interests of the 60%+, that silent majority who have been drinking the kool-aid that causes them to look at themselves as the “evil” in the world. This anger will manifest itself in a number of ways, culminating in election surprises that will cause mass aliyah to Israel, and good riddance. It will be comforting to watch the early stages of the anger, potshots taken at Goldman Sachs managers, airplanes flying into the IRS, perhaps bombings of AIPAC offices. You don’t need a crystal ball to see how these things will play out, you just need to look at history with a discerning eye.
FPM
I was saying that tongue-in-cheek, of course. But, you do raise some interesting issues. The repetitive use of mofo is a bit off-putting, though. Just saying.
Avi,
Sorry to disturb your sensibilities. I was quoting a post from above for the first “mofo”, and I decided to be continuous in my word use for the second one!! In giving the matter further thought though, the US could see some politicians elected to office that would insist that ALL American citizens refrain from serving in ALL branches (even civilian – this means you Rahm!) of ALL foreign armed forces. I could certainly see someone like Ron Paul adopting this kind of platform, and I believe that it would be seen by most as a welcome breath of fresh air.
FPM
The foll0wing LIFE Magazine issue from 1967 follows the same patterns of propaganda that Chasnoff uses. It’s rather telling.
A cursory look at the photos and the titles used is enough to give one an idea:
link to books.google.com
Note how “the Arabs” are cast as primitive and zealous, while Israelis are cast as smart, cool, organized and “civilized”.
“Israelis are cast as … “civilized”. ”
But they don’t even play cricket.