This just in from Just Foreign Policy:
A congressional letter re the U.S. Boat to Gaza was sent to Secretary Clinton today and posted here: Six members of Congress signed on to Rep. Dennis Kucinich's letter calling on Secretary Clinton to "work with the Israeli government to ensure the safety of the U.S. citizens on board" the U.S. Boat to Gaza, the Audacity of Hope. The letter was sent to Secretary Clinton on Friday, June 24th.
Check out the letter. No endorsement of the flotilla, no word on the siege of Gaza. "We wholeheartedly support Israel's right, and indeed its duty, to protect its citizens from security threats." And:
"In order to avoid another confrontation this year, we urge all parties to practice maximum restraint and avoid violence."
Hear that, flotilla passengers?
Not a word about safe passage. Not a word about safe passage. Because you can't call for a flotilla to be let in to Gaza. All you can say is, don't kill them. Triumph.
More from Just Foreign Policy:
In addition to Rep. Kucinich, signers included: Rep. William Lacy Clay, Sam Farr, Bob Filner, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Barbara Lee. Just Foreign Policy applauds these members of Congress for speaking out for the safety of the U.S. passengers on the Audacity of Hope. Policy Director of Just Foreign Policy Robert Naiman will be a passenger on the U.S. Boat to Gaza. In a press statement released today, Naiman noted, "State Department officials have an obligation to speak out against threats to attack us. It is deeply disappointing that they have so far failed to do so.”
Please flotilla passengers–don’t attack the IDF, for it cannot defend itself. And your congressman is waiting to vilify you.
State Department officials have an obligation to speak out against threats to attack us.
perhaps they think their higher duty is their obligation to israel’s foreign ministry.
perhaps?
Seems that way, doesn’t it.
yeah, especially after the press briefing this morning
That only six congresspeople signed the letter is absolutely outrageous!!!
Hi ,
Q: That only six congresspeople signed the letter is absolutely outrageous!!!
R: logically, a sound yes, but after having seen BiBi in the ‘joint’ I’m not really surprised.
This is seriously, seriously, seriously disturbing. Our government no longer serves us even in the most basic ways. It’s freaking unbelievable. When given a choice between the lives of 50 upstanding American citizens and Israel’s illegal blockade, apparently it is a no-brainer for our government which matters more. They don’t even care about pretending the American lives matter. There isn’t even a false front to make the slightest show of it.
Donald Trump, where are you when we need you to say You’re FIRED!!
They need to take their flotilla to Washington.
Crash it thru the doors of congress and let Americans see congress having US citizens attacked.
You cannot ‘appeal’ to congress or our government…said that a thousand times damn it…they are not reformable….you are going to have hold their heads underwater until the bubbles stop coming up.
I am getting nostalgic for the days of the wild west when the good guys could take a 45 and a posse and go get the bad guys.
They are breaking the law.
Who are? The Congressmen? The Israelis, with their not very veiled threats to life and limb? Or the flotilla members with their letters?
How is the law being broken? More vague twaddle from RW?
Part of the problem with you, Witty, is that you NEVER hold Israel accountable to anything that even remotely resembles “the law.”
What law?
Who is, Richard? I thought we weren’t supposed to jump to conclusions about who is breaking the law. Oh, wait, that only applies when the IDF kills some unarmed person, doesn’t it?
What law are they breaking?
Not American law, Traitor.
Witty is right. They are breaking the law. And so have I broken the same law (providing material support to terrorists, for raising money in the UK to rebuild the Anglican Hospital in Gaza City).
By the same token, all of us (serial lawbreaker, I am) who materially supported the U.S. boat to Gaza are, so to say, in the same boat, legally. All the people who wrote those terribly harmful letters to the people in Gaza to be delivered by MV Audacity of Hope have materially supported Hamas in the same way Witty references.
How much time should Hedy get, Richard? Six months? Five years? How about Medea Benjamin. I’d say she deserves ten to 25, eh?
I’ll do Medea’s time if Richard will agree to do Hedy’s.
A US Congressman cannot be expected to encourage a US citizen to break the law that aids a committed enemy of the US (Hamas).
Appreciate that they expressed the urge for restraint.
The Ofer brothers traded (or traded given Sami Ofer has died) with Iran. The US should impose sanctions on them and the country that harbours them.
Not to worry Dick w, a US Congressman has openly advocated that the US Navy should move in and support the Israelis against the Americans on the Audacity Of Hope, the one bringing US mail to people in Gaza. Perhaps the US should send the hulk of the USS Liberty?
Just remind us how delivering letters and medicine and toys is aiding Hamas. What a feeble, pathetic utterly heartless whining excuse – just so you can sit back and let Palestinians suffer because of your perverted beliefs. Sick. Go away.
Richard is best understood as one of those white moderates Martin Luther King found so disappointing–
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Very concerned about the law if it can be used (in his mind) to defend Israeli violence, not at all concerned about justice.
US congressman force US citizens to aid Israel’s terrorist activities by funneling their tax dollars (without informing them) to the enemy nation state of Israel each and every year; somewhere in the realm of $3-4B/year or $8.5M per day.
By blindly and unconditionaly aiding Israel with monetary aid and military munitions and covering Israel’s ass, the US has sytematically crushed its own image throughout the international community.
Justice is creating a path for change.
Does this?
They are delivering letters of support to the people of Gaza, not Hamas. hence they are breaking no laws.
You’re such a pathetic and shameless liar Witty.
But you saud yourself you are against justice becasue justice implies punishment for those who’cve done wrong.
Are you shcnging your mind Witty? Do yuo want Isrel to be punished?
So is Injustice creating a path for change.
“Justice is creating a path for change.
Does this?”
Yes. (Even accepting your false definition of justice.)
Does repeating false allegations, lies and propaganda as you do regularly? Justice requires truth and equality of treatment, none of which are available from Israel, or their shills like you.
How does this?
You can naively avoid the real-politik of Hamas removing itself from the Palestinian unification, but it remains.
The flotilla must have a goal, a specific goal. What is it?
If the goal is to end the blockade, there is a path to that, but it involves normalization of relations with Israel, that follows participation in the PA (unification beyond who is in power), then recognition of the Palestinian government, accompanied by normalization of relations with Israel.
The goal of the flotilla is to bring information to the American people that has been kept from them by the American MSM and government regarding the I-P conflict & the details of the “special relationship” the US has with Israel, and how it has harmed the US for 5o years and harms the long-term survival of Israel.
“f the goal is to end the blockade, there is a path to that, but it involves”–
kissing Israel’s rear end and doing exactly what Richard wants. Take a different path and Richard endorses whatever violence Israel chooses to inflict.
Very concerned about the law if it can be used (in his mind) to defend Israeli violence, not at all concerned about justice.
He also advocated civil disobedience against Hamas in Gaza. He’s got no problem with civil disobedience as long as it isn’t directed at Israel.
And Richard, Hamas is NOT a sworn enemy of the US.
…kissing Israel’s rear end and doing exactly what Richard wants.
and doing it for a long, long time, because you see its a very, very long path and the only one Richard in his infinite wisdom can see. I’m sure that in 50 or 60 years when most of today’s Gazan’s are dead the blockade will cease to be “currently necessary” and all will be right with the world.
Witty is one of the strangest creatures I have yet encountered on the internet. His answers seem to have been produced by a robot pre-programmed to spit out comments in defense of Israel on Mondoweiss whenever it receives a warning signal. There not being a semblance of a human being behind any of his messages is the giveaway. That’s a technical glitch which those amazing Israelis are even at this moment working to correct. Good name for a robot though. Witty. Wonder if it’s trademarked?
Nor is HAMAS a sworn enemy of the Jewish people.
Richard is a very patient man–rather than ever see Israeli feelings hurt in any way he is willing to allow Palestinians to suffer for as long as it takes until they bow to his notions of how the conflict should be resolved. And that’s not snark–as best I can tell it’s the literal truth.
Blankfurt,
If you think my thinking is robotic, then I think your view is the distorted one.
I am committed to supporting the Fayyad assertive institution building efforts accompanied by a negotiated settlement for a viable Palestine in peace with Israel.
The Hamas rejection of the Fayyad temporary prime ministership, accompanied by the ennabling flotilla, are misguided.
I know FEW likud Israelis that support the formation of a Palestinian state at 67 borders. You know any?
If you are confused about my views, communicate.
Fayyad has given up negotiations, and the PA has officialyl applied for recognitino at the UN for a Palestinian state.
No one’s confuised Witty. We all reocgnize that you’re a pathological liar and a repugnant racist supermacist.
Was Oren Beaton breaking the law when he killed and shredded his victims?
Dick W, you don’t say what law. US law against anyone directly or indirectly aiding HAMAS? Doesn’t the US government distinguish between HAMAS and the Gaza strip? If not, why does the US government help fund humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza? Does the Red Cross also violate US Law when it aids Palestinians? Do you mean they are breaking the First Amendment’s protection of free speech? How so?
Yes, Israel is breaking the law. Israel has been breaking all laws since its inception in 1948. Every. Single. Day.
Bad laws should be broken with contempt.
By what? Selling American weapons to a nation that uses them to break international law? Oh, WHOOPS! We’re not talking about you and your ideology, are we? Sorry.
Yes, the Israeli starvation blockade is in violation of all laws on the subject. Too bad, the Israelis aren’t in the financial straits of the Hutus, then they would have to carry out their murderous policies with machetes. Actually, if they want to set a real example this time. The IDF should commit the next murders with machetes. Couldn’t be more clear than that, eh Witty.
Hej!
O witless Witty … which law are they breaking?
They are private citizens on a private vessel taking cards and letters (and maybe some cement to rebuild homes destroyed by israel in the massacre of Cast Lead).
They have stated clearly and repeatedly they are nonviolent and intend no violence and have no weapons.
International law supports their rights to be international waters.
The only “law” they are breaking is that of the rabid zionist monsters they they get to molest, maul, mutilate and murder anyone they decide to make suffer and die.
It is reprehensible and deeply shameful that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have put the U.S. gov’t on the side of the monsters in direct contravention of their duty to protect American interests.
MLK and Gandhi were “law breakers” too. So Witty is lying about saying he respects and supported them as a matter of history.
And Nelson Mandela was a law breaker AND a terrorist – by official US standards.
If memory serves me aright, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin were out and out traitors to their King and Country.
Robert Naiman from Just Foreign Policy is on the U.S. flotilla boat. The letter from the Congress people may be a token, but Just Foreign Policy is walking the walk.
not breaking the law
breaking the siege
the u.s. government is giving israel the go ahead to attack americans?
and government of, for and by the people?
wouldn’t that be nice?
The usual lies and posturing, signed off by their Likud controllers. Both sides need to show restraint? As if both sides were equally violent – a ship full of letters and volunteers has terrified the whole of Israel with its lethal cargo of paper and unarmed do-gooders. Good god, the IDF have done special training courses to deal with this diabolical threat to their existence.
Had any of these people a functioning brain, they would simply have asked what’s the big deal about supplying aid and comfort. Did they issue apocalyptic threats if aid got through to Haiti?
What they should be doing, if they actually want to stop violence, instead of giving Israel the green light to injure people and steal their possessions, is to demand that Israel lets them through. Then there will be no trouble. Even better, an armed US escort should make sure this happens.
link to haaretz.com
“In my travels to Europe I speak to predominantly Jewish audiences, but also to non-Jews who care deeply about Israel. They voice their pain and anguish openly: They want to understand what has happened to Israel. They desperately want to stand by it, but they are, increasingly, at a loss of knowing how to do so.
Their questions are simple. They know that Israel is located in one of the world’s most difficult neighborhoods; they have no illusions about the Iranian regime or Hezbollah; and they know the Hamas charter. But they don’t understand how any of this is connected with Israel’s settlement policies, the dispossession of Palestinian property in Jerusalem, and the utterly racist talk about the ‘Judaization’ of Jerusalem. They feel that they no longer have arguments, even words, to defend Israel.
Israel has never had a government that so blatantly violates the core values of liberal democracy. Never has a Knesset passed laws that are as manifestly racist as the current one. Israel has had foreign ministers who were unworldly and didn’t know English; but it has never had a foreign minister whose only goal is to pander to his right-wing constituency by flaunting his disdain for international law and the idea of human rights with such relish.”
A very interesting comment on the Ha’aretz site
link to haaretz.com
“Let us look at the composition of Israeli Jews today: 1. The former Soviets constitute about 20%. They grew up under a totalitarian regime and tend to prefer strong leaders and a brute-force approach. 2. The Sephardim/Mizrahim (from Islamic states), constitute about 1/3 of the Jews. They tend to hate Arabs, their former oppressors, tend to be more emotional people, and their grounding in democracy is still weak. Shasniks are of course worse in this respect. 3. Religious Ashkenazis, including Haredim, about 10% of the Jews (as estimated by Knesset representation, which minimizes their numbers because they have many children). Haredim and the religious are messianists and believe in Religious Law as superior to state law.// Altogether we have about 2/3 of the Jews with
hardline tendencies, based on cultural and religious background. ”
in 1970 these people had 18 seats in the Knesset (out of 120). now they have a majority.
This man’s grandchildren are helping to destroy Herzl’s Jewish state.
link to artsconnected.org
Americans have knee jerk support for Israel and have had since 1970 but they don’t understand how Israel has changed in the meantime.
That is a very good point. One interesting thing to me is that the right wing in the US is still very rabidly anti-Russian, supposedly for its anti-liberal policies, but those same policies are a part of Israeli policies — often because of Russian Jews — but the US rightwing is silent.
Americans have knee jerk support for Israel and have had since 1970 but they don’t understand how Israel has changed in the meantime.
Israel hasn’t changed that much. The ethnic cleansing was not done by Arab Jews or even by Soviet Jews. The theft of land was primarily done by secular Ashkenazi Jews. Even during the 1967 war and the push for settlements that followed, Ashkenazi Jews in Israel were firmly in power. The racism in the system is just more apparent now because of the internet, and perhaps a bit more out in the open instead of couched behind so many euphemisms.
With a tepid voice of concern, a mere six reps speak out for the safety of American citizens who are committed to justice in Israel/Palestine. Another example of how the Lobby ties the hands of our representatives by railroading “material aid to terrorists” (Israel’s enemies) legislation through our congress. Pity-full.
When the tide in the U.S. is decisively turned against the racism inherent to Zionism, and it becomes a liability for people of conscience to be associated with that racism, we’ll see a stampede for the microphones on the part of all the agnostics in congress who will then demand credit for being believers.
That day will be a very bad day for Judaism.
a bad day for zionism
a good day for judaism
Not surprising that Congress is held hostage by the racist, terrorist Zionist state and that Congress that fawned all over the present-day king of Zionism in slavish adulation is complicit in doing the bidding of its evil master.
There is no democracy anywhere on Zionist-occupied territory and Congress is occupied, so don’t expect the rights of Americans to be protected, expect the “Audacity of Hope” vessel to expose the “hypocrisy of Obama” as attempts are no doubt underway to try to sabotage it’s mission which is to bring HOPE to the people of Gaza. But Obama would rather bend over for his masters in the criminal supremacist state of Israel.
We are all still waiting for Dick w to support his (usual type of blanket, generic) assertation that the Americans in the flotilla are “breaking the law.” What law, Dick? Did the crew on the Audacity Of Hope forget to pay a docking or ship trip permit? Tell us. Are those 6 Congressmembers breaking “the law” too? Again, what law? The US has not prevented them from sailing in the flotilla, merely issued the following travel warning, one most peculiarly worded–a first when talking about travel in the vicinity of a state officially friendly to the US (although the US does not have a mutual-defense treaty with Israel the two states’ military & security are highly enmeshed):
“U.S. citizens are advised against traveling to Gaza by any means, including via sea. Previous attempts to enter Gaza by sea have been stopped by Israeli naval vessels and resulted in the injury, death, arrest, and deportation of U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens participating in any effort to reach Gaza by sea should understand that they may face arrest, prosecution, and deportation by the Government of Israel. The Government of Israel has announced its intention to seek ten-year travel bans to Israel for anyone participating in an attempt to enter Gaza by sea. On May 31, 2010, nine people were killed, including one U.S. citizen, in such an attempt. The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem are not able to provide consular assistance in Gaza or on the high seas or coastal waters.”
Given the whole specified context of the official US travel warning, it forgot to include that US participants (again) face death at the hands of the Israeli government.
Martin Luther broke the law using non-violence. The American rebels broke the law of the land and used violence to break away from England. Jews broke the law and used violence to establish Israel. The Palestinians break the law using both peaceful and violent means. It’s up to each person to decide when a natural law supercedes a man made one. I think it’s hypocritical for an Israel supporter to condemn members of the flotilla for putting humanitarian concerns above man made laws. Man can only flourish by breaking and destroying unjust laws.
Pretty elementary, optimax–Jesus broke the law by kicking the moneychangers out of the temple, but he did not break the spirit of the law. Nothing’s changed. Jesus was a rebel against the Jewish Establishment; today that establisment is a full part of the US Establishment. Both the government leaders of the US and those of Israel need to be kicked out of the halls of power.
Wrong.
“DO NOT THINK that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I DID NOT come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one JOT or one TITTLE will BY NO MEANS pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-18, NKJV)!
Jesus broke a custom – a tradition, if you like, but not the law by any means.
It amazes me how little people know about the most serious matters they discuss.
Citizen,
Yes, we need to kick the moneychangers out of our democracy, where they sacrifice our constitutional protections and well being on the alter of greed for their personal glory.
Optimax, I think the Michelle Bachmann types didn’t get that memo from their bible, even though it’s clear as a bell in there–I mean how often did Jesus get violent? Still they totally miss the significance of that episode, almost as much as they miss the man-god’s message to turn the other cheek–actually, it’s amazing how those types consistently miss the same things in their own bible.
Citizen, I don’t consider Bachman, Hagee and the other Zionist-Christians to be Christians. They are stuck in the Old Testament and can’t get out.
I don’t disagree with you, optimax, and I think many Christians think the Christian Zionists are, essentially, apostates. Such is the history of religious sects; one jumps to my mind of relatively recent vintage, both as to the founding of the religion, and later sect divergence: The Church of LDS, The Church of FLDS. Problem partially is that more traditional Christian groups are not as narrowly focused as the Christian Zionists, which parallels traditional Judiasm and Zionism, yes? Similarly, a typical US congress person is not focused as narrowly as a peer who has Israel First as his/her top priority. You can start a fire with the vast remote sun itself by focusing a small glass lens on a tiny spot that otherwise would never even smoke.
“… and I think many Christians think the Christian Zionists are, essentially, apostates.”
Yeah.
Apostates.
Heretics.
Fire? or rack?
Tomas Torquemada should rest in peace – his business is in good hands.
The Spanish Inquisition was a combination of religious fanaticism and rabid nationalism. Thanks, Lightbringer, that’s a good analogy for a teeny-weeny state in the ME that says their biggy-wiggy God gave it to them. A country that has spawned a thousand mini-Torquemadas arresting, torturing and murdering those who aren’t ethnically and religiously pure. Bachman, Hagee and the like are emissaries for this state and, as such, are destructive to my country and are apostates, just like their Jewish comrades.
Apostate is the correct term for someone who has abandoned Christian principles. In fact, Torquemada would be an apostate for abandoning Christ’s teachings.
This is a test of the HTML link function:
A link to Haaretz is here.