Instead of another anodyne NY Times editorial today about Netanyahu injecting himself into our election campaign, the Times decided to take off its gloves. Netanyahu has clearly crossed its “red line” with his recent activities. It wasn’t so long ago that “A Preventable Massacre,” the op-ed by Seth Anziska on the 30th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, would have been too toxic to be “fit to print.”
Anziska sheds light on the U.S role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Recently declassified Israeli documents show that the
Israelis misled American diplomats about events in Beirut and bullied them into accepting the spurious claim that thousands of “terrorists” were in the camps. Most troubling, when the United States was in a position to exert strong diplomatic pressure on Israel that could have ended the atrocities, it failed to do so. As a result, Phalange militiamen were able to murder Palestinian civilians, whom America had pledged to protect just weeks earlier.
We see the familiar dynamic of Israeli leaders browbeating American diplomats while demanding their support. Of course this goes on while the Zionist maxim of
“when it comes to our security, we have never asked. We will never ask. When it comes to existence and security, it is our own responsibility and we will never give it to anybody to decide for us”
is repeated, by Ariel Sharon. By caving in to the Israeli bullying, the U.S. “effectively gave Israel cover to let the Phalange fighters remain in the camp.” So the U.S. was “unwittingly complicit in the tragedy of Sabra and Shatila.”
Anziska concludes:
The Sabra and Shatila massacre severely undercut America’s influence in the Middle East, and its moral authority plummeted. In the aftermath of the massacre, the United States felt compelled by “guilt” to redeploy the Marines, who ended up without a clear mission, in the midst of a brutal civil war.
On Oct. 23, 1983, the Marine barracks in Beirut were bombed and 241 Marines were killed. The attack led to open warfare with Syrian-backed forces and, soon after, the rapid withdrawal of the Marines to their ships. As Mr. Lewis(Samuel Lewis ambassador to Israel) told me, America left Lebanon “with our tail between our legs.”
The archival record reveals the magnitude of a deception that undermined American efforts to avoid bloodshed. Working with only partial knowledge of the reality on the ground, the United States feebly yielded to false arguments and stalling tactics that allowed a massacre in progress to proceed.
The lesson of the Sabra and Shatila tragedy is clear. Sometimes close allies act contrary to American interests and values. Failing to exert American power to uphold those interests and values can have disastrous consequences: for our allies, for our moral standing and most important, for the innocent people who pay the highest price of all.
Is there a more appropriate time than now to reflect on the events of 30 years ago? Once again Israel is trying have the U.S. be complicit in its machinations and won’t take no for an answer. The decades-long campaign to attach the U.S. to the Israeli hip relentlessly goes on. The Times says enough is enough. When Netanyahu said yesterday on Meet the Press “you can understand why they [Iran] are so antagonistic to us because for them we are you and you are us” the Times responds, Yes exactly, that indeed is the problem.
This op-ed is a huge inflection point for the lobby. Its publication is a terrible blow, and I suspect the usual suspects will say nothing about it hoping it doesn’t get any attention. Because really, how does hasbara deal with it? It is devastating, and gives the lie to all the talking points about the “special relationship.”
Too bad the New York Bloody Times did not draw its own red lines with Judith “I was fucking right” Miller before the invasion of Iraq. Instead of demanding facts they allowed her to pass her bloody lies through on to their black lines across the front page of their paper over and over again. Oh yeah “they have taken off the gloves” and their hands are read with the blood of the dead in Iraq. On the I/P issue they seem to be joining the better late than never crowd. Par for the course
important slice of Anziska’s text not included in blockquote:
this is a must read article from the nyt. clips won’t suffice. thanks yakov for bringing it to our attention with your excellent coverage.
Yup. Read the whole thing.
This is, BTW, what Victor Ostrovsky reported 20 years ago.
If memory serves, Ostrovsky also reported that the Israelis were aware of the danger that a bomb would be set off to kill the American Marines in Beirut and deliberately failed to give a proper warning to the Americans.
Once again. Using the US, setting us up against the Arabs….and if Americans end up being the ones killed?… well too bad, so sad, better a 100 Americans die than one Jewish Israeli. The zionist really have achieved a twofer with Israel, not only do they get physically to whip on the Palestines till their heart’s content, they get their revenge on the inferior gentiles by degrading and using our countries to sustain themselves. How many times do we have to see this?….just cut Israel loose from the US, like the scorpion that aways stings the frog carrying it across the river, Israel and the zionist won’t change.
link to ifamericansknew.org
Israel Charged with Systematic Harassment of U.S. Marines
Donald Neff has been a journalist for forty years. He spent 16 years in service for Time Magazine and is a regular contributor to Middle East International and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. He has written five excellent books on the Middle East.
By Donald Neff
Former Time Magazine Bureau Chief, Israel
Washington Report, March 1995
It was also published in Fifty Years of Israel
It was 12 years ago, on March 14, 1983, that the commandant of the Marine Corps sent a highly unusual letter to the secretary of defense expressing frustration and anger at Israel. General R.H. Barrow charged that Israeli troops were deliberately threatening the lives of Marines serving as peacekeepers in Lebanon. There was, he wrote, a systematic pattern of harassment by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that was resulting in “life-threatening situations, replete with verbal degradation of the officers, their uniform and country.”
Barrow’s letter added: “It is inconceivable to me why Americans serving in peacekeeping roles must be harassed, endangered by an ally…It is evident to me, and the opinion of the U.S. commanders afloat and ashore, that the incidents between the Marines and the IDF are timed, orchestrated, and executed for obtuse Israeli political purposes.”1
Israel’s motives were less obtuse than the diplomatic general pretended. It was widely believed then, and now, that Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, one of Israel’s most Machiavellian politician-generals, was creating the incidents deliberately in an effort to convince Washington that the two forces had to coordinate their actions in order to avoid such tensions. This, of course, would have been taken by the Arabs as proof that the Marines were not really in Lebanon as neutral peacekeepers but as allies of the Israelis, a perception that would have obvious advantages for Israel.2
Barrow’s extraordinary letter was indicative of the frustrations and miseries the Marines suffered during their posting to Lebanon starting on Aug. 25, 1982, as a result of Israel’s invasion 11 weeks earlier. Initially a U.S. unit of 800 men was sent to Beirut harbor as part of a multinational force to monitor the evacuation of PLO guerrillas from Beirut. The Marines, President Reagan announced, “in no case… would stay longer than 30 days.”3 This turned out to be only partly true. They did withdraw on Sept. 10, but a reinforced unit of 1,200 was rushed back 15 days later after the massacres at the Palestinian refugee camps at Sabra and Shatila that accompanied the Israeli seizure of West Beirut. The U.S. forces remained until Feb. 26, 1984.4
During their year-and-a-half posting in Lebanon, the Marines suffered 268 killed.5 The casualties started within a week of the return of the Marines in September 1982. On the 30th, a U.S.-made cluster bomb left behind by the Israelis exploded, killing Corporal David Reagan and wounding three other Marines.6
Corporal Reagan’s death represented the dangers of the new mission of the Marines in Lebanon. While their first brief stay had been to separate Israeli forces from Palestinian fighters evacuating West Beirut, their new mission was as part of a multinational force sent to prevent Israeli troops from attacking the Palestinian civilians left defenseless there after the withdrawal of PLO forces. As President Reagan said: “For this multinational force to succeed, it is essential that Israel withdraw from Beirut.”7
“Incidents are timed, orchestrated, and executed for Israeli political purposes.”
Israel’s siege of Beirut during the summer of 1982 had been brutal and bloody, reaching a peak of horror on Aug. 12, quickly known as Black Thursday. On that day, Sharon’s forces launched at dawn a massive artillery barrage that lasted for 11 straight hours and was accompanied by saturation air bombardment.8 As many as 500 persons, mainly Lebanese and Palestinian civilians, were killed.9
On top of the bombardment came the massacres the next month at Sabra and Shatila, where Sharon’s troops allowed Lebanese Maronite killers to enter the…..
….read all the gory details at the link above
Thanks for posting this. I remember hearing about some of the provocative IDF behavior back then (~1985?). A family friend had been in the Corps serving after the massacres, and he and his squad had had to put up with constant abuse from Israelis when patrolling. They threw trash at them over the fence, like empty bottles and ration tins, along with a torrent of verbal filth, in English and Hebrew (he said it was obviously cursing, even though none of the jarheads knew the language.) But what almost really caused serious bloody mayhem was when some Isra-holes were standing on top of an APC with a US flag. They’d previously been driving at high speed straight at the barrier, only to whip a 180 at the last second, laughing and flipping off the marines. Then three of them climbed up on the roof with the flag, one dropped trou and the other two proceeded to “floss his ass with the stars ‘n’ bars” with as my friend put it. You can probably imagine the reaction, but the sergeant managed to keep his dogs on-leash, and the IDF shitbirds finally left. He said the captain filed a formal complaint and everyone got called in and interviewed about the incident, but he never heard of it coming to anything.
Fortunately, no one in my buddy’s squad was in the barracks bombing, but he knew a couple who died in it. When I heard this back in the ’80s I was incredulous, having grown up in ‘Hasbara House’ — not Jewish, but very Judeophilic, especially my mom. I still remember — to my great shame — getting kind of pissed at my friend, and wondering (to myself) if he was an anti-Semite, and if the marines had done something to provoke the Israelis.
It’s taken years, and I’m still deprogramming…
“It’s taken years, and I’m still deprogramming…”
Maybe, but it hasn’t prevented you from choosing a great “nym” for your comments! Always liked it.
Thanks, Brother Moose! I was really pissed off when I created my ‘nym. I’d just read in its entirety one of those “Today in Palestine” posts (you know, where it’s like 50 terse news items recounting petty, mean, vindictive, stupid, vicious acts perpetrated by the occupiers over the course of a single day). A smorgasbord of cruelty that just drove home what an absolute fncking grinder the Palestinians are stuck in. Right after that I read some whiny, Ziopathic, blame-the-victim comment from one of the regular hasbarats that infest this place, and the old “crying and shooting” trope came to mind. So here I am, bawling my eyes out, snot running down my rusty gun barrel, spraying, praying, and pissing my pants…
ISRAEL CHARGED WITH SYSTEMATIC HARASSMENT OF U.S. MARINES
link to wrmea.com
An amazing anecdote! This stuff, and the spirit behind it, so long hidden from Americans. My late father-in-law used to be involved with UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, as a diplomat/supervisor. He would vaguely allude to things similar, but I never pressed him. When he was alive, I never really understood his lack of enthusiasm for Israel.
Thank goodness for If Americans Knew
I just came from reading this at the Times and hoped you folks at MW would be on it. Color me impressed: the Ol’ Grey Lady just whipped out her hatpin and stuck Bibi in the eye! (Bill Keller’s surprisingly good op-ed in favor of the containment option for Iran’s nukes was another recent shocker.)
Israel’s closet is packed to the rafters with skeletons, and Seth Anziska, the Columbia grad student who wrote today’s Sabra and Shatila piece, just heaved one of the bloodiest, most gruesome specimens out onto America’s front lawn.
Hey, AIPAC! Winter is coming…
These are indeed strong reactions on the part of NYT. I have been wondering for a couple of months when those Zionists who support Obama would react to Netanyahu’s egregious interference in our election. I think we are seeing the reaction. Once Obama has it safely in the bag, we will likely see the NYT back-off on this.
Thanks
I wonder if we’ll get a ‘balance’ piece shortly.
thats what i was thinking
check out this site and their coverage of rachel corrie-quite an interesting perspective
link to tabletmag.com
Re ColinWright : “I wonder if we’ll get a ‘balance’ piece shortly.”
LOL – GREAT !!!
“when it comes to our security, we have never asked. We will never ask. When it comes to existence and security, it is our own responsibility and we will never give it to anybody to decide for us”
This is Sharon speaking. What is not clear in the blockquote is this is in response to our diplomat’s request to pull IDF forces back so the Natl Lebanese Army can take control and more chilling, after the massacre had already began. Sharon knew full well that the Phalangists were conducting the killing under Israeli protection.
This is basically chanting “never again” while killing thousands of Palestinian civilians. Very chilling indeed.
Back in April 2010, Blankfort had a piece here in which he described how the death of the 400 Americans in Beirut in 1983 could be blamed on Israel, especially that it semed aware it was coming. Also an interesting discussion between Blankfort, Yonira and Taxi about what appeared like Israel’s attempted assassination of the American ambassador, John Gunther Dean. In another post elsewhere, Blankfort talked about the never-ending baiting of the US military in Beirut by Israeli officers that tear-stained uzi described above. American’s scorpion/frog analogy is right on.
“When Israel Invaded Lebanon, Americans Died” by Jeff Blankfort:
link to mondoweiss.net
It was a very good piece, though in a way it almost depresses me to say that, because in a sane rational world this would all just be common background knowledge. And in fact people did know some of this–I was in the twilight years of my Christian Zionist New Republic reading days during the 1982 war and I remember a not terribly political friend getting really mad at the Israelis in the summer (before Sabra and Shatila) based on what she saw of their bombing of Beirut on TV. But within a year or so (perhaps the Marine barracks bombing helped cause this) the knowledge of how brutal the Israelis had been faded away. Part of the problem, paradoxically enough, was Sabra and Shatila. The massacre itself was perpetrated by Christian Lebanese, and that overshadowed the much larger scale civilian casualties caused by IDF firepower in the war itself. Then the Israelis did an investigation of the massacre and gave Sharon and others a hard slap on the wrist (which is more than happens to high-ranking war criminals in the US) and Israel came out looking good for it. I don’t think they should, but they did. And of course Sharon (whose career as a war criminal started way back in the early 50′s) eventually bounced back.
It was a good piece, but I had a few nitpicks. One I referred to already–there’s this tendency Westerners have to think that face-to-face massacres are worse than killing people with bombs. So Israel’s own more direct and larger scale killing was mentioned in this piece, but only in passing. Second, the writer quoted Israelis repeatedly referring to all armed Palestinians as “terrorists”–or rather, Sharon and others pretending there were still thousands of armed Palestinians (whom they called “terrorists”) in the camps when most were gone. It’s fine to mention that this is how the Israelis talk, but it should have been pointed out that “terrorist” should not be synonymous with “PLO fighter”, unless we can return the favor and simply refer to all IDF members as “war criminals”.
I think I had another point, but now I’ve forgotten it. Maybe it’ll come to me later.
There won’t be ever any relief on that massacre, save the fact that, now, one of the major perpetrators is not even capable of getting a quick death. He will burn for this, without hurry.
Sure, many other people shall have to think a lot on the deep they allowed to be thrown into. Neither for politics, nor for the Lobby, they should have been willing to turn a blind eye towards the evil beasts who were going to do that. No way to talk of special relationship. Better, partners in crime.
Of course, earlier that very same year, February, 1982, between 20,000 (Fisk) and 40,000 (Syrian Human Rights groups) Syrians were butchered by their own government in Hama. The silence is and was deafening regarding that atrocity but a massacre one-tenth as large committed by Arabs against other Arabs is discussed endlessly for one reason only. Because Israel is allegedly partly responsible. Sickening.
“The silence is and was deafening regarding that atrocity”
Lie. Everyone who follows the Middle East knows about Hama–Friedman popularized the term “Hama rules” to refer to it. Virtually every article about Assad’s father would mention it. It’s less mentioned now because there are current massacres to worry about.
And on Sabra and Shatila, you neglected to mention that Israel killed far more people with its own bombs than the Phalangist militia did, and yet when people do refer back to the 1982 war they usually only talk about Israel’s guilt with respect to those massacres. That doesn’t fit your narrative, so you ignore it.
“Virtually every article about Assad’s father would mention it. It’s less mentioned now because there are current massacres to worry about. ”
(Donald)
Being less mentioned is part of the current problem. What’s happening now is rooted in those events of 1982 and the scorched earth policy that was applied to that city and its Muslim Brotherhood population. The current uprising didn’t materialize spontaneously 18 months ago as is being claimed by the regime.
Funny how the 1982 massacre at Hama number keeps growing over time. Fisk cited “we put it at as many as 10,000, with some figures putting it as high as 20,000″ (quote not exact) in “Pity the Nation” which was written in 2002 based on notes he took while a journalist observing the events.
Israel killed about 17,800 Lebanese in a few weeks in June 1982 in their invasion, not including the 800 to 3500 civilians at Sabra and Chatilla or other Palestinian civilians.
That’s how atrocity statistics often work, especially when there is no easy way to determine the true figure. If it’s an atrocity committed by the enemy, the largest figures are cited over and over and acquire a kind of authority through constant repetition. If it’s the US or a friend at fault, usually the more conservative figures are cited (with the exception of Vietnam.) So you get figures of 40,000 for Hama for a massacre committed in a short time, and for the entire Iraq War the usual claim is the Iraq Bodycount figure (which is by its very nature a cautious understatement, only counting deaths they are sure about) of 100,000 rather than estimates that go much higher. (Up to a million).
I once saw a NYT chart of deaths from different wars which pulled this stunt. Enormous guesstimates for crimes committed by our enemies, and Iraq Body Count numbers for the Iraq War. No footnote explaining the very different nature of the ways the numbers were derived.
Philip Habib, a carrer foreign service man, was called out of retirement to broker a peaceful end to the Israeli siege of Beruit. Reagan and Sec. of State Schultz wanted this problem to go away and they told Habib to fix it. They didn’t give him the authority he needed, however, to dictate terms to General Sharon. Sharon said no to everything and Habib was constantly calling Schultz for backup. Schultz gave him only tepid support owing to pressure from the lobby. Sharon smiled in Habib’s face knowing that he was on a short leash and that the Lobby was working overtime to hem Reagan in. When Sharon would finally agree to an American request, like turning on the water in West Beirut, he just wouldn’t do it.
Habib finally worked out a cease fire agreement. Arafat and the armed PLO malitias agreed to leave by boat for destinations throughout the Mediterranian in exchange for Reagan’s guarantee that the remaining, unarmed Palestinian refugees in camps like Sabra and Shatilla would be safe. Reagan put his personal stamp on the agreement. When the young men of the PLO malitias departed, the refugees in the camps had no means to defend themselves, paving the way for Sharon’s infamous massacre. IDF soldiers didn’t do the wet work. They maintained the cordon around the camp, adding a mundane cast to the horrors happening inside it by listening to the music of Simon and Garfunkel on a loudspeaker.
Reagan rolled over for Sharon and Begin and was made to look like their do-boy, much like Presidents we’ve seen before and since. Such a disgrace. It’s a stain on our nation and a horrific tragedy for Palestinians. Israelis were and are in it for what they can get – a free pass and a free lunch.
Happy to see the Times publish this piece.
Fascinating details, dbroncos! How do you come by this info, if you don’t mind my asking?
“…adding a mundane cast to the horrors happening inside it by listening to the music of Simon and Garfunkel on a loudspeaker. “
Truly twisted sickos. Makes me think of Kubrick’s use of Singin’ in the Rain over scenes of “ultraviolence” in A Clockwork Orange. The Most Moral Army often behaves like a gang of droogs.
My theory of Israeli savagery and sadism is that it comes out of that deeply internalized sense of eternal victimhood, and what seems a bottomless well of existential fear. People in that state of mind are in fight or flight mode, and will frequently unleash an unrestrained frenzy of violence on their perceived enemies — an overkill response, with horrific results.
Even when not acted out in reality, we see it in disturbing, pornographic revenge fantasies, like Tarantino’s revolting Inglourious Basterds, much-beloved by Israel-worshiping fanatics.
susie abulhawa’s historical novel takes place while these events are going on. the resistance went to yemen and after they arrived they killed off their families in sabra and shatila. there was another place too.
The worm has turned. Thanks, Yakov.
hey Sharon, who exactly induced that coma ? … you can push America only so far … and don’t forget, Reagan got on the phone after watching the shelling of civilians by Sharon’s forces on tv news and demanded it stop (and Reagan was hand-chosen and cultivated by Lew Wasserman so he defied jewish mafia in addition to the zionist lobby to make it stop)
Great op-ed! Yes, it speaks volumes and has pushed further open the door to the disgraceful and at times even murderous collusion between the US and Israel. This kind of treachery and total disregard for human life must no longer be a part of American foreign policy.
Well, I’m waiting until “Proudzionist777″ and Hophmi and giladg and the rest come and give us the facts. Odd, they haven’t turned up yet on this thread.
[Not sure if I submitted this already. Might have hit the "Post Comment" button...or not. If it's a dupe, hope the mods delete one.]
Skandall wrote:
> “that very same year, February, 1982, between 20,000 (Fisk) and 40,000 (Syrian Human Rights groups) Syrians were butchered by their own government in Hama. The silence is and was deafening…Because Israel is allegedly partly responsible [for Palestinian camp slaughters]. Sickening.”
Yeppers. It certainly IS sickening.
Because Israel remains so clueless.
Unlike Syria, Israel claims to be home to “special folks” that God “chose” above all others. And brags about having the most moral army in the world. And to be the only colonial-socialist-militaristic-racist-theocratic “democracy” in the region. It also gets $300 a year per citizen, free, from the USA (which protects it at the UN). And has nukes while whining others can’t.
Israel also starts all its “wars” (and always against weaker enemies!), while whining that others are not peaceful.
Like a paranoid crazy person, it never-ever-EVER feels safe, justifying all its terrorism because it needs “security” (while denying it makes the whole world unsafe with its Samson Option). It swears no group ever suffered as much as its members: not American Indians, starved Ukrainians, genocided Armenians, etc. Nope, Israel is special-special-special. Yet the Mideast’s trouble-making chihuahua endlessly yips that it’s held to higher standards (the very one it claims to embody)!
Well, tough latkes. When you brag about having multiple PdDs, don’t blame Auntie Psemmitizm when folks expect more from you than a 6-month-old.
Man, I’m soooooooo tired of Israel and its shite. I once believed whole hog (!) in Leon Uris’ myth-making. I thought Naqba-omitting EXODUS was factual. Now? When HASN’T Israel lied? When hasn’t it started wars? When hasn’t it acted like a spoiled brat, “entitled” to American protection and money?
What saps we Americans are! Israel lies to us, steals our secrets, murders our citizens (Corrie, USS Liberty, etc.), harasses our soldiers, sells our weapons to our enemies, insults our presidents, and constantly drags us into fights IT starts.
Time to cut it loose. Time for it to go the way of the USSR. Or maybe be moved to Antarctica where it can war on walruses.
The biggest spreader of antisemitism wasn’t Goebbels’ Germany in the 1930s-40s; it’s Israel today. It suggests that Jews (as Israelis and Israel-Firsters) care more about the tribe than goyim. That Jews want to control the world via (AIPAC’s) money. That, well, the very things denounced as lies by liberal Jews and decent folks every (like Jews prefering to live in self-created ghettos) might be true… manifested as they are by an arrogant “Jewish State” that thinks war-mongering and an inability to play nice with others will be tolerated f0rever.
Israel makes it easy to wonder if Jews brought on the very historical animus they claim to be innocent of. Israel’s irritating actions, pushy stances, and greedy grabs of others’ lands fits classic stereotypes. Plus those who demand American Muslims decry Islamic violence while remaining silent about IDF crimes (and toleration of settler SS-wannabes) aid and abet the bigots.
In any case, hasbara horseshite ain’t workin.’ The world is wising up. Israel’s Holocaust credit card is maxed out. Time for Israelis to recall why their ancestors wandered the desert for 40 years. Because Uncle Sucker is tapped out, tired of his ungrateful relative constantly making life hard.
America is about the only “friend” Israel has. When it pulls the plug, others will follow. Then the world will bid “bubbye!” to Israel as anything but a self-enclosed, world-shunned shtetl.
For the NYTimes, a pretty good article. They would NOT have published it before.
What more could they have said?
First, the article says that at least 800 people were killed. That’s a minimum. But what about a maximum? No mention of any maximum. The Israeli journalist Amnon Kapoliouk cites an estimate of 3500 dead. Since that is over a 48 hour period, you can compute how many killed per 24 hour day (1750/day). And it’s GREATER than the average rate “achieved” by the Nazis during their 12-year rule (6,000,000 Jews/(12 x 365)) = 1369/day.
Second, the article could have mentioned the explosive world-wide reaction to Israel’s massacre. Andreas Papandreau, the Greek Prime Minister, spoke for much of Europe when he said, “Israel is doing to the heroic Palestinian and Lebanese people what Hitler did to the Jews!”
Third, the article could have mentioned that nobody – NOBODY – was punished for the massacre. Franklin Lamb, writing on CounterPunch, demonstrates that a lot of people in the Israeli/Falangist/Haddadite chain of command were promoted, including Ariel Sharon who later became Prime Minister.
Fourth, the article could have said that while this was probably the biggest massacre of the Palestinians by Israel, it certainly wasn’t the only one. The article could have mentioned Yassan Deir, perpetrated by Menachim Begin (who was Prime Minister at the time of the 1982 massacre). Massacres is how Israel perpetrated the Nakba. (The article doesn’t mention the Nakba).
Fifth, the article could have mentioned the vast sums that the US gives to Israel every year.
Sixth, Chomsky’s book on the 1982 massacre, The Fateful Triangle.
So the article was critical, but it could have been devastating.
Third, the article
“Its publication is a terrible blow, and I suspect the usual suspects will say nothing about it hoping it doesn’t get any attention. Because really, how does hasbara deal with it? It is devastating, and gives the lie to all the talking points about the “special relationship.”
Well, yes, if you believe your own BS about how the Times never publishes op-eds critical of Israel.
If, however, you were operating in the fact-based world, you’d know that the Times has, in fact, published, many, many op-eds over the years critical of Israel, both by past columnists (Anthony Lewis) and present columnists (Roger Cohen and Nicholas Kristof), and guest writers (Abunimah, Rashid Khalidi (Anziska’s thesis advisor), Arafat, Abbas, and many others).
So, no, an op-ed by a doctoral student rehashing thirty-year old events is not news and not a gamechanger. Those opposed to attacking Iran, a group which continues to include most American Jews, American Jewish leaders, most Israelis and most of the Israeli military establishment, will continue to oppose it. Those who see Iran as a present threat will continue to favor it.
It’s always so ironic; your reaction is the mirror image of the reactions of those Jews on the hard right who complain that the NY Times publishes too many articles critical of Israel, who also think things like this represent the end of the world as we know it. You deserve one another.
I think the verbatim transcripts being discussed are available to read at the NYT.
link to nytimes.com
They actually are quite infuriating to read – the Israelis come across as complete spoiled brats, rude and arrogant to boot.
I’m not American but I’d wager that if the proverbial “Joe Six-Pack” were to be regularly exposed to this as the actual state of relations between Israel and the USA (behind the curtain) – Israel would be looking for a new patron pretty soon…