Commenter Profile

Total number of comments: 21 (since 2010-08-11 12:34:32)

RepStones

Website: http://guerrillathoughts.wordpress.com/

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  • 'Commentary' covers its eyes and makes Palestinians disappear
  • Americans who support Palestinian cause must be willing to lose friends
    • RepStones October 23, 2011 at 7:21 pm with 4 replies

      Phil or Adam i hope you can convey this comment to Morgan, i tried posting it on her blog, but im a clutterf**k with trying to log into blogs and all.

      I just came across a post concerning your work on Mondoweiss. I doubt very much words from a stranger are any kind of solace, or can repair the voids left by those you thought you could count as your friends. That said, im proud of you, i don't even know you, nor you me, but still, im proud of you. i feel able to say this because you have shown you are above all, a member of the human race. Funnily enough i count myself among their number too, although for most of my life i was indoctrinated into thinking there were better genres of being than just 'human'. You see im from Northern Ireland, im writing this now sitting in Belfast, so i know only too well were the scourge of tribalism and sectarianism can lead.
      I love (im not sure if thats the right word) fighting for the rights of Palestinians for two reasons - the first being the connection and very tangible links they have with Ireland, Britain and its imperial policemen served in both regions. Second, it is through this struggle that i learned to abandon that which i was indoctrinated/brainwashed with since my birth - tribalism/nationalism/sectarianism. For years i held the opinion that Partition would do for Palestine, but never for Ireland. But acceptance of the reality that all identities, all nations are man made constructs, simply concepts of a human mind, enabled me to drop that baggage. No amount of partition will cure anything if we continue to accept we can be defined along subjective borders of 'other' and 'outsider'.

      I wish the best days you've had become ordinary by comparison.

      Patrick

      @RepStones

  • Palestinians are not 'human,' says CUNY trustee who rejected Kushner
    • RepStones May 7, 2011 at 3:51 am

      They have developed a culture which is unprecedented in human history

      My ass. Lots of people who condemn Palestinians along these lines ignore how revered the stories of Samson and the Masada are in Jewish history. Self-sacrifice is something to be honored when it can enoble Jewish history, but if a people occupied by Jews (as Jews were occupied by the Romans) develop similar zealots it's because they're sub-human.???!!!!!

  • Tweeting Hedy Epstein
    • RepStones April 29, 2011 at 7:01 pm with 1 replies

      Ok since seeing my reply to Ali Gharib and you guys on twitter, ZachofArbia has been back on to me.

      He insists he meant Yad Vashem when he said "no one has the right to be heard".

      I asked him why he couldn't explicitly state 'Yad Vashem' when asked several times to do so. He attempted to say he was busy..

      "Some people have other things do besides Twitter"

      I pointed out that i could see his tweet history and that he was active on twitter in the six hours since i asked him to explicitly state Yad Vashem had no right to be heard (like he claimed hedy Epstein had no such right) and his realization u guys had a thread up about the conversation.

      I have repeatedly asked him why he refused to explicitly state Yad Vashem had no right to be heard just as he did for anti-zionist holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, when he had the chance

      "@ZachofArabia y did u refuse to explicitly state Yad Vashem had no right to b heard the way you explicitly stated Hedy Epstein had no right?"

      Here he has again departed.

      It seems only the thought of his hypocrisy being made public here has snapped him out of the 6 hour dream he was in (but still tweeting to others) during which he had plenty of time to show consistency, but simply refused to do so until his blatant hypocrisy was highlighted on this blog.

      Again i encourage others to look at my twitter history to see full conversations.

      Stay tuned....

      best regards

      RepStones

    • RepStones April 29, 2011 at 5:35 pm

      Let me clarify my position. I took exception to ZachofArabia insisting that Hedy Epstein had no right to speak on behalf of holocaust survivors. When i asked for clarification, he went into obfuscation mode.

      I first tweeted this..

      "@Ali_Gharib are @zachofarabia @idffan @EMET4u willing 2 admit Israel govt & Yad Vashem do not speak on behalf of all Holocaust survivors?"

      Reply I got from ZachofArabia...

      "@RepStones @Ali_Gharib @idffan @EMET4u: It's a red herring to say *all* survivors. The point is Yad Vashem et al are REPRESENTATIVE."

      Whereupon I asked...

      "@Ali_Gharib @zachofarabia how do u quantify who Yad Vashem represents? I recall some asking for the removal of their relative name."

      (Here i was recalling Prof Michael Neumann and his brother demanding Yad Vashem remove their grandmothers name after '06 Lebanon war)

      reply I recieved from Zachofarabia was...

      "@RepStones @Ali_Gharib: I wasn't saying Yad Vashem qua Yad Vashem. I was saying a representative group, like polling."

      My reply was ....

      "@ZachofArabia @ali_gharib and Hedy Epstein , Felicia Langer or Hajo Meyer don't have a right to speak for those who agree with them?"

      ZachofArabia replied thus...

      "@RepStones @ali_gharib: Stop pulling strawmen please. They have a right to speak; not the right to be heard and adored."

      I countered...

      "@ZachofArabia wow..So only groups that are pro-Israel have a right to be heard. I get ur way of thinking now no need 2 say more @ali_gharib"

      ZachofArabia replied...

      "@RepStones @ali_gharib: OMG, no one has the right to be heard. Just to speak. I'm done conversing with you RepStone, i.e. not be heard."

      So for clarification i asked...

      "@ZachofArabia so Yad Vashem therefore does not have a right to be heard? @ali_gharib"

      ZachofArabia responded with...

      "@RepStones @ali_gharib: Is this really so complicated? 1st Amendment: right to speech, not that everyone needs to listen to you."

      I then replied...

      "@ZachofArabia yes or no. Does Yad Vashem have to be heard, u said Epstein, Langer, Meyer et al didn't. Simple yes or no."

      the reply from ZachofArabia was ....

      "@RepStones: Only you have the right to be heard. No one else."

      Again asking for clarification (and consistency) i asked...

      "@ZachofArabia why is it so difficult 4 u to say Yad Vashem does not hav right 2 b heard. If u don't your inconsistency & hypocrisy is clear"

      Which is where ZachofArabia left it. He claimed initially that Hedy Epstein Hajo Meyer et al did not have a right to be heard. When i asked for clarification as to what he meant, he trotted out the 1st Amendment (which as an irishman, im not use to encountering, although im aware of it)
      I then asked him for consistency on his part by him saying therefore that Yad Vashem also did not have to be listened to either, like he claimed non-zionist holocaust survivors should be treated. As you can see from above, he obfuscated and abandoned ship, when he couldn't be consistent. i follow @mondoweiss and anyone can check my @ tweet istory to confirm the above. i apologise if I have offended anyone, i merely believe that Hedy Epstein has as much right to be heard as any other holocaust survivor.

      best regards

      RepStones.

  • Irish council twins with Gaza, notwithstanding Protestant-Catholic split
    • RepStones April 11, 2011 at 5:58 pm

      You should stand on Ormeau rd bridge in Belfast during one of all too often conflagrations in the I/P conflict. On one side Palestinian flags flutter in the lower Ormeau whilst on the other side you'll see the Star of David.

  • Jon Stewart compares settlements to terrorism, and gets laughs in the process
    • RepStones March 10, 2011 at 4:28 pm with 9 replies

      I just watched the clip on the Daily Show app. Highly recommend it if you haven't got it. Stewart made some excellent points. Not least of which regarding the settlements. He fillets Kings attempt to deflect criticism from his witch hunt by claiming the authorities go to Italian American community when they are dealing with mafia. As Stewart rightly points out, this doesn't include a set of Congressional hearings which question the entire name and loyalty of Italian Americans. One final point, on a personal note, coming from Belfast myself, whilst I detest King's hypocritical McCarthyism, the clip where he equated the IRA with the British Army as regards moral standing. It's actually the experience of many us who live in the north of Ireland. British army, RUC, UDR etc were viewed by many in nationalist community as terrorists, and not without plenty of reason either.

  • Weiner-Baird debate lived up to its billing
    • RepStones March 5, 2011 at 5:42 pm

      Can anyone explain this idea that because a country is a 'democracy' it is supposed to get a free pass for oppression and destruction against people who are non-citizens???

  • US support for democracy-- hooey
    • RepStones February 11, 2011 at 5:14 pm

      Excellent post.

      I cannot express the outrage I feel, when I see the same people who’ve regaled us with talk of democratization for years, standing today in the way of Egyptian democracy.

      Its the same when Israel and zionists exclaim "if only the Palestinians would abandon violence and use peaceful means !"

      Then when they do use non-violent methods, protests, the BDS movement, international law. Israel imprisons non-violent resistance leaders, Israel's supporters call BDS people de-ligitimizers and anti-semites, and dismiss the use of international law as 'lawfare'. Hollow calls for democracy and peaceful means all round. Status quo is what those people want, and Egypt has helped to lift the veil.

  • The Egyptian revolution threatens an American-imposed order of Arabophobia and false choices
    • RepStones January 29, 2011 at 3:47 pm with 2 replies

      You make a good point about the paucity of arab or arab-american analysts on US coverage. But that is simply indicative of the larger problem in the US. The fact that the 'arabists' are nowhere to be seen in the State Department. Those tasked with liaising with Arab states and formulating US policy for the middle, must, it seems be zionist in outlook. Where is the logic in populating the part of your government responsible for dealing with the arab world, with people who have a narrow outlook, concerned simply with the wants and desires of the one small but heavily armed and quite aggressive, non-arab state in the region?

  • Al Jazeera publishes bombshell leak concerning the peace process; ex-CIA official 'The overwhelming conclusion one draws from this record is that the process for a two-state solution is essentially over'
    • RepStones January 24, 2011 at 8:20 am

      The Palestinian Vichy Authority need a Tunisian style party thrown for them. The two state solution is in a Sadducees grave. So where does this leave us.....?

  • Activists uncover FBI infiltration of anti-war and solidarity groups, including trip to Israel/Palestine
  • EU envoy sticks a fork in 2SS
    • RepStones January 11, 2011 at 11:25 am

      Palestine was not Britain's to give to anyone. It belonged to the indigenous peoples. And the UN had no
      power to do likewise as recognised by it's charter and the fact that Res 181 held only 'recommendation' status. It had no enforcement power whatsoever.

      And did somebody seriously suggest Lebanon as a model of success?

  • Israelis refused to 'read or touch' detailed Palestinian documents
    • RepStones January 6, 2011 at 12:12 pm

      The Process is prob Bibi's end game. He's happy to keep things chugging along, taking bits of land here and there. To reach an end game with a viable Palestinian state is unimaginable for him.

  • 'Why are you on the Palestinian side, working against your homeland?'
    • RepStones January 3, 2011 at 10:57 am

      I was held at Ben-Gurion fir an hour only. I had book with me for reading on the flight. The girl questioning me asked to see it -"You have book on Israel?"
      I was relieved on my reading choice when I was able to show them a biography of Robespierre. I had considered taking Finkelstein's 'Beyond Chutzpah'. I was the only white person detained among our group. The poor Irish girl who had an Egyptian father who had bequeathed on her not only a suspect name, but lovely carmel skin was detained for four hours. Which the rest of us passed in the cafe waiting for her. I have heard tales of them demanding to see your email account before they'll let you in. Not sure about that one, could be urban legend.

  • Israel's damage to 'American interests is incalculable' -- Shlaim in 'The Hill' of all places
    • RepStones December 28, 2010 at 6:29 am with 2 replies

      I attended a talk given by Prof Shlaim (and Beverly Milton-Edwards) in Belfast a few months back. He proffered two theories on Obama's cuckoldness before Israel. One that Obama really is so weak and ineffectual. Two - (and I dearly hope it's this one) that Obama is simply giving Bibi enough rope to hang himself and the American-Israel relationship. Avi said regretably that he believed the former option was the case.

  • The world will be a much safer place when American Jews stop believing these 4 bad ideas
    • RepStones December 24, 2010 at 4:51 am

      Seems to be a lot of stereotyping going on. In any event you guys do realise we Irish are the smartest. It's just god prevented us from ruling the world by creating alcohol.

  • The US has failed in the peace process, bring in the international community
    • RepStones December 8, 2010 at 11:07 am with 7 replies

      Two trains if thought emerge. First that Obama is as utterly inept and cuckolded as his impotency in the face of Israel appears to be. Or that Obama is playing a long (and dangerous) game. Letting Bibi continue putting his notches on the bedpost so that when Obama lays the blame for the failure of his version of the peace process squarely at the feet of Israel, even the most zealous Israel fan would have no rebuttal to that charge.

      What do you think?

  • Attention progressives for Palestine: Rep. Alan Grayson wants to hear from you
    • RepStones December 7, 2010 at 5:47 am

      That 'miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity' quote from Ebban is such a crock. That from the guy who lied to the UN regarding the events of June 1967. Its routinely trotted out by people who haven't a clue about the likes of Shamir's premiership, or the agenda of 'I buried Oslo' Bibi.

  • The American Jewish belief in the endurance of anti-Semitism is at the core of the problem
    • RepStones December 4, 2010 at 3:57 pm with 2 replies

      Hi folks.
      Coming from a Irish catholic (thankfully long shedded) background, I won't pretend to understand the position you find yourself in on occasion. But this thread does remind of Yoav Shamir's documentary from last year or early this year - 'Defamation'. For those of you who have seen it, you may remember the field trip to Poland and the death camp the young Israeli students undertook. I still, (having watched it twice) can't fathom the feeling of fear which the organisers of the trip attempted to cultivate in the young students. I kept asking myself, why on earth are they instilling such unwarranted fear in these young people? (If you recall, they instructed students not to talk to any strangers because they hate jews etc.) But this thread actually helped answer that. Those young Israeli students would have had no experience of anti-semitism, the real proper kind which left a stain on the world in the 20th century. It is perhaps important for the Israeli state and indeed for the future of Zionism to instill in young jews, or at the very least give them a taste of the reasons why zionists still demand their cause is right. If that field trip in Shamir's documentary is representative of common practice, then it can't lead to a good place for those young people. Zionism is in my opinion, an anachronism, and perhaps its most ardent supporters realise that unless, they impart part of the fear their parents or their grandparents had, to the next generation their vision will wilt. But it seems to me that to perpetuate the image of jewish as being that of the Shetl jew, perpetually subjugated and hated, is simply the other side of the coin that idiotically postulates jewish as being wealthy, conspiratorial, clannish etc etc. Finally there is an inherent danger in over-using the term 'anti-semite' to try and police the debate surrounding the I/P conflict. It is a term which carries massive import, based upon a dark history still within living memory, it should not be being abused the way it is.

  • Engel and Ros-Lehtinen are quick to try to stifle Palestinian state
    • RepStones December 5, 2010 at 5:39 pm

      Is there any news on the deliberation of the International court Of justice regarding the issue of Palestine as a state now. IIRC John Quigley presented evidence in favour of the motion.

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