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Total number of comments: 442 (since 2010-05-07 21:27:34)

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  • Even Goldberg acknowledges that a Jew can vote for the government while his Palestinian neighbor cannot
    • straightline November 20, 2011 at 1:44 pm

      "I know you know that that is the case, that militancy keeps up the status of conflict."

      As usual you are being vague, but I think you are saying that Palestinians should resort to nonviolent means to gain self-determination.

      If I may quote Norman Finkelstein - I'm sure you will object Witty - consider it overruled!
      link to normanfinkelstein.com

      "Frustrated at the diplomatic impasse caused by US-Israeli obstructionism, West Bank and Gaza Palestinians rose up in December 1987 against the occupation in a basically non-violent civil revolt, the intifada. Israel's brutal repression (compounded by the inept and corrupt leadership of the PLO) eventually resulted in the uprising's defeat. "

      And again:

      ". it's utterly hypocritical for Israelis to wonder aloud why Palestinians
      don't pursue a non-violent strategy. One obvious reason is that, whenever they
      have, Israel brutally represses it." (Norman Finkelstein, 11 September
      2003)

      I would agree that the violent response to consistent and often unprovoked Israeli aggression has not served Palestinians well but it is at least understandable. What should frighten Israel most is not the relatively few and largely ineffective Hamas rocket attacks in response to their own rockets but the new generation of articulate and intelligent Palestinians who are telling and demonstrating to the world about the evils of the Israeli occupation. It is Israel that has won by the use of violence and it is Israel that wishes to continue it - it was always so.

      "The guideline of our policy has always been the idea that a permanent
      situation of no peace and a latent war is the best situation for us, and that
      it must be maintained at all costs. ... we are becoming stronger year by year
      in a situation of impending conflict where it is possible that actual fighting
      may break out from time to time. Such wars will usually be short and the
      results guaranteed in advance, since the gap between us and the Arabs is
      increasing. In this way we shall move on from occupation to further
      occupation." (Yeshayahu Leibowitz, 30 November 1973)

  • Behind closed doors Sarkozy and Obama spill the beans
  • '48 is beginning to replace '67 in discourse -- even at UVa
    • straightline November 8, 2011 at 6:30 am

      I cannot help but remind you of this:

      "If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by bringing them over to England and only half of them by transporting them to Eretz Israel, then I opt for the second alternative." (David Ben-Gurion, 1938)

      If the Zionists had not prevented it those displaced Jews would have found homes in the US or in the UK. Of course many did but the Zionists sought to reduce the number.

  • As settlers disrupt olive harvest, Israeli officer declares: 'I am the law, I am God.'
    • straightline October 23, 2011 at 4:57 pm with 1 replies

      There is an interesting use of language in reporting on the PKK that I have already noted on the BBC and other MSM. Hamas personnel are "militants" but Kurdish militants are "rebels". And of course the BBC is unbiased!

  • Dying of schmaltz
    • straightline October 21, 2011 at 7:52 pm

      Witty - you argued that Shalit was not acting in an offensive capacity a little earlier. Someone has provided evidence that this is not true. You then decide to change the subject.

      As to your last line: "How does that partisan approach result in less deaths?" I reserve the right to use it every time you post.

  • Don't just stand there, let's get to it, strike a pose, there's nothing to it
  • Operation Enduring Failure: Ten years of war on Afghanistan
    • straightline October 7, 2011 at 5:11 pm

      Usually wars are, at least in part, about bolstering the popularity of those in power. I don't think the Afghan war was an exception in that respect.

  • What do a Jewish state and a Catholic table have in common?
    • straightline October 7, 2011 at 11:36 am with 2 replies

      Let's take your argument where it goes Witty. Everyone whose parents are French has the right to be a French citizen. Everyone born in France of parents resident there has the right to be a French citizen - at majority. Anyone living in France for five years can apply for French citizenship. If I have to spell it out that means, among other things, that any dispossessed Palestinian whose parents were born there would have the right to be a citizen of this "Jewish State". Go along with that?

  • Let's negotiate over how we divide the pizza while I eat the pizza
    • straightline September 28, 2011 at 2:26 am

      Mearsheimer does address Atzmon's blog, Shingo. He picks up a quote from Goldberg of a statement on Atzmon's blog and shows how it has been taken completely out of context.

      What Goldberg said that Atzmon said on his blog was, "I believe that from [a] certain ideological perspective, Israel is actually far worse than Nazi Germany.", whereas what Atzmon actually said was, "Indeed, I believe that from [a] certain ideological perspective, Israel is actually far worse than Nazi Germany, for unlike Nazi Germany, Israel is a democracy and that implies that Israeli citizens are complicit in Israeli atrocities.". Now if I may use the word "clearly" in a somewhat more appropriate way than eee did, this is clearly misrepresentation.

      Rather than being the "weak defence" that eee clearly sees, I would argue that this is a pretty robust and well argued attack on a scurrilous article by Goldberg.

      Finally, eee omitted to call Atzmon a "self-hating Jew" - slipping eee? Mearsheimer says is that this is clearly the case!

    • straightline September 28, 2011 at 2:12 am

      Well eee, old friend, I read Mearsheimer on Walt's blog and it seemed to me to pretty clearly demolish the argument of Goldberg and the claims that Atzmon is a holocaust denier. Clearly you have a different view, so if instead of name-calling you give a rational explanation of why you believe Atzmon to be racist and a holocaust denier that answers Mearsheimer's arguments I (and I guess, the other good people on this blog) will be only too keen to read them. By the way the use of the word "clearly" by you a little suspicious, whereas that by me is I think justifiable.

  • Blair uses envoy post to support billionaire life-style, TV doc claims
  • Abbas at the United Nations a game changer? Maybe.
    • straightline September 25, 2011 at 7:32 am

      Totally agree, thankgod, about how long it should take to establish their right to be called "native". But our Zionist friends try to argue otherwise and so it is worth noting that those they dispossess are in part at least descended from the Jews they use to justify their claim on the land.

      And I knew about the Christians - also converts in part from Judaism in the first few centuries of the modern era.

    • straightline September 25, 2011 at 3:39 am

      What I find strange, john h, is that to any newbie reading the blog longlivemyfoot has been totally discredited - making statements that are easily countered by a few minutes spent researching on the web - and yet without fail he will be back spouting the same myths tomorrow. Why does he not see that he is not advancing the Zionist case (such as it is) to the new reader? I wonder, sometimes, if he is actually working for our side.

    • straightline September 25, 2011 at 3:02 am

      Great collection of responses to longlivemyfoot, thankgod! You clearly have a good handle on the recent history. As to ancient history, it is my understanding (to be corrected) that there were people in Palestine when the Arabs arrived. They were probably in large part the Jews who were not driven out by the Romans. My reading is that the Romans might have driven out a few leaders after the Bar Kokhba revolt but the vast majority stayed behind and probably converted to Islam when the Arabs arrived. Ironical! Oh I forgot, hasbarists don't do irony!

    • straightline September 24, 2011 at 6:20 pm with 5 replies

      The only place where I would disagree with you, gingershot, is in the last paragraph. Israel was always contemplated as involving ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. Ben Gurion said as much and so did Herzl and Weizmann well before 1948.

  • Buttu, Erakat, Dajani, Rabbani and Abunimah respond to UN speeches
  • (Prediction) Perry's bodacious gauntlet to Obama on Israel means '60 Minutes' will finally put Walt & Mearsheimer in American living rooms
    • straightline September 16, 2011 at 4:02 pm

      I really like this article about the claims of Iranian nuclear weapons:

      link to original.antiwar.com

      That is not to say that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons, it is just that, on the basis of past experience, we should treat all Western claims about them as lies.

  • Michael Lerner says We need a Jewish state b/c Jews continue to face vulnerability, hatred
    • straightline September 15, 2011 at 4:57 am

      Firstly let me say that I totally abhor this violent attack on Jews in your link, and in particular I mourn the death of the young Australian - what a tragedy. But in the light of what you regard as an example of a pogrom, DBG, I would say that a pogrom is a monthly if not weekly occurrence on the WB or Gaza.

      Can we hear words of regret from you about, for instance and quickly found on the web, this act of violence by settlers?

      link to electronicintifada.net

  • How to run for Congress in the United States
  • Ron Paul says our unfairness to Palestinians led to 9/11 attacks
    • straightline September 13, 2011 at 9:49 pm

      He's not a racist or fascist. If you want a label he's an old fashioned libertarian. That's surely not socialism - national or otherwise. He wants small government - and weakened connections between business and government - and modest foreign policy. Since when was that compatible with fascism. While I would find him less liberal than I'd like he looks a lot better than most of the other serious contenders from either party at the moment.

      On some things he's very sensible - on others -like the economy - I'd worry.

  • Richard Cohen instructs Obama: there must be no 'daylight' between you and Netanyahu
    • straightline September 13, 2011 at 10:00 pm

      Leaders need to start doing just that instead of following! Obama has shown minimal leadership on this issue - Netanyahu's puppy dog!

  • Sullivan takes spears for Mearsheimer
    • straightline September 12, 2011 at 4:54 am

      Robert Fisk of course!

      link to matrixmasters.com

      Maybe he didn't quite say "no invasion" but he meant it!

      "Either way, we are being asked to support a war whose aims appear to be as misleading as they are secretive. We are told by the Americans that this war will be different to all others. But one of the differences appears to be that we don't know who we are going to fight and how long we are going to fight for. Certainly, no new political initiative, no real political engagement in the Middle East, no neutral justice is likely to attend this open-ended conflict. The despair and humiliation and suffering of the Middle East peoples do not figure in our war aims - only American and European despair and humiliation and suffering."

  • Krugman seems to want to talk about pundit-class responsibility for Iraq disaster
  • NYT's Keller implies Iraq War aimed to save Israel from a 'holocaust'
    • straightline September 6, 2011 at 7:56 pm with 3 replies

      Let me remind you of what I'm sure you already know. During the lead up to the Iraq war Glen Rangwala in Cambridge kept a website that, in a scholarly way, documented all of the claims of WMD in Iraq. The gist was that there was no substantive evidence and scant circumstantial evidence that was credible.

      It was Rangwala

      link to casi.org.uk

      who discovered that Blair's attempt to persuade parliament that WMD existed in Iraq - the so-called "Dodgy Dossier" (used by Powell in his address to the UN) - was largely plagiarised and not, as it was presented, the work of British Intelligence. Where were the journalists - why were they not questioning the validity of the dossier?

    • straightline September 6, 2011 at 4:01 pm

      Now if you had stopped at Kuwait you might have been almost believable, eee, but Iran? The crowd that went to war against Iraq were the ones who fomented war against Iran by Iraq and supplied it with chemical weapons. Iran was part of the "axis of evil" - remember? The then leaders of the US didn't care one iota about protecting Iran - indeed they would have been cheering Saddam if Iraq had again attacked Iran. In any case the Iraq War was not about a feared attack on Israel but at least in part about maintaining Israel's hegemony in the region. No-one dares attack a country with 200+ nuclear weapons.

      In any case, the "rain holocaust on a neighbor" was from Keller and given the distorted perspective of the "newspaper" he works for, it is clear that he means you know who.

  • Turkey talking tough to Tel Aviv
    • straightline September 4, 2011 at 5:45 am

      Here's another interesting piece of text from

      link to hurriyetdailynews.com

      "Turkey pushed its allies not to single out Iran as the sole threat against NATO and gave its approval to the concept only after its pre-conditions were met."

      Now who could that be? Perhaps Pakistan - they have missiles with that range, but perhaps someone else.

    • straightline September 4, 2011 at 5:42 am

      I doubt if US could do it unilaterally Fred - much to your chagrin.

      I think that an attack by Israelis on a Turkish boat in international waters would be an act of war but I'm no lawyer.

    • straightline September 4, 2011 at 12:30 am with 16 replies

      I hadn't noticed this in the original post - but it's there - bad eyesight! This could get serious:

      link to news.antiwar.com

    • straightline September 3, 2011 at 6:39 pm

      Hasbara tactic number 3! It's getting boring - please invent some new ones.

      I'd have a discussion about Northern Cyprus on another forum at another time - though I don't think you really care. It's just a diversionary tactic. As to the Armenians and Kurds I'd agree with you but do you really care about them either - or is it again just a diversion.

  • Where Israel is headed
    • straightline August 30, 2011 at 8:26 pm

      there's just one word for this dimadok - bulls**t! I'll quote again as I did yesterday

      "Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves .. politically we are the
      aggressors and they defend themselves... The country is theirs, because they
      inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we
      want to take away from them their country. ... Behind the terrorism [by the
      Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and
      self sacrifice." (David Ben-Gurion, 1938)

      Which bit of this do you not understand?

  • Read the post for which Derfner was fired: 'The awful, necessary truth about Palestinian terror'
    • straightline August 30, 2011 at 5:23 am

      "and that is how he is perceived in Israel"
      Perhaps that's why Burg refers to Israel as "thunderously failed reality". I think "crankiness" is in the eye of the beholder.

      And how do you justify murder then - it happens pretty well every day in the occupied territories? Oh I forgot they're "Arabs" so it's ok.

      It seems to me that you're the exceptionalist - I regret every violent death as I'm sure Burg does. You seem only to regret violent deaths if the killed is Jewish.

      How about Gerald Kaufman - another crank?

      "The world is rightly horrified at the cruel and bloody deaths of Israeli
      civilians, including babies and small children, inflicted by terrorist suicide
      bombers. Grievous though every one of these deaths most certainly is, it
      cannot be denied that during the three years of the Second Intifada the
      Israelis have killed three times as many Palestinians, some of them terrorists
      (in illegal targeted assassinations) but most of them innocent civilians,
      including babies and pregnant women." (Gerald Kaufman, 22 November 2003)

    • straightline August 30, 2011 at 1:47 am

      "Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should
      not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the
      centres of Israeli escapism. They consign themselves to Allah in our places of
      recreation, because their own lives are torture. They spill their own blood in
      our restaurants in order to ruin our appetites, because they have children and
      parents at home who are hungry and humiliated." (Avraham Burg, 15 September
      2003)

    • straightline August 29, 2011 at 4:19 pm with 3 replies

      "Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves .. politically we are the
      aggressors and they defend themselves... The country is theirs, because they
      inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we
      want to take away from them their country. ... Behind the terrorism [by the
      Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and
      self sacrifice." (David Ben-Gurion, 1938)

      Seems like this kind of silliness has been around a long time, eee. I wonder if JP would have fired Ben-Gurion?

  • Independent: How Israel takes its revenge on boys who throw stones
    • straightline August 26, 2011 at 8:35 pm

      I certainly do not regard US standards are acceptable in for example its ongoing incarceration of people without trial at Guantanamo.

      I don't believe in those standards and while no doubt in your eyes I'm a selfish (I think you mean egocentric) moron I do hold Israel and the US to the same standards as I apply to myself. And pray do tell us who is doing that?

      But really this is technique number 21 in the Hasbara Code - switch the focus to someone else.

  • Wikileaks: In '06, Lieberman told US ambassador of need to transfer Palestinians from Israel-- and US says nothing
    • straightline August 25, 2011 at 7:17 pm

      But being French is effectively defined by living in France or one of its former colonies. It is not defined as something separate. That is you can become a French citizen without passing some extra test of "Frenchness". Swearing allegiance to France is not swearing allegiance to a particular regime or culture. If one were to conflate your views with the French definition, all Palestinians living in Israel (and the occupied territories) would be deemed Jewish - how do you feel about that?

  • Reading Anne Frank in Gaza
    • straightline August 24, 2011 at 5:30 am

      To be a little more accurate, one blogger asked about 5 miillion Palestinians who dream of returning to their lands. Oh, I forgot - that's the land the Zionists stole from them! How stupid of me!

  • Evidence undermines Israeli gov’t claim that Eilat attackers were Gazans
    • straightline August 22, 2011 at 5:28 pm

      Chernus is well-known for his "liberal Zionism" and his somewhat liberal interpretation of facts. He is there to look reasonable and plausible to liberals but continues to accept the Zionist cause.

      Here is another case of "liberal Zionism" in action - the first line of a BBC report today:

      "Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group which governs the Gaza Strip, say they have agreed to a ceasefire after five days of violence."

      Now let's correct it: "The extreme Zionist group which governs Israel, led by Likud, established by the terrorist Menachem Begin, and the elected government of Gaza have agreed a ceasefire ...."

      That's a bit closer to the facts.

  • Congressman says, I'm going to Israel, and his site is flooded with ragefilled comments about 'sucking teat of AIPAC' to serve ethnocratic, apartheid state
    • straightline August 22, 2011 at 6:07 am with 1 replies

      I think there has been some strange censorship going on, American. One of my comments which to my mind said nothing inflammatory - except to say that one of the earlier comments by dimadok was so outrageous that it might, if I wasn't aware of where it was coming from, be sarcastic - was deleted. That's about as strong as it got! It seemed to me a model of courtesy. I've never had a comment censored on this site before and I've been far more angry and less self-disciplined.

    • straightline August 22, 2011 at 5:53 am

      You know, dimadok, no-one can be totally shielded from harm. Other countries reduce the risk by being friendly to their neighbours, by negotiating rather than bombing, by getting on with the minorities in their own country rather than treating them as second class citizens or indulging in ethnic cleansing, by agreeing borders rather than stealing land, by allowing reasonably free passage across borders, by not building walls but extending the hand of friendship. Do you understand when people here talk about the "victim mentality"?

      Took me less than a minute to find that 20 countries have officially recognized the Armenian genocide including Lebanon but not including either US or Israel. Do you have a point about this?

      link to en.wikipedia.org

      Israelis are not a minority in Israel so what is your point about Georgians? If you are talking about Jews being a minority in many countries, then realise that there are minorities in every country - in my current country of abode there is a significant minority of Chinese extraction - not a problem - on the whole they do very well because they have a culture of working hard just like the Jews of most countries I know of. The rest of your comment seems to me to be so far distant from current reality, where the world in general and the US in particular allows Israel to behave in ways that would be tolerated in no other country. Sooner or later - and perhaps sooner - people will realise this and start to wonder why they do that.

      Nobody called you a whining Jew - somebody did suggest (with a fairly strong epithet) that you were whining - you added the "Jew". This is a fairly standard attempt by you to suggest anti-semitism in the remark - I certainly detected none. Incidentally in my current home the standard way of referring to a person from England is "whining Pom" - it's not a big issue - because they will buy you a beer while saying it. I'd even buy you one and still call you a whiner! Get over it!

      I don't think anyone here "puts murders of Israelis to mockery" - I in particular feel sad for everyone whose life is violently (or non-violently) cut short - but I wonder about your feelings for the murder of Palestinians. You don't seem to have much empathy with your neighbours. Please comment!

    • straightline August 21, 2011 at 10:14 pm

      For some reason, my previous effort as a response to dimadok was deemed inappropriate even though it put more or less the same point as the other replies perhaps a little less angrily and more politely. Why, Phil?

      One point I made that perhaps wasn't so explicit in the following comments was that statements like dimodok's (assuming as I think we can that it was not intended sarcastically) put the problem with Zionism in a nutshell - its exceptionalism. Perhaps that is regarded as an inflammatory remark.

  • From London to Jenin: Paying for the sins of their sons
    • straightline August 17, 2011 at 8:35 am

      Mark Steel puts it very well - as usual:

      link to independent.co.uk

      And then I found this by him from three years ago:

      link to marksteelinfo.com

    • straightline August 17, 2011 at 6:29 am

      A lot of people in the UK are noting the difference between how hard Conservative politicians are on rioters and their families on the one hand, and how soft they appear to be those responsible for the phone hackings, the senior executives of failed banks, and MPs who have claimed fraudulent expenses on the other.

      Someone suggested that given David Cameron's connection to the former editor of the News of the World, Andy Coulson, the Queen should evict him from No 10.

  • Another crack in the wall: Senator Leahy wants to defund Israeli military units b/c of human rights violations in Gaza and W.B.!
  • Victoria (Australia) threatens further crackdown on boycott activists
    • straightline August 10, 2011 at 4:39 pm with 1 replies

      The Palestinian papers make it very clear that Israel was offered everything it claims it desires by PA including almost all of East Jerusalem, right of return limited to a few thousand, and very generous land swaps and still said no. We have seen the same "Israel is willing to talk" ruse time and time again. As someone else said, you do not negotiate how to share a pizza while the other person is eating it.

    • straightline August 10, 2011 at 4:12 pm

      So they must be suitable to show us then - please do - really we're interested. Do you mean that, heaven forbid, these nasty protesters came within 50 meters of the Max Brenner store? Is that the bail condition they breached?

    • straightline August 10, 2011 at 8:44 am with 2 replies

      "won’t help persuade the Australian government to vote for a Palestinian state in September."

      You are of course coming the raw prawn? There is no way Australia will vote for Palestinian statehood in September! The best we might hope for is the Rudd line - abstention - and Julia is set to vote against it.

      Please be more specific about your evidence and the intemperate behaviour you have apparently witnessed at BDS rallies. And why were you there taking photographs?

  • What is Palestinian statehood up against? (US Israel lobby group organizes junket for 18 ambassadors from mostly-little countries)
    • straightline August 8, 2011 at 1:21 am

      Hi Djinn

      Please note my inverted commas - I agree with your assessment of Rudd. It is all a matter of relativities and in this context Rudd is ever so slightly less extreme than Gillard - see this morning's Age. And I was just quoting Loewenstein. And (I think) I agree on the tax on mining! Australia's pro-Zionism needs more exposure.

    • straightline August 7, 2011 at 4:27 pm with 2 replies

      It seems that Australia has sold out to the Zionists on this one - and on many others!

      link to antonyloewenstein.com

      There was a report on Loewenstein a while ago that the coup that replaced Rudd by Gillard was, at least in part, due to Rudd's 'pro-Palestinian' tendencies.

  • Bahour says Palestinians will call for secular democracy after statehood initiative fails
    • straightline August 5, 2011 at 8:08 pm

      Compromise? Do you know what PA was willing to give up - read the Palestinian papers! One side has been willing to give up almost everything and it's still not enough because what the Zionists want and will not compromise on unless forced is what Golda Meir claimed - "A land without people for a people without land". Until of the Palestinians are dead or have left they will never be satisfied.

  • Dershowitz uncut: Dersh fears circumcision on the chopping block in the wake of BDS success
  • 'New Yorker' says 'two-state solution' was not the answer (during U.S. Civil War)
    • straightline August 3, 2011 at 7:07 pm

      Welcome Dex. Just to put you in the picture Hophmi is one of the 4 or 5 hasbarists assigned to this site. You will tell him these facts but next time you can be sure he'll be back spouting the same lies.

  • Maybe this will help on that debt ceiling crisis?
    • straightline July 29, 2011 at 10:08 pm with 3 replies

      Do you realise how disgusting your remarks are? No-one here talks about "Jews" the way you do about "Muslims" - because we see this as a struggle not about religion but about humanity. Most people here are opposed to the results of political movement - Zionism. We don't even mind you being a Zionist - as long as your beliefs don't mean that you steal other people's land and kill them when they object. You presumably feel strongly about those committing the atrocities in Sudan - or do you? You, on the other hand, seem to have a viceral hatred of Muslims - not for what they have done but for who they are. I would have thought that was grounds for blocking you but apparently not. Moreover I don't even detect any sympathy for the suffering of Sudan - it's more about using them as a way of attacking Muslims - note the use of the word "fun". There is nothing "fun" about the plight of either the Sudanese or the Palestinians.

      I suspect too that most people here would feel as strongly about the massacres in Sudan as they do about Operation Cast Lead. The difference is summed up in one word: "hypocrisy"! We in the so-called "civilized" West can pretty well all agree about the situation in Sudan - and many other parts of the world - indeed our governments are, at least in small part trying to address the problems. With few exceptions - such as the people on this site - the West is deliberately blind to the plight of Palestinians and indeed
      give support and encouragement to the perpetrators of the atrocities against them.

  • 'NYT' and Bronner blaze mainstream trail with story likening occupation to Jim Crow
    • straightline July 27, 2011 at 8:21 pm

      Historical revisionism again - please go and read Benny Morris or Simha Flapan.

      "It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly
      and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The
      first of these is that there is no Zionism,colonialization or Jewish State
      without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands." Yoram
      Bar Porath, Yediot Aahronot, of 14 July 1972.

      "I learned that even before the May 15 invasion by Arab
      armies, Jewish forces had succeeded in expelling some 300,000 Palestinians
      from their homes, but another 400,000 Palestinians remained in areas that the
      Jews coveted. Since the Jewish population of Palestine in 1948 was only about
      600,000, the Ben-Gurion leadership required war in order to rid the new Jewish
      state of most of its Arab population." (Ronald Bleier, November 1992)

      "Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves .. politically we are the
      aggressors and they defend themselves... The country is theirs, because they
      inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we
      want to take away from them their country. ... Behind the terrorism [by the
      Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and
      self sacrifice." (David Ben-Gurion, 1938)

      "[I]n Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting
      the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country ... The four powers are
      committed to Zionism and Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted
      in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder
      import than the desire and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit
      that ancient land." (Arthur James Balfour, 11 August 1919)

      "If Rabbi Kaplan really wanted to know what happened, we old Jewish settlers
      in Palestine who witnessed the fight could tell him how and in what manner we,
      Jews, forced the Arabs to leave cities and villages ... some of them were
      driven out by force of arms; others were made to leave by deceit, lying and
      false promises. It is enough to cite the cities of Jaffa, Lydda, Ramleh,
      Beersheba, Acre from among numberless others." (Nathan Chofshi, 9 February
      1959)

      "I maintain that even before the establishment of the State, each battle ended
      with a massacre. In all Israel's wars massacres were committed but I have no
      doubt that the War of Independence was the dirtiest of them all. ... In the
      War of Independence everybody massacred everybody, but most of the action
      happened between Jews and Palestinians. ... 'In my opinion, the regular armies
      of Arab states were less barbaric than the Jews and the Palestinians. Until
      the entry into the battle of the Arab armies, the concept of taking prisoners
      was unknown. The regular armies, especially that of Jordan and Egypt, were the
      first in the region who did not kill prisoners, as a matter of principle. Not
      that they were exceptional, but they killed the least of all, relatively
      speaking. The Jordanian Legion even succeeded to stop Palestinians of
      massacring Jews in Gush Etzion, at least in a part of this area. The education
      in the Yishuv at that time had it that the Arabs would do anything to kill us
      and therefore we had to massacre them. A substantial part of the Jewish public
      was convinced that the most cherished wish of say, a nine-year old Arab child,
      was to exterminate us. This belief bordered on paranoia." (Aryeh Yitzhaki, 6
      May 1992)

      And don't quote Wikipedia - we know about that.

  • The Norway massacre and the nexus of Islamophobia and right-wing Zionism
    • straightline July 24, 2011 at 6:56 am

      I typed the word "terrorism" into the NYT website - there were over 10,000 hits for the past 30 days.

    • straightline July 24, 2011 at 3:58 am

      Israel's right to self-defense? You are joking of course. Israel is the 5th biggest nuclear power in the world and by any measure in the top 10 of militaries in the world. It is being opposed by popular groups fighting for their very existence with very little in the way of real military systems. Israel is, in the meantime, engaged in ethnic cleansing on a very significant scale. The tragic part is seeing your complete blindness to the facts.

    • straightline July 23, 2011 at 7:21 pm

      By and large I'd agree NickJOCW - I am totally saddened by this senseless act of vioence and weep for the parents of the children killed - as I did for the children of Gaza in Operation Cast Lead.

      But like the Australian Prime Minister Howard at the time of the Port Arthur massacre we can make something good come out of this. We can shame the Western MSM; its anti-Muslim bias is exposed for all to see and that truth needs to be hammered home. While we should not - as others have done - jump to conclusions about the (sole) guilt of the arrested man, we should weep for lost children and their families, and we should be pointing out as loudly as we can the bias of the Western media - even those like the Guardian and the BBC that we have come to trust more than the rest.

    • straightline July 23, 2011 at 5:37 pm

      15 years ago a similar event occurred in Australia on a smaller scale - 35 people were killed by a gunman at Port Arthur in Tasmania. In the aftermath the (right wing) Prime Minister at the time pushed the states of Australia to tighten gun ownership legislation.

      As to bankruptcy of the Norwegian justice system - I am sure that the gunman will receive a fair trial there and if found guilty punished according to the law. That is what real justice systems do. They don't indulge in collective punishment.

  • Jeffrey Goldberg vs. The Truth
  • American Zionist org supports new limits on free speech in the 'human rights loving democracy'
    • straightline July 18, 2011 at 8:20 pm

      "Attacking an enemy military target makes you a freedom fighter. Attacking civilian targets makes you a terrorist."

      I think that makes many members of the IDF terrorists. Or do you subscribe to the view that whatever the IDF says it did is correct?

      How many people did these self-righteous vandals kill?

    • straightline July 18, 2011 at 8:11 pm

      Well there is a certain amount of historical revisionism here. The Zionists were well aware that they had the upper hand in 1948 as is now well documented. The Arabs tried valiantly to help the Palestinians who were being persecuted by the Zionists.

      The Zionists did not want - and even tried to prevent - Jews fleeing persecution in Europe from going anywhere but to Israel:

      "If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by
      bringing them over to England and only half of them by transporting them to
      Eretz Israel, then I opt for the second alternative." (David Ben-Gurion,
      1938)

      And there is much evidence to suggest that many - though not all - Jews left Arab countries because of bribes by Israeli organisations and as a result of false flag operations by Zionist organisations.

      "Any reasonable person, Zionist or non-Zionist, must acknowledge that the analogy drawn between Palestinians and Mizrahi Jews is unfounded. Palestinian refugees did not want to leave Palestine. Many Palestinian communities were destroyed in 1948, and some 700,000 Palestinians were expelled, or fled, from the borders of historic Palestine. Those who left did not do so of their own volition. In contrast, Jews from Arab lands came to this country under the initiative of the State of Israel and Jewish organizations. Some came of their own free will; others arrived against their will. Some lived comfortably and securely in Arab lands; others suffered from fear and oppression." Yehouda Shenhav, Haaretz 15 August, 2003

      One could argue that Native Americans did not own their land either or any other group that have been dispossessed by colonialists. After all Palestine was emerging from being under Ottoman rule for hundreds of years. Legalistic arguments about ownership in these circumstances is really missing the point - as I'm sure you're aware.

  • Siegman: Israel always wanted territory not peace, and US is its 'captive'
    • straightline July 17, 2011 at 5:55 pm

      Lightbringer:

      I'm confused: are you saying that Israel would react to external pressures by having 1M Chinese non-Jewish immigrants - presumably with voting rights? Do you understand what you're saying? Do you understand Zionism?

      As to the US invading independent states - where have you been the last few years - well the last many years? Admittedly being a nuclear power - if undeclared - would on the basis of past evidence deter the US. It would seem a good reason for a country to acquire nuclear weapons fast.

      As to allies, the US has over 700 bases in 130 countries. Doesn't seem to be a shortage of those and the number might actually rise if it abandoned support for Israel.

      Please explain the complicated reasons for the rise in settler violence.

  • The real preachers of hate: Britain arrests respected Palestinian leader
    • straightline July 5, 2011 at 12:40 am

      The number of Jewish MPs is around 26 - or 4% - and several in the Cabinet. But not all of them back the current Israeli regime:

      link to youtube.com

      As in the US it is more about Zionist power in the media - including that of the Zionist gentile Rupert Murdoch.

    • straightline July 5, 2011 at 12:22 am with 1 replies

      I always worry when someone conflates Jews with Zionists - tend to know where they're coming from. Now pray explain to us why subordination cannot be explained by reference to imperialism or Western hypocrisy, and please list the other "tired old clichés" of the left.

      I cannot understand why it would be hypocritical to back Palestine and shaft the Zionists - surely that is what you mean? The Zionists went to Palestine and stole the land from the Palestinians - there does seem to be a certain asymmetry in that.

  • Is Greece being blackmailed to put the brakes on Gaza flotilla?
    • straightline June 27, 2011 at 3:25 am

      "If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by
      bringing them over to England and only half of them by transporting them to
      Eretz Israel, then I opt for the second alternative." (David Ben-Gurion,
      1938)

  • Last minute complaint regarding the 'sea worthiness' of the Audacity of Hope puts the US Boat to Gaza in jeopardy
  • Open border, 1000-year-old olive trees, new Israeli stun guns
    • straightline May 29, 2011 at 4:54 pm with 1 replies

      I realise that for most people, whether or not Julian Bieber visited Israel was a big deal. But to the nerds among us this is a far more important event:

      link to globes.co.il

      Put briefly and no doubt controversially, while Torvalds was the person who built the foundations of the Linux operating system, it was Stallman who led the building of the rest. It would seem that the Israelis want the Palestinians to pay for visits by top flight academics to their universities. Interesting take by Aharonovich: either you're with us or against us! In my book "he who pays the piper calls the tune".

  • Reality imitates the dream in the Rachel Corrie case in Haifa
    • straightline May 26, 2011 at 4:37 pm with 6 replies

      No annie - we need them - irritating as they are with their constant repetition of the same old lies. This blog is also being read by those who have not yet understood, who have until now been fed on a diet of MSM misdirection. We need the hasbaratchniks. By demonstrating - as the wonderful contributors to Mondoweiss do time and time again - the humourless, inhumane, hypocritical, inconsistent, misleading, and desperate nature of the hasbaratchnik arguments we win those readers to our cause. Kanaaneh writes a beautiful piece of prose replete with allegory and metaphor and humour and the hasbaratchniks respond with vitriol.

  • Now you tell me: Peretz was Stuart Levey's thesis adviser
    • straightline May 27, 2011 at 6:59 am

      Yes Montgomery was a pretty strange person. Great tactician but in terms of politics and humanity he left a lot to be desired - in particular he seems to have been a supporter of the apartheid regime in SA. I recall seeing him on TV in the UK - he would never have made a good politician - too willing to voice his true opinions of his colleagues and of other matters.

  • Taking on AIPAC
    • straightline May 23, 2011 at 5:53 pm

      Yes we should remember Poland in 1941 and use that memory to strengthen our determination that no people of any nationality, ethnicity, or religion is demonized and persecuted by another, whether they be Jew or Arab, or Israeli or Palestinian; that no people should be forced or persuaded to leave the country of their birth or into ghettos because they do not share the religion or ethnicity of those in control.. Don't you agree, hophmi?

  • Netanyahu has nothing to worry about
    • straightline May 22, 2011 at 1:51 am with 5 replies

      You're right Annie, of course the Zionists have attempted and perhaps succeeded in manipulating US Presidential elections before. It is in Obama's interests to make it overt and Bibi seems to be playing into his hands in that respect.

      The one thing the Zionists surely do not want is a stand-off between the US President and the Israeli Prime Minister in a run-up to an election. That smacks of desperation.

    • straightline May 22, 2011 at 12:16 am with 7 replies

      alexno: "In relation to the US, the strategy may well work, though it’s always a mistake to reveal your real aims. Here, no doubt, the point is to get rid of Obama, but that is a subsidiary aim. The more important point for him is to clear the West Bank of Palestinians."

      Interesting analysis - by and large agreed.

      The more the Americans are told that, in the words of Sharon, "We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it." the less they will like it, so Bibi's outburst will have lost him a few more friends in the US. Calling on Jews in the US to choose between their President and a foreign country seems to me to be the strategy of a desperate person. It is only effective (if at all) as a short-term measure. Getting rid of Obama, if by some chance it were to work, would mean that it will not be possible again. Once the card is played it is no longer in his hand. It might be possible for Israel to unseat one president but not two, and then who has the power? Perhaps Obama has to be the sacrificial lamb. It might need a Republican president to repair the damage with the Arab countries and Iran just as it needed a Republican to reconnect to Communist China.

      As to clearing the West Bank, as outrageous as it may seem that anyone would dream of doing that, it is the only rational direction for Zionism, since any other aim will in the end result in its demise. There is no possibility of Israel accepting a reasonable settlement with the Palestinians on territory (at least not one that they could implement - look how hard it was to get the relatively few settlers out of Gaza) and therefore the 1ss looms. What scares Zionists most it the possibility of genuine peace talks since it forces them to face up to the choice. Cast Lead was one more of the many attempts by them to continue the state of "no war - no peace":

      "The guideline of our policy has always been the idea that a permanent
      situation of no peace and a latent war is the best situation for us, and that
      it must be maintained at all costs. ... we are becoming stronger year by year
      in a situation of impending conflict where it is possible that actual fighting
      may break out from time to time. Such wars will usually be short and the
      results guaranteed in advance, since the gap between us and the Arabs is
      increasing. In this way we shall move on from occupation to further
      occupation. ... this criminally mischievous policy has led us into the crisis
      we are living through today" (Yeshayahu Leibowitz, 30 November 1973)

      This policy is becoming more difficult to sustain when we are presented with videos and
      twitter feeds of the real situation, of who started the violence and of its true nature. Cast Lead failed as a PR exercise (though it succeeded as a massacre) - go to YouTube and watch Mark Regev squirm - because the world did eventually learn what happened despite Israeli attempts to exclude the world press. Arguing the legal niceties of the use of white phosphorus has nothing like the same impact as the awful images of the children killed and maimed by it.

      Israel is running out of options - its old games do not work any more and it cannot find a new one.

    • straightline May 20, 2011 at 8:21 pm with 3 replies

      The point is that the Israelis have boxed themselves into a corner and are reacting irrationally. Their greed vis a vis the Occupied Territories (and other parts of historical Palestine) has resulted in them being stuck with the population that goes with it. They know that and so do the Palestinians. They had hopes from the early days of eliminating most of the native population - either by migration or otherwise - but that has not happened. Cast Lead will be difficult to repeat given world reaction to it. So the Palestinians are in the driving seat. Bibi may rant and rave but ultimately he either gives the Palestinians a viable state or they are part of Israel with ultimately one person one vote. Let them have the West Bank - and its consequences. The longer this inaction goes on the weaker Israel's negotiating position becomes. And Jan 2012 will be a watershed - which means that it should be exercising the minds of the Israeli politicians now. Of course the Republicans might win or Obama turn out to be as weak as we might fear but I would have thought he had had enough of Bibi and rarin' to go for the jugular.

      In any case America's clear declining power to project force across the world - due in part to being dragged into wars by Zionists and their apologists - should also worry the Israelis. The Chinese, Indians, and Russians will operate with more self-interest than the US has. There are 325M Arabs in the world and less than 15M Jews, of only 5.6M are in Israel and perhaps not many more giving full support to the Zionist cause.

      Of course if AIPAC boos Obama it will be another defining moment - perhaps that is what Obama wants to happen. The more outrageous the Zionists appear the less they will have the support of the American people. The political crisis that ToivoS posits might just backfire when Americans see their President threatened by a foreign country.

  • AIPAC issues annual
    • straightline May 18, 2011 at 4:05 pm

      hophmi: Philip did not include a quote from the link - just the link with the word "annual" in the title. Look it up!

  • And they scream when a street is named after Yihia Ayash in Gaza
  • Lobbying for Syrian dictatorship, Israel leaves no doubt about its support for counterrevolution in Arab world
    • straightline May 9, 2011 at 6:20 am

      Another interesting fact, in case you are thinking that "military assistance" is not real money. A significant purchase from its military assistance funding is of 20 F-35s (Joint Strike Fighters) at a cost of $2.75B. As part of the deal, the US agreed to a reciprocal purchase of estimated $4B of parts from Israeli defense industries.

    • straightline May 9, 2011 at 5:44 am

      Here's a good source.

      link to fas.org

      I won't bore you with details but the bottom is that Israel will receive $3 billion of "military assistance" in Fiscal 2011, paid in the first month of the year and allowed to accrue interest in Federal interest bearing accounts (unique for Israel) - the interest is used to pay off its debts to the US. Israel can spend up to 26% of the original funding on equipment made in Israel - another exception for Israel . Israel is now considered a fully industrialized nation and no longer receives economic aid - though it has reached that position partly through US aid, loans, free trade agreements, and scientific exchange programs.

  • 'Geronimo EKIA'-- as Indian wars continue in Palestine
    • straightline May 7, 2011 at 6:46 pm

      I was going to link to Chomsky if you hadn't, ish, though more perhaps because his analysis of the operation and its legality seems to be more logical than most.

      Cole totally gets it wrong here - he seems to have changed recently.

      link to juancole.com

  • The upshot of the Kushner muzzling
    • straightline May 7, 2011 at 3:16 pm

      It's "toe" the line, Bart. Funny - eee, hophmi and Witty all seem to get through the censor.

    • straightline May 6, 2011 at 11:26 pm

      Another comment that appears to be more about your own anger than reality. Honestly, despite what you might think, we're really interested in hearing your opinions. Let us know. Tell us exactly how you disagree with us - don't tell us that we're pompous or misguided tell us how we're wrong. Come on now - we are waiting eagerly. Let's have a real debate.

    • straightline May 6, 2011 at 9:09 pm

      We'll do what we can to keep you amused Bart. Now pray come back and tell us your views as well as criticising ours. We're all ears. In the meantime I think you'll find that the number of people who are coming back here and reading if not always writing is expanding at a fairly rapid rate. I don't think anyone here is asking other than that all people are treated equally - would you oppose that and in what ways?
      BTW do you always run away from a fight?

      Keep laughing!

    • straightline May 6, 2011 at 9:08 pm

      We'll do what we can to keep you amused Bart. Now pray come back and tell us your views as well as criticising ours. We're all ears. In the meantime I think you'll find that the number of people who are coming back here and reading if not always writing is expanding at a fairly rapid rate. I don't think anyone here is asking other than that all people are treated equally - would you oppose that and in what ways?

      Keep laughing!

  • As a Holocaust survivor, AIPAC does not speak for me
    • straightline April 29, 2011 at 5:17 am

      Let's remember that she was one of those Jews that the Zionists had already disowned 70 years ago:

      "If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by
      bringing them over to England and only half of them by transporting them to
      Eretz Israel, then I opt for the second alternative." (David Ben-Gurion,
      1938)

  • Arab spring: Fatah and Hamas reportedly reach deal for interim gov't, elections in a year
    • straightline April 28, 2011 at 4:32 am

      I think it was Fran Kelly, Shingo.

      link to abc.com.au

      Agreed re ABC bias - I send them the occasional email about it.

    • straightline April 28, 2011 at 2:44 am with 6 replies

      I think what he's babbling about is the line the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Breakfast program interviewer took with a Fatah representative this Australian morning. The interviewer kept going on about how Hamas was refusing to recognise Israel and this would mean that if they were part of a unity government then Israel would have no negotiating partner. The ABC is not known for its lack of bias in this matter - as I keep reminding them - and the interviewer didn't seem to understand the interviewee from Fatah who was pointing out that Israel did not recognise any Palestian rights, let alone a separate state for Palestinians. The interviewee did an excellent job in time and time again stating the inconsistency and one-sidedness of the quartet's position to an interviewer who steadfastly refused to get it. The nuanced point that Hamas refuses to recognise Israel "as a Jewish State" would have been totally lost on the interviewer. I despair!

  • Quick to report Gaddafi's use of 'cluster bombs,' the NYT called white phosphorus a 'standard, legal weapon' when Israel dropped it on Gaza
    • straightline April 21, 2011 at 2:15 am

      For all of the cynicism of myself and others about NYT's biased view of the I/P issue, here is a reasonably good take by NYT on the cluster bombs Israel dropped on Lebanon in 2006 as a ceasefire was being negotiated.

      link to nytimes.com

  • U.S. State Dep't concludes Goldstone found no evidence of Israeli war crimes
  • Burg: the int'l community has put up with acts of state violence by Israel for 5 decades
    • straightline April 4, 2011 at 5:49 am

      I agree - he's a hero - but also look at the prose! Doesn't he write beautifully? Read Walid's post below for more. Personally I think this is the most poignant:

      "The opposition does not exist, and the coalition, with Ariel Sharon at its head, claims the right to remain silent. In a nation of chatterboxes, everyone has suddenly fallen dumb, because there's nothing left to say. We live in a thunderously failed reality. Yes, we have revived the Hebrew language, created a marvellous theatre and a strong national currency. Our Jewish minds are as sharp as ever. We are traded on the Nasdaq. But is this why we created a state? The Jewish people did not survive for two millennia in order to pioneer new weaponry, computer security programs or anti-missile missiles. We were supposed to be a light unto the nations. In this we have failed."

  • 46% of Israeli teens support limiting Palestinian rights
    • straightline April 1, 2011 at 3:14 pm

      Sorry to repeat this but we know Zionists don't read anything they don't like.
      Here is Avraham Burg giving the answer to eee.

      "Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should
      not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centres of Israeli escapism. They consign themselves to Allah in our places of recreation, because their own lives are torture. They spill their own blood in our restaurants in order to ruin our appetites, because they have children and parents at home who are hungry and humiliated." (Avraham Burg, 15 September 2003)

  • Pinkwashing at Yale
  • More on Jerome Slater's piece seeking to reconcile Zionism and justice
    • straightline March 28, 2011 at 5:41 pm

      Witty - please justify the statement that Mooser picked up instead of changing the subject!

  • What is your question for Benjamin Netanyahu?
    • straightline March 27, 2011 at 4:20 am

      Agreed - that's why I like this site!

    • straightline March 26, 2011 at 7:49 pm

      Well clencher, I tend in my heart of hearts to agree with you, and I have to admit giving my fair share of sarcasm but ...

      and the "but" is that they continue to repeat falsehoods time and time again despite the well-documented truth being pointed out to them. They refuse to read links or, if they do, they refuse to accept the truth (eg that Israel was responsible for the breaking of the ceasefire with Hamas in November 2008) - I wholeheartedly agree with WeAreAllMadeOfStars' request of Reuven. If someone states something as fact that conflicts with my worldview I always check it out carefully and reconfigure - they apparently don't.

      Since they are apparently intelligent enough to write reasonably articulately one can only assume there is a hidden agenda here, otherwise their's is not the behaviour of rational people. Perhaps Mooser is right - they are intent on driving a wedge between Jews and gentiles. Note that they are the ones who most often conflate Zionism with being Jewish.

      Most of the objectionable (though perhaps that's in the eye of the beholder) views and certainly most of the bullying behaviour are from the Zionists. Are we not to correct their falsehoods? And is it any wonder that we express our exasperation at their continued blind allegiance to a failed cause. But I will try to do better in future.

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