I disagree with the former and agree with the latter. The U.S. uses kid gloves with Israel always, and a number of resounding "condemns", while not immediately penetrating the Israeli government's thick skull, will definitely resound with Europe and the rest of the world. Israel could not 'do it on its own' forever. It needs not just the US, but the rest of the world as well. Besides, I am far from convinced that Israel desires peace with its Palestinian prisoners; that it wants their land, of that I am sure.
Norman Finkelstein's new book, "This Time We Went too Far", speaks to the insanity of Israel's actions and virtual genocidal overkill of the Palestinians, inside the country and out. Israel's leaders deserve the angry words of the world, acceptance of the Goldstone report, withholding of aid, and BDS.

Here's the letter to the editor I sent to The Los Angeles Times (that they won't print):

To the Editor:

It was no "coincidence" that while Vice President Biden was visiting Israel they decided to approve 1600 new housing units in disputed East Jerusalem.

The fact that Palestinians half-jokingly complain that "every time a U.S. official comes to town, Israel announces another controversial housing project" makes it clear that Israel not only does not care what the position of the U.S. is related to it's construction on lands it seized during the 1967 Middle East war, it obviously feels it does not need the $300 billion we "give to it" each and every year.

The United Nations and most of the world view Israel's settlements as illegal under international law, but Israel continues to expand them. And now, in the face of war crimes charges resulting from their latest major military strikes in Gaza, we have Oriella Ben Zvi, a Tel Aviv political consultant declaring, "There's a bunker mentality. Picking a fight with Biden is a way of saying, 'We don't take dictates from anyone, not even the U.S.' "

Okay, I will accept that logic. Then the next step should be for the U.S. State Department to demand that A.I.P.A.C. register as a foreign agent (which would mean they would no longer be allowed to interfere in U.S. political elections/lobbying), that all illegal settlements built since the end of the 1967 war must be returned to the Palestinians, that all existing construction must be stopped immediately and that Israel must allow the Palestinians to use all the seized land to create a viable Palestinian state.

And until such measures are adopted, all U.S. funding to Israel will be cut off.

Thanks, Jill. It just came to me when i wrote it.

But also. I know a woman who is american israeli. She has family members in israel and in ministry of defense. She told me the other day that in october,09, her cousin said it is a done deal. It is going to happen, and the u.s. was given a six month window to decide what to do. I just found that out two days ago.

But my own intuition was telling me - this spring. So the timing fits. And i just was thinking in terms of the bigger picture here. The u.s. can't appear to be connected with it. We need to appear to be on bad terms with israel before it happens. Biden was willing to do it. And it will be interesting to see the AIPAC spin with Clinton next week. Focusing on settlement rather than iran.

I have read somewhere that they are going to attack and the obama admin really does not support it, and that's what they are talking about. This issue with jerusalem may be ligit or not, imo, there is no way to know for sure. It has to be seen as a positive, however.

philistinethear, be more careful in what you say and think.

Israel, and the Israeli people, are NOT "insane", NOR are they as people the "irrational" precipitators of 'dreams of war' and heartless 'Empire-thinking', any more than the vast majority of honest, average, non-elite, working-class Americans are guilty of being "insane" and heartless war-mongers just because the same Global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE --- which controls 'our' country by hiding behind the facade of its TWO-PARTY sophisticated 'Vichy' sham of faux democratic government --- also controls their country's criminally imperialist government.

Philisine, hear this: the seminal cause of all peoples' total issues, problems, and "Sorrows of Empire", both foreign and domestic, both political and economic, and of both physical and psychic wounds and deaths of people everywhere in our world, is EMPIRE itself --- not the people or their formerly democratic countries.

The ruling-elite Global corporate/financial/militarist Empire hiding behind the facade of each nominally democratic 'Vichy' nation-state is all together in one little deadly family of truly "insane" Empire-thinking former countries --- like an Empire of "Texas Chain-Saw" maniacs.

As I have said before:

"We are a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-racial, even post-racial, sectarian, mixing-pot-world of democracies on a small fragile planet --- and yet, we are still not beyond the danger of existential death at the hands of ancient and irrelevant tribal 'empire-thinking'.

As only Kurt Vonnegut's sense of ironic black humor might envision, "It is as if the whole human race was about to sit down to a celebratory picnic for successfully reaching our 21st century, when we are all unexpectedly killed by one remaining giant dinosaur."

The last people in the world who should want to stay in (or ever promote) a world of tribalism, are the Muslims, Jews, and Christians ---- based on how they have been abused by various nationalist and other modern "-ism" Empires.

Fighter pilots have a saying that, "speed is life". But, for all the rest of us, "inclusiveness is life" --- and tribalism is death by the oldest lie of empire.

Racism is another deadly old lie of empire, as is aggressively fundamentalist religion.

Nationalism is a somewhat newer lie of empire, proving particularly deadly in the 20th century.

While, economic ideology is the newest, and current, lie of empire (which is causing our economic and environmental collapse).

But all the lies and deceptions of "empire-thinking" lead ineluctably to the very same grave --- so choose your empire poison, stupidly. Or choose your inclusiveness, wisely."

If this is too long to remember, here's a little trick to keep in mind:

Empire, Elitism, Exceptionalism, Exclusivism, Externalities (dumped on those damn 'others'), and Extinction all begin with 'E' --- just remember the Big E's or the biggies

Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine

Alan: Always such a pleasure in reading your posts. I wish you were my neighbor.

Regarding the American Empire, no one is more clear about it as Andrew J. Bacevich, author of "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalsim". Bacevish is a retired Colonel, a West Pointer, highly decorated Vietnam Vet, and now a professor of International relations at Boston University.

I would like to quote two paragraphs from his book.

Andrew Bacevich begins by mourning the lost opportunities for peace after the Cold War. “Instead, the U.S. found this as an opportune time to expand and perpetuate the American Empire. In this expansion of the American Empire, the American people saw themselves as peaceful people and the conflicts in which they became involved in were seen not of their own making”’ The current global war on terror has been no exception. To quote Bacevich, “Certain of our own benign intentions, we reflexively assign responsibility for war to others, typically malignant Hitler-like figures inexplicitly bent on denying us the peace that is our fondest wish”. The “Limits of Power” challenges this type of thinking to a very detailed degree.

To Bacevich, at the heart of this American blindness is the sense of American “freedom” and the American consumer way of like. This is the perfect fertile ground for government propaganda. The resulting sense of entitlement has great implications for American foreign policy. To quote Bacevich, “Simply put, as the American appetite for freedom has grown, so too has our penchant for empire. …....In an earlier age, Americans saw empire as the antithesis of freedom. Today with America’s efforts to dominate the energy rich Persian Gulf, empire has seemingly become a prerequisite of freedom”.

eze, I think that entirely depends on whether the media information and influence on all our average, honest, empathetic, and working-class citizens of this last hope for democracy in a 'new world', engendered guileful "Empire-thinking" or enlightened "democracy-thinking".

Best,
Alan

Visiting Professor, i invite you to read "When Do We Stop Sitting Shiva For the Holocaust?" first published on Electronic Intifada, to address the psychological questions you pose.

Secondly. Why would americans rail against our tax money being used for the open air torture zones in Palestine, when they are not worried about our own torture zones, as you mentioned? I am not being rhetorical here. Honest.

Israel has been a client state and we are in compliance. Always. As i suggested below, i think we are in a current charade, as far as the new schism is concerned. We will know soon enough.

Peace

Many have wondered how the Israeli Jews, many themselves having been subjected to horrible abuse during the Nazi campaign, are able to participate in the systematic cruelty and abuse that their country inflicts on Palestinians. One would like to think that it would make them even more sympathetic to the plight of such oppressed people. After all, it would seem to be a normal human reaction to having shared such experiences--increased sympathy to those who undergo such horrible abuse today. But it just may be that the psychology is of a different kind entirely, and may be more akin to the likelihood that a young person who suffers child abuse is himself likely to inflict it on other children when he becomes an adult.
----------------------------------------

Zeëv Zhabotinskij was born in Russia, but emigrated from Britain to colonial Palestine during WW1

David ben Gurion was born in Poland, but emigrated to colonial Palestine in 1906.

Golda Meir was born in Ukraina, but emigrated to the US in 1906 and then to colonial Palestine in 1921

Yitzchak Rabin was born in colonial Palestine and never lived anywhere else.

Shimon Perez was born in Poland but emigrated to colonial Palestine in 1934

Menachem Begin was born in Belorossiya, escaped Poland during the Nazi invasion, was imprisoned in Russia, and then emigrated to colonial Palestine around 1942

Yitzhak Shamir was born in Belorossiya, but emigrated to colonial Palestine before 1935

Moshe Dayan was born in colonial Palestine, and never lived anywhere else.

Ehud Barak was born in colonial Palestine, and never lived anywhere else

Ariel Sharon was born in colonial Palestine and never lived anywhere else

Netanyahu was born in Palestine-called-Israel and never lived anywhere else

I seem to see a pattern here: the ones at the top, those encouraging the crimes, seem NOT to have been victims of the first Shoah, and in fact weren't anywhere near Nazi Germany or Occupied Europe. So they don't have that connection. Notably, none of them are even ethnic Germans -- they're Slavs, as are, I believe, most of the soi-disant "Israelis" now.

I think that has some significance for the problem.

"Many have wondered how the Israeli Jews, many themselves having been subjected to horrible abuse during the Nazi campaign, are able to participate in the systematic cruelty and abuse that their country inflicts on Palestinians".

Mr. Professor. You have obviously never heard a racist Israeli, and there are many of them, talk about Palestinians. At the very least they consider Palestinians to be "Untermenschen". Keep in mind that those who suffered Nazi concentration camps are almost all dead now. The new generations of Israelis are incredibly arrogant.

The troubles caused by these ethnic cleansings were easy to see long before 9/11.

The neverending Israeli atrocities have been aided and abeted by U.S. politicians for many decades and now I shall never again vote for any of our ZioNazis from either party.