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Bill Moyers on Israel/Gaza
On his PBS Journal Show last night, Bill Moyers delivered a poignant essay on Israel/Gaza (video below). The whole segment is worth watching -- it begins with coverage of a mostly ignored anti-war march this week in Washington (while media hordes, down the street, fixated on the Roland Burris circus) -- but Moyers' essay begins at roughly the 2:20 mark.
The most striking aspect is that sober, fact-based, even-handed commentary like this about Israel automatically subjects one to widespread, profoundly ugly accusations of being "anti-Israel" and even "anti-Semitic," to the point where not a single U.S. Senator and no House member other than a handful dare utter anything other than unquestioning support for Israeli actions, such that most members of the U.S. Congress are, literally, far more willing to question and oppose American military actions than Israel's military actions (the establishment discussion rules are virtually identical to those that prevailed in the pre-Iraq-war days, though even more rigidly enforced: one can question the efficacy of the Israeli attack from the perspective of Israeli interests, but may not question its morality, legality or justifiability):
Moyers worked in Lyndon Johnson's White House when Johnson escalated the Vietnam War, and was Johnson's Press Secretary for much of that time (from 1965-1967). His views of bombing campaigns of civilian populations are undoubtedly shaped by that experience.
The transcript for Moyers' show is here, and the Miller article he references, which really should be read by anyone interested in this issue, is here. The Moyers segment does reflect the fact that one does find marginally more criticism of the Israeli attack on Gaza and more questioning of U.S. policy towards Israel, and finds it in more places, than has been true in the past.
UPDATE: The Weekly Standard claims that Condoleezza Rice strongly advocated that the U.S. vote in favor of the U.N. Resolution which the Security Council approved on Thursday by a 14-0 vote and which urges a cease-fire in Gaza; Dick Cheney argued that the U.S. should veto the Resolution, and Bush ultimately adopted Stephen Hadley's compromise suggestion to abstain, thereby allowing the Resolution to pass. Hamas and Israel competed with one another to see who could refuse most quickly to abide by the Resolution, and now -- as Haaretz reports this morning -- this is Israel's response:
The Israel Air Force has dropped leaflets on the Gaza Strip warning residents that it plans to escalate its two-week-old offensive.
The army says it has dropped the fliers throughout Gaza. It says the notices are meant as a "general warning."
The notice says Israel is about to begin a "new phase in the war on terror." It says it will "escalate" an operation that already has killed more than 800 Palestinians.
It's hard to imagine, short of full-on indiscriminate civilian bombing, how this attack can be "escalated." Is there any limit at all to the number of civilian deaths that Israel is willing to cause? And, given that Palestinians are not allowed to leave Gaza and have no safe haven within the Gaza Strip, what is the point of dropping leaflets warning the civilian population of "escalation" other than, as Moyers put it, to sow further terror?
A new U.N. Report is demanding a war crimes investigation into a particularly gruesome and inhumane civilian slaughter last week, but U.N. Resolutions and the like only matter when they can be used as pretexts for military action (Saddam Hussein is ignoring U.N. Resolutions!, the White House righteously protested). Each day that passes, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand how anyone can think this is in Israel's interests. That it's not in the interests of the U.S. has been -- outside of the Dick Cheney/John Bolton/Fox News world -- patently obvious from the outset.
UPDATE II: According to the Report issued on Thursday (.pdf) by the U.N.'s Humanitarian Affairs Office, more than 1/3 of overall Palestinian deaths are children (34% of the almost 800 total deaths), and a similar percentage of the more than 3,000 wounded are also children (34.8%).
To put that in perspective, note that the Russian invasion of Georgia -- which was vehemently and universally condemned in the U.S. as an excessive and brutal response to Georgia's assault on South Ossetia -- resulted, according to the Georgian government, in total deaths on the Georgia side of 405 (220 of whom were civilians) and total number of civilians wounded between 200-250 (see page 10 of this Amnesty International Report -- .pdf). The Russians agreed to a cease-fire accord after 5 days; the Israelis explicitly reject the U.N.'s call for a cease fire and continue to "escalate" after 14 full days (and counting) of full-scale air and land attacks on Gaza.
Of course, all of that pales in comparision to the duration, destruction and carnage created by the U.S. as a result of the Iraq War (the most unprovoked of all of these conflicts). To say that the U.S. applies a glaring double standard to wars fought by its allies and its "enemies" (to say nothing of itself) is to understate the case.
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Show All"Of course, all of that pales in comparison to the duration, destruction and carnage created by the U.S. as a result of the Iraq War (the most unprovoked of all of these conflicts). To say that the U.S. applies a glaring double standard to wars fought by its allies and its "enemies" (to say nothing of itself) is to understate the case."
Thank God someone finally pointed this out. Where are the UN resolutions condemning the US and the UK for their genocide in Iraq? Where are the calls for war crimes trials for the Democrats and Republicans who voted for the war, or who voted to fund it (Obama!!!)? Where are the calls for sanctions and boycotts against the British and Americans, the most violent warmongers and terrorists in the world? When the response to the deaths of a million people are proportional to those at the death of a few thousand then, and only then, can those criticizing Israel not being considered anti-Semitic. Until then the world will just assume, and rightly so, that these ridiculous attacks on Israel are just a way of diverting attention from the Christians' much worse crimes.
By the way, five Americans were killed in Afghanistan this week, not to mention many Afghanis. This hasn't been reported hardly at all because of the attacks on Israel. If Bush and Obama were Jews, it'd be all over the front pages.
M I K E P
Most would be abhorred to acknowledge a 1000:1 "morality" factor, when it comes to human lives.
And your poor readership skills must have "just" missed the fact of the massive responses against 1.4 million dead in Iraq ( as you attempt to favor pathological Israeli policies ) ?
Just because the same jacka$$ $ewer main $tream media (M$M), favors similar pathological neoCONer USA policies ( w/ wickedly profiteering militarism war mongering linked boards of directors ) -- doesn't in any book justify Israeli war crimes and murder.
You should consider seeking psychological assistance as you massively favor death over life -- and that is quite anti-social ( e.g. all of humankind ).
Namaste
I'm always glad for Bill Moyers and this is no exception. I am however disappointed in him for his repeating the propaganda "Hamas terrorists" and that Hamas wants to see very Jew in Israel dead." I recall that Hamas is a political party no worse than many we support and one too many Americans vote for. I also recall Hamas agreeing to a peaceful settlement should Israel withdraw ti its 1967 boundaries, and share Jerusalem. Israel undid that by subsequently launching missiles into Gaza and assassinating Hamas "terrorists." That was five or so years ago. By repeating the loaded propaganda phrases put out by Israel and its loyal supporters, Moyers makes justifications for the present assault on Gaza tenable and the "collateral damage" only a regrettable necessity. Israel and the US are the terrorists.
The Jaded Prole
Henry Kissinger had some great ideas: Lyndon Johnson had tired of the Viet Nam War and was almost at the point of getting a "Peace Treaty" in 1968....It appears that Henry worked behind Johnson's back and got South Viet Nam to reject the treaty...That helped get Nixon elected and, as you know, Henry and the War continued for several more years.....1 million more deaths and another 20,000 American Soldiers killed (I was going to use John Does, but that offends me beyond words....I served and two of my friends have died of cancers contracted from contact with "Agent Orange" like thouands of unknown Viet Nam Vets.)
Henry encouraged bombing of civilian populations to force the population into submission.....He used the illegal, yes illegal,bombing of Cambodia to force the North Vietnamese into further actions. Henry did it again in Timor, and let the Indonesians use U.S. military supplies and equipment to wipe out 100,000 people.
If you you think that a terrorist is in a neighborhood, do you call for the bombing of the neighborhood? Of course not, you might kill innocent civilians.....The United States and Israel could care less how many civilians are killed.
Almost 3,000 people were killed on September 11, 2001. Yet, there was no independent investigation of eyewitness testimony that there were explosions and evidence was destroyed: no steel beams from World Trade Center #7,no videos of the strike on the Pentagon,no copies of the "Put Orders".......Why would U.S. Congresses "Whitewash" the murder of almost 3,000 People?
Humman life has no meaning to the "Power Elite"....
Ask Mike Connell's family how good Raytheon's control system works for pilotless aircraft and probably for aircraft with pilots.(If DOD was flying pilotless 707's in the 80's, why couldn't they have perfected taking over the controls from pilots by 2000?) Go back to DOD's "Northwoods Project" in the 60's.
"False Flag Attacks" and "Lies" have become a tradition in the U.S. Government.
So, Israel wants to get rid of a problem, the Palestinians. What are WE going to do when the U.S Government and the "Power Elite" control the "Mass Media" and the American People have no clue???????
Bill Moyers has the ear of millions, not hundreds of millions. Only when people like: Naomi Klein, Amy Goodman, Alex Jones,Noam Chomsky,Bill Moyers and many others come together and join forces to speak out against the "Power Elite" throughout the United States, the U.S. and Israel will test the limits of "War" and "False Flag Events".
Thanks for pointing this out. I couldn't gather the fortitude to view the commentary as I had figured Moyers, a corporate media journalist, would be certain to spout the obligatory Israeli hyperbole regarding Hamas.
So Moyers says Hamas want's every Jew in Israel dead. Source, please?
---USAn---
Very good point, Jaded Prole, and my thoughts exactly. Hamas's actions, as you point out, indicate that this statement couldn't possibly be true. And yet perhaps Moyers had to say it just to get his piece aired on the air. And surely he couldn't say that, to judge from their actions, it's the Israelis who seem to "want to see every Gazan dead," though this would not have been far from the truth.
"Of course, all of that pales in comparision to the duration, destruction and carnage created by the U.S. as a result of the Iraq War (the most unprovoked of all of these conflicts)."
I am not convinced of this. In another CD thread, I posted numbers of bombing sorties flown by the US Air Force over Baghdad in the first 2 weeks of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the number of bombing sorties flown by the Israeli Air Force so far during Operation Cast Lead.
The American count is only just slightly more than the Israeli count. It is safe to suggest that Gaza has suffered as much bombing damage as did Baghdad in the first 2 weeks.
6 years and billions of OUR dollars later, Baghdad has inadequate sanitation, fresh water and power, and is basically a destroyed city.
Gaza will be uninhabitable.
It's pretty tough to convince my friends of the situation. I'll admit that even I don't take the Israel/Gaza thing too seriously because the US has enough problems as it is and has no business meddling with their affairs. That said, the US has no business giving Israel billions of dollars of our taxpayer money in the form of free money and weaponry. I don't know of any other country that gets totally free aid other than Israel unless someone can help me out on this one.
Columbia? I thought Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and China were hot on its heels in addition to Egypt.
Egypt is up there because of the peace treaty with Israel. They are paid not to fight Israel.
But wait.
Did you notice the part about 7000 "John Doe" letters sent to US families about the death of their loved one? Wasn't it less than 5000 US service persons dead?
Maybe they think we can't do the math.
"you can't run a country by a book of religion
not by a heap or a lump or a smidgen,
of foolish rules of ancient date
designed to make you all feel great
while you fold, spindle and mutilate
those unbelievers from a neighboring state." Frank Zappa "Dumb All Over"
Glenn Greenwald:articles with embedded video need transcripts so deaf people online can have access to the material. I don't watch tv, but I'd hope the show has cc close captioning and transcripts can be made easily. DemocracyNow does transcripts of shows.
Nobody in here or the media for that matter, gave a shit while Hamas was firing hundreds of missiles into Israeli cities, all last yr. Until that is, Israel responded. War is ugly but it takes two to tango as they say. Hamas given the ability IMHO would kill every man, women, child and their pets in Israel, if they thought they could do it. The people in here that romanticize these people are very very wrong about them. The fact that they fired unguided missiles indiscriminately into towns showed their true intent. ( Terror) I wonder how all of you would have responded if Israel decided to fire similar types of missiles into Gaza in response? Instead, the Israelis seem to be bent on destroying Hamas and unfortunately this org. enjoys wrapping itself in a shield of women and children and old people. They are cowards who care nothing for the lives of their own people. They are worshipers of death and they don't care how many innocents they take with themselves. The sooner the back of this evil org. is broken the better. While Hamas exists there can be no real peace in that area.
blutodog,
give palestinians the F16s, helicopters and other killing instruments of the new age and let us see who is a coward. I already know the answer.
blutodog, leftwingers (the people) pay very little attention to rightwingers' (the elites) views because leftwingers' basic struggle is against rightwing oppression. The rightwing view that you seem to embrace is that states and the privileges they provide their citizens are legitimate. But leftwingers don't consider those things legitimate. We reject power and privilege, and actively work to get along well with our neighbors in the local community, specifically without the help of the state, power, privilege. It's none of the state's business anyway. The people should be independent of the state as the state is too often the tool of the elites.
The Israeli government is a death cult.
"Is there any limit at all to the number of civilian deaths that Israel is willing to cause?"
Don't be silly, Glenn; they haven't reached 6 million yet.
Want an idea that we can send viral?...On the night of the inauguration...January 20th.....at 8PM....We the People step outside and hold a candle, a flashlight or a torch for the starving and dying children in Gaza...a message to the new president and a message to the new CONgress that we do not support the slaughter of innocent children..............Please send it around to everyone you know......IT'S THE LEAST WE THE PEOPLE CAN DO FOR THE GUILTLESS CHILDREN OF GAZA............
Beauty is truth, truth beauty,....that is all ye need on earth, and all ye need to know.....John Keats
To see Gaza realities, look at this slide show:
http://www.slide.com/r/oHpDptgTpD-bjHCIJYXVKBti16Dw0xHN?previous_view=TICKER&previous_action=TICKER_ITEM_CLICK&ciid=72057594261634544
Blutodag I would love to have you and all of your relatives- ALL- as my neighbors for just one week. Just one week!
Re. the post someone wrote about Israel bombing a UN school and causing a 'massacre' there:
"Video: Gaza families mourn dead after UN school bombed - 07 Jan 09",
by AlJazeeraEnglish, Jan 7, 2009,
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m50510
QUOTE:
In the 12 days of Israel's war on Gaza, the shelling of a United Nations school on Tuesday has been the most shocking incident. More than 40 people were killed. Israel claims the school was a legitimate target because rockets were fired from it.
But the UN has vehemently denied those claims.
Al Jazeera is the only international news channel with correspondents on both sides of the border. Ayman Mohyeldin visited what's left of the school, and the families now in mourning.
END QUOTE.
According to the video itself, a little of what it says, this was the third Israeli strike on a UN school in Gaza or else Palestine during this present Israeli war of aggression on Gazans and Hamas, and it's evidently clear that Israel's claim that its strike was due to rockets being fired at or into Israel from this school is FALSE, which I don't find at all difficult to believe with the psychopathic nature of the character of the Israeli leadership, political and military. It's pathologically killing Gazans, as some people have been posting, I see here at CD, but it's pathologically psychopathic, instead of only pathological, imo.
The video is short, 3:19 long (or short).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K8caHPpInE
I know this will piss off a few
If Germany had won the war then the world would be cut into 4 parts. America, Germany, Russia, Asia. All wars would be fought in a board rooms in guys in suits. A world NAFTA type agreement where everyone is making money. Isn't that what this is all about money power greed. And not 600 home made rockets that have kiled 3 people in Israel
900 dead
3 dead
I would take the board room war 10 out of 10.
Bill Moyers must be the last actual journalist left in the corporate kleptocracy---the rest are Israeli sock puppets. Just imagine what the world would be saying if 1.5 million Jews were in the Gaza ghetto wading in their own sewage. Israel kills 10 times as many people as they lost (like the U.S. for 9/11) and it's "justice"---all the while continuing to steal and "settle" land, trading their own children for another acre, and to keep "the war" going at any price. Western bias in Israel's favor IS THE reason for this "war on/by terror." When in the world will we gain enough sense to get rid of The Bible---the most wretched, hateful thing ever created? Nothing on Earth has created as much blood and suffering, all of it NEEDLESS...
'Israel kills 10 times as many people as they lost (like the U.S. for 9/11) and it's "justice"'
10 times? Closer to 1,000 times.
But hey, who's counting in the US and Israel?
"We're not counting bodies from up here" - USAF Brig. Gen. John Rosa, March 2002.
"You know we don't do body counts." - US Army Gen. Tommy Franks, March 2002.
Oh for the love of mike ... any time someone accuses a critic of Israel's policies of being anti-semitic because they criticize frankly genocidal policies, tell them to take a look inside a book written ages ago by someone the Jewish religion holds dear - one Jeremiah.
If he said that sort of thing today in the US he would be called an anti-semite. And yet another thing he wrote, a long and involved piece of poetry called "Lamentations" is read every year in temples/synagogues on the anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's Temple.
Jeez, sometimes you just can't win!