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TechnoratiIsrael Is Losing This War
NEARLY SEVENTY YEARS ago, in the course of World War II, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called "the Red Army" held the millions of the town's inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centers. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands.
Some time before that, a similar crime was committed in England. The Churchill gang hid among the population of London, misusing the millions of citizens as a human shield. The Germans were compelled to send their Luftwaffe and reluctantly reduce the city to ruins. They called it the Blitz.
This is the description that would now appear in the history books - if the Germans had won the war.
Absurd? No more than the daily descriptions in our media, which are being repeated ad nauseam: the Hamas terrorists use the inhabitants of Gaza as "hostages" and exploit the women and children as "human shields", they leave us no alternative but to carry out massive bombardments, in which, to our deep sorrow, thousands of women, children and unarmed men are killed and injured.
IN THIS WAR, as in any modern war, propaganda plays a major role. The disparity between the forces, between the Israeli army - with its airplanes, gunships, drones, warships, artillery and tanks - and the few thousand lightly armed Hamas fighters, is one to a thousand, perhaps one to a million. In the political arena the gap between them is even wider. But in the propaganda war, the gap is almost infinite.
Almost all the Western media initially repeated the official Israeli propaganda line. They almost entirely ignored the Palestinian side of the story, not to mention the daily demonstrations of the Israeli peace camp. The rationale of the Israeli government ("The state must defend its citizens against the Qassam rockets") has been accepted as the whole truth. The view from the other side, that the Qassams are a retaliation for the siege that starves the one and a half million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, was not mentioned at all.
Only when the horrible scenes from Gaza started to appear on Western TV screens, did world public opinion gradually begin to change.
True, Western and Israeli TV channels showed only a tiny fraction of the dreadful events that appear 24 hours every day on Aljazeera's Arabic channel, but one picture of a dead baby in the arms of its terrified father is more powerful than a thousand elegantly constructed sentences from the Israeli army spokesman. And that is what is decisive, in the end.
War - every war - is the realm of lies. Whether called propaganda or psychological warfare, everybody accepts that it is right to lie for one's country. Anyone who speaks the truth runs the risk of being branded a traitor.
The trouble is that propaganda is most convincing for the propagandist himself. And after you convince yourself that a lie is the truth and falsification reality, you can no longer make rational decisions.
An example of this process surrounds the most shocking atrocity of this war so far: the shelling of the UN Fakhura school in Jabaliya refugee camp.
Immediately after the incident became known throughout the world, the army "revealed" that Hamas fighters had been firing mortars from near the school entrance. As proof they released an aerial photo which indeed showed the school and the mortar. But within a short time the official army liar had to admit that the photo was more than a year old. In brief: a falsification.
Later the official liar claimed that "our soldiers were shot at from inside the school". Barely a day passed before the army had to admit to UN personnel that that was a lie, too. Nobody had shot from inside the school, no Hamas fighters were inside the school, which was full of terrified refugees.
But the admission made hardly any difference anymore. By that time, the Israeli public was completely convinced that "they shot from inside the school", and TV announcers stated this as a simple fact.
So it went with the other atrocities. Every baby metamorphosed, in the act of dying, into a Hamas terrorist. Every bombed mosque instantly became a Hamas base, every apartment building an arms cache, every school a terror command post, every civilian government building a "symbol of Hamas rule". Thus the Israeli army retained its purity as the "most moral army in the world".
THE TRUTH is that the atrocities are a direct result of the war plan. This reflects the personality of Ehud Barak - a man whose way of thinking and actions are clear evidence of what is called "moral insanity", a sociopathic disorder.
The real aim (apart from gaining seats in the coming elections) is to terminate the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In the imagination of the planners, Hamas is an invader which has gained control of a foreign country. The reality is, of course, entirely different.
The Hamas movement won the majority of the votes in the eminently democratic elections that took place in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. It won because the Palestinians had come to the conclusion that Fatah's peaceful approach had gained precisely nothing from Israel - neither a freeze of the settlements, nor release of the prisoners, nor any significant steps toward ending the occupation and creating the Palestinian state. Hamas is deeply rooted in the population - not only as a resistance movement fighting the foreign occupier, like the Irgun and the Stern Group in the past - but also as a political and religious body that provides social, educational and medical services.
From the point of view of the population, the Hamas fighters are not a foreign body, but the sons of every family in the Strip and the other Palestinian regions. They do not "hide behind the population", the population views them as their only defenders.
Therefore, the whole operation is based on erroneous assumptions. Turning life into living hell does not cause the population to rise up against Hamas, but on the contrary, it unites behind Hamas and reinforces its determination not to surrender. The population of Leningrad did not rise up against Stalin, any more than the Londoners rose up against Churchill.
He who gives the order for such a war with such methods in a densely populated area knows that it will cause dreadful slaughter of civilians. Apparently that did not touch him. Or he believed that "they will change their ways" and "it will sear their consciousness", so that in future they will not dare to resist Israel.
A top priority for the planners was the need to minimize casualties among the soldiers, knowing that the mood of a large part of the pro-war public would change if reports of such casualties came in. That is what happened in Lebanon Wars I and II.
This consideration played an especially important role because the entire war is a part of the election campaign. Ehud Barak, who gained in the polls in the first days of the war, knew that his ratings would collapse if pictures of dead soldiers filled the TV screens.
Therefore, a new doctrine was applied: to avoid losses among our soldiers by the total destruction of everything in their path. The planners were not only ready to kill 80 Palestinians to save one Israeli soldier, as has happened, but also 800. The avoidance of casualties on our side is the overriding commandment, which is causing record numbers of civilian casualties on the other side.
That means the conscious choice of an especially cruel kind of warfare - and that has been its Achilles heel.
A person without imagination, like Barak (his election slogan: "Not a Nice Guy, but a Leader") cannot imagine how decent people around the world react to actions like the killing of whole extended families, the destruction of houses over the heads of their inhabitants, the rows of boys and girls in white shrouds ready for burial, the reports about people bleeding to death over days because ambulances are not allowed to reach them, the killing of doctors and medics on their way to save lives, the killing of UN drivers bringing in food. The pictures of the hospitals, with the dead, the dying and the injured lying together on the floor for lack of space, have shocked the world. No argument has any force next to an image of a wounded little girl lying on the floor, twisting with pain and crying out: "Mama! Mama!"
The planners thought that they could stop the world from seeing these images by forcibly preventing press coverage. The Israeli journalists, to their shame, agreed to be satisfied with the reports and photos provided by the Army Spokesman, as if they were authentic news, while they themselves remained miles away from the events. Foreign journalists were not allowed in either, until they protested and were taken for quick tours in selected and supervised groups. But in a modern war, such a sterile manufactured view cannot completely exclude all others - the cameras are inside the strip, in the middle of the hell, and cannot be controlled. Aljazeera broadcasts the pictures around the clock and reaches every home.
THE BATTLE for the TV screen is one of the decisive battles of the war.
Hundreds of millions of Arabs from Mauritania to Iraq, more than a billion Muslims from Nigeria to Indonesia see the pictures and are horrified. This has a strong impact on the war. Many of the viewers see the rulers of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority as collaborators with Israel in carrying out these atrocities against their Palestinian brothers.
The security services of the Arab regimes are registering a dangerous ferment among the peoples. Hosny Mubarak, the most exposed Arab leader because of his closing of the Rafah crossing in the face of terrified refugees, started to pressure the decision-makers in Washington, who until that time had blocked all calls for a cease-fire. These began to understand the menace to vital American interests in the Arab world and suddenly changed their attitude - causing consternation among the complacent Israeli diplomats.
People with moral insanity cannot really understand the motives of normal people and must guess their reactions. "How many divisions has the Pope?" Stalin sneered. "How many divisions have people of conscience?" Ehud Barak may well be asking.
As it turns out, they do have some. Not numerous. Not very quick to react. Not very strong and organized. But at a certain moment, when the atrocities overflow and masses of protesters come together, that can decide a war.
THE FAILURE to grasp the nature of Hamas has caused a failure to grasp the predictable results. Not only is Israel unable to win the war, Hamas cannot lose it.
Even if the Israeli army were to succeed in killing every Hamas fighter to the last man, even then Hamas would win. The Hamas fighters would be seen as the paragons of the Arab nation, the heroes of the Palestinian people, models for emulation by every youngster in the Arab world. The West Bank would fall into the hands of Hamas like a ripe fruit, Fatah would drown in a sea of contempt, the Arab regimes would be threatened with collapse.
If the war ends with Hamas still standing, bloodied but unvanquished, in face of the mighty Israeli military machine, it will look like a fantastic victory, a victory of mind over matter.
What will be seared into the consciousness of the world will be the image of Israel as a blood-stained monster, ready at any moment to commit war crimes and not prepared to abide by any moral restraints. This will have severe consequences for our long-term future, our standing in the world, our chance of achieving peace and quiet.
In the end, this war is a crime against ourselves too, a crime against the State of Israel.
102 Comments so far
Show AllI tend to agree with you Cobra, however, it would be the true fault of those who would choose to respond with ignorance and violence and brutality.
Transform-You are right as well. It just seems that all of this is being finely orchestrated, and is coming to a head. All of this is pure insanity, and no one seems to care at all. It's not fair to Arab or Jew alike who want to live their lives in peace.
To bluto and joehope:
If another Holocaust happens, it will be your own damn fault..You and your ilk.
Those two clowns will blame everyone else if that were to happen.
I tend to agree with you Cobra, however, it would be the true fault of those who would choose to respond with ignorance and violence and brutality.
Yes, israel is most assuredly setting the stage, and it is the height of insanity and foolishness. They are of course, not interested in jewish people or anyone for that matter. And they certainly aren't about jewish ethics. So, they aren't a jewish state. It is a complete fraud, certainly at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if it is just a front for something cheney and his ilk are doing.
Does it occur to anyone (well, of course uri avnery gets it, and more than him), that what they are doing can't possibly benefit anyone at all? It isn't in anyone's interest. Who knows, people probably have information on other people and blackmailing each other. I'm sure that is all part of this horror.
As passionate and well-argued as Uri's opinion may be, think for a moment. Reflect on what has gone before.
Only 2 1/2 years ago, we witness similar or worse atrocities and over-reactions by Israel against Lebanon. AFter a 6 months or a year, the outrage subsided, and today, much of the West (especially the U.S. govt.) are more-or-less supportive of Israel's move in Gaza.
Remember Sabra and Shatila, and the futile Invasion of Lebanon nearly 30 yrs ago. Remember Israel's 1967 6-day unprovoked attack. Remember Israeal violating the U.N. Arms embargo in 1947-8.
My point? ON and on it goes, Israel getting away with whatever she does. And in time, the rage this time will also fade into a memory.
Israel will likely gain some strategic advantage (though I'm only able to guess what). She will suffer a PR black eye over this, of course. But the West and U.S. will forgive and forget. The Arab street, no. But I'm sorry to say, this is just another chapter in a very long sordid story, to be continued somewhere else against someday.
Israel surely posseses some strange mystical power that enables it to survive and evade being brought to justice. God only knows how and why, but that's the reality here, and human institutions of justice or nilitary counter-force, after 60 repetitive years, are proving impotent against this beastly entity and her servile U.S. consort.
"Israel surely posseses some strange mystical power that enables it to survive and evade being brought to justice. God only knows how and why, but that's the reality here, and human institutions of justice or nilitary counter-force, after 60 repetitive years, are proving impotent against this beastly entity and her servile U.S. consort."
AIPAC/Mossad blackmail most likely.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
A strange mystical power? Nah...Just lots of chutzpa without conscience and a world that is morally bankrupt...
In the early-to-mid-1950's, my family and I moved to Farragut Houses, a newly- constructed New York City Housing Authority development across the street from the main entrance to the then-Department-of-Defense-run Brooklyn Navy Yard (I visited the USS Saratoga, there, while it was under construction). I was a human shield for over five years. My elementary school, P.S. 287, was diagonally across the street from the Navy Yard and we staged air raid drills where we went under our desks to practice protecting ourselves from Soviet attacks. Wouldn't it be cool, euphemistically speaking, to stage national demonstrations consisting of the large number of Americans who found themselves in the same government-instigated hostage predicament?
Good point. goes to show what nonsense the whole argument israel uses that Hamas uses its people as human shields.
In another thread on CD, I pointed out to the troll 'fritzwunderlich' that Churchill hid behind Londoners during the Blitz while he planned the Dresden and Hamburg firebombing, and the Red Army hid behind civilians in Stalingrad when Hitler politely knocked at the gates. 'fritzwunderlich' response: "As you don`t understand history and context, it is obvious that you had to post your nonsense."
I really agree with Uri ... but nonetheless another thought came up in my mind this morning. There is no way that Hamas can win the military conflict. They might be able to shot some IDF soldier here or there; but in general; they are not able to bring much harm to their opponents.
So, when looking back to WWII ... this very much looks like the situation the Germans were in when the Russian troops were approaching Berlin. The German government decided to fight "til the last man" (or child whatsoever). Thousands and thousands had to die ... before the remaining criminals had "enough" and decided to give up.
As I said - Hamas will NEVER come up with a military success story. But if they would stop fighting right now ... they would be the morale winners of this conflict all around the globe. No doubt about that.
Instead their leaders sit in their bunkers and tell their people: "fight til the last man". Not sure if that is a wise idea.
Of course, it will fill their ranks in 1, 5, 10 years. But is it really the best for the Palestinian people?
I doubt it ...
The Israels are always trying to instigate conflict and then they blame it on the Palestinians and generally lie and predictably lie and lie and lie again. We have a news blackout here in the US--our media and Government are owned--but the truth is leaking out here and there--the rest of the world reports what the free press of the world's greatest Democracy has to suppress. But I ask you--maybe the Palestinians should just lay down and accept their plight in their blocaded ghettos and then, as one Israeli on another thread suggested, Israel might allow them life in the camps? Did the Jews have the right to fight back from the ghettos?
How come the Palestinians aren't allowed to defend themselves--because it is Israel that controls the situation?
Careful. I am not saying that they should sit down and do nothing. I am merely questioning if their current strategy is really the BEST option they have. What happens if Hamas continues it current approach? What might happen if they stop fighting?
When I try to answer these questions, I start wondering if the Hamas leadership is continuing the fighting because of THEIR interest. Everybody is convinced that one of the main reasons for the IDF to fight ... is because a "good war" will be good for Mr. Olmert in the upcoming elections. So, we are all convinced that Olmert is NOT acting in the interest of his own people ... but why do you give more credit to the Hamas leadership?
>>Careful. I am not saying that they should sit down and do nothing. I am merely questioning if their current strategy is really the BEST option they have. What happens if Hamas continues it current approach? What might happen if they stop fighting
They stopped fighting in the 3 months prior to the breaking of the ceasefire by Israel. They also stopped fighting on the West Bank.
What happened?
On the west bank Israel started expanding its settlements at an even greater rate further marginalizing the West Bank Palestinians.
In Gaza, the Israeli Governmnet started assasinating Hamas leaders in order to provoke a response.
The underlying problem is the MSM and the World Governments will not hold Israel to task for its many violations of the law and continue to push the "Hamas Started it" mumbo jumbo.
Israel has OPENLY admitted that Hamas did not fire any rockets on Israel during the ceasefire. Yet we still have their spokespeople coming to these boards proclaiming the lie that Israel could not just sit back while "Thousands of rockets were fired on them".
We have the next President of the United States repeating the same Israeli lie.
How do we change THAT parameter?
Reminds me of the Black Panthers who provided schools and meals for black children in the ghetto, but also were determined to defend themselves. They could not be allowed to live, and the United States, in the form of the FBI wiped them out and threw the survivors into jail for being terrorists. The Israelis did not get their 'moral insanity' out of nowhere. The United States developed this disorder to a high degree over the course of centuries. J. Edgar Hoover was a modern prime example, just as Ehud Barak is in Israel. The United States will never stop backing Israel. Israel are US. In our guts we know that the Palestinian rag heads are just a bunch of trash getting in the way of expansion, similar to the American Indian in our own history.
They are a satellite military base for the u.s. But what happens when they are no longer needed? "First they came for the communists, and i said i wasn't a communist...." How soon we forget.
Israel hasn't lost. What they got is a Pyrrhic victory and that will probably be more evident in days ahead.
Thank you Uri, THANK YOU!!! This is one of the best articles I have read on this matter, and puts to rest all the nonsense about Hamas using its people as Human Shield. This is perfect timing considering that a Propaganda blitz of massive proportion has been unleashed in the mainstream media and internet with the Shills using this as their main talking point. I see it everywhere.
I will print this article. Also, I went into Uri's site Gush-Shalom and read his biography. This guy has been around a long time (born 1923) and knows what he is talking about because he has lived there his whole life.
The sixth commandment is "Thou shall not kill". The one God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. As a people of God, this is our inheritance.
I learned these things in Sunday School. Sunday School didn't teach that the crusades went to the holy land so that the Roman Catholic church could reclaim its land inheritance. At one point the Christian conquerors killed all the Muslims living in Jerusalem.
Next, Sunday School didn't teach that "Thou shall not kill" is equally part of the Muslim inheritance from God, who gave the Commandments to Moses, and the Old Testament got passed down through history. Jerusalem is the second-holiest city in the Muslim world, in part because Jesus of Nazareth was once there, in part because most of the story of God is in the vicinity. Jesus is part of the Muslim inheritance too.
Who are the people of God? We are, of course. Then how about them? And those others too? Does God have a pedigree system of religious inheritance that excludes all of the people across the tracks, or is it the quality of any individual's caring that pleases God?
I think that individuals on both sides of the war are quietly searching their souls about the "Thou shall not kill" commandment.
For me, I'm not at all convinced that the war is working for Israel. Is each particular life taken getting anyone anywhere? Is a lasting peace being achieved through yet another life taken? Further, are there really entirely good lives and entirely bad lives in the world to be ended, or is everyone more or less human?
'The sixth commandment is "Thou shall not kill".'
Paraphrasing George W Bush in Nov 2005: "It’s just a goddamned piece of rock!"
The problem with using the bible as a basis for ethics is it says all sorts of contradictory things like one moment "though shalt not kill," and then the next moment "smite your enemies and unbelievers" and kill all their menfolk and take their women prisoner and rape them:
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/
Rather than use this bunch of conflicting non sense as a basis for ethics I prefer a basic secular don't cause unnecessary pain. Straightforward and to the point, what's not to like?
Don't forget Leviticus 25:44-46: "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves."
Sioux Rose
HOOTOWL: Good post. Actually one key Buddhist axiom is simply: "Harm none."
"Don't cause unnecessary pain"...so how do you decide what is necessary pain. And well "I didn't cause it" is convenient when you come in to stop it. Even the Israelis claim they are solving a problem because after all "Hamas are terrorists". They all already claim they are following rules of a sort. No one goes around quoting from the Bible to justify their ruthless deeds.
And when you refer to the Bible please learn what it really says. Anyone who reads Hebrew would just dismiss your account of the sixth commandment. (see my other response on this Paulk's comment to see what I mean).
I am surprised that so many people who claim to reject ancient text are often completely ignorant of how the mainstream of that religion of that text uses and understands it. To understand anything that is written in the past or in a setting other than your own, you need to see what it meant in the context it was written in, and in the context of the time the story refers to, and the later contexts of how it is being used to make certain teaching points. One thing I am sure of is our old "Sunday School" version of some of our old stories are not the basis for modern governmental decisions to go to war.
What worries me more is a particular "end of the world" interpretation of the Bible amongst many evangelical and more fundamental Christians in the West. There is a "Bible Based" belief that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land is one of the pre-conditions for the return of Jesus. They believe the world is rapidly headed towards Armaggedon - the "final battle" between good and evil.
The main problem with this belief is that people who have it could influence things in such a way that it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. For instance, the US sieging and then bombing and invading Saddam Hussein's Iraq which was keeping Iran in check, has actually led to an increase in the power of Iran.
Many fundamentalist Christians using their Bible incorrectly as "evidence" are continually looking for that great nation which is going to try to over-run Israel to set off the final battle. Some used to think it was the USSR or China. Many now are looking for Iran to be the big enemy.
To me, such conjecture about the enemy for "the final battle" based on very obscure writings in the Bible, are very dangerous to the peace of the world. Many of those prophecies were relevent for the time in which they were written - they are now merely ripe for misuse by people who make overly simplistic and imaginative leaps to claim to the gullible that these writings make predictions about now, thousands of years after they were written.
The upshot is that Christians who believe in this interpretation of the "end times" actually appear to be supporting Israel now but they believe that the Jews will convert to Jesus as their Jewish nation is being destroyed by "The enemy". Then Jesus will come and take his own to rule or live with him in a "new world".
The problem is not with the ancient writing if correctly understood from their original contexts. The problem is with people who take too much of these writings out of context and take them literally to construct theories of what is going to happen WITHOUT ANY RELATION TO CONCRETE HERE AND NOW REALITY. They see here and now through the eyes of these "end of the world" theories and so make really stupid decisions of who to support and why? People like this are extremely abundant in the U.S. and make up a huge percentage of the U.S. Christians for Zionism group. Jews should be warned, however, that most of these supporters are doing it because they expect the Jews will eventually "repent" during their suffering and "come to Jesus". In other words, as most of such Christian "supporters" of Israel do not accept that Jews are okay as they are, you could say such Christians are kind of anti-semites. In the mean time, they are creating a self fulfilling prophecy of Israel getting attacked one day by encouraging Israel in such fool hardy ventures that increase the hatred against them.
Sioux Rose
JAN: There is a power to self-fulfilling prophecy when many fuel it. Blair and Bush either believed in End Times or led their Christian followers to presume that they did. The huge megachurches preach this "theory," and the dark irony I think is best explained from a very different arena. Ancient Hindus, mystics and astrologers all understand that there exist long cycles of time. These perhaps convey major universal curricula. Christianity emerged at the cusp between the Age of Aries, where the notion of the deity was etched in the likeness of Mars, god of war; and that of Pisces, where the FISHER of men came to bring the lesson and teaching of peace.
What happened was that the warrior ways were maintained largely with Jesus' name attached as false endorsement. How else to explain calamitous wars and preparing for war as if the deity requires these levels of hatred and violence as proof of fealty on the part of its followers? The absurd construct behind such deadly expressions of religious devotion ought be exposed. It comes from a distorted concept of God that's been promulgated down the centuries, anyone positioned to challenge it faced a death sentence and was branded heretic. Not many people are intellectually prepared to ponder different definitions for God, particularly when the very act of questioning has been rendered the analytical equivalent of forbidden fruit.
The astrologer, first heretic, posed the question when the church proclaimed itself the spokesperson for god, "exactly WHICH God are you referring to." I am here in this forum to state that all evidence points to Mars. There are, enlightened persons who transcend the letter of the law of their religious foundations and out of a LOVE (Jesus taught the greatest of these is love) for humanity, truly rise to the calling of a higher power and understanding, some like Dr. King transform lives and alter destiny.
PaulK
I wish it did say "Thou shall not kill" but the ancient text is better translated "Do not commit murder"...Apparently the word used in the sixth commandment is the same as elsewhere in the text where the context clearly indicates it's about "murder"; it is not the same word as the one used for either killing animals or for executions or killing in war.
When Western Christian Crusaders came into Jerusalem and killed all the Muslims, they also slaughtered all the Jerusalem Christians and Jews. To the Crusaders they all looked the same as they were sharing the same culture, dressed the same, used the same technology, attended the same markets etc. They were all Semites and to European Christian armies they all looked and smelt the same..."the enemy".
When the Palestinians first became refugees, a large proportion of them were Christians. Originally the bulk of the PLO leadership were Christians from Palestine. Over a period of time, the Muslim Palestinians have taken a bigger role in the resistance against Israel. One point is surely that it is not really about what religion people are; it has more to do with oppression by one group over another. It is probably more accurately described as being about the domination by those whose ancestors were steeped in European tradition, culture and learning, over groups of Palestinian people who were for generations indigenous to the Middle East and had not been part of the Renaissance, the "Enlightenment" and the Industrial Revolution.
Point accepted. I have confused "Thou shall not murder a countryman (or a stranger) in peacetime" with "Thou shall not kill".
In my mind I have also sloppily mixed "Thou shall not kill" with Isaiah's "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they war no more." Jesus of Nazareth, that famous mainstream rabbi of his time, followed up on Isaiah's remarks with "Love your enemies". Jesus also commented on being a Roman soldier as a career, "All who live by the sword surely shall die by the sword." All of this was a logical extension of Old Testament mainstream Israeli thought. Torah writings of the time just before Jesus contain much of Jesus's philosophy of forgiveness.
Furthermore, the New Testament writings are laced with horror at the atrocities that soldiers and Roman governors of the time committed in a supposed peacetime: killing a town full of boy babies, serving the head of John the Baptist on a platter, torturing and nailing Jesus alive for no good legal reason.
1952 i am sitting in the front row of my 2nd grade class reading the weekly reader..'n there is a story about Gaza and refugee camps..(why do i remember this???)..'n i did not understand it then 'n 56 yrs. later i still do not understand!!
ken
Well then educate yourself already Ken, its not that difficult to understand.
i quit understand the history of the Gaza refugee camps..i do not understand the policy of allowing such a situation to exit for all these years..is it oil?? since i spent time with that article i have had children, grand children, great grand children which means they do also..what i do not understand is what positive value the US gains to allow this to fester for what is now the majority of my life..why..why is this still happening?? where's the value?? what's in it for the US.
ken
Mr Obama is a puppet of the Zionist state ,for they control the power and finances of the USA. It is only the Arab states that can save the Palestinians and they are deeply lacking in resolve, sacrificing the Palestine peoples on their respective alters to the dogs of war in the hope they will be spared being carved up into smaller states.
The Anglo Saxon Diaspora along the past colonial powers ARROGANTLY created the state of Israel in 1947 out of Palestine .
These colonial Nations and their Spawns are seen as predatory nations by 80 % of the nations of this planet. The Nations who have felt their sting physically and economically, have survived in various forms
Most Nations in Asia have survived them at huge phisical and economic cost emerging with their culture and languages intact , Africa is still vulnerable, the so called Americas Australia New Zeeland , the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands WERE NOT AS FORTUNATE , they have suffered physical and cultural genocide the survivors languish in psychological disarray .
Palestine was dismantled in 1947 and parts given to a newly formed state called Israel The Palestinian Peoples are resisting that land grab , fighting for their homeland from 1947 until the present
Who ever is reading this ….. Question: Were you a Palestinian what would you Do?
If you are from a Predator nation you most likely will find for the Israel peoples
However if you are past victims of a predator nation you will empathies and find for the Palestinian peoples and that is 80 % of the planets peoples
The Arab states can't really do anything without looking like they are ganging up on Israel. AIPAC controls our Congress and our gov. makes it clear we don't want anyone picking on poor little Israel.
It's sad that if you make a comment condemning Israel for their actions then you are labeled as an anti-semetic Nazi and a supporter of terrorism. If you praise Israel, then you are a war monger.
The author is right though. Israel is going to be the instrument of it's own demise. This "battle for Gaza" is all orchestrated regardless, just as 9/11 was before that. It's the death throes of the failed bush regime. If the US can survive long enough to avoid getting involved in this nonsense, Obama may have a chance to help bring about some order.
Remember that until all these religious morons (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc.) finally kill each other off, peace will continue to elude us.
Go beyond feeing like Job and wringng your hands, non-zionist Israelis.
Throw out your corrupt, incestuous genocidal government.
¡Que se vayan todos!
Support for this bloody massacre is currently running at 82% in Israel with practically the other 18% abstaining.
Israel could slaughter half the people on earth and when the other half hate and despise them for it they would call it a victory and make a few hundred more holocaust movies.
Have you noticed that the last time they went on their terroristic march in 2006, hollywood came out with the movie "The Good German", a subtle reminder to the world of the holocaust? This time there are two movies: "Valkyrie" and "Defiant".
,
Uri Avnery is a man of great heart and great courage.
The State of Israel is engaged in the GENOCIDE of the Palestinian peoples in Gaza. Israeli Military Leaders, as well as, it's political leadership will be charged with War Crimes in the future.
Both the citizens of the State of Israel, and the citizens of the U.S.A., are waking-up to the monsterous and horrible truths of this War on the almost 2 million civilians of Gaza.
The vastly improved Media Technologies are being focused of this destruction of the Gaza Strip. The eyes of the world are seeing these war crimes as they happen. The people of Israel are waking up to the facts
STOP THIS WAR >>>>>TODAY
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WOW! I think I'll print this out and leave it at my local library.
Very Good Idea!!!! I think I will too.
"The trouble is that propaganda is most convincing for the propagandist himself." This is the crucial sentence. I have Israeli students in New York and I often ask them when they are speaking with me who it is that they are trying to convince: me or themselves. I cannot buy into their arguments, as I find them indefensible, but the more they speak the more they become certain of themselves.
and so it goes -- what goes around comes around:
where jews were the victims of the Nazis and their propaganda....ISRAEL has now taken on the mantle of propaganda perfected by the Nazis:
"IT IS NO GREAT ACHIEVEMENT TO MAKE PEOPLE DO YOUR BIDDING AND BELIEVE YOU....all you have to do , is take a lie, reduce it to the understanding of the lowest intelligence among the people...tell them that 'we are being attacked'........
repeat and repeat it until it is accepted as Truth...and then denounce the opposition and pacifists as Unpatriotic and Aiding the Enemy...
it doesn't matter if it is a democracy, socialism or fascism or any dictatorship.....it works anywhere".
Joseph Goebbels - NAZI propagandist.
"THE MEDIA should be thought of as a Giant Typewriter on which the State can type whatever it pleases"
Adolf Hitler.
the USA government and corporations, and war industry , neocons and zionists and their enablers certainly LEARNED these lessons VERY well , indeed.
Part of Goebbel's statemnt about propaganda included the acknowledgement of Walter Lippmann as his source. Lippmann was one of Woodrow Wilson's advisors and one of his jobs was to build a case for the U.S. going to war against Germany in WWI.
Reference, please.
The "moral insanity" includes the kind of rationalizing heard today on Amy Goodman via Lanny Davis that Hamas is deliberately targeting civilians whereas Israel is merely acting in self-defense in its massacring of Palestinian civilians. Thus in this point of view, slaughtering civilians as "defense," including 250 children, is acceptable because, tho unfortunate, it is really all the fault of Hamas. The cause of this latest war is thus framed in terms of "defense" (Israel) vs. "atrocity" (Hamas) because Hamas was digging tunnels. It began Nov 4 when Israel took action against digging the tunnels, which is apparently the moral equivalent of firing rockets into Israel. Other matters, such as stirring up the Israeli populace for support in forthcoming elections, or taking advantage of political changes in Washington, are not important--all are buried beneath the overwhelming rationalization of Hamas's "terrorist" aggression. One who is "morally insane" is excellent at self-justifications and disregard for consequences. The ultimate irony is that this militaristic opportunism by Israel will not succeed, even if the Israeli forces slaughter or capture every Hamas warrior in Gaza, because Israeli actions are assuredly seeding a future Hamas and return to more violence year after year.
yes... the next time someone punches me in the face because he is mad at my policeman neighbor, remind me that I am fully within my legal rights to pull out an AK47 and massacre his whole famliy plus a sizable number of his neighbors, coworkers and anyone else at the bus stop where he may or may not be on his way to and/or from work.
I wrote a tribute to the Hamas Freedom Fighters, Uri, the ones fighting for their freedom against the fanatical Children of God.
Could I ask everyone on C.D. to visit my blog and leave a comment of support. If we get enough names, someone, somewhere, might take notice, and the genocide might stop.
Please.
www.dangerouscreation.com
P.S. The U.S.Central Command spent 68 minutes on my blog yesterday. It must be having some impact!
Thank you Mr. Averny and may Life bless you for writing this.
Yes, I see Israel as the monster that it has become (or perhaps always was?). Israel is Goliath. I weep for David, the Palestinians and Palestine far, far more than I do for any Israeli who clearly is well protected, overly defended, and not the victim here. Not by a long shot.
I also agree with your mention of Barak. "Not a nice guy, but a leader." What a disgrace! What a shame.
As is America's Barack, for his silent complicity. A pathetic, shameful disgrace!
Great article and incisive analysis. To focus on the harm done to the perpetrator and criminal is a wise choice. Unjust war, let it be said, by committing GENOCIDE, the Israeli government does immeasurable harm to the consciousness of the Israeli people. How can they ever learn to think straight enough to save themselves ad mist Arab peoples by such moral turpitude. Denial creates profound disruption in awareness and understanding. Truly sad. We Americans live the same, each day in denial of the pain, suffering, murder and mayhem that's caused by our government and their military thugs. Thank you for the post.
Americans are quite justly horrified and indignant at what happened on 9/11 when 3,000 people were killed.
GAZA TODAY. The Israelis -- supported with American tax dollars and using American weapons -- have attacked Gaza. So far 888 Gazans have been killed.
I just did some calculations based on the Gaza population of 1.3 million people and the U.S. population of 300,000,000 people [there are actually more than that]. If the same killing rate was going on in the United States right now 205,000 AMERICANS WOULD BE DEAD.
And the killing goes on.
I actually don't like when people make that comparison. I have heard Israel do it to justify killing a few extra Palestinians because there are more of them. A death is the loss of somebody's life, not a percentage of a population.
With respect to 9/11, I take your point, but would at the same time, posit that as a false analogy.
The people of Gaza didn't cause 9/11. Iraq didn't cause 9/11. Afghanistan didn't cause 9/11. Osama Bin Laden didn't cause 9/11.
The American and Israeli governments caused 9/11. We have to open our eyes. Look at the evidence. 9/11 was a product of the American/Israeli alliance.
It's interesting to think of the loss of life (3000 American dead) on 9/11 in comparison to the loss of life in Gaza, so far. But we have to think of the loss of life in Afghanistan, Irag (hundreds of thousands) and now Gaza as part of a continuum, and as something instigated by the United States and Israel.
'Look at the evidence. 9/11 was a product of the American/Israeli alliance.'
Saying this just gives the neocons ammo. It is better to state that one month before 9/11, Mossad warned the CIA in a very detailed report that an attack was imminent, and provided several names, many of whom were associates of the provocateurs. It was Mossd's and CIA's inaction that lead to 9/11.
As a follow-up to Jack Nelson Steward comment:
One of the most infuriating, biased pieces of bullshit propaganda I've come across is this by Charles Krauthammer, writing in the Washington Post. Has anyone read this?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/01/AR2009010101780.html
Here's one particularly charming excerpt:
"Some geopolitical conflicts are morally complicated. The Israel-Gaza war is not. It possesses a moral clarity not only rare but excruciating. Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger."
Gee, thanks Israel! You're swell, and so considerate:-)
Talk about excruciating!
"[Israel] contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger."
Um, Germany dropped leaflets over Great Britain during the Blitz. Does that make Hitler OK now?
conscious, Thank You. I'm repulsed. Beyond propaganda...maybe the most nauseating lies I've ever read.
And, "Hamas...lala..the religion of Jew-Murder" NICE! (Translate, Islam is the religion of Jew-Murder)
I think now, after seeing just how Insane, Hateful and Homicidal the Zionists are, that they will Soon use Nuclear Weapons against Iran. Nuclear Weapons with a Scrupulous Regard for Human Life. Signed by children on field-trips!
Krauthammer is one of the most repulsive human beings, inside and out, that I have ever witnessed.
If he is even human.
Interesting to hear the comments of others on this particular subject.
I personally was shocked when I came across this article in what I would have thought to have been a relatively mainstream, "respectable" mass-media publication like the Washington Post.
When clearly these are - or ought to be - the sentiments of a lunatic fringe.
Honestly, I can't believe that anyone would be so capable of devaluing human life as are the apologists for and defenders of Israel's indiscriminate and murderous policies.
Mr. Avnery's essay is great. I doubt if this essay could have said more. I would like to add a couple of comments. 1. The 1917 Balfour Declaration which cast the die for the creation of Israel was done with the awareness that it would result in constant turmoil and result in the genocide of the natives. Theodore Hertzel wrote "First we shall buy land and then when our numbers are high enough we shall drive out the natives." 2. Lord Balfour when asked by one of the witnessing Zionists why no Plaestinians had been included in the crafting of the document replied, "Blacks have no rights." Balfour also stated that the turmoil restulting in the region would distract the population from the West's taking of the oil. And as Mr. Avnery and Ms. Klein have previously stated these attacks are used to test weapons.
AS Michael Neuman has written, it is time for Zionism to be abandoned. When is Mr. Avnery and other advocates of peace within the Zionist entity going to leave it and campaign against it from outside?
If your local newpaper has an online edition and you can post comments there, read the articles describing the "war" and the comments that are posted. Then calmly, without name-calling or exaggeration, write the truth. Reply to the misinformation and distortion with simple facts and the truth. Most people only "know" what our media have presented.
Remind readers that the fundamental struggle in the Middle East right now is the Palestinians trying to either regain their country, which was stolen from them in the foundation of the state of Israel, or be fairly compensated for its loss. Remind people that the state of Israel is supported in its continued occupation of ALL of Palestine primarily by the United States of America, and, if we want to approach the cessation of hostilities between our nation and the Arabs and most of the rest of the Muslim world, we must STOP being the source of the arms and delivery platforms and munitions Israel is using to punish the Palestinians for continuing to demand fair settlement for the loss of their country and for electing a party that promised to DO something about that.
Point out that those commonly printed and broadcast pictures of the bursting shells trailing thin streamers of white smoke toward the ground are WHITE PHOSPHOROUS and encourage them to read up on that. Ask your 'NamVet buddies to tell people about "Willie Peter."
It is time to reply, in straight talk, without hysteria or name calling or personal attack, to the unbalanced picture our media have presented of the struggle between the Palestinian people and the state of Israel.
I am currently writing in my local paper's online publication in Tampa.
Get busy.
"The real aim (apart from gaining seats in the coming election) is to terminate the rule of Hamas in the Gaza strip."
In respected political science circles, a prominent theory holds that as more and more nations adopt the ideals of democracy as a form of government, there will likely be less warfare among nation states. As a subtext for Uri Avnery's fine and eloquent analysis of what is really going on right now in Gaza, I submit that this conventional wisdom about peace and democracy going hand in hand is dangerously wrong.
Both Israel and the United States are well developed electoral democracies by international standards. Both have a vibrant history of free speech, diversity of grassroots opinion, and freedom of the press. Yet who can deny that George W. Bush did not consciously time the propaganda run up to the invasion of Iraq (and the timing of the vote on the use of force authorization) in order to impact the 2004 Congressional elections in favor of the GOP? Olhmert similarly pulls the trigger against Hamas in Gaza at this particular moment, in order for Israeli public opinion to rally in his party's direction, all the better to outflank and coopt the even more hawkish Zionist opposition.
According to the textbooks, this is not at all the way that the spread of democracy is supposed to work. It's supposed to lead to less war, less militarism, and less regime through naked use of military force.
It's almost as if Wag the Dog is becoming a standard operating procedure - an acceptable, perpetual "option on the table" - for incumbent politicans. I guess that's what happens when sabre rattling and jingoism get elevated into positive partisan credentials within the nation's prevailing political culture, rather than such bloodthirstiness being viewed as signs of an elected official's recklessness, lawlessness, or moral indifference.
Great post, Mordechai.
Bill from Saginaw
"Shooting fish in a barrel" came to mind when I read about flyers from the Israeli army, warning Palestinians to move because their area was going to strafed or bombed. I'm sure that most Palestinians wouldn't really like me, and I might find it difficult to like them as a group, but if there's just a bit of 'mensch' in a person, you can't just blame all this on Hamas. There's 60 years of history to be considered.
Thank you Avnery. It is getting harder and harder for Israel to win the propaganda war. The truth is out. The analogy between Israel's propaganda and Nazi propaganda is right on the mark. Hopefully the world starts a thorough academic boycott of Israel along with economic sanctions. STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH ISRAEL!
People with moral insanity cannot really understand the motives of normal people and must guess their reactions.
**so true
I think this with regards to something like vivisection, where scientists, when asked how they can justify their actions, say: we think its justified because of the benefits.
Which is a statement of intent, not a moral defense.
A thief commits a crime because of the benefits, so does a conqueror.
It has nothing to do with morality.
Avnery sums up the big picture well.
Great piece. Thank you, Uri Avnery, for having the incredible courage and moral strength to stand up to a known terrorist state such as Israel. Indeed, Avnery was once a terrorist for Israel and survived an assassination attempt after coming out against the Irgun's terrorist methods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uri_Avnery
"THE TRUTH is that the atrocities are a direct result of the war plan. This reflects the personality of Ehud Barak - a man whose way of thinking and actions are clear evidence of what is called "moral insanity", a sociopathic disorder."
This is indeed moral insanity and a sociopathic disorder. Anyone who justifies the killing of innocents as long as it means one's own ends will be met, is a sociopath. In the case of those who cause others to die, they are murderous sociopaths.
Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.
The U.S. and Israel might do well to remember that.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
Israel's loss to Hezbollah in Lebanon was their equvalent of Vietnam. This is supposed to be their Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, in which the Israelis write "Don't Fuck With The Jews" and "Suck On This" in monumental letters across the sky. In the end, it will be just another in the long list of the best laid plans of mice and men.
The neo-con right-wingnuts are sending "Joe the Plumber" to Gaza to act as a correspondent for http://www.pjtv.com/.
I guess this will bring us "fair and balanced" reporting as well as a lot of photoshopping.
from the article:
the image of Israel as a blood-stained monster
this is the one true picture of this slaughter, the one that will remain
the jews are stealing the land - the water - and if they only had the balls to say it - they would like to excise the palestinians from their land totally
not that they haven't been doing a good job of thievery over the last 60 years but this seems to be the end game ploy - the one whereby you blow up the whole fucking country and force people to leave
this is right out of the nazi play book
israel - the most hated state in the world
that's about right
let's never forget though, that they couldn't maintain this terrorism without the flow of american arms and money
the axis of evil in the world - the us and israael
two sides of the same coin
cheers, b
This is the kind of truth that will never see print in the US corporate media but the rest of the world knows. Israel has long ago lost any legitimacy by its own actions.
The Jaded Prole
"This is the kind of truth that will never see print in the US corporate media but the rest of the world knows. Israel has long ago lost any legitimacy by its own actions."
So, then it's ok to destroy Israel and kill everyone, right? So , that means Hamas has every right to fire missiles indiscriminately into this illegitimately run area?
Many of the rest of us in Israel don't buy the defeatist Peaceniks line so don't get to comfortable that they represent any significant amount of Israelis. The don't. Jews are always afflicted with these people. We had them I'm sure in the camps even.
Unlike in the Arab world , in Israel dissent is tolerated and Jews don't shoot each other for being dumb. Hamas shoots anyone who dares dissent. Yea, they won an election so? The Nazis won in 33' We all see where that went.
blutodog wrote: Unlike in the Arab world , in Israel dissent is tolerated and Jews don't shoot each other for being dumb."
No, you just run over them with bulldozers. Rachel Corrie anyone?
Peace now!
That's really tasteless.
Yes, I agree. Running over Rachel Corrie with a bulldozer was indeed rather tasteless.
I would like someone to define exactly what is a Jew.
Is it a person who practices Judaism?
If so how can there be "atheist Jews"?
Is it an ethnicity?
How can that be so when there are semitic Jews who are Arab by DNA and Jews of European extraction who are Caucasian by DNA?
What is a Jew? It seems to be an ever morphing identity.
Someone please describe to me exactly what is a Jew.
And don't tell me its a person born to a Jewish mother. What makes her a Jew?
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
I'm serious here. I know a lot of Jews read CD and post commentary.
Please. I want to know.
What, exactly, constitutes "being a Jew"? What does it mean to say, "I am a Jew".
What is an "atheist Jew"? I don't think there can be an "atheist Christian" but I could be wrong about that, so also then, what is an "atheist Christian", and are there "atheist Muslims"? Is there such a thing as a "Christian Jew"? If there can be a "Christian Jew" can there be a "Muslim Jew"? What is an "ethnic Jew" if there is such a thing? Are there Jewish Arabs or Arabic Jews (Arabs who are Jews)?
What is a Jew?
Please. I want to know. There is no intended sarcasm or cynicism intended.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
Read Rabbi Harold Kusher's "To Life". He points out that Jews were a people, a community before a religion. It's not a question nor a debate.
But true.
"We had them I'm sure in the camps even." Typical Zionist...whenever the going gets tough the tough hide behind the 6 million and use them to justify Zionist BS.
How dare you! How dare you use MY family, blessed be their memory, which perished in Auschwitz and Dachau to protect yourself and the criminal regime of "Israel".
Help reduce the National Debt - TAX CHURCHES!
Truth_Forward,
As a fellow Jew, you should be ashamed for inciting hatred against our brothers and sisters in Israel. You should be ashamed for supporting the religious fundamentalism of Hamas, whose stated goal is nothing less than the total destruction of Israel.
How can you not be ashamed of yourself for supporting this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S995NCeaUg
You are supporting crimes against the Jewish People all over the world by encouraging the growth of this kind of insidious antisemitism.
Since you referenced Auschwitz and Dachau, you of all people should then understand the importance of preserving the state of Israel. We must never again allow another Holocaust to occur. Israel is the one place on earth where the Jewish can live completely without fear of persecution (except at the hands of the Arabs states and Iran).
Unlike Truthforward who posted a wonderful post, you are a faux Jew.
Who are you to say?
Are you even religious?
Joe, do you not know that it wasn't only jews who were killed in the camps? You howl charges of antisemitism, yet still ignore the fact that the semitic peoples are not only jewish.
I have sorrow for everyone who died in those camps, Jew or Gentile.
But it was not 6 million Gypsies who were systematically murdered by the Nazis.
Oh so that makes their lives less important?
No, Joe, because there were fewer Gypsies in Europe than Jews.
Duh.
Where DO people like you come from, anyway?
I should be asahmed for not supporting an undemocratic state?
"You are supporting crimes against the Jewish People all over the world by encouraging the growth of this kind of insidious antisemitism."
I love my people enough to say that it's Zionism that has given anti-semitism a real shot in the arm. Israel thrives on anti-semitism because it helps maintain the siege mentality on which it feeds.
"Israel is the one place on earth where the Jewish can live completely without fear of persecution (except at the hands of the Arabs states and Iran)."
Fear of persecution? Here in the USA? You're kidding right?
Help reduce the National Debt - TAX CHURCHES!
"Fear of persecution? Here in the USA? You're kidding right? "
No, I'm not.
Visit http://www.adl.org/ and examine their statistics on hate crimes in the USA.
Or just look at all the antisemitic comments appearing here on CD.
If you want to see something really scary, head over to the comments on a right-wing site.
"Or just look at all the antisemitic comments appearing here on CD."
I find the number of antisemitic comments to be overwhelmed by the number of anti-Arab comments.
Interesting joehope, i watched the video and it is true that jewish and muslim peoples got along well in spain just before the wonderful spanish inquisition put an end to that, thank you roman catholic church of torture and empire, but i digress.
I don't see a problem in what was said. And i am jewish. My 'people' do not have any particular religious affiliation or ethnicity. They are kindred spirits who believe we need to help raise the consciousness and compassion of this planet. That is more my criteria than my dna. And it is time to get past tribalism , for all people now...
If 'survival' of a nation state means the loss of all ethics and morality, than perhaps it just ain't worth it. It sure isn't a secure place for a jew to go in case of an 'antisemitic' backlash, which israel is trying its darndest to create. Whey the heck would i want to go to the cause of the problem? Hopefully, the world is too enlightened to let that happen again, but who knows. And it would be just as destructive as it was 60 years ago, of course. But a little nation state just ain't gonna cut it...Well Avnery says it all. And he was a kid in nazi germany when his family left for israel. I think he should know the score.