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Published on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
Who Will Stop the AIPAC Jews Before it is Too Late?
While I was being tackled by security guards at Washington's Convention Center during the AIPAC conference for unfurling a banner that asked "What about Gaza?," my heart was aching. I wasn't bothered so much by the burly guards who were yanking my arms behind by back and dragging me-along with 5 other CODEPINK members-out of the hall. They were doing their job.
What made my heart ache was the hatred I felt from the AIPAC staff who tore up the banner and slammed their hands across my mouth as I tried to yell out: "What about Gaza? What about the children?"
"Shut the f--- up. Shut the f--- up." one staffer yelled, red-faced and sweating as he ran beside me. "This is not the place to be saying that shit. Get the f--- out of here."
What makes my heart ache is thinking about the traumatized children I met on my recent trip to Gaza, and how their suffering is denied by the 6,000 AIPAC conventioneers who are living in a bubble-a bubble where Israel is the victim and all critics are anti-Semitic, terrorist lovers or, as in my case, self-hating Jews.
I found it fascinating that AIPAC's executive director Howard Kohr opened the conference admitting that there was now a huge, international campaign against the policies of Israel. He painted a picture of 30,000 people marching in Spain, Italian trade unionists calling for a boycott of Israeli products, the UN Human Rights Council passing 26 resolutions condemning Israel, an Israeli Apartheid Week that is building a global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.
This global movement, he warned, emanates from the Middle East, echoes in the halls of the United Nations and the capitals of Europe, is voiced in meetings of international peace organizations, and is spreading throughout the United States-from the media to town hall meetings, from campuses to city squares. "No longer is this campaign confined to the ravings of the political far left or far right," he lamented, "but increasingly it is entering the American mainstream."
But Kohr failed to explain why there has been such an explosion in this movement, even among the American Jewish community. He didn't tell the attendees that the world was shocked and outraged by Israel's devastating 22-day attack on Gaza that left over 1,300 people dead-mostly women and children. He didn't mention the killing of civilians fleeing their homes, the use of white phosphorous, the bombing of homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, UN buildings, factories. He didn't talk about the continuing, cruel blockade of the Gaza Strip that is keeping desperately needed humanitarian aid from reaching 1.5 million people and making rebuilding impossible.
There were no seminars at the conference by human rights groups like Amnesty International that are calling for an immediate and comprehensive suspension of arms to Israel. Instead, one after another, U.S. elected officials eager to curry favor with AIPAC pledged continued U.S. financial support for Israel. Senator Kerry, despite that fact that he was one of only a handful of legislators who visited Gaza, didn't say one word about the massive destruction he witnessed and pledged that as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he would do everything to ensure that the $30 billion in military aid to Israel is "delivered in full." "America will continue our military aid, and Israel will keep its military strength," he insisted. Instead of calling for talks with the democratically elected government of Hamas, Kerry said: "Hamas has already won one election-we cannot allow them to win another." He ended his speech shouting several times in Hebrew, "Am Yisrael Chai-Israel lives!"
Even Vice President Biden, who at least told AIPAC that Israel should freeze new settlement activity, didn't say a word about the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's invasion and continued blockade of Gaza. No U.S. officials, and there were hundreds at the conference, dared echo the call of the United Nations or the world community to lift the siege of Gaza.
Republican Congressman Eric Cantor was one of the most emotional speakers, portraying Israel as the victim of an evil global movement determined to wipe out Israel and all Jews. Evoking the "shivering, naked victims who were herded into the gas chambers," he wondered when it would become too late to protect Israel. "When is it too late?", he repeated over and over.
I wonder the same thing. When is it too late, I wonder, to stop Israel from destroying itself? When is it too late to tell AIPAC attendees that more violence and hatred is not the answer? When is it too late to open the hardened hearts of my people, once victims of a terrible holocaust, to realize that by occupying Palestine we have become they evil we deplore? When is it too late to restore meaning to the Hebrew term "tikkun olam" by truly working to heal the world? When is it too late for the Jews of the world to weep for the children of Gaza, recognizing that they, too, are the children of God?
I couldn't ask my questions at AIPAC. My mouth was muzzled by the sweaty hands of hate-filled staffers demanding that I "shut the f--- up." But despite AIPAC's massive funds and influence, I feel certain that more and more members of the Jewish community will step forward and refuse to be silent. I just pray it is not too late.
For information on upcoming delegations to Gaza, see www.codepinkalert.org/gaza.
What made my heart ache was the hatred I felt from the AIPAC staff who tore up the banner and slammed their hands across my mouth as I tried to yell out: "What about Gaza? What about the children?"
"Shut the f--- up. Shut the f--- up." one staffer yelled, red-faced and sweating as he ran beside me. "This is not the place to be saying that shit. Get the f--- out of here."
What makes my heart ache is thinking about the traumatized children I met on my recent trip to Gaza, and how their suffering is denied by the 6,000 AIPAC conventioneers who are living in a bubble-a bubble where Israel is the victim and all critics are anti-Semitic, terrorist lovers or, as in my case, self-hating Jews.
I found it fascinating that AIPAC's executive director Howard Kohr opened the conference admitting that there was now a huge, international campaign against the policies of Israel. He painted a picture of 30,000 people marching in Spain, Italian trade unionists calling for a boycott of Israeli products, the UN Human Rights Council passing 26 resolutions condemning Israel, an Israeli Apartheid Week that is building a global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.
This global movement, he warned, emanates from the Middle East, echoes in the halls of the United Nations and the capitals of Europe, is voiced in meetings of international peace organizations, and is spreading throughout the United States-from the media to town hall meetings, from campuses to city squares. "No longer is this campaign confined to the ravings of the political far left or far right," he lamented, "but increasingly it is entering the American mainstream."
But Kohr failed to explain why there has been such an explosion in this movement, even among the American Jewish community. He didn't tell the attendees that the world was shocked and outraged by Israel's devastating 22-day attack on Gaza that left over 1,300 people dead-mostly women and children. He didn't mention the killing of civilians fleeing their homes, the use of white phosphorous, the bombing of homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, UN buildings, factories. He didn't talk about the continuing, cruel blockade of the Gaza Strip that is keeping desperately needed humanitarian aid from reaching 1.5 million people and making rebuilding impossible.
There were no seminars at the conference by human rights groups like Amnesty International that are calling for an immediate and comprehensive suspension of arms to Israel. Instead, one after another, U.S. elected officials eager to curry favor with AIPAC pledged continued U.S. financial support for Israel. Senator Kerry, despite that fact that he was one of only a handful of legislators who visited Gaza, didn't say one word about the massive destruction he witnessed and pledged that as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he would do everything to ensure that the $30 billion in military aid to Israel is "delivered in full." "America will continue our military aid, and Israel will keep its military strength," he insisted. Instead of calling for talks with the democratically elected government of Hamas, Kerry said: "Hamas has already won one election-we cannot allow them to win another." He ended his speech shouting several times in Hebrew, "Am Yisrael Chai-Israel lives!"
Even Vice President Biden, who at least told AIPAC that Israel should freeze new settlement activity, didn't say a word about the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's invasion and continued blockade of Gaza. No U.S. officials, and there were hundreds at the conference, dared echo the call of the United Nations or the world community to lift the siege of Gaza.
Republican Congressman Eric Cantor was one of the most emotional speakers, portraying Israel as the victim of an evil global movement determined to wipe out Israel and all Jews. Evoking the "shivering, naked victims who were herded into the gas chambers," he wondered when it would become too late to protect Israel. "When is it too late?", he repeated over and over.
I wonder the same thing. When is it too late, I wonder, to stop Israel from destroying itself? When is it too late to tell AIPAC attendees that more violence and hatred is not the answer? When is it too late to open the hardened hearts of my people, once victims of a terrible holocaust, to realize that by occupying Palestine we have become they evil we deplore? When is it too late to restore meaning to the Hebrew term "tikkun olam" by truly working to heal the world? When is it too late for the Jews of the world to weep for the children of Gaza, recognizing that they, too, are the children of God?
I couldn't ask my questions at AIPAC. My mouth was muzzled by the sweaty hands of hate-filled staffers demanding that I "shut the f--- up." But despite AIPAC's massive funds and influence, I feel certain that more and more members of the Jewish community will step forward and refuse to be silent. I just pray it is not too late.
For information on upcoming delegations to Gaza, see www.codepinkalert.org/gaza.
238 Comments so far
Show AllThe pressure on Israel is efficient, though. For the Eurovision Song Contest, coming up on Saturday around Europe, Israel's (yeah, they are part of it for reasons unknown to us all) entry is "There must be another way", featuring a Jewish Israeli (who looks like everybody's idea of an Arab, BTW) and an Arab Israeli (who looks like everybody's idea of a European, BTW). But they are singing in Hebrew, Arabic and English and the message - see refrain - is clear.
In other words, we're knee-deep in PR territory, but the very fact that Israeli authorities felt the urge to have that kind of people represent Israel at a major European event shows me that they are feeling the international pressure. Which is already some progress, I find.
BTW, the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN8B1xvCxI0&translated=1
.
Wake up America !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Demand a full and open investigation of AIPAC....
Demand the open trial of all of these FIFTH COLUMNIST TRAITORS..............
The United States has been corrupted by these agents, U.S. Traitors, for the State of Israel.
Stop the 6 Billion Dollars of U.S. Tax Payers' money that is to be given to Israel this year.....WHY ????????
Stop all Military Aid Programs, another 6 to 8 Billion Tax Payers' hard earned money from going to Israel....for bullets, cluster-bombs, and more nuclear missles (Israel already has oner 400 Nuclear missles aimed around the world)
P.S. we can use that money right here, in the good old United States of America.
Find and destruct these AIPAC cells of traitors in our land !!!
,
I take it Jews support a 'Jewish State' in Palestine. What percentage of Jews do that?
And who would benefit from that?
Midea Benjamin writes ..."When is it too late to restore meaning to the Hebrew term "tikkun olam" by truly working to heal the world?"
Let's see what the original meaning of 'tikkun olam' is....
http://www.zeek.net/706tohu/
Aleynu: Establishing the Divine Kingdom
The term “tikkun olam” appears first in the Aleynu prayer, which may have been written as early as the second century.
...
To understand the meaning of the term “l’taken olam” here, we need to take a step back and to examine the context in which this line appears. As indicated, the second section of the Aleynu prayer focuses on the promise of God’s ultimate sovereignty. Immediately before introducing the concept of tikkun olam, the text pleads that “idolatry will be swept away, and false gods will be utterly destroyed.” Immediately following the promise of tikkun olam, the text speaks of a time “when all the people of the world will call out God’s name.” The triumph of divine sovereignty requires the elimination of any pockets of resistance to God’s exclusive rule.
.....
In short, tikkun olam refers to fixing or preparing the world to be ruled by Jews.
There are no "gods" only illusions and ignorance to mask the ultimate fears of an Israeli guilt complex which autodigests the Israeli soul.
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
siderealm,
thank you for sharing that after reading Criminalizing Criticism of Israel
By paul craig roberts , i googled and found this article at a respectable jewish political site. i was floored - they wholeheartedly support the bill (restricting 1st amendment rights of expression).
------------------------------------------
from...
JW Political Insider: Political Talk from James Besser in Washington,
Hate crimes bill: could 2009 be the year? Monday, April 27th, 2009
jewish-politics-ny.com/tag/local-law-enforcement-hate-crimes-prevention-act/
{You have to give this to major Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League: they’re persistent. A bunch of them have been lobbying for a major new hate crimes bill for more than a decade, and even though it has passed numerous votes in both Houses of Congress the measure never quite makes it into law.
This time around things could be different for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which will come up in the House Wednesday or Thursday. The biggest reasons: a stronger Democratic majority and a president who is supporting the measure instead of promising to veto it.
To refresh your memory: the bill expands the range of existing hate crimes statutes to include victims of crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability.
Guess which ones have provoked ferocious opposition from the religious right. Here’s a hint: it’s not disability.
That opposition, including the specious claim that the law would criminalize preaching from the pulpit against homosexuality, is undiminished, said Michael Lieberman, counsel to ADL’s Washington office and chair of a national hate crimes coalition. Lieberman said opponents are once again “pulling out all the stops” to beat back the legislation.
But the political environment for the bill has changed dramatically, he said.
“Last time, we needed a super-majority, because President Bush promised a veto, but President Obama has been a supporter,” he said.
Also, the Justice Department is now working actively with supporters to “tweak the bill and make it as useful to them as possible,” Lieberman said. “Attorney General Eric Holder has testified in support of it when he was deputy attorney general.”
And the bill continues to enjoy support from “every major law enforcement organization in the country,” Lieberman said.
The measure’s chances look good in the House; in the Senate, backers will have to decide whether to go for a free-standing bill or couple the hate crimes measure to other, critical legislation in an effort to thwart a possible GOP filibuster.
In addition to ADL, supports include the Reform movement, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the American Jewish Committee, among others.}
---------------------------------------------
looks like chilling restrictions on free speech, par for the course.
siderealm,
do you know anything about this other bill ??? HR 1966
Your Blog is a Weapon? House Bill suggests Hurting Feelings illegal
http://republicbroadcasting.org/?p=1768
again thank you for the link...
...peace...
I had not paid attention about the other bill sponsored by Linda Sanchez, a California Blue Dog Democrat, and I am the type who should know about it because I often come off as upsetting. I may have to go back to bar fighting. ;=)
The Republicans always take this route when squeezed. The only thing they seem able to do convincingly is identify violence prone hatred and then advocate for it in the congress.
This is social warfare at its best. Section 3 is where gets creepy. Imagine, if you will, being out here in California and having to go in front of Judge Jay Bybee at the 9th Circuit Appeals Court for the charge of cyberbullying. I have written enough about that creep already to be included in an indictment under this Cyberbullying definition. Thought Police are here and you know that unpleasant thought when in court: The guy in the robe behind the bench is nearly always a Republican.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1966: (include the ":" in the link)
The Bill Follows:
H. R. 1966
To amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to cyberbullying.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 2, 2009
Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California (for herself, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HARE, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. CLAY, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. COURTNEY, and Mr. KIRK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to cyberbullying.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Four out of five of United States children aged 2 to 17 live in a home where either they or their parents access the Internet.
(2) Youth who create Internet content and use social networking sites are more likely to be targets of cyberbullying.
(3) Electronic communications provide anonymity to the perpetrator and the potential for widespread public distribution, potentially making them severely dangerous and cruel to youth.
(4) Online victimizations are associated with emotional distress and other psychological problems, including depression.
(5) Cyberbullying can cause psychological harm, including depression; negatively impact academic performance, safety, and the well-being of children in school; force children to change schools; and in some cases lead to extreme violent behavior, including murder and suicide.
(6) Sixty percent of mental health professionals who responded to the Survey of Internet Mental Health Issues report having treated at least one patient with a problematic Internet experience in the previous five years; 54 percent of these clients were 18 years of age or younger.
SEC. 3. CYBERBULLYING.
(a) In General- Chapter 41 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
`Sec. 881. Cyberbullying
`(a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
`(b) As used in this section--
`(1) the term `communication' means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user's choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received; and
`(2) the term `electronic means' means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.'.
(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 41 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new item:
`881. Cyberbullying.'.
First they trot out their kids and then they sneak in the kicker that it is really applying to John Q. Public. I think I am going back to bar fighting.
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
Get your licks in now because Rahm Emmanuel is about to make criticism of Israel's murdering police state against the law. Get over to counterpunch and read paul craig roberts latest column:
http://counterpunch.org/roberts05072009.html
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
Medea, thanks for having the courage to say these things. Also for the courage to be roughed up at AIPAC. You inspire me to be brave, too, on behalf of every person my tax dollars are used to brutalize.
I'm not impressed by Medea Benjamin and the bravery she demonstrated by trying to obstruct a conference before she got tossed out. Nor do I care what she thinks is the true meaning of the phrase "tikkun olam." The Israeli offensive in Gaza was justified by the thousands of missiles and mortars shot into Israel. That the Arabs are poor marksmen doesn't make their intent any less murderous. If someone was shooting at me I'd shoot back with every intent to kill him.
The people of Gaza support Jewish genocide. They can all die in their ridiculous parody of democracy.
"The Israeli offensive in Gaza was justified by the thousands of missiles and mortars shot into Israel."
Not true. Never thousands and home-made pipe-guns not missiles and mortars. There was a truce which had held for months until the IDF broke it--and broke it without warning. Worse, the whole ghastly slaughter was politically reminiscent of the Falklands fiasco in the '80s. The Israeli elections were coming up and Tzipi Livni was looking at going down to defeat at the hands of the far-right of Netanyahu and Lieberman (now, there's an unreconstructed racist of the Reinhardt Heydrich variety!). So, attack Ghaza unprovoked (the cease-fire was being respected by the Ghazans, remember) and demonstrate that Livni could be as much of a fascist warmonger as Lieberman and Netanyahu. Sadly, the Israeli people are now buying that--although they still weren't buying Livni. Makes one wonder just what Israelis want in the way of blood, these days.
Rainborowe
It is very clear that jews of any sort: aipac or sephardic, ashkenazi, zionist, talmudic or any of 100 or more variations are not godly and definitely not good for the continuation of life on this planet earth. They suck up all the money, leech after your wife, downsize your job, rob the treasury and prattle endlessly about how you should listen to them "for your own good" because they have been chosen by god to lead you to ruin. Thanks but no thanks. Medea Benjamin is a mensch who understands very clearly what the problem is and is brave enough to go against the dictates of her rabbi.
Medea Benjamin is love...
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
Siderealm--
You left out about them killing Christian babies to use their blood in their weird rituals.
Rainborowe
So get rid of the Jews for good eh? Nicely put. Schmuck.
zmann: I will change my mind when you stop killing Palestinians and get out of Israel. And if you really don't identify with these people then let's see some effort to get them out of Israel by all the other Z'mann's in your synagogue. Doing nothing and arguing for the continuation of murder by your family living in Israel and in other places is not going to cut the mustard. You need to start criticizing from within your synagogue. You have to publicly denounce the killers you are providing comfort for within your religion. You have to out them and rid yourselves of the horror of 85% of your family population in Israel wanting to kill innocent helpless people. Stop hiding murderers under your skirts and cassocks.
Right now here on this site you are promoting further murder of innocent Palestinians. Don't you have something more important to do like raising your children to know that the Nakba was worse than your treasured holocaust and that your very own religious zealots supported the war crimes and kept killing innocents for 61 years? Get some pride. You can become a human being if you try hard enough.
siderealm said:
"Right now here on this site you are promoting further murder of innocent Palestinians."
TJ says:
Your attack on zmann is unfair and untrue. He is a progressive who deplores genocide and one of the most reasonable posters on this site. Since you did not provide a quote, I assume you have none to back up your claim. I would ask you to apologize and retract your baseless venom.
And siderealm, when one paints with so wide a brush, one often gets a lot of paint on oneself.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
No I think the paint is tossed by you but you threw it into the wind.
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
So you can't fathom the distinction aye?
My objection is the possibly illegal funding of AIPAC by wall street crooks like Bernard Madeoff, designed to over arm Israel and destabilize the region.
Your desire is what? To have a Mel Gibson Tirade?
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Thanks.
Me? I have never killed Palestinians, and I have never been to, nor do I really want to go to Israel. I'm not religious, and I haven't belonged to a synagogue in 10 years. And I have no family in Israel.
Actually on this site, I am promoting the Palestinians' right to resist Israeli occupation with violence, and have been for months now. I am a long way away from having any children, and personally I think the Partition of India was far worse than the Nakba, and since the death toll from the Holocaust is reportedly around 12 million, roughly half non-Jews, I don't think the Nakba was worse than that either. I have also been railing against religious zealotry on here for quite some time too, from any and all religions. Get a grip on yourself fool. And since you don't seem to think Jews are human beings (sounds like what the Nazis thought), why don't you try to gain some humanity?
Thanks for the commentary zmann. Hitler killed 12-20 million Russians who never seem to get any press in the West. see William Mandel's works in the Pacifica Archives website. I love Jews and fear for them. They need to take the worldwide disaffection with their actions (which they take as proudly identified Jews) seriously.
I am having trouble understanding your 5th sentence. Are you saying "pre"-occupation with violence or are you meaning or are you counseling Palestinians to escalate their violence? If they resist they get slaughtered like recently. You had to mean something else. ...
otherwise, this:
So it's just violence you are promoting and you don't give a damn as long as you can watch a good fight? Arm the Palestinians with nukes and then the fight is fair.
Encouraging a rumble? What are you trying to say?
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
I didn't think it was unclear, but let me try to clarify: The Palestinians, like viciously oppressed peoples everywhere, have every right to resist, with violence if they deem it necessary. Israel has the duty to cease attacking a helpless civilian population. I emphasized the violence part to show that just because I am Jewish does not mean I automatically take the side of Israel on this. If Israel acts like a tyrant, and it is, it should expect no less than violence until it ceases to be a tyrant.
I have a Big problem with those who encourage violence in any form. By your advocation of violence you are assuring that many more Palestinians will be killed. You might be able to understand the point this way: You get arrested at a demonstration and you start fighting cops and they decide to kill you and the 10 people standing with you to make a point that you don't go against the police. That is the only point the Israelis have and they have repeated it for 61 years. Your advocation of violence in this way ignores any peaceful solution. Do you see that?
You are throwing gasoline on a fire and watching comfortably from your own safe haven. Encouraging the fight is societal arson. I would be happy if you would take a more activist role in exploring peace. What I hear from you is a form of wild-eyed anarchy like we saw in Seattle at the World Trade event a few years ago. This is the politics of Ruckus and is nothing more than children behaving badly because they can afford to do it. It solves nothing and is ruining many lives in the process. We all have to grow beyond the glory of play yard politics. Eventually someone gets hurt.
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
If you say so. Non-violent civil disobedience can work in one's own country when it is relatively democratic and somewhat practices the rule of law. I doubt it can work when under foreign occupation where you have more of a chance of being killed when drinking tea with your family than you do while taking up the fight. Dude, I don't like violence. But what makes you think Israel will stop slaughtering Palestinians if they stop resisting? Israel broke the truce brokered with Hamas, remember, Hamas kept to it.
What were the remnants of post-holocaust Judaism supposed to do? No western country wanted them. For the surviving Jews of Europe the world was divided into two places: one where they could not live, the other where they could not go.
If it comes to a choice between the survival of your own children and the rights of others, who would sacrifice their children?
The difference between America and Israel is that Americans were more successful at the ethnic cleansing of the land we stole. We murdered 90% of the Indians. Do those who advocate the law of the return for the Palestinians also advocate giving Georgia back to the Cherokees? Massachusetts back to the Wampanoags, upstate NY to the Iroquois?.
Who would bring their families into a war zone and use their own kids as human shields? Every 'immigrant' coming to Palestine (claiming 'Jewish' heritage) is doing exactly that. Even Americans are not stupid enough to bring their families along when they invade and occupy foreign countries. Even when their victims are virtually helpless, without even a military to defend their country, most Americans do not 'settle' in conquered and occupied lands.
And let's settle this question about the European atrocities - genocide - committed in the Americas - most of us didn't even know about these genocides until our families moved here. So please stop blaming us - we didn't write American propaganda, and few immigrants were aware of how the US (and the rest of the Americas) were conquered. There was no internet - and the enlightenment was just getting under way. It was a far different world than that which evolved after WWII. The sad part is that the same atrocities were committed almost immediately after the world said 'Never Again!' - never didn't last very long. Or maybe they just meant 'never the Germans again' since double standards are so popular in the west...
So the prevailing question of my childhood was "Why did everybody hate the Jews so much?" If they were not welcome anywhere in the world, you'd think they'd reflect on why people hated them, no matter where they went - that's what a normal person might do. And it wasn't just the 'western world' that didn't want them - this happened in other regions as well. Other civilian prisoners - survivors - went home and were welcomed - but not the Jews. They were driven out, with a vengeance. Just like what they've been doing to the Palestinians. Is there a clue here? (And I'm not being sarcastic - my family lived and died under Nazi occupation, and in the camps. This was and is a very real question for me, ever since I was about 8 years old.)
What is it about arrogance that makes people hate you, just because you claim to be 'chosen by god' - whose god, by the way? Not mine. But that was also Hitler's claim - so who stole the claim from whom? I know I wouldn't want a self-proclaimed racist/supremacist living in my neighborhood... maybe it's the Jewish reputation that's at the root of this problem. Maybe it's the Judaic claim to superiority that drives people mad. But I know it isn't racism, or that egregious slur of 'anti-Semitism' so popular these days. I don't go around asking people if they even have gods, let alone which ones! I judge them on their behavior - as do most decent people. So how would anyone even know which people were Jews? (Isn't that why the Nazis made them wear those stars on their clothes? So they could be identified?) Something here just doesn't add up. And don't blame it on other religions - Christians were/are equal-opportunity exterminators, no matter where they went. So what is it? Do Jews ever ask themselves that question? Or is THAT the problem?
There are other ways to live with people besides genocide.
Joe
So what is it that you are suggesting--that you impose the same inhumanity upon others because your tribe also has known the experience?
Does that make it okay for you?
When do we know when it already is too late?
Too late for the US governement to serve anything other than the military industrial Wall St masters of the universe anyway.
Aipac should be registered as a foreign entity. It works only for the purpose of Zionist Israel, the "Jewish State".
I'm sick of these people pulling their influence over the U.S. Geez, there is only 2% of these people. Don't let 2% dictate to the rest of us!!!
Medea had every right to protest outside the Aipac conference. It is largely a Jewish campaign to shut free speech up. They have legislation in the works to make it illegal to call Israel a fascist nazi state, although that is what they have become. They don't want anyone to criticize their slaughters. We are all suppose to be bowing down to these so-called "chosen" people. If I were Jewish I would be doing everything possible to stop these people, as they are making all Jews look bad, just as Bush, Obama, and their kind make all Americans look bad.
Its almost as if these Jewish zionists have been indoctrinated and brainwashed from birth that somehow they are above all others, and that they are the world's victim, when in reality, they have been perpetrating heinous crimes on humanity themselves. People need to understand that whatever "group" they identify with, they are not special. Nobody is special. These zionists need to let go of their hate, paranoia and just join the human race instead of insisting they are special somehow.
Why not just ask, Who Will Stop AIPAC Before It Is Too Late?
Who will stop "AIPAC Jews...," seems redundant and inflammatory.
Since Medea is clearly smart and more, mayhap this is quite intentioned.
Otherwise it kinda begs the question, What? As opposed to AIPAC Catholics?
PS. I have a cool word for my fellow posters. Logomachy.
I like GoldenMean's words so much I echo them with a repost:
GoldenMean May 6th, 2009 12:39 pm
Thank you Medea for being fearless and forthright in the face of friendly fascism...
Your words and actions resonate with honesty, intergity, and wisdom...
May you continue to inspire and awaken others to the uncomfortable truth...
Your courage and brilliant choice of tactics bring humor and light to dispell the darkness...
And I repost some of Iowablackbird's words, as indeed Code Pink is a terrific group of political activists:
iowablackbird May 6th, 2009 4:34 pm
great article medea - thank you..
also thanks common dreams for posting media's comments. it's rare to find such courageous people as the code pink activists, who day after day confront the system in such a powerful way. it's reassuring that common dreams still publishes unpopular voices that would never see the light of day in a world that tries to marginalize and sanitize all alternative opinions.
Thank you for valuing my words enough to repost them here...
It is comforting to know that our thoughts and ideas do indeed influence one another...
This is a healing and empowering and enlightening process... A praxis of expression and reflection...
I hope that you post more often... So synchronicity may play a greater role in the sharing of thoughts...
Peace, light, & love...
Some of the readers MAY connect the dots. A NEW PEARL HARBOR, the events of 911, War against Muslims, a rapid increase in West Bank sttlements, a crushing of the Palestinians including bombing houses, drones in Iraq and Afghanistan, torture and now a whimper from the mass media. Nice country the United States of Zion.
Media Benjamin, who I had the good fortune to hear live in Binghamton, NY, in defense of Ithaca's St. Patrick's 4 is a self-loving Jew who is trying to save Israel, the Palestinians, and all of the rest of us.
In my observations over the years, most Jews are average Americans, but they are disproportionately skewed toward the best and the worst of us. I say this at the risk of being racist, but believe it is accurate.
One person's realist is another person's racist. It is all in the perception. We must move beyond religion or perish quickly. We need a Saviour to deliver us from all saviors. Christ as the being who saves humankind from sin and its consequences is same kind of wrongheaded bull. Consequences are never escaped. Bombs come from people against people. We need to confront ourselves and not forgive. Reality, in other words...
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
Blind support for Israel among American Jews will become expensive down the road. Yes, AIPAC and similar idiotic groups have a political dominance now, but the ruinous policies they advocate on behalf of Zionists is putting the US into deeper international political trouble. At some point, when the US starts scraping bottom politically and economically, there's going to be a search for scapegoats. If I were Jewish, that word, "scapegoat", would make me cringe. Like it or not, believe it or not, there will be a search for a scapegoat. The Jewish leaders who helped drive the US off the cliff will be first, then other Jews. It's not pretty, and certainly not fair, but there is time left for US Jews to do the right thing and shut AIPAC and similar groups down. US Jews offer a strong voice for progressive policies in our country, and I for one do not look forward to their fate if the current path is maintained.
Well, Gus, Vern, armybrat and most others on this site, it's plain to me that you're all the subhuman vermin I've always known you to be. You're all in the same mold as the Nazis whose only consistent policy was hatred for Jews. In the case of Gus and Vern (among others), they're making veiled threats about killing Jews (scapegoats). Medea Benjamin is the same trash as y'all and so is the "grassroots" Common Dreams. It's the Gazans who shoot missiles and sniper bullets into Israel with the intent to kill any Jews they can. That's not how Israel does things. You know all that but continue to pass your long discredited lies along to each other.
"It's the Gazans who shoot missiles and sniper bullets into Israel with the intent to kill any Jews they can. That's not how Israel does things."
The Ghazan "rockets" are no more than home-made pipe-bombs, for God's sake, fired occasionally and not at all in the truce which the Israelis broke to reduce and already dying Ghaza to rubble. The Israelis have all the blanket-bombing weaponry the USA gives them. Most of the dead were unarmed civilians, women and children and old men, most crushed when their houses collapsed on them or the Israeli gunboat fired its guns directly into them at close range standing off from The Beach camp. Many others died in the hospitals because the hospitals had been prevented from bringing in any kind of medical supplies for at least 2 years or more. And the worst was that many of those Israeli soldiers were ultra-religious "settlers" from the West Bank led by ultra-nationalist Rabbis who were egging them on to the kind of Messianic slaughter of their neighbors described in the Books of the Prophets.
I suggest you read Ha'Aretz, the issues for December, January, February. They have an English online edition, very well written, if you don't read Hebrew, although you may find the English a bit hard.
Or you could just remain in ignorance and hurl expletives in bad English from your sewer.
Rainborowe
The writing on the wall.
Medea, to bad you and Code Pink didn't help get Cindy Sheehan elected in San Francisco. Giving Nancy Pelosi her walking papers would have sent a clear message to the scum bag zionists that business as usual is over in San Francisco, oh well. And Joe Biden is a slime bag zionist along with the little turd Rahm Emanuel who willsell out America to their zionist paymasters.
Thanks Gatos. I was told that I was mistaken earlier when I spoke on this matter. Some people don't take one's actions seriously like you and I do. MB needs to be consistent and clear about who she really supports. Here's also what I'm referring to:
http://www.votenader.org/blog/2008/04/25/which-side-are-you-on/
"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." G W Bush
Someone else who was consistent and clear about which side we must be on.
And here's another:
"I don't do nuance." G W Bush
What will the criminally insane behind-the-scenes Zio-zealots who staged 9-11 and are still running the U.S./Israeli alliance do to deal with all the anti-genocide sentiment being directed at Israel?
I worry that they hearken back longingly to the good old days of Arab terrorists taking Israeli athletes hostage (they killed 11 Israeli athletes) during the Munich Summer Olympics back in 1972. I worry that they will conclude that a good many ordinary Jews (perhaps Israeli citizens within Israel's borders) must now be sacrificed in another 9-11 like production to swing international sympathies back to their advantage.
They likely aren't nearly as enthusiastic about this option as they were about demolishing the World Trade Centers (members of the Jewish community who worked in the towers received an email headsup warning not to report to work that day), but they are thoroughly capable, and if they conclude the international PR predicament is serious enough to warrant it, they'll do it.
Ewww, look what I found here in the sewer. Someone was asking me for examples of you know what. This one good enough for you?
and the more the outrage grows--without justice, while there is increased economic suffering and people see their money flowing to Israel and the bankers, Sir, you ain't seen nothing yet. So, rather than pompous attempts to suppress it, I suggest you recognize how ugly and exposive this potentially can be in terms of blowback. There will be no more demonization of the Arab to deflect accountability.
Why don't you report back to AIPAC headquarters and ask the Supervisor of Interns for a new script -- something a little more inspired than just screeching the same tired litany of anti-Semitism charges -- nobody's buying it, Mike.
Kurt Kurt Kurt, that's so hurtful. I only do this for the love.
...of money
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
Are we still debating whether this page is laced with antisemitic insinuation?
Are you implying that only one group of humans can be greedy bastards?
It's too easy to be distracted and diverted by labels. Words are important, but actions more so. Look to the action, not the labeling that attempts to justify or cover over crimes of humanity in it's name. Murder, torture, rape, any violence done in the name of an abstraction is still murder, torture, rape, and violence, and NO abstraction justifies it, ever.
As I see history, the "abstractions" generally cover up armed robbery.
Joe
Well said!
Zionism is Nazism. They know that they are America's enemies. They are bribing or smearing our legislators wholesale to shut up and let them demonize our patriots and drag our republic into the ashcan of history with them. The recent utterance from the Zionist-controlled Dept. of Fatherland Security are evidence of their sayanim doing their utmost to label/stigmatize patriots Americans as "extremists" in the eyes of police agencies across the country is evidence enough. The threat to to use federal police to enforce Jew hatred/control of Americans is written into the latest law. The precedent for this is the 1917 Bolshevick Jew seizure of power in Russia...they did'nt just murder the Romanov family...they decreed a "hate crime" of anti-semitism and used it to round up, torture and murder thousands upon thousands of mostly Christian peasants. AIPAC is only one agency tasked to spit at/on freedom for Americans. A president who cared about America would declare AIPAC an ongoing criminal enterprise, padlock the place and put it's adherenents in a cell adjacent that of arch back-stabber Jonothon Pollard...oh, and add the known jackass, Bebe Natanyahoo to the list.
...any antisemites here?
I take complete umbrage with the term Jew when used to discuss the problems with Israel. It's not a problem with Judaism. It's not a religious problem. It's a political problem created by Zionists of all political stripes, religions and creeds. Some of the biggest Zionist supporters are evangelical Christians for Heaven's sake so let's cut out the religious angle and dwell on the political and secular actions that are preventing peace in that area of the Middle East. The US must first cease with the constant support of egregious actions taken by any of the parties in the area. In most recent times that would be unquestioning support for Israel. Any country that pours weapons into a destabilized war zone must accept the responsibility for the lives lost by the use of those weapons. In that respect the US and certain Middle East countries are just as blameworthy as Israel and Palestinian "terrorists". I use that term loosely because it's quite obvious that it is a negative loaded word and it really depends on the eye of the beholder just like "beauty". Unless world powers start leveling the playing field by asserting American complicity in the crimes committed in the Middle East in the hope of shaming them into being more even handed then peace will never become reality.
Why not? Israel is the one that calls itself a "Jewish State"!!!!
I don't see people upset when they speak about the "muslim" problem.
Can you imagine someone saying "I take complete umbrage with the term Muslim when used to discuss the problems with the Middle East"?
I share your umbrage, and am shocked that MB chose this title.
"Some of the biggest Zionist supporters are evangelical Christians..." Chances are the evangelicals only support Jews in order to get them to return to Israel. Only then will Jesus return. I forget the details, but I believe it was Pat Robertson who was caught supporting a Jewish group. It was later revealed that his intention was to do just as I described, to help usher in the 2nd coming. So all in all I'd say yes, it's ALL religious.
One who criticizes Israel is not an Anti-Semite.
However, if I were Medea Benjamin, my stomach would be turning at all the people commenting here about how the Jews control this, and AIPAC controls that: The Government, The Corporations, The White House.
I've heard those claims before, but I'm not going to say where, lest I be disregarded as another Jew exploiting the Holocaust.
Before the lot of you go on about how one labels any one who criticizes Israel an Anti-Semite, perhaps consider that labels that are running through your head for me right about now. Racist, Apartheid Lover, Exploiter of the Holocaust.
It's not that one can't criticize Israel, they can. They must, as they must with any country. But no one goes on about how the Evangelicals control the government, or the Catholics control corporations, or the Muslims control this and the Hindus control that.
Allow me to take a break from controlling the media, for just a moment, to tell you that comments like many of the ones above are EXACTLY why Jews are scared of another holocaust.
But never mind you, disregard the aforementioned. I'm probably just being paid by the Israeli government to post here.
As I noted elsewhere these comments are thick with hatred of Jews, and yet people will write innocently "show me where!" if you point it out.
Now we all understand that the intertubes are a disinhibition fest where people say what they really think and not what they think is polite.... and of course that's why these forums are useful. We get an idea of what we are up against in the world.
But in another sense most of this discourse is distorting. It takes a strong stomach to appear here and express a moderate opinion and be insulted as an agent of Israel or whatever other epitaphs people like to throw around. It's sort of a case study for why peace is so hard. It's just so much more satisfying to vent your spleen and shoot a gun.
The vast majority of normal Jews (not me, perhaps not you) would hear the kind of discourse taking place here and say in an instant, "thank God for AIPAC! I hope those Israelis hit 'em even harder next time!"
And how could you blame them... it's ugly and angry.
So what are forums like this good for, in the context of peace making? I mean obviously they are good for mobilizing people through anger... and outrage has its uses, but it also has its dangers.
Perhaps it depends on whether you think the world suffers from a deficit of outrage and anger or a deficit of calm and communication.
I'm sure that the majority of people here aren't interested in speaking to the majority of American Jews (or aren't very smart about it!) I wonder what they would say if they thought about communication as dialog?
Well, the online world is no place for dialog, as we know. That happens over tea and conference tables.
Just above this post of yours mike is 1 post blaming jews for their government's actions. The rest of the posts are complaining about the actions of the Israeli gov't or the actions of aipac.
You're delusional, or being paid by aipac.
Are those my only 2 choices?
"As I noted elsewhere these comments are thick with hatred of Jews,"
But its ok that Jews hate? You don't think its hateful when American Jews like Rosen and Weizman, and Harman, are committing espionage against the U.S.? This is hate!
You don't consider it hateful when 5 Israeli's were caught dancing and celebrating across the bay from the twin towers when they were hit by an Inside Terror job on 911?
You don't consider it hate, when the Israeli's attack the U.S.S. Liberty, killing dozens of Americans, then tried to blame it on Muslims? You don't consider it hate, that our Government is so controlled by these parasite Israelis, that billions of our dollars go to support this rogue "nation" every year, WHILE 50 million Americans go without health care?
You don't consider it hate that Israeli's are controlling our President? Afterall it was Avigdor Lieberman who has decided that Pakistan and Afghanistan were areas where the U.S. needed to increase its military operations, and put Iran on the back burner...now, that is exactly what the U.S. president is doing isn't it?
You don't consider it hate to control the U.S. government to do Israel's bidding? Which includes murdering hundreds of thousands M.E. Muslims?
The list goes on. Stop the victim crap! its getting old.
What more do you people want? You get your trash like Rosen and Weisman off, NOT EVEN A TRIAL!! If that was a Muslim would Obama have called it off?
I could go on, but its such a waste of time.
POOOOOOr pooor Israel!!!! Ahhhhh, they want to murder babies without any criticism...pooooor poor Israel. People are practicing their free speech, but poor Israel doesn't like it when people say they are fascists!! Ahhhhhhhhhh
You do sound very angry... unfortunately not everything you are angry about is connected to that thing we call "reality."
Its what Israel DOES, and Aipac DOES, not who they are that ruffles people the most!
People would be very much interested in "speaking to the majority of American Jews", but it gets very hard to do when they consistently play the victim card, and any criticism is met with "anti-semite".
So, at least 90% of the world looks at Israel now as baby killers, genociders, etc, yet most of the Jews don't UNDERSTAND WHY???
Get off your high pedestal. When a group of people insists they are the "chosen", slaughter without conscience, use covert operations within other countries, largely control media, banking....etc, what do you expect?
If the Jew wants to be the beacon of humanity, THEN ACT LIKE IT!!!
If you look at the middle east it is the average Jew that is causing the problems! They are the ones that have stated "they will take the rest of the world down with them, if they go down", and other inflammatory garbage. Nobody is trying to wipe them OUT!!!!
Now, there is legislation in the works to shut up the free speech, all at the bequest of Israel and American Jews. We are not suppose to liken Israel's actions to Fascist Nazi. They don't like this. Even though that is what it is.
Its like there is a whole set of rules for Jews, and then another set for the rest of us. I'm sick of pampering these people. They need to own up to their crimes, just like the rest of us.
I count in this post 1,2,3,4,5,6,7.... about 7 historically familiar antisemitic accusations against Jews, and a number of other absurd over generalizations and religious misunderstandings.
But that's OK!!! No problem with that. Maybe these accusations are true!
Of course it would be interesting if these 7 or so accusations were just as true in 1880, 1920, 1935 and 2009. For example, how is it that Jews have controlled media and banking and operated a secret world controlling cabal operating by its own rules outside of civilized control for 150 years?
Does it seem more likely that this has existed in reality, or that this idea has existed over all that time, and gets reinvented and redeployed as needed by Jew haters over time, and now once again here?
And, more importantly, if we have a world banking conspiracy, why the HELL haven't I been getting my checks?!
You obviously don't understand economics. Also, 9 out of the 12 Fed Reserves are headed by Jews. Also, check out some of the "powerful" banking heads: Bernanke, Geithner, Rubin, Volckner, Greenspan...and on and on. See the pattern?
You tell me...Why do the Jews always get control of the money? Most Jews are not semitic by the way. Most people are anti-zionist..the extremist ideology that many Jews, and fundamentalist christians, are indoctrinated into from birth. Both groups have a "specialness" to them. The Fundamentalist Christians liken it to being born again, the Jews of course spew the "chosen ones" philosophy. God loves the Jews the most, but the fundamentalist Christians have first row seats in heaven, because they are "born again".
Mike, get off your pedastal and join the rest of us. Why is that so hard for you?
Jews are 2% of the US population, and of that 2%, what % supports the severe policies of AIPAC? At most, you have 1.5% of the population dragging the rest of the country down the sewer on behalf of Zionists. That makes me angry that such a repugnant group controls my country, and is running it into the ground. The time is coming that this will be reckoned with, unless the Zionists think they can partition the US into a ghetto and manipulate/torture us like the Palestinians. I don't hold a grudge against Jews, that's stupid--people are people. I DO hold a grudge against Zionists, who are people with an extremist agenda whose interests conflict with those of my society and country. I fear that Jews will suffer for the actions of Zionists, which would be wrong.
And how much of a percentage of the population are the Wall Street executives, and how badly is that tiny as hell minority dragging down the US, on behalf of their own greed? Ditto with health insurance and pharmaceutical executives and our healthcare, private security and prison firms and the justice system, etc.
Actually I have read in many, many places that "the Evnagelicals control the government, the Catholics control (or at least collude with) the corporations, the Muslims control this and the Hindus control that". I've seen those things or similar things all over the media for the last several decades. In fact, I cannot believe that you have not seen such things all around you. I am leaving aside whether these claims are valid since that was not your point. But why not? Evangelicals do exert influence in excess of their numbers in the US. Religious fundamentalists of all kinds from the US Christian Right to the Israeli settler's movement to the Wahhabists, all exert above and below ground controls on their political situations. Hindu fanatics have been running India for at least 10 years. The Pakistani ICI is completely infiltrated with Taliban. Where have you been, Canadian Voice?
None of my claims are racist and none are conspiracy theories. So, for me to claim Israel and AIPAC exert undue influence to the point of dangerous control in the US is not racist or a conspiracy theory either. It's point of view backed by facts. But for you to claim that only "the Jews" are singled out for this kind of point of view, backed by facts, is, itself, a conspiracy theory. It's also paranoid and an expression of the knee-jerk cult of eternal victimhood that is always brought to bear on this issue. The Jews have been victims for centuries, true and there can never be any excuse for this. So have the Roma, so were the native americans, so were native minorities in Indonesia and the Phillipines, so were the Hmong, so are the Uighurs, so are the tribes of Darfur, so were the Armenians, so are the people of east Congo (5 million dead since the mid-90s), so were the people of South Africa, so were the black slaves of Africa brought to the US and elsewhere, so were the Irish, whose famine killed over a million while British merchant ships were filled with grain.
The crime of the Holocaust isn't that it happened to the Jews, it's that it happened at all. It wasn't a crime against the Jews it was a crime against humanity (6 million slavs, poles, russians and gypsies died too). That Jews were the target does not make the crime worse or change it's essential nature. What exposed the Jews to this horror was not a phenomenon particular to the Jews. It was totalitarianism and race hatred. These things have appeared on every continent and found victims among almost every people. They are the enemy of all decent, democratic, freedom-loving people, including the Jews. There is no historic particularity to anti-Semitism or Jewish suffering. It is one among many kinds of suffering, all wrong, all inexcusable, all immoral and all to be resisted by the rest of us. There need be no unique "Jewish" solution. To accept that there is, is to accept Hitler's idea of a unique "Jewish Question". Is there a "Jewish Question", Canadian Voice?
Not for me. Justice is indivisible. Our rights are inalienable. It doesn't matter into what culture, religion, time period or ethnic group we were born. We don't choose that. We have rights because we are human. We have choice because we are human. Jews have been talking about that and about the associated responsibilities for 2000 years. Can't Jews and the rest of us keep talking about it?
Good points, I'd add that in times past it was also the Communists who were controling everything, or the British, occasionally the French or Spanish. Once I think the Italians controlled the world, or the Medici's (spelling is off).
My favourite comment on the idea that a Jewish conspiracy exists is that if it does, it's doing a real bad job of it. (Same with the other idiots who've been said to control things, neocons, liberals, nazis, tsarists, caesars, lord protectors...)
jareilly ,
good comment. human suffering is universal and we can always choose to resist evil deeds wherever/whenever they manifest.
...peace...
Mapleleaf Jewish Guy/Gal:
Hindus in Bombay are living in running sewers underground because the Indian government can't be bothered to stop grandstanding about what a nuclear power they are.
Jews on the other hand, handed a man who has promised to NUKE Gaza the keys to their occupied land in Israel. American, Canadian, and Israeli Jews have figured how to make money on the assassinations of Palestinians in the stock market. The Bank of Israel has made an instruction guide on how to bet the market on the effects of different types of Israeli assassinations of Palestinians on the stock market in Tel Aviv.
To learn how to bet the market download this:
il-targeted-kill.pdf
from: http://sites.google.com/site/grandcommitteeofpublicsafety/files
They have relinquished their claim to being gods and have instead embraced deviltry. They have successfully modeled themselves on the Brooklyn born Kach prophet, Meir Kahane. They appear able and willing to commit nuclear suicide and take the entire planet with them to the gates of Hell. What a proud religious ethnic and racial heritage to leave in the memory of the world.
Your comparisons are lacking in the highly prized attribute of love of humanity. If you stopped identifying as a Jew your life would instantly get better. Try human being without religion or stupid ethnic/religious slavish devotion and life will get better. Imagine yourself as a human being and not a Jewish God. Many of us made that transition and now it is your turn.
salaam/shalom
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
"I found it fascinating that AIPAC's executive director Howard Kohr opened the conference admitting that there was now a huge, international campaign against the policies of Israel. He painted a picture of 30,000 people marching in Spain, Italian trade unionists calling for a boycott of Israeli products, the UN Human Rights Council passing 26 resolutions condemning Israel, an Israeli Apartheid Week that is building a global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign."
Yes, but this to the Israelis is only proof of the world having gone mad. Proof of anti-Semitimi. Proof that the world has forgotten the Holocust and that, somehow, that's Palestine's fault. Proof that the world is daring to challenge them and having the audacity to question their self-appointed status as the Chosen People.
This statement should not be taken as encouraging or as a sign of hope but, rather, as more self-vicitimizing, more wallowing in pity, more cries of wolf and more denial.
Thanks Medea for standing up for the people of Palestine. Few Americans understand the situation. the following was submitted to our local paper.
************ Today, May 6th, is the 61st Nakba
In any contest there are winner and losers, that’s just the way it is. May 6th marks the 61st anniversary of one such contest/conflicts. To Israel it’s celebrated as Independence Day, to the Palestinians it’s the Nakba, or catastrophe. One won and one lost, that’s the way these things go, right?
Not so easy and clear cut. Just as the seeds of WWII were sown by the retributions taken against Germany after WWI, so the seeds of the conflict were planted deep and firm by the displacement and deaths of a million and a half Palestinian people in 1948 when Britain withdrew as the protectorate of Palestine.
War is never nice, you say? The seeds of 9-11 and the conflicts we’re now fighting in the Middle East were sown in 1948. It’s time Americans learn the truth and tell our government to be a true honest broker, not a special friend of Israel. Just last week charges of spying were dropped against two American Israel Public Information Committee members and one U.S. Congressperson who was implicated. The survival of Israel and justice for the people of Palestine rests in our hands.
May 15 1948 not 6!
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
,
40 or 50 years ago, we said, "Never Again, Never Again". We looked with horror at the face of Nazi evil. We swore to "NEVER FORGET" We promised to never let the Holocaust be repeated.
We are ever vigilant...........How did it happen again?????
The New monsters are us.............when did we go from the abused and murdered victims; to the abuser-murders ??????????????
,
Medea Benjamin is spot on. Every single word is true. AIPAC and its ghoulish supporters have turned Israeli victimhood into an artform, a mockery of both Palestinian and Jewish suffering !
"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
Abraham Lincoln
How to take back your society from the psychopath elites:
Allow the elites to go over the edge, because this is the only way to convince a majority of USans to join the far-left cause. Let the enabling faction of elites (e.g. Demoks, O'Bamba) take credit for the maniacal destruction wreaked by the psychopaths (e.g. Repuks, AIPAC, et al).
We're fortunate that the electoral machinery is setup to allow us to vote our principles (writing in far left third party candidates) and throw all the blame for the psychopathic destruction on the enabling elite (Demoks).
We are absolutely not liable for the damage when we vote third party. The Demoks own it via their decision to play the role of enablers. Please report any flaw you may discover in this reasoning.
Nevertheless if one feels guilt in inadvertently helping the most worst evil (Repuks/Likuds) when voting third party, one may further erase that guilt by doing what we should be doing anyway: Exercising our economic/civic responsibility, by voting third party (far left principled, people-oriented) in all our exchange/association, which effectively starves the elites down small enough so they can drown themselves with chutzpah in their coffee cups.
Who will stop AIPAC jews before its too late? Jewish peace activists like Medea and myself. We have a responsibility to rise up and speak out for the oppressed. Anyone who's not jewish and tries to speak out against Israeli atrocities is destroyed by the media jews. you know, the same media jews who destroyed catholic priests and catholicism when the pope was critical of the invasion of middle eastern countries after 911. btw i was just kidding about being jewish.
The term "AIPAC Jews" is a problem. People need to be described by positions they take, not their birth lineage! AIPIC "Zionists" or "Imperialists" or "Ultra-nationalists" would surely have been obvious and better choices, and MB & CD are shamed to have run this headline.
The junior league imperialists of Zionism and their thugs have indeed initiated all manner of horrible injustice, but our main enemy, and their Godfather, is at home. Let us attack the evil that spawns Zionism and American imperialism. The people of Judaism has given to society far in dispropostion their size, and we can all stand to learn from the bent Jewish grandmother down the street. Judaism is of course terribly riddled with idiotic superstition and hurtful stereotypes, and these must be filtered out.
I remember a crowded deli we sometimes traveled to on Sunday morning. You were served by older women, many with numbers tatooed on their arms. We were poor and outsiders, but always treated nicely, and the buzz at the place amongst the familiar was palpable and very exciting. At this moment, I think of their incredible raisin bread, with only enough flour to hold the raisins together. What a rich culture!
If you want universal peace, sustainability, equality and affluence, you must build a political party that can lead organized labor to victory, here and everywhere.
CQ from Maine
It is the duty of every Jew--chosen by God as he or she is--to be a good person. Jews forget that at their peril. Supported by radical Christian fundamentalists and radical Zionists of their own right wing, Israel has made a pact with the devil-- land for constant strife. We have to believe that President Obama will ultimately stand up to AIPAC and the current government--or baring that the current government will fail to bring any kind of peace or order to the lives of all the decent Israelis both Arab and Jewish and will quickly lose the confidence of its people.
I believe the declaration of independence said "people will long suffer". I do not expect to see change any time soon.
great article medea - thank you..
also thanks common dreams for posting media's comments. it's rare to find such courageous people as the code pink activists, who day after day confront the system in such a powerful way. it's reassuring that common dreams still publishes unpopular voices that would never see the light of day in a world that tries to marginalize and sanitize all alternative opinions.
the zionists in israel are living in an alternate reality that completely denies any other narrative of events unfolding in palestine. this absolute complete denial of reality and lack of empathy for other people is striking, stunning - un believable.
what belief system could be so all encompassing, to such a degree, that all alternative interpretations of events are decried as not factual and alternative voices are suspiciously viewed as haters, anti semites ?
that's powerful LSD backed w/ a punch, the military support of christian US taxpayers and the complicity of multi-national media outlets.
what's so evil about this zionist state is it's willing complicity in repeatedly committing acts of violence against unarmed (realistically) civilian populations.
if the brits can ban michael savage for his inflammatory speech, there has to be a way to reform american election laws - to severly limit foriegn governments ability to use political action groups to lobby US politicians.
this political action committee actively spies on US citizens while successfully redirecting US foreign policy through campaign contributions and active lobbying.
didn't the US government actually fabricate evidence in the 1950's - when we were obsessed w/ soviet spies ? i mean we have live spies from israel in the US today. where's the outrage ?
also i liked the quote, very telling ....
"Shut the f--- up. Shut the f--- up." one staffer yelled, red-faced and sweating as he ran beside me. "This is not the place to be saying that shit. Get the f--- out of here."
...peace...
Right on! Dual citizenships need to be purged from our government and the first to go is Rahm Emmanuel.
michael jordan
http://sites.google.com/site/apolloguide/
Now Is The Time For All True Jews To Step Forward And Demand Justice For The Palestinian People
"Who are the True Jews?"
"The True Jew always sides with the slave, never with the slave-master."
"What makes the Palestinian the slave?"
"Having one's homeland occupied by another people is to be enslaved."
"And what makes the Israeli the slave-master?"
"Being the occupier."
"How will a call by True Jews for justice for the Palestinian people help resolve the Mideast conflict?
"No longer will the Jewish settler-state Israel be able to get away with its claim that opposition to its subjugation of the Palestinian people is based on anti-Semitism."
"Why is that so important?"
"Those of us who have held back from supporting the Palestinian people for fear of being labeled anti-Semitic or a self-hating Jew can now step forward and do the right thing."
"The outcome being?"
"By popular demand the White House and Congress will be forced to recognize that the Palestinian cause is just."
"And then what?"
"Jewish colonizer and colonized Palestinian sit down together and work things out."
"Based on?"
"One equals one."
"Anything else?"
"Liberty and justice for all."
The world will never know "liberty and justice for all" as long as there are religions which dictate the manner in which one group behaves toward the others.
Israel is the "Jewish state" and make their claims based upon a text with dubious origins, who's antiquity has been shown to be only fairly recent, and much of what is left is subject to interpretation. Israel would not exist if it were not for the Christians, who have even less authenticity than the Jews, since their entire establishment is based upon hearsay. Their history toward others reflects the Jews; and the Muslims have worked exceptionally hard to "catch up with the other two" in their disdain of others and their willingness to "kill for God".
In fact there is no religion in any form of practice that does not have a history of violence and the destruction of others; and there never will be.
Until humanity is able to "outgrow" its need for 'religion', liberty and justice for all will only be a dream, that others are willing to kill and die for; if they can be the one who defines "liberty and justice for all"..........
Most Americans seem to be unable to agree on a definition of "liberty and justice for all"-------------------and America has a history of a "willingness to shed oceans of blood" for "liberty and justice of all".............