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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 AllToo simple.
Israel is the anti-colonialist uprising against the British empire that succeeded where other indigenous peoples (eg. the Palestinians) failed or succeeded too late.
But sure, now that the anti-colonialist Zionist uprising against British imperialism has institutionalized itself for 60 years it has become the local colonial power and would do well to recognize that it too must abandon its local empire in the West Bank, just as the British empire was forced to do by economics and local insurrections.
Unfortunately, unlike the British who withdrew across an ocean... the Israelis are going to be there in their native land, just across the fence.
No denying that will be hard for the Palestinians to accept... but that will be the price of peace, if they want it.
There is nothing "native" enough about Palestine that allows the Israelis to do what they're doing. They have no right to be there in this manner -- and I doubt they'll be there forever, once justice sets in.
It is easy to figure out, Medea, just look at history.
Israel is the historical land owned by the Israelis. It was given to them free of charge by Yaweh, the God of War and Weather, several thousand years ago. Yahweh's only conditions were that, as the Israelis advanced, they would kill every living thing and destroy all but a few chosen cities. On a couple of occasions when they kept a few animals alive to sacrifice to Yaweh, He punished them severely for breaking his order and leaving something alive.
Now, several thousand years after having been dispersed from the land, they have returned. Is it any surprise that they began cleansing their homeland just as they did in the time of the prophets? They still worship the same neurotic, bloody-minded god that they did in the old days. Not only that, but He has grown from a local war god to the great God of all.
Now, understanding this, it should be easy to figure out what is going on in the Middle East. Israel is always right! God told them so. Any people squatting on the land that they slaughtered their way across a few thousand years ago are to be destroyed.
As Yahweh's Chosen People, they can do no wrong, so don't question whom they kill or enslave, they are just following the mandate of their god.
With the USA pledged to give them their annual tithe of $3 billion plus in advanced military hardware, plus their own arsenal of nuclear weaponry, they should be able to carry out the will of God fairly easily.
Any questions, class? You can read all about it in the Old Testament, and in the writings of some of the modern rulers of Israel. Class dismissed.
Who's this Yahweh dude? Does he have a SSN? Does he pay taxes?
Question: 'Yahweh's Chosen People' -- whose word do we have on that?
I love code pink! They are my heroes. Keep up the good work!!
Israel is going to bring the US down
The earlier the US people realise that Israel is no friend of the US the better otherwise the writing is on the wall.
Lust Greed Power Prions no cure for this mental illness.
It is so important NOT to mention the atrocities!
They scramble to cover Medea's mouth before the words get out! Bust their bubble they are living in!
Blame the AIPAC Zionists for the boycott against Israel! They drug the whole population into the fray by using "Jew Hater" and "Israel Hater" to defend their atrocities. They deferred hatred toward them, onto the whole Jewish population.
The population in the U.S. will get the same, we feel it dragging us down, and there is not a thing any of us can do to change how the MSM portrays U.S..
HOLDING THEM WRONG FOR COMMITTING ATROCITIES DOES NOT MAKE YOU A HATER OF ANY KIND.
Everybody in that room was there to feel good about themselves. That's why Medea's mouth was covered! "Not Here / Not Now / This is not the Place" These people cannot think for them selves and we don't want you putting "ideas" in their head. They are here like empty slates ready to be filled with our propaganda, not yours MEDEA!
Support Israeli draft resisters, conscientious objectors and their
organizations:
http://www.newprofile.org/english/
Anger, violence and bitterness (as well as denial) are almost always thin covers for fear and feelings of powerlessness. Mental rigidity is almost always a cover for doubt. Of course sometimes these things simply result from stupidity.
AIPAC isn't going to listen to progressive Jews; they don't have to. They are part of an apparatus that has an iron lock on the US Government. the Mossad, Shin Bet and the IDF made a conscious decision to reject international law, due proces, human rights and the basic underlying tenets of civilization decades ago. And the US and Europe have agreed to look the other way, mostly. The bodies have been piling up ever since. It may be that nothing can change this and that Israel is headed irreversibly down a horrific path of self-destruction. This path is likely to involve at least some of its 200 weaponized nuclear warheads. Which means a regional apocalypse with planetary consequences. It seems that only years-long, continent- wide military disasters are large enough to get our attention, hence Europe had to have 2 world wars before arriving at 6 decades of at least partial peace. How high will the bodycount have to go this time? How widespread the ecological and economic destruction? It appears that AIPAC and their cohort in Israel are willing to bring it down on themselves and the world rather than surrender one inch of "Eretz Israel". We'll see.
they don't have to also because progressive Jews are the exception, not the rule.
they don't have to because the progressive Jews are late in the game, not when the morality of the situation was apparent early on.
they don't have to because progressive Jews have appeared when it became obvious that Israel was endangering it's own survival - so that many of them oppose the tactics used, but not the ultimate goal.
progressive Jews would have an impact if they weren't a day late and a dollar short.
Medea Benjamin is one of my favorite people. But let's be honest - Israel has been paraded as the Homeland of the Jews, and has been supported, actively and/or passively, by the vast majority of Jews because they believed that. Now we are supposed to pretend that didn't happen.
Well, it did. Powerful Jews, in support of Israel, made sure that people were elected that went to the highest bidder, because if someone wasn't corruptible, if someone voted based on morality, they would be for rights for Palestinians. Jews sat by as people had their careers destroyed (see counterpunch.org) because they told the truth about the Middle East, and the vast majority of Jews considered the truth tellers as anti-semetic. Jews as whole sat back as cover was given to bigots, even bigots that hated Jews, as long as supported Israel. The proof is in the pudding. None of the above were a series of accidents, and none of it terribly secret.
Until the victims of Zionism, here, in the Middle East, and throughout the world, are compensated for what was done to them... only then we can put it behind us. But we can't put it behind us simply by trying to pretend that there is no responsibility of the vast and powerful group of people who promoted this. A few resisters change none of that.
I was in NYC in 2006 -- there was a lot of activity at the U.N. -- a lot of protests and rallies -- there was an enormous turnout by pro-Israel jews, who were well-organized and brought in busloads of kids, etc.
the jewish 'resistance' was also there, and I did see some angry language used towards them --
here's the thing: would the aipac types simply be 'using' the victim rap,
or do they really believe that those who disagree are anti-semitic?
I don't have a precise answer to this question -- however, I do know people among family and friends who have a deep and ancient attachment to their beliefs about Israel --
information that contradicts these very deep sentiments about Israel simply has no bearing --
a rebuttal is usually as quick and dismissive as the one Medea received, though perhaps less violent --
I think the actions of Israel with Gaza signify a sort of internalized
collective trauma -- the same way the terror of an abusive childhood sometimes results in adults who abuse
there are various characteristics that illustrate this circumstance --
the lying, the need for control --
it is an incredible shame and there are no easy answers --
I feel very grateful for the work of conscious individuals like Medea
dubs--
Just a couple of points:
You seem to assume that pro-Israel Jews are the same as AIPAC fanatics. In fact I can't think of any Jews who are not pro-Israel. There may be a few but a very few. Medea Benjamin, as her article makes clear, is pro-Israel, as are the members of JStreet.org and other Jews who deplore Israeli imperialism and persecution of Palestinians.
Most of the Aipac types use the "anti-Semitic" accusation because it's become the nastiest thing they can say, and the one best thing most likely to shut up critical "goyim." It's become more shameful to be called anti-Semitic than to be called anti-anything else. Which says something.
Rainborowe
It's a point worth making Rainborrowe, thanks.
My opposition to AIPAC positions stems from my support for the underlying cause of Israel, and from my support for the equivalent national rights for the Palestinians.
Internet discourse constantly regresses toward binary oppositions... with us or against us. I'm not with AIPAC, but I'm even less with what I judge to be majority sentiment here on this board, which in the form it is expressed here is as opposed to Palestinian interests (in my opinion) as AIPAC is opposed to Israeli interests.
The loud and the angry dominate the intertubes and the air waves... they do not make peace.
Mike--
I missed this before. And I agree. Obviously I'm more a partisan of the Palestinians, with whom I've spent a good part of my life, and you of Israel but, while a couple of decades ago I would have said that the best solution for all was the return to the pre-1967 borders (returning to the pre-Israel past being impossible, realistically), the far-right movement of Israeli politics since then and, sadly (and unexpectedly to me--until I consider the influx of Russians), the rightward following of the Israeli population, suggests that the course now set by Israel and its American mouthpiece will almost certainly bring about the destruction of the state of Israel. I don't see any other end.
I don't even want to think about just how it will come to an end--I just hope I don't live to see it.
Rainborowe
Rainbow, right on.
Rainborowe,
"It's become more shameful to be called anti-Semitic than to be called anti-anything else. Which says something."
which actually says a lot about christian guilt relative to the holocaust. the aipac crowd are masters of playing off of 'our' complicity during the extermination campaign of the nazi regime. that's a powerful mindf-ck w/ very graphic charts and visual aids to hit the point home.
of course, it's acceptable to hate arabs/muslims in america. as americans we've always exploited these people for their resources.
was it shameful in the 19th century, during the rapid expansion westward, to be a sincere advocate for the colonists who were displacing/murdering native americans ?
the holocaust was despicable as were numerous other atrocities that have occurred in recent times, to focus on this one tragedy - the zionist - attempts to absolve his nation of all it's current transgressions against humanity.
very perverted immoral thinking.
...peace...
Iowa "the holocaust was despicable as were numerous other atrocities that have occurred in recent times, to focus on this one tragedy - the zionist - attempts to absolve his nation of all it's current transgressions against humanity."
The big difference is that most other atrocities in recent times haven't been orchestrated and carried out with the help, encouragement and support of the United States. Another difference is that most other atrocities were massacres of people that were speedily over, leaving little that anyone could do.
The establishment of the state of Israel and the displacement of the original inhabitants took place entirely within my lifetime and would never have taken place but for the material aid and support of the United States from that first declaration to the present. As an American a chunk of my taxes goes to support Israel in money and loan guarantees to buy their advanced weapons systems, and to maintain a constant pressure on other U.N. nations to toe the same line and shut up with their protests of what is, surely laughingly, called "our ally"--as if Israel actually helps and supports the U.S. rather than it being the other way around.
Rainborowe
Rainborowe,
i think we basically agree, i was born in june of 1967 and when i look
at the situation in palestine from a personal/historical perspective - i can
see that for every day i have been alive, the palestinian people have
been fighting to restore their right to control their land.
"The big difference is that most other atrocities in recent times
haven't been orchestrated and carried out with the help, encouragement
and support of the United States"
actually not true, the death toll (genocide in east timor (up to 200,000) was proportionately greater than the death in cambodia (although more people died in cambodia).
- 90% of the weapons provided to the indonesian military regime to commit these atrocities were provided by the US government.
- the atrocities were under-reported b/c of US fears of losing control of valuable shipping lanes that supply most of the oil to japan.
- there was an exagerrated fear that the east timorese govt (under the control of FRETILIN) would become 'communists'.
- as to US coordination, the invasion of E timor (dec 1975) occurred the day after a historic visit by gerald ford and henry kissinger. air force one leaves the runway in jakarta- next day suharto invades - no US objections - give them more guns. (see link below)
FORD, KISSINGER AND THE INDONESIAN INVASION, 1975-76
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/
carter and reagan followed in fords footsteps - continuing support for suharto.
- the slaughter wasn't an isolated wurlitzer of horror, a slaughter in a few weeks (like rwanda). it was stretched out over 20 years, and was institutional (like the US colonialization of north america) - including the introduction of indonesian farmers on land once controlled by the timorese themselves.
and there were calls from human rights organizations and concerned citizens in the late 70's and early 80's to suspend US military aid b/c of the massacres and atrocities occurring in east timor.
chomsky in his book (and in the subsequent film) manufacturing consent goes into great detail as to why you would believe that the US doesn't encourage this activity and why an average american would see the slaughter in cambodia as more significant (both occurred at the same time - one received extensive media coverage).
...peace...
continued -
guatemala - another example of genocide that was written and orchestrated and performed by US elites (again using an exaggerated fear of outsiders - communists - as an excuse to slaughter indigenous people).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala
{According to the U.N.-sponsored truth commission the ("Commission for Historical Clarification"), government forces and state-sponsored paramilitaries were responsible for over 93% of the human rights violations during the war.[10] During the first 10 years, the victims of the state-sponsored terror were primarily students, workers, professionals, and opposition figures, but in the last years they were thousands of mostly rural Mayan farmers and non-combatants. More than 450 Mayan villages were destroyed and over 1 million people became internal and external refugees. In certain areas, such as Baja Verapaz, the Truth Commission considered that the Guatemalan state engaged in an intentional policy of genocide against particular ethnic groups in the Civil War.[10] In 1999, U.S. president Bill Clinton stated that the United States was wrong to have provided support to Guatemalan military forces that took part in the brutal civilian killings.[11]}
------------------------------------------------------
i agree that we should stop spending our precious resources on war. as to our relationship around the globe w/ israel. i believe it's a symbiotic relationship. for example israel helped the US in the 1980's by supplying arms by proxy to regimes like south africa, guatemala, argentina and chilie when western countries were imposing arms embargoes on those countries b/c of human rights abuses.
as a pariah nation - israel has had an affinity w/ both the neocons and the most scurrilous dictators around the world, which in the past has been seen as geopolitical plus for war hawks in washington, a backdoor.
the nazi/jewish psychological game has everything to do with a common enemy. b/c we (the jews of europe and the US) fought a common enemy (nazis), it's easier for americans to identify w/ the zionists in israel - who constantly invoke the nazi regime as the purist form of evil (which is dangerous b/c the nazis are not evil they are an example of a culture that became evil).
it's difficult for americans to make that distinction as our elites and media constantly define our perceived enemies as incarnations of evil and our allies as supreme examples of good. once enshrouded by this mythology, many americans cannot see thier 'good' friends (they were persecuted by nazis, they also have an anti arab orientation - we the US want arab oil) committing evil deeds. the MSM won't allow it.
...peace
It depends on what you consider being pro-Israel to mean. Can you clarify that?
Yes. Pro-Israel means supporting the right of the State of Israel to exist. It doesn't mean supporting the policies of the Likud, and previous Israeli governments of all stripes, in instigating or allowing settlement of the West Bank, which is in clear violation of international law. They vary on East Jerusalem.
Rainborowe
Alright then. And yes I am pro-Israel, I support the right of the State of Israel to exist. Uh, just like people globally support the right of all existing states to exist...except here it seems. I have not seen calls for any state except Israel to be dissolved. And by that definition I am also pro-Palestinian, because I support the right of the Palestinians to have their own state.
We have a single political party in the US composed of two branches known as the left (Democratic) wing and the right (Republican) wing. Both are owned by corporations as is the president now. AIPAC is composed of corporate people, therefore they own this country. Nothing will change until we have a revolution. We will continue to subsidize Israeli persecution and torture of Palestinians.
The UN has no power, but I think they should repeal UN Resolution 181.
I must disagree with the belief that there are "... two branches known as the left [Democratic] wing and the right [Republican] wing." The Democrats are certainly not on the left; on the contrary, they are on the center-right. True leftists do not support, among other things, the illegal and immoral occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and do not support Obama's false claim of universal health care as opposed to a single-payer health carer system. But the statement that both parties are owned by the large corporations is certainly accurate.
Why would anyone complain to AIPAC about Gaza, they don't need no stinking complaints about Gaza. Israel owns the US Govt, has for decades, and all us hillbillies are good for is to pay the taxes AIPAC and its crew don't pay, and to die in wars on behalf of Israel. Just who does this author think they are, a free, independent citizen or something?
THE SPEECH OF TRUTH
On April 20th, 2009, the sitting president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stood up before a world conference in Geneva, amid heckling, applause, and tense anticipation and proceeded to give what is now known as "The Speech of Truth". In a world where statesmen use such platforms for blatant propaganda and banal, meaningless rhetoric, people around the world have been reduced to listening to mere horoscopes and having to interpret familiar lies from governments officials around the world as subtle diplomacy. But on this fine day in April something new happened, something entirely unexpected and never heard in the "free" countries of the world...the truth. So shocking was this to the western delegates, that they immediately walked out, in tandem, almost covering their ears lest they be offended by sounds they only hear uttered in private amongst each other in their secret clubs and meetings. It was the rarest of rare moments, and if you missed it, then you missed what free speech can do to clowns dressed in suits who only know of one singular reaction to such abusive noise...EXIT!
http://www.humanbeingsarefree.blogspot.com/
Too bad they don't keep on exiting until they exit this life.
If I remember correctly, this author was the same one who supported Kerry in 2004 over Nader and even begged Nader not to run and again Obama over Nader and again begged Nader not to run. I believe that she also endorsed AIPAC kissyface Pelosi over Sheehan and even urged other members of CP to do the same. I'm sorry but unless I am mistaken about MB, MB is not an advocate for peace but supporting warmongers over real pro peace pols such as Nader, Mckinney, Sheehan, etc ...
You know what? Enough with the politically correct witch hunts. Surely her enduring activism and courage compensate for any political miscalculation. Certainly a Socialist or a communist could claim you are throwing your vote away on the compromised Greens.
Well, excuse me but how the hell do you expect those of us who knew MB somewhat better to take her seriously? I'm sorry but looking at her full record of her actions and support, she is very inconsistent and I refuse to back down ! So how did your vote for Obama turn out? A wasted vote, no?
So, she ain't pure enough for you and you want to punish me now?
This constant drone is elitist because it conveys, "I am better than you" and juvenile-- Nyah, Nyah, told ya so.
Alright mister smarty pants, since you want to call yourself "mature" and call me "purist", please this question if you dare:
If MB really means what she says, then why didn't she support those who shared any of her vision when it mattered the most and yet supported Obama, Kerry, Pelosi, etc ... who opposed her on peace ?
C'mon, Jennifer, do you measure everything and everyone by the same stick? Can't people disagree on one point and come together on others? If Medea Benjamin saves the world, are you still going to excoriate her because she supported Obama?
There are shades of gray in this life.
Medea Benjamin saving the world? By supporting pols who will fight to do the opposite? Yeah, that really works ! NOT ! I don't mind MB's disagreements but she needs to be consistent about it which she isn't. Going out of her way to beg Nader, a real fighter for peace and getting us off these bloody wars, because she's afraid that Obama, pro-war, will lose is not fighting to save the world.
You say "...unless I'm mistaken..." You are mistaken. Medea Benjamin is out there doing good work. She, like you, like me, is not perfect, but she is an honorable person standing up in the face of adversity. Thank you Medea for your work.
I don't mind MB speaking out but when she has the nerve to support pols who oppose her and our views, I question her realness. Supporting pro-war Kerry, Obama, and Pelosi against Kucinich, Nader, and Sheehan for example makes me question what she really stands for. Think about it.
Yes. Saying you support a certain cause and then voting against people who support that cause in favor of politicians that don't is really a weird disconnect. No wonder she's ignored by AIPAC - she supports their candidates!!
You raise a good point, however our two-party, winner takes all election system is also to blame; our billion dollar, corporate media dictated and directed election spectacle is democracy for the highest bidder. There are deep seated structural and systemic problems as well as institutionalized corruption to blame as well. If the system is broken and corrupt, how can we expect change to come from the very same system?
Maybe I should go to one of these meetings...I'd like to see some puny staffer cuss me out and attempt to drag my 6'2, 440 lbs. ass out of there. All while I'm wearing my gigantic Star of David around my neck.
That WOULD be fun to watch! : )
You could just swat them off like the annoying flies they are.
If I log out, this article disappears from the CD list of articles. As soon as I log in, it's back. Uhhh????
Yeah, it's a strange and relatively new issue. However, I've noticed it on another site as well.
Don't ask CD, they won't respond.
The Israeli government pays quite a few people to post here--along with a hacker or two.
Yep. I don't put anything past them. Look up 'false flag" and remember the Liberty.
that is odd isn't it? same for me.
intimidation of CD? or is CD creeping toward MSM as a faux progressive news source?
That, too.
Mine locked up yesterday too when I logged out. What's up CD?
The more press Aipac gets, the better. It all shows their strong influence on the U.S. government and makes Congress and the Administration look like a bunch of fools and paid off political hacks, which they are. It won't last forever, so keep on with it Medea, you're doing all of us a huge favor.
Call us whatever you wish, we are collectively opposed to Israel's misbehavior on the world stage. The hatred and inhumane treatment of Palestinians must be repudiated by everyone with a conscience.
Most ironic comment in Media Benjamin's article: "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."
Like for Mr. Cheney on the floor of Congress, the f-word is acceptable vocabulary while words of compassion and forgiveness are forbidden. Maybe everyone in AIPAC has snarly teeth? The fangs of vicious animals not yet evolved beyond proprietary territorialism of people aged only a few decades speaking of "owning" land for 4,000 years.
Every Jew is now related to and justified by the holocaust? Isaac was fooled, too. Claiming ancestral rights as justification for violence against Arabs in the Middle East is bosh.
You mean AIPAC of liars are bribing and manipulating a pack of liars in Congress? This is America damn it, how can this happen?
America has been silently conquered by a foreign govt. The congress/senate whores are at AIPAC pledging their allegiance to the United States of Israel.
>>
The congress/senate whores are at AIPAC pledging their allegiance to the United States of Israel.
<<
Because the Mossad/AIPAC has so much dirt on them they don't dare take a shit without AIPAC approval.
Of course, the U.S. could stop them.
The short answer is no one. No one human being can stop this group of perpetual victims from seeing themselves as justified in their hate. It would seem that they learned the wrong lessons from history...
The holocaust was disgusting, but so are these professional victims. And they are so very dangerous too.
How's that working for Palestinian victims? Have they learned any lessons from their history?
Or does your thesis only apply to "this group" while others are ennobled and enriched by the sorry hand history has dealt them?
[How's that working for Palestinian victims? Have they learned any lessons from their history?]
I'd say they have. They've mostly given up on the idea of non-violent resistance, mostly due to the idiots who are more than willing to kill those who act violently or non-violently. Sorry buddy, I think each side is as idiotic as the other. One of those sides happens to be much better armed than the other one, which makes a difference in the amount of blood spilled. 100 palistinians for every israeli... The Nazis didn't achieve such numbers when they were killing people in the thirties and forties (about 10 million Germans were killed during that war, which is less than the number they killed in the death camps, and nowhere near a ratio of 100:1. Unlike AIPAC, I'll count the political prisoners, gypsies, homosexuals, russian pows, etc. that the Nazis killed as well as the jewish ones.)
Tell me, when will humans learn that killing people to show people that killing people is wrong, and is in fact quite the bloody waste of time.
Unfortunately, it goes on and on, a constant spiral downwards. The spiral might have started when the first self identified 'Israelite' slew his first Canaanite. Or maybe it started with Cain and Able (or when a Cro-Magnon speared his first Neadrathal).
Very true. Evidently, some truths are implacable, no matter who's side they lie in.
Israel is following an ancient path toward self-destruction. Nothing new or complicated there.
yes, of course, while Hamas is following the ancient path toward....
Hamas: a bunch of teenagers with rocks and firecrackers...... supplied by someone throwing these items over the wall, I would venture to guess.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
If that were true the good leaders of Gaza could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by keeping them at home.... but of course those teenagers had the full support of the top leadership and the fire they started was a disaster.
Remember, Mike, that the last ceasefire was kept by Hamas--no pipe-rockets, or anything--and broken in December by the Israeli carpet-bombing of Ghaza.
Evidently the Ghazans' ending of those amateur attacks on border Israelis didn't prevent the Israeli assault. The question then is, can you be sure that the occasional previous amateurish attacks really caused the previous heavy Israeli "reprisals?" Dont forget that the incommensurability of "reprisals" was a repeated charge at the WW2 war trials in Tokyo and Nuremberg. It was contrary to various Geneva and other conventions of war. In fact one German officer that I remember was hanged for miscounting by a very small number the number of Italian partisans he had shot in reprisal for the shooting of a German officer. It's along time since I read about this but I believe he was allowed to shoot 100 but in fact shot a handful more--but don't hold me to the real figures, although the event is authentic.
Rainborowe
Yes, of course. Parents do such excellent jobs at keeping their teenagers out of trouble around the world... (sarcasm dripping) I'd imagine the palistinian parents might be able to do a better job of it, had they not been killed by bombs dropped by the terrorists on both sides over the last 60 years or so...
This is not unusual. We become what we hate.
Rainborowe
Your comment is the wisest one on this message board. thank you richstew
If true, then are the haters of Israel doomed to create their own Israeli state?
What if we hate something that is truly good... does it too become our fate?
I think life might be a little more complicated than that.
Of course, life is more complicated than that. However, for a people to live through a holocaust, then to visit incredible violence on others in the name of such horror, beggars belief. Rational people can't hold such opposing thoughts.
Another point: Israel is not a lone, indefensible state. It's reach is extensive and deep, especially in the USA. Who shouldn't be very worried and upset by this?
Indeed, let us not hate, but let us not recoil from the truth, as complicated as it may seem.
I wonder what the Palestinians have learned in terms of empathy from the nakba.
Actually, I have a pretty good idea. For most it has hardened hearts. For a very few it has led to an understanding of suffering and of what it means to be a refugee.
I do not wish to draw facile parallels, but the Holocaust was a bitter lesson for most, the kind of lesson that creates hatred and resolve. But for some it also created a sympathy for the other.
A path of peace making is to enable people to reflect on their historical (and personal ) experience and to help them find a way to understand the other through that.
Much of the nakba narrative focusses exclusively on victimization... fair enough, and far be it from me to tell another people what to learn from their own experience. But there is material enough in there, as I have seen illustrated by Palestinian authors, for Palestinians to find the empathy for the other that will be necessary for peace.
Palestinians are the victims of victims. But victims and victims of victims don't make peace. Victimization is the worst possible place from which to make peace. Perhaps it can't even be done. And Palestinian victimization is ongoing, which makes it doubly hard. But the parallelisms of victimization narratives are one place where peace can be built, if people can recognize them.
Mike 2--
"I do not wish to draw facile parallels, but the Holocaust was a bitter lesson for most, the kind of lesson that creates hatred and resolve. But for some it also created a sympathy for the other."
Yes--but not when "the other" are the people being persecuted by the survivors of the shoah!
You are missing a very important point here.
European Jews were victims of the Nazis--NOT of the Palestinians, yet they rewarded themselves by dispossessing the inhabitants of another land who had no animosity toward them (didn't even know of their history) until they were being dispossessed without compunction--still less "empathy."
Palestianians were victims of European Jews who seized the land the inhabitants and that their ancestors (now Muslims, Christians and Jews) had lived on for millennia, slaughtered them, drove them out and pauperized them. If you think Palestinians should have empathy for their persecutors, who have never stopped that persecution but have ratcheted it up over the years of continuing disposession, there's something weird about your logic: the two situations are simply not comparable from any perspective.
When the American ambassador to Saudi Arabia was trying to sell King Faisal on the justice of giving the Palestinians' land to the survivors of the Shoah in Germany, the king listened sympathetically to the story of their persecution and then said, "So give them Germany!"
That wouild at least have the kind of logic you are suggesting, although I don't think that's the right approach either, but neither was unleashing the psychopaths of Irgun and the Stern Gang on unarmed Palestinian farmers and their families and butchering them until they fled. And if you want to see how little "empathy" the incoming Jews had, you need look no further than those boys.
I have spent a lot of time in Israel, although not in recent years, and I found many very, kind, decent and generous Israelis but I didn't look like a Palestinian. However things have gotten much worse--and it has very, very rarely been the Israelis who have been suffering at the hands of the Palestinians.
Rainborowe
excellent comment - thank you.
...peace...
While I disagree with some of what you say in other posts... I value the points you bring up here... Thank you for articulating these issues in this perspective...
AIPAC uses the tired old racist slur against anyone who criticizes Israel: "Jew Hater" "Nazi Sympathizer" OR if you are Jewish like Dr. Norman Finkelstein, Dennis Bernstein, Joel Kovel et al. you are called "self hating Jew" etc.
People like Dr. Richard Falk (UN Rapportuer) have been called this as well as Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu.
When is someone in the MSM going to expose this disgusting practice as well as AIPAC thuggery and intimidation? As Benjamin points out, anti-Zionist US Jews must stand up to defy these neo-fascist deathmongers. One group who has begun to speak out is Jewish Voice for Peace.
Have you any clue as to who owns the MSM?
Of course the problem is that the opposition to Israel's existence and/or to its policies includes "Jew haters" and people of conscience, and nobody really knows what the proportions are.
As an opponent of Israel's policies I certainly do not feel welcome at most rallies opposing Israel's policies because these are generally places and events filled with self evident raw hatred of Jews.
I feel as hostile to most anti-Israeli political activity as I do to AIPAC. The extremes suck the oxygen out of the middle and out of peace, and leave no place for me to participate.
Definitely a problem.I tend to stay away from some of the Answer Coalition folks, because some of them seem to sliding down the slippery slope to real, scary, old time antisemitism.In a similar way, in the great anti-war demos of the sixties and seventies, it was a good idea to stay away from the guys with the Vietcong flags.What the hell, I only qualify as half of a self-hating Jew.
I am sorry you feel that way, I could not disagree more. What about all the "self-hating Jews? Are Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu "anti-Semitic"? as AIPAC says? Does AIPAC have any moral authority to label anyone? They are the ones who have deep-seated racism issues.
I believe real racists hate Arabs more than Jews (although both can be considered Semitic) and there are very few genuine anti-Semites in my experience, in the anti-Zionist movement. Dr. Norman Finkelstein explains this better than I can, I refer you to him: "Beyond Chutzpah: the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of History".
By the way calling him a self-hating Jew has no effect.
I don't know any self hating Jews in a political sense, and I don't know what you are talking about in that regard.
You can read through the comments on this blog and see more than enough anti-Jewish animus to last a lifetime.
Nobody can see into the heart and know what true feelings lurk there - we listen to the words and we draw what conclusions we can.
"Real racists"? A racist hates on the basis of race, an "antisemite" has got a slightly different disease involving race and religion and ideology. I don't think competitive victimization is a healthy game.
The fact that Arabs are semites is a really pointless semantic argument - antisemitism is a word that refers, for good reason, to a unique kind of hatred focussed at Jews. Sorry that we got our own special word, but in European history we were a kind of unique case. Anti Arab hatred is no less serious an issue, but like each hatred and conflict it has its own unique history. Calling it "antisemitism" is frankly silly and unhelpful. It is still very bad in its own very bad and unique way.
Maybe you think all sorts of things that I think are antisemitism... just aren't, so you give the "antiZionist movement" a clean bill of health. Is Hamas part of your antiZionist movement? How about Hizbollah? How about Iran? These are all complicated organizations and nations with lots of people who feel lots of different things, but they are shot through with expressions of hatred to the very existence of Jews as a political nation in its land, to the fundamental legitimacy of Jews as an indigenous and sovereign people in Palestine. I call that antisemitism, and I call it an extension of the antisemitism of the Catholic church and the German and Soviet states, translated to the modern middle eastern context.
Go to any antiIsrael rally in the US and you will here blood curdling calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, blood curdling because it is all that stands between the lives of most of its citizens and death.
Oh sure, you'll also hear fine promises that Jews will have their individual rights in the glorious state of the future, which any rational person would take about as seriously as a promise of a happy working life in one of those great German work camps in eastern Poland.
So you and I may have different ways of measuring what is in people's hearts.
If you grow up in a Christian nation like the U.S. you learn that Christian love is generally a form of hatred, rebranded, which accepts YOU only if you change yourself to its model. Real love and acceptance involves accepting other people as they really are, not as we would have them be. And real peace involves people working together to find a way to accept the other as it really is.
Anyway, a two state solution is out there to be had. AIPAC and the current Israeli government are working against it, but we'll get there, and from a position of mutual recognition of their sovereign national rights in their shared homeland, Jews and Palestinians will ultimately forge some kind of binational federated whatchamcallit in the land of Israel and Palestine.
Yet, who ever hear charges of racism when a Jew hates and slaughters an Arab and then cries victimhood.
People have a right to be angry. Were the Germans hated? Did they suffer national disgrace. Well?
"You can read through the comments on this blog and see more than enough anti-Jewish animus to last a lifetime."
The majority of the comments I read were critical of Zionism and the Israeli government, not of the Jewish people as a whole. Can you quote a few examples of what you consider anti-Jewish animus?
Of course, the fact that the state of Israel is so closely bound up with the identity of the Jewish people makes it difficult to treat the two as entirely separate concepts.
Look at comments by Horrified and Wanderer, classic implications of dual loyalty, for example. There are others.
You didn't offer any quotations. I don't see anything indicative of anti-Jewish prejudice or racism in Horrified's posts. The gist of Wanderer's postings is that he (or she) believes that Jewish Americans didn't do enough to prevent what he sees as the pernicious influence of groups such as AIPAC on American foreign policy. While it's true that that's a criticism of the majority of Jewish Americans, it's a criticism of their political behavior, not a racist attack on the Jewish people, and I certainly don't see that it merits the description of "more than enough anti-Jewish animus to last a lifetime." (That's not to say that I agree with Wanderer's point, any more than I agree with the claim that all Americans are now responsible for torture)
Given that that the group identity of the Jewish people is so tightly bound up with the state of Israel, it's difficult for people who are critical of Israeli policies voice their opinions without being accused of racism. Many of the people who criticize Israeli policies on CD also criticize the American goverment's policies concerning the wars, the Wall Street bailout, etc. I believe that the basis of their criticisms is the same in both cases - a desire for justice and equality. The fact that in one case they are criticizing the policies of a state that is intimately connected to the Jewish people does not mean that they are motivated by racism.
Given that the group identity of the Jewish people is so tightly bound up with the state of Israel, I grant you that it is difficult to attack Israeli policies without attacking Israel and Jews, but that is your responsibility if that is your intention.
On the other hand, it is also difficult to support Palestinians when they endorse Hamas.... my responsibility is to do so nonetheless.
That's the challenge. How do you demonstrate solidarity with a people and disagree with the policies of some of its leaders?
The accusation of dual loyalty against Jews is such a common canard that I'm not going to take the time to argue it - it's boilerplate antisemitism, straight out of Nazi Germany. Israelis, by the way, have their own version of it against Israeli Arabs too. No matter, it is part of the racist cannon, particularly when applied to a whole group, like "j street" or "them".
The nuance you see between attacks on Jewish political behavior and attacks on Jews as Jews, when Jewish support for Israel is such a deep part of Jewish identity, is lost on even me, and certainly would be lost on most American Jews. I'm sure that many people have a picture of their imaginary "good Jew" who if he/she would just stop supporting Israel (or in the old days, just accept Jesus as savior) then that person would be a fine and wonderful human being.
Well, the Jews that the Palestinians need to make peace with are the Zionists, the Israelis, and those like me who oppose Israeli policies because of our support for the state of Israel. As long as people are deploying century old bullshit about banking and dual loyalty and new ones like Trade Tower conspiracies, they are living in a sick fantasy world. I almost welcome their delusions because an opponent who is divorced from reality shoots himself in the foot. But as a human being I feel for them, and my better nature knows that as long as they are lost in the delusional world of antisemitism they are in some ways marginalized and less dangerous, but in other ways it becomes impossible to make peace with them also.
"The nuance you see between attacks on Jewish political behavior and attacks on Jews as Jews, when Jewish support for Israel is such a deep part of Jewish identity, is lost on even me, and certainly would be lost on most American Jews."
Wanderer blamed the majority of Jewish Americans for not doing enough to suppress the baneful influence of AIPAC on American foreign policy. As I wrote, I happen to disagree with him/her on that point, but I don't see any evidence of anti-Semitism in his/her remarks. A dictionary definition of anti-Semitism is "hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group." Perhaps you believe that Jewish support for the current Israeli government's policies is a necessary part of Jewish religious, ethnic, or racial identity, from which you conclude that any criticism of Israeli government policies is necessarily anti-Semitic. If so, I dispute that contention, as I know many Jewish people who are critical of the Israeli government's policies (you can even find several just by reading the responses to this article). If, through some miracle, the Israelis and Palestinians learn to live together in peace and mutual respect, I have no doubt that the hostility of most current critics of Israeli policies would cease, whereas hostility that is an outgrowth of anti-Semitism would never cease.
"I'm sure that many people have a picture of their imaginary 'good Jew' who if he/she would just stop supporting Israel (or in the old days, just accept Jesus as savior) then that person would be a fine and wonderful human being."
You're rather trigger-happy in imputing racist ideations to others.
The accusation of dual loyalty is a standard antisemitic accusation. Not much more that you can say about it.
You'd like to make this about criticism of Israeli government policies but that's not an issue for me. Criticize away. But you'd have to be pretty obtuse not to read through these comments and see that there is a lot more going on than just a little policy disagreement.
"But you'd have to be pretty obtuse not to read through these comments and see that there is a lot more going on than just a little policy disagreement."
People who are convinced that they are surrounded by others who are prejudiced against them will often see prejudice where none exists. Neither of us can see into the hearts of other posters, but I invite you to at least consider the possibility that some of those whom you think are motivated by anti-Semitism are in fact motivated by a desire for justice.
Mike 2--
You have a problem in that this accusation of dual loyalty CAN only be made against American Jews because they are the only group of American citizens who can adopt and hold the citizenship of a second country (Israel) and retain their citizenship as Americans. This was by special act of Congress and only for Jews, to whom alone the Israeli "Law of Return" applied. Other Americans cannot take another nationality and remain American citizens. I would imagine that if Italy or Germany or Japan had a similar law with regards to the descendants of its nationals who had emigrated to the United states a century or two ago, they might also be suspected of dual loyalty. In fact Japanese-Americans were so accused without having taken Japanese citizenship, as were German Americans, although not with such dire consequences.
I, personally, find the notion of "loyalty" a bit embarrassing but what we're really talking about is people who are Americans but seem to be far more concerned for another country than for their own, to the point of determinedly subordinating the interests of their own, birth country to the peculiar interests of another--not to mention demanding and getting the treasury of their birth country to finance wholesale the dubious adventures of the other country.
Rainborowe
Good point. Although the law does allow for dual citizenship in other cases, such as a child being born in the U.S. to foreign parents; that child would have foreign citizenship as well, depending on that foreign country's laws.
http://www.usimmigrationsupport.
org/dual_citizenship.html