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TechnoratiHouse Shames Itself on Goldstone Report
Shame on the House of Representatives, and on the Democratic leadership of the House, for pushing through a resolution once again blindly taking the side of Israeli aggression.
I’m referring to the vote on Tuesday, by a lopsided 344-to-36 margin, to condemn the Goldstone report on Gaza.
That report, by South African jurist Richard Goldstone for the UN, showed that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes in the lead-up to and during Israel’s invasion of Gaza almost a year ago. (To read the executive summary, click here)
It noted that Israel deliberately attacked civilian targets, and did not take sufficient action to minimize civilian loss of life. For instance, it found that Israel even refused to allow the evacuation of the injured by ambulance.
The report also condemned Hamas for its rocket attacks into Israel, which the report said were designed to create terror.
Even as the U.N. was about to consider the report, the House measure called it “irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy.” And it urged the Obama Administration to “strongly and unequivocally oppose” any discussion of it at the UN.
This reflexive attitude that Israel can do no wrong is morally bankrupt and exceedingly unhelpful in resolving, in a just manner, the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.
Dennis Kucinich had it right when he denounced the House majority for going along with this. His statement is so powerful that I’m excerpting it at length here.
“Today we journey from Operation Cast Lead to Operation Cast Doubt,” he said on the House floor on Tuesday. “Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist.
“Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian.
“The resolution before us today, which would reject all attempts of the Goldstone Report to fix responsibility of all parties to war crimes, including both Hamas and Israel, may as well be called the ‘Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right: resolution.’ . . .
"How can we ever expect there to be peace in the Middle East if we tacitly approve of violations of international law and international human rights, if we look the other way, or if we close our eyes to the heartbreak of people on both sides by white-washing a legitimate investigation?
"How can we protect the people of Israel from existential threats if we hold no concern for the protection of the Palestinians, for their physical security, their right to land, their right to their own homes, their right to water, their right to sustenance, their right to freedom of movement, their right to human security of jobs, education and health care?
"We will have peace only when the plight of both Palestinians and Israelis is brought before this House and given equal consideration in recognition of that principle that all people on this planet have a right to survive and thrive, and it is our responsibility, our duty to see that no individual, no group, no people are barred from this humble human claim."
Until most members of Congress show some respect for international law and some humanity toward Palestinians, there’s no reason for Israel to.
58 Comments so far
Show AllFREE AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY
"Every time anyone says that Israel is our only friend in the Middle East, I can't help but think that before Israel, we had no enemies in the Middle East." : John Sheehan, S.J.
The fact that the vote was so lopsided shows that AIPAC still wields a lot of power. There is no way that all those people who voted against even reading the report are unaware of what the Israelis did in the Gaza strip.
incredibly sad is what --
bless dennis k.
There was a time that America raised its voice and arms against fascism, and made many friends in the process. What happened?
- http://www.jjvanka.net/imag/ptv_goldhouse05.htm
If this Congress' qualification of the Goldstone report -- 'irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy' -- is today's Voice of America, it's not strange that this country objected the ICC.
- http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=49139
Good for Dennis Kucinich, a breath of fresh air among those corrupt hores (no offense to the hard-working ladies of the night).
“The resolution before us today, which would reject all attempts of the Goldstone Report to fix responsibility of all parties to war crimes, including both Hamas and Israel, may as well be called the ‘Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right: resolution.’ . . .
I think this happened the day Obama was nominated for a peace prize. This is only the corroboration that we've gone well beyond the turning point.
I am deeply chagrined at the pot calling the kettle black in House Resolution 867, co-sponsored by House Foreign Affairs Committee senior members Reps. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), that was adopted by a vote of 344 to 36.
To contend that the Goldstone Report is irredeemably biased is an untenable position for America to take. History will doubtless prove the House wrong to support the inhumane and unbalanced "self-defense" practiced by the Jewish State of Israel against Gazans, Iranians, and Muslims in general.
I suppose that Mr. Obama has not yet strengthened his spine into the stainless steel one required to oppose the apparently all-powerful Zionist faction in Washington. But I do hope that, at least, his heart goes out to the victims in the conflict, disproportionately Arabs.
To dismiss them all to belonging to "violent militant groups" is wholly unreasonable. It is not anti-Israel bias; it is pro-Israel bias we must begin fighting.
The Goldstone Report is pure gold. Worth way more than the American dollar.
"But I do hope that, at least, his heart goes out to the victims in the conflict, disproportionately Arabs."
Heart? What heart?
The hearts in question would be the ones in the US rabbi based and backed, and state politician protected organ-legging ring that was broken up in New Jersey.
Matthew Rothchild, another Zionist for peace? I searched the Progressive magazine web site for a definitive statement on the issue of the one-state versus two-state solution to the Palestinian problem, to no avail.
So, I did a google site search for "one state solution" and got 2 hits, to wit
"There's no UN or Israeli support for a one-state solution"
and,
"Former US president Jimmy Carter said Sunday Palestinian leaders were "seriously considering" a one-state solution"
Then I did a site search for "two state solution" and got 326 hits.
Conclusion: Matthew Rothchild is another Zionist for peace.
There is not one media or political person in the US who is not a Zionist, that is, who does not support the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state on Palestinian land (that's the raison d'etre of Zionism). Not one, not Nader (I checked), Kucinich (the rest I'm guessing, could be proved wrong but I don't think so), Paul, Gravel, Feingold, McKinney (?), not ONE SINGLE PERSON.
Given that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, all else follows. It has the right to defend itself, so attacks against the Palestinians are justified. That logic is inescapable. They are playing a life and death game, and their very existence is at stake.
And the Palestinians, upon whose land, past and present, the current state of Israel sits, equally have a right to defend THEMSELVES. Stop fooling yourself and trying to fool others. Do you really think that the efforts of the Palestinians to defend themselves from a slow but steady genocide & the rape of their land in any way compares to the DEVASTATION wrought upon them by the mean-spirited IDF and Israeli government? -- an Israeli government and defense force which would have to act in a much more humble fashion were it not so well-supplied by the U.S. with the latest in modern weaponry?
Give the rest of us a break-- stop trying to impose your credulity on those who have researched both sides of the conflict and find Israel's cries of present victimhood false, especially after have visited the 140 sq. mile open-air prison called Gaza and having seen exactly the meaning of "Cast Lead": molten metal, no;
overkill, yes.
I see that you are one of those "might makes right" people, who thinks that its okay to invade and occupy a country, and call it home! Its okay to kill and terrorize the rightful inhabitants, pen them up like cattle, and shoot them whenever you please! Its okay to bomb them and destroy their homes and institutions, take away their dignity, and their hope! That's okay, huh?...Israel's "very existence" is at stake because they don't belong in the Middle East. They stole everything that they have, and in the process, they lost all their humanity, all their legitimacy as human beings. And spiritually, they are drowning in the blood of innocents. If Obama has any courage he will put a stop to their butchery, he will cut off every cent of aid, and refuse to reinstate it till they create a lasting, just peace. I am sick to death of my taxes going for Israeli weapons to shoot children with. I am sick to death of animals pretending to be human beings.
"If Obama has any courage he will put a stop to their butchery, he will cut off every cent of aid, and refuse to reinstate it till they create a lasting, just peace."
Wanna bet on that one?
No, I don't want to bet. What I want to do is to keep an open mind, and refuse to be a cynic. I don't know what Obama will do, neither do you, but I do know that being negative only compounds the problem. Instead, I wish to be part of the solution. This country is in deep crisis, and "now is the time for all good men, (and women), to come to the aid of their country." The trouble is, good men,(and women) are rare.
DJK:JFK.
DJK should be wary of a 'Paul Wellstone', and avoid flying in small private planes...
The brave and the principled:
33 Democrats
3 Republicans
Arizona
Pastor, Edward [D]
Grijalva, Raul [D]
Snyder, Victor [D]
California
Woolsey, Lynn [D]
Miller, George [D]
Lee, Barbara [D]
Stark, Fortney [D]
Capps, Lois [D]
Waters, Maxine [D]
Filner, Bob [D]
Indiana
Carson, André [D]
Kentucky
Davis, Geoff [R]
Louisiana
Boustany, Charles [R]
Maryland
Edwards, Donna [D]
Massachusettes
Olver, John [D]
McGovern, James [D]
Lynch, Stephen [D]
Michigan
Kilpatrick, Carolyn [D]
Dingell, John [D]
Minnisotta
McCollum, Betty [D]
Ellison, Keith [D]
Missouri
Clay, William [D]
New York
Clarke, Yvette [D]
Hinchey, Maurice [D]
North Carolina
Price, David [D]
Watt, Melvin [D]
Ohio
Kucinich, Dennis [D]
Oregon
Blumenauer, Earl [D]
Texas
Paul, Ronald [R]
Doggett, Lloyd [D]
Johnson, Eddie [D]
Virginia
Moran, James [D]
Washington
Baird, Brian [D]
McDermott, James [D]
West Virginia
Rahall, Nick [D]
Wisconsin
Baldwin, Tammy [D]
Another twenty two voted "Present":
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2009-838
36 out of 435 house of representative members = 8.27%
8.27% of house members believe in truth, accuracy, and/or justice.
91.73% of house members don't care much about OR support war crimes.
91.73% of house members believe that misrepresentation is either a source of pride OR not something to challenge.
Marian Cole
What a 4+ disgrace. By the way, what does "Present" mean? Cannot make up their mind or do not have the courage to say no?
It means they can't remember if the face in the mirror has received enough attention because all these voices around them crying out for justice keep trying to distract them from the special relationship they have with themselves.
'Shame on the House of Representatives, and on the Democratic leadership of the House, for pushing through a resolution once again blindly taking the side of Israeli aggression.
I’m referring to the vote on Tuesday, by a lopsided 344-to-36 margin, to condemn the Goldstone report on Gaza.'
Why should this shame the House of Representatives?
If you think 344-to-36 is lopsided it is nothing but par for the course for these representatives where that darling child of the USA's Congress is concerned.
But shame is appropriate for those who encourage and continue to allow such people to be their representatives. If their votes are permitted to stand so often in so many ways in such circumstances then it is an appalling indictment on those who permit those people to represent them. There are no two ways about this. Not only is the vote a disgrace but the profound implications of such voting patterns should not be tolerated either. Only citizens have the power to bring change 'we can believe in'. Not this bunch of overpaid fat cats masquerading as representing anybody but themselves and their paymasters.
Thankyou Dennis Kucinich!!!
And thank you to the others who voted against this bill. All 36 of them. I would like to see the honour roll. Which 36 of them had a shred of decency? I would like to know.
The roll call can be found at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll838.xml
What can I say? The obvious strategy of those who practice asymmetric warfare is to game the stonger party into a fight that would be too costly politically or legally to engage in. In other words, to take superior might out of the equation, then attack the status quo and cite the defenders of the status quo as the criminal aggressors.
In short, the terrorists want an 'easy button'. And no authority on Earth would logically agree to giving those without it that kind of card to play.
When you say "terrorists" you are, of course, referring to Israel, yes?
You really get off on that "superior might" business, don't you?
T-Rex had superior might too. That animal is history. Soon your type will be as well. Go back to Israel. We have enough traitors in the USA as it is.
WTF is the reason for the House to vote on the quality of the Goldstone Report in the first place? It's really none of their business ...
"His Masters Voice" -- disgusting developments.
Exactly! And don't try to convince me that those 300+ pea-brains came anywhere close to reading Goldstone's 500+ page report. Biased, my derriere. The Palestinians cooperated with Goldstone and the UNHRC. Israel refused, so 'what you sow, so shall you reap'.
House Dems are promoting anti-semitism
ezeflyer, very astute on your part, if it is true.
Yes, some force (probably well above House Dems) is, as you say, "promoting anti-Semitism", and by implication promoting 'blow-back' ---- and there are only a few organizations whose 'stock in trade' is fomenting 'blow-back'.
Only a very desperate and demented Empire would employ the type of organization that deals in 'blow-back' aimed at this scale of murderous intent --- and this suggests some double-dealing of the Empire that the so-called "Israel lobby" lobbies.
Who is the lobbyist, and who is the double-dealer?
This is very dangerous territory, which only one fascist Empire in history has ever broached.
I pray that you are wrong, ezeflyer.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Well. This is truly an interesting spin on the ball.
I wonder if you are thinking of religious empires?
It certainly isn't as straight forward as it would seem. You dont need to be a Jew to be a zionist. Heaven's knows that we know this. There are definitely more 'Christian zionists' as far as i know. In fact. How could there not be. There are many more fundamentalist Christians than there are Jews of any political bent.
And many Jews, including myself, aren't even pro israel. No. Not even for a two state solution.
All wars are religous wars, at the core, anyway.
And, yes, EZ....Definitely promoting anti Jewish feelings. I see it often enough right here on good old CD. And if it is here......then.
We are one incident away from rounding up the Jews here and sending them all to the internment camp they are creating over there. Walls work both ways. And the powers that be over there will be part of the whole deal. They would love it if all the u.s. Jews were sent over there.
Well. Now i have a new conspiracy hatched! Anti semitism breaks out in the u.s. in a big way and Jews are given one way tickets to israel. More settlements. Then.
The Christian fundamentalists prophecy can come true! They are always trying to get Jews back over there.
I think i might be on to something here. Or else i am just..............
I am only being partly humorous!
It is all 'District 9'!
readytotransform, while I am sympathetic to your concerns, no --- I'm not thinking of a "religious empire", and no ---- "all wars are not religious" today, but economic.
Religion is a great 'cover' for economic war, and a partial means of recruiting 'cannon-fodder' --- although nationalism is still the best recruiter's aide (at least in the West).
Best,
Alan
Thanks Alan.
Actually, all wars being religious underneath it all.....economics being our religion. Although i am thinking that it is even more about pure power. Or the misunderstanding of what 'power' truly means.
One can have only so much money and then what happens when the money is meaningless. Resources, i suppose. Is the core here. Water will be worth a lot more than anyone's paper. And we can't drink 'gold', either.....
Matthew Rothschild,
I have just one question:
How in the fuck do you shame a brazen whore?
This isn't about using effete, polite, parlor language to convince congress to be guided by their better angels. This is about criminal behavior.
How about some accusations with teeth?
SHAME? what a sick joke. Try bribery and extorsion.
Unfortunately, the Congressmen, and in particular the Democratic Leadership of the House, do not realise that their behaviour is adding significantly to the risk, tomorrow, of the world fraternity being condemned to live in a world made much more dangerous by desperate acts of terrorism on the part of fellow human beings whom we are today treating in such an inhuman way.
Why would any intelligent person expect a different outcome? I mean it.
War crimes.........Obviously. However. That is a bit of a redundant concept. War IS a crime. Isn't it?
This is crimes against humanity. And it wasn't even a war. So. The concept is flawed to begin with. In my own small opinion.
And how could the u.s. possibly afford to open such a pandora's box, when we are no better? Who is our government to point a finger? What happened to the torture investigations anyway?
Let's get real. I am serious. We need to stop writing and talking 'as if' our 'government' is for real. It is so old and facetious. The emporer is not wearing clothes!!! Can we not admit that already and get to the real issues. Like the fact that we have no governance here that represents anything or anyone other than itself........
And just to throw this in the mix. why not? Obama is not about anything. He has no agenda except self promotion. He gave a shout out to israel to halt settlements, knowing it didn't matter. That was his crumb to all the 'progressives' who believed in 'change you can believe in'.
That slogan alone should have given any thinking person pause......I thought it was as orwellian as it gets. And that is after eight years of acclimation to orwellian speak.....
Rave over!
"And how could the u.s. possibly afford to open such a pandora's box, when we are no better? Who is our government to point a finger? What happened to the torture investigations anyway?"
The US has never let little things like this get in the way of their hypocrisy and self-righteouness. Why would they be worried about it now?
True enough.
But i was thinking that there is so much outrage at the u.s. now more than ever. I figured congress wanted to make sure that area of questioning does not get any sort if credibility. I do think at this particular moment, historically, the u.s. self righteousness/hypocracy would be called out much more vociferously.
And they would need to admit that their client state committed these crimes. And then it would also mean that the u.s. doesn't believe in the 'israeli cause'(however they coose to define it.) Once the u.s. and European Union, for that matter, hold israel responsible for one thing, then the house of cards falls. It is almost like israel is the Pope. They are infallable.
Although, i don't know that all its supporters believe this at all. I think there are many agendas here....
It is as though israel can either do no wrong. Or else it will be evil(and let's face it. Looks pretty malevolent to me).
Maybe it is all that judeo-christian mythology coloring peoples' thinking. I mean. Most of the u.s. government lives in that menatlity. There is a lot of layers to this for many people. I think it is a matter of many such people holding this as a twisted way of confirming part of their religious faith.
Hillary Clinton is up to her neck in it.
Both parties of Congress have stooped to another new moral low with this vote. Out with both Republicans and Democrats.
THE GOOD OLE BOYS MILLIONAIRE'S CLUB/DEEP POCKETS GANG.They perform like scurrying insects when in the presence of AIPAC.What else is new!
Congress certainly deserves an 'A' on this vote.
And they deserve an 'I', and a 'P', and another 'A', and finally a 'C' (as in corrupt).
As the old song says, "Its nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you try" --- (like a political whore).
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
I want to clarify before any wrong assumptions occur.
For me, AIPAC should stand for American-style Imperialism Political Action Committee:
I still believe that the number one reason that AIPAC should not have undue influence on this matter is, as I wrote to "The Nation" in 2007, that "AIPAC (the American Israel Political Action Committee) and others, which are together termed "the lobby," are not really speaking for the majority of Israeli nor American Jews--but are actually speaking nearly the opposite. I have long believed and written that the acronym AIPAC should rightly stand for American-style Imperialism Political Action Committee, since it does not reflect the honest desires and needs of the vast majority of the people of Israel but the aims of a global corporate Empire, which reduces the people of both Israel and America to living in its twin facades of "Vichy America" and "Vichy Israel."
Yes, AIPAC accomplishes precisely the inverse of the noble purpose it claims to serve--to protect the people of Israel--and is instead a great danger to the people of Israel through its singular focus on the unsustainable and inevitably sorrowful strategy of militarist Empire. But AIPAC is neither the only nor the worst deceiver and denier of the aspirations of peoples whom it claims to speak for. That title of champion guileful mis-guider and destroyer of people's democratic purpose is the corporate global Empire, which has metastasized from an initial tumor in the United States itself (although it shows no nationalism nor patriotism) and which can best be described as the Empire behind the curtain of "Vichy America."
Just as AIPAC disregards the real interests of the people of Israel in favor of its own agenda of militant imperialism, so the domestic-grown pathology of the US-centered corporate/financial Empire even more contemptuously and arrogantly disregards the democratic and peaceful interests of all Americans and displaces their dreams with its own sordid nightmare of global domination by force of arms and economic exploitation under the false flag of "Vichy America."
At the end of the day, it needs to be understood that the global corporatist Empire which hides behind the facade of "Vichy America" is the heart of the destructive unitive Empire that "the lobby" lobbies."
Since my 2007 criticism of AIPAC's undue and FALSE viewpoint in claiming to speak for any majority of Jews, I have further thought that from the humanist and empathetic 'democracy thinking' of the majority of Israeli and American working-class citizens, that "it’s hard to imagine, in this very modern 21st century, that we are still looking toward the end of the last of tribal ‘empire-thinking’.
We are a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-racial, even post-racial, sectarian, mixing-pot-world of democracies on a small fragile planet --- and yet, we are still not beyond the danger of existential death at the hands of ancient and irrelevant tribal ‘empire-thinking’.
As only Kurt Vonnegut’s sense of ironic black humor might envision, “It is as if the whole human race was about to sit down to a celebratory picnic for successfully reaching our 21st century, when we are all unexpectedly killed by one remaining giant dinosaur.”
The last people in the world who should want to stay in (or ever promote) a world of tribalism, are the Muslims and Jews ---- based on how they have been abused by various nationalist and other modern “-ism” Empires.
Fighter pilots have a saying that, “speed is life”. But, for all the rest of us, “inclusiveness is life” --- and tribalism is death by the oldest lie of empire.
Racism is another deadly old lie of empire, as is aggressively fundamentalist religion.
Nationalism is a somewhat newer lie of empire, proving particularly deadly in the 20th century.
While, economic ideology is the newest, and current, lie of empire (which is causing our economic and environmental collapse).
But all the lies and deceptions of “empire-thinking” lead ineluctably to the very same grave --- so choose your empire poison, stupidly. Or choose your inclusiveness, wisely.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Damn! One fine post. Couldn't be said better.
Absolutely!
And, whereas I applaud a Rothschild or anyone else for writing the truth, I wish Matthew would write about another Rothschild who forced a voice for truth out of Le Munde Diplomatique when he bought the publication. The purpose of the purchase was to tone down the light on Israeli "practices" against Palestinians. Counterpunch has the story.
Perhaps this hits too close to home for Matthew.
Edouard Rothschild bought Liberation, not Le Monde Diplomatique.
Le Monde Diplomatique is still independent, basically owned by its employees and its subscribers.
Matthew is beyond reproach --- as is Chomsky, as is Alterman, as are many progressive anti-war voices much braver than me.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Corruption is common to them, they are expert of it! So we need to relax and wait and prey.
Hypnotherapy in Maid Stone
Zionists do not control Congress, Zionists do not control Congress, Zionists do not control Congress . . . click your heels three times . . .
A sad day for humanity. This countries leaders Im sure will end up in Hell at the end of the road. And they wonder why they hate us.
‘Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right...'
...and 2 plus 2 equals 5.
This is the craziest the world has ever been.
Does anyone know the directions to the Reservation?
Oh, come on, the US Congress passes laws and resolutions that are no more insane than those of Commodus of the Roman Empire (180-192). Let us not exaggerate. Remember Commodus renamed Rome after himself and renamed all the months of the year as well. Congress has not done that, yet, though a case can be made that they have acted in ways equally bizarre and detached from reality.
Welcome to life on Planet Nietzsche, where it is impossible to exaggerate enough.
This resolution isn't detached from reality. It's linked to a political necessity of recording uneuivocal and enthusiastic support for Israel.
It is not enough to obey Little Brother, you must love Little Brother.
Dennis Kucinich is too good for the US Congress.
He is like a preacher lost in a brothel
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
More like a saint in a brothel. There are plenty of preachers in brothels!
Exactly!
How in the world does he find the fortitude to get out of bed, get on the metro, and go to that den of iniquity every day?
Same could be said of Barbara Lee.
Boy, I bet the remaining survivors/veterans of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty are jest prouder'n'shit over this latest appeasement of Israel.
I've often thought about why so many, otherwise brave men, don't "do something" about our government's infiltration by a foreign government (Israel). I think it all boils down to military and government pensions; they don't want to lose them so they suffer in silence hoping that someone who is rich will deal with it.
Cowards-R-US
I think they're afraid of being labeled anti-Semitic by AIPAC; it would be a career killer in this country.