Drive-by Planet

Showing posts with label Gaza war opinion. Show all posts

Mar 15, 2009

Ben Ehrenreich: 'Zionism is the Problem'

The LA Times has an op-ed piece this week by Ben Ehrenreich titled Zionism is the Problem.

Ehrenreich takes a refreshingly candid approach to the subject of Israel, stating his objections in a clear and concise fashion. He zeroes in on Zionism and the problem posed by a state founded along ethnic and religious lines.

Being Jewish he's unlikely to become the recipient of anti-Semitic charges, although 'self-hating Jew' is always a possibility. It has been virtually impossible to criticize Israel without the risk of being smeared. However after Gaza that tactic won't be as successful in the future at intimidating critics.

A couple of early paragraphs in Ehrenreich's article signal some of his main concerns :

For the last several decades, though, it has been all but impossible to cry out against the Israeli state without being smeared as an anti-Semite, or worse. To question not just Israel's actions, but the Zionist tenets on which the state is founded, has for too long been regarded an almost unspeakable blasphemy.

Yet it is no longer possible to believe with an honest conscience that the deplorable conditions in which Palestinians live and die in Gaza and the West Bank come as the result of specific policies, leaders or parties on either side of the impasse. The problem is fundamental: Founding a modern state on a single ethnic or religious identity in a territory that is ethnically and religiously diverse leads inexorably either to politics of exclusion (think of the 139-square-mile prison camp that Gaza has become) or to wholesale ethnic cleansing. Put simply, the problem is Zionism.

Link here for the full Ben Ehrenreich article in the LA Times.

Mar 4, 2009

Rosie Dimanno: accuses students of 'hyperbolic anti-Semitism'

The Toronto Star's Rosie Dimanno has joined the ranks of finger pointers who believe that criticizing Israel is anti-Semitic. The anti-Semitic smear is the shaming tactic of preference for those trying to push back against the outrage generated by Gaza, and it's been used aplenty lately. Dimanno labeled students involved in Israeli Apartheid-Week anti-Semitic. The National Post also got in the act, with an article smearing CUPE union leader Sid Ryan as anti-Semitic.

Dimanno describes Israeli Apartheid Week as a "detestable, despicable annual campus hate-fest" and slams student posters as "venomous". She says: "But the malice afoot segues into a far more disturbing platform for Israel-bashing, which is often Jew-bashing cloaked in righteousness."

Problem for Dimanno is that many Jewish activists both within and without Israel support a boycott and divestment campaign. This would include 80 British Jews, a number of them prominent academics who signed a letter comparing the IDF to Nazis. This appeared in the Guardian newspaper during the attack on Gaza - link here.

In fact many of the students she castigates as being "racist" or close to, would be arm-in-arm with the above mentioned Jews at any demo you care to name. It's just that Dimanno is looking at the students from the standpoint of her badly compromised position. So naturally they are presented as haters... of her kind of Jew. It's a bit of an insult to place "Jews" in a category of her convenience. There are Jews who wouldn't give her opinions the time of day.

As Robert Fisk might well surmise - why don't journalists ask why, rather than simply go for the obvious. Hundreds of dead and injured Palestinian kids might have something to do with the student's anger. Seizure of Arab land, destruction of olive orchards, demolition of homes, systemic discrimination and the wholesale destruction in Gaza might have something to do with it. But the legitimate anger student's feel in the face of Israeli actions is suspect in Dimanno's eyes. If you have strong feelings on the subject of Israel a red light goes off in her head flashing "anti-Semitic"!! In criticizing Israel they're nothing but a bunch of racists - a convenient way of railroading their concerns.

In her article she decries past criticisms of Israel at the Durban Conference Against Racism and wonders why the 'flesh commerce' in Islamic societies isn't placed under equal scrutiny. This is more than a little ironic. Israel is host to thousands of young women from Eastern Europe, some barely teens when they were kidnapped and/or conned, beaten and abused en route to the slave brothels in Tel Aviv and elsewhere - link here for more. Course not a squeak about any of that. Keep the focus on the evil Arabs and those dreadful students.

Dimanno appears to think we should go easier on Israel ... a country that has just elevated the racist Avigdor Lieberman to national prominence. The Israeli Gush Shalom writer and activist Uri Avnery describes what Lieberman is really about in his article Dirty Socks:

Liberman has created a party that is simply and thoroughly racist. Its election campaign is centered on the demand to annul the Israeli citizenship of “non-loyal” people. Meaning: the Arabs, who constitute 20% of Israel’s citizens.

In every other country, Liberman’s program would be called fascist, without quotation marks. Nowhere in the Western world is there a large party that would dare to advance such a demand. The neo-fascists in Switzerland and Holland want to expel foreigners, not to annul the citizenship of the native-born.

When Joerg Haider was taken into the Austrian cabinet, Israel recalled its ambassador from Vienna in protest. But compared to Liberman, Haider was a raving liberal, and so is Jean-Marie le Pen.

Not a word from Dimanno about the swing to the right in Israel and the increasing tolerance for a racist brand of ultra-nationalism. No it's students exercising their democratic rights on campuses in Canada we need to be deeply concerned about.

Feb 10, 2009

Israel: blogger interrogated about posts

Israel's attack on Gaza turned up the temperature online with heated criticisms of IDF tactics appearing in blog posts and on social networking sites. With the ramping up of tensions, there were also allegations that pro-Israel groups were targeting websites and downmodding social networking posts in an attempt to bury negative commentary about Israel.

Attempts to control speech online certainly doesn't help to enhance Israel's image or the democratic credentials it likes the world to believe it possesses. Tactics of this sort might work in the short term to stem some of the criticism - but in the end it's a losing game. It's also a good way to drive away potential support or even sympathy.

A recent story about a TPM blogger who was held and interrogated in Israel because some of his blog posts contained criticism of Israel, is very illuminating. The blogger, who goes by the name jdledell, is considering "aliyah" - immigrating to Israel with his family. He is clearly a reasonable and fair minded individual, and yet he was targeted on arrival at Ben Gurion airport and subjected to an interrogation.

Here is how jdledell described the experience:

As some of you know my wife and I have been seriously considering aliyah. We spent several weeks in November in Israel exploring some of the details involved in such a move. We were somewhat optimistic at that point and on January 22 we made an official Aliyah visit. Landing at Ben Gurion we were quickly moved to an interrogation room.

Two gentlemen (I assume they were Shin Bet but they never said) questioned us for 90 minutes about my blog postings on Israel, some of which I recognized from TPM. They had a significant volume of printouts and asked detailed questions about my criticisms of Israel.. Finally in exasperation I told them - "For G-d's sake, I am no Norm Finkelstein". Bad move - they immediately started questioning me on my relationship with Finkelstein and seemed unmoved by my denials of ever meeting the man. Finally, they said we could enter Israel but we "better watch our step". I was not terribly bothered by the interrogation but my wife was extremely upset by it.

For the full post on jdledell's blog link here,

Jan 10, 2009

Naomi Klein: calls for global boycott of Israel

In an article that appears in the Guardian, Naomi Klein is calling for "a global movement" that will make Israel the target of a boycott similar to the one placed on the South African apartheid regime.

Her call echoes an earlier appeal in 2005 when a coalition of Palestinian groups called on "people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era".

Klein makes clear that an international campaign would receive the backing of those Israeli Jews who also believe enough is enough:

Every day that Israel pounds Gaza brings more converts to the BDS cause - even among Israeli Jews. In the midst of the assault roughly 500 Israelis, dozens of them well-known artists and scholars, sent a letter to foreign ambassadors in Israel. It calls for "the adoption of immediate restrictive measures and sanctions" and draws a clear parallel with the anti-apartheid struggle. "The boycott on South Africa was effective, but Israel is handled with kid gloves ... This international backing must stop."

In arguing for a boycott Klein says: "Economic sanctions are the most effective tool in the non-violent arsenal: surrendering them verges on active complicity."

In her article she addresses some of the key objections that have been raised to such a boycott. Her counter-arguments are forceful and persuasive. Link here for Ms Klein's complete article.

Jan 4, 2009

Gaza invasion and the silence of Barack Obama

The invasion of Gaza by an Israeli military powered with high tech US weaponry has been launched at a time when the world is in the grip of an economic crisis and before the American leadership transition has been completed. It was a window of opportunity seized ruthlessly by Israel in defiance of international law, using Qassam rocket attacks as a pretext.

The use of high tech weaponry against the people of Gaza is a moral outrage. The IAF can fly into Gaza with impunity and go after targets at their leisure, kind of like roaming wolf packs with no predators to bother them. There are no anti-aircraft capabilities in Gaza. The people on the ground are at the mercy of a killing machine that makes a big deal out of its 'smart targeting' - as though this makes their activities more palatable, more sanitized, more correct or less devastating in terms of the impact on civilians.

The silence of many American and Canadian liberals in the face of this invasion is shameful. Do they believe, as Israel claims, that this attack is mainly about the Qassams? Contrary to the opinions of those who believe Israeli action will root out the "bad guys", this invasion is serving to feed a counter-force that will draw on the power of Islamic fundamentalism.

Opportunities to make a meaningful and lasting peace have been repeatedly botched and sabotaged over the years. Now with this illegal invasion the symbol of "change" in America, Barack Obama, stands by in silence.

An article by Ben Cohen titled "Obama's Silence on Gaza is Deafening" that appears in the Huffington Post, addresses the strategic moves Obama has made in order to consolidate his presidency.

Barack Obama had to do two things to persuade the powers that be that he was a viable candidate for President. The first was to assure the financial community that he would commit to a centrist economic platform, and the second was to sell out the Palestinians immediately and jump in bed with AIPAC.

Obama did both, and the consequences will be felt immediately...

In going to AIPAC to do obeisance and to offer wildly unrealistic assurances - i.e. that Jerusalem would remain the eternal capital of Israel, Obama compromised his ability to act as a broker untainted by the baggage of the past.

Ben Cohen:

Obama has massive political capital, and could have injected himself into the crisis before it happened. He did so during the beginning of the economic meltdown, and could have lent his credibility to a situation that has spiralled dangerously out of control. Obama has stated that 'There is only one President at a time', abdicating responsibility and essentially passing the buck.

Jan 2, 2009

Uri Avnery: an Israeli who doesn't drink right-wing Kool-Aid

Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. In a recent article "Molten Lead in Gaza," he explodes many of the myths surrounding the current Israeli campaign in Gaza and says that Israel's actions could have the effect of "multiplying Hamas by a thousand."

Avnery:

What was the aim? Tzipi Livni announced it openly: to liquidate Hamas rule in Gaza. The Qassams served only as a pretext.

Liquidate Hamas rule? That sounds like a chapter out of “The March of Folly”. After all, it is no secret that it was the Israeli government which set up Hamas to start with. When I once asked a former Shin-Bet chief, Yaakov Peri, about it, he answered enigmatically: “We did not create it, but we did not hinder its creation.

So what were the real motivating factors behind the invasion. Qassam rockets are often home-made and wildly inaccurate - to offer them as the reason for launching a blitz on Gaza is pushing it. The Qassams caused less than 20 fatalities in the 8 years they have been deployed - however they do make a wonderful alibi. But why invade now?

Avnery:

It would be more accurate to call it “the the Election War”.

According to the polls, Barak’s predicted election result rose within 48 hours by five Knesset seats. About 80 dead Palestinians for each seat. But it is difficult to walk on a pile of dead bodies. The success may evaporate in a minute if the war comes to be considered by the Israeli public as a failure. For example, if the rockets continue to hit Beersheba, or if the ground attack leads to heavy Israeli casualties.

The timing was chosen meticulously from another angle too. The attack started two days after Christmas, when American and European leaders are on holiday until after New Year. The calculation: even if somebody wanted to try and stop the war, no one would give up his holiday. That ensured several days free from outside pressures.

Another reason for the timing: these are George Bush’s last days in the White House. This blood-soaked moron could be expected to support the war enthusiastically, as indeed he did. Barack Obama has not yet entered office and had a ready made pretext for keeping silent: “there is only one President”. The silence does not bode well for the term of president Obama.

Avnery offers insights into the strategy in Gaza. He sees a direct parallel with the second Lebanon war.

The Gaza War is an almost exact replica of the second Lebanon war.

The strategic concept is the same: to terrorize the civilian population by unremitting attacks from the air, sowing death and destruction. This poses no danger to the pilots, since the Palestinians have no anti-aircraft weapons at all. The calculation: if the entire life-supporting infrastructure in the Strip is utterly destroyed and total anarchy ensues, the population will rise up and overthrow the Hamas regime. Mahmoud Abbas will then ride back into Gaza on the back of Israeli tanks.

What about the outcome for Israel? With the coverage in the Arab media showing the carnage in graphic detail, Avnery believes that images from this war will exact a huge price.

The consequences may be that " a whole generation of Arab leaders, a generation imbued with the ideology of secular Arab nationalism, the successors of Gamal Abd-al-Nasser, Hafez al-Assad and Yasser Arafat, may be swept from the stage."

And what will replace them? Islamic fundamentalism seems a given. If Hamas goes under the alternative could turn out to be even more extremist.

Avnery has a sobering thought on the possible outcome:

This war is a writing on the wall: Israel is missing the historic chance of making peace with secular Arab nationalism. Tomorrow, It may be faced with a uniformly fundamentalist Arab world, Hamas multiplied by a thousand.

Compared to the enemy it might yet face, Israel may regret that it didn't make greater efforts to forge a lasting peace.

Link to the complete Uri Avnery article on Counterpunch here.

Dec 31, 2008

UK MP's demand end to Israeli attack on Gaza

December 31 2008 : Letters to the UK Guardian from British MP's demanding an end to the Israeli military strikes on Gaza.

Israel's continuing massive military strikes on Gaza are an outrage that the international community must not allow to continue (Reports, 30 December). Palestinian rocket attacks that traumatise the lives of communities in southern Israel are also utterly unacceptable. Both sides must cease fire. Israel's actions are disproportionate and counterproductive to achieving either security for the people of Israel or peace in the Middle East. Physicians for Human Rights (Israel) have warned that "targeting of civilians and of medical facilities is a breach of international humanitarian law. The targets chosen by the Israeli military include also clearly civilian installations.

Richard Burden MP, Lyn Brown MP, Peter Bottomley MP, Sir Gerard Kaufman MP, John Hemming MP, Martin Linton MP, Karen Buck MP, Nia Griffith MP, Natascha Engel MP, Martin Salter MP, Paul Flynn MP, Rob Marris MP, Andy Love MP, David Drew MP, Neil Gerrard MP, Hywel Francis MP, Clive Efford MP, Ian Taylor MP, Phyllis Starkey MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Andy Slaughter MP, Jim Devine MP, John McDonnell MP, Frank Cook MP, Tom Levitt MP, Michael Connarty MP, Chris McCafferty MP, Roberta Blackman-Woods MP, Simon Hughes MP, Danny Alexander MP, Sarah Teather MP, Madeleine Moon MP.

We write to express our disgust, condemnation and concern at the attacks by Israel on the Gaza Strip killing over 350 people - including women and children. There is little doubt civilian deaths will continue to rise as Israel shows no signs of stopping its offensive on the people of Gaza. The situation is bleak, with hospitals running out of medical supplies as the Israeli blockade continues to suffocate the people of Gaza. The region's power and infrastructure networks are on the verge of collapse with more than 85% of Gazans depending on UN food aid - which is at critically low levels.

Mohammad Sarwar MP, Katy Clark MP, Angus Robertson MP (Westminster SNP Leader), Jim McGovern MP, Jim Sheridan MP, Russell Brown MP, Mike Weir MP, Angus MacNeil MP, Anne Moffat MP, Tom Clarke MP, Mark Lazarowicz MP, Baroness Jenny Tonge, Alyn Smith MEP, Pauline McNeill MSP, Sandra White MSP, Jamie Hepburn MSP and 23 others.

For complete letters please link here.

Apr 8, 2008

UN expert stands by his Israel-Nazi comparison

Professor Richard Falk, the UN investigator into Israeli conduct in the occupied territories has drawn some heat with his Nazi references. Falk compared what he described as: 'the massive Israeli punishment directed at the entire population of Gaza', with the Nazi practice of collective punishment. He made the point that if the same type of extreme military action had been carried out by the Chinese against Tibetans or by the Sudanese government in its dealing with Darfur, the Nazi comparison would have been readily applied without objection.

When the Israeli incursions into Gaza were taking place, the muted criticism in the media demonstrated yet again that a different standard applies to Israel.

The use of overwhelming military force in Gaza and the civilian death toll that accompanied it, seems to be just a part of the "right" Israel arrogates to itself when it comes to raining carnage on its neighbors. The victims of these incursions invariably include women, children and other non-combatants. Yet western media remains for the most part low-key in its coverage of these outrages, while Israel does all in its power to avoid having its policies held up to international law and morality.

Falk isn't the only one to raise echoes of WW2. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister, Matan Vilnai, went so far as to issue a warning, threatening holocaust on the Palestinian people. Vilnai used the term "shoah" which literally means burnt sacrifice. When challenged on his use of language, Vilnai tried to downplay the meaning of shoah, claiming that he meant something more along the lines of a "catastrophe."