Chris Hedges just put up a fantastic, fearless post on Truthout about the libeling of those of us who oppose Israeli brutalization and murder of Palestinians as “anti-semitic” (e.g., 200+ murders and thousands of deliberate maimings by Israeli snipers of protesters on the other side of the fence in Gaza during the ongoing “right of return” protests — and just ask yourself, how desperate must people be to deliberately expose themselves to murder and maiming, while the corporate press dishonestly excuses that slaughter — sniper shootings at hundreds of yards — as “clashes”? ). I just wish I could repost Chris’s piece here.
Hence an inadequate but claratory definition from The American Heretic’s Dictionary about what “anti-semitism” means currently in the U.S.:
Anti-Semitism, n. 1) A blind, unreasoning hatred of Jewish people by those who fear, with good reason, that they are inferior to Jews. (This is not to say that Jews are inherently superior to anyone else, even anti-Semites; rather, that Jewish culture encourages self-responsibility, social responsibility, learning, dedication to goals, and individual achievement—things sorely lacking in the mainstream of American culture. Hence Jews tend to be perceived as threatening “overachievers” in comparison with average, “fetch me another beer, Bubba” Americans.); 2) As defined in the United States for well over half a century, the unspeakable act of criticizing the oppression and murder of one Semitic people by another (Palestinians by Israelis). Needless to say, this leads to gross confusion of those who seek social justice with actual anti-Semites—which is precisely the intention of those who use the term in this manner. (Curiously, the ethnicity of all of these individuals is apparently Irish, as they invariably respond to the name “McCarthy.”)
* * *
—from The American Heretic’s Dictionary (revised & expanded)
Yesterday we looked at the first of Israel’s terrorism problems: Hamas, Israel’s role supporting it in the 1980s, the blowback that’s caused, and how both Hamas and the Israeli government have benefited from the carnage that’s ensued.
Today, we’ll look at an even more serious terrorism in Israeli: the nature of its government. Israel has become a terrorist state.
That’s not overstatement.
Before looking at current events, let’s look back four years to the bombardment and massacre of civilians in Gaza in 2014. Using Hamas’ largely ineffectual terrorism as an excuse (four civilians murdered, including one child), the Israeli government unleashed a firestorm on what has been called “the world’s largest open-air concentration camp,” while refusing to allow civilians to flee (a war crime).
The result? In contrast with the four Israeli civilians murdered by Hamas, the Israel armed forces murdered, according to UN figures at least 1,473 civilians, including 501 children and 257 women. The Israeli assault also left over 11,000 wounded civilians, including over 3,300 children, of whom 1,000 are suffering lifelong disabilities.
Why? To bludgeon and frighten the captive population in Gaza into submission.
This is a classic case of state terrorism.
Not surprisingly, the Israeli government has claimed that this massacre was Hamas’ fault, and that it was acting “defensively.” This is equivalent to hostage-killing kidnappers claiming that they were “forced” into committing murder by those who refused to give into their demands. This is hypocritical and morally repugnant.
Now let’s look at current events.
Yesterday the Israeli armed forces murdered over 60 (including six children) and wounded over 2,000 unarmed protesters at the Israel-Gaza border. (The protesters, the descendants of the 700,000 Palestinians who were driven into exile and lost their lands in the 1948-1949 war are demanding the “right to return.”)
How is Israel doing this? They’re using snipers with high-powered rifles to shoot across the fence separating Israel and Gaza into the crowd of protesters (a reported 35,000 yesterday, even after weeks of protests in which the Israeli military had already murdered dozens of protesters). According to reports, the snipers were taking their time between shots, methodically targeting individuals dozens or hundreds of yards from the fence. The only conceivable reason for this is terrorism: the used of deadly violence to attempt to intimidate the Palestinians into submission.
(As for Israel’s claim that it’s acted in self-defense, consider this: not a single Israeli, soldier or civilian, has been injured, let alone killed, in the protests in which over 100 Palestinians have died and thousands have been injured (many by sniper fire), dozens of whom are now amputees as a result of Israeli snipers. Of course, Donald Trump, and other thugs and hypocrites in his administration — who love murderous regimes such as those in the Philippines, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia — have echoed Israel’s grossly hypocritical claim of “self-defense.” [I follow these events closely and have not seen a single report of any Israeli injuries.])
If you still doubt that Israel is engaging in a deliberate policy of state murder and terrorism, consider these quotes from news stories over the last few weeks:
On amputations and sniper fire: “When he was hit by a bullet fired by Israeli forces during demonstrations in Gaza on April 6, Mohammed al-Zaieem lost so much blood, and his left leg was so deformed, he feared he wouldn’t survive. His arteries, veins and a large piece of bone were destroyed. His right leg wasn’t spared either as the round created a massive exit wound and then hit it as well.”
“One mourner, Mohammad Sabbagh, 30, sat with his family on plastic chairs in a green funeral tent outside their home in the city of Beit Lahia listlessly receiving condolences from well-wishers. He recalled seeing his brother Bader, 10 years his junior, shot through the head on Friday.
“He said, ‘I am bored, I don’t want this life’. He asked me for a cigarette; I gave him a lit one, he took about two puffs and then a bullet shot him in the head and went out the other side. I carried him to the ambulance, and he was dead,” he said. . . .
“The brothers stood between the group at the front of the protest, who were throwing rocks at Israeli forces, and the demonstrators at the back, where thousands of men, women and children had gathered. “He didn’t do anything; he was standing next to me,” Mohammad said of his brother.”
Israeli soldiers cheer a murder: (This incident took place in December along the Gaza-Israel border, but was just reported last month.)
“With international criticism of Israel’s response to the Gaza protests growing, video emerged on Monday appearing to show an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) sniper shooting a Palestinian man standing near the border fence.
“After the Palestinian man falls to the ground, soldiers are heard cheering in the background. One yells, “What a legendary film!”
“The video, which circulated on social media, appears to be through a scope, showing the Gaza border fence and a field behind it.
“The sniper is heard discussing the shot with another soldier nearby.
“‘When he stops, you take him down,’ the soldier says. ‘Are you on him?
“‘I can’t fire because of the barbed wire,’ the sniper responds a short time later.
“‘Take out the one in the pink,'” the other soldier says after a few moments.
“IDF soldiers cheer as you hear the gunshot and see the Palestinian man fall.”
And how have most American liberals and the corporate news media responded? Some actively support Israel’s murderous activities (e.g., Chuck Schumer), many others (e.g., Obama and the Clintons) have been conspicuously silent about it, and a good majority of the media are either silent or actively complicit in the coverup of the murders (e.g., describing them as “clashes” — incidents in which one side occurs no casualties while killing dozens on the other side of a fence with sniper fire). The “news” organizations engaging in this shameful misrepresentation of murder include supposedly progressive MSNBC. (Chris Hayes is an honorable exception on MSNBC; he’s probably safe because he’s their second biggest star.)
We put up our 1,000th post about three weeks ago. Since then, we’ve been looking through everything we’ve posted, and have been putting up “best of” lists in our most popular categories.
Here, we’ve folded three categories (Anarchism, Libertarianism, and Politics) into this post because of the relative paucity of posts on Anarchism and Libertarianism. We hope you’ll enjoy at least some of these posts.
Despite authoritarian attempts to redefine the term, it’s not a saboteur (who engages in property destruction), and it’s not a citizen who engages in nonviolent civil disobedience. It’s someone or some entity who threatens or engages in violence to intimidate others into bending to his (yes, almost always “his”) dictates.
Let’s take a look at Ferguson, Missouri. Militarized police killing civilians. Shots to the back of the head. Cops in body armor pointing automatic weapons at civilians, and sometimes firing on them. This is terrorism.
Let’s look at Gaza. One Israeli child reportedly killed by Hamas’s glorified fireworks, 400 to 500 Palestinian children killed by Israeli bombs. Another thousand with life-altering injuries: paraplegia, quadraplegia, limbs blown off. Families living in dread of the next bomb tearing their children apart. This is terrorism. (And, yes, Hamas’s use of crude rockets qualifies, too.)
Let’s look at Syria and Iraq. ISIS, murdering Christians who refuse to convert. Murdering journalists. This is terrorism.
What to do with terrorists? First, recognize what terrorism is. After we’ve recognized what it is, let’s talk about how to deal with it and those who perpetrate it.
Let’s stop pretending that anyone you dislike is a “terrorist.” Let’s reserve the term for those who kill people and threaten to kill people. Only then can we deal with the problem.
(Note: The final Palestinian civilian death toll resulting from the 2014 Israeli bombardment of and incursion into Gaza, was 1,660, including 527 children, resulting a grisly end result of 527 Palestinian children murdered by the Israeli armed forces to one Israeli child murdered by Hamas.)
I’ve had it. I’ve had it with being silent in the face of murder. I’ve had it with my tax dollars paying for murder.
I’ve had it with American politicians kissing the butt of the brutal Israeli extreme right, thanks to AIPAC, which will bury in negative ads any politico who stands up for basic human decency. I’ve had it with the intimidated/complicit corporate media (hello Phil Griffin and MSNBC), and I’ve had it with politicians whose first loyalty is to Greater Israel rather than the United States (hello Chuck Schumer).
You’ll find more diversity of opinion in Israel than in the United States. Only here will you find apologists for mass murder arguing, somehow, that the two-hundred-plus Palestinian children killed by the Israeli “self-defense” forces were complicit in their own murders. Only here will you find headlines trumpeting the deaths of single Israeli soldiers, while the scant details of the deaths of dozens of Palestinian civilians are buried in later paragraphs.
One has to go back to the immediate aftermath of 9/11 to find such nauseating apologetics for the killing of innocents–and, no, not “hello” Ward Churchill, but rather “go to hell”–you who called the 9/11 victims “little Eichmanns.”
That effectively dehumanized the 9/11 victims, just as the corporate media dehumanizes the hundreds of children who have been murdered in recent days in the world’s largest open-air concentration camp.
This time, the number of Palestinian deaths (mostly civilians) is “only” about 30 to 1. Last time, it was a hundred to one. The only comparable death toll that comes to mind is Lidice.
I hold no brief for Hamas. I hold no brief for Fatah. I despise them. Just as I despise the brutal, expansionist Israeli extreme right.
In the end–despite all the sickening blather about “self-defense” as bombs hit schools, homes, and hospitals–it’s pretty damn simple: STOP MURDERING CHILDREN.
Chris Hedges just put up a fantastic, fearless post on Truthout about the libeling of those of us who oppose Israeli brutalization and murder of Palestinians as “anti-semitic” (e.g., 200+ murders and thousands of deliberate maimings by Israeli snipers of protesters on the other side of the fence in Gaza during the ongoing “right of return” protests — and just ask yourself, how desperate must people be to deliberately expose themselves to murder and maiming, while the corporate press dishonestly excuses that slaughter — sniper shootings at hundreds of yards — as “clashes”? ). I just wish I could repost Chris’s piece here.
Sharp and Pointed 