Well said…
From a Progressive Talk discussion:
As for not using the term Jew in terms of the rightwing Israel regimes misdeeds and crimes against humanity, the truth is that many Jews are aware that Israel endangers their citizens by their bellicosity and inhumane policies. They also cause a backlash against those of Jewish extraction in Europe, and elsewhere in the world. It’s highly insensitive and unfair, in my view, to categorize and stimatize all Jews as part of the problem. In fact, many Jews in Israel itself are more reactive and outspoken against the government’s policies than not only most Jewish organizations ( as contrasted with individual Jews) and even mainstream Christian church adherents in this country. The rightwing fundamental Christian extremists need castigating rather than adding to the burden of Jews who speak out and act against Israel’s destabilizing the Middle East in this country and in Europe and elsewhere. As it is, many outspoken Jews get as bad and worse treatments than non-Jewish critics of rampaging Israel get.
Having stated the above, I’ve been speaking out and involved against Israel’s anti-Palestinian treatment for at least thirty years. And I don’t give a damn if I’ve blasted by the AIPAC-Jewish lobby and ADL outfits or not. Israel’s actions in the Middle East destabilizes the entire region and there will be no lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors until Israel does right by Palestinians and Lebanese, and until equally rogue nation USA reins Israel in and cuts off the weapons spigot they extend to Israel. Peace and justice groups have a big job in criticising and acting against our own nation’s belligerence and interventionist policies and support for authoritarian repressive regimes and militarism that’s bankrupting us. And all the signs are that the Obama administration will NOT change the U.S. and our surrogate Israel’s endangering world peace and the world’s sustainability. Afghanistan is likely to prove Obama’s tar baby. If we manage to ease out of Iraq, Afghanistan will become our new quagmire. I recall vividly that the phony promise of Richard Nixon blessed us with more years of murder and mayhem and destabilized America as he continued the war, extending it further into Cambodia and Laos.
We have to really dig in and organize for a burgeoning peace and justice movement that can force a major change in our foreign policy. Only then can we construct a human and progressive domestic agenda that works cooperatively with other nations and peoples to work for a sustainable world fit for all to fare well in. I have to confess that my hopes aren’t all that high anent this, but we have to strive toward it.
I love this group. I hear some of the best political discussions and disagreements on there. Plenty of people have been paying more attention to world politics for a lot longer than I have. I enjoy learning from their experiences and perspectives. It would benefit all of us to listen to a wider range of people than we usually do.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:02 am
You’ve been actively campaigning against Israel for 30 years? How often have you visited Israel? Have you driven down a street and had a bus blow up behind your car? Have you experienced Hamas and Hezbollah firing rockets into your vicinity as you’ve driven down the road near Gaza or Lebanon? I’ll bet not. I have, however, so I know what I’m talking about.
And, before you misinterpret my remarks as coming from an Israeli, I’m not Israeli. I am Irish. I am also not Jewish. Before coming to work in Israel, I believed the propaganda put out by people like you and often believed that Israel was too heavy-handed in its treatment of the Palestinians. Now that I’ve experienced Israel first-hand, have witnessed the horrors perpetrated by suicide bombers, and had rockets fired at me from the terrorists living on Israel’s borders, I realize how restrained Israel truly is, usually to its regret. I also realize there will NEVER be peace in the Middle East until the Islamic extremists are rooted out and destroyed.
Grow up and come into the real world! Your naive viewpoint does nothing but support terrorists and their extreme agenda. Continue the way you are going and you may find yourself forced to dress in a burka and walk 3 paces behind your husband someday. Islam wants to dominate the world, and they want to start their domination by destroying Israel. If you support Hamas and Hezbollah in their terrorist activities against Israel, and if you condemn Israel for defending itself and its citizens, you support Al Queda, Iran, and all the rest of the Islamic terrorists and terrorist nations that support them.
Shame on you.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
First off, thank you for commenting and taking the time to relate your experience.
I think that the more people with first-hand experience speak out, the clearer the picture becomes for everyone.
If you reread the post you will notice this is a quote from a group email discussion. I didn’t actually “say” this. For me to have done anything for 30 years, I would have had to start when I was nine. I’m sorry, but I just wasn’t that into politics at nine. Family politics were hard enough to deal with back then, much less world politics.
While I do regret offending you, I stick by my decision to post, that this was a well-written expression of one person’s opinion on the situation from a different perspective than my own. Again, thank you for adding yours.
While I understand a need for self-defense, anyone who kills children in any way, shape, or form, for any reason is not going to win my support. Personally, I don’t think anyone has clean hands anymore. Pointing fingers of blame defeats the purpose, which is and should always be, PEACE.