Last week's terror attack against students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem shows that really, the "peace process" has changed nothing on the Palestinian side, whether it be in their own leaders or their supporters around the world. Their goal in 2008 remains the same as it was in 2000, in 1972, and in 1948: the elimination of Jewish self-determination in our homeland. Their methods remain the same: the random slaughter of as many Jews as possible, especially those going about their daily lives in schools, in restaurants or on buses, to spread terror among the civilian population. Their reaction to these atrocities remains the same: the Palestinian street's celebration of mass murder and the near-deification of the murderers as "martyrs", and their apologists around the world blaming the victims and excusing the perpetrators.
Mahmoud Abbas gave his usual condemnation of the attack. However, expecting him to actually take any steps against Hamas in the West Bank, or even to stop official PA incitement of terrorism, is clearly out of the question. After all, the official PA daily Al Hayat Al Jadida gave the murderer front-page coverage and declared him a "shahid". And Abbas himself got a little careless when speaking in Arabic to the Jordanian newspaper Al-Dustur, boasting about his pride in having "fired the first shot" for Fatah against Israel in 1965 (2 years before Israel took the West Bank from Jordan in the Six Day War) and having taught other terror groups how to conduct "resistance". He did reiterate his position against armed conflict with Israel--"because we are unable. In the future stages, things may be different."
Of course, in Hamas-stan, there's no need for any type of pretense. The scenes of joy caught on camera would suggest something benign and cheerful like a victory in a World Cup soccer match. Despite the supposed dire humanitarian condition in Gaza, there's always candy to hand out and weapons to fire into the air when Jews are killed, and always enough material to make more rockets to launch at Sderot and Ashkelon. It's impossible to watch these without wondering how this raw hatred and addiction to violence will ever be overcome. None of these people are under the illusion that acts of terrorism like this will lead to a Palestinian state alongside Israel, because these are not people who are interested in living alongside a Jewish state. If anyone doubts that, read the Hamas Charter. And to anyone who wishes to claim that this is all just part of a "cycle of violence", try to find a film of Israelis celebrating deaths of Palestinian civilians, or articles in the Israeli press cheering Palestinian civilian deaths (I mean REAL civilians, not the apparent BBC definition of a civilian as an armed fighter in a ski mask who doesn't happen to have an official militia card in his pocket) .
The apologists for Palestinian terror of course had to try to explain this atrocity away as being the fault of the Israelis; I suspect the same people who are so dedicated to "peace and justice" would react in utter horror to a rapist blaming his crime on the victim. Some will undoubtedly claim a similarity to Baruch Goldstein, who was correctly and widely condemned by all but a fringe element of Israeli society (and the worldwide Jewish community), as opposed to being officially lauded as a hero and his murderous acts publicly taught to schoolchildren as an example of heroism. The bleating voices at "Jewish Peace News" managed to talk out of both sides of their mouths at once, condemning the violence and admitting that "Hamas' praise for the operation is both contemptible and chilling" yet then going on to say that "terrorist violence like this is almost always a symptom of Israel's expansionist policies and is unlikely to end until the occupation is over." It makes me wonder; what part of Article 11 of the Hamas Charter don't they believe? "The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up."
Palestinian terror existed before the state of Israel was established , it existed before the West Bank and Gaza were under Israeli control (as Abbas himself proudly pointed out), it existed before the Oslo Accords, and it exists now. The goal now is the same as it was then: "itbach el-Yahud" (slaughter the Jews). Those who think that this appetite for blood will stop when Israel withdraws from the West Bank, as it has already withdrawn from Gaza, are naive at best and fraudulent at worst.
If Israel reacted the way other countries around the world would respond, then Gaza City would look like Grozny after the Russians were through with it, or the Old City of Hama, Syria which Hafez Assad paved with asphalt after eliminating the Muslim Brotherhood (as well as thousands of other citizens) there. The fact that Israel is still willing to conduct talks with Mahmoud Abbas, and that Israel has shown incredible restraint not only after terror attacks like this but also during the daily shelling from Gaza, stands in stark contrast to the bloodlust shared by too many Palestinians and excused by too many of their supporters around the world.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
ATTACK AT YESHIVAT MERCAZ HARAV IN YERUSHALAYIM
Please contribute to ZAKA or Magen David Adom. Now more than ever.
ZAKA:
http://www.zakausa.org/
American Friends of Magen David Adom:
http://www.afmda.org/
BREAKING NEWS: Terrorist strike at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav.
Six dead, three dozen wounded. Ambulances and Zaka are on the scene.
Please consider contributing to the Yeshiva:
http://www.mercazharav.org/contrib.htm
There was public celebration in Gaza - a feu de joie, cheering, and candies to passersby.
This attack comes one day after Condoleeza Rice "persuaded" the Palestinians to re-commit to the path of peace.
ZAKA:
http://www.zakausa.org/
American Friends of Magen David Adom:
http://www.afmda.org/
BREAKING NEWS: Terrorist strike at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav.
Six dead, three dozen wounded. Ambulances and Zaka are on the scene.
Please consider contributing to the Yeshiva:
http://www.mercazharav.org/contrib.htm
There was public celebration in Gaza - a feu de joie, cheering, and candies to passersby.
This attack comes one day after Condoleeza Rice "persuaded" the Palestinians to re-commit to the path of peace.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Too Good To Be True
In a previous post I wrote about the Hasbro World Monopoly contest, pointing out with no small degree of pride that not only could Jerusalem be on the board, but be there with its proper designation: Jerusalem, Israel. And thanks to the worldwide publicity from many Israel advocates, the capital city of Israel has rocketed up to #5 in the voting as of this writing (that's the North Carolina Avenue spot for those of you playing at home). And there has got to be some serious internet buzz going on in Turkish, since Istanbul has pushed past Montreal into the #1 spot.
But a very strange turn of events has taken place in the past 24 hours. First Jerusalem--and only Jerusalem--lost its country designation. This writer called Hasbro Customer Relations this morning and was told that it's a computer glitch and was not a political decision by Hasbro, and that they were working to fix it. Interesting how this computer glitch only affected ONE city.
Subsequent events put the lie to that explanation, as now ALL the cities are missing their country designations. Someone more savvy at Hasbro obviously realized that eliminating references to only the Jewish state was too obvious, so in a slick recovery move they took all the country labels away and now act as if this was the plan all along. The BBC posted this today, referring to the 1947 partition plan in which Jerusalem was to be a corpus separatum:
When approached, Hasbro, the American manufacturers of Monopoly, promised that they would not second-guess the UN, should Jerusalem be included.
In an email to the BBC, they stated: "Due to space limitations no selected city's board space will have any descriptive text aside from said city's common name."
This reeks of cowardice, presumably the result of Islamic "outrage". What comes next, changing the name of the city to "al-Quds"?
Comments may be directed to Hasbro at 888-836-7025 or via webform at http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=cs_contact
But a very strange turn of events has taken place in the past 24 hours. First Jerusalem--and only Jerusalem--lost its country designation. This writer called Hasbro Customer Relations this morning and was told that it's a computer glitch and was not a political decision by Hasbro, and that they were working to fix it. Interesting how this computer glitch only affected ONE city.
Subsequent events put the lie to that explanation, as now ALL the cities are missing their country designations. Someone more savvy at Hasbro obviously realized that eliminating references to only the Jewish state was too obvious, so in a slick recovery move they took all the country labels away and now act as if this was the plan all along. The BBC posted this today, referring to the 1947 partition plan in which Jerusalem was to be a corpus separatum:
When approached, Hasbro, the American manufacturers of Monopoly, promised that they would not second-guess the UN, should Jerusalem be included.
In an email to the BBC, they stated: "Due to space limitations no selected city's board space will have any descriptive text aside from said city's common name."
This reeks of cowardice, presumably the result of Islamic "outrage". What comes next, changing the name of the city to "al-Quds"?
Comments may be directed to Hasbro at 888-836-7025 or via webform at http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=cs_contact
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Care2 read some neo-Nazi drivel?
Some of you may have signed, or even started, petitions about this/that/the other that are hosted on a website called The Petition Site. This is part of a larger site called Care2, which has as its vision "making powerful, positive changes in our world" in areas such as "green living, health, human rights or protecting the environment." Pretty good stuff, right?
Well, just as we have seen advocates for "Palestinian rights" infiltrate trade unions, churches, and universities, there is a collection of various such individuals who have joined Care2 to fulfill their vision of "Palestinian rights"-- the "right" to kill Israeli civilians (Jewish or Arab) with impunity, the "right" to promote jihadism, and the "right" to destroy the only state that the Jewish people have in favor of a 23rd Arab and 58th Islamic state.
(Before I get the outcry from advocates for Palestinian rights who don't insist on the destruction of Israel-- I'm not talking about you. Most Israelis, as well as the last 3 elected governments of Israel, as well as the current US Administration, have explicitly endorsed the vision of two states, a Jewish state and an Arab state, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. I'm just talking about those who insist only on Palestinian "rights" but don't recognize any rights for the Jewish people in their own homeland.)
So what we have on Care2 is a collection of "news" groups that re-post the propaganda about children starving in Gaza (funny how they had enough candy to pass around to celebrate the murder of an elderly Jewish woman in last week's Dimona terror attack), but refuse to allow any message at all that might suggest the ultimate heresy-- that (gasp!) "Zionists" are also people who have similar rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and national self-determination.
One only has to check out the thread at care2.com/news/member/198234727/610722 to see that the only thing they are missing is the text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion--it abounds with the usual idiots spouting off old conspiracy theories, allegations that "Jews didn't originate from Palestine", outright support of terrorism ("Let Hamas do it's work to destroy the Zionist menace"--inappropriate punctuation courtesy of the terror supporter as well), and so on. Nothing terribly unusual for any open forum on the Internet, giving illustration to Thomas Friedman's description of it as a "great unfiltered sewer of information".
But then what really puts all of this to shame is a lengthy post from someone named "AniTa H" (another spelling/punctuation challenged individual? a teen trying to be cute?) from several websites that clearly straddle the line between lunatic fringe and outright hate; one of the posts has as its table of contents the following menu of drivel:
Zionism and the Media
I. Introduction II. Zionist Owners and CEOs of Media Conglomerates and Media Companies III. Journalists: Zionist, Conservative, and Dumb IV. Zionist Media Organizations V. Zionists Continue Their Attack on America's Freedom of Speech VI. Mossad and the Media - Israel's Disinformation Network VII. Studies of Pro-Israel Media Bias in Newspapers
Now, I would think that any organization working for "powerful, positive changes" in the world might want to avoid becoming a site for posting of extremist anti-Semitism-- and any reader of this blog understands quite well that, as Martin Luther King pointed out in 1968, “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You are talking anti-Semitism.” Yet Care2 seems not to care that such a post violates its own Code of Conduct, which states:
"We will not tolerate abusive language or personal attacks on our boards, and reserve the right to remove any posts, threads or groups which we feel are in violation of our Code of Conduct for Care2 or the Terms of Service for Care2 membership.....'Hate messages' - No member may post or email 'hate' messages. This includes any messages that may incite violence toward someone because of their age, disability, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation.... "
On the other hand, group moderators are free to banish any posts that THEY may feel are politically incorrect; here are two posts (not mine, by the way) that were deleted for even daring to suggest an alternative point of view:
"Kneight S. has removed your post to the Middle East needs Peace group on Care2:Subject: Biblical
Please tell me where in the Bible it is called 'Palestine.' Where is the word 'Palestine' from?"
"Kneight S. has removed your post to the Middle East needs Peace group on Care2:Subject: Arabs told them to leave. The Arabs living in Israel during the war in 1948 were told by their leaders to leave to make way for the Arab armies to obliterate the newly-established state of Israel. Israeli leaders begged them to stay. Those that did are Israeli citizens today and serve in the Knesset. Those that left became refugees and were kept refugees as a weapon against Israel"
(I guess the "Middle East Needs Peace" doesn't need any challenges to ITS version of peace.)
Now if Kneight S wants to run a Pravda-style newsgroup, that's not something that can be effectively changed. But there does come a point where posting from hate sites and obvious cheerleading for terrorist jihadists violates any Code of Conduct that is meant to actually mean something. Or so I thought.
I brought this to the attention of Care2 via their "help" form--I got an automated response that said "we hope to get to your request shortly", and that's all. Perhaps we could try to bring this to their attention in a different way; they don't have a general e-mail address, but since they were kind enough to list their contact information, maybe copies of this post could make their way to Care2's headquarters:
Care2.com, Inc.275 Shoreline Drive, Suite 300Redwood City, CA 94065
Phone: 650-622-0860Fax: 650-622-0870
In the meantime, I don't think I'll Care2 use that site to get involved with causes that I care about.
Well, just as we have seen advocates for "Palestinian rights" infiltrate trade unions, churches, and universities, there is a collection of various such individuals who have joined Care2 to fulfill their vision of "Palestinian rights"-- the "right" to kill Israeli civilians (Jewish or Arab) with impunity, the "right" to promote jihadism, and the "right" to destroy the only state that the Jewish people have in favor of a 23rd Arab and 58th Islamic state.
(Before I get the outcry from advocates for Palestinian rights who don't insist on the destruction of Israel-- I'm not talking about you. Most Israelis, as well as the last 3 elected governments of Israel, as well as the current US Administration, have explicitly endorsed the vision of two states, a Jewish state and an Arab state, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. I'm just talking about those who insist only on Palestinian "rights" but don't recognize any rights for the Jewish people in their own homeland.)
So what we have on Care2 is a collection of "news" groups that re-post the propaganda about children starving in Gaza (funny how they had enough candy to pass around to celebrate the murder of an elderly Jewish woman in last week's Dimona terror attack), but refuse to allow any message at all that might suggest the ultimate heresy-- that (gasp!) "Zionists" are also people who have similar rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and national self-determination.
One only has to check out the thread at care2.com/news/member/198234727/610722 to see that the only thing they are missing is the text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion--it abounds with the usual idiots spouting off old conspiracy theories, allegations that "Jews didn't originate from Palestine", outright support of terrorism ("Let Hamas do it's work to destroy the Zionist menace"--inappropriate punctuation courtesy of the terror supporter as well), and so on. Nothing terribly unusual for any open forum on the Internet, giving illustration to Thomas Friedman's description of it as a "great unfiltered sewer of information".
But then what really puts all of this to shame is a lengthy post from someone named "AniTa H" (another spelling/punctuation challenged individual? a teen trying to be cute?) from several websites that clearly straddle the line between lunatic fringe and outright hate; one of the posts has as its table of contents the following menu of drivel:
Zionism and the Media
I. Introduction II. Zionist Owners and CEOs of Media Conglomerates and Media Companies III. Journalists: Zionist, Conservative, and Dumb IV. Zionist Media Organizations V. Zionists Continue Their Attack on America's Freedom of Speech VI. Mossad and the Media - Israel's Disinformation Network VII. Studies of Pro-Israel Media Bias in Newspapers
Now, I would think that any organization working for "powerful, positive changes" in the world might want to avoid becoming a site for posting of extremist anti-Semitism-- and any reader of this blog understands quite well that, as Martin Luther King pointed out in 1968, “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You are talking anti-Semitism.” Yet Care2 seems not to care that such a post violates its own Code of Conduct, which states:
"We will not tolerate abusive language or personal attacks on our boards, and reserve the right to remove any posts, threads or groups which we feel are in violation of our Code of Conduct for Care2 or the Terms of Service for Care2 membership.....'Hate messages' - No member may post or email 'hate' messages. This includes any messages that may incite violence toward someone because of their age, disability, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation.... "
On the other hand, group moderators are free to banish any posts that THEY may feel are politically incorrect; here are two posts (not mine, by the way) that were deleted for even daring to suggest an alternative point of view:
"Kneight S. has removed your post to the Middle East needs Peace group on Care2:Subject: Biblical
Please tell me where in the Bible it is called 'Palestine.' Where is the word 'Palestine' from?"
"Kneight S. has removed your post to the Middle East needs Peace group on Care2:Subject: Arabs told them to leave. The Arabs living in Israel during the war in 1948 were told by their leaders to leave to make way for the Arab armies to obliterate the newly-established state of Israel. Israeli leaders begged them to stay. Those that did are Israeli citizens today and serve in the Knesset. Those that left became refugees and were kept refugees as a weapon against Israel"
(I guess the "Middle East Needs Peace" doesn't need any challenges to ITS version of peace.)
Now if Kneight S wants to run a Pravda-style newsgroup, that's not something that can be effectively changed. But there does come a point where posting from hate sites and obvious cheerleading for terrorist jihadists violates any Code of Conduct that is meant to actually mean something. Or so I thought.
I brought this to the attention of Care2 via their "help" form--I got an automated response that said "we hope to get to your request shortly", and that's all. Perhaps we could try to bring this to their attention in a different way; they don't have a general e-mail address, but since they were kind enough to list their contact information, maybe copies of this post could make their way to Care2's headquarters:
Care2.com, Inc.275 Shoreline Drive, Suite 300Redwood City, CA 94065
Phone: 650-622-0860Fax: 650-622-0870
In the meantime, I don't think I'll Care2 use that site to get involved with causes that I care about.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Build a House--or a Hotel--in Jerusalem
Hasbro Toys, makers of Monopoly, is coming out with a global edition, featuring cities from around the world instead of streets (or dogs, or football teams, etc.). They are selecting the cities based on a worldwide vote this month.
One of the cities nominated is Jerusalem. The cities are all identified by the city name and the country, and in an all-to-rare moment of clarity Hasbro has correctly listed the name of the city as "Jerusalem, Israel". That's certainly more than the US State Department is willing to do on a passport. To be sure, Hasbro's information is a bit sloppy (they failed to identify it as the capital of Israel and they state that the "most holy Jewish and Moslem sites are located at Temple Mount" which might come as news to the House of Saud, guardians of the Ka'abah) and they inexplicably chose a picture looking UP at the Mount of Olives and Hebrew University, but at least they know which country's map it belongs on!
As of today, Jerusalem ranks #10, which would place it where Indiana Avenue is on the classic Monopoly board. And YOU, dear reader, get to help by casting your vote-early and often! You can vote daily through February 29. Go to http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/ and click on VOTE; the first time, you will need to set up a sign-in and password.
It's just one small step in fighting the disinformation about, and delegitimization of, the state of Israel. But let's make sure that the millions upon millions of children who will play this game get to learn the proper name of the city: Jerusalem, Israel.
One of the cities nominated is Jerusalem. The cities are all identified by the city name and the country, and in an all-to-rare moment of clarity Hasbro has correctly listed the name of the city as "Jerusalem, Israel". That's certainly more than the US State Department is willing to do on a passport. To be sure, Hasbro's information is a bit sloppy (they failed to identify it as the capital of Israel and they state that the "most holy Jewish and Moslem sites are located at Temple Mount" which might come as news to the House of Saud, guardians of the Ka'abah) and they inexplicably chose a picture looking UP at the Mount of Olives and Hebrew University, but at least they know which country's map it belongs on!
As of today, Jerusalem ranks #10, which would place it where Indiana Avenue is on the classic Monopoly board. And YOU, dear reader, get to help by casting your vote-early and often! You can vote daily through February 29. Go to http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/ and click on VOTE; the first time, you will need to set up a sign-in and password.
It's just one small step in fighting the disinformation about, and delegitimization of, the state of Israel. But let's make sure that the millions upon millions of children who will play this game get to learn the proper name of the city: Jerusalem, Israel.
Friday, January 18, 2008
A Tale of Two Deaths
Carlos Chavez was murdered this week, another foreigner who put himself in harm's way and became a casualty of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Of course, the other foreigner I refer to was Rachel Corrie, an idealistic young American student who chose to go to Gaza out of solidarity with the Palestinian people. The differences in the circumstances of their presence in the Middle East, and of their deaths, are noteworthy not only for what they teach us about the conflict itself, but what they teach us about the manipulation of public opinion.
Rachel Corrie of Washington State, as any observer of the issue is undoubtedly aware, has been canonized by the opponents of Israel into an amalgam of Mother Teresa and Joan of Arc. Of course, the fact that she was photographed burning a paper American flag in front of a group of Palestinian children isn't seen as anything detracting from her reputation (or that of the Palestinian children, who are quite used to indoctrination into hatred thanks to their own media). We really don't know much about the political leanings of Carlos Chavez of Quito Ecuador, except that he, unlike Ms Corrie and her memorial choir, thought it perfectly acceptable to spend time in a Jewish state planting potatoes on a communal farm.
Rachel Corrie died while trying to interfere with an Israel Defense Forces action against a house used for smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip. While accounts of the actual incident vary, there is no doubt that she deliberately placed herself in harm's way and was attempting to block the IDF from demolishing the structure. Carlos Chavez, it could be said, also placed himself in harm's way just by being in the state of Israel; he was shot in the back by a sniper while working in the fields near the border with Gaza. His murderer didn't know who he was; didn't care whether he was Jewish, Christian, Buddhist or atheist; didn't ask his opinion on the two-state solution, or settlements, or the so-called "right" of return. Chavez was targeted because he was in the state of Israel. Just like the 12 civilians in Sderot who were killed by Qassam missiles--(of which the raw materials are smuggled in through houses in Gaza like the one Rachel Corrie was trying to protect):
June 28, 2004 - Afik Ohion Zehavi, 4, killed when a rocket lands in his nursery school in Sderot.
June 28, 2004 - Mordechai Yosephus, 49, killed when a rocket lands in a kindergarten in Sderot.
Sept. 29, 2004 - Dorit Inso, 2, killed when two rockets hit her residence building.
Sept. 29, 2004 - Yuval Abeva, 4, killed when two rockets hit his residence building.
Jan. 15, 2005 - Ayala Haya Abukasis, 17, killed when a rocket hits Sderot.
July 15, 2005 - Dana Gelkowitz, 22, killed by a Qassam that strikes a home in Moshav Nativ Ha'asara.
March 28, 2006 - A Bedouin father and son, Salam Ziadin and Khalid, 16, killed when a Qassam rocket they find in the Nahal Oz area explodes.
Nov. 11, 2006 - Faina Slutzker, 57, killed when a rocket hits the street where she is walking near the home of Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
Nov. 21, 2006 - Yaakov Yaakobovich, 43, killed while at work in a Sderot poultry processing plant.
May 21, 2007 - Shir-el Friedman, 35, killed in Sderot when a rocket hits a car she is walking near.May 27, 2007 - Oshri Oz, 36, is killed in Sderot when a rocket hits the car he is driving.
Sderot is a civilian town; there are no Israeli army installations, no missiles are launched from the town. But it's a town full of Israelis, and that's reason enough for Hamas and Islamic Jihad to try to indiscriminately slaughter them.
The Consul General of Israel in San Francisco personally contacted Rachel Corrie's parents to express his country's regrets. As far as we know, nobody from Hamas or Islamic Jihad has contacted the family of Carlos Chavez to apologize (and what would they say? "We're sorry, we assumed he was a Jewish son of apes and pigs so therefore deserved a bullet in his chest; if we had known he was just a Christian infidel then we would have only winged him"?).
Rachel Corrie is the subject of adorational prose, theatre, websites, and even songs. But those in Israel, and those who support Israel, don't like to use tragic deaths for political "gotcha" points. They don't take photos of casualties who then stand up and walk away, and they don't claim that victims of their own mines were the result of attacks from the other side. They don't celebrate the deaths of their civilians as "martyrs" and they don't celebrate the deaths of civilians on the other side, either. So I don't think we're going to see any plays or songs about Carlos Chavez.
In America and Europe, Rachel Corrie's visage is prominently displayed at a variety of anti-Israel events. Of course, those exploiting her death in support of the elimination of Israel wouldn't have cared a whit about her had she been gunned down while planting potatoes at Ein Hashlosha, any more than they care about Carlos Chavez, or about Afik Zehavi and the others who died in Sderot. Because for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, being in Israel is enough of a reason to be killed; and for too many of those around the world who rally around Rachel Corrie's picture, it's enough of a reason not to care.
Of course, the other foreigner I refer to was Rachel Corrie, an idealistic young American student who chose to go to Gaza out of solidarity with the Palestinian people. The differences in the circumstances of their presence in the Middle East, and of their deaths, are noteworthy not only for what they teach us about the conflict itself, but what they teach us about the manipulation of public opinion.
Rachel Corrie of Washington State, as any observer of the issue is undoubtedly aware, has been canonized by the opponents of Israel into an amalgam of Mother Teresa and Joan of Arc. Of course, the fact that she was photographed burning a paper American flag in front of a group of Palestinian children isn't seen as anything detracting from her reputation (or that of the Palestinian children, who are quite used to indoctrination into hatred thanks to their own media). We really don't know much about the political leanings of Carlos Chavez of Quito Ecuador, except that he, unlike Ms Corrie and her memorial choir, thought it perfectly acceptable to spend time in a Jewish state planting potatoes on a communal farm.
Rachel Corrie died while trying to interfere with an Israel Defense Forces action against a house used for smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip. While accounts of the actual incident vary, there is no doubt that she deliberately placed herself in harm's way and was attempting to block the IDF from demolishing the structure. Carlos Chavez, it could be said, also placed himself in harm's way just by being in the state of Israel; he was shot in the back by a sniper while working in the fields near the border with Gaza. His murderer didn't know who he was; didn't care whether he was Jewish, Christian, Buddhist or atheist; didn't ask his opinion on the two-state solution, or settlements, or the so-called "right" of return. Chavez was targeted because he was in the state of Israel. Just like the 12 civilians in Sderot who were killed by Qassam missiles--(of which the raw materials are smuggled in through houses in Gaza like the one Rachel Corrie was trying to protect):
June 28, 2004 - Afik Ohion Zehavi, 4, killed when a rocket lands in his nursery school in Sderot.
June 28, 2004 - Mordechai Yosephus, 49, killed when a rocket lands in a kindergarten in Sderot.
Sept. 29, 2004 - Dorit Inso, 2, killed when two rockets hit her residence building.
Sept. 29, 2004 - Yuval Abeva, 4, killed when two rockets hit his residence building.
Jan. 15, 2005 - Ayala Haya Abukasis, 17, killed when a rocket hits Sderot.
July 15, 2005 - Dana Gelkowitz, 22, killed by a Qassam that strikes a home in Moshav Nativ Ha'asara.
March 28, 2006 - A Bedouin father and son, Salam Ziadin and Khalid, 16, killed when a Qassam rocket they find in the Nahal Oz area explodes.
Nov. 11, 2006 - Faina Slutzker, 57, killed when a rocket hits the street where she is walking near the home of Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
Nov. 21, 2006 - Yaakov Yaakobovich, 43, killed while at work in a Sderot poultry processing plant.
May 21, 2007 - Shir-el Friedman, 35, killed in Sderot when a rocket hits a car she is walking near.May 27, 2007 - Oshri Oz, 36, is killed in Sderot when a rocket hits the car he is driving.
Sderot is a civilian town; there are no Israeli army installations, no missiles are launched from the town. But it's a town full of Israelis, and that's reason enough for Hamas and Islamic Jihad to try to indiscriminately slaughter them.
The Consul General of Israel in San Francisco personally contacted Rachel Corrie's parents to express his country's regrets. As far as we know, nobody from Hamas or Islamic Jihad has contacted the family of Carlos Chavez to apologize (and what would they say? "We're sorry, we assumed he was a Jewish son of apes and pigs so therefore deserved a bullet in his chest; if we had known he was just a Christian infidel then we would have only winged him"?).
Rachel Corrie is the subject of adorational prose, theatre, websites, and even songs. But those in Israel, and those who support Israel, don't like to use tragic deaths for political "gotcha" points. They don't take photos of casualties who then stand up and walk away, and they don't claim that victims of their own mines were the result of attacks from the other side. They don't celebrate the deaths of their civilians as "martyrs" and they don't celebrate the deaths of civilians on the other side, either. So I don't think we're going to see any plays or songs about Carlos Chavez.
In America and Europe, Rachel Corrie's visage is prominently displayed at a variety of anti-Israel events. Of course, those exploiting her death in support of the elimination of Israel wouldn't have cared a whit about her had she been gunned down while planting potatoes at Ein Hashlosha, any more than they care about Carlos Chavez, or about Afik Zehavi and the others who died in Sderot. Because for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, being in Israel is enough of a reason to be killed; and for too many of those around the world who rally around Rachel Corrie's picture, it's enough of a reason not to care.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Respectfully Submitted for Your Review
One of the pro-Israel lists to which I subscribe forwarded a message from a monitored anti-Israel list, which stated as follows:
"Marcy Winograd is the co-founder of the LA Jews for Peace collectiveand a long-time anti-war activist in Los Angeles . Inspired by author Joel Kovel's book Overcoming Zionism, she is interested in assembling and publishing an anthology entitled: From Zionism to Humanism:Personal Stories of Jews Who Dare to Speak Out. If you know of Jews who might be interested in contributing to her anthology, please encourage them to submit their story to Marcy at Winogradcoach@aol.com."
(Note the implicit slur that Zionism, self-determination for the Jewish people in our homeland, is incompatible with humanism. I wonder how she feels about threatening to flog people for naming a teddy bear Mohammed? Also, it's interesting that she was inspired by the Kovel book. This book, distributed by the University of Michigan via a contract with UK-based Pluto Press, has brought much criticism to the university for distributing it, since it is filled with anti-Israel propaganda and doesn't deserve the imprimatur of a prestigious university. It operates from the premise that the Jewish state should not exist at all. You can read a recent column in the Jerusalem Post about the book here.)
It was suggested that those of us on the pro-Israel side might want to submit our stories as well.
Here's mine. If I hear back from Ms Winograd, I will let you know; I'm not holding my breath. Readers may want to submit their own stories about speaking out for Israel as well.
In the interests of full editorial disclosure: the first sentence below is completely false. I only wrote it to get her to start reading it; I've been an Israel advocate for years. When I was in college, I posted (on my dormitory door-- we didn't HAVE blogs or listserves then) Chaim Herzog's speech at the UN condemning the General Assembly for its "Zionism is Racism" resolution. Those words apply to Ms Winograd today no less than they applied to the "diplomats" who voted for that piece of verbal sewage.
"While I had always been politically inclined, Israel was never really the focus of activity for me. I became involved while in medical school with Physicians for Social Responsibility and in my professional career as a pediatrician was working on legislative issues involving child health. Things were always happening in Israel but they didn't affect me here.
Then came the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000 and the war in Iraq in 2003. Suddenly, the situation in Israel seemed to be relevant here in the Bay Area, since the anti-war marches and rallies seemed filled with not only condemnations of Israel but outright support of terrorist acts against Israeli civilians. Why was all this happening? Then I realized that the answer really came down to racism--
Israel was being accused of being a racist state in that it was established as a Jewish state, and those who were calling for its replacement by a "binational" state (which would quickly become another Arab state by demographics) felt that this would resolve a fundamental wrong in the world.
After reading and hearing so much of what these anti-Zionists had to say, I realized that they were partially right-- there is a problem of racism as it pertains to Israel. But the problem was staring those protesters right in the mirror! Racism was inherent in their attitudes towards Israel.
Why do I say this? Consider that Israel is singled out for condemnation when crimes being ignored include the genocide in Darfur, the human trafficking and oppression of women in Saudi Arabia, the religious repression of Christians throughout the Arab world, and the elimination of the culture and history of the Tibetans by the Chinese. There's also the singling out of the only Jewish state as somehow racist in a world with 23 members of the Arab League and 57 members of the Islamic Conference (every one of which declares itself to be an Islamic state), but where only the Jewish people are told that we are not entitled to self-determination. For that matter, Israelis were accused of having stolen land from "indigenous" Palestinians-- by those living on land that belonged to the Miwok Indians, on which Europeans never even set foot until the 18th century! My own heritage stems much more from the Land of Israel than it does from San Francisco, yet my presence here is unchallenged by those who would accept that I am a legitimate target should I decide to live in Israel.
But even more, there is a subtler form of racism against the Palestinians-- the racism of diminished expectations: the racism that refuses to hold them to standards of behavior such as not blowing up women and children in busses and restaurants then publicly celebrating it; the racism that gives them a pass for indoctrinating children into hatred; the racism that says that it's OK for Arabs to have exclusionary states that discriminate against other religions, other ethnic groups, and even their own women; the racism that says that because they have darker skin that they must be right.
So I do speak out-- I stand up for Israel as a Jewish state against those who welcome its destruction. Is Israel a perfect country? Of course not; I haven't found that country yet. Does that validate the thugocracy of Arafat, the Taliban-like rule of Hamas, rockets landing on Sderot? Does that validate the hysterical anti-Zionist rhetoric in this country, which is frequently accompanied by anti-Semitic imagery not usually seen in public except in Arab countries? No. And that's why I speak out."
"Marcy Winograd is the co-founder of the LA Jews for Peace collectiveand a long-time anti-war activist in Los Angeles . Inspired by author Joel Kovel's book Overcoming Zionism, she is interested in assembling and publishing an anthology entitled: From Zionism to Humanism:Personal Stories of Jews Who Dare to Speak Out. If you know of Jews who might be interested in contributing to her anthology, please encourage them to submit their story to Marcy at Winogradcoach@aol.com."
(Note the implicit slur that Zionism, self-determination for the Jewish people in our homeland, is incompatible with humanism. I wonder how she feels about threatening to flog people for naming a teddy bear Mohammed? Also, it's interesting that she was inspired by the Kovel book. This book, distributed by the University of Michigan via a contract with UK-based Pluto Press, has brought much criticism to the university for distributing it, since it is filled with anti-Israel propaganda and doesn't deserve the imprimatur of a prestigious university. It operates from the premise that the Jewish state should not exist at all. You can read a recent column in the Jerusalem Post about the book here.)
It was suggested that those of us on the pro-Israel side might want to submit our stories as well.
Here's mine. If I hear back from Ms Winograd, I will let you know; I'm not holding my breath. Readers may want to submit their own stories about speaking out for Israel as well.
In the interests of full editorial disclosure: the first sentence below is completely false. I only wrote it to get her to start reading it; I've been an Israel advocate for years. When I was in college, I posted (on my dormitory door-- we didn't HAVE blogs or listserves then) Chaim Herzog's speech at the UN condemning the General Assembly for its "Zionism is Racism" resolution. Those words apply to Ms Winograd today no less than they applied to the "diplomats" who voted for that piece of verbal sewage.
"While I had always been politically inclined, Israel was never really the focus of activity for me. I became involved while in medical school with Physicians for Social Responsibility and in my professional career as a pediatrician was working on legislative issues involving child health. Things were always happening in Israel but they didn't affect me here.
Then came the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000 and the war in Iraq in 2003. Suddenly, the situation in Israel seemed to be relevant here in the Bay Area, since the anti-war marches and rallies seemed filled with not only condemnations of Israel but outright support of terrorist acts against Israeli civilians. Why was all this happening? Then I realized that the answer really came down to racism--
Israel was being accused of being a racist state in that it was established as a Jewish state, and those who were calling for its replacement by a "binational" state (which would quickly become another Arab state by demographics) felt that this would resolve a fundamental wrong in the world.
After reading and hearing so much of what these anti-Zionists had to say, I realized that they were partially right-- there is a problem of racism as it pertains to Israel. But the problem was staring those protesters right in the mirror! Racism was inherent in their attitudes towards Israel.
Why do I say this? Consider that Israel is singled out for condemnation when crimes being ignored include the genocide in Darfur, the human trafficking and oppression of women in Saudi Arabia, the religious repression of Christians throughout the Arab world, and the elimination of the culture and history of the Tibetans by the Chinese. There's also the singling out of the only Jewish state as somehow racist in a world with 23 members of the Arab League and 57 members of the Islamic Conference (every one of which declares itself to be an Islamic state), but where only the Jewish people are told that we are not entitled to self-determination. For that matter, Israelis were accused of having stolen land from "indigenous" Palestinians-- by those living on land that belonged to the Miwok Indians, on which Europeans never even set foot until the 18th century! My own heritage stems much more from the Land of Israel than it does from San Francisco, yet my presence here is unchallenged by those who would accept that I am a legitimate target should I decide to live in Israel.
But even more, there is a subtler form of racism against the Palestinians-- the racism of diminished expectations: the racism that refuses to hold them to standards of behavior such as not blowing up women and children in busses and restaurants then publicly celebrating it; the racism that gives them a pass for indoctrinating children into hatred; the racism that says that it's OK for Arabs to have exclusionary states that discriminate against other religions, other ethnic groups, and even their own women; the racism that says that because they have darker skin that they must be right.
So I do speak out-- I stand up for Israel as a Jewish state against those who welcome its destruction. Is Israel a perfect country? Of course not; I haven't found that country yet. Does that validate the thugocracy of Arafat, the Taliban-like rule of Hamas, rockets landing on Sderot? Does that validate the hysterical anti-Zionist rhetoric in this country, which is frequently accompanied by anti-Semitic imagery not usually seen in public except in Arab countries? No. And that's why I speak out."
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