And Then, There is Israel

The only way the world can work, as smaller nations and groups gain power, is for all people in power to agree on some rules of conduct. We live in a day when almost anyone; groups of minorities, NGOs, unions, PACs or disgruntled dissentients can bring about disruption and pain to anyone in power, including the US.  Since WW II, even superpowers with huge military forces have failed to provide safety for their own population, much less for the world at large.

For this reason, world leaders came together and created such joint organizations as the United Nations, International Criminal Court in The Hague, and the Fourth Geneva Convention, all representing a set of rules by which the world might live in a civilized manner..

That was then. Now, there is Israel which shows little regard for International Law and yet insists on being blessed and excused by the world.

Mr. Dore Gold has a very difficult job.[1] It is to sanitize Israel’s campaign against the people of Gaza in face of a United Nations Human Rights Council investigation. Gold’s defense is, “You can’t go into any kind of legal proceedings when the judge and jury have decided you are guilty before you have even walked into the courtroom.”[2] In other words, kill someone in broad daylight before hundreds of witnesses and you can claim that the jury is prejudiced.

The  purpose of a court hearing is to discern the truth of what happened and who is responsible.  However, in the case of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, there is no question as to what happened and who is responsible.  Probably most of the world and anyone with access to a newspaper or TV has seen Israel’s guilt and has reacted with condemnation. What other judgment could be made by fair minded people when:

Again, F-16s, Apache helicopters and warships bombard the densely crowded Gaza Strip day and night, blowing apart apartment houses, offices and homes. Targets were chosen seemingly at random, and aimed at punishing the whole population – half of whom are children. During the first few days alone, fire from an offshore vessel killed four small boys as they played soccer on the beach. An air strike on a center for the disabled killed two patients and seriously injured four. A bomb destroyed a seaside café, killing nine young men who were watching the World Cup. Another missile slammed into a mosque during the even Ramadan prayers and killed 18 worshippers.

Gold is right, at least as far as I am concerned. I don’t need a court to tell me this is wrong.

With no bomb shelters to protect them, and surrounded by closed borders and unable to escape, more than 1,200 Palestinians were killed  in the first 3 weeks, including at least 200 children. Six thousand Gazans were wounded. Meanwhile Israel had cut off electricity supplies to Gaza and destroyed sewage pipes, so raw sewage flowed in the streets. On July 20, one of the deadliest days, Israel tanks invaded the crowded Shejaiya sections of Gaza City and kept up a steady barrage of artillery fire, killing 87 Palestinians and filling the hospitals with shrapnel-torn bodies.[3]

As of this writing, more than 2,000 people have been killed, twice as many children than combatants.  

Again, Gold is right.  The massacre in Gaza has not gone unnoticed. In fact, according to Desmond Tutu, writing in Ha’aretz:

If you add together all the people who gathered over the past weekend to demand justice in Israel and Palestine – in Cape Town, Washington, D.C., New York, New Delhi, London, Dublin and Sydney, and all other cities – this was arguably the largest active outcry by citizens around a single cause ever in the history of the world.[4]

Hopefully the ICC and UN will condemn Israel for its war against an unarmed civilization even though I doubt that Israel will care as long as it is backed up by the United States. At least so far, neither has shown much regard for International law which declares that Israel is legally responsible for the welfare of the Palestinian population which it seems determined to reduce to rubble.  

                                                                                    Thomas Are

                                                                                    August 19, 2014

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[1] Dore Gold is an Israeli diplomat who has served in various positions under several Israeli governments. He is the current President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He was also an advisor to the former Israeli Prime Minister  Ariel Sharon and to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  during his first term in office.

[2] Dore Gold, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 16, 2014

[3] Rachelle Marshall, Israel Again Wreaks Vengeance on Gaza, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September, 2014, p.8.

[4] Desmond Tutu, My Plea to the People of Israel: Liberate yourselves by liberating Palestine, Ha’aretz, August 14, 2014.

Why the Cairo Peace Talks Will Also Fail

Gaza is a small country at best, five miles wide and twenty-five miles top to bottom. Blocked by Egypt to the south, Israel to the east and north and the Mediterranean Sea on their west, Gaza is 147 square miles, tip to toe. Now with Israel’s “buffer zone,” in effect, Gaza will be reduced to a mere 82 square miles.   Moshe Feiglin,  deputy speaker of the Knesset, called for Gaza to “become part of sovereign Israel and to be populated by Jews. This will also serve to ease the housing crisis in Israel.”

“Housing crisis in Israel!” Not a word of concern for the housing crisis in Gaza. Israel’s population density stands at 964 persons per square mile. Gaza’s people are crowded into 22,000 per square mile.[1]

So far, three Israeli civilians have been killed by Hamas rockets.  Israel has killed 1,900 Palestinians, including 415 children, injured over 10,000 plus ten thousand homes destroyed and 30,000 damaged. Gaza is in a crisis with more destruction than it has ever experienced during its seven year siege.  Israel bombed Gaza’s only power plant, knocking out electricity for sewage plants and hospitals. According to Jewish Voice for Peace:

Before the crisis, Gaza had 2,047 hospital beds. That’s about one bed for every five injured Palestinians. Medical supplies, including pain medication, are in extremely low supply. “Never seen such massive destruction ever before,” is how Peter Maurer, president of the International Red Cross, described Gaza last week.[2]

So, once again, Hamas goes into “peace talks,” knowing full well what the outcome will be, and who will be blamed for the breakdown. All across the world there will be little demonstrations against Israel’s devastation but little will change. Thousands of Americans will take to the streets in protest and congress will still vote 100% to support Israel and praise Netanyahu in his slaughter of Palestinians. Obama will continue to announce that Israel has a right to defend itself.

I think it was Einstein who said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.  The Palestinians have been down this road so many times before and nothing changes.

Why? Because the “peace talks” do not focus on International law. They ignore the Geneva Convention. The talks will slide right over dozens of UN resolutions. Such things are not the goal of Israel.  All Israel wants is “calm,” and for the human rights of the Palestinians and their equality as citizens of the world. to be forgotten as soon as possible so Israel can get back to the business of occupation.

Recognition of Palestinian rights to their own land and water will be announced as a threat to Israel’s security, which is another word for “We have no responsibility for violence, no matter what we do."

Everybody knows Israel only kills terrorist. And how do we know that those killed are terrorist?  Answer: Because Israel kills them.

My father’s brother, Ismail al-Ghoul, 60, was not a member of Hamas. Hisdra, 62, was not a militant of Hamas. Their sons, Wael, 35, and Mohammed, 32, were not combatants for Hamas. Their daughters, Hanadi, 28, and Asmaa, 22, were not operatives for Hamas, nor were my cousin Wael’s children, Ismail, 11, Malak, 5, and baby Mustafa, only 24 days old, members of Islamic Jihad, the Popular front for the Liberation of Palestine or Fatah. Yet, they all died in the Israeli shelling that targeted their home at 6:20 a.m. on Sunday morning.[3]

There may be some talk by Israel of “easing” the siege at the check points, just enough to let the anti-Palestine Zionists proclaim the “generous offer” by Israel and make sure Hamas gets no credit for brokering a deal.  But, in the big picture, it will be a continuation of the status quo. Occupiers will remain occupiers and refugees will remain refugees with no right of return and little economic opportunity to meet basic human needs. In the words of Jeff Halper, Palestinians will remain “warehoused.”  Israel’s goal is not to change the facts on the ground, but to stop the exposure of its violence. If that happens, if there is a “peace deal” without a change in Israel’s choke hold on Gaza, in a few years there will be rockets and Cast Lead bombardment all over again.

Einstein is right. It’s insane.

                                                                                                Thomas Are

                                                                                                August 13, 2014

[1] Dennis Kucinich, Gaza Buffer Zone,  The Guardian August 5, 2014.

[2] Action Alert, Jewish Voice for Peace,  Stefanie Fox, Red Cross, Never Seen Such Massive Destruction. August 11, 2014

[3] Nick Wing and Samantha Lachman, 17 Things To Read If You’re Trying To See All Sides Of the Israel-Gaza Conflict., Huffington Post, August 5, 2014

Put the Blame on Hamas

Some have asked, “Why doesn’t Gaza just kick Hamas out, after all, they use human shields?” 

Years ago, in the heart of the Civil Rights struggle, I remember people saying, “If we can just get rid of that Martin Luther King, Jr., everything will be OK.”  So, they did. They got rid of him. King was assassinated, only to have us learn that the problem had never been King.  The problem was segregation.  When I first got involved in speaking out for justice for the Palestinians, I remember people saying, “If we could just get rid of that Yasser Arafat, everything would be OK.”  And they did, by poison or stress, we don’t yet know, but they got rid of Arafat, only to learn that the problem never was Arafat.  It was occupation.  One people taking the land, labor and resources of another people, simply because they have the power to do it.

Today, Israel assassinates Hamas leaders, kidnaps and imprisons them by the hundreds and misrepresents their goals and reason for being.  It amazes me. Israel shuts down and puts a siege on Gaza, chokes the very life out of its citizens, and I still hear people say, “If we could just get rid of that Hamas, everything would be OK.”

Does anyone think the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians really started with the election of Hamas in 2007?   The tension started 64 years ago when the Haganah, Stern Gang, Irgun and Palmach drove 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, many of whom became refugees, some of whom are still living in Gaza. Then in 1967, by means of a trumped up war which Israel was assured of winning, Israel started an occupation.

The editors of The Nation magazine write about the violence in Gaza:

Unless the deeper issues are addressed, the cycle will continue – the cycle not of violence, but of impunity. Impunity is what happens when an aggressor fractures the norms of international law and basic human rights, yet is never held to account, and so is free to commit the same crimes again and again. That is what we are seeing now, and that is exactly what the Goldstone Report – the findings of the UN investigation of Operation Cast Lead in 2008-09 - so presciently warned against.[1]

But Hamas uses human shields.  At least, that is what Netanyahu said. Remember, “We use missiles to protect our people. They use people to protect their missiles.”  Sounds good, and the media loved it. It’s just not true.  Netanyahu uses missiles, bombs and rockets to kill people to protect Israel’s occupation and goal of taking over all of Palestine. He cries “human shields to cover up the blood on his hands.

Gary Burge, professor of theology at Wheaton College specializing in religion and politics in the Middle East, wrote:

The current strategy has been to use the “human shield” argument. This is common in Ukraine, where both Ukrainian nationalist and pro-Russian separatist blame civilian casualties on the other side “because they use human shields.” It has also been used by the Assad regime in Syria.  The U.S. used it in the battle for Fallujah in 2004. Now the same is being used in Gaza, and the Israelis have repeated this argument to the American media ad nauseam.[2].

The people of Gaza are being killed, not because they are being set up by Hamas, but because there is no place to run. No bomb shelters, forest in the hills or even UN schools are safe from Israel’s superior military assault.  They have no Iron Dome. Burge says, “Israel runs the risk of winning the war and losing all credibility in the world community.”

I hope we can keep our eye on the ball as to who is ultimately responsible for the violence in Gaza.  It is just too easy to put the blame on Hamas. 

                                                                                                Thomas Are

                                                                                                August 9, 2014

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[1] The Nation,  August 4, 2014, p. 3.

[2] Gary M. Burga, “But They Use Human Shields!” Huffington Post July 31, 2014. 

The Tipping Point

While giving Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, President, NY Board of Rabbis,  a chance to defend Israel’s massacre of Gaza on MSNBC All in With Chris Hayes, the Rabbi said, “But,. Egypt is with us.”  Hayes raised his voice, ”My lands, the government of Egypt kills a thousand people a day and condemned 800 to death in one trial. The government of Egypt overthrew the Hamas friendly Muslim Brotherhood government and seized power.  Of course, they are going to support Israel’s war against Hamas. But I don’t think that is anything for Israel to brag about.”[1]

Not only am I am encouraged by Chris Hayes,  Rowan Farrow is now talking about a “tipping point” in America’s support for Israel. 

Every night, we see bombed out buildings, women and children running in fear for their lives, and they have reason to be afraid;  over 1,800 Palestinians killed so far, almost 10,000 injured and 280,000 displaced.  No electricity or water because Israel bombed their only remaining electric plant.  Americans are good people and given the picture as shown in the nightly news, we will oppose such gross injustice and cruelty, in spite of media spin. We are reaching a tipping point.

CNN says Hamas “kidnapped a soldier, Kerry says he was “abducted” and the White House says it was a ‘barbaric’ violation of the ceasefire. How they can say that when Israel kidnapped and abducted 700 Palestinians, after three teens were killed, is beyond me. So it is “detain” if Israel does it, and “abduct”, “kidnap”, or worse if the Palestinians do it. “Barbaric” is a term used to describe the capturing of a Jewish soldier, but inappropriate to describe the slaughter of 300 Palestinian children. By the way, as it turned out, the soldier was not captured. He died in a fight with Hamas defenders.

And where was this soldier killed? Not in his home feeding his children, but deep inside  Gaza, seeking to destroy the tunnels which were the only means through which some Palestinian Dad has to feed his children.  

It is significant to point out that tunnels, which have become such a media propaganda tool for Israel, were never used to transport Hamas defenders into Israel before the bombing of Gaza started a month ago. No Israeli soldier or civilian had been attacked by tunnel infiltrators during the seven years Israel had Gaza locked down.  

According to the research done by General James David in an email sent on July 31, 2014, to a Jewish friend:

The Israelis try to justify their attacks by claiming that Hamas uses tunnels to infiltrate, attack, and kill innocent Jews. But, just go back this year before this war began earlier this month, July 2^nd. Hamas has never attacked any Israelis and there have been no Israelis killed. On the other hand, there have been 123 Palestinians killed in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and hundreds of Palestinian homes demolished…. There have also been hundreds of attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank called, “price-tag” attacks by extremist settlers, destroying cars, uprooting hundreds of olive trees, and even beating Palestinian children.

The Rabbi may be proud that Egypt supports Israel in spite of its crimes against Palestinians.  However, he does not mention that Bolivia, declared Israel a “terrorist state,” and that Brazil, Peru, Chili and El Salvador have called their ambassadors home.[2]

Gaza has become the most tragic place in the world to live, a place where 1.8 million people, fellow human beings, live with poverty, hunger, sickness, imprisonment and humiliation every day. They live without electricity and water while depending upon charity handouts of food to survive.

I can only imagine what a Palestinian doctor must feel while trying to treat screaming children whose bodies have been torn apart. He works with limited medicines, anesthesia or sterile instruments. His shoes stick to the floor because of the blood as he tries to focus on the task at hand. He has not slept for 48 hours. The need for his care is overwhelming. And then the hospital is bombed. There is no child in Gaza who has not been frightened, wounded or killed by bombs in the past 27 days.  It’s Netanyahu’s version of “No Child Left Behind.” I can not even imagine the fear in the faces of children who have suddenly become orphans without a home or family left to care for them. I don’t have the capacity to put myself in their place.

Someone asked, “What do the people of Gaza want?”  Well, they want exactly what we want; a chance to live life without humiliation, a life in which they may care for their families and give their children a chance to enjoy the fruits of their labors in freedom and dignity.

While the Rabbi has the audacity to challenge the concern of Chris Hayes for the suffering of Palestinians and tries to picture Israel as the victim, more and more people are reaching the tipping point.  At least, I hope so.  

                                                                                    Thomas Are

                                                                                    August 3, 2014

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[1] MSNBS, All in with Chris Hayes, August 1, 2014

[2] Paul Craig Roberts, South America Takes Moral Leadership Away From the Immoral West. July 30, 2014. 

Why Does Hamas Keep Firing Rockets

Someone asked. “Why do they keep firing rockets when their children are dying?

In the first place, their children are not just dying. They are being killed; blown  up and shot down. They are running, screaming, being carried into medical treatment centers which long ago ran out of medicines and anesthesia. They wake up frightened to learn that their father, mother or both have been killed, wondering who in the world will protect and care for them. That is the reality in Gaza.  Dr. Mads Gilbert, Swedish volunteer in  the Shifa Hospital describes his feelings.

And as I write these words to you alone, on a bed, my tears flow, the warm but useless tears of pain and grief and fear This is not happening. And then, just now, the orchestra of the Israeli war-machine starts its gruesome symphony again, just now salvos of artillery from the navy boats just down the shore, the roaring F-16, the sickening drowns, and the cluttering Apaches. So much made in and paid for by the US,

Mr. Obama – do you have a heart?

I invite you – spend one night – just one night – with us in Shifa, disguised as a cleaner, maybe. I am convinced, 100%, it would change history.

Nobody with a heart and power could ever walk away from a night in Shifa without being determined to end the slaughter of the Palestinian people.

But the heartless and merciless have done their calculations and planned another “dahyia” onslaught on Gaza.

The river of blood will keep running the coming night.  Please do what you can. This, THIS cannot continue.

So, why does Hamas keep firing rockets?  Well, it’s not to push Israel into the sea as is the so often announced motive in the US media.  They fire rockets as the only way to say “NO” to the oppression of their people in such a way that the outside world may hear them. When the only power you have is the power to say “no”, it is very difficult to give it up.

The last time Israel massively bombed Gaza, (2008-2009), killing over 1400 people, mostly civilians and many children, Hamas gave in to the promises that everything would get better.  However, in fact, nothing got better. It became worse;  The increased blockade at the border, daily control over their lives by restricting food, medicines, fuel and even toys from being brought into Gaza, attacks on humanitarian ships bringing aid, water and electricity shut offs for hours at a time by Israel’s destruction.  Hamas learned that to bow down and say, “Yes Master,” means a continuing of the status quo and to Israel. Status quo is even better than a peace process.  Just keep it going, for another 45 years. Who cares?

Now fast forward to July, 2014.  What has changed since the last time?  Netanyahu continues to cry, “rockets, rockets.”  He never raises the question of WHY? 

Hamas has learned, there have been no calls for justice from the outside. The Western world has turned a deaf ear to their appeal for International law. The Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory, forbids the violation of basic human rights and the occupation of land captured by force. Even when it is pictured on the front page of the world’s media, and flashed across TV screens around the world, nothing is done. The US even supports Israel’s right to brutalize the people of Gaza by redefining the term “occupation of Palestine,” to “disputed territory, thus castrating all UN resolutions aimed at putting some control over Israel.

Hamas has learned not to expect help from the US. which has never been an honest broker. Our government continues to support Israel with billions of dollars every year, and justifying its actions by 100 to 0 votes in the Senate, 42 UN vetoes blocking even a verbal concern for what is happening to the Palestinians. It raises the question, what does Hamas have to gain by giving in?

Of course, the other question is, what does Hamas have to gain by not submitting?  Very little. But, at least the people of the United States are talking about Israel/Palestine. A casual glance at the evening news and we are catching on to the fact that the West Bank is, in fact, occupied and Gaza is a prison camp.  By refusing to submit, Hamas is saying to Israel, you may take our land and water, you may destroy our economy, you may put us in prison and even kill our children, but the one thing you cannot do by force is wipe out our struggle for human dignity and freedom.

Jeff Halper, Jewish author who lives in Israel,  explains the Palestinian resistance:

You can impose upon us an apartheid system, blame us for the violence while ignoring Israeli State Terror, pursue your programs of American Empire, or your notions of a “clash of civilization.” We will not submit. We will not cooperate. We will not play your rigged game.

The conflict will continue until the Israelis realize they cannot prevail by force, by their massive “facts on the ground,” even by skillful international diplomacy. In the end, the cost of maintaining the occupation will become unacceptable, if not to Israel, to the Western powers who support it at the cost of global instability and polarization. [1]

He quotes Mahatma Gandhi:

How can one be compelled to accept slavery? I simply refuse to do the master’s bidding. He may torture me. Break my bones to atoms and even kill me. He will then have my dead body, not my obedience.  Ultimately, therefore, it is I who am the victor and not he, for he has failed in getting me to do what he wanted done. Non-cooperation is directed not against… the Governors, but against the system they administer. The root of non-cooperation lie not in hatred but in justice.

I remember in school celebrating the heroism of Patrick Henry who said back in 1775, “Give me liberty or give me death.”  Of course, Henry was dealing with a more civilized foe. He risked only his own life. It’s a more difficult choice for Hamas. They are trying to negotiate with a ruthless oppressive regime which has demonstrated very little concern for the lives of Palestinian children.

It is still hard to understand why Hamas would keep firing rockets when the people of Gaza pay such a painful price for it. I am at least trying to understand. And with Dr. Gilbert, it is hard to keep from just crying.

                                                                                                Thomas Are

                                                                                                July 28, 2014

[1] This entire blog has been inspired and fueled by a speech I heard last month by Jeff Halper and his book, An Israeli in Palestine. (Pluto Press, New York, 2010) Especially pages 207 – 212. 

Three Ways to Respond to Charles Krauthammer

Read someone like Charles Krauthammer and we have three choices.[1] 

One, we can join the popular ranks of Israel defenders. The U.S. Senate recently (July 18) passed a resolution supporting Israel’s attack on Gaza by a vote of 100 to 0. A week earlier, the House of Representatives passed a similar resolution and President Obama has been tongue tied with the exception of, ”Well, Israel has a right to defend itself.” However, defending Israel’s right to “defend itself” is a position which is becoming harder and harder to maintain.

Two, we can choose to ignore the whole situation which is what most Americans do. After all, who does not have enough to think about? And we are so busy with making a living and keeping the family happy. Rather just think about a ball game or watch a movie.

Or, three, we can push back against popular opinion, consider the obvious and ponder the history. We can listen to our hearts, but when we do, suddenly the first two options no longer appear valid. However, I warn you. This third option, of facing what you know is right, and standing up for peace through justice may well make you an outsider. That is why so few people do it.  

Krauthammer sees every act of caring for the suffering of the Palestinians as abetting terrorism and every criticism of the policies of Israel as anti-Semitic.  He shows little concern for the facts that do not support his opinions.

He writes:, “Israel accepts an Egyptian proposed Gaza ceasefire; Gaza keeps firing.”

Wow! What terms were offered for the cease-fire?  Israel will continue to blockade the borders, air and sea access to the outer world. Deny the entrance of fuel, electricity, medicines and food, to make life for the Palestinians as  miserable as possible. 

Palestinians did reject the cease fire. In spite of the pain and death they were experiencing every day, they were unwilling to go back to the “slow death” they have been enduring for 47 years. Since 2000 Israel’s right to security has killed a Palestinian child on the average of one every three days

According to the Jerusalem Post, Hamas proposed a 10 year cease-fire in return for the release of prisoners arrested during the hunt for missing Israeli teens, the opening of Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt, and UN supervision of Gaza’s port.[2]

Emily Manna, a young girl from Gaza writes:

Dear American media, I’m asking you to simply tell what’s happening in Gaza. You watched this play out. You watched a heinous murder of Israeli teens, and you saw no evidence presented that this was an action sanctioned by the Hamas organization. You watched as Israel demolished houses, arrested hundreds, and killed civilians in clashes, all in a supposed attempt to find the killers and punish them, and with no attempt at due process. You watched as Palestinians were targeted by Israelis in racist attacks, and you watched as Israeli police abused an American teen, the visible representative of the invisible masses of Palestinian teens who undergo the same and worse. You watched as Hamas said it would not tolerate collective punishment of Palestinians, and you watched as violence between Israel and Gaza followed.

         You watched, but you chose to tell Americans that Hamas simply began firing rockets at Israel with no clear rationale, and that Israel had no choice but to defend itself. You chose to give Americans a picture that portrayed an oppressed, impoverished, and desperate people as a violent, insane aggressor, and Israel, a nation with one of the world’s most advanced militaries, as a victim that must defend itself by bombing Gaza.[3]

In a post the day before, from the Jabalya refugee camp, Sarah Ali (a contributor to a collection of short stories called Gaza Writes Back) wrote:

Last night was horrible. My house shook every five minutes! Except for half an hour in the evening, we’ve been without electricity for over 48 hours. Due to the long blackout, we had no water as well. The Israelis have (again) bombed a main power generator that supplies electricity to many areas. There was Israeli shelling from the sea, air and land. I could hear the kids in our neighbors’ houses crying in terror all night. This is not about destroying Hamas; this is about destroying every Palestinian in Gaza, destroying our lives, crushing our dignity and morale. Let it be known to (Israel) that the more they kill and destroy, the stronger we become. We have nothing left to lose. Now I would rather die with my family under the rubble of our house than have a humiliating truce. No justice, no peace.”[4]

Killing Palestinians seems to make up the agenda for the day.  So far, in this “war” only one side has tanks, planes, gunships and drones.  Only one side has a defensive shield and safe places to hide. Not surprisingly, the casualty list is 608 Palestinians, 75% civilians, and 27 Israeli soldiers. On Sunday alone, a hundred Palestinians were killed, many of them children.

Krauthammer declared that “Hamas deliberately aims at civilians; Israel painstakingly tries to avoid them.”  Of course, those Palestinian rockets are pretty crude, without any guidance system. That is why so many of them land in open areas or even back on Palestinian soil.  On the other hand, Israel has the most sophisticated rockets on the globe.  Yet, It’s disturbing how many hit mosques, schools, hospitals, water systems and electric grids. It is also funny how with all the blast and search for rockets which are supposed to be hidden in those building, very few have been found. I am sure if Israeli soldiers stumbled on a warehouse of explosives and rockets in a school it would be all over the US media.

Krauthammer writes: “Occupation? There is not a soldier, not a settler, not a single Israeli in Gaza. It was less then 1o years ago that Israel uprooted its settlements, withdrew its military and turned Gaza over to the Palestinians.”

“Turned Gaza over to the Palestinians?”  What he does not tell you is that Israel withdrew only to the borders of Gaza. Cut off food, electricity, water, medicine and continued to restrict aid to the impoverished people of Gaza.

He says, “Israeli counterfire produces dead Palestinians for international television. Which is why Hamas perversely urges its own people not to seek safety when Israel drops leaflets warning of imminent attack.”

Could he be serious? If so, he surely hopes we do not watch the evening news. Parents screaming, children running and hospitals looking like horror movies as doctors witho0ut medicines try to treat the injured.  Palestinians caged in the world largest open air prison have no place to go. Israel has the fence surrounding Gaza patrolled and electrified with both gates locked.

For those of us who chose option three, this has been a frustrating and painful week. But, nothing like what Krauthammer supports, in Gaza.

                                                                                                Thomas Are

                                                                                                July 23, 2014

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[1] Charles Krauthammer, Gaza Situation Presents us Moment of Moral Clarity, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Saturday, July 19, 2014.

[2] Reported on  All In with Chris Hayes.

[3] Reported in Mondoweiss, July 22, 2014

[4] Pam Bailey, We have nothing left to lose. I would rather die with my family under the rubble of our house than have a humiliating truce’: Palestinian youth demand justice. Reported in Mondoweiss, July 22, 2014.

Chris Matthews in Context

I am never surprised by what I hear on Fox News.  I was not even surprised when Diane Sawyer lamented the suffering of the Israelis while showing pictures of Palestinians being bombed.  She later apologized, not for her one sided report, but simply for showing the wrong pictures.  However, I was surprised when Chris Matthews on MSNBC took such a Zionist position on Hardball. (July 15^th)

He begins by grabbing your attention with a “Now hear this.”

It’s about how Israel and its Palestinian neighbors are dealing with the tragedy of four young people killed …

         Israel went out and found the killers of the Palestinian boy. They found them, arrested them, charged them. They clearly went about the business of punishing the guilty.

         What about the Palestinians?  How did they go about rendering justice? Matthews quoted Chuck Schumer, “They cheered. They called the kidnappers heroes. The mother of one of the suspected kidnappers said, ‘If he (my son) truly did it, I’ll be proud of him till my final day’”.

Matthews goes on to say:

I have thought for a while about when will we have true peace between Israel and its neighbors?  It’s when Arabs are ready to punish another Arab for killing a Jew. That will be the day when Israel will be ready to trust their neighbors, when they show the most primitive respect for the Jewish people, respect for their right to their homeland, even more, respect for their right to life.”

It’s hard to know where to start. I excuse Chuck Schumer.  His political life depends upon Jewish money and votes.  Matthews however is a different case.

Israel blew up the homes of the families of the Palestinian suspects. No trial. No evidence of guilt. Just suspects.  I can’t help but point out that Israel has not blown up the Israeli homes of those arrested.

As I read, “They called the kidnappers heroes,” I reflect on the murder of 29 Palestinians in prayer at the mosque in Hebron by Baruch Goldstein.  He was killed while pulling off his massacre . But drive through Hebron today and you will see an Israeli memorial in his honor as a hero of Israel. What’s the difference?

Matthews talks about respect for Jews, while teenaged girls walk around Tel Aviv carrying a placard reading, “ HATING AN ARAB IS NOT RACIST, IT’S HAVING VALUES.”  Scribbled on the walls at check points through which Palestinians are forced to line up are anti-Arab slogans such as, ARABS TO THR GAS CHAMBERS,” and DEATH TO THE ARABS.

Matthews talks about respect for Israel’s right to a homeland, which of course was taken from Palestine by driving off or killing 750,000 Palestinians, many who are still living in refugee camps in Gaza to be bombed yet again, for the third time in seven years. Nevertheless, the Palestinian leadership has offered peace and recognition for Israel to have 78 percent of what used to be their homeland and over and over, Israel has rejected the offer in favor of building more settlements on the 22 percent left for Palestinians to live on.

Most offensive of all, Matthews calls for Palestinians to learn to respect life. At the time of his broadcast, 222 Palestinians had been bombed to death by Israel, mostly civilians including many, many children, while one, I repeat, ONE, Israeli militant died of shrapnel injuries from a Palestinian rocket.  Back in 2008-2009, 1430 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli bombardment of Gaza as compared to 13 Israeli soldiers, with 4 having died by friendly fire.  In 2012, Israel again bombed Gaza killing 133 Palestinians, mostly civilians, while two Israeli soldiers lost their lives.  So, I ask Chris Matthews, who needs to “show the most primitive respect for life?

I am certain that what Chris Matthews said is all true.  I believe the grieving mother did say that she was proud of her son and I have no doubt that Israel arrested those responsible for the murder of a Palestinian kid.  However, that is such a tiny sliver of the total picture until he distorts the truth. All speakers know that, “text without context is pretext.”  Look at the numbers. The context, as Matthews spoke, was:

214 killed, including 44 children, 1,585 injured, including 435 children, 22,600 people displaced, 23 health facilities, 81 schools, and 2, 360 homes damaged, 900,000 people without access to water.[1]

Think for a moment. What happens to people who do not have water? They fight, get sick or die.

 I am puzzled that a seasoned journalist such as Matthews would present such a warped analysis of the massacre taking place in Gaza.  Perhaps he was influenced by the AIPAC junkets he took to Israel. At any rate, I have lost a bit of confidence in MSNBC and I will never trust Chris Matthews again.

                                                                                                 Thomas Are

                                                                                                 July 17, 2014

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[1] Source:  UN OCHA, updated July 16 at 3pm local time, does not include 4 children killed this afternoon on the beach or several other incidents.