Controlling the Narrative

Why is it important for Israel to bombard the tiny strip of Gaza over and over?  Certainly not for security, which is the reason given to and bought by most Americans.  Gaza is hardly a threat to Israel. Gaza has no planes, tanks or bombs with any explosive significance.  What Gaza threatens by its very existence is Israel’s narrative.

How do you explain locking up almost two million helpless people as of in prison, most of whom are kids, denying them access to education, health care and a safe place to sleep at night and still tell the world that you are a moral nation. There is no way to justify a Gaza, so you silence their cry.

Today, one year after Israel’s “defensive” massacre, Gaza still remains in ruins: 18,000 homes are still destroyed, 120,000 people are still homeless, living on the streets. Repair on hospitals, schools, sanitation and water systems have yet to be started. If materials were allowed into Gaza and full scale reconstruction were to begin today, the United Nations warns that it would take 30 years to bring Gaza back.[1]  Even Bassam Eid, who blames Hamas for what happened to Gaza last summer, admits a bleak picture:

2.5 million tons of rubble remains in Gaza to this day. 200,000 workers lost their means of employment. 80% of Gaza people are surviving on welfare. 40% of Gazans are living below poverty lines. 22,000 Gazan are homeless. Only 600 caravans have been provided to the Gaza Strip since the end of the war.[2]

According to the Secretary General of the UN, there are no schools – no hospitals – no electricity and no proper drinking water and this is the reality for the Gazan people these days.[3]

“Hamas is trying to rebuild Gaza, and homelessness is at the top of its agenda.” Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said. “From the first day of the war until now, Hamas has tried to support the homeless by offering relief and financial aid. Hamas offers tents, barracks and compensation for victims who lost their houses. But some of them still live in schools.”  Among the 100,000 homeless and jobless living in a school building with 100 other families is Liala Kloob. “You can’t imagine. I, and my six children, have to stand in line and wait our turn to get food, water or even go to the bathroom.”[4] 

All of this at the hands of “the start-up nation,” with the “most moral army on the globe,”  the “only democracy in the middle east,” simply fulfilling the orders of their God who “gave” everything the Palestinians owned to the Jews.”

And how does Israel get away with it when it is so blatant and contrary to human decency?  By control of the narrative, especially in America.

So, we have AIPAC, whose job, according to Mico Peled, is to convince Americans that the U.S. and Israel are essentially identical. They do so by rewarding legislators and congressional candidates who support its agenda and punishing those who challenge it.

The key to Israel’s legitimacy is the Zionist narrative, and AIPAC is selling the narrative in order to maintain the legitimacy. The Zionist narrative in this country is not only accepted it is treated with religious fervor. It is seen as biblical and indisputable. One does not need to convince Americans that Israel is always right and that the Zionist narrative is true, they receive this with their mother’s milk.

And what is the narrative?

It is a mythical story that turned the history of Palestine from 1947 until the present time on its head. The brutal ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the establishment of a racist apartheid state which offers exclusive rights to Jewish people in Palestine was sold here as a story of heroism and revival. Thanks to AIPAC, the horrific brutal destruction of Palestine – from 1947 to the present day – is virtually unknown in this country.[5]

No one denies that AIPAC has done its job. But, it could not have been done without the aid of about 50 million so called Christian Zionists who support the narrative in what they call a Rapture Theology. There are many windows through which we can glimpse the core of Rapture Theology and every one of them focuses on Israel.

Rapture Theology grows out of pulling together little bits and pieces of obscure biblical texts and linking them to produce the idea that Jesus cannot come again until the temple in Jerusalem has been rebuilt.  They claim that sometime between the rapture, the time when all the true believers have been lifted up out of the world, and before the final judgment, the antichrist will cause “sacrifices to cease.” Of course for sacrifices to cease, they must be practiced and the only proper place to make sacrifices is in the temple in Jerusalem. Thus, the Dome of the Rock, the third most holy place for Muslims to worship, must be destroyed and replaced by a new temple in Jerusalem.     

If you are finding all this confusing and far fetched, I am with you. But it is supported by such TV personalities as Hal Lindsey, Pat Robertson, John Hagee, Benny Hinn, James Dobson, Sarah Palin and 80 million copies of the Left Behind series.

The late Jerry Falwell said:

God is kind to America because America has been kind to the Jews… I believe if we fail to protect Israel, we will cease to be important to God.  God has blessed America because America has blessed the Jews, his chosen people.”[6]

Two reasons why we should be concerned about Rapture Theology: One - it controls our Congress and Two - it drives our foreign policy. It is not just a harmless heresy.  It is dangerous and it causes unbelievable pain in the Middle East.  

I blame the seminaries for not combating this, the most dangerous heresy to threaten the church and synagogue, in a more aggressive way.  It should be addressed from every pulpit and Sunday School class until Christians scream for the rights of oppressed people.  Unfortunately, most Americans seem to be more committed to loosing five pounds or betting on which way a ball bounces than to becoming engaged in matters uncomfortable or controversial.  

Every now and then we stumble over truth. We see a late night news report or read something on the internet that causes us to question our blind support of all Israel does.  But, mostly, when that happens, we get right back up, dust ourselves off and go on as though we never noticed a crack in the Israeli narrative.  After all, no one wants to be labeled anti-Semitic.   

On the other hand, someone pointed out that Israel is not a religion. It’s not a race. It is a country. And it’s OK – it’s not anti-Semitic – to talk about and even criticize a country we support financially and diplomatically.

So, let me come back to where we started. Gaza, by its very existence, threatens not Israel’s security, but Israel’s narrative.

Thomas Are

July 21, 2015

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[1] The Huffington Post:  Alexandra Ma, This is What Life in Gaza Looks Like, One Year After the War., Posted July 10, 2015

[2] Bassam Eid, Former Director of the Jerusalem based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group. Gaza one year later: From bad to worse. Blogged July 13, 2015.

[3] Bassam Eid. Gaza one year later: From bad to worse.

[4] Asma’ Jawabreh and Mohammad Atallah, 100,000 in Gaza Still Homeless after War with Israel.,  USA TODAY, April 25, 2015.

[5] Miko Peled, How the Lobby Enables Israeli Policy: Views of an Israeli in America, National Press Club Conference, THE ISRAEL LOBBY, April 10,2015, Washington, D.C., Reported in A Special Supplement to the Washigton Report on Middle East Affairs.

[6] Gracce Halsell, Prophesy and Politics, Militant Evangelists on the Road to Nuclear War,  (Lawrence Hill and Company, Westport, Conn, 1986.) p. 74.

I am Flabbergasted

If you are concerned about peace in the middle east and seek security for Israel when the entire neighborhood is in turmoil, if you want to avoid a needless war with Iran, (a war  which we will not win), and if you are looking for someone with great negotiating skills and experience in understanding the needs and point of view of the other, someone with knowledge of the region and its history, someone known for diplomacy, then, where do you turn? 

Of course, you call on professional football players.  Who better to understand what it is  like to be ordinary people trying to survive in an oppressive situation than those who grew up and continue to live in what the news media calls a “culture of entitlement?” 

That’s why Robert Kraft, ultra Zionist, and owner of the New England Patriots led a delegation of 20 former National Football League players to Israel where they met with Benjamin Netanyahu. The Prime Minister wanted an opportunity to explain to them why Obama’s effort to avoid a war with Iran is a dumb move.  It’s not that Netanyahu himself seeks a war with Iran where Israel would have to pay the price in lives and money, he is clear in proclaiming that he wants the United States to go to war with Iran. So, he chose the bright minds of the NFL to make his case. He put it in terms that even they could understand. Call it football diplomacy.

Iran is one yard away from the goal line. If they get nukes, the preeminent terrorist regime of our day will be armed with nuclear weapons.  That’s dangerous for the United States and for Israel and for the entire world. And our effort today is to make sure that we block them and push them back. That’s the ultimate contest and the ultimate challenge, and I hope it was advanced somewhat by this visit.[1]

“I lead my life according to the four F’s – at least phonetically,” Kraft is often reported as having said; “family, faith, football and philanthropy.  This trip has connected all those dots for me.” 

Some one needs to ask, which of these “dots” includes the right of Jews to steal land from Palestinians, kidnap and imprison their children, take their water, blow up their homes and lock them up behind cement barrows and barbed wire fences? Which of his four F’s justifies the past and on-going war crimes committed by Israel every day?

Kraft also chooses to live by a few other “F” words, such as the word foolish, or even fantasy. Or what about fiction?  It’s make believe to think that a team of football players could have a better grasp of how to deal with Iran than President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. 

Mr. Kraft needs another “F" word to connect his dots. It’s the word fairness.

Football is an entertaining game, but when it gets involved in foreign affairs, which causes so much pain to so many people, it is no longer amusing.  Mr. Kraft should stick to something he knows something about for when he gets into defending Israel, he has fumbled and somebody needs to blow the whistle on him.

When I read that wealthy professional football players are recruited to influence US policy in the Middle East, the best “F” word to describe me is flabbergasted with an equal measure of fear.

William Sloane Coffin said it well. “If what you think is right causes some one else to suffer, there is something wrong with what you think is right.”

 Thomas Are

July 13, 2015

[1] Philip Weiss, Patriots’ Owner Brings 20 NFL veterans to Netanyahu who calls them to block Obama’s Iran Deal. Mondoweiss, June 22, 2015

Meet Issam

He has a name and a face. What he does not have anymore is a family.

On August 24, last summer, around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, Issam Abu Mustafa was inside preparing a meal which he thought would be a treat for his family. Then, BOOM! An Israeli bomb killed his wife and four of his children.

Issam’s wife, 6 year-old Osama, 8 year-old Mohammed, 12 year-old Raghad and 14 year-old Tasneen all died on the spot. Thaer had his right leg amputated above the knee and he was sent to Germany where doctors are still treating him for severe burns that cover most of his body.[1]

If it made the news at all, it was presented as a statistic.  Issam’s family was only five of the 2,200 Palestinians, including 547 children killed by Israel, 68 percent of whom were 12 years old or younger. Ten year-old Thaer, the sole survivor from the back yard massacre, is only one of the estimated 1,000 children in Gaza who sustained life time disabilities. 

We know very little about Mr. Issam Abu Mustafa. But what we do know is significant. If he is old enough, he is one of the 750,000 Palestinians driven out of their homes in 1948 by force or fear.   If he is a little younger, and if he escaped the Nakba, he probably fled to Gaza as a refugee from the six day war of 1967. Regardless, he is now living behind guarded fences as a criminal. He has never committed a crime, nor has he ever been accused of one. He is a victim of Israeli imperialism.  To the U.S., he is invisible. To Israel, he is simply a nuisance.  

For certain, he and his family lived through Operation Cast Lead which was started by Israel on the night that all America was watching the election returns between Barack Obama and John McCain.   

According to Noam Chomsky:

On November 4, while the media were focused on the US presidential election, Israeli troops entered Gaza and killed half a dozen Hamas militants. That elicited a Hamas missile response and an exchange of fire. (All the deaths were Palestinian.)  In late December, Hamas offered to renew the ceasefire. Israel rejected the offer, preferring to launch Operation Cast Lead.[2]

A few Israelis in Tel Aviv demonstrated against the slaughter of the people of Gaza. They were attacked by hooligans as the police stood by and did nothing. Others took lawn chairs and sat on a hill top overlooking Gaza to cheer every explosion.[3]  And they would have much to cheer. Israeli air corps flew nearly 3,000 sorties over Gaza and dropped 1,000 tons of explosives killing as many as 300 people in the first four minutes.[4]

In the course of Cast Lead, Israel damaged or destroyed “everything in its way,” including 280 schools and kindergartens, 1,500 factories and workshops, electrical, water and sewage installations, 190 greenhouses, 80 percent of agricultural crops, and nearly one-fifth of cultivated land. Whole neighborhoods were laid waste, fully 600,000 tons of rubble were left behind… 29 ambulances, almost half of Gaza’s 122 health facilities (including 15 hospitals) and 45 mosque.[5]

Issam and his children would have also lived through Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012.  Israel called it defense.  The facts say otherwise.  From January until November of that year, one Israeli had been killed. During that same time, seventy-eight Palestinians had been killed in attacks on Gaza.[6]  

At least, we can know this. Issam, in his whole lifetime, never lived a day with hope and security.  In spite of the agreement Israel had made to lift the siege, the blockade brought Issam’s world to near collapse. Food, medicine, fuel, parts for water and sanitation systems, paper and even such things as children’s toys and shoes were denied entry. The fact is, Israel had killed more than two Palestinian children per week for the previous fourteen years.[7]

Then came Operation Protective Edge, in the summer of 2014.

By massacre’s end, Israel had killed 2,200 Palestinians, of whom 70-75 percent were civilians. Among the dead were 500 Palestinian children. In addition, 11,000 Palestinians suffered injuries (including 3,300 children, of whom 1,000 will be permanently disabled): 11,000 homes, 360 factories, 160 mosque, 100 schools, and 10 hospitals were either destroyed or severely damaged; 100,000 Palestinians were left homeless. Israel suffered 66 combatants and five civilian casualties including one Israeli child. In addition, 120 Israelis suffered injuries, one person seriously wounded.[8]

“Yeah, yeah” a friend said to me. I know the story. We’ve heard it before.” 

I understand his feelings. Statistics and numbers can get boring.  But, it is not boring to Isaam.  Those statistics include his wife and children.  They were real people who wanted to live as much as any child would want to live and enjoy life.  Issam would overthrow his oppression if he could, but he has no power or army.  As far as Israel is concerned, he is just a statistic. That’s all.

And, how does Israel justify itself to the world?   Gideon Levy, writing for one of Israel’s leading newspapers, Haartz, calls it “Hasbara,” a fancy word for propaganda:

Propaganda shall cover everything. We’ll say terrorism, we’ll shout anti-Semitism, we’ll scream delegitimation, we’ll cite Holocaust; we’ll say Jewish state, gay-friendly, drip irrigation, cherry tomatoes, aid to Nepal, Nobel Prizes for Jews, look what’s happening in Syria, the only democracy, the greatest army. We’ll say the Palestinians are making unilateral moves, we’ll propose negotiations on the “settlement bloc borders,” we’ll demand recognition of a Jewish state and we’ll complain that “there’s no one to talk to.”[9]

And that’s the way it will continue to be. Issam will be little more than a statistic as long as the only nation on the globe strong enough to do something about it is “on the take.”

Thomas Are

June 15, 2015

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[1] Patrick Strickland,  Gaza Fallout: “I cannot Understand These Crimes. Al Jazeera Media Network,  Published in Other Voices, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June 2015.

[2] Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe, On Palestine,  (Haymaker Books, 2015)  p.185

[3] Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe, On Palestine,  (Haymaker Books, 2015) p. 99

[4] Norman Finkelstein, Method and Madness,  (Or Books, New York, 2014) p.3, 15.

[5] Finkelstein, p. 75.

[6] Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe, On Palestine,  (Haymaker Books, 2015) p. 185.

[7] Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe, On Palestine,  (Haymaker Books, 2015) p.190.

[8] Norman Finkelstein, Method and Madness,  (Or Books, New York, 2014) p.156.

By the way: Under international law, those resisting occupation are not debarred from using force to defend themselves. The issue is, does Israel have the right to use force to maintain its illegal occupation.  As long as Gaza is shut up like an outdoor prison, soldiers, either within the land or deployed to surround its borders, maintain an occupation.

[9] Originally published at www.haartz.com.  January 4, 2015

She Called Me a Radical

I seldom use this blogspot to defend myself. In fact, if I’m not accused of being “anti-Semitic” from time to time, I feel like I am falling down on the job. 

However, when I was dis-invited to speak to a church group because their leader said, “I understand perfectly well what is happening between Israel and the Palestinians, but Tom is a radical.”  I had two responses.

First, if she really understood what is happening over there, why is she not a radical. When the rich and powerful openly oppress, abuse, misrepresent, rob and kill a weaker people to take their land and resources, it is not a time for calmness and business as usual. It is a time to scream for justice, understanding and compassion.

Second, I am not the radical. I want peace and a decent life for the Israelis and the Palestinians. What’s radical about that?  In fact, I am a conservative. I want to conserve human rights and civil rights and women’s rights. The radicals are in Washington and Tel Aviv.

I want to urge those extremist in Washington to make the motto of “liberty and justice for all” the standards by which America treats the world. What is radical about that?

It’s not the American people but those in Washington who are screaming for war with Iran. They are the ones who want to allow the most right wing bully of another nation dictate our U.S. foreign policy. They are the ones who are willing to sell out the average American for one more term in Congress.  And they are the ones who over and over again put our moral standards in jeopardy before the international community by voting the interest of Israel above the well-being of the United States. I say, “That’s radical.”   

Want radical?  Representative Steve Israel, in an interview with Mondoweiss, boldly declared his loyalty to Israel.

I support Israel through and through, no matter what atrocities it commits.

My job as congressman from NY district 3 is to advocate for Israel at all cost. People argue that I harbor dual loyalty. They’re totally wrong I’m just loyal to Israel. We share a name after all… I have to keep the military aid flowing. Israel can never have enough white phosphorus. Am I right?[1]

Now, that’s radical.

Also, compared to those drastic leaders in Tel Aviv,  I am not radical. 

Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, recently appointed Civil Administrator responsible for all aspects of the occupation, said on August 1, 2013:

            Palestinians are beasts, they are not human.

Four months later he adds:

            A Jew always has a much higher soul than a gentile, even if he is a homosexual.[2]

When elected officials justify Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians on the grounds that God (Yahweh) gave Palestine to the Jews, and when they quote Genesis 12 as a real estate deed, I see that as rather radical and drastic. That’s when I become very conservative. I want to conserve the moral and ethical teachings of their own Jewish prophets. I want to conserve such things as:

--- Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:16-17)

--- For the Lord is a God of justice. (Isaiah 30:18)

--- Behold my servant, He will bring forth justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1)

--- For I, the Lord, love justice. (Isaiah 61:8)

--- Thus says the Lord,  Do justice and righteousness and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless and the widow, nor shed innocent blood. (Jeremiah 22:3)

--- Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:24)

--- Justice and only justice, you shall follow that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you. (Deuteronomy 16:20)

In fact, listen to the Bible and it is clear that God is a God of justice. If you know this about God and you don’t know anything else, you will know more of God than if you know everything else there is to know of God, and you don’t know this. God is passionate for justice. 

The lady who called me a radical was right in being concerned about the injustice brought about by the radicals in positions of leadership. It’s just that I am not one of them.

Thomas Are

June 5, 2015

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[1] Scott Roth, Mondoweiss Exclusive: One on One with Rep. Steve Israel. Mondoweiss, April 1, 2015.

[2] Philip Weiss, Netanyahu Deputy Charged with Administrating Palestinians Says They are “Beasts, Not Human.” Mondoweiss, May 9, 2015

To Get Elected

Want to get elected, especially to a national office? It seems that all you have to do is to “out-Israel” your opponent.  Sell out the Palestinians. Never try to be neutral or talk about the facts on the ground.  Forget being fair and ignore such things as murder, torture and terrorizing innocent kids. It will not be enough to refrain from criticizing Israel, you have to be pro-Israel, no matter what Israel does, even if Israel’s actions put Americans at risk or gets them killed, you have to “out-Israel” all your opponents.

Of course, those running against you know that they have to “out-Israel” you.  But, there is no limit to how “Israel” you can be.  Never mind that Israel has become a paranoid nation. Never mind the unbelievable massacres unleashed on the people of Gaza over the past decade, and the thousands of Palestinians, including children, who have been put in prison without charge. Never mind the children who have been abused, the thousands of homes demolished, the trees uprooted, the water and property stolen.  Just declare Israel a democracy with whom we share moral and pious values.  Such is the approved program for the day and our politicians have caught on.

Allison Deger writes:

Carly Fiorina promises to make Israel her first phone call as president. Mike Huckabee is “just nuts” about Israel. Jeb Bush calls settlements “apartments.” Ben Carson wants to transfer the Palestinians to Egypt. Marco Rubio has taken to dining with top-donor Sheldon Adelson. Ted Cruz is making the rounds with Fire Island’s pro-Israel community. And, Lindsey Graham who  has not announced his bid, said if he is president he will have the first “all-Jewish” cabinet.[1]

Mike Huckabee said on his campaign website, “In a world of uncertainty, evil, and moral insanity, Israel is a shining light of moral clarity. The enemies of Israel are the enemies of America… There is no Christian faith without a Jewish state”[2] 

He just wiped out the faith of millions of Christians including Saint Frances, Martin Luther and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But, he knows the mind of God and according to him, God wants those Palestinians out of there.  And how does Huckabee know this?  Because a Jewish scribe heard a voice that only Jews could understand and wrote that a Jewish god, named Yehweh, said that the non-Jews had no value, and that he wanted the Jews, and no one else, to have the land of Palestine, now and forever.  How about that? And because Huckabee knows all this, anything the state of Israel does to the Palestinians is OK.  It’s all about what God’s wants. Huckabee believes that the Jewish people have God’s blessings upon acts of immorality and injustice against a weaker people, including terrorism, ethnic cleansing, occupation, oppression, and torture.  All of them are acceptable because the Jews of Israel are doing them.

Ted Cruz, got a 30-second ovation at Liberty University when he said, “Instead of a president who boycotts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, imagine a president who stands unapologetically with the nation of Israel.”

Cruz, the tea party icon became angry and walked off the stage in the middle of a speech hosted by a Christian organization because they did not see Israel through the same narrow  blinders that limit his vision.

I will say this: “If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you. Thank you and God bless you,” he said walking off the stage…”Anti-Semitism is a corrosive evil, and it reared its ugly head tonight.[3]

Marco Rubio in a speech to Congress said, “How much better would the middle east be if more countries looked like Israel and less like Iraq and Syria.” Rubio’s biggest backer, Norman Braman is said to have committed at least $10 million to the campaign, says, “U.S. must be a ‘global military power’ so that we can sustain Israel.” He did not say to sustain  the security and safety of America, but, so we can sustain Israel.”[4]

Ben Carson, advocates transferring all Palestinians to the Sinai desert and then taking over their property. He claims that the criticism of the settlements “has been exaggerated,” and that Palestinian hostility toward Israel is what is preventing peace. The Guardian reports him as saying, “I would make sure that Israel knew that we had their back. Because if their neighbors know that we’re backing them up, they’re not going to be anywhere near as aggressive.”[5]

Carla Fiorina states, “This administration has made the world a more dangerous place by the way they have treated Israel” She said this with a straight face as her former company, Hewlett-Packard, makes money off of the occupation of Palestinian lands.[6]

Rand Paul vows “that any attack on Israel will be as an attack on the United States.”[7]

These kind of comments are not “slip ups” heard only when the mike is “left on” by mistake. They are main line headlines for our politicians. It has been said that Benjamin Netanyahu has become the leader of the GOP and support for his militaristic policies has become a Republican litmus test.

Want to get elected? Then cheer the Prime Minister of Israel and swear loyalty to his state. Vote for everything he demands.  Of course, doing so will probably get the US engaged in another war with yet another Muslim nation. Never mind that following his leadership has given birth to Islamic Jihad and ISIS. He is to be hailed and heeded. Want to be elected, then puff Israel.  It’s the only way.

Even though support for Israel has become the Republican party line, it is not limited to Republicans. I wish it were. Peter Beinart calls Hillary Clinton, “Israel’s new lawyer.  Haim Saban,  Israel’s Channel One’s interviewer  said of Hillary Clinton, “Everything that she thinks and everything she has done and will do will always be for the good of Israel.[8]

Because she is so eager to see the world through the eyes of Benjamin Netanyahu, she blames Hamas for all conflicts between Israel and Gaza.  “Hamas just wanted to pile up dead civilians for the cameras… the Palestinians stage-manage civilian deaths to win the sympathy of an anti-Semitic world.”[9]

You start a war with Hamas with a lie about the murder of three Israeli teenagers. You fought the war with exceptional brutality, killing hundreds of children and civilians, leveling whole streets and bombarding hospitals and United Nations shelters with indiscriminate artillery fire…and when world opinion turns against you, what do you do?   You turn to Hillary Clinton.[10]  “If I were the Prime Minister of Israel, you’re damn right,” she says. “I would expect to have security.”

Peter Beinart says in Haaretz: “Clinton offered the most articulate sophisticated, passionate defense of Netanyahu’s conduct I’ve heard from a government official on either side of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, important chunks of it aren’t true.”[11]

It might be easier and surely would save a lot of money if we would skip the primaries.  In fact, we might just skip the election altogether and just ask Benjamin Netanyahu who he wants in the White House to jump through his hoops. Why not just ask him to appoint the next President of the United States. What do you think?   

Thomas Are

May 16, 2015

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[1] Allison Deger,  As Presidential Field Broadens, GOP candidates Race to Show Their Love for Israel, Mondoweiss, May 7, 2015.

[2] Same article by Allison Deger.

[3] Johnathan Topaz, Ted Cruz booed, Walks off Stage. Politico.com  March 24, 2015

[4] Philip Weiss, Rubio’s Backer says U.S. must be “global military power” so that We can Sustain Israel. Mondoweiss, May 12, 2015

[5] Associated Press, Republican Presidential hopeful Ben Carson Seeks to buff Image in Israel, The Guardian , Dec.  10, 2014.

[6] Allison Deger,  As Presidential Field Broadens, GOP candidates Race to Show Their Love for Israel, Mondoweiss, May 7, 2015.

[7] Also from Allison Deger, Mindoweiss, May 7, 2015

[8] Philip Weiss, Everything Hillary Clinton will do will always be for Israel – Saban warns the Republicans. Mondoweiss,  April 18, 2015.

[9] Interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, Tough Hillary Clinton says, “Dreadful” pictures of dead women and children make it hard to get at truth – Hamas is to Blame.

[10] Ed Moloney, Hillary Clinton’s 11^th-hour Diplomacy.  August 17, 2015

[11] Tough Hillary interview with Jeff Goldberg.

It's Discouraging

The meeting was over.  We had just heard a talk by a Palestinian activist sharing what his life is like under military occupation. As we stood to leave, a man in front of me, his name tag read, “Ben,” turned around and said, “It’s discouraging. But, what can I do? I guess the best thing is to just pray.”

Here are a few suggestions for Ben:

1 – BUMPER STICKERS

Some say, “I don’t want to use my car to make a political statement.”  I say, Why not?  If we believe in something, a bumper sticker is an easy way to show our solidarity with the suffering people of Palestine and stand up for peace and justice.  I have had a FREE PALESTINE sticker on my car for 15 years and I remember getting the ‘finger” only once. On the other hand, it has been a great conversation starter. 

I returned to my car, parked on a city side street, and there stood a woman staring at my bumper.  O Boy, I thought, now I am going to get my head knocked off. 

             “Is this your car?” she asked,

“Yes.”

“I agree.” And, she said, “I am Jewish.  I feel lonely at my synagogue.  It feels good to know that I am not alone.” 

From bushy bearded motorcycle riders to totally covered Muslim ladies, I have received expression of appreciation from those who do not want to feel alone.  All a bumper sticker does is show solidarity, but how valuable that is.[1]

2 – LISTEN AND CONFRONT

While sitting at a table for ten in a restaurant, a man I hardy knew, said something about the stupid Palestinians firing rockets.  He was too far away to engage in a conversation without turning the dinner party into a shouting match, so, I made a face as though I had been whiffed by a smell from a sewer.   He got my message and I could only hope it made him uncomfortable. 

Under different circumstances, we might see it as an opportunity to say something like, “I used to think that way. But, then I read Elias Chacour’s book, BLOOD BROTHERS and it pointed out another way.” There are many books, many by Jewish authors, which have helped me to better understand that situation and my part in it. [2]

3 – FLAG

On May 15, Nakba Day, and March 16^th, the anniversary of the crushing of Rachael Corrie,  people walking by will see a Palestinian flag flying in front of our house.  It is a small way to show solidarity with those oppressed by Israel’s occupation and has led to meeting several like minded friends.

4 – JEWISH VOICE for PEACE

Ben could also send $100 to Jewish Voice for Peace,[3]  This is a nation wide organization of Jews committed to the ethical teaching of their scriptures, such as Jeremiah, Isaiah and the Psalms. At great rick of being isolated from family, friends and religious community, they live out the historical mandate of their faith by marching, demonstrating and teaching justice for all, especially those oppressed by religion, racism or pariah nations.

Jewish Voice for Peace is growing in number and influence.  Anyone experiencing discrimination will have a friend in JVP. 

5 – BDS

Ben could  join hundreds of thousands of world wide supporters of BDS, (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), a call from Palestinian civil and religious leaders to pressure Israel  to end the occupation. Sanctions are the actions of governments. Divestments are the actions of corporations. But, individuals, like Ben, can boycott those companies that profit from the occupation, such as Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, and any business that sells soda stream, to name  a few.[4]  

6 – WRITE LETTERS

Letters to the Editor on the Israel/Palestine crisis seldom get published, but every now and then, one will get through.  At least, they are read by the editor.

I often write letters to my elected officials which I am convinced are never read. I get back a form letter addressing none of my concerns. But, who knows. If our representatives in Congress got ten letters from ten different people expressing concern over the same issue, it might get mentioned at their staff meeting.  Every little bit of awareness might help.  At least, it helps me to write them.

7 – READ AND RECOMMEND BOOKS

There are a hundred books out there addressing Israel’s brutal oppression of the Palestinians.  Ben could read any one of them and be motivated to take a little risk and share it with a friend.  We do not get an honest representation of what is happening from our media, our politicians or even from out pulpits.  Our best resource for accurate reporting can be found in books and in the social media.  A great place to start is with the Website Mondoweiss.

8 – Then Ben could pray.  But unless he, and all of us, do the kind of things listed above, it will do little good to pray.

I understand that Ben is discouraged. I want to say, That is OK. Go ahead and be discouraged,  even get depressed and feel like quitting.  It's a normal part of working for justice for any cause.  Take off a day, or  two, even let it go for a week.  But, then get back up, dust yourself off, and get right back in the fight.

Thomas Are

May 10, 2015

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[1] FREE PALESTINE bumper stickers may be purchased for $2 from the Palestine Online Store, a not-for-profit that has been promoting Palestine products since 2005.

[2] I recommend: Mark Braverman – FATAL EMBRACE

                          Max Blumenthal, GOLIATH, 

                          Mico Peled – THE GENERAL’S SON.

                          Paul Finley – THEY DARE TO SPEAK OUT.

            A valued internet resource is:   www.mondoweiss.com

            And a must see documentary is: PEACE, PROPAGANDA and the PROMISED LAND

                 Media Education Foundation, 60 Masonic St., Northampton,  MA  01060

                     Email: sales@mediaed.org

[3] Jewish Voice for Peace, 1611 Telegraph Ave.  Suite 1020, Oakland, CA  94612

     Phone  (510) 465-1777        Email:  info@jvp.org

[4] Google BDS for a more comprehensive story of the BDS movement, a boycott list and suggestions for actions toward divestment. 

Who Retaliates

Did you see it in the news?  ABC reported that Israel retaliated against a rocket fired from Gaza. One crude, unguided, homemade rocket landed in an open field in the southern part of Israel, causing no injury to anyone or damage to any structure. However, the news was of “Israel’s retaliation.”

The news faithfully reports the violence, yet seldom mentions the cause of that violence. It is presented as authorities controlling riots. These authorities, however,  are occupying someone else’s land, fighting to seize more land and water that does not belong to them. How can it be retaliation when Israel is the aggressor?

Hanon Ashrawi comments:

It is not presented as an army using its arsenal against young people who are largely unarmed, who are besieged, who are protesting because of the occupation against the total oppression of their whole nation… Israel is the aggressor, killing people in their own homes on their own land, yet it is presented as though the Palestinians attacked Israel which is now simply “retaliating.”[i]

According to: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Only 4% of Network Reports even mention the word “occupation.”

Neither the Associated Press, nor ABC News, included in their story of “Israel’s retaliation” the context of that rocket, the one and only rocket fired at Israel from Gaza this year.”[ii]  At the same time, unreported in the mainstream media during that same time:

In the three months January-March, there were six military incursions - when Israeli forces invaded the Gaza Strip then withdrew – and 67 shooting attacks on land and at sea.[iii]

According to our news media, attacks on Palestinians are normal, certainly not news worthy.  It is only when someone from the occupied territories fires back that it merits a story.  As long as no Israeli is forced to duck, it is seen as a time of “calm” no matter how many Palestinians become victims of Israel’s aggression.  “Israeli forces injured dozens of Palestinians and foreign activist on April 3rd using live fire to suppress weekly marches in West Bank…another Palestinian was injured and dozens more suffered excessive tear gas inhalation during clashes with Israeli forces at the weekly march at Bil’in.”[iv] No headlines in my paper.

On April 2nd, Israeli soldiers arrested Palestinian parliamentarian, Khalida Jarrar for “unspecified reasons.”  She joined 16 other Palestinian lawmakers currently serving time in Israeli prisons.[v]

The next week, April 10th,  a Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces at the funeral of his cousin who had died from unattended medical complications while in an Israeli prison.  Thirteen others attending the same funeral were injured by live ammunition and rubber coated bullets.[vi]

The following Thursday, two Palestinians were shot and injured when Israeli soldiers raided their refugee camp.

The next day, Israeli soldiers attacked the weekly protest against the illegal wall and settlements near Ramallah, wounding five, including two by live ammunition.

Settlers attacked Palestinian shepherds, forcing them at gunpoint to go into their homes. Israeli forces arrived and arrested the shepherds.

Back in March, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian fisherman.[vii]

At least 30 children across the West Bank sustained gunshot wounds when Israeli forces used live ammunition to quash protest during the first three months of 2015.

In summary: Since 2000, Israeli security forces have killed over 8,896 Palestinians. At least 1,900 of those have been children.[viii]

A report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that, overall, Israel was responsible for 2,314 Palestinian deaths and 17,125 injuries last calendar year...Defense for Children International – Palestine has documented abuse and torture that Palestinian children endure in Israeli prisons, where they are denied due process.[ix]

Today, there are nearly 6,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails; 500 of them held under administrative detention without charge or trial. There are 200 child prisoners, 24 women prisoners, and 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council behind bars… There are 1500 sick prisoners including 16 severely ill in the Ramle prison clinic, 24 with cancer and 80 with severe illnesses.[x]

Yet compared to a small rocket fired into a field in Israel, none of this merits attention in our news media. I can only imagine the coverage if this were violence against Jews?

Thomas Are

May 2, 2015

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[i] Documentary: Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land, The Media Education Foundation, 2004.

[ii] ABCNew.go.com, Israel Retaliates to Gaza Rocket Attack, No Injuries, AP , Jerusalem, April 23, 2015

[iii] Philip Weiss, One rocket from Gaza outweighs 6 Israeli Incursions and 67 Attacks,  Mondoweiss, April 27, 2015

[iv] Same article as above, Mondoweiss, April 27, 2015

[v] +972 Magazine,  Israeli soldiers arrest feminist Palestinian lawmaker, By Haggai Matar

[vi] From, Today in Palestine, Al-Awda-News, April 10, 2015

[vii] Philip Weiss, One rocket from Gaza outweighs 6 Israeli Incursions and 67 Attacks,  Mondoweiss, April 27, 2015

[viii] Kate, 30 Palestinian Children have been shot with Live Ammunition in Protest last 3 Months.  Mondoweiss, March 25, 2015.

[ix] Sarah Lazare, 2014 Deadliest Year for Palestinians Since 1967, UN Report Finds. Common Dreams, March 27, 2015.

[x] AL-AWDA-News, Palestinian Prisoners Day, April 17, 2015.