I find myself a little at a loss for words over the Israeli act of war against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and its aftermath. It's not that Israel has not done many brutal things before: as body counts go this one pales before Israel's attacks on Lebanon and Gaza in the past few years. There's just something so shameless about the rationalizations offered up by Israel's defenders, the horrifying lies and justifications of murder offered up by Israel's mouthpieces, and the utter complicity of the American press and worse, the American government. Everybody knows that Israel will rationalize its actions, Everybody knows that Israel will claim anyone it has killed is a terrorist.
I'm not one for stoking the fires of international conflict among the den of thieves known as NATO, but shouldn't it be a scandal that Israel attacked a NATO member's civilian vessel and the other NATO members are standing around whistling in a corner? I'm not one for the arbitrary valuing of American life above foreign life, but shouldn't it be a scandal that Israel murdered a completely innocent born-in-America Turkish/American young man -- Furkan Dogan, shown above -- with four bullets to the head and one to the chest, and the U.S. is equivocating? Everybody knows that there's no real justice; that Israel and the U.S. determine how so-called international law is applied.
I listened to NPR radio last night to the most vile propaganda imaginable, and the Israeli ambassador to the US basically admitted
Israel's premeditated assault on the Turkish ship where so many were killed and wounded: "The particular ship that did encounter the violent incident was simply too large to stop by nonviolent means. The others ships were not and that is one of the reasons they were towed safely to port," Oren said on the program that aired today.
Worst of all is this ridiculous American notion that there must be some truth to both sides, that sure, Israel has done some bad things, but HAMAS are TERRORISTS! ROCKETS! MISSILES! ROCKETS! SELF-DEFENSE! Let me say that unequivocally here: there are not two sides to this story, and anybody who says there are is complicit in the racist and inhuman demonization of the Palestinian people. All those rockets Hamas is supposed to have fired have killed fewer people than Israel just did this week in its attack on the Freedom Flotilla. As I have written before, if you are for separation of church and state, if you are for equal civil rights for all people, if you are for peace, you must recognize Israel for the murderous monstrosity that it is. Everybody knows that to listen to the lies of the Israelis you must shut your mind to the truths of the Palestinians.
This is denial on a massive scale. Everybody knows that the twin evils of the war on drugs and the narco-trafficking criminal empire which waste so much life, so much money, strand so many people in prisons, cause such pain, plunge entire nations into the depths of corruption, all these things, would just go away if drugs were legalized. Well here's the news: the violence in the middle east? The rise of fundamentalism and terrorism? The corruption of undemocratic regimes? The waste of so much life, human suffering on a grand scale? The solution for these problems is before us as well, and everybody knows it. The white people of South Africa have lived with majority rule for almost two decades now. There are challenges, to be sure. But the arrival of justice did not bring genocide. The Jewish people living in Palestine can adjust to being equal citizens with their Arab neighbors. A future of justice and decency demands it. The time is coming for the end of Israel as we know it.
Here are some more links of value about the Flotilla massacre. I will not link to any of the Israeli propaganda videos justifying their murder of innocents.
Eyewitness account from Mary Hughes, cofounder of Free Gaza movement.
Another survivor's account here.
Putting Names to the Faces of those Murdered by Israel
Evidence of digital fakery in Israel's so-called proof
Naomi Klein on the shooting of an American art student during a protest of the flotilla massacre on the West Bank.
Glenn Greenwald speaking truth to the corrupt media/political establishment.
The AngryArab puts narcissist NYT columnist Thomas Friedman in his place
Finally thanks to Jews Sans Frontieres for publicizing the graphic below:
Update: Required reading, a detailed refutation of Israeli talking points.
Completely agree with everything you said.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, people seem to blame Israel for everything, even for a baby farting. The flotilla was a set up and most likely backed by regimes that want Israel's destruction.
ReplyDeleteThe soldiers were armed themselves with guns that didn't have bullets in them. but nobody from the Arab world or no anti-semtic world wants to believe them.
If all the Jews and nation of Israel were to vanish, who would everyone else want to blame?
ZZtop I urge you to look into the actual facts of the attack on the Mavi Marmara and not the ones suggested by the attackers.
ReplyDeleteMany excelent resources at this website: http://mondoweiss.net/
I'm not sure why you're bringing up anti-semitism or the Jews. This is about the actions of the State Israel.