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Andy Martin
Political Gateway, FL
June 28 2006
(WASHINGTON, DC) (June 28, 2006) Israelis invaded Gaza today,
ostensibly seeking to "rescue" Corporal Gilad Shalit but in reality
seeking to unleash their blood lust for vengeance against the
Palestinian people. The Israeli fuhrers are outraged at the way
a hapless band of Islamic extremists have demonstrated Israel's
impotence to the world.
Nothing is more central to Israelis than their constant preening
about their self-proclaimed "superpower" status, their "secret"
nuclear arsenal, and the idea that President Bush has promised to
shed American blood to protect Israel's conquests in the Middle East.
So when a small band of Palestinians exposes Israeli impotence,
punishment must be imposed on the entire Palestinian People.
Unfortunately for peace-loving Israelis, their leaders' wrath
is self-destructive and self-destroying. The Israeli government
manufactures anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activism at a breakneck
pace. Today's events crystallize the counterintuitive nature of
Israel's slow death and suicidal impulses.
We begin with the basic, the obvious, the unavoidable: being a soldier
puts you at risk. By the very act of putting on a uniform and being
stationed in a military encampment a solider is at risk and in harm's
way. When Palestinians set up rockets, they get attacked. The Israelis
bomb them. Palestinians likewise attack Israelis for occupying to
their nation. There is tragic but ineluctable symmetry in all of
this killing.
Americans in Iraq are attacked and killed, merely because of their
uniformed status. Every general knew invading Iraq would cost lives.
Only Vice president xxxx Cheney thought otherwise. But, no one forces
anyone anywhere to wear a uniform, not here, not there, not anywhere.
Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's own son is a refusenik,
someone who refuses to perform military service in the Israeli
wehrmacht (he's no fool).
Another obvious truth is that captured soldiers must be rescued.
There is nothing wrong with that. It is part of the ethos of military
loyalty and unit solidarity. But Israelis and their fellow travelers in
the Bush Administration have been watching old tapes of the rescue at
Entebbe (Uganda), long past the sell-by date of that ancient mission.
Entebbe involved the rescue of helpless civilians hijacked and held
in Uganda. Israelis launched a dangerous mission and succeeded. The
result was heroic status for the rescuers, and the enduring myth that
rescuing people is Hollywood-style easy.
Rescues are not. Just ask former president Jimmy Carter about his
rescue mission in Iran. Or the Americans who led the unsuccessful
rescue at the Hanoi Hilton.
On the other hand, when North Koreans took an entire ship hostage,
the U. S. S. Pueblo, the United States did not invade North Korea
and launch a war, and the men were eventually released. The U. S.
Military leadership realized that even in the face of an obvious
act of war, the nation's greater interests must prevail. And so the
Pueblo's crew waited.
President Bush faced the same choice when the Chinese recently took an
American surveillance plane captive. He waited; and the crew came home.
Gaza and Corporal Shalit should have been no different. In Gaza and
occupied Palestine there are no TV dramas or Hollywood potential to
fuel the rescue of captured personnel. Fighting in Gaza is deadly,
and ultimately self-defeating. Shalit knew that. He was a solider.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice properly counseled patience
in the wake of Corporal Shalit's capture. Israel rejected her wise
advice. Arrogance and emotion triumphed over reason and the Israeli
national interest.
Here we should consider the lessons of history. When the Turks
slaughtered Armenians in World War I, there was no "genocide"
because the word genocide had yet to be invented. When Nazis began
slaughtering Europe's Jews, it was not genocide. The term still had
not been invented.
The term "genocide" was created by Raphael Lemkin in 1943. Genocide
became an international term of law with the United Nations' adoption
of the Convention on Genocide in 1948. Retrospectively, we now realize
that the concept of genocide could be applied to the Armenian slaughter
or the massacre of European Jews by the Nazis.
Today the civilized world's only practitioners of genocide are the
Israelis. Golda Meir was known for her comment that Palestine was
seized "by a People without a land," because it was "a land without a
people." Actually, "people" had inhabited the land mass of Palestine
since the dawn of civilization. The concept of a "land without a
people" was a racist and genocidal concoction that Meir used to
justify Israeli expansionism.
The insanity continues. Instead of using its overwhelming military and
economic strength to make peace with its neighbors, Israel continues
to make war, hoping against hope that evil methods and evil minds
can triumph over the logic of history and the solidarity of the world
community. It can't happen.
In his typically understated style Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas today accused Israel of "crimes against humanity" for invading
Gaza. While today's invasion is undoubtedly a crime against humanity,
the attack on Gaza is more; it is part of an orchestrated Israeli
campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people.
And, unlike people in the time of the Armenian slaughter and Nazi
massacres we cannot pretend that genocide has not yet been invented.
We are all witnesses to the Palestinian Genocide.
In today's attacks, hundreds of thousands have lost electricity;
public health is endangered. Food was already perilously low.
Infrastructure has been damaged beyond repair. All this for Corporal
Shalit?
What did the Palestinian people do to deserve these attacks? Why aren't
they justified in retaliating against Israel and Israelis, and engaging
in mutual rounds of destruction until there is truly no people and
no land in the territory of these two warring groups? Hollywood has
a precedent for this: War of the Roses, a divorce drama of two people
intent on self-hate and self-destruction.
Who destroy each other.
Whenever I write a column that compares Israelis to Nazis I get a
spate of pro-Israel hate mail, castigating me for comparing the two.
But I state unhesitatingly that making war against an innocent civilian
population caught in the midst of a war is a Nazi-style atrocity and
a crime against humanity. Genocide.
Civilians did not take Corporal Shalit prisoner, and they can't
release him. What does blowing up a Gazan bridge or power plant do
to advance the corporal's freedom? Nothing.
So there must be another explanation for the fury of the Israeli
junta in Tel Aviv. There is: genocide.
When Italy attacked Ethiopia, the League of Nations stood silent. The
word remained mute at the growing evidence of the Nazi holocaust.
Today we watch Israeli storm troopers savage a helpless civilian
population under the pretence and pretext that they are conducting a
"rescue" mission. Once again the world is shamed. And once again,
Israelis continue along the path to their own inevitable demise.
In war, there are prisoners, attacks, and death. Soldiers know that.
They accept those risks. If Israel claims it is at war, it must act
as though it is a nation at war, both respecting limits on civilian
casualties and the endangerment of its troops. The fact that Israelis
cannot be trusted to conduct war ultimately means that this "nation"
cannot be trusted to be a nation. Israelis are in the process of
conducting the eventual and inevitable genocide of their own people
and their own nation.
And as the United States sits silently by and aids and abets in this
suicidal calumny against a civilian population, we are as guilty as
the Israelis whose blood-soaked fingers are carrying out the rape of
Gaza. And we wonder why they hate us. And we wonder why we will be
targeted again. And we wonder why the world looks with scorn on our
own Israeli-style campaign in Iraq. Yes, we really do wonder.
In closing, I affirm that the life of every soldier is precious. A
uniform should be worn with great pride. But the life of a nation is
even more precious. Generals must sometimes send their troops into
danger and death. But in elevating Corporal Shalit's life to extreme
proportions Israel has debased and endangered the Israeli state and
taken another steps towards its demise. Unfortunately, as Israeli
Abba Eban once said, "The Israelis have never missed an opportunity
to miss an opportunity." Oh, Eban said that about the Palestinians.
War of the Roses.
Political Gateway, FL
June 28 2006
(WASHINGTON, DC) (June 28, 2006) Israelis invaded Gaza today,
ostensibly seeking to "rescue" Corporal Gilad Shalit but in reality
seeking to unleash their blood lust for vengeance against the
Palestinian people. The Israeli fuhrers are outraged at the way
a hapless band of Islamic extremists have demonstrated Israel's
impotence to the world.
Nothing is more central to Israelis than their constant preening
about their self-proclaimed "superpower" status, their "secret"
nuclear arsenal, and the idea that President Bush has promised to
shed American blood to protect Israel's conquests in the Middle East.
So when a small band of Palestinians exposes Israeli impotence,
punishment must be imposed on the entire Palestinian People.
Unfortunately for peace-loving Israelis, their leaders' wrath
is self-destructive and self-destroying. The Israeli government
manufactures anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activism at a breakneck
pace. Today's events crystallize the counterintuitive nature of
Israel's slow death and suicidal impulses.
We begin with the basic, the obvious, the unavoidable: being a soldier
puts you at risk. By the very act of putting on a uniform and being
stationed in a military encampment a solider is at risk and in harm's
way. When Palestinians set up rockets, they get attacked. The Israelis
bomb them. Palestinians likewise attack Israelis for occupying to
their nation. There is tragic but ineluctable symmetry in all of
this killing.
Americans in Iraq are attacked and killed, merely because of their
uniformed status. Every general knew invading Iraq would cost lives.
Only Vice president xxxx Cheney thought otherwise. But, no one forces
anyone anywhere to wear a uniform, not here, not there, not anywhere.
Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's own son is a refusenik,
someone who refuses to perform military service in the Israeli
wehrmacht (he's no fool).
Another obvious truth is that captured soldiers must be rescued.
There is nothing wrong with that. It is part of the ethos of military
loyalty and unit solidarity. But Israelis and their fellow travelers in
the Bush Administration have been watching old tapes of the rescue at
Entebbe (Uganda), long past the sell-by date of that ancient mission.
Entebbe involved the rescue of helpless civilians hijacked and held
in Uganda. Israelis launched a dangerous mission and succeeded. The
result was heroic status for the rescuers, and the enduring myth that
rescuing people is Hollywood-style easy.
Rescues are not. Just ask former president Jimmy Carter about his
rescue mission in Iran. Or the Americans who led the unsuccessful
rescue at the Hanoi Hilton.
On the other hand, when North Koreans took an entire ship hostage,
the U. S. S. Pueblo, the United States did not invade North Korea
and launch a war, and the men were eventually released. The U. S.
Military leadership realized that even in the face of an obvious
act of war, the nation's greater interests must prevail. And so the
Pueblo's crew waited.
President Bush faced the same choice when the Chinese recently took an
American surveillance plane captive. He waited; and the crew came home.
Gaza and Corporal Shalit should have been no different. In Gaza and
occupied Palestine there are no TV dramas or Hollywood potential to
fuel the rescue of captured personnel. Fighting in Gaza is deadly,
and ultimately self-defeating. Shalit knew that. He was a solider.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice properly counseled patience
in the wake of Corporal Shalit's capture. Israel rejected her wise
advice. Arrogance and emotion triumphed over reason and the Israeli
national interest.
Here we should consider the lessons of history. When the Turks
slaughtered Armenians in World War I, there was no "genocide"
because the word genocide had yet to be invented. When Nazis began
slaughtering Europe's Jews, it was not genocide. The term still had
not been invented.
The term "genocide" was created by Raphael Lemkin in 1943. Genocide
became an international term of law with the United Nations' adoption
of the Convention on Genocide in 1948. Retrospectively, we now realize
that the concept of genocide could be applied to the Armenian slaughter
or the massacre of European Jews by the Nazis.
Today the civilized world's only practitioners of genocide are the
Israelis. Golda Meir was known for her comment that Palestine was
seized "by a People without a land," because it was "a land without a
people." Actually, "people" had inhabited the land mass of Palestine
since the dawn of civilization. The concept of a "land without a
people" was a racist and genocidal concoction that Meir used to
justify Israeli expansionism.
The insanity continues. Instead of using its overwhelming military and
economic strength to make peace with its neighbors, Israel continues
to make war, hoping against hope that evil methods and evil minds
can triumph over the logic of history and the solidarity of the world
community. It can't happen.
In his typically understated style Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas today accused Israel of "crimes against humanity" for invading
Gaza. While today's invasion is undoubtedly a crime against humanity,
the attack on Gaza is more; it is part of an orchestrated Israeli
campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people.
And, unlike people in the time of the Armenian slaughter and Nazi
massacres we cannot pretend that genocide has not yet been invented.
We are all witnesses to the Palestinian Genocide.
In today's attacks, hundreds of thousands have lost electricity;
public health is endangered. Food was already perilously low.
Infrastructure has been damaged beyond repair. All this for Corporal
Shalit?
What did the Palestinian people do to deserve these attacks? Why aren't
they justified in retaliating against Israel and Israelis, and engaging
in mutual rounds of destruction until there is truly no people and
no land in the territory of these two warring groups? Hollywood has
a precedent for this: War of the Roses, a divorce drama of two people
intent on self-hate and self-destruction.
Who destroy each other.
Whenever I write a column that compares Israelis to Nazis I get a
spate of pro-Israel hate mail, castigating me for comparing the two.
But I state unhesitatingly that making war against an innocent civilian
population caught in the midst of a war is a Nazi-style atrocity and
a crime against humanity. Genocide.
Civilians did not take Corporal Shalit prisoner, and they can't
release him. What does blowing up a Gazan bridge or power plant do
to advance the corporal's freedom? Nothing.
So there must be another explanation for the fury of the Israeli
junta in Tel Aviv. There is: genocide.
When Italy attacked Ethiopia, the League of Nations stood silent. The
word remained mute at the growing evidence of the Nazi holocaust.
Today we watch Israeli storm troopers savage a helpless civilian
population under the pretence and pretext that they are conducting a
"rescue" mission. Once again the world is shamed. And once again,
Israelis continue along the path to their own inevitable demise.
In war, there are prisoners, attacks, and death. Soldiers know that.
They accept those risks. If Israel claims it is at war, it must act
as though it is a nation at war, both respecting limits on civilian
casualties and the endangerment of its troops. The fact that Israelis
cannot be trusted to conduct war ultimately means that this "nation"
cannot be trusted to be a nation. Israelis are in the process of
conducting the eventual and inevitable genocide of their own people
and their own nation.
And as the United States sits silently by and aids and abets in this
suicidal calumny against a civilian population, we are as guilty as
the Israelis whose blood-soaked fingers are carrying out the rape of
Gaza. And we wonder why they hate us. And we wonder why we will be
targeted again. And we wonder why the world looks with scorn on our
own Israeli-style campaign in Iraq. Yes, we really do wonder.
In closing, I affirm that the life of every soldier is precious. A
uniform should be worn with great pride. But the life of a nation is
even more precious. Generals must sometimes send their troops into
danger and death. But in elevating Corporal Shalit's life to extreme
proportions Israel has debased and endangered the Israeli state and
taken another steps towards its demise. Unfortunately, as Israeli
Abba Eban once said, "The Israelis have never missed an opportunity
to miss an opportunity." Oh, Eban said that about the Palestinians.
War of the Roses.
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