Coverage of Israel/Palestine often attempts to make an extraordinarily lopsided conflict seem somehow more “balanced.” Take this line from the Washington Post (3/12/12)
The fighting has killed 18 Gazans, all but two of them militants, and disrupted the lives of about 1 million Israelis living within range of rocket fire.
Why would 18 people who were killed be compared to the disruption of daily life? If disruption is the standard, then one would have to determine how many Gazans have had their lives disrupted by power outages, drones, air strikes and so on.
A sentence like this would seem to be an attempt to “balance” a wildly imbalanced reality.
(One should always, of course, be skeptical of the word “militant” when applied to people killed by military forces; often it’s just a label applied to make their deaths seem acceptable.)
Let’s not forget that the violence started when Israel assassinated a Palestinian that was “planning” to attack Israel. Well but who’s who’s keeping track anyway? Let’s just call a truce and call it a day. Balance, voila!
Lets remember Israel fired a missile at several men on a rooftop who were launching missiles from that position.The 4 men were killed,as were seven other people in the house, who were at least some of which(children)non combatants.Thats 11 right there.War is horrible. But Israel will shoot at men seen firing missiles into Israel every time.Ten out of ten without fail.Where is the anger at these cowards who fire on civilian (not military )targets while they hide among civilians?
Josmar……Is that really how this round of violence started?Israel killed an innocent man- and so hundreds of missiles,if not thousands were launched at Israeli civilians?And Israel who possesses a sophisticated military only killed 18 in response?Does any of this sound like a lot of crap to you?
No michael e – You are listening to and regurgitating Israeli propaganda.
Israel stands in violation of over 50 U.N. Resolution.
It has, for the past 60 years engaged in the systematic genocide off and wiping the Palestinians off their own land.
You see, No one can give away someone elses land without the express permission of the land owners. And the landowners are the Palestinians. The U.N “suggestion” of the partition did not make it legal. The subsequent wars, all initiated by Israel in order to grab ALL Palestinian land is a war crime and constitute crimes against humanity.
So the issue is not that the Palestinians have to official declare that Israel has the right to exist, it is the Israelis who have to officially declare that the Palestinians have the right to exists on their own homeland. And ultimately it will be the Israelis who will have to beg the Palestinians for foregiveness for the genocide inflicted upon the Palestinain people.
International law allows for resistance against an illegal occupier, whereas it does NOT protect the illegal occupier. Therefore the key towards peace always rests in the hands of the occupier never its victim.
By current definition, resistence fighters (my father was one of them in WW2) are called terrorists.
Not even the Nazis were THAT delusional.
Incidentally my maternal grandparents had a safe house for Jews and risked their lives daily. My feisty grandmother wore a Star of David on her coat, in defiance. Today they are turning in their graves seeing what Israel has managed to inflict on innocent people in Palestine.
This article represents the core of the problem with Israel and the Palestinian conflict. First, it wasn’t 18 Gazans murdered, it was 26 and, yes! at least 2 of them were children under the age of 12. But it has already been established by the same forces that parroted this piece of Hasbara at WaPo that Palestinian life is cheap indeed. Death is a fact on the ground. Daily life for the Palestians. Besides, wasn’t it brilliant of Isreal to kill those kids before they had a chance to…hmmm…fight back? Pre-emptive strikes, Bushiites would call it. And on and on it goes where it stops nobody knows.
Coincidentally, the very same standard applies to the empire. 3,000 exceptional Amerikans get killed on 9/11 (and I won’t touch on whether or not this was done by them or not) and that gives the empire carte blanche to attack the entire Middle East and slaughter a couple million people. Looking at things like this, it’s easy to understand why Isreal and the US are so joined at the hip, they’re like the two wings on the same bird of prey.
michael-e, Hasbarnik extraordinaire! Avigdor Lieberman’s poodle. Honorary member of the Israeli Troll Brigade. Defending the indifensable, excusing the inexecusible.
Dear michael e.:
Sometimes people don’t do anything violent at all, but are merely standing in protest. Such people are murdered anyway. Rachael Corrie did nothing violent, but she was murdered by a man driving a bulldozer. We all read of Anne Frank and how she stood for human possibilities and what we humans could be. Rachael Corrie, was to me, what Anne would have been had she grown up, a defender of humanity. In just those two deaths, such a loss for the world.
Gerr1211 while the rest on these blogs are simply saying Israel is the aggressor you go the extra mile.Back to saying Israel has no right to exist.Im not going to argue history with you and accept that America has no right to exist because after all native Americans were here first.Or that Israels historical claim is not valid.Or that the few thousand palestinians who lived in that desert before Israel’s founding are the only true owners of that land(though even that argument discards historical people who predate both).Let me say this…Where is your fight with those Arab countries who own 87 % of so called historical Palestinian lands?Have we forgotten that?Why- have we forgotten that?While Israel HAS traded land for peace in the past- Arab countries have no intention of it. I conclude the world and the Palestinians should first address that problem before saying they to want the small spit of land called Israel.Israel does exist.Sanctioned by the world body and the UN.She will defend herself.If attacks come from any area repeatedly-that area could be annexed for security reasons.Imagine that.Those crazy Jews actually had the temerity to attack and hold those positions that were the favorites of there tormentors.Imagine that.After numerous attacks incursions and invasions she did willfully establish security buffer zones.,walls and even check points.Those people who have attacked her have suffered,and will suffer from strikes in response.Palestinian eradication?Millions live now in greater Israel in peace .At Israels inception only a few thousand lived there in a hard nomadic life.How many Israeli’s live in neighboring Arab Islamic countries?Get those numbers and you will see a truth you so far refuse to see.Israel wants peace.And has many many Islamic Arabs ,Christians,and other sects living among them.There is zero reciprocation from many of the Arab countries surrounding them where a good jew is a dead jew.So if you are ok Gerry I wont ask you to solve this problem.And don’t you- through having the same blood in your veins try to lay claim to your grandmothers legacy.I would bet she would look upon YOU as out of your gourd.She knew what it was to comprehend and behold those who wanted the annihilation of the jews(the Germans AND arabs)then, as I am sure she would now.Piggiebacking on her bravery while defending some of the exact same peoples who wanted death to all jews then is quite an about face for your family. What are you saying that the Jews were Ok as innocent lambs led to the slaughter but now that they have learned to defend themselves you dont feel as protective of them?Well imagine that
when all is said and done and in due time, the palestinian people will get their country back because they refuse to go away and they can’t be destroyed although the israeli government has been trying hard. the only question is how many people will have to be slaughtered before the united states and israel are forced to give up their unjust effort. will it take a world war? will nuclear weapons be involved? i think that once the arab peoples throw off the yoke of their dictators, the balance of power will change. israel will no longer enjoy the protection of the dictators who spend more time oppressing their own people than fighting to liberate them. america will one day realize it’s on the wrong side of history and will not continue to enable the zionist regime. in the meantime all of us who believe in justice for all must continue to struggle against the one percent who are the cause of most of the world’s problems.
michael e
Israel is in NO position to trade land for peace. It is not their land. You cannot trade something that doesn’t belong to you and then make it sound as if you’re sacrificing something. I can just about imagine the Nazi’s negotiating a land for peace deal and keep half of Holland. Even the Nazis were not that delusional. .
It is Schlomo Sand’s book “the invention of the Jews” that spells it out very clearly. There is NO historical evidence that the Jews were EVER in Egypt There is NO sea that Moses could have parted as the “Jews left Egypt”. There is NO historical evidence that there EVER was a Jewish Kingdom. Jewishness is NOT a people nor a race. It is a religion that some people in the region observe. Like all other religions of that time their mythology taught them they were “the chosen people” They lived in Palestine in peace. Jewish people baby sat children of Muslims and visa versa. ONLY 7% of the population of Palestine was Jewish. European Zionist consist of Khazars that converted to Judaism in the 700s. 90% of Israeli Jews are Aszkenazim, that is European Jews who are not Semitic and have no link to the Middle East region. In fact it is the Aszkenazim Zionists that rule Israel and discriminate against all Sephardic Jews who are Semitic people and are closely related to the Palestinians. Palestinians ARE Semitic.
Israel exists and for you to claim that I don’t want it to exist is nonsense.
Israel can not create a European country on Palestinian land. It should go back to the original “suggested” partition by the U.N., where Jerusalem is an International city and the Palestinians can continue to live on their own land. The U.N. partition was only a suggestion, and NEVER sanctioned by the rest of the world. Israel declared statehood the next day, and the slaughter of Palestinians has not stopped ever since. So PEACE is NOT what Israel wants. It is involved in land theft. Israel is a secular country but since the 60s their new religion has become the holocaust and THEIR suffering……NO other people EVER suffered. They have laid claim to that suffering and anyone who is interested in studying WW2 and questions the official narrative is immediately called a anti-semite or a holocaust denier. Israel does not want peace. It has NEVER had peace. And that is not because of what their neighbors do to THEM. A recent poll inEurope rates Israel as the greatest threat to world peace.
I will make you a prediction, no one will have to do anything. Israel will self-destruct, because no country can exists at the point of a gun, invades everyone of its neighbors at will, engages in death squads and create the largest concentration camp in the world. GAZA When is doesn’t see threats it invents them everywhere and tries to convince the world that everyone wants to wipe it off the map. It may very well become a self fullfilling prophesy. What Israel does has ramifications for Jewry around the world and there are many Jewish people who do not see eye to eye with what Israel does and realize that these actions are not in their interest. Rabbi Michael Lerner is one of them.
Why isn’t there a share button on the FAIR page?
Contact Us doesn’t work either.
Another sad example of how the media muddies the water. The bottom line still remains that it’s the Palestinian’s who are having their land slowly stolen, and it’s Israel who is doing the stealing. Everything else happening there today is a footnote to that fundamental truth.
Ajuma and Gerry(EFK)….I will ask again,when will the Palestinians go after the 87% of their so called historical stolen land now in the hands of neighboring Arab countries?Forget about the Israeli problem.That is only a percentage point of a percentage point.Go after your land.It is in Syria ,Jordan, and Egypt .Why does only little israel rouse such passion ,where the true usurpers of Palestinian land get away scott free?Name for me how many times Israel has left land only to be immediately attacked from that land.Tell me the history of that failed maneuver.
Gerry Read the “History of Palestine” wik.So you refute Judea and the history of the holy land.Or interpret it that no Jews ever lived there.You refute the UN and the state of israel(you say you are Ok with original boarders but of course that is a lie by your own words.).You refute the attacks she has weathered,and the buffer zones she has claimed in victorious warfare when she was the victim..What can one say to you?Let us all return to our borders.I will let you pick the time machine date.Did you say you grew up in Holland?As you are probably a member of the Frisians,Low saxons or the Franks who pushed out the tribes who lived there before the Romans came, I banish you back to where you came from.I accept only the original tribes as marked in the latest genotype censes.All treaties are null in void.You sir have just lost your homeland.Let the terrorist bombings of the Netherlands begin.Let the invasions commence.Let us all blame….Holland and her evil people!
Get real.Israel exists.She will not be talked into Parlaying with those serpentile factions who have in the past held the scimitar to her throat,and would like to do it again.She will defend her people and her country against the venom that drips from the lips of people here ,and against any country or factions that threaten her.She is the only true Democracy in the middle east.She is afloat in a sea of enemies.Most all of whom are our enemies as well.The people who seek her death sought the same thing BEFORE israel existed.THIS is who you would have her hand over the safety of her children to?
Your reply doesn’t make any sense. Are you saying that if other countries are stealing land then it’s ok for Israel to do it?
Putting aside that nonsense. . .the facts on this are very clear. The Palestinians are “refugees”, correct? Where are they refugees from? Syria? Jordan? Egypt? The answer: they are refugees from what is today Israel. They were intentionally pushed out from where they lived for generations and to this day have not been allowed to return. These are simple facts that cannot be waved away.
Secondly, settlements are also as plain a fact as the nose on your face. What are they? They’re Israel seizing land from the Palestinians and giving it to Jewish settlers. These settlements have only grown over the years, and there is absolutely no other way to rationally describe them other than as “land grabs” – making the West Bank Jewish one acre at at time.
If you have an alternative description based on facts for settlements other than “stealing”, I’m all ears.
EFK You just put it perfectly.Yes the Palestinians are refugees from Syria ,Egypt,and Jordan.Those countries who refuse to even discuss the fact that 87% of palestinian land is in their backyard, and no they will never give it back are ignored.The palestinian question is therefore proven to be a political excuse to make war on the Jews.Israel contains but 13% of ancient palestinian land.Some of that land has been annexed by Israel due to military considerations.It has traded hands many times.Always always to be used as a spring board for attack.Enough became enough.Israels enemies would never back down.They would always use that land ,that geographical highpoint as it were- to attack israel.They would today as sure as the nose on your face.They will never get that land back until real peace is achieved.Until death charters are thrown down and terrorist arms removed from neighboring countries.If Israel must fight she will choose to fight from ground of her choosing.Certainly you can not argue that Israel has been attacked and invaded countless times from these positions.And that it would happen again.What is the price of peace for Jews.Creating Israel as an out door concentration camp where evil can shoot at here like fish in a barrel from high points?You ask a lot.Her settlements are part of her safety net.Those who shot the rockets and drove the tanks against her are totally to blame for the loss of those lands.
So you’re acknowledging that Israel is oppressing the Palestinians because of “military considerations?”
Military considerations have absolutely caused huge hardships and oppression of the palestinian people.The military considerations of Egypt,Syria,Jordan ,and Israel being some of the chief actors in this drama.Of course the terrorism that has been used by the Palestinians in the past has resulted in “military considerations” the world over.Alway resulting in hardships for the Palestinian people thanks to her leadership.
It’s simply a matter of the old double standard: Israel can do no wrong even if it initiates an attack (as it did) on a Palestinian in Gaza, and the Palestinian reaction is as occurred: the Palestinians are to blame for reacting to an Israeli armed aggression perpetrated in total violation of international law. Poor old Israel (only the fifth or sixth most powerful military in the world) suffering under a potent Palestinian force heavily armed with a few rifles and incidental missiles with no guidance system against 300 Israeli nukes, best aircraft America has (standard issue for our air force), an antimissile shield (Gaza could have used it in 2008-09 and saved 1,400 innocent civilians), personnel carriers, state of the art tanks, drones, and whatever else Israel requests to butcher a defenseless population. Just like Hitler against Poland (horses charging tanks) WITH THE SAME JUSTIFICATION! We are accessories to murder; it would be the same as giving Hitler poison gas to slaughter Jews during World War II.