A fundamental plank of any peace plan has to be universal rights and full equality for all, and that is true whether the solution is one state, two states, twelve states or no states in Israel-Palestine. I elaborate at Souciant.
Posts Tagged ‘Anti-Semitism’
“How Can The Jews, Of All People, Do This?” Easily.
Posted in Jewish Community, Jewish State, tagged Abe Foxman, AIPAC, Anti-Semitism, Becket, Benjamin Netanyahu, David Duke, Gaza, Gilad Atzmon, human rights, Israel, Jewish State, Jews, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Middle east, Occupation, Palestine, Palestinians, Peter O'Toole, pro-Israel, Richard Burton, West Bank, Zionism on March 19, 2013 | 3 Comments »
“How can the Jews, of all people do this?”
I hear this too often when discussing the dispossession and occupation of the Palestinian people. It’s a tiresome line. Sure, I understand that on the surface this seems a reasonable question. But one doesn’t have to look very far to see that it isn’t.
Oppression and suffering don’t necessarily lead to a greater sensitivity to these things. We see this on a personal level, as well as on a larger scale. The victim of child abuse may well grow up to become an abuser. The victim of sexual abuse may also react to such an experience by repeating it on someone else. Many such people do not repeat the cycle, but many do.
Similarly, some large groups of people face discrimination and then bring it to others. Puritans faced discrimination in Europe, came to “the New World” and visited worse upon the native population, on slaves, and as time went on, on various other ethnic groups. Power changed hands at different times in Eastern Europe, and discrimination against one group or another continued to flourish. Shi’a have faced great discrimination in the Muslim world, and this has not brought about an egalitarian government in Iran. Hutus were once the majority treated like a minority in Rwanda. The Nazis rose to prominence on the strength of wounded German pride after years of economic deprivation in the wake of the First World War. The examples are legion. (more…)

The Israel Excuse
Posted in United States, tagged Abraham Foxman, AIPAC, Anti-Semitism, Barack Obama, Breitbart.com, Chuck Hagel, Chuck Shumer, Commentary Magazine, Emergency Committee for Israel, GOP, Hamas, Israel, Israel Lobby, John Kerry, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Republican Jewish Coalition, Susan Rice, United States on February 15, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
This week at Souciant, I look at the Chuck Hagel fiasco. The unabashed GOP plan to obstruct the entire US government in order to prevent Obama from doing, well, much of anything reaches new heights this week. The “Party of NO” is holding up Hagel’s confirmation, which even they say is still going to happen, for ephemeral reasons (the request for more information on Benghazi which was already furnished to even John McCain’s stated satisfaction), petty political ones and larger political aims. And what’s the role of the Israel Lobby in all of this? Not what some think it is. Check it out.
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