Morton Nadler's Open Salon Blog

Politicization of Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Mon, 3 Sep 2012 13:09:38 -0400

5:21 PM, Sep 1, 2012 |

Let’s talk about Sheldon Adelson, the Vegas casino billionaire who has been pumping money into the presidential race. Adelson, we know from reports, is a pro-Israel hawk who has been giving millions to the GOP for ostensibly one reason only: to help his candidate win the election and then have America adopt even more pro-Israel policies.

And so far, his money seems to be talking loudly. In the GOP primaries, he favored Newt Gingrich, who obliged his generous donor by saying that the Palestinians are an “invented people.”

In the presidential race, he has given millions to Mitt Romney, who again has obliged his fat-cat donor by making belligerently pro-Israel statements.

I found several things about Romney’s recent Israel trip offensive, but the bigger issue here is that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been politicized by the GOP in this presidential race and in recent years. In a bid to attract Jewish and evangelical votes, Republicans — and AIPAC, the powerful Israel lobby — have regrettably created an atmosphere in Washington and in our political culture where any politician or media personality can’t voice doubts or faint criticism of Israel without being instantly slapped with the title “anti-Israel.”

As Thomas Friedman says in The New York Times, this has “basically forced the Obama team to shut down the peace process and drop any demands that Israel freeze settlements.”

For the full article see:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120902/COLUMNIST01/309020053/Politicization-Israeli-Palestinian-conflict-harmful?nclick_check=1

Could "It" happen here?

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 19:08:16 -0400

It Can’t Happen Here/The Plot Against America

Sinclair Lewis/Philip Roth

These two novels deal with the possibility of a fascist government in America. They start from different premises, based on their historical settings. “It Can’t Happen Here” [ICHH] was written in 1935, at a time when the only models were Italy and pre-Holocaust Germany. “The Plot Against America” [TPAA] was written in 2004, but is situated in 1940-42, with all the hindsight of the history of WWII and the

Holocaust.

ICHH is situated in a small town in Vermont, Fort Beulah, in 1936, on the eve of the election. The hero is Doremus Jessup (“Dormouse”), liberal editor of the local newspaper. On the model of the Nazi storm troopers, Roosevelt’s opponent bases his demagogic campaign on extreme right-wing militia, and wins.

The head of the local militia is Jessup’s surly handyman. Actually the militia doesn’t run things, it is just the enforcer – and the power base. The regime institutes a reign of systematic violence. Assassination is rampant; not even based on quasi-legal rules. Inconvenient people are simply shot on the spot at the whim of a government agent. This goes far beyond the extra-judicial kill list maintained by the Obama government.

An intriguing idea is that Canada serves as a refuge and a base for the growing opposition. At the end of the book Jessup is an agent of the underground opposition, organizing the resistance among the farmers of the Great Plains.

TPAA opens in 1940, with the great debate on American participation in WWII. The protagonists are the author’s actual family and is a first person tale told by the author, seven years old as the novel opens. The main action occurs in a heavily Jewish neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey. His father is an insurance agent who won’t stand for any expressions of anti-Semitism. As a result he is often labeled ”that loud-mouthed Jew.” The nation is split over whether to enter WWII on the side of Great Britain, or to stay neutral. The opponents of supporting GB were led by the America First movement. The book departs from history with the Republican Convention of1940. Deadlocked for 20 ballots, Lindbergh makes “an unanticipated entrance onto the “Convention floor at 3:18 A.M.” Engineered by isolationist Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota, the Convention nominated “Lindy,” a notorious anti-Semite.

Of course, Lindbergh defeats Roosevelt, otherwise there would be no story.

The family has many adventures, where father Roth gets them into trouble over anti-Semitism and are rescued by decent bystanders. Gradually the anti-Semitism of the government picks up steam and there are isolated pogroms on the scale of the Jim Crow race riots of the early and mid-20^th century. Walter Winchell places himself at the head of the Democratic forces and runs for president. A common theme with ICHH is that anti-Fascist resistors use Canada as a base.

Unlike ICHH, TPAA describes a movement limited to Washington intrigues without a popular power base. The book ends rather abruptly and illogically with the assassination of Walter Winchell. The President, who has been flying around the country in The Spirit of Saint Louis takes off after a speech about the assassination and disappears, never to be found. Anne Morrow takes to the radio to denounce her husband’s administration and calling on all Americans to do the right thing. The Democrats sweep the elections of 1942 and FDR is returned to office. It would appear that after 360 pages and two years of pseudo historical fiction Roth had run out of steam and needed some quick and easy exit.

The premise of ICHH is a powerful right-wing militia movement. The efforts of the non-profit Southern Poverty Law Center keeps the white-supremicist militia under surveillance and is an indispensible ally of the FBI to keep them in check. On the other hand, TPAA shows the fragility of our electoral system and the possibility of an extreme right-wing administration, such as we have known in the past.

Autonomous fiefdoms have appeared at times, escaping control by vulnerable administrations. Such was the case of J. Edgar's FBI over many years.

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." [Thomas Jefferson?]

Galileo said it: "Eppur si muove"

Sun, 3 Jun 2012 15:06:42 -0400

Nevertheless it moves!

BETHLEHEM, June 2, 2012 – Palestine’s Christians expressed support for decisions by the governments of South Africa and Denmark, as well as from Switzerland’s largest retail chain Migros, to distinguish products made in the illegal West Bank settlements from those made in Israel, a statement by Kairos Palestine said on Friday.

South Africa, Denmark and Migros retail stores decided that products coming from the settlements should have clear labels on them stating where they have originated from to allow buyers to distinguish their origins. Israel has strongly objected to these decisions.

Describing the decisions as “historic,” Kairos Palestine, a group of Palestinian Christians who authored in 2009 the document “A Moment of Truth,” said, “We believe that this decision is a positive step into the right direction and we hope more countries and companies will follow this initiative.”

It said that “this decision is a clear statement, that the Israeli occupation and its settlements, both in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, are illegal under international law.”

“Kairos Palestine supports the global campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), because it is a just, nonviolent and peaceful tool. We believe that BDS is a way to pressure the Israeli government to respect international law, honor human rights and work towards a genuinely just peace,” said the statement.

“Kairos Palestine endorses the remarkable steps in South Africa, Denmark and Switzerland and sees it as a clarion call to action for all governments and retail chains worldwide,” it added.

“A Moment of Truth” is the Christian Palestinian’s word to the world about the occupation of Palestine, an expression “of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering,” and a call for solidarity in ending over six decades of oppression. The document was published in December 2009.

M.S.

Civil Rights Movement in Israel

By Ray Hanania

The decision by a group of Israeli Palestinian graduates at Hebrew University not to sing Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem, could be the beginning of an Israeli civil rights movement.

To Israel’s growing far right movement, not respecting Hatikva is an example of Arabs “denying Israel’s Jewish character.” For Israel’s Arabs, it’s a matter of principle and a rejection of Israeli policies where being non-Jewish makes them second class citizens.

The most recent protest took place at a graduation ceremony a few weeks ago at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a city at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. At the end of the ceremonies, when Hatikva was being played, about a dozen Palestinian Israeli graduates and their families remained seated and refused to sing.

Israeli Jews expressed “shock,” but the incident reminds me of the movement that began in the United States by African Americans to protest the rampant discrimination that existed against black people.

Bravo, Giacomo Bagarella, Harvard '13!

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:04:13 -0400

Bravo, Harvard Crimson,

Harvard students were pilloried for daring to organize a conference to investigate the so-called one-state solution [http://onestateconference.org/]. The jerked knees were afraid the pretense of “Jewish and Democratic“ would be exposed. Recovering their composure, the knees straightened up, after all. How about an uncontroversial conference to celebrate Israel’s "real accomplishments?" By talking about the wonders of Israeli technology and corporate aptitude, and by bringing to campus the inventors of advanced technology and the creators of everyday tools, the organizers are opening discussion on a new and supposedly uncontroversial area of the Israel-Palestine debate.

Giacomo Bagarella points out in his Harvard Crimson contribution a number of disagreeable truths. “The United States has given Israel over $115 billion from World War II to today; more than half of this aid has been military. No other country in the world enjoys such extensive foreign subsidies. How can Israeli innovation be considered sustainable if it is accomplished through dependence on U.S. tax dollars?”

I may add that this largesse far exceeds anything we have given any other nation.

Giacomo further points out the commercial and financial advantages enjoyed by Israel’s economy through the illegal occupation.

The Occupation gives Israeli businesses an unfair advantage in two main ways. First, it makes economic investment in Palestine a great risk. Foreign donors have built and rebuilt schools, hospitals, flour mills, and other facilities which cyclically get destroyed in Israel’s military operations, such as the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead. Other foreign investments, such as solar and wind power installations in the West Bank, are also under unending threat of Israeli demolition. [Israel threatens solar panels donated by Germany ] The unstated charges? Those of increasing Palestinian energy independence and fostering development in local communities.

….

The “vibrant, innovative, and optimistic” Israel the organizers envisage exists on foundations of illegal activities and 64 years of lack of accountability. While it is undeniable that medical and civil technology benefit society on a large scale, the contextual ethical costs cannot be ignored. Hopefully, we can maintain these positive achievements while redressing the human rights and international law violations they emerge in, because only then will these innovations truly be to the benefit of all. Unfortunately, by inviting speakers who directly contravene international law and by obscuring the roots of the Israeli "miracle," the Israel Conference sidelines the potential for innovation in favor of the criminal potential of Occupation.

Read the full article at Harvard-israel-innovation-occupation/ The article in the Harvard Crimson by Giacomo Bagarella jerked the usual knees with their ad hominem and irrelevant objections. To paraphrase one of my father’s aphorisms about horses' anatomy, there are more knee jerks in the world than knees.

As a young American Jew at a Zionist summer camp in 1936 I came to realize that the sought after “Jewish National Home” in Palestine could only be achieved by doing to the native Palestinians what the European settlers did to the Native Americans. Further, such an enterprise could only be sustained by enormous financial subsidies from the diaspora. How true that prophesy turned out to be.

Settlers and wall builders destroy the life sustaining olive trees of the Palestinians with the help of the Israeli army of occupation exactly the same way the ranchers who settled the west destroyed the life sustaining bison of the native Americans with the help of the US Army.

Is two state dead?

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:04:35 -0400

I forwarded a Huffington Post item to some friends. One of them responded to my forwarding of the item with a well-merited sarcastic comment:

“Well duh!! After 50 years of Israeli stalling we have only a few people declaring the two state solution dead. What a joke!! The two state solution was dead when Rabin was assassinated.”

I responded, "But, Robert, you and I know this, but still, the corpse of the two state illusion—or delusion—will only be buried when the US, both public opinion and the government realize that the pungent corpse of Zionism needs to meet the same fate.

"The unequal treatment of Palestinian Israelis hides behind the appearance of equal rights (one person one vote) via religious management of family law and education, even before we consider the millions of Palestinians in “Greater Israel,” totally deprived of any human and civil rights.

"It will take a world-wide anti-apartheid movement, spearheaded by the US, similar to the one that brought down apartheid in South Africa, to finally demolish this hateful system. But as in SA, the movement requires the Palestinians themselves, in league with a few enlightened Israelis, to lay a spark in the tinder box. Not you or I but the Palestinians themselves, both in and outside of Israeli, to abandon the ill- de-lusion before the rest of us can break through the fog."