STOP JUST ATTACKING ISRAEL
Embarrased | 05.12.2002 23:13
Why is this news wire seemingly obsessed with the happenings in Israel? What about Burma, Tibet, the Congo, Sierra Leone, East Timor, to name but a few? I don't see activists here quite so distressed about the behaviour of the Burmese dictatorship (forced labour, torture, mass killings) or the Sierra Leone revolutionaries (torture, murder, rape, mass amputations?) or the Chinese government (ditto) Seriously, I know we can't care about everything (or can we?) but this constant isolation of the Israeli government's behaviour (not the Israeli people) is getting extremely embarassing. It feels, not quite like anti-semitism, but like jumping on an easy, dumbed down bandwagon. Hate America? Duh, let's hate Israel too. You have a choice to boycott/protest but hate is not an option, it's a self-destructive cycle. Americans are not evil. The US government and corporations may be, but then again "evil" is an odd word to apply to an inanimate institution. We, all the people, need to work together to combat greed, hatred and intolerance, and we don't do that by being greedily, hatefully intolerant.
Embarrased
Comments
Hide the following 11 comments
Burma's next!!
05.12.2002 23:48
Israel's occupation of Palestine is an integral part of the War Against terror. Both as a cited cause, and as a reminder that America's talk about protecting "our freedoms" is a bunch of baloney, as is their talk of despotic leaders and regime changes.
It is clear that America is happy to continue working with, and supporting, despotic regimes, even if their actions are unpalatable and genocidal, so long as they serve a purpose that is seen as useful. Bush continues to arm Israel to the hilt, in full knowledge of the atrocities that are committed with those weapons, against an occupied population, in blatant contravention of international standards.
There is good reason to focus a lot of attention on this issue, and I am wondering what your investment in diluting that focus might be. Are you hoping that it will get lost, or are you hoping that attention will be focussed on another regime instead?
Right now, there is a real likelihood that Israel would use an attack on Iraq as cover to attempt a massive programme of "transfer", and that is likely to be an extremely brutal scenario. The pressure must be kept up, and the links must be made.
That is not to belittle other human tragedies, it is to recognise the importance of maintaing the momentum in this debate, and of putting the pressure on and keeping the scenario in sight.
Now, if you want to post up information about Burma, I'm sure lots of people would be interested. You didn't need to start in this manner though, did you?
Whats the real story?
The attack is on hypocrisy
05.12.2002 23:54
The reason Israel gets singled out so much is that it is supported by Western democracies and it claims to be a democracy itself.
These democracies bandy about words like freedom and justice when it suits them. And yet Israel acts no better than some of the non-democratic dictatorships that you mention.
The hypocrisy is jaw-dropping!
rikki
Burma's not starting World War III
06.12.2002 04:01
AnAmerican
Columbia is bad too!
06.12.2002 09:35
Harlequin
Homepage: http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/
answer to embarressed
06.12.2002 16:10
jackslucid
e-mail: jackslucid@hotmail.com
Obssessed with Israel
06.12.2002 16:21
1. It's been going on since 1933 & the partition of palestine.
2. Israel is a democratic country supported wholeheartedly by the worlds richest & most influential countries.
3. Israels propaganda machine & the influence of the Jewish lobby worldwide is like nothing else we have ever seen.
Layali
e-mail: layali_samha@hotmail.com
WHY ISRAEL
06.12.2002 18:31
Israel eventual target is to destroy humanity on plane earth and the following justify this:
Israel developed and ready to be used more than 500 nuclear bombs, in addition to all sort of weapon of mass killing.
They have capability of 5000 miles range to deliver nuclear weapon, and this means that they can hit as far as the USA in the east to china in the west.
Any one can explain to us why a tiny country like Israel needs all this weapon with such capability.
Israeli per capital income is three times higher than the USA per capita income, and still American tax payers pay the bill for Israeli to enjoy a high standard of living, and the American simply going poor.
Israel building all their weapon of Mass Killing bu American Tax payers money, and these weapon eventually shall be used to kill America and American.
WAKE UP AMERICA...
Dave Hazeltine
I'm embarrassed too
08.12.2002 22:43
No longer so leftest
Boycott against Israel Apartheid
09.12.2002 00:12
If you are not simply a passive spectator, do not argue with racists and do your part today...... now is the time to act. Join the International boycott to Israel campaign:
http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=&topic=4
http://www.boykotisrael.dk/
http://www.divest-from-israel-campaign.org/
http://www.al-awda.org/
http://www.freedom-for-palestine.org/
x
Homepage: http://www.al-awda.org/
BURN THE WITCH
09.12.2002 01:12
embarrased also
No.
09.12.2002 19:39
Stop hiding in the corner blushing. If you care about oppression, don't knock other people's priorities, choose your own. DO SOMETHING.
Heather