Israelis Quietly Snicker As US Soldiers Murder, Die for Sharon and Oil
Gideon Samet | 23.03.2003 00:53
Excerpt: "There's no mistaking the irony in the approach of many Israelis to this war. The whole sealed room business has a different look this time. Behind the panicky talk about plastic sheeting and masking tape one detects a hint of humor. This week, admitting to sealing a room was out. Making a joke about it was in."
Oh, what a lovely war!
By Gideon Samet
This war is not like any of the wars in our rich repertoire. This war is the way wars should be: A massive military force with tremendous superiority attacking an enemy of Israel and destroying it before our very eyes. In Iraq War I, they also told us not to interfere, but back then it almost ruined our health. Now, after our experience of 12 years ago, there's no chance of that. America will make mincemeat of Iraq without help and without any real threat of missiles lobbed our way. Oh, what a lovely war! "Good morning," said the education minister to parents and students in a radio broadcast yesterday. "Have a nice day in school, kids, and a nice day to all of you out there."
There's no mistaking the irony in the approach of many Israelis to this war. The whole sealed room business has a different look this time. Behind the panicky talk about plastic sheeting and masking tape one detects a hint of humor. This week, admitting to sealing a room was out. Making a joke about it was in. Even in formal interviews, there was no one who said "yes" to that eternal interviewer's question: "Have you prepared your sealed room?"
One reason, of course, is that unlike last time, the all-clear siren was sounded long before the first smart bomb was dropped. By now, we're old hands at this sort of thing, like veteran soldiers who no longer flinch at the sound of shooting. Helping us along the way were two intifadas. People who have learned to live with the certainty of buses and cafes being blown up by Palestinians don't get excited about an uncertain Iraqi missile attack.
Let's admit it: There is even a little dark thrill behind it all. Because Israel is up to its neck in troubles. Life is rotten for more Israelis today than we can remember since the great recession of the 1960s. War, even when the perils are not that great, will always repress and muffle ordinary concerns. As before, we will probably be hearing from psychiatrists that their patients are doing much better. The pressure in wartime affects us all pretty equally, and we have this voice - a kind of national shrink - who talks to us and calms us down and reminds us, by virtue of its existence, that we are all in the same boat. Not that General Amos Gilad is a particularly good therapist. Especially for those who go into an instant depression at the sound of army barrack lingo. "We are prepared for every scenario," the current Nachman Shai promised us yesterday.
The sense of relief also comes from Fading Unity Syndrome. This national disorder, accompanied by headaches, strikes Israelis every time their political togetherness grows shaky. And now, along comes war just as the national unity season has ended. There's no more wall-to-wall government to rely on. There's no more koochie-moochie Likud-Labor to mitigate the dismal reality of party squabbling and enmity. Not only that, but the tribal campfire around which the ultra-Orthodox sat with the secular, has gone out.
At times like these, when the stitches of phony unity have come loose, there's nothing like a just war against Amalek to knit us all together again. And those who are still dragging around a guilty conscience over fighting a bloody war of choice led by Ariel Sharon 20 years ago, have now been granted absolution for their sins by the commander-in-chief of a new war of choice. Not only the future, but even the past suddenly looks rosier.
That also explains why the radio is playing all these soothing Hebrew songs. Like the wave of nostalgia for sing-alongs which has done wonders for the ratings of certain TV programs, so the old bleating of army entertainment troupes and the folksongs of the Gevatron and Naomi Shemer provide a cozy buffer against the shrill cries of war.
"You, me and the next war, a war that comes as a blessing, a war that brings us proper rest. When we smile in a moment of love, the next war smiles with us." This is an excerpt from Hanoch Levin's play "You, Me and the Next War," written 34 years ago.
This is a war that unifies right and left. It has appeal for both sides. The right hopes - according to the left, at least - that under the auspices of this war, the army will be able to step up its pulverizing of the Palestinians in the territories, and that after the war, if it is successful, Bush will be more resistant to pressure to mediate a comprehensive settlement - just the kind of pressure that the left is rooting for.
What more can one expect from something that goes hand in hand with blood and tragedy? But this heavy baggage that comes with Saddam - Round II has a tinge of unhealthiness about it. It's the idea of being so used to war, and not only because it is forced on us. It's the sigh, midway between pain and pleasure, that bursts from the heart of Israelis as they seek the consummate cure for their distress. There's nothing like a war to supply the formula. And there's nothing like a war to bollix things up, and rather than solve our problems, produce an almost narcotic dependence.
By Gideon Samet
This war is not like any of the wars in our rich repertoire. This war is the way wars should be: A massive military force with tremendous superiority attacking an enemy of Israel and destroying it before our very eyes. In Iraq War I, they also told us not to interfere, but back then it almost ruined our health. Now, after our experience of 12 years ago, there's no chance of that. America will make mincemeat of Iraq without help and without any real threat of missiles lobbed our way. Oh, what a lovely war! "Good morning," said the education minister to parents and students in a radio broadcast yesterday. "Have a nice day in school, kids, and a nice day to all of you out there."
There's no mistaking the irony in the approach of many Israelis to this war. The whole sealed room business has a different look this time. Behind the panicky talk about plastic sheeting and masking tape one detects a hint of humor. This week, admitting to sealing a room was out. Making a joke about it was in. Even in formal interviews, there was no one who said "yes" to that eternal interviewer's question: "Have you prepared your sealed room?"
One reason, of course, is that unlike last time, the all-clear siren was sounded long before the first smart bomb was dropped. By now, we're old hands at this sort of thing, like veteran soldiers who no longer flinch at the sound of shooting. Helping us along the way were two intifadas. People who have learned to live with the certainty of buses and cafes being blown up by Palestinians don't get excited about an uncertain Iraqi missile attack.
Let's admit it: There is even a little dark thrill behind it all. Because Israel is up to its neck in troubles. Life is rotten for more Israelis today than we can remember since the great recession of the 1960s. War, even when the perils are not that great, will always repress and muffle ordinary concerns. As before, we will probably be hearing from psychiatrists that their patients are doing much better. The pressure in wartime affects us all pretty equally, and we have this voice - a kind of national shrink - who talks to us and calms us down and reminds us, by virtue of its existence, that we are all in the same boat. Not that General Amos Gilad is a particularly good therapist. Especially for those who go into an instant depression at the sound of army barrack lingo. "We are prepared for every scenario," the current Nachman Shai promised us yesterday.
The sense of relief also comes from Fading Unity Syndrome. This national disorder, accompanied by headaches, strikes Israelis every time their political togetherness grows shaky. And now, along comes war just as the national unity season has ended. There's no more wall-to-wall government to rely on. There's no more koochie-moochie Likud-Labor to mitigate the dismal reality of party squabbling and enmity. Not only that, but the tribal campfire around which the ultra-Orthodox sat with the secular, has gone out.
At times like these, when the stitches of phony unity have come loose, there's nothing like a just war against Amalek to knit us all together again. And those who are still dragging around a guilty conscience over fighting a bloody war of choice led by Ariel Sharon 20 years ago, have now been granted absolution for their sins by the commander-in-chief of a new war of choice. Not only the future, but even the past suddenly looks rosier.
That also explains why the radio is playing all these soothing Hebrew songs. Like the wave of nostalgia for sing-alongs which has done wonders for the ratings of certain TV programs, so the old bleating of army entertainment troupes and the folksongs of the Gevatron and Naomi Shemer provide a cozy buffer against the shrill cries of war.
"You, me and the next war, a war that comes as a blessing, a war that brings us proper rest. When we smile in a moment of love, the next war smiles with us." This is an excerpt from Hanoch Levin's play "You, Me and the Next War," written 34 years ago.
This is a war that unifies right and left. It has appeal for both sides. The right hopes - according to the left, at least - that under the auspices of this war, the army will be able to step up its pulverizing of the Palestinians in the territories, and that after the war, if it is successful, Bush will be more resistant to pressure to mediate a comprehensive settlement - just the kind of pressure that the left is rooting for.
What more can one expect from something that goes hand in hand with blood and tragedy? But this heavy baggage that comes with Saddam - Round II has a tinge of unhealthiness about it. It's the idea of being so used to war, and not only because it is forced on us. It's the sigh, midway between pain and pleasure, that bursts from the heart of Israelis as they seek the consummate cure for their distress. There's nothing like a war to supply the formula. And there's nothing like a war to bollix things up, and rather than solve our problems, produce an almost narcotic dependence.
Gideon Samet
Homepage:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=275326&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Comments
Hide the following 6 comments
American Israeli Political Lobby Pushed thWar
23.03.2003 09:03
Well you know what Ariel Sharon said about who controls America. Sharon was correct when he made that statement.
Look them both up on Google or Dogpile -Sharon Who Controls America - and James Moran Causes of Iraq War.
The Israeli Lobby Calling for this War was due to its backing of the Likud Party's on going thievery of the land of the Palestinians. Saddam was one of biggest backers of the Palestinian Intifada. When the Israeli lobby got Bush and Rumsfeld to use the US Army to kill Saddam (and however many OTHER Iraqis it took to kill Saddam - they made their task of the robbery of All of Palestine much easier.
lance
e-mail:
lance@graffiti.net
The American-Israeli Lobby Pushed this WAR
23.03.2003 09:22
I wrote a comment on Congressman's James Moran statement that the American-Israeli lobby and Israeli leaning politicians were one of the biggest influences causing this war. It came up publish and then the editors on this site erased it. There is censorship here perhaps?
I also mentioned Ariel Sharon's comment about Who Controls the US. The whole thing was erased. If this one is erased I will start sending it to INDIVIDUAL Posters on this UK site and you can go after the editors here who are censoring people.
lance
e-mail:
lance@graffiti.net
lance the liar
23.03.2003 13:40
Lance, you are so pathetic. Saddam Hussein is responsible for 1.5 million Muslims being murdered, including gassing Kurds.
Can you tell me how Israel can possibly live next to beasts like this.
Palestinian protesters call on Saddam to 'burn Tel Aviv'
By Haaretz Service and agencies
Mounted police dispersing pro-Iraqi Palestinian rioters in Jerusalem on Friday.
(Photo: AP)
Thousands of Palestinians on Friday demonstrated across the West Bank and Gaza Strip in support of Iraq, waving Iraqi flags, holding pictures of Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat and calling on the Iraqi leader to "burn Tel Aviv."
On Friday morning, there were clashes in the Old City Jerusalem between security forces and rioting Palestinian worshippers, who chanted pro-Iraqi slogans at the end of prayers on the Temple Mount.
According to police sources, there were no injuries in the clashes, although Palestinians have reported several people lightly injured by tear gas inhalation. Palestinians also reported that police used stun grenades to disperse the rioting crowds.
There were also incidents on the Temple Mount itself, after which worshippers streamed down toward the Damascus Gate area. On arriving at the Damascus Gate, they began to clash with police and blocked Salah a-Din Street to traffic.
Meanwhile, a pro-Iraqi faction in the West Bank and Gaza Strip said it has been asked by the Iraqi government to speed up delivery of checks of US$10,000 each to the families of Palestinian civilians, gunmen and suicide bombers killed in fighting with Israel.
A spokesman for the group, Mohanna Shabat, said Saddam gave the order to show that while he's under threat from American and British forces he's still supporting the Palestinians and influential in the Arab world.
Throughout 30 months of fighting, the pro-Iraqi Arab Liberation Front had been making payments once every two weeks. But in the last week, Saddam's money has been distributed in five ceremonies in Gaza alone.
Three families received the money Friday in Gaza.
"The ceremony, God willing, will not be the last because President Saddam
Hussein will continue his support to the Palestinian people, who are part of his Arab nation," Shabat said.
Israeli embassies and consulates, and Jewish institutions around
the world, meanwhile, have been placed on high alert for fear
terrorists will target them in retaliation for the attack on Iraq.
Israeli diplomats have also been ordered to maintain a low profile.
A security assessment Thursday night described the possibility of attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets abroad as "the greatest danger", although there have been no concrete warnings of imminent attacks.
However, the prevailing view in Israel Friday was that the chances were slight that Iraq would fire missiles at the Jewish state in retaliation for the U.S.-led campaign.
Hamas calls for Iraqi suicide missions
The militant Islamic group Hamas urged Iraqis on Friday to carry out suicide bombings against invading U.S. and British forces in Iraq. "Iraqis should prepare explosive belts and would-be martyrs (suicide bombers) to combat the U.S. occupiers," senior Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantissi told Reuters in the Gaza Strip.
"The American aggressors, the American invaders are now on Iraqi soil, therefore, Iraqis must confront them with all possible means, including martyrdom (suicide) operations," Rantissi said.
Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, has spearheaded a suicide bombing campaign which has killed hundreds of Israelis since interim peace accords were signed in 1993. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has given payments of $25,000 to the families of suicide bombers who have carried out attacks against Israel since a Palestinian uprising for statehood began in September 2000 after peace negotiations became deadlocked.
Senior Hamas commander arrested in Qalqilya
Meanwhile, IDF forces arrested a top Hamas commander and 13 other Palestinians overnight, the military said Friday, while maintaining a tight closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, banning all Palestinians from entering Israel.
Special IDF forces surrounded a house in Qalqiliya and arrested Raed Hutri, commander of Hamas forces in the West Bank town, and his deputy, the military said Friday. Israel Radio said Hutri planned the suicide bombing in front of the seaside Dolphinarium night club in Tel Aviv on June 1, 2001, killing 22 people, most of them Israeli teenagers.
The military said soldiers arrested 12 other suspected militants in the West Bank, including seven in the Old City of Nablus.
In the village of Doha, near Bethlehem, soldiers destroyed the house of Mohammed Dar-Yasin, who tried to carry out a suicide bombing in the nearby Jewish settlement of Efrat in February last year but was shot and killed.
A military statement said the destruction was part of a deterrence policy to show militants "that they will pay the price for taking part in terrorist activity." Palestinians and human rights groups complain that tearing down family homes punishes innocent relatives.
An armed Palestinian was killed Thursday evening by IDF troops near the Morag settlement, in the Gaza Strip. Another Palestinian ran away, and soldiers were unable to detain him.
Dan
Facts
23.03.2003 13:52
Joe
Video
23.03.2003 13:55
French reporters came out with a video called The "Israel and the War of Images" is a French-produced video documentary that demonstrates, through exclusive footage of Palestinian leaders themselves -- including Yasser Arafat --that their goal remains the eradication of the Jewish state. Go see what Arafat says in Arabic.
TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND
Palestinians consider Oslo 'Trojan horse'
Leaders consistently speak of process as means to destroy Israel
August 29, 2002. WorldNetDaily.com
Claims by a top Israeli official that the Palestinian Authority plans to destroy Israel in stages through the Oslo Accords are supported by numerous statements in Arabic by Palestinian leaders, according to a regional press monitor.
Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon's assessment in an interview published this week in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz has caused a political stir. But Palestinian leaders such as Faisal Husseini, PA representative for Jerusalem affairs, have explicitly stated that the Oslo process, which began in 1993, is a Trojan horse designed to wipe Israel off the map.
"Had the U.S. and Israel realized, before Oslo, that all that was left of the Palestinian National movement and the Pan-Arab movement was a wooden horse called Arafat or the PLO, they would never have opened their fortified gates and let it inside their walls," Husseini said in an interview with the Egyptian publication Al-Arabi', June 24, 2001.
Husseini said that the Intifada "could have been much better, broader, and more significant had we made it clearer to ourselves that the Oslo agreement, or any other agreement, is just a temporary procedure, or just a step towards something bigger. . . ."
"We distinguish the strategic, long-term goals from the political-phased goals, which we are compelled to temporarily accept due to international pressure," Husseini said.
"[Palestine], according to the higher strategy, [is] 'from the river to the sea,'" he said referring to a common description of Israel. 'Palestine in its entirety is an Arab land, the land of the Arab nation."
In the Ha'aretz interview, Ya'alon was asked to clarify whether he believed the goal of Arafat is to liquidate Israel by stages.
"Of course," the Israel defense chief responded. "Not to reach an agreement and not to arrive at the end of their claims, in order to preserve the conflict and to let time run its course according to the phased theory."
United worldview
Palestinian Media Watch says its research demonstrates a clear and united worldview within the Palestinian leadership that defines Israel as a colony that stole the land of "Palestine" and thus has no right to exist.
In speeches, sermons, educational programs and school textbooks published by the PA, the Oslo process is called a "stage," a temporary agreement that is necessary "because of the current balance of power" in which Israel has a huge military advantage.
The "permanent status agreement" with Israel is viewed as "Hudna," an Islamic term meaning cease-fire.
In an interview on Palestinian television, Sept. 1, 2000, Israeli Arab Knesset Member Abd-Al Malek Dahamshe responded to a telephone call from a viewer who said: "Our problem with Israel is not a border problem, but one of existence."
Dahamshe responded: "We exaggerate when we say 'peace' . . . what we are [really] speaking about is 'Hudna.'"
In an interview with the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 14, 2000, Abdullah Al-Hourani, chairman of the Palestinian National Council Political Committee, responded to the question, "How do you read the future of the peace process?"
Al-Hourani said: "Whether they return to negotiations or not, and whether they fulfill the agreements or not, the political plan is a temporary agreement, and the conflict remains eternal, will not be locked, and the agreements being talked about are regarding the current balance of power. As to the struggle, it will continue. It may pause at times, but in the final analysis, Palestine is ours from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River."
Oslo is just the first step in the destruction of Israel, Abd El Aziz Shahian, Palestinian Authority Minister of Supplies, said in an interview May 20, 2000, with Al Ayyam, an Arabic daily in the Palestinian territories.
"The Palestinian people accepted the Oslo agreements as a first step and not as a permanent settlement, based on the premise that the war and struggle in the land is more efficient than a struggle from a distant land," he said, referring to the Palestinian Liberation Organization's base in Tunisia prior to the Oslo process.
The Palestinian minister said his "people will continue the revolution until they achieve the goals of the '65 revolution," referring to the founding of the PLO and publication of the Palestinian charter that calls for the destruction of Israel through an armed struggle.
Salim Alo'adia Abu Salam, supervisor of political affairs for the PA, told Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 20, 2000, that "when we picked up the gun in '65 and the modern Palestinian revolution began, it had a goal. This goal has not changed and it is the liberation of Palestine."
Palestinian state not end of the road
Yasser Arafat's deputy, Othman Abu Arbiah, has stated that the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is a means toward eliminating Israel.
"At this stage we'll prevail in our struggle [toward] the goals of the stages [plan]," he said in an interview with Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 25, 1999. "The goal of this stage is the establishment of the independent Palestinian state, with its capital in Jerusalem. When we achieve this, it will be a positive [step] and it will advance us to the next stage via other ways and means."
Abu Arbiah said "every Palestinian must know clearly and unequivocally that the independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital is not the end of the road. The [rise of] the Palestinian state is a stage after which there will be another stage and that is the democratic state in all of Palestine [in place of Israel]."
Abu Arbiah is Arafat's aide for political guidance and national affairs and the director-general for national affairs, a senior position in the Palestinian national educational structure.
Imad Alfalugi, the PA minister of communication, told Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 18, 1999, "Our people have hope for the future, that the occupation state [Israel] ceases to exist, and that it makes no difference [how great] its power and arrogance. . . .
"
Claim rooted in Islam
The preacher of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Yousuf Abu Sneina, declared, in a distinct religious context, the belief that all of Israel is "Palestine" forever.
"The Islamic land of Palestine is one and can not be divided. There is no difference between Haifa and Nablus, between Lod and Ramallah, between Jerusalem and Nazareth, between Gaza and Ashkelon," he said on Palestinian television, Sept. 8, 2000, referring to cities in Israel and PA territory. "The land of Palestine is Waqf land that belongs to Muslims throughout the world and no one has the right to act freely or the right to make concessions or to abandon her. Whoever does this betrays a [trust] and is nothing more than a loathsome criminal whose abode is in Hell!"
Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, PA-appointed mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, said in a Jan. 11, 2001, television broadcast that emphasis on gaining Jerusalem should not be viewed as conceding other parts of Israel.
"We are discussing the current problems and when we speak about Jerusalem it doesn't mean that we have forgotten about Hebron or about Jaffa or about Acre," the sheikh said. "We are speaking about the current problems that have priority at a certain time. It doesn't mean that we have given up. . . . We have announced a number of times that from a religious point of view Palestine from the sea to the river is Islamic."
All agreements are temporary, said Dr. Ahmed Yousuf Abu Halbiah, a member of Palestinian Sharianic (Islamic law) Rulings Council and rector of advanced studies at the Islamic University, evoking Islam's founder in a July 28, 2000, message on Palestinian television.
"We the nation of Palestine, our fate from Allah is to be the vanguard in the war against the Jews until the resurrection of the dead, as the Prophet Muhammad said: The resurrection of the dead will not come until you do battle with the Jews and kill them. We the Palestinians, are the vanguard in this issue, in this battle, whether we want to or whether we refuse. All the agreements being made are temporary."
Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Madi, a PA religious leader, said on Palestinian television, April 12, 2002: "We are positive that Allah will help us triumph. Our belief is firm that one day we will enter Jerusalem as conquerors, enter Jaffa as conquerors, Ramle and Lod. and all of Palestine, as conquerors. "If [Allah] asks [Arab leaders], on Judgment Day: 'The majority of Palestine was lost in '48, and what did you do? And the remainder was lost in '67, and now it is being vanquished again.' How shall we respond to our Lord?"
Madi said "Palestine shall be the burial grounds of the invaders just as it was for the Tartars, and the Crusaders and for modern colonialism. The Tradition relates to us that Allah's cherished one [Muhammad] said: 'The Jews will battle against you but you shall emerge masters over them.'"
Madi said on Palestinian television, Aug. 3, 2001:
"We will blow them up in Hadera, we will blow them up in Tel-Aviv and in Netanya. . . . We will fight against them and rule over them until the Jew will hide behind the trees and stones and the tree and stone will say: 'Muslim! Servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him.' We will enter Jerusalem as conquerors, and Jaffa as conquerors, and Haifa as conquerors and Ashkelon as conquerors. . . ."
Trevor
The slightest indication
23.03.2003 14:32
Sharon did say what he said, it was widely reported in differring shades of media, and several attendies [of the meeting at which he spoke] commented on the statement, some gloating, some attempting to place further spin and softening on it.
And now dan can write, it is a lie and probably believe it himself, because other people have written that it is a lie and have themselves in turn believed it.
Round and round they go ...
... israel is democratic and secular, that is why we have to eliminate palestinian dissent and build a jewish state ...
... israel is totally innocent, that is why we stole land and butched any who would not or could not run away ...
... palestinians are not real people, that is why they are so hateful to the jews who stole their land and killed their sons.
911 - israeli agents caught cheering it, israeli companies given advanced waring via their israeli owned pager company, israelis totally absent from the building - 1 [one] israeli may have been on the 1st plane, but since the passenger lists are not independently verified and at variance according to who you ask, still unknown.
dan will call all of this 'lies' and believe it himself.
Will you?
goyimtroll