Israel
Informed Comment: Al-Fakhoura School Bombed, 42 Killed, Including Children
If you bomb a UN school, you're manufacturing your own terrorists:
In 1996, Israeli jets bombed a UN building where civilians had taken refuge at Cana/ Qana in south Lebanon, killing 102 persons; in the place where Jesus is said to have made water into wine, Israeli bombs wrought a different sort of transformation. In the distant, picturesque port of Hamburg, a young graduate student studying traditional architecture of Aleppo saw footage like this on the news [graphic]. He was consumed with anguish and the desire for revenge. He immediately wrote out a martyrdom will, pledging to die avenging the innocent victims, killed with airplanes and bombs that were a free gift from the United States. His name was Muhammad Atta. Five years later he piloted American Airlines 11 into the World Trade Center.
Colonialism | Empire | Imperialism | Terror | Terrorism | Violence | War | Israel | Palestine | Palestinian Territories |
Einstein's other theory | World news | The Guardian
Benny Morris' interesting article about Einstein's thoughts on Israel as a Jewish state and Zionism's place in the new nation state.
Money quote:
"I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state... My awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power... I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain."
Read it for the insight into his back-and-forth with Jawaharlal Nehru on accepting the destruction of Palestine for the "right to exist" of Israel.
Judaism | Nationalism | Zionism | Albert Einstein | Israel | Jawaharlal Nehru | Palestine |
FT.com / Columnists / Gideon Rachman - Israel's self-defeating Gaza offensive
Money quote :
Israeli official rhetoric suggests that the government hopes a massive attack on Gaza will turn the population against Hamas. But violence against Israelis has always made public opinion there more hawkish. Why should the Palestinians be any different? In their more reflective moments, even senior Israeli politicians recognise that more killing is likely further to radicalise the Palestinians. A columnist in Haaretz, a liberal Israeli paper, recalled this week that Ehud Barak, the defence minister, who is masterminding the attack on Gaza, once told him that if he were a Palestinian "I would join a terror organisation".
Colonialism | Empire | Imperialism | Nationalism | Terror | War | Zionism | Ehud Barak | Gaza | Israel | Palestinian Territories |
Avi Shlaim: How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe | World news | The Guardian
Thank you Avi Shlaim, for calling "the right of Israel to exist" what it is : a Zionist colonial war machine bent on destroying any semblance of a Palestinian nation and nationality through territorial expansionism.
I write as someone who served loyally in the Israeli army in the mid-1960s and who has never questioned the legitimacy of the state of Israel within its pre-1967 borders. What I utterly reject is the Zionist colonial project beyond the Green Line. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the June 1967 war had very little to do with security and everything to do with territorial expansionism. The aim was to establish Greater Israel through permanent political, economic and military control over the Palestinian territories. And the result has been one of the most prolonged and brutal military occupations of modern times.
The big question is, can Israel exist without zionism?
Go read the whole thing NOW!
Colonialism | Imperialism | National Identity | Nationalism | Violence | War | Zionism | Fatah | Gaza | Hamas | Israel | Likkud | Palestinian Territories |
Hamas' War on Schools
It is easy to feel horrifed at the images of Israeli planes hitting Gaza. But the context behind the attacks is that Gaza has been attacking Israeli civillians almost constantly since Israel withdrew from Gaza.

(House in Sderot hit by Qassem rocket, image from Bokertov.com)

(Injured woman in Sderot, image from BBC news)
I supported the withdrawal from Gaza. The dismatling of the illegal settlements in Gaza was a controversial move in Israel, but a necessary move. The withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza was also controversial, but necessary. Likud, the far right wing nut jobs of Israel, predicted that Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would result in increased attacks on Israel from Gaza.
Sadly, events proved them right. Likud may be nut jobs, but nut jobs on the Palestinian side decided that once Israel withdrew, it was time to fire rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians.
Terrorism | War | Israel | Palestine | Sderot
The US' war against Palestinians

We give Israel over $3 billion a year, almost automatically. The country has 7 million people. The US government gives Israel $428 per year per per Israeli. For comparison, recall the uproar in the US when the President gave tax rebates of $300 to the American citizens who paid the taxes in the first place.
Yes, America will get involved, and America should get involved. We bought the rights to meddle in Israel's affairs. We bought Israel the military they are using to attack others, and the United States shares the blame for the attacks from the victim's standpoint, even though the Us opposes those attacks. If Israel doesn't appreciate our involvement, they can return the money. I won't hold my breath.
Economic Aid | Influence | Politics | State-sponsored terror | Violence | War | Gaza | Israel | Palestinian Territories
Blind Support
It would be nice if U.S. citizens weren't connected to and responsible for every Israeli military action, so that we really could and should take the attitude that what the Israeli Government does -- or what is done to it -- is not our responsibility. That's how it should be.
Instead, since we fund a huge bulk of it and supply the weapons used for much of it and use our veto power at the U.N. to enable all of it, we are connected to it -- intimately -- and bear responsibility for all of Israel's various wars, including the current overwhelming assault on Gaza, as much as Israelis themselves. Blind support for whatever they do -- the consensus view in American political life in both parties -- is therefore a total abdication of our responsibility.
Corruption | diplomacy | Empire | Politics | Terrorism | Violence | War | Foreign Policy | Gaza | Israel | Palestinian Territories
Israeli Media Contradicts American Media on American News
We know American media kind of sucks. In fact, it tends to be so right wing biased that even lies from the Republicans are reported as truth and true statements by Democrats are reported as being controversial.
I prefer getting my news from various sources. NPR, Salon.com and CurrentTV are good American sources of news. But I also like getting foreign news. BBC is excellent most of the time. But I also get email updates from Guysen International News, an Israeli news source that actually seems pretty right wing. I do not always agree with their editorial slant, but I do find their news enlightening.
On July 29th they had a series of headlines that pretty much contradicts American media on American news. I think this serves as something of an indication of how bad American reporting is.
First, American media and the Republican Party are telling us, in the imortal words of the first President Bush, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" about the economy. Bush and McCain keep telling us things aren't so bad, we aren't in a recession and it's all in our minds. Well, it seems Israel sees it differently:
diplomacy | Jerusalem | Media | News | Iran | Israel | Pentagon
























