Anti Israel Protests and Staying Safe

There are two kinds of protests going on right now.  Anti-Israel and Anti-War.  The media is conflating the two.  See if you can spot the subtle difference that has Reuters confused.

Protest 1 (emphasis mine):

demonstrators at the Israeli embassy in Dublin threw shoes and carried a mock coffin, covered with pictures of wounded or dead Palestinian children.

“The haunting images of homes wrecked, of terrified families existing among rubble in shock and despair, and of endless funerals, has rightly outraged people across the world,” said Gerry Adams, president of nationalist party Sinn Fein.

“It is time all of this was brought to an end: The slaughter of people in Gaza must end,” Adams told a Dublin rally.

vs protest 2 (emphasis mine):

Thousands of Lebanese Shi’ites who turned out for an Ashura festival in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh also protested against the Israeli offensive, carrying Hezbollah and Palestinian flags.

“We tell the people of Gaza and the elderly in Gaza and the heroes of the resistance, you are not alone, we are with you … victory is yours, God willing,” Mohammed Raad, a senior Hezbollah official, told the crowd.

The situation in Gaza is deteriorating to the point that there is nothing the Palestinians can do to stay safe.  Even safe-houses are being shelled.  As Gerry Adams points, this is – rightly – generating anger.  Some of that anger is surely aimed at Jews, or at the Israeli state itself.  When you praise “heroes of the resistance”, you praise men who fire rockets indiscriminately into Israel.  Men who have killed innocents.  However, despite the violence at some of the protests, lumping all of them together under the headline “Anti-Israel” accomplishes the same goal as calling anti-war protests state-side “Anti-American”.  It de-legitimizes them.

Every protest has schmucks who smash windows.  That shouldn’t take away from the message of the protest itself.  What Israel is doing in Gaza is horrific:

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 830 Palestinians have died. Thirteen Israelis have been killed: 10 soldiers, and three civilians hit by rocket fire.

I am no naive, wide-eyed believer in Hamas.  I think them cynical abusers of political power, theocrats, and murderers.  But looking at the carnage since the invasion started, 830 deaths is not a wild number.

The military response has been grossly disproportionate to the rocket attacks.  Israel needs to stop this, and stop this now.  They should uphold a cease-fire from their end.  Let Hamas continue firing rockets.  Then public opinion will rightly turn against them.  But Israel has turned Gaza into a hell-hole where no Palestinian is safe from a violent end.  This war needs to stop.  And the Israeli government needs to understand that it should never have been started.

Thousands of Israelis Protest War in Gaza

Via my friend Helene (Israel Social TV):

A contrast to the misconception in the media that all Israeli leftists support the war on Gaza.

Slate’s Misleading Take on the Israeli Peace Movement

From a Slate article by Anne Applebaum on the explosion in Gaza:

The Israelis—both on the “peacenik” left and the more bellicose right—believe that the only way to prevent Hamas from firing rockets is to fight back.

The article links to an interview with an Israeli author, who states his opinion that the Israeli left  supports the violence in Gaza.  Given our own experience in the US of self labeled left-wing Democrats supporting the war in Iraq, I wonder how many leftists in Israel truly do support the warfare in Gaza.  How many “peaceniks” in particular.  That single  line from Applebaum makes it sound as though all of them do.

Israel/Palestine: In Their Shoes

My friends and family are very much split when it comes to Israel/Palestine.  Nearly a year ago I examined my own feelings and observations on the mess.  Its nearly impossible to really get a handle on a reality most of us don’t have to confront on a daily basis.  I remember my own understanding of the issue took a turn for the deeper after reading what it was like for children to see their parents treated like criminals, never mind treated brutally, at Israeli checkpoints.  So I’d like to invite you to join me in a very short thought experiment.  I’d like to briefly examine an aspect of both sides of this conflict.

First the Israelis.  Let’s imagine that the party to take power in Canada is a mix of social conservatism and fiscal liberalism.  Thet build schools, hospitals, and provide jobs.  The Canadians are wild about them.  They also commit violent acts against US citizens.  They send suicide bombers who travel down into Boston, New York, Chicago, and blow themselves up in buses, night clubs and crowded intersections.  They launch rockets into the US, hitting farms, schools, and random houses.  People you know have been killed in these attacks.  The Canadian government not only supports this party, they have threatened to bury us if we retaliate.  How would you want to react?  How do you think our government should react?

Let’s scale this down for the Palestinians.  Imagine your home state is divided in half.  The bulk of the land is owned by by Mexicans.  To travel from one end to another, we have to submit ourselves to military checkpoints, were we can be beaten or detained at will.  Most of us live in poverty.  The local party to gain power promises not only to fight back, but to ensure our broken infrastructure is repaired.  Members of the party regularly fire rockets into Mexico’s borders.  The Mexican government responds with overwhelming force, killing not only the men firing rockets, but nearby civilians.  Your friends have been killed.  After a failed attempt to negotiate a cease fire, Mexico is going to invade our home.  Given the inability of their military force to spare civilians, it is likely that even if you are not killed or wounded, someone you know will be.  How would you respond?  How would you expect your elected officials to act?

The interesting thing with the Israel/Palestine conflict is that both sides, upon reflection, inspire sympathy.  Something to keep in mind when reading the many one sided notes and articles from friends and media.

Why We Don’t Trust Our Political System

Unqualified dynasty relics can snag an office by doing political favors.

Corrupt politicians who maybe possibly might be impeached someday for trying to sell a senate seat, can easily find someone sad and greedy enough to nominate.  And the Senate can’t do a thing about it.

Even the most exciting and inspirational politician to come along in a generation slinks back into the status quo before he even takes his oath of office.

Criticizing politicians for blatant racism can damage your political career even as it boosts the prospects of the racist.

Our tax dollars are sent to rabidly anti-gay-rights theocrats convinced Halloween and Harry Potter lead to Satanism.

The government is willing to spend billions to send us deeper into debt to fund war and large corporations, supposedly to safeguard our future.  Politicians are equally eager to gut public schools and trash our future intellectual capital.

Patents stifle rather than protect and encourage innovation, to the point that insanity seems plausible.

A white militia murdered black people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  The details are only now coming out, and the liklihood of a criminal investigation seems unlikely.

A Bush aide scheduled to give evidence about election fraud in 2004, among aother Bush misdeeds, dies in a plane crash.  Media coverage and criminal follow-up is minimal.

A lot of people are optimistic about 2009.  I can’t share in that optimism, but I am fired up.  How can I not be?

The New Taliban

What’s keeping me up at night?  Via Majikthise, an article in Rolling Stone by the incredibly brave Nir Rosen.  I couldn’t stop reading it.

At one point, I got the distinct impression our leaders are acting like irresponsible doctors prescribing anti-biotics, sending more and more troops.  Amid the same signs of hope for negotiation Rosen picks out, he finds pretty solid evidence we are seeing the development of superbugs:

The guarantees of safety that once protected civilians have been replaced by a new generation removed from traditional society — one for whom jihad is the only law.

In spite of assurances about women being allowed to attend school and work, we see pictures of theocracy in action:

As we wait for the Doctor to arrive, Shafiq has other problems to deal with. His nephew has been arrested by a Taliban patrol after being spotted walking with a girl. After Shafiq secures his release, other Talib fighters call to complain that they heard music coming from his house the night before. Exasperated, Shafiq protests that it was only Al-Jazeera. He doesn’t mention the Iranian pop singer.

The outlook is pretty grim (emphasis mine):

Simply put, it is too late for Bush’s “quiet surge” — or even for Barack Obama’s plan for a more robust reinforcement — to work in Afghanistan. More soldiers on the ground will only lead to more contact with the enemy, and more air support for troops will only lead to more civilian casualties that will alienate even more Afghans. Sooner or later, the American government will be forced to the negotiating table, just as the Soviets were before them.

…

What’s more, the direct U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan is now likely to spill over into Pakistan. It may be tempting to attack the safe havens of the Taliban and Al Qaeda across the border, but that will only produce a worst-case scenario for the United States. Attacks by the U.S. would attract the support of hundreds of millions of Muslims in South Asia. It would also break up Pakistan, leading to a civil war, the collapse of its military and the possible unleashing of its nuclear arsenal.”

…But the Taliban have their own faith, and so far, they are winning.

This is the reality of Afghanistan as it stands today.  A new Taliban, divided, is taking the country back.  We need people with intelligence and good judgement leading this country to take advantage of that:

The internal split provides an opening — if U.S. intelligence is smart enough to exploit it.

“The U.S. should try to weaken the Taliban,” a former Taliban commander tells me. “They should make groups, divide and conquer. If someone wants to use the division between Haqqani and Omar, they can.”

Its a very slim silver lining hiding underneath an enormous storm cloud.

Against Jewish Republicans

Jews who support the modern Republican party have long been a target of condemnation in my family, idiots like Lieberman at the fore.  The reason for this is quite simple.  Republican Jews have successfully replaced the notion of Jewish identity with one of Israeli identity.  For them the first question is “will this be good for Israel”, and not “will this be good for my people”.  This is a crucial twist, and one that reveals a very ugly truth about their naivete.

The Republican party is made up of a couple of factions, each defined largely by fundamentalist Christianity, corporatism, or nativism.  Sarah Palin’s existence on the ticket is as clear a reinforcement of the Republican party’s commitment to a Christian Nation as one could imagine.  Which reminds me of the scene in Borat where Jim Smith (a state supreme court Chief Justice in Mississippi currently running for re-election) claims that this is a Christian Nation.  The Republican party is one that actively strengthens the union between the Christian church and our state.  They are also a party that regularly engages in anti-semitism.  Real anti-semitism, where warnings against “New York liberals” suffice as thinly coded language against Jews.  Not the false anti-semitism of standing up to Israel when it goes too far against the Palestinians.

When I read this at the Huffington Post, it became clear that the Republican Jewish Coalition represents the very worst of Conservative Jewish politics (conservative as in Republican, not conservative Judaism) (From Talking Points Memo):

“Concerned about Barack Obama? You should be,” the mailer warns. “History has shown that a naive and weak foreign policy has resulted in tragic outcomes for the Jewish people.”

The mailer helpfully notes that the image is a pic of Obama speaking in Germany.

Tragic outcomes for the Jewish people, throughout history, have been linked to fascism and religious fundamentalism.  Yet Republican Jews support a party that is hell bent on writing the Christian Bible into our legal code.  The stunning idiocy of this support is every bit as shocking as finding support among the working poor for Republican economic policy.

A McCain/Palin Presidency, endorsed by Dick Cheney, represents walking further down the path of eroding civil rights, constant warfare, and the politics of fear.  It is a clear invitation for fascism to fulfill Sinclair Lewis’s prediction and come to America wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

When that happens, how does the Republican Jewish Coalition imagine the Jewish people will be treated?

Jesus Christ the Dread Champion

Sarah Palin has been linked to Joel’s Army, an apocalyptic cult preparing to use violence to force Christianity on unbelievers.  The details are over at Orcinus, I’m just going to give you the link.  This is something to be read in its entirety.  Trust me, once you start reading, you won’t stop until you’ve finished.

The title of this blog post comes from Todd Bentley as quoted in this Southern Poverty Law Center report:

“An end-time army has one common purpose — to aggressively take ground for the kingdom of God under the authority of Jesus Christ, the Dread Champion,” Bentley declares on the website for his ministry school in British Columbia, Canada.

Theocracy by force.  Say those words out loud and contemplate what they mean for you and your family (emphasis mine):

Placing family in higher esteem than the Lord is dangerous to be sure. It’s a condition of the heart that, for the most part may go unnoticed. Not only is it the esteeming of people above the Lord, in the season of great falling away and betrayal, it will cause one to make fatally flawed decisions. As much as we dearly love and fervently pray for those around us, we must ensure that Jesus is truly our Savior AND Lord. That he is first in our life and that we will remain faithful; regardless of the consequences in the physical realm.

This is the kind of logic that leads directly to bloodshed.  Its the same logic behind children betraying their parents to fascists, this idea that loyalty to some outside authority means more than familial ties.

There are faithful who believe the end times are coming very soon.  And they are lashing out at the most unlikely scapegoats:

The battle goes far beyond the old issues such as abortion. Far and away, the issue of the hour is homosexuality, same sex marriage and the elimination of differences between sexes. Old terms such as “mom” and “dad” are being threatened with extinction. For those intent on destroying the old concept of the family; there can be no distinction between mom and dad, for there are either two moms or two dads.

The paranoia is in some cases palpable:

The enemy is determined to make those of us who believe the Bible is the only rule for faith and practice to look like fools or mentally challenged freaks not worthy of believing. The enemy hates those who faithfully and boldly stand on God’s Word. Those who do, are targeted and marked for attack. Assassin squads are daily dispatched from hell to try and trip up those who are marked. Every possible effort is made by the enemy’s minions to deceive, trick or physically injure those on his “hit list”.

Even getting to the point where Sarah Palin is a candidate for the Vice Presidency is insane.  A politician linked to a group bent on violent conversion and religious war, who says god tells her what to do, is viscerally alarming.

Its no surprise Palin’s candidacy is pushing moderates and conservatives alike to the left.

Palin: Itchy, Crazy and Near the Red Button

How close is Governor Palin to the red button?  A heartbeat away.  A John “Older than Penicillin” McCain.

So when she makes a really stupid and bellicose statement towards Russia, we ought to take notice.

My friend Brad sent that to me, and Matt Damon raises a damn good point.  Sarah Palin is not a reason-based governor.  She’s a faith-based governor.

And what I want to know, in the midst of her support for our current wars and seeming willingness to engage in more, is the following:  Does she believe we are living in the end times, and if so, how will that drive her actions in the White House?

Lebanon is Fucked

This makes my stomach churn.  Via XX Factor, Mona Charen at the Politico writes:

Smadar wrote later, “I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades.” As police began to arrive, Kuntar and the others dragged Danny and 4-year-old Einat down to the beach. With Einat watching, Kuntar shot Danny in the head and then threw his body into the surf. Kuntar then repeatedly smashed Einat’s head against a rock with his rifle butt, killing her, too. Yael did not survive the attack either. In an effort to keep the baby from crying and betraying their hiding place, Smadar had accidentally suffocated her.

He was recently released in the prisoner exchange.

This week, Kuntar, dressed in fatigues and sporting a Hitlerian mustache and haircut, walked down a red carpet arrayed for him in Beirut. The government closed all offices and declared a national day of celebration. Tens of thousands of Lebanese cheered, waved flags, threw confetti, and set off fireworks as Hezbollah staged a rally to celebrate their “victory” over Israel. Mahmoud Abbas, the “moderate” leader of the Palestinian Authority, sent “blessings to Samir Kuntar’s family.” PA spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman sent “warm blessings to Hezbollah … on the return of the heroes of freedom … headed by the great Samir Kuntar.”

Vile.

Mona asks at the start, “What can you say about a people who welcome a child murderer as a hero?”.

That might be an unfair question.  A better question would be what can you say about a culture that welcomes a child murderer as a hero?  And the answer is, that culture is fucked.  Perhaps even worse than fucked.  Because our own culture is fucked in the way our wars kill massive numbers of children, in the way blood is spilt daily, and we only react to news of whats happening to our own soldiers.  But this…  Imagine if the US threw a national holiday for a soldier accused of shooting an Iraqi man and beating his 4 year old daughter to death.

Violence might become necessary in the gravest situations, but worship of violence will always be the deepest kind of civil disease society can inflict upon itself.

McCain Thinks the War is Won

This guy is scary disconnected from reality.

August has a sharp one liner summing up McCain’s deranged view of Iraq (emphasis mine):

Meanwhile, on Earth, John McCain is now claiming that we won the war in Iraq. I know, I had no idea either, right? Especially since this victory is the type of one where the soldiers keep getting killed and don’t get to come home. I guess, like Barack Obama, I just don’t understand foreign policy at all.

We have got to keep this nut out of office.  The “confused” tag McCain is often pelted with isn’t a dig at his age, its a dig at his sanity.  And it hurts because its spot on.

Witness Agains the War: An Introduction

We are two days away from the kickoff to the Witness Against the War walk.  450 Miles to protest the war in Iraq:

Witness Against War 2008 is a walk from Chicago to St. Paul to challenge and to nonviolently resist our country’s continuing war in and occupation of Iraq.

Our journey will begin in the City of Chicago, site of the 1968 Democratic Party convention in the midst of the Vietnam War. The walk will conclude on August 31 in St. Paul — in time for the start of the 2008 Republican Party convention in the midst of the Iraq war.

There’s more here.  The nonviolent protest will include civil disobedience.  It carries a simple message aimed at both parties: End the War.  The participants (including Helene!) will be taking part in a long and rich history of social activism for the best of causes:  Peace.

Good Reads

I’m starting a semi regular feature (ideally this will be once daily) listing interesting pieces of news and curiosity I come across.  Things that hit home, piss me off, or make really important arguments.  Thanks to Marco for the idea!

The anti-immigrant group the Minutemen and the racist CCC are formally working together now.  For an organization that has gone to lengths to protest accusations of racism, this is huge.  (Source: SPLC Hatewatch).

Kay clears up a lot of the smoke being blown around the Obama campaign (including noting that the abortion move I thought was a change was not).

This is heartbreaking.

Even the compliant Iraqis we put in power now want a timetable for withdrawal.

Jesse Helms remembered accurately.

McCain now having protestors who accurately compare him to Bush arrested.  Those ne’er-do-wells.

Its good to take time and remember the deaths of those brave enough to stand and fight.  In this case an activist journalist working in Mexico.

McCain’s short list for VP keeps getting crazier.

There is chess boxing.  It has a new world champion.  Sometimes the world is magical.

[Update:  You can find these posts here (rss feed here).]

Support Matthis Chiroux, Fight The War

Matthis Chiroux is a soldier in DC fighting back against the war.  His fight is attracting notice (AFP):

“I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq,” Chiroux said in the sun-filled rotunda of a congressional building in Washington.

“My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation… I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation,” he said, as a dozen veterans of the five-year-old Iraq war looked on.

Minutes earlier, Chiroux had cried openly as he listened to former comrades-in-arms testify before members of Congress about the failings of the Iraq war.

The testimonies were the first before Congress by Iraq veterans who have turned against the five-year-old war.

Former army sergeant Kristofer Goldsmith told the landmark haering of “lawless murders, looting and the abuse of countless Iraqis.”

He spoke of the psychologically fragile men and women who return from Iraq to find little help or treatment offered from official circles.

Via his facebook group:

If everyone will give at least $1 it will let him continue his political work in Washington D.C for some time, please check out the group ans see the last post from Matthis, This is not charity money!
while we all do our regular business, Matthis is in d.C trying to stop the war with his very bare hands,
Please lend a hand and go to:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_home
and send money to :
chiroux@googlemail.com.
if you want his private address

This is a slightly more direct link: Support Via Paypal.  His a voice we want heard in the halls of power.  He is a man of rare character and bravery, and it is an honor to support him.

Obama: Are We Entering Lesser of Two Evils Land?

I’m an Obama supporter.  I’m no PUMA:

I just can’t figure out why if it is soooo important for the Democrats to win that the fingerpointers don’t pick the Democrat most likely to actually win.  I mean, they still have a choice.  If they are so concerned , they can petition the party to have a fair and transparent convention and let’s see who persuades the largest number of superdelegates.    So what if the signs for the fall have already been made?  It’s just stationary.  Surely it is more important to pick the right Democrat, right?

I still think a Democrat who starts out with 50% of the general electorate against her, who refused to listen to reason on the Iraq war until it was far too late and who has exhibited essential weakness on Iran warmongering, would have been a poor choice.

So what’s my deal?

Obama recently decided to avoid public financing.  Fine by me, although I admit, the idea of him going back on a campaign promise clearly tells me he made the promise for points, not for real.

He also seems to have increasingly bad taste in who he’s surrounding himself with:

Here are some statements by Ms. Rice in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq:

“I think he [then Secretary of State Colin Powell] has proved that Iraq has these weapons and is hiding them, and I don’t think many informed people doubted that.” (NPR, Feb. 6, 2003)

“We need to be ready for the possibility that the attack against the U.S. could come in some form against the homeland, not necessarily on the battlefield against our forces. And I think there, too, is an area where the American people need to be better prepared by our leadership. … It’s clear that Iraq poses a major threat. It’s clear that its weapons of mass destruction need to be dealt with forcefully, and that’s the path we’re on. I think the question becomes whether we can keep the diplomatic balls in the air and not drop any, even as we move forward, as we must, on the military side.” (NPR, Dec. 20, 2002)

“I think the United States government has been clear since the first Bush administration about the threat that Iraq and Saddam Hussein poses. The United States policy has been regime change for many, many years, going well back into the Clinton administration. So it’s a question of timing and tactics…We do not necessarily need a further Council resolution before we can enforce this and previous resolutions. (NPR, Nov. 11, 2002)

Of course, this sounds like Condoleezza Rice. But in fact all those quotes are from Susan Rice, Assistant Secretary of State in the Clinton administration and now part of Obama’s newly formed “Senior Working Group on National Security.” The quotes are from an examination of the Working Group done by the Institute for Public Accuracy, here.

Obama also

Which leads me to the natural question.  If what he says can’t be trusted, he’s a mushy centrist at heart, and he’s hiring people with very questionable judgment, then who will we have in office in 2010?

The stakes are depressingly high this time around.  Ours is a country that arrests people wrongfully and tortures (there always seems to be a new angle on how we torture).  A country that goes to war without cause.  Our electoral system is a badly broken mockery of the principles of representation and liberty that ought to form the backbone of our daily experience as Americans.

Think about that last one for a moment.  As an American we ought to feel empowered.  Instead, be honest, we feel helpless and watched.

The leaders of the Democratic party and the candidates, all of them (even the ones who lost long ago), are smart people.  They ought to be working together even if informally to figure out how to draw a sharp line away from the failed and costly policies of the current administration.  Instead our party has been consumed by the supporters of two problematic candidates.

If we fail in November we are fucked.

If anyone over in Obama land is listening, he needs to make with the backbone.  He needs to make a cleaner break with the old politics we are so desperate to be rid of.

The decision to skip public financing is one I support: I want to win in November.  But poor decisions never occur in isolation of each other, and enough similar mistakes will create a credibility gap and fill it with the worst sorts of insinuations about motivation.

And please, go through the ranks, and dump the staff that don’t rise up to the expectations of rationality and compassion we expect from you.  There is no shortage of intelligent and caring people to draw from in the Democratic party.  You can do better.  And as a leader, if you do, we all will.