Facing the truth of Israel

Written By: Milton
Date: 2006-07-28 16:09:00
<a href="/article/160946860-facing-the-truth-of-israel">Article Link</a>

Israel is a terrorist state.

The United States, in its constant, unquestioning and massive support of Israel in all things, is a terrorist state.

We are to Israel what Syria and Iran are to Hezbollah, the only substantive differences being that we've been at it longer and have, or could have, more control over our surrogate terrorists.

Huge financial backing and insanely expensive killing machines and uniforms do not transform terrorists into “soldiers.” Or, as comedian/social commentator George Carlin asked in one of his big-hall appearances: “Why are Israeli terrorists called commandos, and Arab commandos called terrorists?”

What “Exodus” glossed over, and what most Americans have forgotten – those who ever knew -- is that Israel began in terror and that many of its founders were terrorists. They shot and bombed, killed and maimed to back up their demands for a new state in what was Palestine. They have, since the beginning, abused their own Arab citizens.

When we were aware of what they were doing, which was only occasionally, we thought of them in terms of the European partisans of the 1940s who blew up trains and bridges and attacked German barracks to help free their countries from Nazi rule.

Besides, we didn't know a thing about Arabs, who were so often the terrorists' victims, felt no connection to them. They were exotics, not quite real to us. Young Israel drove Arabs from the homes and olive groves they had owned and worked for dozens of generations? Well, the survivors from Europe had to live somewhere.

Our news organizations lied to us about those events and have continued to lie to us for more than 50 years. Mostly they do it through withholding information they think we can't handle or shouldn't have, but which is essential to understanding what happened and what is happening in the Middle East. Sometimes, however, the lies are more active.

I watched a bit of a CNN broadcast Sunday, and had to turn it off; the “news” not only had gaping holes where there should have been facts, but some of the assertions were flatly wrong, as when the talking heads explained that the current violence began when Hezbollah rockets began “raining down” on Israel. The broadcast was thinly disguised propaganda.

Traditionally, our coverage of Israeli-Arab conflicts has been distorted. I was surprised a few days ago to see video of some of the destruction the Israeli military had inflicted on Lebanon. Almost all shown on American television when there is fighting in the area comes from the Israeli side of the conflict. The suffering on the other side usually isn't seen. Give the television people some credit this time, but also note they were able to get into Lebanon because it has been moving toward openness and peace since the long Israeli occupation of much of its territory ended.

On Sunday, the “reader representative” of my local newspaper wrote about how the paper's photo chief had made a great effort to bring the pictures of pain and destruction into “balance” after supporters of Israel had complained that it looked like Lebanon has been harder hit than Israel. Never mind that the damage to Lebanon IS 100 times worse.

Perhaps, for a couple of days anyway, CNN decided to show the pictures of Lebanon because, for awhile, they still tacitly acknowledged that the vast majority of Lebanese and, in fact, the government of Lebanon, had nothing to do with Hezbollah's actions against Israelis. I hope that acknowledgment continues, but I doubt it. I suspect most Americans have yet to realize that the vast majority of Lebanese and Gazans are entirely innocent victims of the Israeli onslaught.

When I say that you must look elsewhere than television or your daily newspaper for a reasonably complete picture of what is happening, I'm not talking about Hezbollah propaganda, but verified facts reported by reliable news agencies. You can get, as I have, some of the facts in the corporate-owned media. The problem is that stories rarely tell anything like a whole story, and a great many of the most telling facts are buried, passed over, treated as unimportant. You also have to look to on-line news operations such as TomPaine.com, Truthout and on-line versions of foreign newspapers. You have to put things together yourself.

For a while now our news outlets have been talking as though the Israeli invasion of Lebanon was begun in response to rockets “raining down” (the almost inevitable phrase) on northern Israel. Totally forgotten is the fact that Israel's massive military strikes originally were justified as a move to recover three captured – sorry, kidnapped – soldiers.

(Originally, you may recall, the soldiers' captors wanted to exchange them for prisoners held by Israel, which holds hundreds of Arabs prisoner, some of them with no more cause than we have for holding many of the people at Guantanamo.)

But even if you believe the new war is about protecting Israeli citizens from haphazard Hezbollah rocket attacks, which began this time only after Israel's military began slaughtering the guilty and innocent alike, the actions of the Israelis make no sense in the context of self defense.

Some basic facts: As of today, as I write this, mainstream media around this country are reporting that to this point, 39 Israelis have died in the fighting and terror actions. In the same period, 375 Lebanese, more than 20 percent of them children, have died. I can't find a figure for the number of Palestinians in Gaza who have been killed, but the last time I saw a number it was substantial.

Of the Lebanese killed, all news agencies agree, a great majority were innocent civilians who had nothing to do with the Hezbollah terrorists. I can find no numbers on the number of people, civilian and combatants, maimed, blinded, broken. Neither are there any numbers on the people whose homes have been destroyed – but the Israeli military has wiped out entire villages and towns, as well as large areas of cities. Leveled them. The news services have reported it, the Israelis proudly acknowledge it.

For a few days, there was criticism in this country because of Israel's “unbalanced” response to Hezbollah. That has faded as Israel and its vocal and intolerant supporters in this country hammered at those who talked that way. There can be no “balance” when you are defending yourself, they roared.

But some of us keep thinking: How is a heavy air attack on civilian refugees crowding a road to the Syrian border self defense? It happened a few days ago, was widely reported, and you heard no apology or explanation from Israel.

How does destroying Lebanon's infrastructure –a major airport (Hezbollah has no air force), electrical production, water plants, mosques -- make Israel and its citizens safer? Much of the damage has been done in areas in which Hezbollah is not known to operate. And, you will see with attentive reading, many of the people killed and places destroyed are merely “suspected” of having something to do with Hezbollah. Many have no connection whatever.

I saw an accusation in a forwarded email from a Lebanese man that the Israeli military destroyed a couple of villages and shot dead every man, woman and child they could hit as the people fled from their ruined homes. I do not know if the accusation is true, but isn't it horrible that it may be? And why do I think it may be? Because there are thoroughly documented cases of the Israeli army committing just such slaughter in the past.

Self defense? The actions against Lebanon, which was growing toward just the kind of peaceful country we and the Israelis claim to want in the region, has people lining up to join Hezbollah, numerous reports from the area say. An article in the Star Tribune here quotes a Lebanese Christian as saying that many of the country's Christians, up to now committed to peace, are so angry that they have become Hezbollah sympathizers.

The insane slaughter, much of it anyway, could have been prevented. In fact, this situation need not have existed at all.

The United States could have stopped it.

Instead, the Bush administration is making an “emergency” rush delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which apparently ran low from bombing the hell out of Lebanese civilians and power plants and such. The Bush people have made clear to Israel and the world that Israel is free to do what it will to its neighbors. We will not interfere until they decide they've killed enough this time.

Understand this: Our basic subsidy to Israel – by far the richest country in the Mideast, even richer than oil-loaded Saudi Arabia – is $3 billion a year. The total, though unknown, is considerably greater. All told, Israel gets 25 percent of all the reported foreign aid dollars this country distributes. That to a country that has a gross national product greater than those of Spain, Ireland and a host of other old countries.

With that kind of support comes leverage, but this country never has dared use the leverage. It's about votes. Our politicians are petrified.

Now we have an Israel gone berserk – not for the first time – and apparently controlled by those whose hatred of Arabs has tipped into madness, leading them to actions that inevitably will bring evil to their countrymen. It is not the first time that the abused have become abusers.

And we have an America ruled by right-wing fools who leap at every opportunity to start shooting and who seem to believe that, given enough explosives, they can impose their will on anybody. They do not set the stage for a “new Middle East” as the inane Condi Rice claims; they set the stage for more decades of chaos and mayhem, in the Middle East and probably in this country.

Hatred of this country is increasing at an enormous rate, by the way, as even most of the major corporate news outlets have admitted in recent days.

This is the very definition of insanity.

It could be stopped if our legislators showed any willingness to face up to Israel's supporters in this country and demand that Israel stop the wholesale slaughter. Peaceful coexistence can be brought to reality in that region, but first we have to rein in Israel's militarists, and to do that we have to let our government know that we want an end to the brutatlity, demand it, and show them that we are as determined as Israel's unquestioning supporters.

This article was taken from <a href="http://www.jamesclayfuller.com/">http://www.jamesclayfuller.com/</a>

[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on July 31, 2006]

In yesterday's Vancouver Province there was no mention of any deaths in Lebanon, only on the Israeli side. If you were to read the Province only you'd get the impression only the Israelis were suffering casualties.

It seems you have a strong disposition against Israel.

Reagrding the horror stories from Lebanon, while I have no doubt that many civilians are being hurt it is also true that the journalists that bring us these pictures are under strict control of Hezbollah as shown on cbc news and other sources. I do rememeber the 'Jenin Massacre' where Israel was condemned before the truth surfaced. This was is also a propaganda war and I do believe the Hezbollah understands that all too well.

What about a peacful prisoner exchange?
The chief prosoner the Hezbollah demands is Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese that murdered an Israeli man and his 4 year old daughter on Israeli soil.
Also, since Israel left Lebanon completely in 2000 it was attacked by Hezbollah in about two dozen incidents that left about 15 dead Israelis (not including the last attack). I think that surrendering to Hez demands this time would just lead to further escalation in the future.

Maybe if we broadcast Country and Western music: 
 
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116996/usercomments?start=100">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116996/usercomments?start=100</a>--- "We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We cannot have both." 
- Justice Louis Brandeis

"It seems you have a strong disposition against Israel." 
 
I have a strong disposition against any country that occupies others' land and then claims to be a victim. Take a look on the cover of the latest issue of Time magazine. How can any moral human being not be outraged at what Israel has done to Lebanon? Meanwhile Spiegel magazine is showing pictures of so called refugee camps in Israel where the residents who've fled Hezbollah shelling enjoy beach front accommodations with Yoga in the sand and DJ's hosting raves. You think the Lebanese enjoy this luxury? 
 
<a href="http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,428864,00.html">http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,428864,00.html</a> 
 
"Reagrding the horror stories from Lebanon, while I have no doubt that many civilians are being hurt it is also true that the journalists that bring us these pictures are under strict control of Hezbollah as shown on cbc news and other sources. I do rememeber the 'Jenin Massacre' where Israel was condemned before the truth surfaced. This was is also a propaganda war and I do believe the Hezbollah understands that all too well." 
 
Sure, of course Hezbollah has a propaganda machine but then so does Israel. As Mike Whitney on Global Research points out Israel has its own PR campaign strategy: 
 
1. Deny everything 
2 Blame the victim 
3. Create the appearance that Israel was just defending itself. 
 
Israel also has a 5 000 strong army of cyber stalkers combing the internet for any sites or chat rooms they can try and influence world opinion: 
 
<a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-2289232,00.html">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-2289232,00.html</a> 
 
If what they are doing is so moral and just why the need to have to dispatch people to try and make them believe what they are doing is right?

"Israel also has a 5 000 strong army of cyber stalkers combing the internet for any sites or chat rooms they can try and influence world opinion:"

Which 'may' ;-)

account for some of the recent members here

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We have met the enemy and he is us
Pogo
A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.
Plutarch

Take away the weapons of the Arabs, and you'll have peace.
Take away the weapons of Israel, and you'll have no Israel.
It is clear who started this, and it was not Israel. 500 Rockets fell on Israel today alone. I agree that no one in their right mind wants to see a violent war taking place. However, every nation has the right to defend itself.

The former BCTV, now GlobalTV station is surprisingly balanced on the subject, showing the damage and casualty figures on both sides, with the sufferings of the Lebanese innocents.

There's no question that both sides are led by fanatical maniacs with millions of people suffering on account of their madness. But then , this is what history and its constant repetions are about.

Talking about terrorism, I was traveling to England from Europe in 1948, just as the Israeli war was going on, and we were carefully examined, searched and questioned to make certain we were not Jews, fearing the influx of Israeli terrorists, like the Irgun Zwai Leumi etc. It is even shown in the movie "Exodus" with Sol Mineo as the explosives expert.

I wish there was a peaceful solution to this everlasting mess, but what's happening now certainly is going to make things worse and breed permanent conflict.

Ed Deak.

Timeline of the Second Jewish Holocaust:

1) Jews move to one geographical area of their own free will.

2) Throught the theft of land, and state sponsored terrorism, gain the eternal hatred of all of Israel's new neighbors. (A burglar in your home has no right to claim self defence.)

3) Wait until neighbors gain nuclear weapons.

4) Glass parking lot. Millions killed on both sides, dwarfing the entire second world war in casualties.

This it the way I see it heading. The details are irrelevant, this is the general trend. Unless something major changes, no small peace accord is ever going to make a difference. No buffer zone will avert this freight train. No cease-fire with Hezbollah will matter. No exchange of prisoners will solve the problem.

The only thing that will avert nuclear war for certain is to show justice to the Arab world. Disband Israel. It was created with a stroke of the pen, and that is how it should end. Carve off a piece of Germany, and let them live there in peace.

It can be done, if the great powers that created this finally see reason.

In "Informed Comment" Juan Cole suggests Israel has been planning this war for some time and that it was probably initiated from the office of Donald Rumsfeld. This is really a proxy war between the US and Iran with Israel doing the dirty work. It is very telling that neither Bush nor Blair is willing to call for a cease fire-they have a desired outcome. Lebanon now becomes another Iraq, another Afghanistan...etc..etc

---
Robert Billyard

Robert, add Harper to that mix, or as he is becoming known around the world and we should go with it - poodle jr. Papers outside the West are pouring scorn on Harper and Canada for our 'principled stand', as Harper's latest fundraising drive calls his position.

There will be no peace until Israel leaves the land it has stolen from others. It all begins and ends with Palestine. Don't expect the Conservatives to call for that, no, they are perfectly happy siding with one side over the other. They are perfectly happy to throw Canada into the minority among nations. The world now laughs at Britian and the United States and their leaders, and we are being slowly dragged into that.

All thanks to Stephen Harper and his band of merry idiots.

---
If there was ever a time for Canadians to become pushy - now is the time - for time is running out on this nation called Canada.

Israel's war is the undercard. As Israel bombs her neighbors, the US (and Canada) erode rights at home by caging peaceful protestors, stealing private lands, pressuring Amazon to drop the book "America Deceived" by E.A. Blayre III and illegally wire-tapping phones. Soon, the US (probably with Canada's approval) will invade Iran sending the entire Middle East into chaos. Mix in another false-flag attack on US soil (like 9/11) and the masses will beg for the 'safety' of One World Gov't. All courtesy of the Neo-cons, a weak Canada and Zionists. 
Last link (before Google Books caves to pressure): 
<a href="http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0">http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0</a>

More likely to invade Syria though.....the "paper tiger" of the Middle East.

Interesting thought. The Arab states are beginning to express a commonality of purpose. This has been heard before. However, their coffers have never been so full as they are now, and the US never so dependant on "external sources" of oil as it is now.

---
"We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We cannot have both."
- Justice Louis Brandeis

What I find amusing is that Dec.7 is still remembered in the USA as the Day of Infamy, yet, since then they've bombed, attacked and occupied dozens of countries and encourage their mentally deficient brethren to do the same, in the name of "globalized free market economic wealth creation".

When has a country last declared war, officially, on another ?
It must have been Hitler's empire.

Ed Deak.

Just as a side note to all of this, there was an intersting documentary on Frontline some time ago about the Kahanists, a radical right wing Israeli group that wishes to expel, violently, all Arabs from the Holy Land. You can watch it here: 
 
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/israel/view/">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/israel/view/</a>