Mondoweiss

2009, looming

I'm running off to festivities. It's a happy new year in the U.S.--but not in Israel and Palestine! Thanks to all my readers, thanks to all the commenters, thanks to all my contributors, thanks to all my friends. Thanks to Adam Horowitz for his cool logical presence in the last few weeks. I'm wishing for largeness of spirit in the year to come. In myself, in my chill president, in the Israelis, in the Palestinians too. Despite the horrors of the last week, their cause has moved very far in the last year. I think a lot of their advocates are praying right now that they show nobility, with the eyes of the world on 'em. Gotta start the car!

If the article says 'the war is wrong' 6 times, why is the headline 'Darkness in Qassam-land'?

Once again the American press can't deal with sharp criticism of Israel. Here's a piece in the Washington Post by Julie Chaitin, an Israeli living in the Negev, who teaches social work. The headline is "Darkness in Qassam-Land." 

This war is wrong. It is wrong because it cannot achieve its manifest goals -- long-term "normal" life for the residents of the Negev region. The war is morally wrong because most of the victims are Palestinian and Israeli civilians whose only "crime" is that they live in Negev or Gaza. This war is wrong because it is not heading toward a viable solution of the conflict but is instead creating more hatred and greater determination on the part of both peoples to harm one another. It is wrong because it is leading to stronger feelings that we have nothing to lose by striking further, with greater force. This war is wrong because...

re the bombing of Islamic University

The great Jeff Halper and Neve Gordon ask in the Chronicle of Higher Ed, Where's the outrage over the bombing of Islamic University? What about the 450 university officials who denounced the academic boycott of Israel--why aren't they speaking out here?

While the extent of the damage to the Islamic University, which was hit in six separate airstrikes, is still unknown, recent reports indicate that at least two major buildings were targeted, a science laboratory and the Ladies’ Building, where female students attended classes. There were no casualties, as the university was evacuated when the Israeli assault began on Saturday.

American street, and American elite

Here's Obama's transition website, where Americans are urged to ask questions. Reports a friend:

You will see in the Foreign Policy link, almost all the questions were related to the bombardment of Gaza and in general, asking him to do something about changing the US's skewed favoritism of Israel.

Meanwhile, the Meet the Press lineup for Sunday:

"Plus, the fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. When will it end? What role should the United States play in this conflict and what other foreign policy challenges await President-elect Obama in 2009? Insights and analysis from our roundtable of journalists: NBC's Richard Engel, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, BBC  World News America's Katty Kay, Al-Arabiya's Hisham Melhem, and NBC's Andrea Mitchell.

David Gregory is the moderator of "Meet the Press." Betsy Fischer is the executive producer. Michelle Jaconi and Rebecca Samuels are producers.

Do I wish there were fewer Jews convened at that table (I count 4 out of 6 participants) and more Arabs? Yes. Do I wish Jews would come to terms with Zionism/ethnocentrism in light of our amazing power in America? Yes. (Thanks to Saif Ammous and CJ Harwood)

finally, some boycott talk

A british telecommunications firm has severed its Israel contract over Gaza.

Jews are wringing their hands over Madoff--what about Gaza?

Here's Adam Horowitz on Huffpo, leaping off from the fact that a Connecticut rabbi wants to excommunicate Bernie Madoff for his damage to the Jews. Ok. But where's the soul searching over Gaza? The occupation? The neocons?

How to think about the missiles that terrorize Sderot, by Adam Horowitz, who's been there

Adam Horowitz writes:

Today the Christian Science Monitor has a piece by Alan Dershowitz defending Israel's actions. I could respond to his article point by point, but it's really just the same justifications for collective punishment that he and other Jewish luminaries have been offering for decades. In a tired tradition, Dershowitz tries to blame the Palestinians for making Israel kill them - "The firing of rockets at civilians from densely populated civilian areas is the newest tactic in the war between terrorists who love death and democracies that love life." Golda Meir articulated this sentiment most famously and succinctly after the 1967 war: "When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons."

The one piece of the Dershowitz article that is worth responding to is his comments on Sderot: "The residents of Sderot were demanding that their nation take action to protect them," which he takes as a demand that Israel obliterate Gaza.

Like Dershowitz I've been to Sderot: a year ago in November, 2007. Like him, I saw the devastating effect of the missiles from Gaza. Even though there had not been deaths from these rockets in recent memory at that time, it was clear that the missiles had inflicted an incredible mental impact, as I am sure you can imagine. The people of Sderot who I met wanted an end to the missiles, and an end to the conflict--as much as any Israeli I met--but they also understood that militarism will not protect them.

Unlike Dershowitz, the people I met with were not calling for war, they were calling for negotiation. They knew that they would be the ones to catch the brunt of an attach on Gaza, not Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem. Even an IDF commander I met told me, off the record, "The Qassams are like stones, there is no way to stop them. The only way is negotiation." My experience has been affirmed by the people of Sderot itself. Read the text of this petition signed by hundreds of Sderot's residents at jews sans frontieres. From the petition:

Is pathetic Durbin statement a harbinger of Obama stance?

Here's the senior senator from Illinois, a good liberal. Email sent out by aide Max Gleischman. And if you think I'm not noticing the Jews, you'd be wrong.

DURBIN STATEMENT ON THE SITUATION IN GAZA Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement today, on the deteriorating situation in Gaza:
 "I understand and support Israel's defense of its borders from rocket attacks by Hamas.
"This defense has led to an escalation of violence and more death and suffering by innocent people on both sides. This crisis can only end with a ceasefire and honest negotiations for peace.
"The Palestinian people deserve leadership that is committed to bringing an end to this violence."

I asked Adam Horowitz how to think about this: "This is blaming the victim bs. When will someone make a statement that ends: 'The Israeli people deserve leadership that is committed to bringing an end to this violence.'"

Gaza is 'undoing' the Jews

Today I got an email from a Jewish friend saying No, no, no, (Amy Winehouse style) Obama should not have let a Jew speak for him on Gaza-- David Axelrod making the evasive Gaza statement of Sunday. Didn't know what to think about it. Boy, he's harder on Jews than I am? Then I just read this from the great Sara Roy, in the Christian Science Monitor:

Gaza shows growing power of internet, and Marty Peretz knows it

Jack Ross sent along this piece attacking Marty Peretz's rebarbative response to young Jewish online journalists who are enraged by Gaza. Peretz called the kids selfhating Jews, or words to that effect: "hatred of their inheritance." (Son, here is your inheritance: kill Arabs.) Jack recommended it because it underlines one of the great themes of the Gaza Slaughter: the ways in which the internet, which grows in power by the day, is not fertile soil for the Israel lobby. Peretz knows that, Jack says, and is resorting to the usual answer to innovation, sorcery.