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Why is Israel such taboo, so untouchable and immune to criticism?
sliverstain
Posts: 340
WE ARE UNTOUCHABLE
The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily
Friday, 4, August, 2006 (10, Rajab, 1427)
By Tanya Hsu (*)
We are Israel. We are untouchable. No matter what we do the
international community will not act against us. Oh, there will be
talks at the United Nations but we know that the United States will
intervene on our behalf. There will be Arab League discussions but
we know that no state will take action against us. There will be
mass protests and demonstrations; there will be activists and
advocates begging for peace; there will be rallies and fundraisers to
help the targets of our bombs. And we know that nothing will make a
difference because we are Jews – we are victims of the Holocaust. We
have suffered such that we have the right to make the rest of the
world pay (even though organised Zionism officially declared war on
Germany in 1933, long before Hitler's Final Solution). Because we
are victims.
Yes, we know that peoples all over the world have suffered worse
crimes than ours, but they were not the Chosen People. We know that
over 22 million Russians were killed under Stalin, 15 million Chinese
killed by the Japanese, millions elsewhere in the world who suffer
the same fate in the bloodiest 20th century. We know that Zionism is
an athiest Marxist creation using Judaism as its weapon; that we were
founded upon terrorism and our leaders became Israel's prime
ministers and Nobel Peace Prize winners; that less than 10% of Jews
worldwide supported the Zionist cause for decades until WWII. We
know that the crimes committed by Hitler equally affected Communists,
gypsies, the handicapped, and political prisoners. That does not
matter - we are special. The rest of the world will not touch us
because they are terrified of the label "anti-Semite". World
leaders: terrified of this most glorious ad hominem even though we
are mostly not Semitic peoples. Jews of Israel, the Sephardim Jews,
were almost non existant when we arrived from Russia, Poland, Austria-
Hungary and elsewhere in the 20th century and demanded Arab land.
They had spread out and moved on. We did not come from Yemen,
Ethiopia or Iraq, but who cares? We are the victims and that is all
that counts.
Time and again we wonder at how far American gullibility will take
us. We push it to the limits on cable television and get away with it
repeatedly. We know that the majority of the world is aware we
blatantly lie when we express our "deepest regrets"
because "terrorists" were hiding in the villages we destroy. We even
have the gall to pick the precise same targets as a decade ago,
ignoring the cries of outrage from America and the West. We'll just
repeat the mantra "a tragic mistake". Honestly, we too are rather
surprised to see that America patiently sits back and buys our words
each time. We have trained our diplomats well, not only in the art of
deception to the media, but by using powerful strong arm behind the
scenes tactics to mold the views of US Congressmen and women in our
favour. We have worked on this for decades and it has been perfected
for the one place it counts: our bank America. We rely upon those
weapons; we need to create constant conflict so as to receive a
perpetual $13 billion annual aid package from the US, including
unsecured loans that we have never been, nor ever will be, required
to pay back. We are living a dream: what we want is given to us on a
silver patter because we are Jews, and we have the Holocaust.
The above is only daring in that it is never voiced publicly in the
West. The world is watching as Israel incinerates the Lebanese, next
the Syrians and Palestinians, then Iran. Diplomats call for peace, a
cease -fire, and negotiations. They speak the language of non
committance. It takes a few brave men and women in leadership
positions to dare to speak the truth; losing that AIPAC support in
government is the kiss of death, and academics who dare write the
facts know that their tenured careers are over. Israel is in the
position of dominating the US government to an extent never before
seen in history, creating a regime who will fully fund a "new Middle
East" which in reality means Eretz Israel consisting of Palestine,
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia and even Cyprus by some
accounts. There is nothing speculative about these plans for
hegemony – everything has been laid out, written down, and presented
for years.
This war will not end with a cease-fire next week. This war will not
end with a security zone controlled by the UN. This war will not end
if Hezbollah and Hamas disappeared tomorrow. This war will not end
as long as leaders and diplomats continue to fear the trump card
charge of anti-Semitism by Israel.
So when hundreds of children are torn apart by uranium tipped
missiles provided courtesy of the US government, look in the mirror.
Have you dared to offend Israel? Have you risked? Ask yourself what
role you may have played in contributing to this global disaster.
Nothing will change until you do.
(*)Tanya Cariina Hsu is a British Saudi-US Political Analyst. She
lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
AB
============
Very well said, IMHO. Spot on piece of political analysis. Zionism is known for its close links to Fascism, to the Nazis. THe genocide of the Jews is the model that is being used by the Israelis against the Palestinians. IMHO. Walls, fences, ghettos, different rules, lower standard of living, forced eviction from poverty and land, freezing of assets, mass arrests.
That was how the holocaust started.
Until it is safe to discuss the policies of a foriegn nation that wishes to wage war on a people, with our Governments consent, until we can discuss these issues without being labelled anti-semitic, unpatriotic, or traitorous, i hold that the ideal of freddom of speech is lost in the world of meda and investigative, honest journalism.
The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily
Friday, 4, August, 2006 (10, Rajab, 1427)
By Tanya Hsu (*)
We are Israel. We are untouchable. No matter what we do the
international community will not act against us. Oh, there will be
talks at the United Nations but we know that the United States will
intervene on our behalf. There will be Arab League discussions but
we know that no state will take action against us. There will be
mass protests and demonstrations; there will be activists and
advocates begging for peace; there will be rallies and fundraisers to
help the targets of our bombs. And we know that nothing will make a
difference because we are Jews – we are victims of the Holocaust. We
have suffered such that we have the right to make the rest of the
world pay (even though organised Zionism officially declared war on
Germany in 1933, long before Hitler's Final Solution). Because we
are victims.
Yes, we know that peoples all over the world have suffered worse
crimes than ours, but they were not the Chosen People. We know that
over 22 million Russians were killed under Stalin, 15 million Chinese
killed by the Japanese, millions elsewhere in the world who suffer
the same fate in the bloodiest 20th century. We know that Zionism is
an athiest Marxist creation using Judaism as its weapon; that we were
founded upon terrorism and our leaders became Israel's prime
ministers and Nobel Peace Prize winners; that less than 10% of Jews
worldwide supported the Zionist cause for decades until WWII. We
know that the crimes committed by Hitler equally affected Communists,
gypsies, the handicapped, and political prisoners. That does not
matter - we are special. The rest of the world will not touch us
because they are terrified of the label "anti-Semite". World
leaders: terrified of this most glorious ad hominem even though we
are mostly not Semitic peoples. Jews of Israel, the Sephardim Jews,
were almost non existant when we arrived from Russia, Poland, Austria-
Hungary and elsewhere in the 20th century and demanded Arab land.
They had spread out and moved on. We did not come from Yemen,
Ethiopia or Iraq, but who cares? We are the victims and that is all
that counts.
Time and again we wonder at how far American gullibility will take
us. We push it to the limits on cable television and get away with it
repeatedly. We know that the majority of the world is aware we
blatantly lie when we express our "deepest regrets"
because "terrorists" were hiding in the villages we destroy. We even
have the gall to pick the precise same targets as a decade ago,
ignoring the cries of outrage from America and the West. We'll just
repeat the mantra "a tragic mistake". Honestly, we too are rather
surprised to see that America patiently sits back and buys our words
each time. We have trained our diplomats well, not only in the art of
deception to the media, but by using powerful strong arm behind the
scenes tactics to mold the views of US Congressmen and women in our
favour. We have worked on this for decades and it has been perfected
for the one place it counts: our bank America. We rely upon those
weapons; we need to create constant conflict so as to receive a
perpetual $13 billion annual aid package from the US, including
unsecured loans that we have never been, nor ever will be, required
to pay back. We are living a dream: what we want is given to us on a
silver patter because we are Jews, and we have the Holocaust.
The above is only daring in that it is never voiced publicly in the
West. The world is watching as Israel incinerates the Lebanese, next
the Syrians and Palestinians, then Iran. Diplomats call for peace, a
cease -fire, and negotiations. They speak the language of non
committance. It takes a few brave men and women in leadership
positions to dare to speak the truth; losing that AIPAC support in
government is the kiss of death, and academics who dare write the
facts know that their tenured careers are over. Israel is in the
position of dominating the US government to an extent never before
seen in history, creating a regime who will fully fund a "new Middle
East" which in reality means Eretz Israel consisting of Palestine,
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia and even Cyprus by some
accounts. There is nothing speculative about these plans for
hegemony – everything has been laid out, written down, and presented
for years.
This war will not end with a cease-fire next week. This war will not
end with a security zone controlled by the UN. This war will not end
if Hezbollah and Hamas disappeared tomorrow. This war will not end
as long as leaders and diplomats continue to fear the trump card
charge of anti-Semitism by Israel.
So when hundreds of children are torn apart by uranium tipped
missiles provided courtesy of the US government, look in the mirror.
Have you dared to offend Israel? Have you risked? Ask yourself what
role you may have played in contributing to this global disaster.
Nothing will change until you do.
(*)Tanya Cariina Hsu is a British Saudi-US Political Analyst. She
lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
AB
============
Very well said, IMHO. Spot on piece of political analysis. Zionism is known for its close links to Fascism, to the Nazis. THe genocide of the Jews is the model that is being used by the Israelis against the Palestinians. IMHO. Walls, fences, ghettos, different rules, lower standard of living, forced eviction from poverty and land, freezing of assets, mass arrests.
That was how the holocaust started.
Until it is safe to discuss the policies of a foriegn nation that wishes to wage war on a people, with our Governments consent, until we can discuss these issues without being labelled anti-semitic, unpatriotic, or traitorous, i hold that the ideal of freddom of speech is lost in the world of meda and investigative, honest journalism.
The world's greatest empires progress through this sequence:From bondage to spiritual faith; spiritual faith to great courage; courage to liberty;liberty to abundance;abundance to selfishness; selfishness to complacency;complacency to apathy;apathy to dependence;dependency back again into bondage
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Can you stay on topic? Or is the only respnse you have?
A short answer. Because you post on them and resort to this. FLaming, insults, personal comments.
Do you agree withthe reports objectives>? Do you think the media have a right to discuss the countries involved WITHOUT being labelled anti-semite or racist?
Can you contribute to the point being made?
Again, what the fuck are you talking about?? I simply asked why threads were being locked like mad since you came around and you spin into me flaming and insulting you.
As to your article; it is completely antagonistic. It doesn't invite open discussion, and will only lead to more flaming. I'm curious as to why you re-posted it?
Why? Probably because you respond with an insulting post, then silverstain returns the favor. You both keep insulting each other with the same tired attacks over and over until the thread is locked. After the thread is locked, one of you will start another inflammatory thread for the sole purpose of pissing the other off, and it starts all over again, back and forth, IN ALL CAPS TO INDICATE YOUR ANGER, until the thread is locked again.
It's the internet equivalent of two chimpanzees throwing feces at each other.
For reasoned debate and discussion. Other thread was hijacked in th eusual "flaming and insult to close down method," one as old as the internet and message boards. If the post is not directly insulting or racist or hurtful, i wouild never have reposted. It is valid, so I reposted it.
Its a viewpoint many on here do not hear; the Arab one, the muslim one, the other side.
To understand a conflict, you have to see both sides, you have to understand why certain groups believe or hate in one thing, as opposed to the only one given to them by the media / Government line.
Of course it invites open discussion!! Take a line you do not agreew tih, quote it, oppose it with reasoning, and let the discussion begin !!
I m surprised there are so many insular people in this forum who do not wish to take in to concern the thoughts and hopes of who they perceive to be the enemy.
Have you heard about Harper being booed at the hiv/aids convention, booed for not beeing there
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
I have never insulted binauralsounds, or done of the things listed above. Period. I merely respond to unconstructive insulting and flaming in a fair and "balanced," somewhat "restrained" manner.
Call me the Israel of the Moving Train !!
binauralsounds lives for attention, lives for me. I feel flattered.
Harper is representing Alberta, no? So it must go like this. Straight, cows and then gays. No wonder he dosen't have the time to attend something like the HIV get together here in the city. He may not know that you don't have to be gay to catch this disease and this being one of the more important assemblies for HIV in the world that maybe the leader of the host nation may have something to say live at the convention.
Sorry for derailing the thread.
yeah ... i probably shouldn't comment on it in case i get accused of just finding more stuff to hate on the guy ...
Well then Silverstain, you must be some sort of superhero because you seem to be able to criticize them relatively easily.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
That is exactly the point of the article. Israel is often criticised, but there is rarely any action against them in the form of resolutions or otherwise, because the U.S protects Israel unconditionally.
What action would you like to see that Israel is "immune" to?
How about ALL UN resolutions passed against them being adhered too.
And then we can start on the ones that have been agreed by al member nations, and then vetoed by the US.
Sounds like a good start to me, sir.
What do you mean by "adhered too [sic]"?
Ok. What would that do?
Good question, actually.
Why? So the use of the UN to harass Israel can get some legitimacy? Doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
The UN harasses Israel?
Could you please expand. Interesting premise.
Yeas they are. Maybe not on threads such as this, or even on such things as the BBC's 'have your say' section where members of the public are allowed to post their comments on various topics. However, in the mainstream media there is never any direct criticism of Israel. I live in England where the news media is a lot less restricted and censured than in the U.S and yet I can't recall ever hearing anyone on the t.v criticising Israel. A few of our newspapers - The Independent, The Guardian - often criticise Israel and discuss it's crimes against it's neighbours, but I've never heard anyone on the t.v, or on the BBC News website do the same. I think Chomsky is right in saying that there is a democratic deficit - a huge gap between public opinion and public policy. It's often amazing to read the opinions of people on the 'have your say' section on the BBC News website and compare it to the softened, pro-Israel biased main page articles.
JUAN GONZALEZ: I would like to ask you, in terms of this whole issue of democracy, in your book you talk about the democracy deficit. Obviously, the Bush administration is having all kinds of problems with their -- even their model of democracy around the world, given the election results in the Palestinian territories, the situation now in Iraq, where the President is trying to force out the Prime Minister of the winning coalition there, in Venezuela, even in Iran. Your concept of the democracy deficit, and why this administration is able to hold on in the United States itself?
NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, there are two aspects of that. One is, the democracy deficit internal to the United States, that is, the enormous and growing gap between public opinion and public policy. Second is their so-called democracy-promotion mission elsewhere in the world. The latter is just pure fraud. The only evidence that they're interested in promoting democracy is that they say so. The evidence against it is just overwhelming, including the cases you mentioned and many others. I mean, the very fact that people are even willing to talk about this shows that we're kind of insisting on being North Koreans: if the Dear Leader has spoken, that establishes the truth; it doesn't matter what the facts are. I go into that in some detail in the book.
The democracy deficit at home is another matter. How have -- I mean, they have an extremely narrow hold on political power. Their policies are strongly opposed by most of the population. How do they carry this off? Well, that's been through an intriguing mixture of deceit, lying, fabrication, public relations. There's actually a pretty good study of it by two good political scientists, Hacker and Pierson, who just run through the tactics and how it works. And they have barely managed to hold on to political power and are attempting to use it to dismantle the institutional structure that has been built up over many years with enormous popular support -- the limited benefits system; they’re trying to dismantle Social Security and are actually making progress on that; to the tax cuts, overwhelmingly for the rich, are creating -- are purposely creating a future situation, first of all, a kind of fiscal train wreck in the future, but also a situation in which it will be virtually impossible to carry out the kinds of social policies that the public overwhelmingly supports.
And to manage to carry this off has been an impressive feat of manipulation, deceit, lying, and so on. No time to talk about it here, but actually my book gives a pretty good account. I do discuss it in the book. That's a democratic deficit at home and an extremely serious one. The problems of nuclear war, environmental disaster, those are issues of survival, the top issues and the highest priority for anyone sensible. Third issue is that the U.S. government is enhancing those threats. And a fourth issue is that the U.S. population is opposed, but is excluded from the political system. That's a democratic deficit. It's one we can deal with, too.
What? I've seen numerous reports of massacres by Israel in the last two weeks. I've seen numerous reports detailing the words of politicians and pundits condemning Israel's actions. Certainly the mainstream media rarely supports the actions of Hezbollah or terrorist groups and often in turn portray Israel as more of a victim than they are, but to pretend that nothing critical of Israel ever hits the mainstream media is ludicrous.
Ok. I can't speak to that, but I've certainly heard people critical of Israel on the BBC's broadcasts here in the States.
Ok. So then there are media outlets that do criticize Israel.
I think your problem and Chomsky's problem is the gab between your opinions and public policy. I cannot speak for England, but here in the States there is much more support for Israel among the general population than there is support for Israel's enemies.
Taken from an earlier post by WindNoSail:
OUT OF 175 UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS UP TO 1990, 97 WERE AGAINST ISRAEL; OUT OF 690 GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIONS, 429 WERE AGAINST ISRAEL
Put into a world context, this is sheer harassment. Yes, Israel has done many things that deserve to be addressed in the UN. However, MANY nations are guilty of wartime atrocities, occupying territory "illegally", etc. Why is Israel so disproportionately targeted in the UN? Its a joke. Where are the 400 plus resolutions against the Arabs in Sudan who are committing genocide? Or against the Hutus in Rwanda back in the late 90s? Or against the Indonesians for military repression of East Timor? This is laughable. The UN is being incredibly selective here. Israel is one nation. It does not merit this much attention ... The Muslim world uses the UN to harass the Israelis, and European nations let this happen.
I am not trying to portray Israel as some totally innocent victim, either, so let's keep this rational. All I am saying is that the UN takes a biased approach to Israeli-Arab issues, while it sweeps other pressing concerns under the rug (especially when said pressing concerns involve Muslim nations, like Sudan or Indonesia).
So basically, your beef is that not all newspapers are biased against Israel? Stick to the Guardian, then. They've been doing a bang-up job of singing Hizbollah's praises these days.
You shouldnt just focus on how many...take into account exactly how many get passed?????
How many get vetoed by the USA????
Yes there is an abundance of resolutions but how many get passed? Based on how many actually see the next stage I will say Israel is far from being harassed....as for the other nations I am on the same page as you...I just think the US has been protecting Israel from the UN too much in SOME circumstances.....
Since the UN was established in 45, I think, almost 60% of all sanctions handed down have been against Israel. Its something like 450 out of 700. Harassment? You be the judge.
Maybe they were deserved....just a hunch....let see the details on what they entitle....instead of just showing numbers.... I would like to see the details....
The US veto is probably a good thing in at least some of these cases, though. If you look at the text of these resolutions, a lot of them deserve to be vetoed, and even non-American member nations have voted against some of the more extreme examples.
As is often the case, a balance needs to be struck. Perhaps the U.S. is too "veto-happy". Perhaps it would be less so if the quality of the resolutions was better.
I will see what I can dig up.
Sounds fair enough...instead of looking at numbers we should look at the details of the resoluton and see what sort of substance exists....