Israel Has Lost Its Mind—and Its Soul

[Better Believe It]

Israel Has Lost Its Mind—and Its Soul
By Matthew Rothschild
Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive magazine.
June 1, 2010

Israel long ago lost its mind—and its soul. That’s what occupation does to the occupier. Now we are merely witnessing the violent spasms of the irrational.

You cannot attack a humanitarian relief ship in international waters and kill at least 10 people and get away with it.

And Israel isn’t getting away with it.

Its act of lawless aggression against the Gaza relief ship, which resulted in the deaths of at least 10 civilians, has sparked international outrage.

Protests have erupted all over the world.

Some of the largest have been in Turkey, where most of the people on the flotilla were from. Turkey used to be Israel’s best ally in the Muslim world.

You can forget about that now.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan denounced the act as a “bloody massacre” and as “state terrorism.”

And what did our President say?

Virtually nothing, even though there were American citizens aboard the ship that Israel attacked.

In a written statement, Obama expressed “deep regret” at the loss of life, but he didn’t name Israel as the aggressor. In fact, his only specific mention of Israel was to say that it’s treating some of the wounded in Israeli hospitals.

With this assault, Israel may finally have lost any hope of finding its moral compass or restoring its reputation. The invasion of Gaza seventeen months ago was a war crime. The embargo of Gaza is a war crime—an act of collective punishment causing astronomical levels of poverty, malnutrition, and joblessness.

It was this embargo that the flotilla was trying to break. The ships were carrying 10,000 tons of medicine, food, and building materials, along with toys and chocolate for the children of Gaza.

Read the full article at:

http://www.progressive.org/wx060110.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LeftishBrit]

5. And how many other independent states would you also not have wanted to be created?

[phantom power]

6. I'd consider that on a case-by-case basis.

[Dutch]

22. Perhaps you could fill us in on your logic?

I'd hate to speculate on the mental processes that lead you to single out the Israelis as a people who have no right to exist.

[Better Believe It]

15. Created out of and by destroying another nation? My answer would be none.

[Dutch]

19. Presumably you'd include the USA in that?

[LeftishBrit]

23. How about the Partition of India and Pakistan?

[FBI_Un_Sub]

26. Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

(there are "official texts" in many state archives, the Library of Congress, and the State Department, inter alia) gives "mexicans" who are either

1. Of "Native American" ancestry, or
   
2. resided in the "subject territories" before the Spanish-American war

the absolute right, in perpetuity, to cross and recross the US-Mexican border and to live in the US.

We really tore up Mexico.

[Dutch]

21. So you'd have just told all those Jews to set up house outside the concentration camp walls?

And by the way, 'you' didn't create Israel, the people of Israel did. In doing so they created the middle east's freest, most democratic state- an act you apparently regret.

[DJ13]

2. Our politicians are in a bad spot

Tell the truth and lambast Israel for being murderers, or take AIPAC's money and stay quiet.

Tough spot........

[wingnut40]

3. Why did they try to get the aid through on the boats and not go through Egypt?

[movonne]

7. I love your user name...

:sarcasm:

[wingnut40]

8. im confused?

[wingnut40]

9. I now get what you mean. but you assumed and were wrong.

The wingnut part is for the Detroit Red Wings. im from MI and love the Red Wings. Look it up, us wings fans call ourselves wingnuts. and the 40 is for Henrik Zetterberg who is my favorite player.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. go hawks.

(Sorry!, but it has been SOOOOOO long since we had a good team)

[wingnut40]

11. lol i can give that one to ya. Ill be watching tonight with a friend who lives here

in MI but was born in Chicago. He is letting me know you guys have a good team!

[Taverner]

4. For the record, Israel DID have a soul once

Just see "Exodus"

But yes, it has lost it...

[EFerrari]

12. Let's not confuse the hard insane right wing Israeli government

with the people of Israel.

[Taverner]

14. +1000

[applegrove]

16. Yup.

[demoleft]

20. exactly. but i'm still waiting for a reaction from the people against the government on this. n/t

[LeftishBrit]

24. Peace Now are organizing a demo for June 5th about this, together with Meretz and Hadash

http://peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=182

[ladjf]

13. I don't know why, but the leadership in Israel seems to be doing

everything possible to assure that someday some Muslim Country or Countries will successfully wipe
them out. If I were a Jew living in Israel,I'd be moving to a safer place.

[Arrowhead2k1]

17. Exactly. You can only humiliate a people so long before they figure

out a way to come back with avengence. Just ask the Jewish people.

One day, maybe not in our lifetimes, the balance of power may shift towards the vast number of Muslims. And if many of them keep being relentlessly humiliated and oppressed as things get worse... well, let's just say the chickens might eventually come home to roost.

[FBI_Un_Sub]

18. You asked/suggested

"If I were a Jew living in Israel,I'd be moving to a safer place.".

The US was cut off to the Jews of Europe -- with a vengeance by the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924. This acted limited real time immigration to a percentage of the 1890 population (before there were sizable Jewish or Italian populations in the US). That remained the law until well after WW2.

The US has always been a xenophobic - racist - Tea Bagger nation. Arizona is not unique. The Latinos are not unique.

[ladjf]

25. I didn't have any specific place in mind to move to if I were a Jew.

My point was that Israel is such a small geographic size with a very dense population. That makes them highly vulnerable to small, but potent, WMD's.

[azurnoir]

27. so is your claim the the US is antisemetic?

hmmm interesting you do realize that in 1924 there were also Jim Crow laws, the KKK ran a few states, and well things were a bit different

[FBI_Un_Sub]

28. Not specifically anti-semitic

just generically xenophobic --- like Arizona.

[TheKentuckian]

29. So, if you were Israel what would you do?

[FBI_Un_Sub]

30. The competition was the Soviet's Birobidzan

See

• Jewish Autonomous Oblast
  
• Birobidzhan
  

Never caught on in the DP Camps of Europe. See, for example Displaced Persons Camps