The thing is, that while theyre wrong, theyre not always completely wrong. Criticism of Israel does take on a special tone of hatred and contempt that draws on the same poisoned well as attacking Jewish slumlords as Jews, or singling out the Jewishness of one group of developers out to build an exclusive luxury resort on Puerto Ricos coast, while never mentioning the religion of the many Christian developers. Israel is a colonial country with a strong right wing nationalist ideology that does what such regimes do, and its not any better or worse than other colonial regimes with right wing nationalist ideologies. Yes, its critical that those who love justice stand up for the human rights and sovereignty of Palestinians and their Jewish Israeli allies, but there is no contradiction between doing so and also standing up for Israeli Jews, jammed into the deadliest middle agent role in our history. Israel needs to be pressured toward integrity, economic and political justice, and respect for human rights, in exactly the same way that the Congo needs to be pressured, that tortured country where millions have died in wars over the precious metal that makes our cell phones work, and the legacy of Belgian colonial rule, known for its extreme brutality, is reenacted every day between Congolese people.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:55:01 +0000
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