Posts Tagged ‘Gaza’

As a child, I loved the Disney film “Bambi” and I loved the skunk, Flower, and the bunny, Thumper. Thumper’s mom had a rule about talking: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Well, that really WOULD shut us all up, wouldn’t it?

But although I spend time reading news and looking for something good, there is very little good news out there. A man went crazy in England, drove about with his shotgun shooting people and killed a dozen. The oil spew in the Gulf continues, and the toxins being used to try getting it out of sight are poisoning the Gulf worse. BP won’t allow workers to wear breathing gear to protect themselves from the effects—cause, you know, that looks bad. Not much upswing from last month’s news, is it? And it gets worse, the SCOTUS basically made your Miranda Rights worthless-—unless you invoke for yourself, you are WAIVING said rights. Hello, police state!

And another ship full of aid materials and pissed off activists is on its way to Gaza to break the Israeli blockade. I don’t see this ending well, but the “Rachel Corrie” is enroute. I don’t know if the Turkish Navy is really escorting this vessel or not; but in the interests of both sides, I hope cooler heads prevail this time. The only good thing I can say, all Thumper ruled? Pray, light candles….hope a sufficient number of folks stop acting crazed soon. And no, I am not only speaking of British taxi drivers with guns. There has been more than enough crazy to go ’round; must be viral.

I have been keeping at least slightly abreast of the news in Israel and Gaza of late.  It is fairly depressing and angering.  The long and short of it is, though Hamas has legally elected representatives, Israel refuses to work or talk to them.  Part of the reason was Hamas did not recognize the state of Israel as a legal entity.

So, Jimmy Carter, (and tho’ I am neither Christian or Catholic anymore, the man should be a saint) went to Israel to try being a peacemaker again.  Israel snubbed him badly, refusing a former US President so much as a security team.  In spite of this, he went to Gaza, over the Israeli protestations, and got Hamas to agree to recognize the state of Israel.  Not, apparently what Israel really wanted—they still won’t negotiate with Hamas.

And further, they continue to cut food shipments; Gaza is already getting far less than will sustain the population—only 2/3 of food needs are being met.  So, they are starving the residents of Gaza, as once the Germans starved the residents of the Warsaw Ghetto?  Israel, to the Palestinians they dispossessed to create the state of Israel, is behaving as badly as Germany did—-only the short step to out and out genocide remains.  And they “warned” the Gazans, even using the word “shoah”….warned them OF a “holocaust”—why didn’t the word freeze in the throat of the man saying it?
Which brings me to us, us as in U.S.  We use a similarly dangerous rhetoric to describe our enemies in this continuing  “war on terror”….dehumanizing those we battle and pursue.  They ARE people, people with grievances that we do not wish to acknowledge or address.  Much like the inhabitants of Gaza, whose issues Israel is not willing to acknowledge or address?

And yes, both the residents of Gaza and some of those we are engaging use methods that don’t appear in rule books.  But then, some of OUR methods, and Israel’s methods don’t appear in those vaunted books either.  Here is the simple thing: If you reduce people to desperation and do not treat them as humans, they will act desperately inhuman.  We create our enemies and shape them by our own choices and actions.

Seventy years or so ago, Nazi Germany began the eradication of the Jews with the shock that was “Crystal Night”…..and ever since, the cry of the Israelis and their sympathizers (including me!) has been “Never Again!”  But I was wrong in that cry, because it IS in progress again.

Those starving, dying, fighting, exploding are simply not Jews this time.  The Israelis are being shaped into duplicates of their own murdering oppressors.  As America continues to prosecute a war based on lies, what are WE being shaped into, don’t you ever wonder?