Live and Let Live, I Say

Live and Let Live, I Say

In my democratic fashion, I'm for giving the other guy an even break. Jews and Arabs have a right to live. When a Jew killed my cat and two weeks later murdered my friend with 41 stab wounds, I came down on the killer with both feet. He got 7 years in the slammer [juvenile offender].
When the Palestinians fired 15 rockets on my town, I was glad to see my two sons doing a job on the offenders. The rocketeers deserved punishment just as my friend's killer.
The government doesn't have to pay me to protect my family from murderers.
I have the DNA Y-chromosome common to Syrians, Palestinians and Jews who live here. Jews built my house in 1948 on what was a Turkish factory parking lot.
There have been many Bible-burners who wanted us 'to fade into the past.' Ironically, we survived and they faded into the past. It's unwise to box with God.

Your Pitch is too Pat Like It Has Been Boilerplated

You might try to lighten up your approach a bit. Too well-written for a casual comment, there is too much hyperbole to be believed. For example, Jews built my house in 1948 on top of the parking lot for a long gone Turkish factory. I visited Gaza City in 1983. It was a pile of rubble then and hasn't changed since. Haifa Arabs have been squatting in unimproved Crusader forts for the past 500 years. I would have thought they would have added plumbing by now.

Hamas refuses to negotiate with Israel. Instead, they offer the one soldier they kidnapped in 2006 Gilad Shalit in exchange for many convicted felons. The last two soldiers we negotiated with Hezbollah came home in coffins.

Hamas broke into Palestinian homes to use the women as human shields and the children as suicide bombers. Such methods won the 'democratic' election for Hamas.

You see; a real democracy Israeli style involves free speech and secret ballots. There are many parties covering a full range of views. There are seven Arab/Israeli Parliamentarians who would probably agree with most items in your comment. If they walked around any Arab World country mouthing your words in English or [gasp] Hebrew, they would be beheaded for knowing too much history.

While you were blaming the Jews for your troubles, the world is passing you by. After alternate energy is adopted, fossil fuels and the economic benefits they bring will vanish. The next time the Iranians smuggle into Gaza 67 tons of weapons, they will demand payment in hard currency.

You Are Confused

You write there are no doves in Israel and then you state that Yigal Emir assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin because he had become a dove. This is a serious deviation from the Arab propaganda line. Syed will be displeased.

You are also confused. The Palestinians began hostilities in 2006 and 2008 and Hezbollah joined them. George Bush, Dick Cheney and many other war criminals say with you they follow Jesus. How does the Jewish Jesus deal with the evil-doers in his flock? Are the Born Again torturers forgiven by Jesus?

Why Does a Christian Denounce Peacemakers?

You write there are no doves in Israel and then you state that Yigal Emir assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin because he had become a dove. This is a serious deviation from the Arab propaganda line. Syed will be displeased.
You are also confused. The Palestinians began hostilities in 2006 and 2008 and Hezbollah joined them. George Bush, Dick Cheney and many other war criminals say with you they follow Jesus. How does the Jewish Jesus deal with the evil-doers in his flock? Are the Born Again torturers forgiven by Jesus?
The peace loving Israelis signed Peace Treaties with Jordan and Egypt. They now negotiate with the Syrians for peace. The extremists condemn all three neighbors for making peace with Israel. Why would a Christian denounce peacemakers?

When Your Confusion Ends Write Me a Postcard

Theologically, you are confused. The Christian Rapture is only for Evangelicals. Those 59 millions who voted for the Bush/Cheney won't see heaven.
Since the Cast Lead so-called cease fire, the Hamas has smuggled in 67 tons of missiles, guns and explosives.
Militarily, you are confused. The Palestinians crave attention and foreign aid. They think starting WWIII would achieve their aims, so they continue hostilities.

As Long as We Are Being Biblical

Have you ever been shot, knifed or bombed? That is reality. My mother cradled me in her arms an unconditional love. Twice more I experienced this. I saw my second son being born. They were miracles enough for a lifetime.
The rest of it is BS a few entertainments to pass the dull years between birth and death. How another man chooses to pass his time is his business, unless he tries to barge into my life. History is replete with one world idealists. Their insights spread to the masses, they melted into tyrannies, empires and worse. In one way or another they sought to make human beings grist for their mills.
They all fail some falling more interestingly than others. The Jews played this game once and almost took over the Roman Empire. Our loss taught us to handle our own lives and to stay out of harm's way.
There will always be a version of the Georgia Guidestones. That's reality the way of the world. Many times those in charge of the planet have tried to crush humanity not to allow the Jews to enjoy the future. When all the false idols of empire have crumbled into dust, the Jews will continue with the Bible.

Allegations Versus IDF Based on Hearsay

Military Police investigation on Rabin Center statements: Based on hearsay
(Communicated by the IDF Spokesperson)
The Military Advocate General, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit, decided to close the Criminal Investigation Department of the Military Police case of the statements made by soldiers at the Rabin Military Preparation Center about Operation Cast Lead. This decision was made after the Military Police investigation found that the crucial components of their descriptions were based on hearsay and not supported by specific personal knowledge. In particular, this includes the two alleged stories that raised suspicion of acts in which uninvolved non-combatants were fired upon.
Additionally, it was found that once the claims were checked, they were not supported by the facts as determined by the investigation.
The investigation was initiated by the Military Advocate General after reviewing claims made during a conference at the Rabin Military Preparation Center in which soldiers who participated in Operation Cast Lead were present. The Criminal Investigation Department of the Military Police was ordered to investigate the claims made, with an emphasis on the alleged firing at uninvolved non-combatants.
The investigation concluded from the soldiers who participated in the conference that the stories told were purposely exaggerated and made extreme, in order to make a point with the participants of the conference.
For example, the story in which a soldier was claimed to have been given orders to fire at an elderly woman was clarified during the investigation. In fact, the soldier witnessed no such thing, and was only repeating a rumor he had heard. In an unrelated investigation, it was found that in a similar incident, a woman, suspected as being a suicide bomber, approached an IDF force, which opened fired towards her after repeatedly trying to stop her from advancing.
This same soldier admitted that he had not witnessed the additional disrespectful and immoral incidents he had described during the conference.
A claim made by a different soldier who had supposedly been ordered to open fire at a woman and two children was also clarified as an incident that he had not witnessed. After checking the claim, it was found that during this incident a force had opened fire in a different direction, towards two suspicious men who were unrelated to the civilians in question.
During the Military Police investigation, two additional claims arose regarding improper conduct. These claims were separate from those made at the Rabin Military Preparation Center. It was found that these incidents do not raise suspicion of unjustified opening of fire. This finding is based on a debriefing which had occurred close to the time of one of the incidents and upon further investigation conducted by the Military Police.
It must be stated that during these investigations, the participants at the Rabin Center said that they had based their claims relating to the use of phosphorous munitions on what they had heard in the media and not on their personal knowledge.
The Military Advocate General, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit, concluded the findings of the Military Police investigation:
"It is unfortunate that none of the speakers at the conference was careful to be accurate in the depiction of his claims, and even more so that they chose to present various incidents of a severe nature, despite not personally witnessing and knowing much about them. It seems that it will be difficult to evaluate the damage done to the image and morals of the IDF and its soldiers, who had participated in Operation Cast Lead, in Israel and the world."
The IDF Spokesperson Unit wishes to stress that the Military Advocate General's conclusions refer solely to the investigations that focused on the transcripts of the Rabin Military Preparation Center conference, in addition to the two separate aforementioned claims. This investigation is additional and not a substitute for the investigations conducted on all levels of the IDF, following Operation Cast Lead.

Pat Oliphant: Republicans Respond

Palestinians Have Ceased to Exist for Jews

Palestinians Have Ceased to Exist for Jews

There is nothing interesting or new in the depiction of Palestinians -- they have no names, they don't speak, they are anonymous. But they are not simply faceless victims. Instead, the victims in the story that Waltz with Bashir tells are Israeli soldiers. Their anguish, their questioning, their confusion, their pain

Few Israelis talk to Palestinians. They rarely visit a Palestinian home except in uniform with a flack jacket and an assault rifle. With the wall we announced we didn't want visitors from the territories. Day laborers, ambulance drivers and freedom fighters were forbidden. If the wall ran in the middle of the street separating an Arab family, they had to walk a kilometer to a check point. After they passed security, they had to hike another kilometer to reach the relative's home just across the barrier.

Then, there was always the danger of losing your papers or answering the security guard's questions in an evasive or contradicting way. This could earn a night's stay in the lock-up adjacent to the check point. If the Police had a file on you, it could lead to an indefinite prison stay sometimes including investigation under torture.

This is an insult and a gross violation of human rights.

Moreover, the wall is 25 feet high reaching 40 in places. The Jew can pass a lifetime never seeing a Palestinian home or garden. If he avoids the center of the radio dial, he will never hear a word of Arabic. He thinks that humus, falafel and egg plant salad are Jewish dishes.

Ralph Ellison author of "The Invisible Man" could have written the following movie review.

"To say that Palestinians are absent in Waltz with Bashir, to say that it is a film that deals not with Palestinians but with Israelis who served in Lebanon, only barely begins to describe the violence that this film commits against Palestinians. There is nothing interesting or new in the depiction of Palestinians -- they have no names, they don't speak, they are anonymous. But they are not simply faceless victims. Instead, the victims in the story that Waltz with Bashir tells are Israeli soldiers. Their anguish, their questioning, their confusion, their pain -- it is this that is intended to pull us. The rotoscope animation is beautifully done, the facial expressions so engaging, subtle and torn, we find ourselves grimacing and gasping at the trials and tribulations of the young Israeli soldiers and their older agonizing selves. We don't see Palestinian facial expressions; only a lingering on dead, anonymous faces. So while Palestinians are never fully human, Israelis are, and indeed are humanized through the course of the film."

Naira Antoun, The Electronic Intifada, 19 February 2009

Psychic Pain Is a Symptom of Evil and not Evil Itself

Currently, the Arab World ignores the Palestinians fit only for lip service. Blockaded, they are cut off from the world. Israelis and Hamas won't sit at the same table.

The sides have endured 61 years of acrimony and strife. Do they have anything left to say?

Sanity Through Indifference

A graduate student 1967 through 1969, I saw my country go mad. Yet, I was the only one in my graduate school seminars who had shot a rifle in anger and who had made out an Income Tax Form.

Years later I met a former professor who looked back on those years as the best of his life. After Vietnam, he felt the loss of excitement, riots and burning buildings. My parents recalled the glories of summer, 1941. Rather than dread of the coming war, they danced to Artie Shaw's "Summit Ridge Drive" and Benny Goodman's 'Memories of You." People gathered to hear lectures and to listen to favorite radio shows. They spoke with interest and passion. They lived!

After I made Aliyah in 1983, I wondered how people could keep their sanity after 35 years of continuous war. Five months later I had enough Hebrew to understand Yom Shoah [Holocaust Day] 24 hours of movies, dramas and pictorials relating to that terrible era. The mental torment became physical pain, but I remained glued to the TV. I came to realize that many of us had gone at least a little bit mad. It's like being a doctor who has become de-sensitized to patient suffering and death. At some point every combat soldier thinks he will come home in a box. He accepts death and that is the moment he begins to live.

A human being only begins to live when he comes to grips with the inevitability of death. Then, he is free to go forward in life.

We don't hate the Palestinians. Essentially, we are indifferent to them. Our way of dealing with 61 years of war is to ignore the experience and the people who fought us.

Anymore, Israel doesn't stop dead for Holocaust Day. We are moving on to a new phase.

If the Palestinians insist on reliving the perpetual war years mired in blood and hatred, let them. We are neither our brother's keeper nor his slave. We have more important things to do.

I published an Electronic Intifada review of "Waltz with Bashir" that criticizes the director's ignoring the Palestinian characters. Naira Antoun is upset that he has nothing to do with them.

She will get used to it.

FILM REVIEW: "WALTZ WITH BASHIR"
By Naira Antoun, The Electronic Intifada, 19 February 2009

To say that Palestinians are absent in Waltz with Bashir,
to say that it is a film that deals not with Palestinians
but with Israelis who served in Lebanon, only barely
begins to describe the violence that this film commits
against Palestinians. There is nothing interesting or new
in the depiction of Palestinians -- they have no names,
they don't speak, they are anonymous. But they are not
simply faceless victims. Instead, the victims in the story
that Waltz with Bashir tells are Israeli soldiers. Naira
Antoun reviews the film for The Electronic Intifada.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10322.shtml

Palestinians Have Ceased to Exist for Israelis

Ms Naira Antoun has a right to be outraged. The Jews are not fit to be occupiers. Ehud Barak has often said, if he were a Palestinian he would have become a terrorist. Indeed, in the 1940's many Jews not serving in the British Eighth Army were terrorists.

The 1967 War marked a big change. The Israelis should have dropped the newly conquered territories like a hot rock. Those who did want to dump the territories needed at least a recognition of Israeli's right to exist. When this was not forthcoming