Sunday, January 04, 2009
Shema Yisrael or Shame on Israel
Shame on Israel for what it is doing in Gaza. For the unjustified -- disproportionate -- response to Hamas, for the indiscriminate killing of civilians and destruction of homes, shame on Israel, and shame on major powers, especially America, for unequivocally supporting Israel. A lot of the hardware being used by the Israeli military is supplied by the United States. The military industrial complex at its nefarious best.
It has become quite clear that President-elect Obama's position about the Middle East will not be substantially different than one followed by President Bush. No American politician, Democrat or Republican, is immune to the pervasive influence of AIPAC. As to Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, and Tzipi Livni, call them sorority sisters. Two of them have bloody hands; the other one will soon dip her hands.
It has become quite clear that President-elect Obama's position about the Middle East will not be substantially different than one followed by President Bush. No American politician, Democrat or Republican, is immune to the pervasive influence of AIPAC. As to Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, and Tzipi Livni, call them sorority sisters. Two of them have bloody hands; the other one will soon dip her hands.
Anyone remembers UN Resolution No.242 ? See the article Still Waiting for No.242 by Paul Foot in Guardian.co.uk, November 13, 2002.
AFP - January 4, 2008 Moawiya Hassanein, head of Gaza medical emergency services, told AFP the number of Palestinian killed since the Israeli operation was launched on December 27 had now passed 500, including 87 children. Israel launched the air campaign against Gaza on Dec. 27 with the aim of halting incessant rocket fire on its south. The operation appears to have slowed but not halted the rocket fire. Hundreds of rockets have hit Israel since the offensive began, and four Israelis have been killed. The relatively low number of Israeli casualties is largely due to warning sirens that give residents notice of incoming missiles and allow them to take cover. The death toll in Gaza has outraged many. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon conveyed his "extreme concern and disappointment" to Olmert and called for an "immediate end" to the operation. Denunciations also came from the French government, which unsuccessfully proposed a two-day truce earlier this week, and from Egypt, Turkey and Jordan, Muslim nations with ties to Israel. |
The late Yehuda Amichai on war
"A POEM THAT I WROTE IN A HIGH FEVER"
You who are lengthening your lives
with the best doctors and best medicines
remember those who are shortening their lives
with the war
that you in your long lives are not
preventing.
You who are again screwing
the younger generations
and winking at each other
the winking of your eyelids
is like chill of the swinging shutters
in an empty house.
---Yehuda Amichai (translated from Hebrew by Leon Wieseltier)
