Are We the Baddies? 23 November 2023 As an American Jew, I was brought up with Zionism as the “of course” way of thinking. “Of course” the Jewish people need a state of our own because our history shows that we’re not safe anywhere in the world as “outsiders,” as “others.” And “of course” that state must be established in the Land of Israel, our ancient ancestral homeland. This was simply a given. It’s our Manifest Destiny. And in the days of my youth, back in the 1970s, Zionism could be seen as actually progressive. Its government had been almost exclusively Labor for its entire existence up to that point; indeed, for most of its first decade, leadership was contested between the 2nd and 3rd Internationals,1 before the 2nd International gained the definitive upper hand in the 50s. Its most powerful institutions were the Histadrut, the union federation that owned a good chunk of the nation’s means of production; the kibbutzim, a utopian socialist experiment in collectively owned farms (which also include light industry – the kibbutz I went to had a factory stamping tire treads for Mercedes-Benz); and of course the military, of which every adult citizen (with some key exemptions) is either an active member or a reservist subject to mobilization at any time, with the underlying idea that we’re all in this together equally. It was only in the late 1970s that Likud – the right-wing party with its origins in the fascist2 Irgun militia of the 1930s-40s – took power, and for the following decade Likud traded and/or shared power with Labor; the Israeli left was still strong, and there was even a peace movement that offered hope. So I was a Zionist even as I grew up and became a leftist (rather than merely a liberal as I’d been raised), seeing no inherent contradiction there. Zionism was “the national liberation movement of the Jewish people” and, as noted above, in many ways Israel was a “socialist” state. We just needed to sort out a mutually acceptable peace with the Palestinians to make everything OK. Then the anti-apartheid movement kicked off in the mid-1980s and I got deep into it – arguing at every mention of Israel’s intimate partnership with South Africa that we shouldn’t talk about that –for a full year. (I actually made the cover of the campus Jewish student magazine among a group celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut that first year.) Those debates made me think more deeply about what I’d taken for granted, but I kept standing my ground. It was only when I saw a documentary from South Africa, interviewing people from all different backgrounds all over the country, and saw an Afrikaner defending apartheid using the exact same rhetoric – often word-for-word – as I’d been given to use in defense of Zionism, that I got the necessary kick to the head to change my mind. The next year, I was writing our first leaflet in support of the intifada. In the decades since then, Israel’s political scene has continued its steady march to the right. Likud – a far-right party by any objective evaluation of its ideology and history – has become the center. Parties even further to the right, spouting outright fascist and genocidal rhetoric out loud as their official platforms, wield outsized influence, while the “left” is nowhere to be seen. Whatever “progressive” cover Israel might have had in the past has long since been discarded; only the complete ignorance of developments in Israel by the outside world (thanks to the silence of the makers of public opinion) has maintained that illusion here. Ironically, while establishment and mainstream Jewish support for Israel and Zionism has been unwavering, it’s been diaspora Jews who have been paying closer attention to these developments than most of our neighbors who have become increasingly uncomfortable with the whole thing, forming organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace (of which I’m a member, but not a spokesperson). The Israeli & Zionist response has been to label us as “self-hating Jews” and employ their propaganda and intelligence apparatus against us to an even greater degree than they do against actual antisemites.3 And in an even more ironic twist, the leadership of Israel – founded on the basis that the Jews of the world need our own state to protect us in case fascism rises up again in Europe – are embracing European fascist rulers and parties as their closest ideological compatriots, while in the USA their most consistent, uncritical and valued support comes from the Christian evangelical far-right, whose support for Israel is based on their interpretation of their Book of Revelation that sees us all going to Hell once we’ve fulfilled our part of their “prophecy.” This is the inevitable outcome of the inherent contradiction between the progressive aspirations of the early leftist Zionists and the settler-colonial project they’d embarked on to achieve those aspirations: Socialism for Jews; dispossession, wage slavery and destitution for the Palestinians.4 And the whole idea of a “two-state solution,” with a fully sovereign Palestinian state on the land occupied by Israel since 1967, was never anything to Israel but a stalling tactic. In the West Bank, Israel has consistently, cynically proceeded to establish “facts on the ground” with ever-increasing and ‑expanding “settlements” (a word that invokes images of small villages, not the major urban developments they are) and settlers-only roads connecting them, dividing and subdividing and choking and shrinking the area under “Palestinian sovereignty.” Meanwhile, Gaza was sealed off and placed under a state of permanent siege. In both cases, the obvious, and not infrequently spoken aloud, aim of eliminating them altogether and incorporating the entire territory into a Greater Israel. (That’s the moderate position; the extremists want to take it all the way to the Euphrates.) At this moment, right before our eyes, the Zionist settler-colonial project seems to be reaching its logical conclusion: the complete dispossession of the Palestinian people of their land, and insofar as possible, the outright elimination of the Palestinian people themselves. In a word, genocide. Right out in the open, and proclaimed in those terms by government and military officials and the people in the street. At what point will my fellow diaspora Jews receive that kick to the head that makes them reconsider their dearly-held narrative of a “Jewish homeland” to finally earnestly ask themselves, “Are we the baddies?” I fear that if this doesn’t happen soon, and very soon, it’ll be too late. --written by David Campbell 1 The USSR was the first country to recognize it in the UN, and the “War of Independence” was fought largely with Czechoslovakian weapons. 2 …as in, they trained under Mussolini. 3 When the ADL/SFPD sub rosa intelligence operation of the 1980s was exposed in the 1990s, I had been a member of three organizations on their list. 4 I recall, even as a Zionist, being disappointed when I went to kibbutz and found they were hiring Palestinians to do the shit work for shit pay – the idea that Palestinians should be included in the “workers collectively owning the means of production” thing was weird to them.
Speaking Likud's fascism, it was they who made alliances with apartheid South Africa resulting in: The Vela Incident (1979): A "double flash" detected by an American satellite (the Vela satellite) in the South Atlantic Ocean is widely believed to have been a nuclear test conducted by South Africa with Israeli assistance.
It would be more accurate to say that Corrie was murdered by Evergreen State College near Olympia Washington. Don't sit in front of bulldozers unless you know for sure the driver can see you. Better yet, just don't sit in front of bulldozers regardless the driver can see you or not.
Live updates LIVE: Israel kills 62 in a day despite reports of Gaza truce deal progress Al Jazeera Live By Mersiha Gadzo, Urooba Jamal and Stephen Quillen 15 Jan 2025 Israeli forces have stepped up attacks on Gaza, bombing a school-turned-shelter and several homes across the Strip, and killing at least 62 people over the latest 24-hour reporting period. The attacks come despite mediators saying a ceasefire agreement is closer than ever, with US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al Sisi issuing a joint call on Israel and Hamas to conclude the deal. Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv, calling for a deal that would secure the release of captives held in Gaza, while hundreds of hard-liners marched in Jerusalem, demanding a continuation of the war. Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 46,707 Palestinians and wounded 110,265 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day and more than 200 were taken captive.
Israel runs torture camps. These are NOT the good guys. They are f'ing evil: https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20240805_welcome_to_hell n a new report based on dozens of testimonies, B’Tselem reveals that since 7 October, Israel has instated a systemic policy of abusing and torturing thousands of Palestinians in its custody. In “Welcome to Hell”, a new report issued today, 5 August 2024, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem showcases the testimonies of 55 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons and detention facilities in recent months, almost all without charges: 30 from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, 21 from the Gaza Strip, and four citizens of Israel. The testimonies reveal that Palestinians currently in Israeli prisons are being subjected to harsh arbitrary violence on a frequent basis, sexual assault, humiliation and degradation, deliberate starvation, forced lack of hygiene, sleep deprivation, restriction and punishment of religious worship, confiscation of all group and personal belongings, and denial of adequate medical care. This is the outcome of the speedy conversion of more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities, military and civilian, into camps dedicated to abusing inmates since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak: “The Sde Teiman detention camp is just the tip of the iceberg. As we speak, thousands of Palestinians are being held in inhuman conditions and subjected to relentless abuse. Some do not know why they were arrested; many will be released without trial. ----->This is the definition of a torture camp: a place that once you enter – no matter who you are or why you were arrested – you will be subjected to severe, deliberate, relentless pain and suffering.” “The Israeli government has cynically exploited our collective trauma from the horrors of 7 October to translate Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir’s racist, violent agenda into action. This government has driven us to an all-time moral low, proving again its utter disregard for human lives – of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, of Israelis and Palestinians living through ongoing war, and of the Palestinians held in torture camps.”
Progress is being made. It appears that the Israeli cabinet will be voting on accepting a proposed Gaza ceasefire deal. Israel gov't expected to vote on Gaza deal by Thursday, according to FM statement https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...y-thursday-according-fm-statement-2025-01-15/
Good news.... let's hope a ceasefire deal stays in place over the upcoming weeks and leads to a longer-term peace deal. Israel and Hamas Agree to Gaza Cease-Fire Deal, Officials Say Negotiators have yet to confirm its start date. If implemented, the cease-fire would allow for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/15/world/israel-hamas-cease-fire-deal-gaza
More information on the cease-fire deal. "The deal will take place in three different phases, each of which will last for six weeks". Details of what's in the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas https://abcnews.go.com/International/details-ceasefire-deal-israel-hamas/story?id=117694741 After months of negotiations between Hamas and Israel -- with the United States, Egypt and Qatar serving as intermediaries -- a ceasefire negotiation has been reached in the war in Gaza. The agreement will go into effect on Sunday, according to Qatari officials. The deal will take place in three different phases, each of which will last for six weeks, according to U.S. and Qatari officials. Phase 1 of the ceasefire has been finalized, according to Qatar's prime minister, while Phases 2 and 3 are still in a draft phase and will be finalized after the first six weeks are complete. Here are the full details of what's in Phase 1 of the historic ceasefire deal: Phase 1 -- 42 days Israeli forces will withdraw to the east, away from densely populated areas and more aid will be allowed into Gaza, Qatari officials announced. Coordination is currently underway to open the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing to allow the entry of international aid into Gaza, according to an Egyptian security force. Israeli forces will stay on the border, Qatar said. Thirty-three hostages being held in Gaza will be released, starting with women, children and the elderly, officials said. President Joe Biden said Americans will be part of the initial hostage release. Three Americans are believed to be alive in Hamas custody and four others are believed to be dead. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel will also be released in exchange for the hostages, Biden said. "During phase one, the Palestinians can also return to their neighborhoods, in all the areas of Gaza and the surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza will begin, and the innocent people can have a greater access to these vital supplies," Biden said. The Israeli cabinet will convene on Thursday to approve the deal. Here's what is in the draft version of Phases 2 and 3 of the hostage deal: Phase 2: 42 days Announcement of sustainable calm, permanent cessation of military operations and all hostilities, to be implemented before the exchange of remaining Israeli male hostages, civilians and soldiers, for an agreed-upon number of prisoners in Israeli jails and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. Phase 3: 42 days The remains and bodies in the possession of both parties will be exchanged after identification. The reconstruction of Gaza will start and last for three to five years, including homes, civilian buildings and infrastructure, with compensation for all affected individuals under the supervision of several countries and organizations, including Egypt, Qatar and the U.N. Opening of the crossings and allowing the movement of people and goods.