On Friday in London a group of personalities including Annie Lennox, Ken Livingstone and George Galloway gave a press conference in advance of a protest Saturday against the War on Gaza. Probably rather less known in the USA, Alexei Sayle, a writer and comedian from Liverpool who is Jewish said:
It is important that Jewish people who have a public profile speak out to say that this has not been done in our name.
(Note: the full transcript of Sayle's statement on the above link is not accurate.)
Sayle goes on to describe he believes Israel and Israelis see themselves as the "noble and the good guy" and seek to rationalize the killings.
What you do is blame the people you have killed - and you hear all the time from Israeli spokespeople that they are angry with the people that they have murdered, for making them murder them.
Sayle calls this the psychology of the murderer, rapist and bully. The promotion of this self image is evident in Israeli government statements today rebutting UN claims of a humanitarian crisis. (Remember the figure of 100 civilian casualties out of some 400 dead is based on the UN only taking the figure for women and children. Civilian men are not counted as the UN has insufficient resources to make a determination,)
Israel said Gazans were continuing to receive sufficient food and medicines.
In a statement, the Israeli foreign ministry said that since the beginning of the campaign, 335 truckloads of humanitarian aid (7,800 tonnes) had been delivered into Gaza.
It said it was working with international organisations in Gaza as well as various governments "in order to assess the humanitarian needs... and make the necessary response".
All reports indicate that there are sufficient medicine and food in Gaza, the statement read.
The UN's Maxwell Gaylard said: "It is true supplies have been going into the Strip, in fact possibly more than in previous weeks, but at the same time there are critical gaps."
A leading international charity, Oxfam, which has a programme in Gaza, warned the situation "is getting worse by the day", with clean water, fuel and food in short supply.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
Please note that figure of 335 truckloads in a week. A lot? Well not compared to the 800 truckloads a day that had been entering before the blockade, not to mention the high level conveyor belt carrying grain and flour that is also stopped.
Perhaps any American Jews who cannot join Alexei Sayle and thousands of Israelis in saying "not in our name" can answer this question from Annie Lennox, who has two children from her marriage to Israeli film and record producer Uri Fruchtmann.
I was thinking as a mother and as a human being - how was this going to be a solution to(wards) peace? How are we going to find the answer in this way?