The Gaza strip comprises about 25 square miles. There about about 1.5 million people living there. That's about seven times the population density of urban Los Angeles.
The people there aren't allowed to leave. You can see that when you read in the NY Times about how the foreigners are allowed to leave, like the ones who are married to people who live there. Sometimes the people in Gaza try to build tunnels to get out. Imagine being bombed by people who are only trying to get the bad guys, when you live with 1.5 million people in 25 square miles.
Israel is; what? the fifth biggest military power on the planet? And what are these people in Gaza; their private hunting preserve?
Oh, there are Hamas people in Gaza who occasionally lob a rocket at Israel and kill people. Well, that's pretty fucked up for the people for who get killed; no doubt about it. But what about the people in Gaza who get killed? And what about, what about, what about the United States of America?
What about us?
Israel is our friend, everything Israel does is right. The press sucks up to Israel.
I used to go to Seder dinners with my family/adopted family, when I was a kid; I got really into it. I respected the hell out of all this sense of political oppression. I loved the Jewish tradition and I still have a great deal of feeling for it. I will never care about Christianity like I do Judaism.
But at this time, I consider Israel to have become their own Nazis. Keeping those people imprisoned in that tiny bit of land while they lob bombs we paid for at them, saying "Oh, we're just trying to get the bad guys."
Shameful! Shameful! Shameful!
I'm 51. I named myself after a woman who risked her life to protect her Jewish friends and colleagues during the Nazi Occupation.
I'm not a Jew. My mom remarried when I was quite young, and my stepfather was Jew. She converted as a Reform Jew, in order to marry him. That was okay with my new Dad's family; it involved taking classes. Conservative converting is more complicated; you get the ritual bath and all. And of course, with guys; all this is much more complicated for men who are not circumcised.
But I'm not a man, and I was too young to know about any of that anyway.
I liked my stepgrandparents. We would go and have Seder with them That was really cool because I was the oldest kid so I got to read parts of the Seder stories at the dinner table!
I loved all of that. No one in the rest of my family was remotely interested in Christianity, or any other religion; so this family of my stepfather's was really fascinating. Hannukah! Candles! Ritual! Serious things for children to do! Not just getting presents, not just being passive.
Reform Judaism doesn't require adult male circumcision, though. I like that a lot about it. Too much pain being inflicted in the world, already.
Reform Judaism also doesn't require more excessive things from children, either. Like jihad, like ritually required religious risk of the lives of the kids.
How can Israel be so comfortable about all those kids being killed? What percentage of the people in Gaza are under 15? Half of them? I know it's really high.
Barack Obama, United States of America, everybody who isn't listening - tell Israel to stop. Stop sending Israel bombs.
Stop sending bombs and start sending things the people there need. Start sending food. Start sending irrigation equipment. Start sending building materials to help replace the universities we've helped bomb.
Start sending the entire Middle East, and hell, the entire rest of the planet; things they need to become more evolved as countries. Stop telling the people there what they should have as a culture. Fuck off as to their religions. That is none of your business.
United States, start acting like a kind person. Figure out what's needed. Stop being a taker. Help. Listen. Work with these people.
Stop being afraid, United States. What's there to fear, anyway? We're all going to die, sooner or later. Surely it should not come as a surprise to anyone.
It would be so much fun, to help these people. It would be so much less boring than watching TV.
I really want this. Why can't we do it?
I'd like to add that anyone concerned about the conflicts between countries in the Middle East could do well to read Daniel Hillel's works on hydrology in the region. All those folks are in the middle of a desert and they would be best off to manage their water supplies collectively, and peacefully. Pull out your atlas, look at the routes of the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Jordan. Look at the boundaries of the countries, think about how Turkey has the high ground, think about where the Kurds would like to have their country. All of this makes the historical conflicts a lot clearer. The petroleum will be gone sooner or later, but as long as there are life forms in the Middle East; water is going to be a serious issue. We really, really need a Middle Eastern Water compact; or more to the point; they do.
Nuff for now,
Miep