The fact that there is a massive culture of censorship by the Likud Right and the supporters of a Greater Israel betrays the fact that there is an erosion of support for Israel. People like David Remnick and Peter Beinart, once knee-jerk Israel Firsters (by which we mean people who advocate blind support of Israel's governmental policies and/or who think the US government should favor Israel over Palestine in the conflict no matter what), are now turning on the radical right-wing Israeli government as they continue their policy of perpetual warfare against the Palestinians. Beinart wrote that the combination of right-wing Israeli policies and the policy of AIPAC of mindless support of Israel has driven young people away from support of Israel. While support of Israel in the US is still strong, the cracks are now starting to show.
The problem is that established institutions like the White House, Israel's government, and Hamas are mired in the same tired old politics as usual. The Israeli government continues on its policy of perpetual warfare with no end in sight. Hamas can't think of anything better to do than to fire rockets from Gaza while the Obama administration can't think of anything better to do than to kowtow to donors and stand idly by. Rosenberg writes:
A year later, David Remnick has crossed Beinart's Rubicon. In a "Talk of the Town" essay in his magazine, Remnick definitively asserts that it is time for the United States to put a comprehensive peace plan (exchanging the territories for peace) on the table and to push it to fruition.
He writes that the Obama administration obviously knows this, but is simply afraid of the implications for "domestic politics". Remnick believes that fear is misplaced and that Obama should think big despite the pressure from the donors and White House aides mired in the status quo.
For decades, AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and other such right-leaning groups have played an outsized role in American politics, pressuring members of congress and presidents with their capacity to raise money and swing elections.
Except not only is Obama not afraid of the domestic political implications, he actively supports the settlements. Actions speak louder than words:
The United States Department of Commerce and the US embassy in Tel Aviv are co-promoting the Israel Unmanned Systems 2011 trade mission from 27 March to 1 April. Their partner -- and the primary organizer -- is Airlift, inc., an aerospace and consulting firm based in the settlement of Talpiot Mizrach (East Talpiot) in occupied East Jerusalem. This raises troubling questions about why Washington is promoting the Israeli arms trade and why it is doing so with a firm based in an illegal colony which explicitly contradicts official US policy as well as international law.
Airlift was founded in 2007 by Marc-Philippe Rudel, a French-Israeli electrical engineer and businessman, to "promote economic cooperation and the establishment of global partnerships." The company brings foreign arms industry and military officials to Israel for arranged business-to-business meetings, specially tailored seminars, industry workshops and visits to major Israeli armament firms and research institutes. Airlift's website states that its "offices are located in the heart of Jerusalem" but the address given puts them in occupied East Jerusalem. Airlift's Spanish subsidiary, Airlift Iberia, was established in September 2010.
Though considered a mainstream Jerusalem neighborhood by most Israelis -- including Rudel, judging by his activism in the secular liberal/centrist "Awakening in Jerusalem" movement -- East Talpiot is unanimously considered an illegal settlement by the international community including the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and the US government whose pronouncements consistently oppose Israeli settlements. However, Washington regularly takes actions -- such as the recent veto of a UN Security Council resolution condemning settlements -- to shield Israel from international condemnation and formerly contributed economic aid that was used directly for settlement infrastructure and construction. Promoting a trade mission with a firm based in a settlement points to the latter as being more representative of US policy, in spite of official pronouncements to the contrary. American sponsorship comes at a time when governments like Norway, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are actively distancing themselves from settlement-related businesses. Requests for comment from the US State Department and Department of Commerce were not answered.
So while Obama says he's against the settlements, his own State Department and his own Department of Commerce are actively promoting businesses that locate inside the settlements.
This culture of censorship by Israel First people and its defenders is extending its ugly head into other areas as well:
Why would a gay-porn star and mogul, Michael Lucas, want to squelch the right to free speech at a sanctuary for the oppressed and marginalized, New York City’s LGBT Center?
Lucas’s wealth and fame as an entrepreneur in the gay adult entertainment industry would be inconceivable without the right to free speech, including for those with controversial opinions. Yet on February 22 he used his money and connections to slander groups of social justice activists in order to pressure the center to cancel an Israeli Apartheid Week event and ban a small group of pro-Palestine activists, the Siegebusters Working Group, from ever meeting there again.
This is an outrageous abuse of power and influence that should be opposed by everyone who believes our community centers must remain liberated spaces of democracy and debate. Keep in mind, the LGBT Center has hosted a range of non-LGBT-related groups in its 28-year history — from Overeaters Anonymous to antiwar organizations — so the stated excuse about the political content straying from the “mission of the center” is just a ruse.
And then, of course, there is the censorship of Helen Thomas. Helen Thomas hadthis to say about Israel:
Last summer, still working full-time at 89, she saw her decades-long career fall to pieces after a two-minute video clip went viral on YouTube. A Long Island rabbi and blogger visiting the White House turned his camera on Thomas on May 27 and asked for “any comments on Israel.” Thomas instantly shot back, “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine,” adding that the Jews “can go home” to “Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else.” Endless media outrage ensued, prompting Thomas to issue an apology and abruptly “resign” from Hearst Newspapers on June 7. Her speaking agency dropped her, journalism schools and organizations rescinded awards named in her honor and she lost that prized seat in the White House.
Thomas’s comments were not a complete shock to those who follow her. In recent years she practically scolded presidents and their gatekeepers for favoring Israel. She had previously asked the White House about Israel’s “secret” nuclear arsenal and why President Obama did not condemn last May’s Israeli attacks on the aid flotilla headed for Gaza.
Yet how many times does right-wing hate speech go unpunished all the time? If the Israel First Crowd is so concerned about hate speech, then why aren't they up in arms demanding the resignations of Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, and all the other right-wing talk show hosts on FOX News? They are holding Helen Thomas to a double standard that they will not hold FOX News or other such organizations to. I guess it's OK if you're a member of the Israel First Crowd.
In fact, certain Israel firsters go so far as to laugh off death threats against the Israeli Defense Minister. Threats like these:
"If you think of destroying the settlements, you are mistaken, and I will kill you," read part of the letter, which has been transferred to the Shin Bet Security Service for investigation, according to Channel 10.
"I will harm you or your children, be careful," the letter continued. "If not now, then when you are no longer a minister and have no security around you."
And yet certain Israel Firsters laugh these threats off:
National Union MK Michael Ben Ari on Tuesday dismissed the death threats as political spin.
"One week ago we heard about the police commissioner being threatened, after which we heard about the public security minister receiving threats and today it's Barak," said Ben Ari.
"The next stage will be that Barak's Filipino housekeeper will receive a [threatening] letter. We are talking about spin from seasoned spokesmen who are leaking biased information. It's a joke," he said.
The fact that Bibi's own Shin Bet service is taking these threats seriously should tell you something.
The fact that an organization or movement engages in this sort of dictatorial behavior shows that they are rotting to the core. A strong organization or movement will use strong arguments and engage with its opposition. And not only is the Israeli government rotten to the core, so is Hamas -- when they are using thuggery to disperse protestors or making death threats against journalists that they don't like, that means that they are losing the argument and cannot engage with the truth.
The bizzare logic employed by the Israel Firsters will only lead to the destruction of Israel as a nation. For instance, Alan Dershowitz calls for Israeli air strikes against Iran. However, by his logic, all of the countries of the Middle East have a right to attack Israel since it has nuclear weapons and the rest of the countries of the Middle East have the right to protect their citizens from attacks from Israel. By his logic, Israel would have no right to protest because they have nuclear weapons that could be used to wipe their countries off the map and kill millions of their citizens. By his logic, since Israel is not deterred by international pressure to stop its oppression of the Palestinian people, the Middle Eastern countries have a right to do what they need to do to prevent the mass murder of their citizens in the event of war. And returning to our topic, we know that Israel has nuclear weapons -- another thing that the Israel Firsters don't want you talking about and another thing that got Helen Thomas in trouble.
Another thing that gets censored -- Israel has supposedly pulled out of Gaza in a humanitarian gesture of peace that was ungratefully met with rocket fire. But what the Israel Firsters don't tell you is that the Israeli government has simply changed their strategy -- they shoot unarmed Palestinians who are simply farming the 30% of arable land that is close to the wall, along with their animals:
The solution for this mess does not lie in the established institutions that are rotting to the core or a President who says, "No we can't!". The solution will lie in people on both sides who are sick and tired of the bloodshed and who are trying to do something about it. People like the Palestinians who took to the streets to condemn the Itamar attacks:
In contrast with the celebrations in Gaza following killings, Israel’s Channel 10 has screened footage of Nablus Palestinians unequivocally condemning them.
Neither the BBC nor The Guardian reported the festivities in Gaza in response to the murder of five members of the same family in the West Bank on Friday, but they both referred to ‘shock’ by Palestinians at the attack.
Other than quoting a condemnation by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, The Guardian’s coverage did not produce anything to substantiate the (unusual) headline: ‘Israelis and Palestinians in shock after Fogel family massacre’. The BBC article also did not take comment from or cite any Palestinians.
However, Israeli broadcast journalist, Shlomi Eldar, has produced a rare report for Channel 10, in which Nablus residents speak with him freely on camera, out in the busy streets, expressing their unequivocal condemnation of the killings.
Shlomi reports that in years of reporting from the Palestinian territories this genuinely surprised him and it was the first time Palestinians were volunteering themselves to express this opposition. He emphasised that the views expressed in the report were representative of the many interviews he carried out in the town.
And people at the very settlement where the Fogel family was murdered helped a pregnant Palestinian woman who was in a life-threatening situation:
After massacre, settlers help bring new life into world: IDF forces and local paramedics helped save the life of a Palestinian woman and her newly born infant Wednesday, at the settlement where Fogel relatives are sitting Shiva for the five Israelis brutally murdered last week.
Just as IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz arrived in Neve Tzuf to offer his condolences, a Palestinian cab raced towards the community's entrance. In it, soldiers and paramedics discovered a Palestinian woman in her 20s in advanced stages of labor and facing a life-threatening situation: The umbilical cord was wrapped around the young baby girl's neck, endangering both her and her mother.
The quick action of settler paramedics and IDF troops deployed in the area saved the mother's and baby's life, prompting great excitement and emotions at the site where residents are still mourning the brutal death of five local family members.
It will be in people like this as well as the new groups that they create as well as a basic sense of fairness and humanity that will rescue Israel and Palestine from the state of perpetual warfare that they are in today.