Israel Has Lost Its Moral Imagination
There is reason for Israelis, and for Jews generally, to think long and hard about the dark Hitler era at this particular time. The significance of the Gaza Flotilla incident lies in the larger questions raised about our common human condition by Israel’s occupation policies and its devastation of Gaza's civilian population. If a people who so recently experienced on its own flesh such unspeakable inhumanities cannot muster the moral imagination to understand the injustice and suffering that its territorial ambitions -- and even its legitimate security concerns -- are inflicting on another people, what hope is there for the rest of us?
http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/israel-s-greatest-loss-its-moral-imagination-1.295600
Israel's "self-defence" is destroying the world
Israel has been pursuing its cry-wolf policy since its inception. Successive Israeli regimes have followed the same tactic of presenting their own nation as the victim of aggression.All major news corporations have taken the line of "Israel as a victim." There are now more examples than ever. Israel has justified its attacks and deadly wars against Palestinians and Arabs in terms of their right to self-defence. Any audience worldwide might believe what they hear. It is normal to seek safety and security as a basic need. People worldwide, and specifically in America, which is the foremost supporter of Israel, would be convinced. As long as these fictions are promulgated along media wires and echoed by reputable institutions, Israel will continue to defy international law and humanitarian charters. More human rights will be violated.Israel's self-defence argument should be renamed its policy of aggression. Self-defence empowers victims to use sufficient power to defend themselves. From Israel, we only see excessive force used against civilians.
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/israels-self-defense-is-destroying-the-world/
Blair: "I am 100% on Israel's side"
I express deep regret and shock at the tragic loss of life. There has to be a full investigation into what has happened. I repeat my view that we need a different and better way of helping the people of Gaza.
http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/quartet/news-entry/statement-by-quartet-representative-tony-blair-on-the-gaza-flotilla/
There are no questions at all. There have been rockets fired from Gaza, there are people in Gaza who want to kill innocent Israelis. When it comes to security, I am one hundred percent on Israel's side.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=177875
Lift the Siege of Gaza
In 1948, Moscow imposed a blockade on Berlin, cutting off 2 million Germans, most of whom, not long before, had cheered Hitler. Harry Truman responded with the Berlin airlift, perhaps the most magnanimous act of the Cold War.For nine months, US pilots flew everything from candy to coal, saving a city and earning the eternal gratitude of the people of Berlin, and admiration everywhere that moral courage is admired. That was an America that lived its values. Today, President Obama should end his and his country's shameful silence over the inhumane blockade of Gaza that is denying 1.5 million beleaguered people the basic necessities of a decent life. It is time to start acting like America again. The Gaza siege must end. And America will herself be sending aid, but will also support Israel's right to inspect trucks and ships to see to it no weapons get through to Gaza. Let us start behaving like who we once were.
21 miles off the coast of Palestine...
A ship full of Jewish refugees, many of them survivors of the Holocaust, tried to break the British blockade of Palestine in 1947. British soldiers boarded the ship 21 miles off the coast of Palestine killing three of the refugees and wounding others. It caused an international scandal and was a PR disaster for the British government. It is seen in Israel today as one of the most significant events that led to the founding of the modern Israeli state.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2010/06/21_miles_off_the_coast_of_pale.html
Elvis Costello joins boycott of Israel
It is after considerable contemplation that I have arrived at the decision that I must withdraw from two performances scheduled in Israel. Some will regard [my arguments] unknowable without personal experience but if these subjects are actually too grave and complex to be addressed in a concert, then it is also quite impossible to simply look the other way. One lives in hope that music is more than mere noise, filling up idle time, whether intending to elate or lament. Then there are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent.
http://www.elviscostello.com/news/it-is-after-cosiderable-contemplation/44
Palestinian homes bulldozed in Gaza
Hamas police wielding clubs beat and pushed residents out of dozens of homes in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Sunday before knocking the buildings down with bulldozers. Gaza's militant Hamas rulers said the homes were built illegally on government land. Newly homeless residents were furious over Palestinians on bulldozers razing Palestinian homes.
Collective Punishment
The Israeli human rights group, Gisha, has tried for more than a year, under freedom of information legislation, to squeeze information from the state about what is allowed for import to Gaza and why.In January, Gisha took the Israeli authorities to court, to try to force them to provide the information. Now, after several months' waiting, the state has given its response to the court. The overall rationale is set out, in bold type: "The limitation on the transfer of goods is a central pillar in the means at the disposal of the State of Israel in the armed conflict between it and Hamas." Among the large range of goods currently forbidden are jam, chocolate, wood for furniture, fruit juice, textiles, and plastic toys. The United Nations has described Israel's blockade as "collective punishment".
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