Awaiting Transformation – Day 5

From Mondoweiss, we learn further of the sterile post-zionist nature of ‘liberal’ zionism:

‘Ir Amim’ comes to the US to smash Jewish ‘myths’ about Jerusalem

Oppenheimer set out a map that showed us how much of East Jerusalem is being colonized by nutjob settlers and the colonialist government, and for about half an hour we tried to figure out how things could work per the two state solution. The spaghetti bowl of red and green and blue lines that is greater Jerusalem was as bad as any gerrymandering in the racist American past or present. And the Jewish line has kept moving east for 100 years, and Palestinians have been the losers and the dispossessed and the sequestered again and again.

Lately, as Oppenheimer showed, Israelis have started destroying Palestinian neighborhoods. Silwan is being taken over by the Jews just to the east of the Old City and Walaje is being taken over to the southwest. Oppenheimer said the settlers and government have been working overtime to prevent the possibility of Palestinians ever creating a true capital in East Jerusalem. I asked her how the Clinton Parameters could still even possibly work in this situation, and with hope in her eyes, Oppenheimer dragged her pen around Silwan and Ramat Shlomo and Bustan and Gilo and the Maale Adunim corridor and every other part of the hilltop colonization of East Jerusalem (that Jeffrey Goldberg defends) and tried to show me.

The meeting got emotional when I asked her when her people came to Israel. During the Holocaust, after Kristallnacht, in one case. She believes in the need for a Jewish state. I told her I did not. But she’s not here to convince me, she’s here to strip the myths from American Jews who share her belief. That is the ballgame for liberal Zionists: to wake the stupid complacent American Jews up to the apartheid reality before the window completely closes on the idea of two states for two peoples.

Some memorable tweets and bleats from Day 5:

Jinjirrie: it’s impossible to be for zionism and for equal human rights at the same time, zionism implies racist preferentials @IsraelMFA
Jinjirrie: @IsraelMFA zionism is not a religion – it’s a fascist political ideology – haven’t you worked that out yet?
DissidentMuse: @Jinjirrie that’s the whole point. I’m against Israel’s action no matter what Hamas, Iran or anyone else does
Jinjirrie: #Hasbara attempts to rebrand #Israel will backfire on it until it ends its apartheid & occupation & dezionises
Jinjirrie: Agree! VT @lisang: @IsraelMFA By your actions and words, you are making #Israel look and sound worse every day.
Jinjirrie: Douchowitless wouldn’t turn down Nutanyahoo’s job http://is.gd/cjUBw #greed #zioshills #fascism
Jinjirrie: 2010 #Nakba posters – 62 years of genocide by zionist #Israel – Palestinians will return http://is.gd/cjRFy #palestine
Jinjirrie: Yousef Munayyer: Palestinian nonviolence relies on global non-silence [Guardian] http://is.gd/cjRMf (expand) #BDS #israel #apartheid
Jinjirrie: @IsraelMFA zionism is not a religion – it’s a fascist political ideology – haven’t you worked that out yet?
Jinjirrie: Why do zionists regard equal rights as a threat? cos racism is intrinsic to fascist political ideologies #apartheid #israel
Jinjirrie: No more war! AA @antissa: A feel good story for a Sunday: Reunited with the Vietnamese ‘girl in the picture’ – http://bit.ly/d9GfKs
Jinjirrie: What political ideology/ies come first to mind when its proponents label ongoing oppression, injustice & racism as peace?
Jinjirrie: Recalling zionist lies in Dec 08 when the Israeli navy rammed aid ship ‘the Dignity’ http://is.gd/clko2 #apartheid #israel #flotilla #gaza
Jinjirrie: Memories of the last official zionist attempt at hasbarising on twitter http://is.gd/clko2 do they know what ‘apartheid’ means yet? LOL
Jinjirrie: #Apartheid #Israel blocked & harassed aid ship to #Gaza ‘The Brotherhood’ in Feb 09 as well http://is.gd/clkfr #collectivepunishment
Jinjirrie: What the psychopathological zionists did to the Lebanese aid ship & volunteers to #Gaza ‘Tali’ in Feb 09 http://is.gd/clk1e #flotilla
Jinjirrie: #Flotilla to #Gaza Day 1 – the world watches; will collective punisher #Israel allow much needed aid thru? http://is.gd/clj3j
Jinjirrie: @DissidentMuse the crime of being boring on top of zionists’ existing war crimes and crimes against humanity is the last straw
Jinjirrie: The only sexy thing #zionism has going for it is that it markets DEATH
Jinjirrie: Ziohasbara – a clear case where repeating marketing lies ironically act to delegitimise the product #zionism #israel #apartheid

Some interesting tweets emanating from the Al Jazeera conference in Qatar:

Jilliancyork: Mark Perry: “You think I don’t know we failed in Iraq? We failed.” #aljaz
shawnpOwers: Mark Perry re: the need for US reparations to Iraq for the unlawful invasion of Iraq: “How much do you want us to pay?” #aljaz
shawnpOwers: Robert Malley: “While everyone has a right to resistance to foreign occupation, political and diplomatic resistance is much smarter” #aljaz
Falasteeni: Hamdan: at last Arab summit, US VP personally intervened to ensure no reconcilliation #aljaz

and the piece de resistance – that the US is playing spoiler imperialist with Palestine (and Israel)

Falasteeni: Hamdan: I say with certainity it is US veto stopping Palestinian reconcilliation, that is a fact, not analysis #aljaz

You ain’t kidding, Narelle 🙂 israeli government hasbaraniks are currently driving the last ironic nails into zionism’s coffin.

As demonstrated by U.S. civil rights and anti-war activists in the 1960s, the Reut Institute’s recommendation to “attack” and “sabotage” those who speak out for human rights is likely to be counterproductive. While state and federal governments used similar tactics in the 1960s and early 1970s to counter civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements, campaigners were able to respond with broadly supported free speech movements and mass defense campaigns. As in the aftermath of the shootings by the National Guard at Kent State and Jackson State in 1970, these mass campaigns were often effective, not only at countering undemocratic government tactics but also at winning even more support for the activists’ underlying demands.

However, as demonstrated by the South African example, there is a more straightforward solution for the legitimacy crisis than the one presented by the report. Namely, the Israeli government will gain legitimacy by meeting the requirements of the law. Under this approach, the Israeli government will gain legitimacy by going further than the Reut report’s recommendation, and actually ending the occupation and providing equal rights for all living under Israeli government rule, as well as by implementing the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and villages and observing international law strictures against launching military attacks.

In the meantime, human rights workers who have been sharply critical of the Israeli government can take satisfaction from the fact that the highly respected Reut Institute has given its stamp of approval to many of their criticisms, even if it is also calling on the Israeli government to take illicit action against them.

One Reply to “Awaiting Transformation – Day 5”

Jinjirrie says:

May 24, 2010 at 10:43 pm

You ain’t kidding, Narelle 🙂 israeli government hasbaraniks are currently driving the last ironic nails into zionism’s coffin.

As demonstrated by U.S. civil rights and anti-war activists in the 1960s, the Reut Institute’s recommendation to “attack” and “sabotage” those who speak out for human rights is likely to be counterproductive. While state and federal governments used similar tactics in the 1960s and early 1970s to counter civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements, campaigners were able to respond with broadly supported free speech movements and mass defense campaigns. As in the aftermath of the shootings by the National Guard at Kent State and Jackson State in 1970, these mass campaigns were often effective, not only at countering undemocratic government tactics but also at winning even more support for the activists’ underlying demands.

However, as demonstrated by the South African example, there is a more straightforward solution for the legitimacy crisis than the one presented by the report. Namely, the Israeli government will gain legitimacy by meeting the requirements of the law. Under this approach, the Israeli government will gain legitimacy by going further than the Reut report’s recommendation, and actually ending the occupation and providing equal rights for all living under Israeli government rule, as well as by implementing the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and villages and observing international law strictures against launching military attacks.

In the meantime, human rights workers who have been sharply critical of the Israeli government can take satisfaction from the fact that the highly respected Reut Institute has given its stamp of approval to many of their criticisms, even if it is also calling on the Israeli government to take illicit action against them.

Comments are closed.