Oppenheim Arts & Letters

Hear No, See No, Speak No -- Today's 'Big Media'

This comes courtesty of AISH:

Source: http://www.aish.com/jw/me/95501584.html

Unfortunately on this round, so-called "Big Media" has chosen frequently to tell the emperor--you know which one I'm talking about--that his new clothes do him great justice and could not be more wonderful.

Little media may only stand up--also stand with Israel when it comes to telling a straight, unvarnished, and truthful story--and shout!

# # #

Gaza, Hamas & Co., (and Others)

Backgrounder: http://www.cfr.org/publication/8968/

Applicable Hollywood axiom: "The bad guy isn't always bad; the good guy isn't always good."

As news surfaces of Al Qaeda and other similar-but-different organizational infiltration of the Mavi Marmara (e.g., Emerson today in the New York Post [1]), the curious may do well to revisit the infiltration of the Nahr al-Bared camp in Lebanon by Fatah al-Islam in 2007.  Societies are as organismic as the humans that define them, and they may take on, take in, or be taken in by "visitors".

When fighting broke out at Nahr al-Bared, few, if any, residents of the developed refugee camp recognized the fighters who had landed by sea, blended in, and come to save them and all of Lebanon from the Israelis (even if they had to fight their way past the Lebanese Defense Forces to do it).

Gaza, more so than Nahr al-Bared, has long hosted its share of gun-wielding, agenda-promoting, and competing politicos.  How many and who today?  There's a question for this day, and not only that, it's a question Hamas itself must ask about the geographic keyhole it claims to govern.

American meddling in the Palestinian's mess is or should be legend (see, for example, David Rose's feature in Vanity Fair [2]).

"Gaza is a gift," the Saudi religious scholar Mohsen al-Awajy told me. He and other delegates repeatedly referred to the Gaza war as "a victory".

"Gaza," he continued, "gives us power, it solves our differences. We are all now in a unified front against Zionism." [3]

During the winter of 2009, this according to BBC journalist Bill Law, "At a weekend meeting in Istanbul, 200 religious scholars and clerics met senior Hamas officials to plot a new jihad centered on Gaza."

Perhaps certain ships have sailed from out of that meeting, but who is in with Hamas and who else is in Gaza . . . . 

The news in English for the main body of readers on the Internet will not cough up a complete roster so readily, but that there's other than Hamas in Gaza, competing with it, in league with it, or meddling in its affairs would seem clear enough. 

One would have to swim up other information streams, I suspect, to lay out the nodes and strands of new built Jihad networks assembling, perhaps, out of an as yet hazy Instanbul-Gaza-Riyadh axis.

Reference

1. Emerson, Steven.  "Truth behind the harm-ada."  New York Post, June 3, 2010: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/truth_behind_the_harm_ada_CgqfVG9KrAUT4mQeO335fO

2. Rose, David.  "The Gaza Bombshell."  Vanity Fair, April 2008: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804?currentPage=1

3. Law, Bill.  "Clerics urge new jihad over Gaza."  BBC News, February 17, 2009: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7895485.stm

Other Reference

Hoft, Jim.  "Western Media Forgets to Mention That "Gaza Flotilla" Is a Terror-Linked Organization (Video)".  Gateway Pundit, May 31, 2010: http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/05/western-media-forgets-to-mention-that-gaza-flotilla-is-a-terror-linked-organization-video/

Katz, Yaakov.  "IDF: Global Jihad links on flotilla."  The Jerusalem Post, June 3, 2010: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=177169

Wikipedia.  "Palistinian Political Violence": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_political_violence

Wikipedia: "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Front_for_the_Liberation_of_Palestine

Wikipedia.  "Popular Resistance Committees": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Resistance_Committees

# # #

Blame it on the Jews, but remember . . . .

Hamas has failed to pay the January salaries of many of the 34,000 Palestinian civil servants and security men in the Gaza Strip, raising concern among them that the globally isolated Islamist group is facing a cash crisis.

Reuters.  "Hamas fails to pay January salaries of Gaza civil servants."  Via Haaretz, February 8, 2010: http://www.haaretz.com/news/hamas-fails-to-pay-january-salaries-of-gaza-civil-servants-1.262966

In a statement released on Tuesday, PFLP officials condemned the practice, saying falafel vendors and taxi drivers were being forced to pay large sums to keep their businesses running.

Ma'an News Agency.  "PFLP: Hamas imposing unfair, strict tax laws."  April 29, 2010: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=279974

Gaza's Hamas rulers on Tuesday burned nearly 2 million pills of a painkiller many Gazans take recreationally because they say it relaxes them and provides temporary relief from the territory's hardships.

The disposal of the drugs comes days after the Islamic militant group confiscated cigarettes from Gaza shops to collect taxes on them

Associated Press.  "Hamas burns recreations drugs, taxes cigarettes."  Fox News, April 20, 2010: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/20/hamas-gaza-burns-recreational-drugs/

"Today's executions are an extremely retrograde step by Hamas," Deputy Director for the Middle East, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said.

"We are gravely concerned for the other Palestinian prisoners in Gaza who have been given death sentences by military courts."

BBC News.  "'Palestinian collaborators' executed by Hamas."  April 15, 2010: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8622084.stm

On Sunday approximately 150 Palestinians from 20 families were driven out of their homes in Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip, by heavily armed police and soldiers who menaced them with clubs.

The difference this time was that it was not the Israeli Defence Forces carrying out evictions and demolitions but Hamas security forces, including policewomen with their faces veiled.

Frykberg, Mel.  "Hamas' Turn to Demolish Palestinian Homes."  IPS, May 25, 2010: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51574

Hamas police raided a Gaza bank to seize $270,000 on Monday. The funds had been frozen by the Palestinian Authority . . . .  The funds were intended for an association called Friends of the Sick, which has run a medical center in Gaza for over a decade.

Associated Press and Jerusalem Post Staff.  "Hamas police raid bank for $270,000."  The Jerusalem Post, March 30, 2010: http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?id=172070

While Israel considers the tunnels illegal, no one here does. Hamas levies a value-added tax of 14.5 percent on every item that comes through, local shop owners say.

Nasser al-Helow, a prominent businessman, says a Hamas member offered him $2.8 million for his beachside Al-Quds Hotel two months ago. "The siege has been such a positive thing for Hamas and it is feeding their treasury in many ways," says Mr. Helow.

Cunningham, Erin.  "Hamas profits from Israel's Gaza blockade: The group, which taxes goods smuggled through tunnels, is supplanting Gaza's business leaders and could strengthen its political position as well."  Christian Science Monitor, August 17, 2009: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2009/0817/p09s01-wome.html

---

Credit for inspiration: The Investigative Project on Terrorism's latest slam of double standards held and applied by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) -- "Double Standards on Hamas Action Against Palestinians, " June 2, 2010: http://www.investigativeproject.org/1987/double-standards-on-hamas-action-against.

While defeatist and self-immolating Jews decry the just interdiction of the arms shipment aboard the Mavi Marmari as a public relations disaster for Israel (to which I and others have responded with a healthy "Huh?"), Hamas may have brought upon itself the scrutiny it had hoped would be reserved for Israel.

Ever wonder what makes life in Gaza especially hard on its war wearied residents?  I'll sum up from the above cited articles.

• A tax of 60 percent on cigarettes (and prohibition of a powerful and popular but unregulated pharmaceutical);
• Bank targeting (putting it nicely) for scraping up funds;
• Extrajudicial killings, generally summary executions in the wake of accusation and kangeroo court procedures;
• Forced evictions without the compensations associated with "eminent domain" in western proceedings in the public interest;
• High real estate taxes on building owners and siezures of properties owned by residents living abroad;
• Late or non-existent paychecks for civil servants;
• Profiteering off of the Gaza blockade (perhaps, playing both sides of a nightmare, they were taking notes from the short-selling New York banks).

Due process?

Fuggedaboudit.

Justice for Palestinians by Palestinians?

Ask the banker, cigarette smoker, civil servant, "collaborator," landlord, homeowner, and smuggler.  Perhaps a few among them will remind others how little honor there has been of late among Iran's political brigands and thieves.

# # #

Mavi Marmara's Pesky Security Camera Coverage

"Ain't nobody in the henhouse but us chickens" comes to mind--that and a big, hollow-bellied horse.

The above is another IDF true crime type release, but recorded by the ship's own security cameras. 

It's all getting down to watching something like an episode of "Cops" or "America's Most Wanted"; however, unlike those shows, we generally don't see neighborhood gang bangers putting on gas masks. 

Oddly, this from other sources, it looks like the first weapon deployed by an IDF commando was, of all things, a paintball gun, chosen to surprise and shock but not maim or kill--too bad, as shown here in footage posted earlier, that technology was overmatched by the zeal of the above from the git-go. 

Source URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZlSSaPT_OU

# # #

Aid to Hamas Refused by Hamas

"We refuse to receive the humanitarian aid until all those who were detained aboard the ships are released," said Ahmed Kurd, the social welfare minister for Hamas.

"We also insist that the equipment be delivered in its entirety," said Kurd, who complained much of the cargo is being held back.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/02/2010-06-02_hamas_refuses_to_accept_seized_cargo_seized_by_israel_during_flotilla_raid_into_.html#ixzz0pj7X0onk

For great photographs of aid going through to Gaza, not necessarily related to this event, but shipments of cement and steel, I recommend a visit to this web location:

http://demotiximages.com/search/context/query/Gaza%20cement%20shipment/sort/relevance

I don't now whether or not "Israel Allows Shipment of Cement and Steel to Gaza" or "Israel Allowed a Shipment of Wood or Aluminum to Enter the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for the first time in three years" will disappear down the Internet's magnetic memory hole, but they're on the web as I write.

Also, it should go without saying as the press has reported frequently on this today: Israel's botting all the boat show passengers it can back to their countries as fast as it can.

Known militants or ones discovered may be another matter.

We have all seen war torn Gaza, but what of Gaza has been standing all along and, I may dare say it, prospering or struggling to become so?

Cut flowers for European markets in just 90 seconds (embedding disabled by AFP but posted January 20, 2010):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNS8fQGVexQ

What other data has been missing, or, rather, has not been played up or has been pushed off stage, as it were, in the global conversation?

# # #

 

 

It Is Not In Our Nature . . .

Before we go any further, it must be made abundantly clear that neither I nor anyone I know rejoices in the deaths of these activists. It is not in our nature to celebrate the deaths of anyone, not even those who were part of a group that had earlier chanted “Khaybar Khaybar ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad saya’ud,” meaning “Jews remember Khaybar, the army of Mohammed is returning,” a reference to a seventh-century Muslim massacre and expulsion of Jews from Khaybar, which is in modern-day Saudi Arabia. Despite this despicable loathsomeness, with the benefit of hindsight, I’d much rather that the ships had safely docked in Gaza than lives being needlessly wasted.

Miller, Elan.  "Guest Post: The Dual Tragedy of the Flotilla."  Dan Illouz.com, June 1, 2010: http://www.danillouz.com/en/?p=268

For any who doubt the sentiment expressed, pick up an old Haggadah, for the one accompanying my growing up included a passage for the expression of tears shed even for the pursuing pharonic Egyptians trapped in the returning waters of the Red Sea.

We do not celebrate the deaths of even those who would kill us, Haman notwithstanding.

Other Reference

Parsons, John J.  "Purim - Feast of Lots: Celebrating Our Deliverance."  Hebrews for Christians: http://www.hebrew4christians.net/Holidays/Winter_Holidays/Purim/purim.html

# # #

Seduction of the Regressive Left

The slogan of the "International Jewish anti-Zionist Network" is "Confront Zionism - Divest from Israel." MSU students at UC San Diego who rioted in support of a BDS resolution screamed, "Palestine is Free, from the River to the Sea." The ISM (International Solidarity Movement), the MSU (Muslim Students Union), the MSA (Muslim Students Association) the PACBI, Al-Awda ("the Return") and similar groups are behind the BDS movement. They are all out to destroy Israel as the state of the Jewish people. They all support "right" of return of Palestinian refugees, or a "one state solution" or both. [1]

The Carleton Pension Fund currently lacks any ethical guidelines, with its only mandate being the maximization of profit. SAIA has discovered that the Pension Fund, which provides retirement income for Carleton staff and faculty, currently has some $2,762,535 invested in five companies that are complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people. [2]

Neofascist and white supremacist groups also reproduced antisemitic cartoons taken from Arab websites; they issued a call for White Nationalist Party members to phone the Malaysian embassy in London and express their support for Mahathir Mohamad after he claiemd that "Jews rule the world"; they reproduced boycott lists from Islamist or anti-Zionist websites of "Jewish controlled companies, used to prop up Zionism around the world," as one White Nationalist Party supporter put it; and they made frequent use of the logo of the Boycott Israeli Goods campaign, an Israeli flag in a red circle with a line through it.

These ultranationalist, racist and anti-Jewish groups saw in the Islamists something beyond their wildest dreams: a global force, armed and trained, committed to the destruction of both Jews and the Western political order. [3]

The formation of the Yozma Program, with its mission to create a viable venture capital industry, resulted in a dramatically positive change in the perception of foreign VC investors and their attitude towards investing in Israel. Under the Yozma Program 10 new venture capital funds were formed managing $20 million each, of which Yozma's share was 40% and the foreign investors' 60%. In the years since 1993, the Israeli VC industry has flourished and gained a leading position in the world, second only to the U.S. with the total capital raised to date in excess of $10 billion. [4]

While Israel continues to truck tens of thousands of tons of aid monthly to Gaza and the West Bank, leaving the left fringe--I like to call it the "New Old Now Old Left"--with a Potemkin-like cause whose potency derives from the confused hatred of the Jews and the establishment of open and yet ordered societies around the world founded on Judeo-Christian principles or with their influence integrated elsewhere, including in Islam, the Jewish state continues to grow, and not only for itself but for investors worldwide.

The success of capital in Israel has not been without regional consequences.  Through Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ) programs involving Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and the United States, cooperating enclaves in both Egypt and Jordan have experienced dramatic economic growth in export income and job creation. [5]  Brands associated with the programs, which involve around 20 designated industrial sites in Egypt and Jordan, include Calvin Klein, Victoria's Secret, Nike, and Reebok. [6]

From search string "trade China Israel":

"The average annual growth rate of bilateral trade in the past 14 years is 40 percent. Last year, bilateral trade volume reached 3 billion U.S. dollars," she said, noting that "we expect the volume to reach 5 billion dollars by 2008." [7]

From search string "trade India Israel":

“The bilateral trade is evenly matched at about $2 billion. As per estimates, this trade volume will go up to $6 billion once the FTA is signed. Apart from engagement between the two Governments in various projects, the trade growth would be expanded through public-private participation projects and business to business ties,” he said. [8]

From search string "trade Russia Israel":

Russia and Israel are going to expand trade cooperation, particularly in agriculture and high technologies, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during the meeting with his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. “Israel is our long-time partner in the Middle East, and we hold regular talks on the Mideast settlement”, Putin said. The Russian premier added that although in 2009 the trade turnover between the two countries decreased, there are still very good prospects for productive economic cooperation. Mr. Netanyahu confirmed Israel’s intention to deepen ties with Russia. Mutual trade turnover between Russia and Israel increased from $12 million in 1991 to $2.8 billion in 2008. [9]

In any one of the areas I've commented on in this post or in the blog overall, I could spend days to weeks to years (my time's for sale for doing so, that' is for sure), but you get the drift, and no pun intended in light of the Gaza Boat Show: Israel not only has friends too, it has firm obligations to them in two most telling dimensions: 1) as a trading partner -- from Japan to Jordan, there is no question about that, and 2) as a representative of the overarching international community engaged in economic development, free market capitalism, and, in its totality, a cooperative and environmentally and socially productive and responsible stewardship of the earth and her inhabitants.

That children may be intellectually seduced by academic brigands and a propaganda focused to demonize 13 million souls and their legacy worldwide while denying the crimes of those associated with their indulgence in a political adventure as romantic as it has been tawdry comes as no surprise.  However, the global establishment's lack of direct response to that propaganda and the quarters that harbor it as part of their inverted channel to power -- and it has been just that: a pursuit of raw intimidating power on the soapbox of a false cause -- has been abysmal and probably will result in some increase in the intensity and tempo of ersatz low-intensity armed conflict with heightened potential, especially this week with many military exercises and systems ready-alerts on deck in the region, for the onset of open state-to-state warfare.

Cited Reference

1. Isseroff, Ami.  "Are Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions Effective?"  ZioNation, May 28, 2010: http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000739.html

2. Australians for Palestine.  "Canada: Carlton University Student Group launches Israel divestment drive 28Jan10": http://australiansforpalestine.com/17341

3. Phillips, Melanie.  The World Turned Upside Down.  P. 217. New York: Encounter Books, 2010.

4. Israel Venture Association (IVA). "VC In Israel - The Beginning": http://www.iva.co.il/content.asp?pageId=36

5. Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor.  "Q.I.Z. - Qualifying Industrial Zones": http://www.moital.gov.il/NR/exeres/2124E799-4876-40EF-831C-6410830D8F02.htm

6. Halaby, Jamal.  "Business with Israel pays off in Jordan."  Associated Press via Boston.com, April 13, 2010: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/04/13/business_with_israel_pays_off_in_jordan/

7. Xinhua. "Trade: China No 1 in Israeli Asian trade."  China Daily, November 9, 2006: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2006-11/09/content_729027.htm

8. Kumar, V. Rishi.  "India, Israel close to finalising free trade pact."  Business Line, May 17, 2010: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/05/17/stories/2010051751181300.htm

9. The Voice of Russia.  "Russia, Israel agree to boost economic ties."  February 16, 2010: http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/02/16/4497713.html

Other Reference

NGO Monitor.  "Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS): NGO's involved in BDS and their funders (partial list)."  With additional links and related articles: http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/ngo_leadership_in_boycott_and_divestment_campaigns

Wikipedia.  "Disinvestment from Israel": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinvestment_from_Israel.  Includes overview and summaries of activity involving the Presbyterian Church (USA), World Council of Churches, United Church of Christ, New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, and others.

# # #

Excerpt From a Letter Encouraging Peace

I am only a beginner at everything.

Bi-directional compassion, empathy, and obligation are all that's wanting for peace and prosperity between Israel and it's still dependent and hostile protectorate and neighbor that will one day be a more independent, better functioning, more responsible, and productive Palestine.

That vision may not be well understood for hatred of the Jews and the perpetuation of hateful speech in education and politics sustained yet in the camps of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan, and in the societies of Gaza and the West Bank. Those who most wish for peace face a pervasive education, information, and language challenge as regards separating the "fiery" talk of some clerics, some leaders (like Nasrallah), and some "reporters" like Yvonne Ridley, and venues like the "electronic intifada" from the true immediate practical and spiritual needs of people who yearn for an improved quality in every aspect of living.

This is not about throwing facts back and forth -- and you look too young yet for worry about legacy, :) -- but it is in substantial part about ideation that for expression seems inseperable from language acquisition, expressive behavior, and our understanding of language, psychology, and spirituality.

I've improved it a little bit while posting it here with a dollop of judicious clarification.

Here is another in the cast of characters.

Source: YouTube poster "RedMistFilms".  "Palestine demo, London 2009."  YouTube, February 12, 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO1C5rxV6iM

It's understood that combatants, whether with words or weapons, have their constituents and fans, some of whom, perhaps most, I don't know, become or remain blindly loyal, enthralled with an ideological or rhetorical line of thought, and beyond reason.

So who is beyond reason?

One may take this from Wikipedia:

The history of Jerusalem goes back to the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.^[5] Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism and has been the spiritual center of the Jewish people since c. 1000 BCE, when David the King of Israel first established it as the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel, and his son Solomon commissioned the building of the First Temple in the city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem

Who has destroyed whom?

Who has stolen from whom?

Here is a note from a piece on a recent Israeli Defense Force transfer or shipment of goods xxx

According to the statement, the shipments consisted of hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel; 21 truckloads of milk formula and baby food; 897 tons of cooking gas, 66 truckloads of fruits and vegetables; 51 truckloads of wheat, 27 truckloads of meat, poultry and fish; 40 truckloads of dairy products; 117 truckloads of animal food; 37 truckloads of hygiene products; 22 truckloads of sugar; and 38 truckloads of clothing and shoes.

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=175858 (May 18, 2010).

Still, partisan grandstanders insist on breaking a blockade of some kind:

A 'Freedom Flotilla', consisting of nine ships, is currently assembling in the Mediterranean Sea prior to attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza in the final week of May. Among the ships heading towards Gaza is the 1,200 tonne Irish cargo ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, which is owned by the Free Gaza Movement.

Source:  

http://www.swp.ie/index.php?page=900&dept=News&title='Freedom+++Flotilla'++sails+to+break+Israeli+blockade+of+Gaza (May 25, 2010).

Who is buying whose bill of goods?

Whatever one may think -- more importantly, however one may think, i.e., with what manner of thinking passes for thinking -- all will be able to watch this drama unfold in the press.

Here is another juxtaposition:

On board the ships are 10,000 tonnes of cargo and about 700-800 activists and politicians from more than 40 countries. The cargo includes building materials, medical supplies and paper for schools. One boat is carrying a complete dental surgery including drills. Crayons and chocolate are also on board for Gazan children. The cargo has been paid for by donations.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/25/gaza-flotilla-aid-attempt

It was difficult to get an accurate read of all of the possible intersections between the tunnel economy and Hamas. While direct extortion by local Hamas elements appears to be very rare, it has become good business practice to invite a Hamas cadre into the operation as a silent partner, thus providing a degree of political protection. Hamas sometimes requires the commercial tunnel operators to carry through special shipments-not weapons or cadres, but usually cement or construction materials. Indeed, I was told that the one commodity that most commercial tunnel operators dare not import these days is weapons: Hamas has tried to assert a monopoly over these, and views any entrepreneurial weapons smuggling as possibly benefiting its Fatah enemies. Hamas operates its own tunnels for this purpose, bringing in guns, ammunition, personnel, and money. These are deeper, longer, much more covert, and better built and equipped.

Source: http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/16/gazas_tragically_peculiar_economy (published March 16, 2010).

Life in Israel, no less than in Gaza, the West Bank, and in the neighborhood generally, remains life in a war zone, but a peculiar one in which a comparative handful of actors -- Hamas and Hezbollah militants working to build up their war making resources and vocal partisans around the world -- commandeer the lives and override the voices of other interests in situ, and to the extent that the old counterculture signal in the term "solidarity" permits within the mentality no media or otherwise voiced breach of unspoken compacts.

# # #

Noam Chomsky Interviewed by Israel News

6:35

Chomsky: You said I'm calling for the destruction of Israel or some words like that

Israel News: No, that you--

Chomsky: I don't think it should exist as a Jewish state.  Yeah, I don't think the United States should exist as a Christian state, I don't think Pakistan should exist as an Islamic state.

Israel News: There's a big difference because the United States and Pakistan--there is no nation in the world calling for their destruction and having a nuclear weapon like Iran, for example--

Chomsky: Like Iran does not have nuclear weapons and it's not calling for the destruction.

Israel News: It is calling for the destruction.  Ahmadinejad is very specific in saying that--

Chomsky: These are quotations that are appearing int he Israeli press. 

Israel News: I heard him say that with his voice.

Chomksy: What he said is, I don't approve it, he was quoting Khomeini in a period where Israel was very close to Iran and didn't mind Khomeini saying it, he said in the end of time Israel will disappear, words like that.

Israel News: No, he was very specific, and . . . .

Chomsky: But Israel is in a position of security well beyond that of many other states which do not, in so far as they call themselves not states of their citizens but states of a particular category of citizens object to it in principle.

6:49

Source: YouTube poster "Israelnews": "Viewed: a special interview with Professor Chomsky."  YouTube, May 23, 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCtYecGbQz8

Source: YouTube poster "seethroughit".  "Ahmadinejad on claims of wanting to destroy Israel."  YouTube, September 24, 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryXiFYYXzyM

We're all gentlemen and ladies here, are we not? 

Civil in manners, direct in speech, comfortable before crowds or television cameras, we are the very soul of reasonable and reasoning conversation.

There can be nothing wrong, for example, in comparing Jewish-majority israel with Christian-majority America and Muslim-majority Pakistan.  To be fair, America and Pakistan could well stand to be more polygot, mixed in population, indecipherable in cultural and religious makeup, for that, whether speaking of mixing up Hindus, Muslims, and Jews (oh my) or developing a polylingual America or Europe, such could become the soul of a peaceful global anarchy.

Then too, we in the west frequently decry gerrymandering and believe in one man, one vote, so let us put it to a vote--and Ahmadinejad knows all about fair voting--and discover through the election process whether Muslims, there being so very few Christians and Jews today left in the territories and camps by comparison, would not feel better about being taken care of by Jews, those terribly honest and responsible people (with the track records to prove it), than they would by their own.

No, my most gentle readers, one learns through looking over conflicts, especially ones generated out of the depths of language and psyche, that speaking softly may be all very well and fine, but how we listen, and with what discernment, knowledge, courage, and love, trumps all.

Source: YouTube poster "burnabycomputer".  "Israelies Are Not Jews and American Leaders Are Not Christians."  YouTube, June 15, 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrWguVsEih0

Do you know how to listen?

# # #

Chomsky Think

"You couldn't even predict that the plane would hit the World Trade Center.  I'm happy that it did, but it could easily have missed" -- minutes 2:52 to 3:00 in the video below:

 

Noam Chomsky was turned back by Israeli guards recently while on his way to speak at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah on the West Bank.  For once, he had no similar engagement to get to in Israel, which may turn out a great thing, for his playing for a symbolic boycott and his effort to further the demonization of Israel helps bring to light a single and simple principle: because somebody appears to be on your side doesn't mean that he's good.

Some friends we don't want.

Some friends, and this for their disingenuous character, no one should want.

"The argument moves very quickly to another position, namely that a state has the right to defend itself by force from attack from the outside, and nobody believes that.  If that's supposed to be the principle, I think it's universally rejected" -- minutes 3:00 to 3:26 in "Noam Chomsky: The United States - Israel's Godfather", YouTube poster "Phubb", January 26, 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30X2tYUGK_8&feature=related

Think about an intellectual's discussion of "defense" and taking exception to "by force" in light of the very notion of, say, "the common defense": would that it would suffice to pay for cheerleaders and lawyers to shout it out from soapboxes in the public squares and cut the soldiers, tanks, and planes out of it altogether.

There is one thing on which Chomsky and I would almost agree:  "Language is the core property that defines human beings"--minutes 0:17-0:25, "ali g interviews noam chomsky," YouTube poster "monkeysalud", April 5, 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOIM1_xOSro&feature=related

I'd go a little further and suggest that language is not a "property" but rather, perhaps, a central social technology encompassing two dimensional parts, a tool set and a medium, i.e., both a grammar and lexicon as well as an environmental suspension within the Mind in which cultures exist.

Now here is the good part, imho, as long as we're stuck with language: no grammar need be frozen, no lexicon fixed, no metonymy made immoveable, for languages would seem as alive, evolving, and flexible as well as practical and imaginative as the humans who own and struggle along with so many of them, for there is no separating customs and manners in speech from those owned and promoted by their speakers.

Faith, language, reason, and progress travel together.

Chomsky as phenomenon -- what is a nice Jewish boy like Noam doing subverting language to drive a wedge more deeply between good people? -- may be worth a great deal more research, but keep this in mind while Googling "Chomsky Israel", "Chomsky Gaza", "Chomsky Left", and "Chomsky Right": as much as one's perceived friend may not be such a good person, one's perceived enemy may not be such a bad one after all.

The test for determining one state from the other must not be superficial loyalty (and grandstanding) but plain spoken honesty in thought and deed.

Now in the above video from which I've excised a political aside, a provocative remark made on the way to some other point, most would agree, I think, with the debunking of the "9/11 Truth" movement, itself a demonstration of the human capacity for invention -- the greater the event, the more wild the conspiracy theories about it -- and the difficulty faced by some in the process of personally receiving vetted adverse data, but where "good : honest" have been paired, the good must necessarily rise to meet their criticism.

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