I agree I agree - and also the fact that the US itself - the Americas - this itself is colonized land, conquered land, home to decimated and broken societies and also the descendants of those societies - too often these days we say "oh yes it was tragic" because it was "long ago" and it's ok to feel bad about it now because there's no one to blame - but there are still repercussions, there are inequities, there are land rights issues - not just Israel and Palestine but First Peoples/Native Americans, water rights, borders with Mexico... these issues - so many people don't see them because they are actually benefiting from these situations, but for other people - here in the States - they have to be aware of them. Or transfer that awareness, that resentment, to something else...
But yes that struck me a lot - that if the U.S. condemned Israel (if the American people condemned the actions of the Israeli people) we would have to condemn ourselves - and I wonder if that isn't somewhere lurking in the subconscious, part of the reason for so much strident support for our close friend (along with guilt over hating/fearing Jews). That we would have to say about our own nation not "yes it was so tragic the way it happened" but "how can we make amends?" The heroic settlers battling savage Indians along with all the elements - we would have to not only claim that history in a different light but carry it through to the present - where are we now? what are we doing to each other? to this land?
But yes that struck me a lot - that if the U.S. condemned Israel (if the American people condemned the actions of the Israeli people) we would have to condemn ourselves - and I wonder if that isn't somewhere lurking in the subconscious, part of the reason for so much strident support for our close friend (along with guilt over hating/fearing Jews). That we would have to say about our own nation not "yes it was so tragic the way it happened" but "how can we make amends?" The heroic settlers battling savage Indians along with all the elements - we would have to not only claim that history in a different light but carry it through to the present - where are we now? what are we doing to each other? to this land?
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