A Request

[kazzman]

My friends, I apologize, for this is neither silly nor light-hearted. It certainly belongs on A CiviL Union and not here, but, well, almost no one actually reads that and a fair number read this one. At any rate, I'm requesting that you call your Senators. I called both of mine and it took all of 3 minutes - for the Washington residents I'll cut

Comments

[fullandbye]

Who the fuck are you?

I am a dual citizen, American and Israeli. I hated Sharon with a passion, and despite the current government as well. And yes, I openly acknowledge that the Palestinians are human beings, with rights that are frequently violated by Israel and by their own corrupt government.

Here is where criticism of Israel drives me nuts:
The criticisms of Israel that come from the western liberal establishment (of which I am proudly a part) are not wrong, but compared with the criticism merited by pretty much every other country in the region, they are rather trivial. This is to say that Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Syria and Yemen are daily guilty of the sorts of activities that Israel would never dream of. Where is the outcry? I would like to see a stable middle-east more than anyone, but I think that the situation is far more complex than Israel and the Palestinians, and the degree of outrage felt towards Israel is completely out of proportion to the nature of Israel's behavior.

Have you been to Israel, whoever you are? Do you know Israelis? I do not disagree with Karl's outrage. I think it is justified, and no, I do not necessarily approve of what Israel is doing. But I also find it highly ironic that those of us who support liberal values tend to be the most critical of the only nation in the middle east who shares and protects those values. I want to see a Palestinian Marshall plan put into place, but not before there is a Palestinian government which does not consider blowing up buses an appropriate form of social protest or military action.

Electing Hamas to power does not therefore make all Palestinians a legitimate target of the IDF. It does however render protests against the IDF a bit more hollow in my opinion.