Israel: A significant shift in U.S. public opinion…? And what if the answer is “Yes”?
Something else could also happen. A rising global BDS tide could be counter-productive. It could reinforce what very many Israeli Jews have been conditioned to believe by Zionist propaganda and result in them saying something like: “This proves that the world hates Jews. World go to hell!” And that, no doubt, would set the stage for a final Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine followed, most likely, by the transformation of the rising global tide of anti-Israelism into anti-Semitism. (That might be what Zionism wants in order to go on justifying, if only to itself, its reason for being).
For the sake of discussion let’s suppose that, at a point, reason prevails and the clear and present danger of isolation and sanctions does cause a majority of Israeli Jews to demand peace on terms the Palestinians could accept.
The question that would then arise is this. Could Netanyahu or any other Israeli prime minister deliver?
If the statements of the leaders of the racist and neo-fascist tendency in Israel (secular and religious) can be taken at face value, the answer is “NO!” They are totally opposed to an Israeli withdrawal from more or less all the occupied West Bank to create the space for a viable Palestine state with East Jerusalem its capital and/or Jerusalem an undivided city and the capital of two states. And they will never, ever, agree to one state with equal rights for all because that would mean the end of Zionism.
My conclusion? It’s great news that a significant shift of American public opinion is underway, but it may very well be that it’s too late to stop a Zionist-driven countdown to catastrophe for us all.
As I said at the end of my last post, I would like to be proved wrong.
Footnote
In a most remarkable article for Ha’aretz on 7 March, Daniel Blatman, a history professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, called on American Jews to end their silence “and co-operate with the shrinking groups of Israelis who have not yet lost hope that it’s possible to stop this downslide towards the abyss.” The headline over this piece was If I was an American Jew I would worry about Israel’s racist cancer.”
That caused me to wonder what I would be thinking and feeling if I was a Palestinian. This question first entered my mind a few days ago as I was watching the images of Five Broken Cameras, the Oscar-nominated film documenting the struggle of the West Bank village of Bil’in against Israeli occupation and continuing settlement expansion. It was screened on BBC4. (Broadcast to a small audience and starting at 10.30pm, but it was transmitted. I imagine Zionism’s watch dogs here in the UK were furious)..
I entertained the thought that if I was a Palestinian I would hate Israeli Jews and not want peace with them. The fact that this is NOT the mindset or the position of the vast majority of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians, meaning that what they hate is not Israel’s Jews but Zionism, is a tribute to their humanity. Zionism, assisted by the persecution of Jews on and off down the centuries (mainly by Europeans not Arabs) has stripped most Israeli Jews of their humanity. They need to claim it back if there is ever to be peace based on an acceptable amount of justice for the Palestinians.
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Rehmat:
March 9th, 2014 at 2:42 am
Dear Hart, I posted on this subject in June 2010.
Personally, I believe in the ‘option’ of a democratic one-state Palestine, based on ‘one-vote- one person’ with equal rights for all its citizen, dismantling of racist Zionist political parties and Israel Occupation Force (IOF), right of return for the natives and suitable compensations for their loss of properties to the Jew settlers – and of course the dismantling of country’s nuclear arsenal. All those racist Jews, who don’t want to live in peace with the natives – they should be allowed to migrate back to their ancestral lands – Germany, Russia, Poland, France, the UK, the US, etc. – as many White settlers did in South Africa, Algeria and India. In fact, Professor Edward Said had predicted long time ago that the great majority of Israeli Jews would rather prefer to live under Muslim rule in Palestine than going back to their ancestral western homeland where they know antiSemitism would be waiting for them.
http://rehmat1.com/2010/06/18/palestine-the-third-option/
ontogram:
March 9th, 2014 at 4:26 am
The Zionist attempt to create an ethnic state from nothing has failed because it became too protracted. The Palestinian problem was not resolved quickly (perhaps genocide). In any case, it is not possible to create out of the air an ethnic state in our time. Historically, nationalism evolved from a cohesive identity located in situ, in a contiguous area. The identity grows out of the land and the reflects the neighbors. Today, that sort of nationalism is repugnant because it causes death and destruction. Today — a Jew can be a Frenchman, but a Frenchman can’t be a Jew. Why not? He cannot be a Jew in the Israel sense of the identity because he is not Jewish. So, Jewish is not like French, is it? Zionism tried to make a state but not in situ and that is a major failing.
Secondly, ancient Israel was not much of a survivor state. It was finally done in by the big guys, the empires that GREW by incorporating peoples and tribes around them, e.g. Roman, Persians, etc. And Israel? The exclusive character of Judaism condemned Israel to limited human resources and limited growth. Rome rolled over this little state handily,
It is the same today: The state of Israel cannot survive long term because of its exclusive definition. I think that the violence and treasure needed to sustain this exclusive state is a good measure of the unnatural, non-historical character of the project. Without such subvention and murder, it would not have survived at all. Even today, it still requires extra resources from exogenous sources to survive and that dependence dooms the state.
I think it will get much worse before it gets better. I can imagine the fanatical elements in Israel creating war, even nuclear war, when they don’t get their way. These supremacists will richly deserve the fate that will finally take them down. They will be hunted down and condemned like Nazis after the war.
IMHO
Confoundmeonce:
March 9th, 2014 at 7:26 am
Alan, The answer, clear and To the Mark…is..NO. Not only is This US of A. Citizens Fed up with this Rogue Facsimile of a ”State’ Trying to Make it A ‘Homeland Of Jews Only..They Will Never Succeed. Two very Good Reasons. One..It is an illegitimate venture on stolen land. Second, It is Existing at the Expense of The American taxes and They are Sick of Being Robbed of Their heritage by these Users. The Anger has Become Unbearable to us. We suffer In many Instances and Are Now Wondering Why Our ‘president Lets It Continue. Time To Stop Robbing Peter to pay Paul. SO< Alan, You are Exactly Correct. This Can`t continue.
Tom Mysiewicz:
March 9th, 2014 at 8:12 am
Jews and Moslems got along well for over a thousand years. They can do so again. Before testing out their concept in Palestine, the Zionists should have done so someplace like Madagascar to be sure it worked in the first place. This conflict and garrison-state thing ruined the whole experiment (as explained to me by Uri Avnery). The original dream was that Jews could maintain a productive society of their own without the need for predating on the “goyim”. A worthwhile goal for those Jews who wish it. (It does say in the Bible that “The lion shall lie down with the lamb. Both shall cheweth the cud.”) I’d be a Zionist supporter if it were not for displaced Palestinians who owned the land–I know what it is like to have a home stolen by legal trickery and be driven into homelessness.
pete:
March 9th, 2014 at 8:24 am
Alan, aint nothing gonna change, the people of the u.s, might be getting sick of Israel,s bullshit but the the people in our government could not care less. Jerry Brown is a twink who backs up on old doorknobs. America what have you come to,a slave to a little pissant nazi like country,
Blake:
March 11th, 2014 at 4:43 am
Decades of indoctrination America has always been the target of the zionists to keep their charade going.
James:
July 7th, 2015 at 3:45 am
“I think the interesting quiosetn here is not which is “more representative” of Islam, but what the pressures and incentives are in each case.Dr. Abuelaish is a stateless resident of the Gaza Strip…(h)e has to be extremely careful in his criticisms of…”…Islam.