ThinkProgress reports that Ben Shapiro on Townhall.Com recently said of the Palestinians:
"The problem runs deeper than a few figureheads. The Palestinian Arab population is rotten to the core."
Orthodox Jew and radically Conservative Shapiro also claimed :
"They are as responsible for their government’s longstanding evil as the Germans were for the Nazis’."
Why doesn't Shapiro just come out and say what he means? Shapiro obviously despises all Palestinian people. It is Shapiro who sounds "rotten to the core." This guy gives me the chills.
By this very same misguided logic every American citizen is also guilty of the torture and sexual violation of inmates in Abu Ghraib. By this logic every American citizen is responsible for the all the atrocities our government ever carried out.
I've heard this logic before.... where was it? Oh yeah, it was Osama bin Laden when he said it was OK to kill American civilians because we elect our leaders so we are responsible for what they do.
Shapiro's animosity and hatred towards all Palestinians is not justified, I don't understand his viciousness. Is this simple transference?
The Germans had contempt for all Jews and hated everything about them, just like Shapiro has contempt for all Palestinians and hates everything about them. So to my ears Shapiro is the one who sounds like the fascist.
Why compare the Palestinians to the Nazi's?
The Nazi's had concentration camps, gas chambers, and modern weaponry.
The Palestinians live in walled cities which they are not allowed to leave from without the permission of the Israeli's. The weapons of the bad guys? Malfunctioning AK-47's and homemade "rockets".
There are so many fundamental differences between the Nazi's and the Palestinians it isn't even funny.
For one, there are not hundreds of thousands of armed Palestinians with tanks and airplanes making line invasions into a neighboring country and throwing a particular ethnic group into ovens.
More importantly, it is the Palestinians who are living in strife and oppression. I see a holocaust of sorts, but it isn't happening to the Jews. I see a destruction of a society, a destruction being pushed from the outside and aided from the inside. I see injustice, which leads to widespread anger and eventual violence.
The German Nazi's invaded neighboring countries in a quest for world domination, the Palestinians want their own country and there has to be a way to work on that, but as long as their are pretentious self serving racist around like Shapiro it will be an uphill battle.
This archetype of people only feed into the militants hostility and anger and only make it easier for them to find recruits.
What do they need propaganda video's for when all they really need is a few articles written by Ben Shapiro and Dennis Prager translated into Arabic? Then the militants can say "See how much they hate you? They don't want peace, peace is a lie."
Comparing the Palestinians to the Nazi's is to compare apples and oranges and I think this Shapiro character must have a hideous mind.
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Don't Stop To Help The Guy Splattered On The Pavement Or Anything
The AP Reports :
"More than two dozen Israeli motorists manoeuvred around the dead body of a road accident victim lying in the middle of a busy intersection, failing to stop to help in an incident captured by a traffic camera." Full Story
WHAT?!?
In America I believe that's a crime and it's called leaving the scene of an accident. Besides the legal factor, where is the humanity of people - to leave a dead man in the street?
I guess living in a "Democracy" is not a call to decency and compassion for your fellow man.
Have Israeli's become so numbed and indifferent to suffering and death that they can allow themselves to ignore a dead body in the middle of the road?
Well, someone ought to call and ambulance or clean that up - but we're too busy. It's not like it's the holocaust or something. Swerve around it, and try not to get the blood on the tires dear...
I am truly disgusted by this. It touches off that rare and deep disgust I feel when I see hospital workers in Los Angeles kick the sick homeless hospital patients out on the streets, in some cases drugged with medical equipment still haphazardly attached to them.
Travel tip to self :
When in Israel, make sure you don't get hurt, people will leave your injured body in the streets until it turns into a corpse.
-----
Note : Maybe I am more personally offended by this than some people would be. When I was young my cousin was hit by a car and the man who hit him did not stop or call an ambulance immediately, costing my cousin precious minutes that may have saved his life.
The AP Reports :
"More than two dozen Israeli motorists manoeuvred around the dead body of a road accident victim lying in the middle of a busy intersection, failing to stop to help in an incident captured by a traffic camera." Full Story
WHAT?!?
In America I believe that's a crime and it's called leaving the scene of an accident. Besides the legal factor, where is the humanity of people - to leave a dead man in the street?
I guess living in a "Democracy" is not a call to decency and compassion for your fellow man.
Have Israeli's become so numbed and indifferent to suffering and death that they can allow themselves to ignore a dead body in the middle of the road?
Well, someone ought to call and ambulance or clean that up - but we're too busy. It's not like it's the holocaust or something. Swerve around it, and try not to get the blood on the tires dear...
I am truly disgusted by this. It touches off that rare and deep disgust I feel when I see hospital workers in Los Angeles kick the sick homeless hospital patients out on the streets, in some cases drugged with medical equipment still haphazardly attached to them.
Travel tip to self :
When in Israel, make sure you don't get hurt, people will leave your injured body in the streets until it turns into a corpse.
-----
Note : Maybe I am more personally offended by this than some people would be. When I was young my cousin was hit by a car and the man who hit him did not stop or call an ambulance immediately, costing my cousin precious minutes that may have saved his life.
Monday, March 12, 2007
"Let Them Wait"
Over three million Palestinians live in the occupied territories.
Palestinians have lived under Israeli military occupation for forty years.
Twenty years after the occupation began the intifada began. The uprising brought more excessive force from Israel, leading to a second Palestinian uprising in 2000 following the collapse of the Oslo Accords.
Checkpoints are a part of daily life for many Palestinians. Gaza Strip and the West Bank are separated by miles.
In Palestine people often have to travel to work, many times walking long distances to visit family, go to school or visit hospitals.
Palestinians are routinely harassed at such checkpoints for hours before they are many times denied permission to pass.
Herded like cattle and treated no different, the conditions Israeli's impose on Palestinians only fuel greater hostility and animosity among the Palestinian people.
Many of the Palestinian people are not just angered with their treatment, they are hurt, and their pain is etched into many of their faces, young and old.
Another obvious symptom of oppression is the fear many Palestinians feel towards Israeli soldiers because of their routine and systematic harassment, and being constantly treated like a criminal.
Few people really know what it is like for the Palestinians, why they are frustrated while they world ignores them, and in many cases demonizes them.
Israeli Filmmaker Yoav Shamir takes a deeper look into the lives of Palestinians, and how their lives are dictated by various checkpoints where harassment is routine.
At the checkpoints, all Palestinians are treated equally, equally as criminals.
The film is an Israeli film, made with Israeli money, shot by an Israeli. What's more interesting is that the Israeli forces are now using the documentary as training material for their guards.
This film provides an eye witnesses perspective to a situation many Americans do not even realize exists. The film is at the end of this post, but I want to highlight what I view as some of the most important scenes from the documentary.
Tensions can run high when human beings are corralled like animals and treated without the slightest amount of dignity or respect. Frustration is common, but only because of the systematic abuses of power Israeli soldiers display.
In a crowded checkpoint Israeli soldiers command the Palestinians to get on the pavilion - no one gets threw the checkpoint until everyone is on the pavilion. The problem, there is not enough room on the pavilion for all waiting Palestinians to gather on.
One man frustrated, carrying his young child complains that "We have been here since 6 AM."
A sick family is prevented from crossing a checkpoint to see a doctor. An Israeli guard harasses the family with taunts and repeatedly tries to get a four year old boy to answer his questions, when the child is clearly frightened by the guard and does not understand Hebrew.
Dissatisfied with the child's lack of response the guard turns the family away from the checkpoint, saying "maybe" they could come back tomorrow. There appears to be no legitimate reason for turning the family away.
A school bus full of elementary age children rumbles on the scene of a checkpoint and is stopped by the Israeli's. The children are pulled out of the bus, but it is not the Palestinian children the Israeli guards are interested in, it is the Israeli man traveling with them, who is a pastor and has a large cross on the back of his vest.
The pastor was prevented from crossing the checkpoint without just reason after the Pastor told the guards he was crossing with the children to see how they were being treated at the checkpoints, the pastor was obviously concerned about the well being of the children.
Inexplicably, after the children have left one of the Israeli guard insists that the pastor get his picture taken with him. The pastor agrees, only if the guard removes his gun and helmet. The guard complies, perhaps conveying the importance he is placing on the photo of the man. But why is it so important to have a picture of this peaceful Israeli pastor? Perhaps to identify him later, or make him identifiable to other Israeli guards as a "trouble maker".
At another checkpoint an Israeli guard says "Jews are the best." At the same checkpoint male soldiers can be found sexually harassing young Palestinian girls, one even after she has informed the guard she is a minor.
Another checkpoint finds Palestinians who are made to wait in the freezing rain for an extended period of time. Not because Israeli guards are busy, but because Israeli guards are trying to prove some kind of point to them.
A guard checks a mans ID by phone. After he has verified the man is who he indeed says he is, the soldier decides to "make him wait" in the freezing rain for no other apparent reason to other than to prove a point to a nonviolent and productive Palestinian man.
At a Ramallah checkpoint it is snowing and again the Palestinians are forced to stand out in the elements for an unreasonably long amount of time.
A young guard notices the camera and places himself in front of it. "What do you want to film here? Animals, Animals. Like the Discovery Channel" the guard laughs, clearly implying his belief that the Palestinians are animals.
"All of Ramallah is a jungle, there are monkeys, dogs, gorillas (laughing) The problem is that the animals are locked, they can't come out. We're humans. They're animals. They aren't human, we are." He continues, "that's the difference between..." (one can assume "us and them" were the words poised to follow) but the guard is interrupted by another, perhaps sensing the peril of his comrades words.
"What?" The young guard asks his comrade who has interrupted him "Let him film, what do I care? I don't care what people think." Exactly.
Palestinians are routinely turned back from checkpoints not allowed to return home without any justified reason other than the fact they are Palestinian.
At one such checkpoint an old man hobbles with a cane, sits on a gathering of rocks, and almost whispers "Film this. See what they do to us." to the cameraman.
"I'll break her bones." One guard menacingly threatens an older man and his wife as they try to cross the checkpoint. "We are going home" The man replies defiantly.
"Why are you doing this to us?" Rings out an anguished voice. "Shoot me, I don't care." Indeed, in a life like this death may seem a release. "Why are you doing this to us?" and "Why do you treat us this way?" are questions often raised by the Palestinians.
"Is this freedom? Is this the peace they've promised us?"
The closing scenes of the documentary brings us to a scene of darkness, Palestinians lined up against a concrete barrier. A cell phone rings, "We have been waiting for more than five hours." the man tells the person on the other end.
"We're tired of waiting in the cold." Another says.
Another voice in the darkness pleads "I've been here for ten hours."
An Israeli soldier "Let them wait. Let them wait."
The excerpts above were taken from the documentary below.
Update : The embeded video does not seem to be working correctly, the video can be found at Google Video.
Over three million Palestinians live in the occupied territories.
Palestinians have lived under Israeli military occupation for forty years.
Twenty years after the occupation began the intifada began. The uprising brought more excessive force from Israel, leading to a second Palestinian uprising in 2000 following the collapse of the Oslo Accords.
Checkpoints are a part of daily life for many Palestinians. Gaza Strip and the West Bank are separated by miles.
In Palestine people often have to travel to work, many times walking long distances to visit family, go to school or visit hospitals.
Palestinians are routinely harassed at such checkpoints for hours before they are many times denied permission to pass.
Herded like cattle and treated no different, the conditions Israeli's impose on Palestinians only fuel greater hostility and animosity among the Palestinian people.
Many of the Palestinian people are not just angered with their treatment, they are hurt, and their pain is etched into many of their faces, young and old.
Another obvious symptom of oppression is the fear many Palestinians feel towards Israeli soldiers because of their routine and systematic harassment, and being constantly treated like a criminal.
Few people really know what it is like for the Palestinians, why they are frustrated while they world ignores them, and in many cases demonizes them.
Israeli Filmmaker Yoav Shamir takes a deeper look into the lives of Palestinians, and how their lives are dictated by various checkpoints where harassment is routine.
At the checkpoints, all Palestinians are treated equally, equally as criminals.
The film is an Israeli film, made with Israeli money, shot by an Israeli. What's more interesting is that the Israeli forces are now using the documentary as training material for their guards.
This film provides an eye witnesses perspective to a situation many Americans do not even realize exists. The film is at the end of this post, but I want to highlight what I view as some of the most important scenes from the documentary.
Tensions can run high when human beings are corralled like animals and treated without the slightest amount of dignity or respect. Frustration is common, but only because of the systematic abuses of power Israeli soldiers display.
In a crowded checkpoint Israeli soldiers command the Palestinians to get on the pavilion - no one gets threw the checkpoint until everyone is on the pavilion. The problem, there is not enough room on the pavilion for all waiting Palestinians to gather on.
One man frustrated, carrying his young child complains that "We have been here since 6 AM."
A sick family is prevented from crossing a checkpoint to see a doctor. An Israeli guard harasses the family with taunts and repeatedly tries to get a four year old boy to answer his questions, when the child is clearly frightened by the guard and does not understand Hebrew.
Dissatisfied with the child's lack of response the guard turns the family away from the checkpoint, saying "maybe" they could come back tomorrow. There appears to be no legitimate reason for turning the family away.
A school bus full of elementary age children rumbles on the scene of a checkpoint and is stopped by the Israeli's. The children are pulled out of the bus, but it is not the Palestinian children the Israeli guards are interested in, it is the Israeli man traveling with them, who is a pastor and has a large cross on the back of his vest.
The pastor was prevented from crossing the checkpoint without just reason after the Pastor told the guards he was crossing with the children to see how they were being treated at the checkpoints, the pastor was obviously concerned about the well being of the children.
Inexplicably, after the children have left one of the Israeli guard insists that the pastor get his picture taken with him. The pastor agrees, only if the guard removes his gun and helmet. The guard complies, perhaps conveying the importance he is placing on the photo of the man. But why is it so important to have a picture of this peaceful Israeli pastor? Perhaps to identify him later, or make him identifiable to other Israeli guards as a "trouble maker".
At another checkpoint an Israeli guard says "Jews are the best." At the same checkpoint male soldiers can be found sexually harassing young Palestinian girls, one even after she has informed the guard she is a minor.
Another checkpoint finds Palestinians who are made to wait in the freezing rain for an extended period of time. Not because Israeli guards are busy, but because Israeli guards are trying to prove some kind of point to them.
A guard checks a mans ID by phone. After he has verified the man is who he indeed says he is, the soldier decides to "make him wait" in the freezing rain for no other apparent reason to other than to prove a point to a nonviolent and productive Palestinian man.
At a Ramallah checkpoint it is snowing and again the Palestinians are forced to stand out in the elements for an unreasonably long amount of time.
A young guard notices the camera and places himself in front of it. "What do you want to film here? Animals, Animals. Like the Discovery Channel" the guard laughs, clearly implying his belief that the Palestinians are animals.
"All of Ramallah is a jungle, there are monkeys, dogs, gorillas (laughing) The problem is that the animals are locked, they can't come out. We're humans. They're animals. They aren't human, we are." He continues, "that's the difference between..." (one can assume "us and them" were the words poised to follow) but the guard is interrupted by another, perhaps sensing the peril of his comrades words.
"What?" The young guard asks his comrade who has interrupted him "Let him film, what do I care? I don't care what people think." Exactly.
Palestinians are routinely turned back from checkpoints not allowed to return home without any justified reason other than the fact they are Palestinian.
At one such checkpoint an old man hobbles with a cane, sits on a gathering of rocks, and almost whispers "Film this. See what they do to us." to the cameraman.
"I'll break her bones." One guard menacingly threatens an older man and his wife as they try to cross the checkpoint. "We are going home" The man replies defiantly.
"Why are you doing this to us?" Rings out an anguished voice. "Shoot me, I don't care." Indeed, in a life like this death may seem a release. "Why are you doing this to us?" and "Why do you treat us this way?" are questions often raised by the Palestinians.
"Is this freedom? Is this the peace they've promised us?"
The closing scenes of the documentary brings us to a scene of darkness, Palestinians lined up against a concrete barrier. A cell phone rings, "We have been waiting for more than five hours." the man tells the person on the other end.
"We're tired of waiting in the cold." Another says.
Another voice in the darkness pleads "I've been here for ten hours."
An Israeli soldier "Let them wait. Let them wait."
The excerpts above were taken from the documentary below.
Update : The embeded video does not seem to be working correctly, the video can be found at Google Video.
Monday, February 12, 2007
New Construction Sparks Old Debate
In a move hoping to defuse anger, the mayor of Jerusalem has ordered a review of construction being done to a walkway near the Dome of the Rock and al-Asqa mosque.
The construction has angered many, who say the construction could harm the third holiest site in Islam and has sparked protests.
The review will not halt preparatory excavations, but is aimed at "proving" Israel will not damage the site. Israel claims it only seeks to repair a earthen walkway that is partially collapsed, but those who are protesting the construction say that Israel will harm the site.
Any sudden moves around the Dome of the Rock, or Noble Sanctuary as Muslims call it, sparks tensions, as the site was formerly occupied by a Jewish Temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
It is no secret that the Jews and Christians seek to eventually reclaim this site.
Jews believe the site is "rightfully" theirs and the Christians believe that the Jews must build a Third Temple on the site so that the "Antichrist" can destroy it and usher in the way for Jesus Christ, who will then battle the "Antichrist" and bring about 1,000 years of peace.
When Muslims built the sanctuary it had been abandoned for hundreds of years, and Muslims believe the Rock to be the spot where Prophet Mohammad ascended to heaven -- but that does not stop Jews and Christians from claiming that the site belongs to the Jews.
Because of this, and other factors there is a constant tension that can cause almost any move near the site to cause conflicts, as we witnessed following the visit of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the site in 2000.
The Israeli's claim they just want to repair a walkway and make sure they are not destroying any artifacts in the process.
But my question is : If the construction is so necessary, why didn't Israel consult with the Islamic authorities first, then propose that qualified Muslims carry out the work? To me, it seems that simple, conflict could have been avoided.
I'm not a Muslim, but it is very easy for me to see the sensitivities involved, after all, Israel has taken everything else of value including the land, so one would naturally assume it was only a matter of time before they moved in on the prize of Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock.
The media is failing to connect the dots and see the story from both sides, we also have to consider Israel is building a "museum of tolerance" on top of a Muslim graveyard. How's that food for thought? It's the most insulting and absurd thing I have ever heard.
But Israel is a "liberated democracy", you can't say that...
There was a point in time when early Americans showed the same amount of disrespect to the American Indians, who lived in what is now America millenia before the arrival of the Europeans.
Early European settlers systematically cleansed the land of Indians, herding the survivors into "reservations" and calling the Indians who fought back for their land "barbarians" and "animals" as they stole the Indians land and broke their treaties with them.
The settlers also disrespected the graveyards of Indians, desecrating and stealing from them. It appears as if the early settlers of the new Israel are doing the same thing to the Palestinians, the same thing.
Will it take hundreds of years for the world and the Israeli's themselves to realize what they are doing is wrong, just as it took hundreds of years for Americans to recognize what they had done to the American Indians was bad?
However, moving back to the original point of the blog, it would have been simple for Israel to consult with Islamic authorities about the walkway, it doesn't take a genius to figure out when you show up at the holy shrine with a bulldozer people are going to get tense.
The conflict could have been avoided all together if Israel had consulted with Muslims and asked qualified Muslims to repair the walkway if such repairs are indeed necessary.
UPDATE : Turkey to inspect Jerusalem work
In a move hoping to defuse anger, the mayor of Jerusalem has ordered a review of construction being done to a walkway near the Dome of the Rock and al-Asqa mosque.
The construction has angered many, who say the construction could harm the third holiest site in Islam and has sparked protests.
The review will not halt preparatory excavations, but is aimed at "proving" Israel will not damage the site. Israel claims it only seeks to repair a earthen walkway that is partially collapsed, but those who are protesting the construction say that Israel will harm the site.
Any sudden moves around the Dome of the Rock, or Noble Sanctuary as Muslims call it, sparks tensions, as the site was formerly occupied by a Jewish Temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
It is no secret that the Jews and Christians seek to eventually reclaim this site.
Jews believe the site is "rightfully" theirs and the Christians believe that the Jews must build a Third Temple on the site so that the "Antichrist" can destroy it and usher in the way for Jesus Christ, who will then battle the "Antichrist" and bring about 1,000 years of peace.
When Muslims built the sanctuary it had been abandoned for hundreds of years, and Muslims believe the Rock to be the spot where Prophet Mohammad ascended to heaven -- but that does not stop Jews and Christians from claiming that the site belongs to the Jews.
Because of this, and other factors there is a constant tension that can cause almost any move near the site to cause conflicts, as we witnessed following the visit of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the site in 2000.
The Israeli's claim they just want to repair a walkway and make sure they are not destroying any artifacts in the process.
But my question is : If the construction is so necessary, why didn't Israel consult with the Islamic authorities first, then propose that qualified Muslims carry out the work? To me, it seems that simple, conflict could have been avoided.
I'm not a Muslim, but it is very easy for me to see the sensitivities involved, after all, Israel has taken everything else of value including the land, so one would naturally assume it was only a matter of time before they moved in on the prize of Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock.
The media is failing to connect the dots and see the story from both sides, we also have to consider Israel is building a "museum of tolerance" on top of a Muslim graveyard. How's that food for thought? It's the most insulting and absurd thing I have ever heard.
But Israel is a "liberated democracy", you can't say that...
There was a point in time when early Americans showed the same amount of disrespect to the American Indians, who lived in what is now America millenia before the arrival of the Europeans.
Early European settlers systematically cleansed the land of Indians, herding the survivors into "reservations" and calling the Indians who fought back for their land "barbarians" and "animals" as they stole the Indians land and broke their treaties with them.
The settlers also disrespected the graveyards of Indians, desecrating and stealing from them. It appears as if the early settlers of the new Israel are doing the same thing to the Palestinians, the same thing.
Will it take hundreds of years for the world and the Israeli's themselves to realize what they are doing is wrong, just as it took hundreds of years for Americans to recognize what they had done to the American Indians was bad?
However, moving back to the original point of the blog, it would have been simple for Israel to consult with Islamic authorities about the walkway, it doesn't take a genius to figure out when you show up at the holy shrine with a bulldozer people are going to get tense.
The conflict could have been avoided all together if Israel had consulted with Muslims and asked qualified Muslims to repair the walkway if such repairs are indeed necessary.
UPDATE : Turkey to inspect Jerusalem work
Monday, January 29, 2007
Israel 'broke US arms deal terms'
BBC reports :
"Israel probably violated the terms of its arms deals with Washington by using US-made cluster bombs in Lebanon last year, a US government report says."
Read more at BBC.Com
BBC reports :
"Israel probably violated the terms of its arms deals with Washington by using US-made cluster bombs in Lebanon last year, a US government report says."
Read more at BBC.Com
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