Desert Peace goes by the name of Steve, an Israeli Jew living in Jerusalem, who has observed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for many years. His biography is hard to find because most of it is submerged in the humility of a man who has selflessly fought injustice throughout his life. Whether people like Daily Kos’ another American like it or not, there are still left wing humanitarians in the world, who will fight for people like the Palestinians, whose lives have been turned into utter misery and death for an extremist Zionist dream, that could not, from the beginning, be completed without their demise.
Anyone who believes that Israel was created from an empty land bereft of people is a dolt or a liar. Israel was created by force at the expense of an Arab people who lived in the country of Palestine for well over a millennium and perhaps longer, at times under military occupation. They saw their lands diminish to 22% of what was Palestine following the 1948 ethnic cleansing and war. Now we are seeing that small remaining parcel diminish further through Zionist expansionism since 1967, while Palestinians are held captive in a state of military occupation. The names of the tens of thousands of innocent and resisting Palestinians who died as a result of this occupation, may never be known to us.
If there are right wing Zionists who support this long term project of colonization through military force, then they are known not only by their silence concerning the suffering and death it has caused the Palestinians, but by their tendency to blame the Palestinians, the victims of biblical and historical Zionist, for their own suffering and death.
Nothing strikes me as more inhumane than this reversal of responsibility because it goes on to justify even more suffering and death. Only racism in could lead one to engage in such distorted thinking.
Steve and Ben Heine were highlighted in this conspiratorial diary on Daily Kos entitled, The Plot Against Daily Kos. It occurred after Ben Heine was banned from Daily Kos on some trumped up excuse. Apparently, the author, another American, believes that only he and his cohorts should choose who does and does not blog at Daily Kos. He and his cohorts have also determined that, if you are critical of Israel, you do not deserve to stay. Furthermore, if you post a diary criticizing Israel, he and his cohorts will do all in their collective power to hijack the diary and derail it from any opportunity of obtaining reasonable discussion.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/6/95532/02376
DesertPeace’s post, which gave rise to this ridiculous diary, may be read here,
http://www.desertpeace.blogspot.com/
The comments, which followed, were highly interesting,
Servant Savant said…
Thanks for posting on this Steve.
I’ve been reading at Kos for more than a few years now, so I know that this is a vocal minority who regularly show their ignorance on any post dealing with criticism of Israel.
DailyKos remains one of my favorite progressive political activism reads, so let’s not tar all 2 million regular users with the ignorance of a few. Rabid Zionists want to sound like they run the roost, but they’re just really loud and obnoxious.
You know the drill: claims of anti-Semitism, feigned outrage, the race for the king of the hill inside victim circle … all while completely ignoring the diary itself. Don’t confuse me with facts.
It’s ironic that people at a progressive site would end up in effect defending Lieberman’s desire to complete the ethnic cleansing of Palestine once and for all.
I think a lot of these people know better, but they’ve been conditioned to not think about anything critical of Israel.
BTW. I’ll be posting some of the more idiotic excuses for comments at Ressentiment in a little while.
2:30 PM, April 06, 2007Ben Heine said…
Thank you Steve.
I’m really disappointed by Daily Kos.
Isn’t it the most non progressive site ruled by Zionists?Ser, sorry to say that about a site that you still appreciate, but I really don’t understand censorship and I think 90 per cent of the comments I got there had the same sort of Zionist conservative content. So where are your 2 million progressive regular users?
2:39 PM, April 06, 2007thecutter said…
I know Nancy in the past had some reservations about Daily KOS, you should ask her for the lowdown. They were defending settlers as if it was the most natural thing to do, and it was an eye-opener to her as well. At any rate, I am very used to being treated worse than ** because of my anti-Zionism and attacked on some boards. It happens a lot, so I am used to it. The first few times, it is hard though, but I’d suggest for Ben to laugh it off and put on his defensive armour of irony. It is the only way to not let them think they are “winning” some existential battle of the wills and of “truth”. Just be strong! This stuff will pass!!
3:13 PM, April 06, 2007Ann said…
Hear, hear. Ben’s integrity and success hit the nerve straight away and mobilized the loud and obnoxious ones, as Ser rightly noted. What struck me also was their sheer banality — they didn’t address anything of the article content, and then the article was removed due to “copyright violations”. Ha! We’ll just write them ourselves, that’ll show them. Well put rejoinder Steve, how can a Jew act like a Nazi? Best wishes with your endeavours there. The campaign to reclaim progressive political activism from its hijacking by the zionists in the US ain’t going to be easy, but we’ll get there yet.
4:03 PM, April 06, 2007Servant Savant said…
Shameless blog cross-post spam
I support Benjamin Heine. As if it wasn’t obvious.
Dare you to say that on DailyKos now! Double-Dog Dare Ya!
The Art that Ate Israel
4:09 PM, April 06, 2007I love Munich said…
As German the Nazi-issue is a very sensitive one though I can’t but agree to what you say – someone tell me what’s the difference between i.e. the conduct of these bastards some seventy years ago in Germany and Avigdor Lieberman! Whoever is appalled – kindly gather information before you talk! It looks shocking, it IS shocking … but it is the truth! Nazis are, sadly enough, everywhere nowadays .. and if one in Israel behaves this way – why shouldn’t he be called this way – just because he is a Jew? I absolutely agree with you Steve … “don’t behave like one so you’re not called this way”!
Benjamin struck an Achilles tendon – otherwise the reaction wouldn’t have been that vicious! I TOTALLY oppose what happened in my country, I abhor it, abhor racism in ANY form (and am “colorblind” on top), regardless where on this planet … but I am for telling the truth and calling a spade a spade!
4:32 PM, April 06, 2007Anonymous said…
Ben, we are all behind you. Talent and ethics is their biggest enemy.
With admiration
Gilad Atzmon
4:38 PM, April 06, 2007CrazyComposer (aka Peter Amsel) said…
It all boils down to ducks. Look, acts, sounds … it’s a duck. If a person acts like a racist, fascist, neo-nazi – well, what does it matter if they happen to be Jewish. Need we be so concerned with the niceties of etiquette that we must insist that we refer to such aberrant individuals as merely being enthusiastically Zionistic in their political (and military) pursuits? Of course not … nobody can be that naïve … can they?
Well, it doesn’t surprise me that Ben experienced such attacks – it only serves to prove that the myths of Zionism are as difficult to kill as the myths of the “Chronicles of the Learned Elders of Zion”. We should be ashamed that such lies (the former, not the latter) still has as many supporters amongst a people that, quite frankly, should know better. Having had as many opportunities to “learn lessons” from history what has been accomplished?
The holocaust is now used, I fear, as a carte blanche for committing atrocities in the name of “security” and “ensuring the survival” of the State of Israel. Nothing could be a greater perversion of the deaths of our loved ones than anything I could imagine; it takes the memories of those who were murdered at the hands of the monsters in the Third Reich and says, “See, we learned well at the hands of the Reich, and we shall do even better. Israel shall never fall.”
Zionism is a curse to every living Jew: its continued existence permits the perpetuation of the anti-Semitic rhetoric that is targeted against all Jews by those spouting the vitriol of generational ignorance. Now, alas, it is also being turned against other Jews; who, I wonder, does this benefit?
6:16 PM, April 06, 2007LJansen said…
I don’t read Daily Kos much b/c I’ve been an independent for quite awhile and it seems to be mainly Democrat supporters.
The Dems are extremely pro-zionist, with all their AIPAC connections.
Not sure what alternate sites are available, but I wouldn’t waste my time at DK.
9:16 PM, April 06, 2007Ben Heine said…
Mary, many thanks for letting me know about Nancy’s experience with Daily Kos. The fact that Kos defended settlers is a serious crime for a site that pretends to be democratic and progressive. I know all this will pass and be forgotten, as everything does actually…
As I told you in the email exchange we had today, this affair might become a new source of inspiration to me for new political cartoons defending the Palestinian causes.
Thanks again for your activism and friendly help !
9:48 PM, April 06, 2007Ben Heine said…
Ann, thank you for commenting under this post. I was also amazed that not even one of these hundreds Daily Kos notes reffered to Avigdor Lieberman’s public calls for “Transfer”. As Ahlam Akram puts it in his article “Zionism and the creation of Israel” (the article that was actually deleted on my Daily Kos post, because there was a so called copyright violation), this means total expulsion of all non Jewish people including Israeli citizens with non Jewish origins. What does that means if not ethnic cleansing? Ethnic cleansing reminds me the methods used by the Nazis and Lieberman reminds me Hitler.
9:59 PM, April 06, 2007Ben Heine said…
Hi Karin, you’re right, this is the truth. And truth always hurts very much. This is important that the German citizen you are underlines this.
10:05 PM, April 06, 2007tinoire said…
Sites like DailyKos are gatekeepers for the left side to ensure US support for Israel’s war crimes. Little Green Footballs and FreeRepublic guard the right, KOS and DemocraticUnderground guard the left.
The only decent site I know where you can openly discuss US policy and World Affairs is http://www.progressiveindependent.com . I know because I set it up precisely because of that problem. Our homepage makes our stance very clear.
We won’t tolerate racism towards either Arabs or Jews but we will NOT remain silent about Apartheid and war crimes; nor will we allow apologists for those obscenities, to play their little games with us.
What happened to Ben Heine made me furious because both those political cartoons were spot on. We would be honored to have him post with us and help grow the site. People are unwilling to tolerate being manipulated by racial supremacists anymore.
It seems you really hit a nerve Ben: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122045
Peace
[i]”In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” — Martin Luther King Jr.[/i]
10:10 PM, April 06, 2007Ben Heine said…
Gilad, thanks for this. That’s what I sincerely hope, that ethical artworks with political references can have some effects on what is going on here. I also hope they can bring more justice by reminding the social tragedies the human beings have already been through. This can be a good weapon and confusing in the Zionist eyes. You are a bold artist and saxophonist, so you know perfectly how to use this timeless and emotional language. I must still train very hard.
10:21 PM, April 06, 2007Ben Heine said…
Peter, hi, how are you? it has been long.
What you say sounds very important.
I agree with you and I would add that the Jews will really be free when Zionism comes to an end.
PS : Thanks for using this identification thumbnail…
10:30 PM, April 06, 2007Ragnar Johannessen said…
Ben,
We at thepeoplesvoice.org admire you and appreciate what you are doing. Desert Peace is a great blog. We will stand together and we WILL win this war on truth.
Thanx Ben!!Ragnar Johannessen
Did I remember someone at Daily Kos calling Gilad Atzmon antiSemitic? You really have to appreciate the depths to which the right wing extremists will go to defame progressive thinkers, even on Daily Kos.
