The funny thing is that I bet less than one percent of the U.S. voting population has ever even heard of the Goldstone Report. I’d be interested to know how often it has been mentioned on the television news. But that’s the way our betters want things. We remain clueless about why people try to kill us as we go about flying on planes.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
It’s a huge PDF.
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Congress already fixed that little problem, US Congress condemns UN Goldstone Report, 344 to 36; full text & voting breakdown
back to Jerusalem as mediator …
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Figures. Who is Obama’s Chief of Staff again? When I worked for a company that served Congress, I was told Emmanuel was widely considered the Mossad’s man on the Hill.
You know that Emanuel served as a volunteer with the Israeli Defense Forces during the first Iraq War, right?
so the fuck what? He was living in Israel then, where military service is compulsory.
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Rahm Israel Emanuel was born in Chicago … therefore a U.S. citizen. He didn’t serve in the U.S. Army invading Kuwait against the Saddan forces. So ‘compulsory’ service for a foreign state is regarded as equivalent to service and loyalty to the Unted States of America? No wonder the States and Congress are screwed up not knowing where its allegiance lies. Hopeless case for Obama!
“His father, Benjamin M. Emanuel, a Jerusalem-born pediatrician, was a member of the Irgun, a militant [def. terrorist – Oui] Zionist group that operated in the British mandate of Palestine between 1931 and 1948.”
I’m confused. And would like to know more. Like:
does he think we’re in the same war Israel’s in?
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."No, he was not living in Israel then, nor did he serve in the military. He took part in some volunteer program the military offered for people who were not actually in the military.
and you believe everything that you are “told”? Admirable.
Whatever gripe anyone has with Rahm, that particular meme about him being some sort of Israeli tool is pure bullshit.
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Surely don’t dig beneath the surface of what you’re told.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."On the Charlie Rose Show, Emanuel repeated that old propaganda line which originated with Eba Eban, that “the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Aside of his two-states side by side remark, he does seem to be working Israeli propaganda, which is always focused on THEIR unwillingness to make peace.
See the diaries I put up on Israel’s disingenuous efforts at making peace, while the colonialism continues even to this day.
It is there for those who go beyond the “reporting” of Fox and the Daily News. Alas, for those that don’t, Goldstone is only one of many things that is underreported.
What’s wrong with war crimes? All the Israelis have to say is that they’re looking forward and not backward and things will be just fine.
My thoughts exactly; I had this same sentiment when Hillary just condemned China’s human rights abuses via censorship, and the rebuke of Iran’s treatment of its dissenters. I mean, look, every president could probably be tried for war crimes, especially every president post WWII. However, as the Rude Pundit put it the other day:
They don’t even have to say that. All they have to do is give the word, and even their puppets in the PA will squash it.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10232009/watch.html
I watched Goldstone a few months ago on Bill Moyers.
I caught him on Moyer’s podcast. The podcast is still on the website. If you’re into podcast, here’s a link to the feed, and look for the 10/23/2009 episode:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/podcast.xml
I’m really going to miss Moyers when he ends his show. I learn so much from that show.
With Idol running on the average TV, I don’t think many Americans tune in on Bill Moyers. Still, I am glad that Moyers finally stopped his silence on the IP situation. Perhaps it was another side effect of the Gaza massacres.
Just how much can people be expected to take before they speak out?
The Obama White House and the Congress nixed the Goldstone report. Not that AIPAC or the “special relationship with Israel” had anything to do with it – oh no, that’s not possible.
Oh yeah – remember that groundbreaking speech Obama made in Cairo? Talk is cheap.
AIPAC’s influence is overstated. The US has always had this relation with Israel, even before AIPAC was created. Don’t you think it has much more to do with a seeming tie between the two rather than the lobbying group everyone demonizes (including myself)?
AIPAC doesn’t directly lobby voters, yet voters still overwhelmingly empathize with the Israelis over the Palestinians, in poll after poll.
This poll is 8 years old now, but I remember seeing a poll right after the disgusting and wicked siege that Israel conducted a little over a year ago and it was not much different:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/03/opinion/polls/main505251.shtml
Sure, you’ll find Americans who “support the peace process,” but that’s like finding Americans who support better education, better health care, etc. It is meaningless. Empathy, however, is more important to the whole debacle.
Ah, the poll used sympathize. Quite different than empathy, but my point remains the same.
How about more recent polls? You say AIPAC doesn’t lobby voters. They might not(but considering Wolf Blitzer used to work for them …) but they surely lobby Congress. And can you say the coverage that the US TradMed gives is anything but one-sided? .. Put it another way .. there will never be peace in the Middle East as long as we take the position that Israel can do no wrong
Like I said, I saw a poll right after the siege, and voters still overwhelmingly (I believe it was by the same exact margin of 5-1) sympathized with the Israelis. I’ll try and find it.
Yes they surely lobby Congress, but why do you think Congress is so afraid of them? It’s because the voters will exonerate them. This country is ridiculously Christian, and ridiculously far-right Christian (something like 30% are Evangelical). I’m aware that there are left Evangelicals, but it’s a small number when you compare it with the right-wingers.
Anyway, it’s this tie of Judeo-Christian bullshit that gives AIPAC the power that it has over the Congress. That’s because of the voters, not necessarily the lobbying group itself. The power that the banksters have over Congress, however, IS specifically because of their lobbying; the voters sure as hell hate those people. That’s the difference between the two lobbies, just as an example. It’s the same reason we don’t see very many atheists in Congress.
Anyway, these Christians believe Israel has a right to that land, whether or not the Palestinians were there before them, as they think it was ordained by their God….ESPECIALLY those far-right Evangelicals. The people who aren’t necessarily radically religious probably don’t know the history of the area, and I would be willing to bet money that a good chunk of the population (20 or so percent) believe that Israel has always existed.
It’s religion.
There might not be peace in the entire Middle East as long as we take that position, but I believe that Israel is continuing to shoot themselves in the foot with their illegal settlement expansion. The two-state solution is no longer viable in my opinion because of this, although I’ve never been a supporter of that solution because it’s nothing more than apartheid (adding on to the apartheid that already exists inside of Israel). One secular state is the only solution.
Another thing that I forgot to add that allows people to sympathize with the Israelis over the Palestinians is, well, racism. They’re all the same people, but in the mind of the average American, the Palestinians are evil terrorist Muslims (even though there are Christians in the area); they’re different than God’s chosen people for God’s chosen land. I’d be willing to bet that most people don’t even know the age demographics of the area. Us vs. them…it shall forever keep us divided, especially when there’s fear involved (terrorism).
Speaking of people trying to kill you as you go about flying in airplanes, the latest “terrorist attack” turned out to be some poor 17 year old kid who made the terrible mistake of committing the crime of Flying While Observant Jew. He decided to fulfill his morning prayer obligation while on the plane (it is supposed to be done within four hours of sunrise if at all possible), and while he was sitting next to his sister minding his own business davening in his seat the flight attendant decided that his tefillin (a small leather box containing slips of paper with prayers written on them that is tied to the head with leather strips) was a dangerous device with wires attached, and EVEN AFTER he explained to her that he was a Jew, was praying and the tefillin and leather strips were part of the prayer ritual, the crew rerouted the plane, police swarmed on board upon landing, handcuffed the poor kid and his even more innocent thirteen year old sister who were just trying to go visit their grandma and fullfil their religious duties in the meantime, and made a whole big hue and cry.
This country has lost its collective mind.
yup, and a dead man is still releasing audio tapes.
I saw that today as well, and it makes me very uncomfortable. Intel Center stinks…
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This is NOT His Master’s Voice, unmistakenly faked.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."