Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
I’m not known here as someone who leaps headfirst into the thick of things when the going gets heated. I lurk but generally do not comment in those long, divisive threads. But maybe that’s all about to change.
Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
The other day I made this comment in this story:
Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
Re: The Israeli Mindset (4.00 / 3)
We’ve seen this mindset before, here in our own country where right wing voices continually shout about the Islamofascist Menace in terms that approach apocalyptic rhetoric. It is the mindset of unrelenting tribal fear,
No. It is fear based upon a couple of thousand of years (or more) of being the world’s scapegoat. It did not begin with terrorism directed at Isreal. It did not begin with Hitler’s little enterprise which murdered 6 million Jews. It did not begin with the pogroms in Russia. It did not even begin with Spanish Inquisition. It began long before, perhaps when the conquerors carried off the remnants of the ancient country of Israel and the diaspora began. Nevertheless, unlike the needless fearmongering that goes on here, Jews have actually suffered at the hands of a variety of nations for a period of extended duration. To compare the Neocon crap put forth here to the experience of Isrealis/Jews does a great disservice. Americans, great students of history that they are, can’t even begin to imagine the suffering that gives rise to current Isreali actions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not endorsing recent actions, but I do understand that what passes for fear here is not the same as what is happening in the minds of Isrealis.
Fear will keep the local systems in line. -Grand Moff Tarkin Survivor Left Blogistan
by boran2 on Mon Jul 31st, 2006 at 01:05:07 PM EST
[ Reply to This ]
Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
Careful readers will note that I am not attempting to justify recent Israeli actions but was in fact attempting to provide information that at least some might find interesting and some rare individuals might actually find useful. Being Jewish and speaking daily with other Jews, I believed myself able to provide additional insight. But others did not see it that way.
Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
In response, I received this:this:
Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
Re: The Israeli Mindset (none / 0)
As wingers are quick to say when they are called out on something, that’s ancient history, get over it already.When it comes to Israel though we are constantly reminded of the tradgedy of the Haulocaust. And the Holocaust was a tradgedy and a crime of horrendous proportions. There’s no doubt about that.
What I think is another tradgedy if not a crime is that Israel keeps clinging to this mindset of being a victim.
To offer this mindset as a legitimate defense of the over-kill Israel is using in it’s “defence” blows the mind.
by high5 (high5104@yahoo.com) on Mon Jul 31st, 2006 at 03:51:25 PM EST
[ Parent | Reply to This | none0-Mega Troll1-Troll2-Warning!3-Good4-Excellent ]
Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
I’ve seen this get over it and STFU argument before. I can only assume that the writer is/has not been the subject of acts of hatred. Lucky high5. Some of us have been.
Once again, my point was not intended as justification, as was carefully stated in my original comment. My aim was to provide additional information. But for the record and at the risk of being deemed a troll or whatever the popular term of derision du jur is, I’ll spell it out. Jews have been persecuted for a period that measures in the thousands of years. It didn’t begin with the Holocaust, and it didn’t end there. I have been the subject of acts of Jewish hatred within my own lifetime. So when I’m told to STFU, well, I get a little testy. And this is especially true at a place that prides itself upon being just so warm and fuzzy.
Acts of hatred/persecution (for all groups) are a continuum of events. Individual events are only a convenient reference point for purposes of discussion.
Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
Yeah, the wingers must be right. Just STFU and get over that damned persecution and/or acts of hatred. Ignore them and they’ll just go away. Just like they have for all the other groups subject to such acts.
Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
Back to lurking.
Not intended as justification for Israeli actions.
Update:
Today I had a discussion with a coworker wingnut. He demanded to know how I felt about the recent events in the middle east. I stated that the killing has to stop, from both sides. He started to say that wasn’t the issue. I interrupted him and stated that this was the issue. Apparently he assumed that I, being Jewish, would be in support of the war. I stated that every day I open my paper only to find more photos of a dead child in someone’s arms. He began talking about security and stated that he would have many more dead if necessary. (This, from a weekly churchgoer that wears a huge cross under his shirt.) I further stated that this was a proxy war. Immediately he went on about how I’ve had too much kool-aid. I quipped that yes, I was from the anti-security wing of the party and wanted to sing Kumbaya with the terrorists while wearing my birkenstocks. He just groaned but one of my coworkers was smiling.
I went back to my office and opened the paper. There was a photo of a dead child in his dead mother’s arms.
