From despised to despised

Dmitry Sidorov is a Russian (and Jewish, although the name is highly unlikely) journalist. With kind assistance of the Google translator and some nudges here and there, I have translated (meanwhile without permission) his article that appears here in Russian.

This is not a fact- based review of the Gaza war, neither is it a highbrow political discourse, just a cry of a soul, emotionally charged to the utmost degree. I rarely lean in that direction myself, but at certain moments (like today, reading all that highbrow crap in the media) this is just what the doctor prescribes. So enjoy.

January 7, 2009: Dmitry Sidorov

In this text, you will not find quotations from the Torah, archaeological examples or excerpts from the 1947 UN decision, confirming the right of my people to live and to enjoy their country and not to respond to invasions or missile attacks from its «good» neighbors.

I'm not going to ask you for help or sympathy, because there is no need, but even if there was, it wouldn't be you who would be facing my requests. Moreover, I will not put up a list of names of young children, the elderly, women and children killed or injured as a result of terrorist activity in the 60 years of existence of Israel. I think that neither Israel nor I need it. We remember them, and this is the most important.

You shall no longer hear from me any criticism of EU, UN, Russia and other countries and the international organizations that demand an immediate Israeli cease-fire. Cease-fire, which will allow them to feel themselves "peacemakers", and will allow a terrorist organization - Hamas and its sponsors to declare victory over the Israeli "aggressor" and to continue the killing of people living on the other side of the border.

Persistence of the governments of these states does not fill me with respect. Their political dirty dancing during past 60 years has shown that it is difficult to get more dirty, waltzing on the corpses of people who are ready to defend their country till the last breath.

I have to live with you, but not to share the bread or to shake hands. I am disgusted by your constant demands of a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the conflict with terrorist organizations, recognized as such by many countries, including those where you live. I am disgusted by your permanent false concern for the lives of innocent civilians in those areas from which rockets and bullets are flying, but the lack thereof in the case of people they kill or force into bomb shelters.

I have no desire to ask you any questions. I do not want even to drive you to the impasse of your centuries-old mentality that shows your kinship with the people who dream of throwing the Israelis into the sea. I know your thought patterns, your arguments and rhetoric, since you have enough intelligence to make them available to the public.

Do not expect that I will start digging through history in search of numerous peace agreements that Israel has signed and that the Palestinians subsequently violated. Do not expect me to mention the (literally) suicidal concessions that were forced on or voluntarily signed by various governments of Israel, trying to bring peace to their country.

I am not going to force you to explain why the armed forces of the country under the constant rocket fire (violating the terms of truce), should call the homes of terrorists, warning them of the upcoming attack. If you are excited by the peril to the civilian population of Gaza, then ask yourself why your parents or your grandmothers and grandfathers did not go to the streets in their thousands to protest against the bombing of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Probably because they were at that time sitting in bomb shelters, digging trenches, fighting and cursing Hitler and his associates, believing that any people are responsible for the Government which they elected and which they are assisting.

And I'll tell you something else: it is very convenient to scream about a truce when it comes to a country that is in 60 years of war with terrorism, but not to insist on talks with Osama Bin-Laden or Al-Qaeda*.

Israel does not need you, even though your "progressive" views may cause a premature end of the operation in Gaza. It's pointless to try to convince those who believe that some people have the right to kill with impunity, while others should be allowed only weak snapping back.

I think that, apart from extreme interest in the uninterrupted supply of oil or a possible rise of oil prices, most of you continue to treat us with an incredible disdain for many generations. Generations that, at best, considered us to be a necessary evil when it was profitable, and "dirty swine" when a next victim was required. If you believe that after all this we'll listen to your bombastic speeches - the last few millennia did not teach you anything.

And the last. You persevere in denying that your peacemaking efforts, coupled with pressure on Israel, has brought Israel nothing but a large number of dead and wounded. Crediting yourself with ending the war on Hezbollah in 2006, you continue to ignore the increase in the supply of weapons to this terrorist organization by Iran and Syria.

Calling for a truce now, you know that you will not be able to control the "Philadelphi" Route via which Hamas receives its new missiles whose range has increased at least twice since the conclusion of the "truce" with Israel.

By insisting on a peaceful solution, you are actually offering Hamas to stop the killing of Israelis today, only to continue it in a week. That is why the fruit of your activity is so like the Chamberlain's "umbrella", victoriously raised in London after the conclusion of "peace" with Hitler in 1938. Criminally assured that he saved Europe and the world from the great war.

(*) I just couldn't resist this: in fact, there are quite a few of the "stoppers" that insist on talking with Bin Laden, so it is actually worse than Mr. Sidorov thinks.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

France 2 - oops again

In another time and another place this would have caused me a few whoops of laughter:

French public television network France 2 on Tuesday revealed they had aired photographs that allegedly showed destruction caused by the Israel Air Force during Operation Cast Lead, which were in fact taken during a different incident in 2005, one in which Gaza civilians were killed by an explosion caused by militants in the Strip.

The footage aired on Channel 2 on Tuesday afternoon showed dozens of dead bodies, including Hamas gunmen and citizens, which the channel said were killed by an IAF bombing raid on January 1st. It later came to light that the channel had instead aired footage of the devastation caused after a truck full of explosives blew up in the Jabaliya Refugee Camp.

Not any more. To hell with them.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Want a good war crime?

When you want to start carping about Israel's war crimes, when your senses of justice, humanity and freedom are jarred by another picture of bleeding child or human entrails flung far and wide, of school building gutted by a tank shell, don't forget this picture (courtesy of AP):
This double crime - that of targeting civilian population of Israel and launching the rocket from the midst of a densely populated city - may explain many, if not all of these Israeli "atrocities"

Don't forget.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Muslims vs. succus

I really didn't want to post it. What if this is a Photoshop job? But it's too good:

London... can't Brits teach their subjects something? At least some Engrish?

Update: apparently the moron displayed this moronic text in Manhattan, so:

Manhattan... can't Meircans teach their subjects something? At least some Engrish?

Where suicide bombers come from

An amazing article by Nic Robertson (CNN).

Gaza horrors sow seeds for future violence

Finally we know where suicide bombers come from. The article describes the trauma that children of Gaza are undergoing these days.

The children have seen terrible images of tragedy: their friends injured or killed and bloodied bodies in the streets. They are images Hassanin says he will never forget. He'll keep them stored away until he's old enough to do something about it.

And the punchline? Here it is:

"When we will grow up, we will bomb them back," a CNN translator quoted the boy saying on Hamas TV.

Right, and here comes a professional confirmation from a Gazan psychiatrist, no less:

"Today children are experiencing a serious kind of trauma, and I fear for the future," el Sarraj said. "The children of the first intifada were throwing stones at the Israeli troops. And because of the trauma they were subjected to, 10 years later, the same children became suicide bombers."

So now we all know where suicide bombers come from.

Just a quick exercise in arithmetic for Gazan doctor: children of Sderot and other towns and villages on the Israeli side of the border were subjected to daily bombardment of Qassams for almost eight years. Taking the average age of a kid as 7 years and the average age of a suicide bomber as 20 years, how many suicide bombers will the Israeli side provide in, say, ten years?

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

A priceless headline

This headline appeared on Ynet*:

Hamas threatens attacks on Israeli civilians

It comes from our long-time friend Mahmoud al-Zahar, who probably missed the sublime irony of that threat. What else Hamas was busy with for the last ten years?

(*) In fact, it comes via AP. Shouldn't really be that surprising, taking into account that AP mostly missed that Hamas' activity during all these years.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

We are... what?

At the beginning I just wanted to lift the picture from this post by Andrew Ian Dodge:

But then, the whole post has to be repeated, so here it goes:

Stating your objection to something Israel does is your right, though I will probably disagree with you. However, if you lead a rally with signs like this, don’t act shocked when people consider you a jew-hating scumbag like the rest of Hamas. It would actually help if you realised that: 1. Hamas was elected to run Gaza 2. Hamas clearly states they hate all Jews and want to see Israel wiped of their face of the earth…its in their charter. 3. Hamas are not keen on gays (they kill them), have brought back crucifixion and don’t like women much either.

And the hilarious:

Update: Are these the most clueless Hamas supporters ever?

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

A short review of one Salon story

How could the review be long, when the story goes like this:

Still, any minimally decent human being -- even those who view the world through the most blindingly pro-Israeli lens possible, the ones who justify anything and everything Israel does, and who discuss these events with a bottomless emphasis on the primitive (though dangerous) rockets lobbed by Hamas into Southern Israel but without even mentioning the ongoing four-decades brutal occupation or the recent, grotesquely inhumane blockade of Gaza -- would find the slaughter of scores of innocent Palestinians to be a horrible and deeply lamentable event.

A long sentence...

A long story...

Verry Salon-like intellekshul...

Full of shit... like the author...

Gaza war - a random selection

Several not necessarily related items that caught my attention since yesterday. If you want a blow by blow war journal, you better look elsewhere - some people do it much better.

Israel

Vice premier, Industry, Trade and Labor minister refrain from voting in favor of sending ground troops into Strip, after cabinet denies their motion for mission's operational goals to include toppling Hamas regime.

Toppling Hamas regime, no more and no less. Do they also mean offing all the voters who... aw, what the heck - the Trade and Labor, being a Shas mouthpiece and thus as close to the deity as possible, is running around with "kill all Hamasniks" idea for a fairly long time. But Ramon? Gee... Have these two any idea what's the program after the army act is over?

***

Namecalling. Nazis, fascists, genocidal maniacs, bloodbath, Shoah... you want it - you got it. Mostly it is coming from the blindly pro-Palestinian supporters who would do everything in their power to make the world forget that bit of cooperation with Nazis and that bit about drowning the Jooz in the Mediterranean and many other bits. However, it must be said that the other side is also quite active in this worthy business of devaluating symbols that once were potent.

But here comes an exception, when comparison with Nazis seems to be proper and more.

When I am attacked for something I have written--which happens far more rarely than I expected, I am almost always shocked and genuinely perplexed at how very secondary points are chosen for vicious denunciation. The latest example is one sentence, out of a full article, in which I say that Hamas is worse than the Germans in World War Two because the Nazis did not use their people as involuntarily human shields and place ammunition dumps in residential buildings.

Read it in its entirety. Good stuff.

***

Following the cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Sunday afternoon, the government stressed that Israel has no intention of taking over the Gaza Strip.

I sincerely hope so.

***

Another item picked up on the radio: an Israeli Bedouin citizen of Rahat asking IDF to put an end to Hamas and their rockets. Brainwashed Zionist, you could say. And you will be wrong again.

Gaza and Arab world

If one believes this JP report (and I don't mean that JP is less reliable than any other news source nowadays, it is that the info comes from Fatah, who... well, you know), Hamas are indeed comparable to the worst sorts of evil ever granting their appearance to humanity:

Fatah officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas militiamen had been assaulting many Fatah activists since the beginning of the operation last Saturday. They said at least 75 activists were shot in the legs while others had their hands broken. Wisam Abu Jalhoum, a Fatah activist from the Jabalya refugee camp, was shot in the legs by Hamas militiamen for allegedly expressing joy over the IDF air strikes on Hamas targets.

Fatah folks were caught many times playing fast and loose with numbers like this one, but the mere idea - to start eliminating your political rivals when you get in dire straits - yeah...

***

From the latest radio news: yesterday Hamas folks have already circulated a poster declaring Hamas' victory. In addition, claims of abducted soldiers abound... Prescience or what?

***

A most interesting news item (via Ami Isserof). Palestinian Ma'an News Agency (Bethlehem) conducts some on-line opinion polls. The recent one asks: "Who is to blame for loss of life in Gaza?" Even assuming that Fatah supporters and Zionist operatives like me (I didn't click there, though) clicked like crazy, the results are amazing:

The times are a-changing, ain't they? A few years ago I wouldn't believe it, but today...

No less amazing is the result of an earlier poll - "Who bears responsibility for the collapse of the Gaza truce?":

What do you know?

I only wish that some of the Western Israel-bashers would get some of that common sense displayed by the Arab voters on that site. But I know, and you know too, that this is too much to wish for.

***

To avoid a merest shadow of suspicion that Ma'an is a tad sympathetic to the Zionist enemy, here is as good a proof of the opposite as any:

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian military groups resumed the firing of homemade projectiles at Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning.

Qassam or, especially, Grad rocket as "homemade projectile". Hmm... Remember these plastic bottles you have used to half-fill with water, pump some air and let them go? After all, people (in China and/or Iran) who produce Grads are doing it close to their homes. So a) Grad is definitely a projectile and b) you could call it homemade as well.

(Rest of the) World

Pope: War won't solve Holy Land problems

Benedict XVI calls for end of violence in Gaza Strip in speech before pilgrims, saying history has shown 'war and hate aren't the solution,' urges faithful to pray for peace.

I will be damned* if I disagree with this statement and the call for a good hearty prayer. Couldn't Pope in his infinite wisdom, though, send one of his senior offic I mean cardinals to Gaza for a close and personal chat with Ismail Haniyeh? Who knows, miracles used to happen as a matter of routine in the Church history. A bit less lately, though, but still.

(*) Just remembered that I am damned. Aw, heck.

***

BBC. Nu, what can I say about this:

The Israeli army was hit hard by Hezbollah in the 2006 war.

But that was just an appetizer. Now what? Oh, here it comes:

Hamas fighters, who know Gaza better than the Israeli troops, have a belief in resistance and martyrdom. Their objective will be to give the Israeli army the same humiliation that Hezbollah inflicted during 2006. For all their bravado, Hamas are unlikely to be as formidable as Hezbollah. The rocky, hilly terrain of south Lebanon was not good for Israel's armour. Gaza, on the other hand, is flat and sandy.

The above text is flat indeed, no bubbles. But, after all this claptrap, here is something refreshing:

For Hamas, the definition of victory will be that they can they fight on at the end of all this; for Israel it will be the stopping of rocket fire from Gaza.

Could it be a recipe for a peace agreement? Of sorts?

***

Fisk - dropping a usual load of er... bile and vinegar, this time on Egypt. Not worth quoting, but there is a Guardian sidekick of his, one Jack Shenker (that resides in Cairo). He seems to be disturbed by the response of some Egyptian folks to his (and Fisk's) crapola:

Demonstrations outside Egypt's international embassies, the shooting of an Egyptian border guard by Hamas gunmen, and finally a widely-circulated article by the Independent's Robert Fisk which attacked Egypt's national "disgrace" and "malaise" have provoked a backlash even among trenchant government critics. "I'm sick of the sudden 'let's blame Egypt' mentality," wrote "Fattractive woman", a female Muslim blogger. The blogger known as Sandmonkey went further in a post about Jordanian, Lebanese and Syrian responses to Egypt's position, laying into "all of you f*****s who are badmouthing my country, which – by the way – fought four f*****g wars for the Palestinian cause and lost more people than all of you."

Frankly, I am not 100% sure about the meaning of all these "f*****s" and "f*****g", but I know a bit about Sandmonkey. If Sandmonkey says that you, Jack, and your deranged mentor, Fisk, are "f*****s", who I am to object? So "f***" you both.

***

Roseanne: but here my job is easy. I'll just quote Dave the Israellycool:

Meanwhile, the deranged one reveals she was going to be on the ISM boat. Lucky for Israel she wasn’t, because an Israeli navy vessel would likely not fair too well after coming into contact with Roseanne Barr.

Indeed.

***

And for dessert:

France condemns Israeli ground offensive in Gaza (Via Xinhua - don't ask why).

"France condemns the Israeli ground offensive against Gaza as it condemns the continuation of rocket firing (by Hamas against Israel)," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday evening.

As it (the French Foreign Ministry), no doubt, condemns anything it (the French Foreign Ministry) has neither will nor intention to do anything about, nor does it give a damn other than watching with a wary eye the price of oil.

But enough for today.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Hey, Al Jazeera!

From Al Jazeera Twitter:

Czech EU presidency says Israel does not have the right to undertake military offensive into Gaza since civilians a re mostly affected.

From Ynet:

European Union president, the Czech Republic, said on Saturday an Israeli ground incursion in Gaza was "defensive, not offensive" action.

"At the moment, from the perspective of the last days, we understand this step as a defensive, not offensive, action," Czech EU presidency spokesman Jiri Potuznik said.

On the Ground in Gaza

By Barry Rubin

Tel Aviv, Israel

Israel didn’t want to attack the Gaza Strip from the ground or from the air. Hamas, which had long broken the ceasefire, canceled it altogether. Then it began large-scale attacks on Israel. This is a war of defense. And it is being conducted just 30 miles from here, Israel’s main city.

According to the just-released Israeli government statement on the offensive:

“The objective of this stage is to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas in the area of operation, while taking control of some of rocket launching area used by the Hamas, in order to greatly reduce the quantity of rockets fired at Israel and Israeli civilians.

“The operation will…strike a direct and hard blow against the Hamas while increasing the deterrent strength of the Israel Defense Forces, in order to bring about an improved and more stable security situation for residents of southern Israel over the long term.”

Even as the 2006 war was continuing, the Israel Defense Force was evaluating the mistakes made in Lebanon—helicopters needed better short-range munitions, improved air-ground coordination, care in using tanks unsupported by infantry, and so on.

But contrary to the insistence of armchair strategists now, it would not be easy to seize control of all the Gaza Strip and govern it for an extended period of time. Hamas is not going to go away. International support for Israel is limited. Fatah and the Palestinian Authority will not react strongly to try to take Gaza back for itself. There are about one million people in the Gaza Strip and Hamas will make every attempt to ensure there are civilian casualties—and pretend there are even more.

So “total victory” is not easy, if it is even possible. The irony is that Israeli policy is based on the idea that there is no military solution to these issues. But since there is no diplomatic solution either, force must be used to protect Israel and its citizens.

It should be remembered that Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip, dismantled all settlements, and wished the Palestinians good luck. The Palestinian Authority (PA) was not up to the challenge. It could and would not change its corrupt and incompetent ways. U.S. policy insisted that Hamas be allowed to run in the elections, even though it did not meet the standard of accepting the 1993 Israel-PLO agreement. Hamas won.

But Hamas invoked the radical Islamist policy of “one man, one vote, one time.” It staged a coup and kicked out its PA and Fatah rivals. Rather than focusing on economic development or even maintaining peace to build up its own power, Hamas pursued its strategy of permanent war against Israel. Children’s programs taught the kiddies that they should grow up to be suicide bombers and kill Jews. Hamas soldiers, or their junior allies, fired rockets and mortars at Israel. And of course Hamas staged a cross-border raid and kidnapped an Israeli soldier.

In spite of this, many in the West think Israel has some kind of choice in this matter, that diplomacy was an option, that Hamas could be reasoned with. Those people have clearly never heard a Hamas leader speak or read anything on the group’s Arabic-language websites. In a real sense, Hamas is more extreme than Usama bin Ladin, who periodically offers his enemy the chance to repent. Hamas’s goal is genocidal.

This has nothing to do with being dovish or hawkish, left or right. For those who are the biggest peaceniks—and this is true in Israel—know that Hamas must be defeated if Israel is ever to make peace with the PA. Even the PA knows it, and that’s what they say in private, no matter what they say in public.

The offensive is only going to last so long. It would be nice to believe that Hamas will be overthrown, less extreme Palestinians will take over, or Israel will just sit in the Gaza Strip for months or even years to come without any major problem. These are not real options.
Hamas wants nothing more than to be able to organize an underground to launch daily attacks on Israeli patrols going through the center of refugee camps. It should be remembered that, for better or worse, it was the Israeli military—not the politicians—who wanted to withdraw from the Gaza Strip for tactical reasons. It was easier to hold a defensive line in strength than to play into Hamas’s strong points by trying to control all the territory.

Clearly, this didn’t take into account the rockets but it is easy to think that if Israeli forces had been in the Gaza Strip every day since the withdrawal, Israeli casualties would have been a lot higher while Fatah and Hamas would be fighting side to side against Israel, and international diplomacy would have been far more hostile to Israel.

No one should have any illusions that this conflict is going to go away. The peace process era, 1993-2000, taught us that Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hizballah, and radical Islamist groups meant what they said. They will never accept peace with Israel. Israel will be involved in a struggle with these extremist groups for decades.

Yet that does not mean Israel cannot—and does not—prevail. It prevails by maintaining good lives for its citizens, developing its economy, and raising living standards, progressing in technology and science and medicine.

In this context, Israel will not listen to those many who counsel it to commit suicide, but it also has no illusions of a victory, of a war that will end all wars. And in a real sense that is Israel’s true strength: it is not naïve about either concessions or force. If you have realistic expectations, if you aren’t disappointed, then you never give up.

Often, nowadays, it seems as if all history is being rewritten when it comes to Israel. In World War Two, allied air forces carpet-bombed cities even though there were no military bases in civilian areas. In France alone, tens of thousands of civilians were killed by allied bombs that fell on their intended targets.

Even the Nazis didn’t put ammunition dumps in houses and use human shields. And up until now the blame for doing so would fall on those who deliberately and cynically sought to create civilian casualties in order to gain support for themselves.

Up until now, a country whose neighbor fired across the border at its people and even staged cross-border raids had the right of self-defense.

Up until now, there has been a capability of understanding which group is inciting hatred, trying to turn children into robotic terrorists, calling for the extermination of another people, and committing aggression.

Many people, many journalists, many governments, and even many intellectuals still understand the most basic principles of right and wrong as well as of the real world. Unfortunately, too many don’t or at least don’t when Israel is the target.

Finally, it is of the greatest importance to understand that this is not an issue of Gaza or of Israel alone. The great issue of our era, of our remaining lifetimes, is the battle between radical Islamism—whether using the tactic of terrorism or not—and the rest of the world. To isolate this question as merely something about Israel is to misunderstand everything important about the world today.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.

Israeli ground troups enter Gaza strip

According to the IDF spokesman, the objective is "to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure in the area of operations" and "to take some of the launch areas used by Hamas".

Vague enough to serve any purpose.

May all our soldiers come home alive and well.

Update from CNN:

"We will defeat the army just like they were defeated before," Abu Thaer, spokesman for the military wing of Fatah - the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - told the television network Al Jazeera. We will rub their noses in the sand. To the Arabs of 1948, today it is the time to act, to carry martyrdom operations in the heart of Israel. In case they will get in really on the ground, they will be taught a lesson that they will never forget. The Israeli army is the loser from ground operations in Gaza.

You just have to love that flowery style. I just have to love that "like they were defeated before".

But then, we were defeated every time since 1948...

15 New Commandments - for gradual human self-destruction or The Enemy Within

I am not absolutely sure that Tom Carew is the author of this excellent text, but it comes from him, it doesn't appear (for now) anywhere else in the e-space as seen by Google, and in any case many thanks to Tom. Here we go:

I listened to a once highly reputable Irish broadcaster and author, Brendan O'Brien on Newstalk 106 FM this Saturday morning, a man who has contributed probing, insightful and courageous work on NI, deal with Gaza, aided by ex-Irish Army Junior Officer and Irish Times *Security correspondent*, Tom Clonan, with only Susan Philips to inject a note of sanity and balance and objectivity.

I was amazed to hear O'Brien indulge in uncritical and partisan broadcasting, systematically siding with the anti-Israeli view, and even frequently *leading the witness* in his interviews.

I began to reflect on this widespread phenomenon, which seems to have sunk to new lows in Irish media since the recent Israeli operations in Gaza from Sat, Dec 27, 2008.

But this is not merely about ongoing bias against Israel, or bias on just this occasion, or sloppy, sub-professional media operations. There is, it now seems to me, a terrifying, but unspoken and unexamined set of assumptions lurking behind all this, a deep, ongoing and long-festering Western cultural crisis, an undeclared, subversive re-definition of what it is to be human, and of history, ethics, politics, and of truth itself, which might be outlined as follows:

1. Its all about pain or conflict [and possibly also loss of life ] as the main, if not the only evil. It is not about reasons or reasoning or *principles* as ways to understand or guide life or issues. It is totally subjective and beyond intelligibility.

2. And *dialogue* is always possible, and always mandatory. And with anybody - no matter their agenda or ideology or goals or ethics or record or priorities.

3. All sides are always morally equal - we must never be *judgemental* - but especially when it comes to either the methods, or the goals, or the results, of *The Other*. We must always, and without question, value and cherish not merely *other-ness*, and *the other-ness of the other, as other*, but we must also value and cherish *difference* as such. For its own sake.
And without any reference to our own perspective on what is valuable, or even tolerable.
Otherwise we are *racist* or *Islamo-phobic*, and guilty of *Hetero-Phobia*.

Fear or challenge of sinister principles or values is now conflated with fear, or rather with undiscriminating hatred for all people who belong to an entire tradition, and open debate or free exploration or frank controversy is outlawed as *hate-speech*.

4. Everything is *culturally-specific*, and totally relative.

We must never *privilege* our own insights or principles or values or concerns or interests or traditions or achievements. That is the sole and absolute entitlement of the oppressed.

5. There cannot be any *universal* rights or obligations, or even any minimum standards which might define even the outer limits of human decency and tolerability. Therefore we can never be *impartial* - for that would imply some *objective standards*.

6. But nevertheless, we must never be *neutral* or be *critical* - we must become *engaged* - and *committed* - we must be in *solidarity* with the *oppressed*.

7. The *oppressed* are constituted, and identifiable, simply by their being poorer or weaker. As measured by them, and by them alone, and solely by their chosen standards.

8. The *oppressed*, those self-defined and self-identified WOE [*Wretched of The Earth* ], therefore must define not only their own agenda and values, but also ours, as we are committed to the *Pedagogy of [ which means always and only Pedagogy BY and FROM ] *The Opressed*, who alone are the uncorrupted, and incorruptible, voice of progress, the vanguard of the future, the sole anchor and destiny of humanity, and whose *discourse* alone must always be *privileged*, and remain free from the *cultural hegemony* of any external criticism or evaluation or challenge.

9. The WOE [ *Wrethced of The Earth* ] can never be responsible, in any way, or to any extent, or ever be held responsible, for their own plight.

10. And the WOE are responsible and answerable only to themselves, and to those values and concerns and priorities, which they, in their oppression, are forced to adopt...

11. The *oppressed* have no choice, but are permanently forced to *resist* their cruel oppressors, none of whom can exist among the oppressed, and by whatever methods the oppressor may choose. And the *oppressed* in turn, can never become the oppressor.

12. It is never for us to say, much less to tell the oppressed, how or when to *resist*. Or to suggest who their oppressor may be. Or to challenge their definition of their oppression.

13. Nothing has a context or roots.

The only context is oppression, the only roots are those of oppression, the only enemy is the oppressor, and the only goal is liberation of the oppressed.

14. Only the oppressed can tell us who is the most oppressed. And by whom.

15. The picture, the image, is all - feelings are all - there is no place for any questioning of them, much less for any evaluation of them - or of their *authors*, or of their *meaning*, if their *authors* are the oppressed. Their meanings are whatever the oppressed declare them to be, at any *given* time. And the interpretation by the oppressed is the only valid interpretation.

Otherwise we are guilty of Cultural Hegemony, and of the Patriarchic Fallacy, and guilty of *Logo-Philia* and *Logo-Centricity*.

The scream and suffering of the oppressed has no need for the words of their oppressor.

The resistance of the oppressed does not answer to the ideology of their oppressor.

Questioning, unless by the oppressed, and according to their own sovereign values, is always further oppression and Cultural Hegemony, and Cultural Imperialism.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

On Iranian volunteer suicide bombers

From an AP writer:

Hard-line Iranian student groups have asked the government to authorize volunteers to go carry out suicide bombings in Israel in response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.

But there seems to be a hitch:

The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had not responded to the call by Wednesday. Volunteer suicide groups have made similar requests in the past and the government never responded to their calls.

An the AP man adds a disparaging remark:

The groups' activities appear to be mainly for propaganda purposes, and there has been no sign of Iranians carrying out suicide attacks in Israel.

If I were an Iranian student (which I am not for a reason that escapes me at the moment), I would have been insulted by this remark and would have found a way to blow self up in the writer's office (or cubicle, whatever the case may be).

Anyway, that AP man doesn't know what he is talking about. According to FARS, the number of volunteers exceeded 20,000, and (although FARS doesn't come out straight with the truth, out of sheer embarrassment), there is a purely financial issue: how to train, equip and, especially, transport all the willing youth to the fields of martyrdom? Nowadays, what with the price of oil being in the low forties, Iran, with its economy already in a precarious state, cannot allow itself the expense of this endeavor.

So I have a suggestion to make: why don't Mahmoud the Mad and Ayatollah Khamenei who gave his blessing and support to the brave students, organize the martyring (martyrizing? whatever) directly in Tehran, somewhere in a big public square, with a lot of cheering public, two of them in the middle of that team of martyrs?

As an ex-sapper, I volunteer to procure the explosives and other paraphernalia necessary for the act.

On a purely personal note: I have found that picture on a FARS site:

Not only do I feel deeply and sincerely moved by the lady on the left (as a person of female persuasion), I admire her steadfastness and determination to sign up for martyrdom, even faced by the shoe* that an unknown person (most probably a grieving hubby) is threatening her with.

Atta girl!

(*) That steadily rising wave of shoe-throwing in the Middle East should be encouraged by all means. I only wish Hamas would understand the wisdom of it and stick to this habit. Maybe then IAF could also, you know...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Mulling on Hamas, Gaza, Seth, matzav

It is quite difficult to mull on the developments in Gaza while people are dying. People will continue to die, more if the ground operation we are being warned about will come true. This (people dying) is so far the only clear outcome of the current events.

Anyhow, I cannot explain why this article by Seth Freedman triggered this (it will be a long one) post. Maybe because it is a rare case when Seth turned his scorching beams from the Zionists' atrocities and tried to see both sides of the conflict? Laudable attempt, albeit a reserved one, and Seth will get it in the neck from the horde of his groupies, in fact he already did - just take a look at the comments.

Or, maybe, because the article appears in The Guardian that will never ever publish a thing like this, and whys and hows of this wondrous decision will pursue us for some time yet. No matter, here we go.

The History.

People who, as it goes, belong to the large group of Jew Israel-haters, will talk and condemn us for the events that started with IAF raid three days ago, disregarding the long and bloody history that goes back via disengagement from Gaza and several years before that, to Second Intifada of 2001. I was one of the ardent supporters of disengagement (should I be sorry to confess to it now? - probably, at least because of the way it was carried out), naively hoping for a first success in creating a peaceful and prosperous statelet that will show the West Bank folks how to go about becoming a good neighbor. Far from being so, the popular will of Gazan population brought forth the Hamas government that, instead of striving for betterment of their folks' lives, prosperity and peace, declared annihilation of state of Israel as their primary goal and briskly started to do their best. We shall (should) never forget this:

"We have decided to make Sderot a ghost town," said a spokesman for Hamas who gave his name as Abu Ubeideh. "We are not going to stop launching our rockets until they leave."

The incessant launches of Qassams and mortar shells continued for more than seven years, with the frequency sharply increased after the disengagement and Hamas' victory. Tens of thousands of Israelis have their lives turned into one permanent Russian roulette, and this is not about soldiers - we are speaking about the women, the children, the elderly and the disabled that cannot run to the barely effective shelters in the 15 seconds they have from the siren wail to the next boom.

What other country in the world would wait for seven years without retaliation? Russians who destroyed the whole Chechnya, killing a hundred thousand? US of A who bombed the heck (deservedly) out of Taliban? Brits who send an armada across the ocean to teach Argentina a painful lesson because of a puny island with a hundred dwellers and two hundred sheep (both species not really giving a damn about who it is that is ruling the property)?

Imagine London** being under random attacks of Qassams for a day or two (right, I can agree with many a thinker that Qassams are not killing many people - but the despicable morons, who say this is a good reason why Israel should refrain from retaliation, should themselves spend a month or two, let alone seven years, in one of the towns or villages bordering Gaza). So imagine London... Imagine what the intrepid RAF will do to that overly frisky neighbor... imagine Dresden... oops.

So to all the Israel-bashers/haters, all the "disproportionate response" sloganeers, all the protesters and their uncounted demos: you can go and stick your collective heads where the sun doesn't shine. And a side question to all of you: have you ever demonstrated against Hamas' "liberation struggle", in other words against lobbing Qassams at Israeli citizens? Yeah, don't answer, just don't let me delay you on your way to that dark place.

The totally artificial term "disproportionate response", as it looks so far, was invented solely for one purpose: to pin Israel to the wall of shame. There is only one answer to this: any means to stop somebody who tries to kill or injure you are perfectly proportional in a war. Unless you intentionally try to kill as many innocent bystanders as possible (the habit Hamas is practicing for too long).

Hamas

There are too many pundits that try to explain the motivation and the logic behind the Hamas' behavior. So the roots of Hamas' apparently suicidal behavior should be studied and published by these pundits and, even better, by psychiatrists that specialize in religious fanatics, mass psychosis and related forms of mental deviations.

So I will restrict myself to a few external manifestations of Hamas' mental aberration. As far as the recently "tahadiya" - the truce - is concerned, it is interesting and educational to notice that Hamas' have almost succeeded to persuade the world that it is quite all right to have a kind of truce where one side will keep to and will be judged by the letter of the agreement, and the other side will allow itself an occasional launch of a Qassam, a mortar or five (who really counts between friends and good neighbors?), an occasional attack on a border crossing (that provides vital supplies to the same Hamas-controlled territory), an attempt to attack a border patrol or to place an explosive charge under the border fence. When we (that other side) appeared to be recalcitrant in our determination to prevent these acts of terror (apologies for calling a spade a spade), Hamas decided that the rules of the game are unfair and must be changed.

In this regard I am compelled to quote the inimitable Seumas Milne, the author of one of the dirtiest pieces in British press on the subject:

Hamas is likewise blamed for last month's breakdown of the six-month tahdi'a, or lull. But, in a weary reprise of past ceasefires, it was in fact sunk by Israel's assassination of six Hamas fighters in Gaza on 5 November and its refusal to lift its siege of the embattled territory as expected under an Egyptian-brokered deal.

So our "assassination" of six Hamas "fighters" was the reason for the demise of tahadiya. Hmm... let's see:

Israel Air Force pilots struck two terrorist cells in southern Gaza that were preparing to launch mortar shells at Israel late Tuesday night. In the first strike, at least three Arab terrorists were killed and several others were wounded, according to local sources. Shortly after, a second cell was hit in a similar IAF strike.

So, according to Milne (or Hamas, it's rather difficult to distinguish lately), the IDF (IAF) murderers "assassinated" six "fighters" who were peacefully minding their daily harmless business. Well, that of launching mortars at a neighboring kibbutz, but this, according to Hamas/Milne, is just a part of the deal, so here you go...

In short - Hamas want the truce, but on their own peculiar terms, and the world seems to display a good measure of understanding of these terms, to our sorrow.

Hamas goals? It is even more difficult to understand. On one hand, their avowed goal of annihilating Israel is hardly realistic, and they are not so stupid as to miss this point. On the other hand, supported by Iran, Syria and a few other similar regimes, they do everything in their (thankfully limited) power to bring more and more arms and to make our life as miserable as possible. What do they expect as the outcome of this activity is difficult to understand, but one thing for sure - Hamas leaders don't give a damn about the population of Gaza. When even their Arab brethren say this publicly (today it was the Egyptian ex-ambassador to Israel, Muhammad Basyuni), it is impossible to ignore.

It is darkly ironic that the religious movement that made their ascent to power via charity work, food distribution, social services etc., displays the most brazen indifference to the lives of its subjects.

How big a role the religious fanaticism plays in their decision-making is also difficult to say, let's only mention that a day or two after operation Cast Lead has started, Ismail Haniye in his TV appearance asked the world to know that "if we die, we all do it for Allah". Who it is he meant by "we"? He didn't make it clear. What is clear that the last days he spent in a shelter in the already familiar manner of his spiritual partner Sheik Nasrallah.

Another notable point in Hamas' practice is their attention to the media. Hamas made a real effort to prepare to the clearly coming attacks. Professionals and volunteers with cameras literally swamped the world media by pictures and clips showing the Gazans' suffering, and the pictures of this kind familiar to all in the last years:





were promptly replaced by:



and, of course, not to forget, by images like this:

Whatever else, Hamas have learned very well the lessons of their many predecessors and existing partners in the line of crude but effective propaganda. And they succeed admiringly to convey their message to their eager and willing supporters in the East and in the West. It works.

As for the first three pictures of the "warriors": according to the latest news, Hamas "militants" have already accomplished a strategic move that was planned in advance: they have discarded their military uniforms which served them so well for photo-ops, intimidation of their internal rivals and other worthy pursuits. Now they all are just simple peaceful citizens, so in the Hamas' reports of dead and injured you will see more and more "innocent bystanders". After all, it takes a second to get the Kalashnikov and the spare magazines away from the corpse, the makeup of a perfect peaceful citizen is very simple.

Gaza

I am not trying in any way to diminish or to ignore the suffering of the citizens of the Gaza strip. It is real and the situation is worsening, with the infrastructure being destroyed, with dwindling supplies (controlled by Hamas and other gangs anyway), with border crossings being opened only sporadically for transfer of the essential provisions.

Unfortunately for us, people squeezed between the hard rock of Hamas and the hard place of IDF cannot but blame Israel for their misfortunes. At a time like this, the eager support of the new rule during the early days of Hamas government with the demonstrations, the display of weaponry and the cries "Itbach Itbach El Yahud!" (Slaughter the Jews!) seems to be replaced by the grim determination to support Hamas no matter right or wrong - just because there is no one else to appeal to.

This is (methinks) where our main mistake/problem comes into play, a bit later about it.

Predictions

Bleak. Whether the ground operation will come into being remains to be seen, there are clear signs of the government dithering about the final decision. The reasons are also all too clear. But with growing international pressure, the window for the operation is quickly closing.

Even if a full-scale ground assault comes about and the military goals are achieved - Hamas armory and its military organization destroyed or dispersed, what then? No one, even the more militant Likud leaders, wants IDF to remain as an occupying power. But with vacuous and powerless Fatah and their current chief Abu Mazen (who is supposed to relinquish his post soon anyway), the power vacuum in Gaza will be filled by Hamas immediately. And provided our policy of economic blockade continues, Gazans will (even unwillingly) return to the warm and murderous embrace of the same old...

Here I come to what seems to me the biggest dilemma our government faces and will face for a long time. As long as our economic blockade continues, it will be relatively easy for Hamas (or any other power that succeeds them) to blame us for all their misfortunes.

I realize that opening Gaza to free flow of goods has seemingly insurmountable security implications. How to ensure that open borders don't serve Hamas, Islamic Jihad and lesser gangs as a green light for bringing in more and more potent arms? How to control the potential influx of eager "volunteers" of Iran, Al Qaeda and similar from joining their martyr brethren in Gaza? The last but not the least: how to make sure that the distribution of goods is taken out of the hands of the terrorist gangs that were controlling the distribution until now?

However difficult is the challenge, solution to all these questions must be found. And it looks that the only way to resolve the problem, albeit temporary, until a strong civil power structure is created in Gaza, is for IDF to stay put. Which brings us back to where we have started - no one really wants this.

A conundrum indeed...

The World

The world will do as the world will do. Our supporters will support, our detractors will detract, as usual disregarding anything we do to minimize the civilian deaths and civilian suffering. Hardly anyone noticed that during the strife we keep the border crossings open for the food and other vital supplies coming into Gaza, but every news outlet carries the pictures of bombed out houses and victims' bodies on the first pages. Hardly anyone noticed that the Israeli hospitals are receiving sick and injured from Gaza (try to imaging the opposite, I dare you), but the skewed numbers of dead and wounded "civilians" (in most cases Hamas boys without that uniform), provided by Hamas spokesman, are swallowed without doubts.

The same networks that during seven long years of Qassams more or less ignored the Israelis living under the constant threat, now go out of their way to produce more and more imagery and heart-rending stories about Israeli atrocities.

Should we give a flying donut about the world? Probably not, but we'll have to be blind and deaf to ignore this media bacchanalia. There is more to it: only two or three days ago I laughed at this exceedingly stupid headline:

What Israel is doing is nothing to do with peace but its own selfish security concerns

Upon second thought, this is not that funny. In fact, it perfectly matches the attitude of a good part of the European and even American public and, especially, their respective left wing masterminds: them Jooz are too frisky and causing unneeded trouble in our own bailiwicks. Why cannot they just quietly absorb a few Qassams a day and be gracious about it? Cannot they understand that our fat backsides are being disturbed by some of our fellow Muslim citizens, not to speak about the implications on the oil price (oh that oil - where indeed is that solution to our incessant oil hunger - let some clever Joo find one already)?

And so it goes...

Seth

Since it was his article that triggered this torrent of words, it would be unfair to forget him. There is a small problem I have with the lede of that article:

Those who have condemned Israel for falling into a trap ought to be just as vocal in condemning Hamas for setting such a trap.

Let's imagine you go for a stroll with a gun, somebody jumps out from behind a corner and starts shooting at you. You (naturally, I would say, although it is not that clear today with all this modern intellectual enlightenment) shoot back and kill or maim the attacker. As Seth will describe the event, you have fallen into a trap set by the attacker (such is the power of that intellectual enlightenment). Well, in the olden times people would say that you have exercised your lawful right to self-defense, but what do I know?

Anyhow, in his next article, Seth has backpedaled a bit from that wondrous even-handed stance. The familiar notes of "I don't condone but I understand" are heard all too well in that one. Too bad.

But in any case, I can gladly sign under this:

Both sides are human, neither are angels – and if there is ever to be a way out of the impasse, it requires an end to viewing the conflict as simply a matter of black or white.

The Future

Yes, what indeed will be written in the history books in a thousand years? Here is an example from a footnote to a paragraph on what is called "The orange growing district" in year 3005 :

Israel/Palestine conflict: a two hundred years strife between two very small and closely related tribes that differed only by their adherence to two minor warring religions that disappeared with the Advent of a Great Striped Sock.

[Needless to mention, the above is a loose translation from the only language accepted in the XXXI century - Chindian].


(*) matzav - situation in Hebrew.
(**) I have chosen London on purpose - the most poisonous vitriol (not counting the Muslim countries, of course) is being directed at us from this bed of free thought lately.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.