dr. elsewhere here
In reviewing last week, I was dreadfully remiss in leaving out two very important events. One was the President's signing of the USAPATRIOT Act extension, essentially making our descent into a police state official. Don't know what else to say about that that has not already been said. It's true, Liberty's torch has gone out with little more than a whimper.
The second event was the anniversary of Rachel Corrie's death while defending the home of a Palestinian pharmacist against an Israeli tank about to crush it. Instead, the tank crushed her, orange vest and all. Last week was also supposed to be the debut of a play written from her emails and letters, but certain, er, forces in NYC stopped it. Philip Weiss's story on this is stunning, and raises the question few will ask: How is it that Israel holds so much power over our country and its policies and now activities?
Twenty-five years ago (I once had knitting needles confiscated before boarding a plane from Huntsville to Memphis; this is an old nightmare), in a class on Death and Dying, I asked a visting rabbi a similar unspoken question: Do Israelis and Jews consider that their treatment of the Palestinians has made them the very monsters who persecuted them in the Holocaust? He was stunned, clearly, but to his credit, he took the question seriously enough to request that we discuss it in depth after class. That was interesting, in that he seemed confused and unable to land anywhere with an answer, so he simply listened.
The question has never been answered. I don't intend here to fan the clearly intense flames of anti-semitism or anti-anti-semitism. But I am also highly disinclined to ignore reality when it hits me square in the face. The influence of Israel's interests in this administration are now legend, especially as regards policies in the middle east. We export democracy, but reject the outcome if it is not in Israel's best interests. And now the influence of "Jewish sensitivities" in this case of free speech and art from a young woman who died for the right of a family to keep the roof over their heads....
Will someone please help me understand why these questions are never asked in public, and all too often, not even in private?
sofla said:
ReplyDeleteWhat are 'the death threats,' Alex?
I strongly suggest that everyone read the Walt-Mearsheimer paper on the Israeli lobby and its impact on our relationship with that country. You can find an edited version here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
The paper is very cautious and well-reasoned, and only a fool would call it anti-Semitic. Of course, the opponents of this piece are using scurrilous tactics to try to paint the auhors as Jew-haters. Sample headline: "David Duke Claims to Be Vindicated By a Harvard Dean."
Joseph asks, "How is it that Israel holds so much power over our country and its policies and now activities?"
ReplyDeleteI think you know the answer, Joe, but let me say it for you - money. With billions in US aid going to Isreal annually, wouldn't you, as the recipient of that largesse, funnel a little of it (maybe $100M a year?) back to US politicians, PACs, corporations, and other constituencies, in the interest of keeping that money flowing?
And if you were a recipient of that backflow, wouldn't you be just a bit loathe to cut it off?
Myxzptlk
Dr Elsewhere,
ReplyDeleteForgive me if some of this may have already appeared in your blog under other headings. I feel the need to reiterate some of the points especially after reading the piece by Philip Weiss and hearing the report on Democracy Now this morning
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/22/1435259
I listened with interest and some sympathy to the "other side of the story" that the New York Theatre Workshop people presented. James Nicola, artistic director and Lynn Moffat, managing director of the Workshop were in the firehouse studio speaking to Amy Goodman while Katharine Viner co-editor and co-producer of “My Name is Rachel Corrie” was present via satellite from London. I must say that if I had a sour taste for the NYTW coming into the discussion, their representatives did nothing to modify my views. I have never heard more wimpy excuses and mewling self-pity for their flaccid attempts to uphold their artistic integrity. It is a discussion that must be heard to be believed.
This brings me to my point concerning the “Jewish influences” that most certainly has silenced Rachel Corrie – twice.
It is very hard for a liberal like me to frame a pejorative use of the word ”Jew” without experiencing the same stomach wrenching reaction that occurs when one encounters the word “nigger.” Anytime any of us criticizes a scoundrel who is destroying everything in sight in the name of and for the benefit of the thugs who run the current government of Israel, it becomes necessary to pen a lengthy exculpatory paragraph excluding oneself from the inevitable label of “Anti-Semite!”
It never ceases to amaze me the extent to which we have allowed the right to create these elaborate linguistic minefields that intelligent people of good will must navigate in order that our intentions will be fully misinterpreted and misunderstood: The administration appoints two paragons of Uncle Tomism, Powel and Rice and accuses critics of racism and sexism. They support a brutal, sadistic war criminal like Sharon and accuse critics of anti-Semitism. They characterize those who do not believe that the soul enters the fertilized ovum upon conception, people who advocate reproductive choice for women and teachers who would inform children of the real facts of reproduction as Godless pro abortionists. They do all these things and no one has the courage to stand up and vigorously object to such ridiculous obfuscation. Sometimes I almost think we deserve what we get.
That exorcism, properly performed, I can resume and say that I’m sure the New York Jews and only the New Yourk Jews stopped the scheduled performances of the Rachel Corrie play. I personally have met and argued with many of them. These Jews are the biggest supporters of Israel right or wrong. Like the nominaly liberal Roman Catholics over birth control and abortion, the usually Democratic supporting New York Jews have been herded into the Bush fold by the brilliant sort of linguistic judo mentioned above. Of course none of them have bothered to read the fine print in the book of Revelation which specifies their conversion to Christianity - or death in the end-time.
Discuss any other liberal issue with them and you will find enthusiastic assent. But express even the slightest doubt that Israel is anything less than the most wonderful, most humane, most persecuted nation on earth and you will get a vicious, hysterical fight you cannot be expected to win. You might as well have argued for the final solution with a Holocaust survivor. Of course the fact that Bush is a whole-hearted supporter of Israel, often as not, trumps any of his other faults in their minds. They make Cuban anti-communists look like models of rationality and restraint.
I really don’t know how you can separate these Jews from their delusion and get them to see how their support (and all the money that they send to their homeland in incredible quantities) is being used to destroy any hope of peace in the world.
Interestingly, I did not find the Mother Jones article that much of a problem. it purports to cast some doubt on Rachel Corrie’s apotheosis. Predictably, this essay was widely attacked by many on the left.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/09/ma_497_01.html
I found that it described, in a compelling manner, the full dimension of her life and death.
Skeptic that I am, I am always slightly wary of stories about people who are portrayed in wholly saintly aspect in overly simplified situations - be it Jessica Lynch, Pat Tillman or Rachel Corrie. As a card-carrying member of the species, Homo Sapiens, I know that I am composed of both darkness and light. I too fully realize that sometimes I often make the worse appear the better cause, I lie, I cheat, I suffer from frequent attacks of virulent pride and I am often far too willing to believe my own stories - even if the facts do not support them. I expect no better conduct from most of my fellows. That is why I don’t take too readily to hero worship or overly retouched portraits of anyone.
I read many reports pro and con in relation to the story of Rachel’s last days. I have seen the fraudulently captioned “staged” photos of “Rachel and the bulldozer” distributed by her companions. Would that the aftermath photos were also staged! I am even prepared to allow as how Rachel may have been fool-hardy, immature, to some degree self deluded, far too idealistic and perhaps even may have been willingly exploited by some of the militants, as her critics claim. For me the arc of her life and the impact of her death remain undimmed by her detractors.
The horrific treatment of the Palestinians is the real message Rachael would have us remember – even in preference to her own tragic story. The real disgrace in this matter is the reality of the Israeli indifference to all human life. I believe the stories she told - of the random shooting of civilians in Gaza and of the demolition of vital wells, vineyards and homes destroyed in a spirit of senseless official vandalism.
My own take on the fatal event even allows for the possibility of “operator error” on the part of the driver of the D-9 Cat.
Past events related by Rachel and other International Solidarity Movement members indicate that the presence of the western students did indeed inhibit the activities of the soldiers and the bulldozers. Activist slept in homes threatened with demolition, knowing the soldiers would not bury a westerner alive in the rubble the way they might a Palestinian. Members of ISM made themselves human shields for Palestinian families going about the daily activities of life in an attempt to keep them and their children from becoming Israeli soldiers’ “target practice.”
The testimony of the D-9 driver was that he did not see her. Activist witnesses said that he couldn’t have missed seeing her. I’ve been on D-9 Caterpillar tractors and I must admit there is not a lot of forward visibility – through the bullet-proof glass and especially directly over the front blade. Is it possible that the driver killed Rachel by accident?
Yes.
At a certain point these stories can get like the characters in Rashomon. Sometimes the truth is in the parallax. The operators of the bulldozer were exonerated by Israel in the action that ended her life. Big surprise. What does surprise me however is that, even in this time of Americans’ monumental indifference to human suffering around the globe, Rachel Corrie’s death has been met with such dedicated attempts to keep it covered up. I expect such dishonesty on the part of Israel. They cannot allow the international community to see any chink in their façade. The “only real democracy in the middle east” cannot own up to their responsibility for their treatment of the Palestinians.
What I don’t understand is our own government’s deliberate desire to keep the evidence of her death buried. Despite repeated outcry, no serious investigation has ever been initiated by Congress, the State Department or any branch of our government. This neglect is even more remarkable, considering that this is a highly controversial “murder” of an American by a foreign power in real estate supposedly protected by international law. This total bipartisan silence in Washington can only be attributed once again to the Jewish influences that hold sway over this country. That is why, for now, the truth will remain safely entombed along with her body.
And that is also why a very moving play based upon her diaries and emails will probably not be allowed in this country.
I think that, upon seeing this play, more than a few critics would reference another victim, Ann Frank. It is ironic that just as the Nazis snuffed out her small life, so too our latter-day Nazis in Israel would snuff out Rachel’s life. (Think of it, people in this country have lost their livelihood by using the words Nazi and Israel in a sentence just like this one!)
What I mourn most is the inability of so many American Jews to see what I think are obvious parallels in recent history. I am afraid the American Jews will be the last to wake up to the new fascism in this century, just as the European Jews were the last to wake up to the fascism of the 20th Century.
When it seems to me that innocence and love have all but fled from the world I find solace in my belief that the words of Ann Frank and Rachel Corrie have already survived and prevailed over their oppressors. Certainly they were both naïve, impractical idealists. When I see all the horrors we have managed to pull down upon our heads, I sometimes think that the ideals these two young dreamers embodied are the very qualities that will ultimately redeem us and our world. I know Ann and Rachel were not the only ones.
"It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart… I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more"
Ann Frank - July 15, 1944
Wonderful initial post and a really heartfelt well reasoned respose by Dr. Elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteAs to where to lay the blame for the influence you are talking about, let me be frank in another way -- self-criticism from the left. While I agree on the vectors of influence mentioned in the OP and responses, I have to add one more that I am loath to get into, but it is the linguistic knots that we on the left created through the process that the right disingenuously calls "political correctness." As an African-American, I know our community certainly has less financial clout than the AIPAC crowd, yet we collectively have been able to forstall whole categories of words and criticisms. Look, collectively we self-censor even words like "handicapped" because of the clout of the now "differently abled." So before you even get to the financial, institutional and foreign policy vectors of influence, we have to accept that our public discourse has given a certain pre-emptive veto power to various groups over certain parts of the conversation.
Second addition I would make to this thread is that I am uncomfortable with the idea of "Israel's influence," when increasingly it seems like "Likud's influence." Labor has been so right all along, and, like the reality community based Democrats here, Labor constantly suffers in Israeli politics and in the politics of the AIPAC crowd simply by telling unpleasant truths. Yet during the years that Ehud Barak was PM, and the territories were proceeding toward statehood, there were virtually no terrorist attacks in Israel, and when attacks occurred, the Palestinian security services worked as hard as the Israelis in bringing the perps to justice. Don't just ask why Americans can't see what is in their own self interest when it comes to Middle East politics; why can't the Israelis see what is in their interests?
HamdenRice from DU