That said, I certainly admire his resilience in the face of horrendous, ugly attacks. This fellow calls him a "neo-fascist":
Daniel Barenboim, orchestra conductor and a leading example of an anti-semitic Jew, has just been given honorary palestinian citizenship.Israeli education minister Limor Livnat called Barenboim "A real Jew-hater, a real anti-Semite."
For this traitorous act, taking citizenship of a non-existant nation, not to mention how he supports terrorism and racism, he should have his Israeli citizenship revoked
The "anti-Semitic Jew" canard is an utterly disingenuous manipulation trick, and an increasing number of Jews can see right through it. In a similar vein, Dubya supporters in 2003 would call you "anti-American" if you did not support the invasion of Iraq. These shoddy rhetorical devices simply won't fly anymore.
All of that said, I disagree with Barenboim on the key issue: A two-state solution is no longer viable, given Israel's indefensible history of military incursion into Lebanon. I favor a single-state solution. The idea of a "Jewish state" was always a sick and inherently racist dream. It was a racist conception in Biblical times, and it remains so today. That dream must end. The replacement must be single, secular state where all who have family roots in the land are considered citizens, and all citizens have equal rights.
A growing number of Israelis favor a single-state solution. But in America, that idea is considered unthinkable -- and those who do dare to think such thoughts are considered bigots. Why are certain concepts permitted to an Israeli but forbidden to me?
The democratization movement in the Middle East means that Israel will no longer be able to claim to be the only democracy in the region. Hell, it's not a true democracy now. The new Egypt will not deny voting rights on the basis of ethnicity.
3 comments:
I agree that the two-state solution seems increasingly unlikely, and further agree that the two-state solution would preserve Israel as an religious/ethno-centric state - inherently racist. Pragmatic strategic planning on the part of true Zionists would have recognized this was the preferred solution & sought to achieve it, rather than abhor it as an affront to a broader principle.
On the other side, the one-state solution is, pragmatically, a tough swallow for Israeli citizens. They fear reprisal for the perceived crimes of the past (regardless of the merits of such perceptions).
May I suggest that we, as United States citizens, look at the dilemma Israel finds itself in as a cautionary tale for ourselves: What happens when your past becomes the shackles that prevent you from acting justly in the present?
"A two-state solution is no longer viable, given Israel's indefensible history of military incursion into Lebanon."
I can't completely unpack your use of the word 'viable'. It strikes me that Israeli military might and Jewish financial power can maintain the existence of the racist, ethnic-supremacist state of Israel for some time yet. Keeping Gaza as a concentration camp and Arab towns on the West Bank as something not a whole lot better, pending further massacres and expulsions. Which is the aim. Not at any time has there been actual Israeli support for a two-state solution. All 'left' or 'peacenik' factions which support the existence of the ethnic-supremacist entity, whether alongside a 'sovereign' bantustan or not, are fake. Examples of non-fakes are people like Israel Shahak and Gilad Atzmon.
Camp David meant the purchase of Egyptian placidity. Hello Sharm el-Sheikh. Nice hotels. The new Beirut? Oslo was a total fake, based around letting a few rich Palestinian Arabs have a slice of a casino in Jericho and various other business ventures.
Those who condemned Oslo at the time as fake were right, including George Habash of the PFLP. Say what you like about the PFLP, but history has shown that they were right about this.
Since then, other rich comprador Palestinian Arabs - including Abbas and other PNA cabinet members - have profited a lot from selling cement to build the apartheid wall. What nice guys!
Everyone knows this in the Middle East.
These facts about Abbas and his cronies are what made Hamas so popular. It wasn't anything to do with religion. Many Christians voted for Hamas. When Gaza is attacked - tanks and aircraft against a densely-populated urban area - pretty much everyone is with Hamas who doesn't want to put their fingers in their ears and ignore what's going on. They're completely right to be.
(The 'anarchist' material supposedly from Gaza which says 'fuck Israel, fuck Hamas' is in my opinion another fake. In present circumstances, no-one who's actually there could take that sort of shit seriously).
A two-state has always been insupportable...precisely because...
"The idea of a "Jewish state" was always a sick and inherently racist dream."
And when the dream was realised, the Jewish state was founded upon mass racist expulsions. The Zionist 'left' of the 1940s and 1950s was as fake as the Zionist 'left' today. All factions of it: kibbutzniks, whatever. 'Socialism' plus racism equals...we know what it equals.
Capitalism is inherently imperialist and has an inherent drive towards war. But it's also true that peace is preferable to capitalist war - as anyone who isn't a poser, a nutter, or an arsehole will agree. The reason why there can't be peace between the US (and its fawning dependencies such as the UK and Poland) and the Muslim world in the current epoch is largely down to Zionism.
Hoarseface - I think by 'Israeli citizens' you mean 'Israeli Jews'. Unfair reprisals, no, but there certainly should be reparations, as well as the right of return of refugees.
Joe - the Israelis mentioned in that German article don't support a one-state solution of the kind that you and I do.
It's just fakery to muddy the waters.
"'As envisaged by the right wing, one state still means a sovereign Jewish state, but in a more complex reality (yeah right - b note), and inspired by the vision of a democratic Jewish state without an occupation and without apartheid, without fences and separations,' he added.
(Cf. a white United States but without apartheid. Any takers?)
In recent statements and articles former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens and Knesseth speaker Reuven Rivlin have advocated making Israel and Palestine one state by legally incorporating the West Bank into Israel.
We are already a bi-national state and also a multicultural and multi-sector state. The minorities (Arabs) here make up 20 percent of the population - that's a fact and you can't argue with facts,' Arens said in a recent article he penned for Ha'aretz.
'Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria would not be the end of the state of Israel ( well fuck me! I thought it would! - b note), nor would it mean the end of democratic governance in Israel. It would, however, pose a serious challenge to Israeli society. But that is equally true for the other options being suggested for dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,' he added.
The truth is...the Zionist entity can only be ended by force...but no-one has presently got the force. In the meantime, those who uphold human values and oppose racism should support BDS: boycott, divestment, sanctions.
(But don't expect any help from Chomsky).
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