[Peace-discuss] "To Help Palestine, Be Pro-Israel Too",from Ira Chernus

[Stuart Levy]

On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 05:47:40AM -0600, unionyes wrote:
> Here is a " spin " Stuart that would resonate with most Americans ;
>
> Cut off ALL U.S. taxpayer money to Israel that currently amounts to over $ 
> 40 billion per year.
> Why should we the taxpayers be sending OUR money to an out of control 
> government that will cause only more hatred against the U.S..
> That $ 40 billion can be used HERE in the U.S. to help our economy ( 
> healthcare, jobs, home utility costs, stopping forclosures, etc. ).
>
> David Johnson

$40 billion/year sounds high -- I would think it's more like 6 billion/year,
about half of it military "aid".  (A recent bill allotted $30 billion over 10 years
to specifically military aid.)

But it's still a lot of money, even with multi-trillion dollar bailouts
in the air, and yes it's worth mentioning.  Especially if we then go on
to say how some of the military portion gets used.

> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stuart Levy" <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
> To: <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 1:44 AM
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] "To Help Palestine, Be Pro-Israel Too",from Ira 
> Chernus
>
>
>> Wanted to point out four notable articles that appeared this week.
>> Here's the first:
>>
>>   To Help Palestine, Be Pro-Israel Too
>>    by Ira Chernus [Prof. of Religious Studies, UC Boulder]
>>   http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/06-13
>>
>>   Three viewpoints on the Gaza war fill the U.S. mass media: pro-Israel,
>>   anti-Israel, and neutral or even-handed.  All three are harmful to
>>   the suffering people of Gaza. The one view that can help them is
>>   the one that barely gets a hearing. It's pro-Palestine, pro-peace,
>>   AND pro-Israel.
>>
>>   [...]
>>    Yet a neutral, even-handed approach in the U.S. news media is dangerous
>>    for the people of Gaza too.  It treats Israel's massive high-tech
>>    firepower, which has killed over 500, as somehow equivalent to Hamas'
>>    aimless, largely ineffectual rockets that have killed five. That gives
>>    Americans the impression there's a fair fight going on between two
>>    equally violent and equally suffering sides. Most people conclude that
>>    if neither side is the good guy, it's none of our business and we 
>> should
>>    just ignore it. At least they themselves ignore the conflict. That 
>> gives
>>    the "pro-Israel" lobby and the U.S. government a freer hand to follow
>>    a one-sided course.
>>
>>   [...]
>>    That might seem to leave only one fruitful approach: Stand up for
>>    the Palestinians, condemn Israel as the aggressor, and demand that
>>    it stop its attack immediately. It's understandable that Americans
>>    of good moral conscience might take such an approach. But from a
>>    practical point of view, it will not do the Palestinians of Gaza
>>    any good. It might even harm them more.
>>
>>    Political action that is merely "pro-Palestinian" allows the
>>    mass media to portray the engaged public divided into two neat
>>    camps-pro-Israel and anti-Israel-as if those were the only two
>>    options. Of course the mass media like simplistic pictures of
>>    two protest groups, diametrically opposed, on opposite sides of
>>    the street.  It boosts their ratings. But it also lets supporters
>>    of Israeli policy feel even more justified, saying that "everyone
>>    who's not for us is against us."
>>
>>    It also encourages the average American to assume that there is no
>>    way out of this mess except to choose sides. In that case, since
>>    most know only what the political leaders and mass media tell them,
>>    they will choose the Israeli side.
>>   [...]
>>
>> and more.  Well worth a full reading.  I recommended this article to
>> some at the Mosque who were wondering how to talk about the Gaza crisis
>> and Palestinian issues with their non-Muslim coworkers, neighbors, etc.
>> We need ways to break out of rhetorical cages.
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>>
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