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

[Brussel]

 From the article by Chernus:

It's [the policy he's advocating] the only one that can give Israel  
peace and security and release the energies of its people to realize  
the Zionist dream, to fulfill the highest aspirations of the Jewish  
people.  It calls for the Jewish people to give up nothing that is  
truly their right and due.

I submit that "to realize the Zionist dream" is the essence of the  
problem…

This is a well intentioned article, but specious. It implies that the  
furious protests taking place all over the world (and as reflected in  
UN resolutions) condemning Israeli actions and policy are futile (for  
they are too strident for the American government and media to  
accept); they do not raise consciousness of what has been happening.  
That is at best doubtful.

--mkb


On Jan 11, 2009, at 1:44 AM, Stuart Levy wrote:

> 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.
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20090111/6bbadcd3/attachment.html