[Peace-discuss] Gaza bumper sticker conversation was Re: Peace-discuss Digest, Vol 95, Issue 20

[Carl G. Estabrook]

Hysteria's breaking out all over. This is from Glenn Greenwald today:

"New Jersey Democratic Rep. Steve Rothman called on Tom Friedman to  
apologize for the comments in his column today about the Israel Lobby.  
Declared Rothman: Friedman’s remarks are 'scurrilous, destructive and  
harmful to Israel' and constitute 'aiding and abetting a dangerous  
narrative about the US-Israel relationship and its American  
supporters.' That’s just hilarious: if Tom Friedman of all people is  
now so anti-Israel and borderline anti-Semitic that he needs to  
publicly apologize, then you’ve reduced the accusation — and the  
movement that routinely spews it — to pure caricature."

Here's Friedman's sin:

“I sure hope that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,  
understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was  
not for his politics. That ovation was bought and paid for by the  
Israel lobby“ – Tom Friedman, New York Times, today.


On Dec 14, 2011, at 4:49 PM, David Green wrote:

> This woman doesn't have a clue. She deploys every hasbara trick in  
> the book. Fulbright would be turning in his grave.
>
> DG
> From: Karen Medina <kmedina67 at gmail.com>
> To: Peace-discuss List <Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 4:32 PM
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Gaza bumper sticker conversation was Re:  
> Peace-discuss Digest, Vol 95, Issue 20
>
> The hate crime / xenophobia / thought-crime / kedesophobia
> conversation reminded me of a conversation at the AWARE table last
> weekend.
>
> Two women were looking over the bumper stickers and calendars, when
> one of the women noticed our new bumper sticker, "Gaza, The World's
> Largest Outdoor Prison" and decided to voice her disagreement.
>
> She had been on a Fulbright Scholarship to Israel and she came home
> full of Israeli history, evidently.
>
> She said Israel had made wonderful generous offers in the years of
> 1917, 1936, 1948, and 1978. [None of these dates were even in her
> lifetime, so that would have been an interesting point I failed to
> make.] But also, Francis Boyle had advised Palestine during a few of
> the Israeli offers, and his stories are quite worth knowing about.
> (see note 1)
>
> Anyway, she went on and on about how the 1948 Palestinian exodus was
> by choice -- they were going to Jordan and other countries because the
> Palestinians had been promised that those countries would send their
> militaries back with the Palestinians and take care of the Israelis
> once and for all. She denied that the Israeli army was massacring
> people. (see note 2 if you are interested in multiple stories about
> the same event.)
>
> After much heated conversation, she said something about even the
> Muslims have the right to have a pure Muslim democracy. And I think I
> surprised her when I said that I don't think a single race or
> religious group has the right to their own nation and that such a
> country could never claim to be a democracy. She was taken aback --
> the only time during our conversation when she was taken aback.
>
> Anyway, it was kind of fun. But I was surprised by the conversation
> and not up on my Palestinian history enough to be confident.
>
> She mentioned several things that I should read, and I failed to
> mention anything she should read, though Norman Finkelstein and even
> Jimmy Carter would have been fine to mention. Chomsky, and Boyle would
> also have been worth mentioning.
>
>
> Note 1: Francis A. Boyle's resume includes:
> * Counsel, Concerned Academics for Peace and Justice in the Middle
> East (1984-86).
> * Legal Adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization (from 1987)
> and the Provisional Government of the State of Palestine (from 1988)
> on the creation of the State of Palestine, its accession to the Geneva
> Conventions and Protocols, invocation of the Uniting for Peace
> Resolution, admission to the United Nations Organization, accepting
> the I.C.C.’s jurisdiction, etc.
> * Legal Adviser to the Republic of Lithuania under President Vytautas
> Landsbergis (1991-92).
> * Legal Adviser to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace
> Negotiations (1991-93).
> * Legal Adviser to the Syrian Delegation to the Middle East Peace
> Negotiations during their First Round in Washington, D.C. (1991).
> * Counsel to Libya, in Cases Concerning Questions of Interpretation
> And Application Of The 1971 Montreal Convention Arising From The
> Aerial Incident At Lockerbie (Libya v. United Kingdom) (Libya v.
> United States).  See Orders of 14 April 1992, 1992 I.C.J. Rep. at 3
> and 114, 31 Int'l L. Mats. 662 (1992).
> * General Agent for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina with
> Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Powers before the International
> Court of Justice by appointment of President Alija Izetbegovic (March
> 19, 1993 to January 12, 1994).
> ...
>
> Note 2: 1948 / The Wikipedia entry is kind of interesting because it
> mentions so many different stories inside the main story of the
> Palestinians leaving. It is definitely not pro-Palestinian:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_exodus
>
> Note 3: I also think the following bumper sticker would be worthy of  
> my car:
> "It was wrong in Auschwitz it is wrong in Gaza"
>
> Sincerely,
> Karen Medina