Tag Archives: Palestinian intifada

Resistance in the time of genocide

Gaza; Palestinian flag Augsut 29 2014

These boys are walking past the Shejaiya neighborhood in Gaza City, an area where Israel employed a scorched earth policy, including bombing a marketplace during one of the umpteen ceasefires they broke.

The purpose of Israel targeting children & “Hamas age” young men was to destroy & demoralize the spirit of intifada which they have not been able to do in over 66 years. Israel succeeded in igniting an international solidarity movement of hundreds of thousands in hundreds of countries; of stirring governments from political torpor & silent collusion in response to popular pressure to actually take measures against Israel (even if it it’s still in the lip service stage); & in bringing into action the divestment part of Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions, with many companies canceling contracts with Israel. Nice work Netan-psycho-yahu!

As for Palestinian intifada? Resistance in the time of genocide stands undefeated.

(Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images)

Palestinian intifada will not be bombed into smithereens by Israeli bombers: long live intifada!

Gazan medic July 20 2014

Those who live in countries practiced in the treacheries of militarism & colonialism become tutored in the treacheries of dehumanizing propaganda. Westmoreland, one of the military generals & an insuperable ass who headed up the US war in Vietnam notoriously said, the “Oriental doesn’t put the same high price on life as does a Westerner”. It was the Civil Rights Movement of that same era that exposed that crap for the horse manure it is.

They still use it though–now againsts Arabs. They’ve been drawing on the poisoned rancid well of racism since the foundations of colonialism until now it’s become essential to manage the barbaric phase of capitalism.

Nowhere is it more rancidly employed than against Palestinians. When Israelis gather on hilltops to cheer on genocide, we see the fathoms of hatred propping up this decaying system. Colonialism isn’t riding high when it resorts to such extremes of violence; it is erupting in desperation because it’s foundation is toppling. It has not been able to break Palestinian intifada in 66 years of the most unspeakable crimes & as vulnerable as Gaza is now before the onslaught, the truth is now more widely known & more vigorously opposed.

Jodi Rudoren, The NY Times Jerusalem bureau chief, publicly commented (in 2012): ” while death & destruction is far more severe in Gaza than in Israel, it seems like Israelis are almost more traumatized. The Gazans have a deep culture of resistance & aspiration to martyrdom, they’re used to it from Cast Lead & other conflicts, & they have such limited lives that in many ways they have less to lose…. I’ve been surprised that when I talk to people who just lost a relative, or who are gathering belongings from a bombed-out house, they seem a bit ho-hum.” Did you ever read such a load of crap? That’s not the keen eye of war reportage; it’s racist tripe, colonial vision, & the foulest propaganda.

Does this man’s grief look “a bit ho-hum” to you? This Palestinian medic treats people injured by Israeli bombs at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, a town in northern Gaza near the Israeli border & only a few miles from Sderot, where Israelis sit in lawn chairs to entertain themselves with ethnic cleansing. If vision is not incapacitated by vile racist hatred, who is traumatized & who is not is made evident by that contrast.

For nearly two weeks now, Palestinians weep openly over the deaths & mangled bodies of their children & beloved. Palestinian supporters witnessing this slaughter are bereft & grieving. But intifada is not destroyed. Thousands of men & women around the world who stand with justice & want to take a public stand against the unspeakable criminality must take up the banner of Palestinian intifada while our Gazan brothers & sisters fight to dodge bombs & survive.

Protests of solidarity & to oppose Israeli genocide continue around the world & must continue on a campaign footing demanding “Stop the massacre in Gaza!” Those near Washington DC should make every attempt to join the national march today to the White House exposing US complicity & bankrolling of genocide & demanding they cease all military aid to Israel. All out!

(Photo by Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)

Israel targets children in Gaza

Gaza beach murders July 18 2014

The Israeli bombing of four small Palestinian boys playing ball on a beach & the forced evacuation of a hospital in Gaza certainly distinguish this monstrous siege of Israeli ethnic cleansing; we can only hope they don’t continue to scale new heights of barbarism. And the only thing that can stop that inevitability is massive public opposition.

The photo of the little boys lying mangled in the sand is irrefutable indictment of Israeli war crimes & still the UN & Human Rights Watch (HRW) don’t see the problem & continue to shake the naughty finger at both sides, refusing to distinguish between ethnic cleansing & self-defense.

When asked about the bombing of the little boys, Mark Regev, the spokesman for Netan-psycho-yahu, said “War is a terrible thing.” Banalities are his stock in trade & hopefully don’t indict the entire education system of Australia, from whence he came–unlike the Palestinians they’re trying to destroy who go back generations in the region. He claimed Israel doesn’t target civilians, which is really hard to maintain with a straight face since Gaza has no military of any kind. He claimed Israel doesn’t target children, but who does he think lives in those homes they’re bombing & what about the little kids on the beach who weren’t even four feet tall or more than 60 pounds? In response to interrogation, this smug racist punk said Palestinians are using their kids as human shields. This kind of tripe & toilet-bowl mentality is where racism & Zionist ideology take you.

In his interview, Regev pointed to the endorsement of the Arab League for the cease fire scam Israel used to justify a more murderous escalation of the siege–as if that endorsement rendered it legitimate. Regev is of course not directing that to anyone who knows a damn thing about the Arab League but to those who know nothing. For heaven’s sake, Saudi Arabia has a seat in the League & they’re playing an active role in undermining all the Arab uprisings, most notably in Bahrain. Egypt is also a key member & it should not be forgotten is presently persecuting thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members, with which Hamas has political affinity. That political affinity may be regrettable but one can understand why Hamas would be extremely reluctant to accept their political initiatives with trust. Such trust would be arrant stupidity.

Many look to world governments & ask “Why aren’t they doing more to stop this massacre?” The answer is simple: the neoliberal predators are up to their eyeballs supporting it with loans, military weaponry, arms deals, & political proclamations denouncing Hamas terrorism. They’re not just invested financially in Israel but politically. They are enemies of justice, not allies.

So there is no one to turn to except men & women of good will who want to know the truth. Thousands of solidarity activists around the world are hitting the streets to demand “Stop the massacre in Gaza!” Massive public opposition telling the truth is Gaza’s best defense right now. People often think protests are ineffectual, that governments will do whatever the hell they want unrestrained by our actions. Tell that to the Vietnamese who recognized the power of public protest & held the international antiwar movement in highest regard.

{This is a photo of two of the young victims of Israeli bombing on the beach. Usually I think atrocity images demoralize more than inspire political activism. However, I make an exception with this photo because it indicts Israeli war crimes more powerfully than a mountain of condemnations. It’s another picture worth a thousand lies. The photo should be sent to the UN & HRW, not to goad their consciences–because they have none–but to indict them as collusive with genocide.}

May our little brothers Mohammed, Ahed, Zakaria, & Mohammed Bakr RIP. Our deepest condolences to their family for their loss & our heartfelt regret we are not yet strong enough to stay the hand of genocide.

Long live intifada!

(Photo by Tyler Hicks, a reporter from the NY Times who witnessed the murderous assault on July 16th & when interviewed acknowledged it would have been impossible for Israeli aircraft not to see it was just four small boys playing ball.)

Intifada: Palestinian resistance to ethnic cleansing

Gaza intifada July 18 2014

Most of us are overwhelmed with images & reports of unspeakable Israeli barbarity in Gaza & now phalanxes of tanks have entered Gaza supporting an infantry indoctrinated in Zionist ideology & racist hatred. It isn’t worse than US-NATO wars in Iraq & Afghanistan but it is considerably more concentrated & hell-bent on genocide.

We are overcome with grief & terror for the people of Gaza but we continue to organize public opposition in a growing & thunderous international chorus of “Stop the massacre in Gaza!”

This photo is a Palestinian woman sitting in the rubble of her home in Gaza City which was targeted by Israeli bombers under the ruse she harbored rocket launchers in her closet. But Israel isn’t afraid of those; they have the most sophisticated military apparatus in the world & can take most of them out in a trice. What they’re afraid of is intifada–Palestinian resistance to ethnic cleansing. It isn’t wishful thinking or projection that sees resistance & determination written all over this young boy’s face. In all that rubble & carnage, intifada only grows.

And so must our solidarity. The mission of Palestinian supporters is to remain steadfast & not buckle before the onslaught. We have “miles to go before we sleep.” Until the last Palestinian cries “uncle”, we stand with them because that is where justice stands & because staying the hand of genocide has the power to inspire millions around the world to defy power & fight for human freedom.

Reports continue of solidarity protests around the world: now the Maldives & new protests in Turkey, India, Ireland, the UK, Scotland, Cape Town, Durban, & Johannesburg, South Africa. In the US, rallies are slated in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, California, Minnesota, New York, Washington DC, Texas, & elsewhere: all demanding “Stop the massacre in Gaza!”

If you cannot get to a rally, honoring the economic & cultural boycott of Israel is a powerful show of solidarity (barcode beginning 729).

Long live intifada!

(Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

Chomsky on Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel for apartheid and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians

Intifada July 5 2014

There is no need to genuflect to the contributions Noam Chomsky has made to understanding Zionism. With the collapse of the left, he has long stood alone on the campus circuit educating thousands about the nature of Israel. But for those who came of age politically in the 1960s (& earlier) there were many who elaborated the nature of Zionism even more cogently & without the compromises Chomsky makes to left Zionism. Those teachers include Abraham Leon, the Belgian Jew who died at Auschwitz; activists from Matzpen, the Israeli socialist group (now defunct); & many anti-Zionist Jews & socialists around the world, including Ilan Pappé, the Israeli now resident in England.

Chomsky, despite his criticisms of the violent excesses of Israel, believes in the Zionist project of an only-Jewish state, reflecting a deep conservatism & cynicism in his thinking which makes him unwilling or unable to thoroughly anatomize the reactionary character of Zionism. Because he’s a principled person, this cynicism seems to put him at odds with his own theoretics; it certainly puts him at odds with reality & with Palestinian justice. Because if there was ever an instance where you can’t possibly have it both ways, that would be Israel as a Jewish-only state & Palestinian justice.

Chomsky has chosen just this moment in time–when Israel is bombing the hell out of Gaza, conducting a barbaric jackboot occupation in the West Bank, & inciting racist mobs against Palestinians in Jerusalem–to publish a smarmy attack on the Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions (BDS) movement in The Nation magazine. Using the legalistic parsing employed by Norman Finkelstein, he attempts to discredit the characterization of Israel as an apartheid state. Both men expose their support for Israel as a Jewish-only state by appealing to the most conservative international agencies like the United Nations & Human Rights Watch–not to mention the US State Department.

Neither has respect for Palestinian intifada & rooted in academia, neither has a clue about how to build a social movement. Chomsky at least has always been candid in admitting that weakness. But most importantly, neither wants BDS & Palestinian solidarity to succeed because it threatens the possibility of a Jewish-only state. In their cynicism, they cannot envision a democratic, secular state where Jews & Palestinians & Africans live in harmony as brothers & sisters. Theoretically, like all Zionist ideologues, they capitulate to racism & antisemitism & the status quo of colonialism.

Both Chomsky & Finkelstein are media celebrities called on frequently for commentary on Israel. In opposing BDS with such arrant contempt they are trying to eliminate the economic boycott, a non-violent political weapon, & leave unarmed Palestinians to the savageries of bombers & jackboots. It may not be politic for Palestinians to sever relations with these two erstwhile allies, but sure as hell Palestinian supporters can call them out for such contemptible, shameful betrayal of justice.

Here a Palestinian responds to Israeli bulldozers expropriating Palestinian lands in the West Bank village of Kufr Qaddum in the spirit of intifada (on June 13th).

Stand with intifada & BDS: boycott all Israeli products (barcode beginning 729); support the cultural boycott of Israel; demand “No military aid to Israel.”

Long live intifada!

(Photo by Nedal Eshtayah/APA Images)