NOVANEWS
- Romney brags he’s got Netanyahu’s campaign consultants (and he’ll shoot you before telling their secrets)
- Newsweek: From ‘Black Rage’ to ‘Muslim Rage’
- Robert Gates addresses private security conference on Afghanistan, Iran, China, and the expansion of the NSA
- America: connect the dots
- David Sheen: Alternate cover for Newsweek that will never see the light of day
- ‘NYT’ responds to Netanyahu: ‘Israelis misled and bullied US’ before Sabra and Shatila too
- Freedom Theatre co-founder Zubeidi detained by PA 19 more days; on hunger strike to death
- NPR’s Raz cites Adelson support for rabbi candidate without any mention of Israel issue
- Exile and the prophetic: If Rosh Hashanah returns
- Israel/Palestine issue is source of Muslim mistrust of US, but NYT and NBC can’t touch that one
Romney brags he’s got Netanyahu’s campaign consultants (and he’ll shoot you before telling their secrets)
Sep 17, 2012
Phil Weiss and Alex Kane
Just when it’s supposedly anti-Semitic to talk about the fact that neocons are working for Mitt Romney, Mother Jones has published a surreptitious recording of Romney at some fundraiser in which he pretty much destroys his candidacy with a lot of stupid statements about government programs– and also says he’s got Netanyahu’s braintrust working for him:
I have a very good team of extraordinarily experienced, highly successful consultants, a couple of people in particular who have done races around the world. I didn’t realize it. These guys in the US—the Karl Rove equivalents—they do races all over the world: in Armenia, in Africa, in Israel. I mean, they work for Bibi Netanyahu in his race. So they do these races and they see which ads work, and which processes work best, and we have ideas about what we do over the course of the campaign. I’d tell them to you, but I’d have to shoot you.
I think Romney is referring to the secretive and mysterious Arthur Finkelstein. Sheldon Adelson wasto meet with him earlier this year in New York to talk about a SuperPAC. And the Times said he was working for Netanyahu in 1996, to destroy the two-state solution. Which is still Adelson’s main chore. NYT:
And he [Finkelstein] has helped craft simple, similarly stinging television advertisements for Benjamin Netanyahu, the conservative challenger to Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
These commercials contend that Mr. Peres would divide Jerusalem between Israel and a Palestinian state and would return the Golan Heights to Syria with virtually no concessions; they close with the slogan “Making a Secure Peace.” The implication is that peace under Mr. Peres would be riddled with anxiety.
Newsweek: From ‘Black Rage’ to ‘Muslim Rage’
Sep 17, 2012
Phan Nguyen
“Rage” is all the rage with Newsweek, apparently. For comparison:
Newsweek cover, August 19, 1985
Newsweek cover for September 24, 2012
Robert Gates addresses private security conference on Afghanistan, Iran, China, and the expansion of the NSA
Sep 17, 2012
Matthew Graber
On Wednesday, September 12, Former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates spoke before a packed audience at the Philadelphia Convention Center at the 58th annual ASIS International seminar and exposition. Gates provided former members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Secret Service, and military, as well as members of corporate America with insight and analysis of threats to American interests around the world – in relation to Afghanistan, Iran, and China – and also detailed how he expanded the role of the Secretary of Defense in to domestic politics, and how, with Janet Napolitano, he authorized the NSA to assume jurisdiction over domestic surveillance.
ASIS 2012
The address on Wednesday was the third keynote address of ASIS 2012, a gathering of up to 25,000 security professionals organized by ASIS International, founded in 1955. In addition to keynote addresses by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Muhammed El Baradei, and Robert Gates, the ASIS 2012 conference in Philadelphia included a sales expo with over 700 security companies, and over 250 educational workshops for security professionals.
One of the over 700 companies present at the expo was G4S, the world’s largest private security firm (and third largest private employer). G4S, which operates in over 135 countries, drew scrutiny over the summer after reneging on a contract with the city of London at the Olympic games. The company also has contracts with the government of Israel, whereby they profit from Israel’s policies of segregation and torture of Palestinians.
Other firms present at the expo included Nice Securities, which provides surveillance equipment to the outlandishly racist police department of Mariposa County, Arizona; and the Applied Science Foundation for Homeland Security, a facility in Long Island, New York, fostering collaboration between the Transportation Security Administration, the Secret Service, the FBI, the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, and private security firms.
The educational workshops demonstrated the scale of the US surveillance program, and the degree of collaboration between private companies, private security, and government authorities. These workshops included “Using Social Networking Sites, Search Engines, and Web 2.0 to Screen Applicants,” and “Trends in Law Enforcement and Private Security Partnerships,” just for example.
Another workshop, “Civil Disturbances: Trends, Tactics, and Mitigation for Private Security” was led by MSA Security, the private security firm which was in charge of surveillance of Occupy Wall Street in New York City. Yet another, “Africa – Open for Business” was led by an employee of the World Bank, an employee of the Department of Defense, and two members of private security firms. The workshop sought to illuminate business opportunities in Africa for those in private security.
Robert Gates on Afghanistan
As someone who has dedicated his career to the covert operations of the CIA, Gates expressed continued commitment to the necessity of unofficial and nonmilitary operatives in the service of American military and intelligence. This position is evidenced by the current US strategy in Afghanistan, which Gates drafted and began implementing two and a half years ago, to train an Afghan security force of 100,000 soldiers by 2014 in addition to private security, and a Mining Protection Unit. On Wednesday, Gates said that with this program, he believes that “we finally got the strategy right” in Afghanistan.
On Iran
Gates provided insight into the possibility of a war with Iran. First, Gates described his meeting in 1979 with then-National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Iranian officials in Algiers, in which, following the Iranian revolution, he and Brzezinski refused to give the Shah to the Iranians, as he was being treated in the United States.
Then Gates testified as to why the Iranians may want a nuclear weapon, saying that they “see themselves surrounded by nuclear-armed countries,” and have witnessed the way in which the US military has removed Saddam Hussein, in Iraq, and Muammar Gaddafi, in Libya, from power. By contrast, the US “has been far more cautious dealing with the North Korean regime.”
Further, Gates said the Israelis “feel themselves on a shorter timeline than the US with respect to military action” because of the “geography and history” of Israel, and the rhetoric of the Iranian regime. He stated that, “some elements of the Israeli government.. have been making noises about a potential military strike.. possibly before the US presidential election in an effort to box US President Obama in to supporting it,” naming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barack in particular. Yet, “the Israeli military, however formidable, does not have the capacity to destroy all of the buried nuclear facilities at such a long range,” as “the Iranians have dispersed their nuclear program to multiple sites, many of them in urban areas, many of them deep underground.” Then Gates said, “let there be no doubt – an Israeli attack would be seen in the region and in the Muslim world more broadly as being sanctioned and underwritten by the United States, with the same consequences that would attach to a direct American attack.”
If Israel and the United States do not attack Iran, Gates said, the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran would threaten Israel and Europe, and “ignite a nuclear arms race” in the Middle East. He did not mention the nuclear weapons program of Israel.
Gates said that the current set of sanctions imposed by the United Nations are “our best chance going forward” to pressure the Iranian leadership to abandon any aspirations for a nuclear weapons program, and that “we must make it clear to the.. Israeli government that they do not have a blank check to take actions which could do grave harm to American vital interests and security in that region.”
On China
In relation to China, Gates said, “The only source of legitimacy for the governing elite [of China] is a steadily improving standard of living that requires nine to ten percent annual GDP growth, and the creation of at least twenty million new jobs every year,” and that “the credibility of the Chinese government and the quiescence of the Chinese people depends on sustaining an economic performance that is fundamentally unsustainable.”
In light of these conditions, Gates said, there is growing nationalism and xenophobia in China, and “[t]hey’re becoming more and more aggressive in pursuing China’s interests and defending exaggerated territorial claims.”
Further, “[w]e can expect more belligerence over the months to come as China looks to an immensely important generational transfer of power,” as “no aspiring leader would want to look weak when it comes to defending China’s interests.” Gates notes that China is investing trillions of dollars in foreign cash reserves in new military capabilities and technologies – “anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-satellite weapons, electronic warfare assets” – “which could alter the balance of military power in the Pacific, which has for all practical purposes been an American lake for our navy since the end of World War II.”
On cyber security and NSA expansion
An integral part of the ASIS 2012 conference was (ISC)2 – a concurrent seminar focusing on cyber security. Noting the capabilities of computer viruses such as STUXNET and the “Love bug” to have drastic consequences, Gates stressed the importance of cyber security. He goes on, “One of the keys to any military success going forward is ensuring that information crucial to operations reaches the widest appropriate audience. I know this is one of the challenges [which] the military and industry face working together, namely how to provide the maximum possible protections and information assurance without undermining one of the traditional strengths of the American way of war – just to push data and decision-making down to the lowest possible level of authority – and to do so without a repeat of the Wikileaks fiasco.”
Then Gates described the decision for the NSA – “a military support agency” – to have jurisdiction over surveillance programs in the United States. Citing “very limited assets, capability, and experience” at the Department of Homeland Security,” Gates said that it “isn’t plausible” “to fashion a brand new, ACLU-approved homeland version of the NSA for domestic surveillance and cyber security;” thus, through a memorandum of understanding drafted by Gates and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano in the summer of 2010, the NSA support for DHS was approved by President Obama.
As an integral part of the passage and implementation of this surveillance program, Gates noted that, as Secretary of Defense, he established a “good rapport between [himself] and first Secretary Rice and Secretary Clinton,” whereas for most of his public life the two positions – Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State – neither spoke with one another nor collaborated.
Conclusion
The scale of the ASIS conference in Philadelphia was breathtaking, yet equally disturbing was the lack of press coverage, and subsequent lack of public awareness and scrutiny. The conference brought together corporate leaders with government officials for open and honest sharing and collaboration. ASIS has almost 300 chapters world-wide, with at least half of those based in the United States. They are coordinating five similar conferences over the next year in Hong Kong, Dubai, New York, Chicago, and Gothenburg, Sweden. It is my hope that, by bringing to light and understanding what ASIS members and their partners are doing, we can begin to scrutinize the military-industrial, prison-industrial, and agricultural-industrial complex. The repercussions of their work are damning for the general public.
America: connect the dots
Sep 17, 2012
Shakeel Syed
Trailer of the anti-Muslim documentary Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West (2008). DVD copies of the film were mailed out just weeks before the 2008 presidential elections.
The recent tragic death of the U.S. Ambassador and four staff members of the U.S. Embassy in Libya by asphyxiation in the embassy fire ignited by the irate Libyans reminded me of a nomad’s satire.
The nomad walks into a café and gives a verdict on the cosmos by saying “I love the moon and hate the sun.” Baffled patrons in the café ask the nomad about his love and hate relationship with the moon and the sun. The nomad explains. “I love the moon because it brightens the night and guides us to find our ways and then he adds, I hate the Sun because it comes out only during the day when it is bright anyway!”
Most people miss the most obvious especially when thinking is fogged with emotions. While we condemn the senseless violence and mourn the loss of innocent lives in Libya, I cannot help but remind myself of an incident four years ago in September 2008.
About 60 days before the Presidential elections in September 2008, millions of Americans in 14 battleground states received a DVD gift in the mail, titled: Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West. That movie was produced by Rabbi Raphael Shore for a tax-exempt New York-based charity by the name “Clarion Fund” with connections to a strongly pro-Israel Jewish educational organization – Aish HaTorah based out of Israel and an office in the United States. Clarion Fund did not just produce Obsession but also produced The Third Jihad and Iranium.
News analysis at the time helped many Americans connect the dots about the September 2008 DVD being used to influence the November 2008 Presidential elections.
Now, in September 2012, the world learns of yet another movie, The Innocence of Muslims. More dot-connecting is required.
Los Angeles Times reports that the movie was filmed and produced in Southern California but in much mystery. Allegedly, the producer is a Coptic-Christian of Egyptian origins holding extreme anti-Islam views. And then there is a movie consultant and scriptwriter, Steve Klein, based out of the City of Hemet who claims to know but refuses to reveal the identities of those associated with the film in various capacities.
Although much is shrouded in mystery, the movie consultant has revealed himself as did some of the production crew-members. And according to the Associated Press a person identifying himself asNakoula Basseley Nakoula may in fact be Sam Bacille who initially was reported to be “the” man behind the movie.
Much uncertainty remains but what we do know for certain is that this 14-minute movie has already contributed four American deaths. The nation is in mourning and political tensions are rising in the region.
Conservative political leaders often speak of pre-emptive police action against American Muslims, particularly in Los Angeles. Muslim-American political rights are, to them, expendable. But when right-wing cranks like Steve Klein seek to inflame passions that lead directly to American deaths too many conservative pundits and politicians have preferred to blame President Obama.
It is time for American conservatives to criticize the hatred in their own ranks. A more thoughtful position would be to criticize both the film and those carrying out the violence in Libya and other countries.
An effort to label President Obama as a Muslim or a Muslim sympathizer – as if being a Muslim is unacceptable – is likely to again sweep the political rights. Mainstream conservatives should denounce such bigotry and Americans should be connecting the dots leading from September 11, 2012 leading to the election on November 6, 2012.
David Sheen: Alternate cover for Newsweek that will never see the light of day
Sep 17, 2012
Annie Robbins
Earlier today we noted the Newsweek cover featuring a story by Islam-basher Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Well, an alternative:
Graphic: David Sheen Photo: Activestills
‘NYT’ responds to Netanyahu: ‘Israelis misled and bullied US’ before Sabra and Shatila too
Sep 17, 2012
Yakov Hirsch
Instead of another anodyne NY Times editorial today about Netanyahu injecting himself into our election campaign, the Times decided to take off its gloves. Netanyahu has clearly crossed its “red line” with his recent activities. It wasn’t so long ago that “A Preventable Massacre,” the op-ed by Seth Anziska on the 30th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, would have been too toxic to be “fit to print.”
Anziska sheds light on the U.S role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Recently declassified Israeli documents show that the
Israelis misled American diplomats about events in Beirut and bullied them into accepting the spurious claim that thousands of “terrorists” were in the camps. Most troubling, when the United States was in a position to exert strong diplomatic pressure on Israel that could have ended the atrocities, it failed to do so. As a result, Phalange militiamen were able to murder Palestinian civilians, whom America had pledged to protect just weeks earlier.
We see the familiar dynamic of Israeli leaders browbeating American diplomats while demanding their support. Of course this goes on while the Zionist maxim of
“when it comes to our security, we have never asked. We will never ask. When it comes to existence and security, it is our own responsibility and we will never give it to anybody to decide for us”
is repeated, by Ariel Sharon. By caving in to the Israeli bullying, the U.S. “effectively gave Israel cover to let the Phalange fighters remain in the camp.” So the U.S. was “unwittingly complicit in the tragedy of Sabra and Shatila.”
Anziska concludes:
The Sabra and Shatila massacre severely undercut America’s influence in the Middle East, and its moral authority plummeted. In the aftermath of the massacre, the United States felt compelled by “guilt” to redeploy the Marines, who ended up without a clear mission, in the midst of a brutal civil war.
On Oct. 23, 1983, the Marine barracks in Beirut were bombed and 241 Marines were killed. The attack led to open warfare with Syrian-backed forces and, soon after, the rapid withdrawal of the Marines to their ships. As Mr. Lewis(Samuel Lewis ambassador to Israel) told me, America left Lebanon “with our tail between our legs.”
The archival record reveals the magnitude of a deception that undermined American efforts to avoid bloodshed. Working with only partial knowledge of the reality on the ground, the United States feebly yielded to false arguments and stalling tactics that allowed a massacre in progress to proceed.
The lesson of the Sabra and Shatila tragedy is clear. Sometimes close allies act contrary to American interests and values. Failing to exert American power to uphold those interests and values can have disastrous consequences: for our allies, for our moral standing and most important, for the innocent people who pay the highest price of all.
Is there a more appropriate time than now to reflect on the events of 30 years ago? Once again Israel is trying have the U.S. be complicit in its machinations and won’t take no for an answer. The decades-long campaign to attach the U.S. to the Israeli hip relentlessly goes on. The Times says enough is enough. When Netanyahu said yesterday on Meet the Press “you can understand why they [Iran] are so antagonistic to us because for them we are you and you are us” the Times responds, Yes exactly, that indeed is the problem.
This op-ed is a huge inflection point for the lobby. Its publication is a terrible blow, and I suspect the usual suspects will say nothing about it hoping it doesn’t get any attention. Because really, how does hasbara deal with it? It is devastating, and gives the lie to all the talking points about the “special relationship.”
Freedom Theatre co-founder Zubeidi detained by PA 19 more days; on hunger strike to death
Sep 17, 2012
Felice Gelman
Press Release
The Freedom Theatre, Jenin Refugee Camp, Occupied Palestine
September 17, 2012
The Freedom Theatre co-founder Zakaria Zubeidi detained by PA a further 19 days, vows to continue food and fluid strike to the death
Zakaria Zubeidi, co-founder of The Freedom Theatre, was today sentenced to another 19 days in Palestinian Authority prison. Zubeidi responded by declaring that he was resuming a full hunger strike and from this point on would not eat, drink or speak.
“This court and this judge made an unfair decision against me, Zubeidi said in an extremely weak voice. “I’ve been in prison for a long time without evidence. This morning the doctor told me I have three days to live if I don’t drink water. So this court has decided to kill me.”
Zubeidi was supporting himself on the railing as he stood. He took off his shirt, revealing a noticeably thin torso, and pointed out the multiple bullet wounds he had obtained from his years as a fighter against Israeli occupation. “I have been a freedom fighter since I was born, and it’s unjust for me to die here.”
“This decision is unjust and means you want to kill me, but I want to choose how I will die. In four days, there will be a funeral from Jericho to Jenin”, Zubeidi concluded.
Zubeidi’s wife, who attended the hearing, broke down in tears when the ruling was announced. She said: “This is a humiliation for the Palestinian resistance. Someone who was the leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in 2002 is now suffering inside a Palestinian Authority prison instead of an Israeli prison.”
The court hearing was also attended by members of The Freedom Theatre and friends of Zubeidi’s from all over the world. Zubeidi was clearly touched by the support, waving and smiling to his colleagues and friends. When the proceedings ended, international and Palestinian supporters stood and chanted “Shame! Shame! The world is watching you!” and “This is Palestinian democracy? You are no better than the Israelis!”
The judge ordered a further 19 days of detention for Zubeidi, bowing to the prosecution’s request for “more time to finish the investigation” stating that these 19 days was the prosecution’s final chance to bring charges against Zubeidi, who has been in the custody of the Palestinian Security Forces since May 13. No charges or evidence of wrongdoing have been presented.
“Zakaria was the person who inspired me to stay in Palestine to join the struggle for freedom against occupation,” said Jonatan Stanczak, Managing Director of the Freedom Theatre. ‘The Palestinian Authority has succeeded with what the Israelis did not: to kill Zakaria. The PA has learnt their lesson from the Israelis very well, to the extent that they have become themselves part of the occupation.”
For more information:
Jonatan Stanczak, Managing Director of The Freedom Theatre
+972(0)599017654
+972(0)543915708
jonatan@thefreedomtheatre.org
www.thefreedomtheatre.org
Note to Editors:
For more background, see Human Rights Watch statement: http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/27/israelpalestinian-authority-theater-group-hit-both-sides
NPR’s Raz cites Adelson support for rabbi candidate without any mention of Israel issue
Sep 17, 2012
Philip Weiss
My jaw dropped last night hearing Guy Raz of National Public Radio do a piece on Shmuley Boteach, the Republican rabbi running for Congress against Democrat Bill Pascrell in New Jersey’s 9th District, without mentioning Israel. Not once. Boteach is a values candidate, or a life-style candidate. Something like that.
Raz did mention Sheldon Adelson, but without referring to Adelson’s number one issue:
Up until a few weeks ago, no one really took Shmuley’s campaign seriously — not even the Republican National Committee. That is until a superPAC created to support him received half a million dollars from the billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who is also backing many other pro-Republican groups.
Guess what: Adelson just held a fundraiser for Romney in Jerusalem. Before that he supported Newt Gingrich and said the Palestinians are an invented people and that a two-state solution is a stepping stone to the destruction of Israel. (Even the NYT mentioned that.) He supported George Bush to block the peace process in 2000, and succeeded. He has said that: “All we care about is being good Zionists, being good citizens of Israel, because even though I am not Israeli born, Israel is in my heart…”
Imagine if a Christian zealot was reviving a congressional candidate’s campaign and wanted to inject religion into politics….
Exile and the prophetic: If Rosh Hashanah returns
Sep
Marc H. Ellis
This post is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
On the beach this New Year morning, the sky is like an artist’s palette. The colors are pastel, various shades of pink and blue. A New Year omen I hope.
The world isn’t as beautiful as the morning sky. Libya and Egypt lead the foreboding news cycle. Syria’s war stalemate remains. Heading for America, Netanyahu draws his red lines in Israel’s Iranian sand. Instead of meeting Netanyahu, Obama is received by David Letterman.
On the rote and trite Rosh Hashanah front, Obama and Romney issue Jewish New Year messages. I can’t tell one from the other.
Politics makes for strange and meaningless High Holiday messages. Nothing to mull over. No pointers for self-correction. Trivialized challenges for the coming year. More of the same.
More or less, like the Rosh Hashanah sermons preached today. You can’t tell one from the other.
Religion makes for strange and meaningless holyday messages. Like Pope Benedict on his Lebanon pilgrimage. Won’t you please wish us well?
On the local front, the Cross on the beach lists in the sand. The weather is taking its toll. I’ve thought about taking it to my apartment for safekeeping. Then I realized it’s become a mandala of sorts for me. Changing its physical location might change its spiritual meaning.
Mandalas are a series of concentric diagrams with ritual and sacred significance in Buddhism. When mandalas are constructed out of sand, they are destroyed by those who constructed them.The destruction of the creation represents the impermanence of life and the sacred.
Should we look at Rosh Hashanah as a Jewish mandala? The Jewish calendar,with its rites and rituals, and Jewish history, which we mark today of more than five thousand years, is heavy stuff. As a mandala constructed out of sand, “Jewish” is here and then not here. Jewish is omnipresent. Jewish disappears.
Auschwitz as a Jewish mandala. I remember when I traveled to Auschwitz, a Rabbi suggested letting the death camp decay. Let nature take its course. Today, climate control experts preserve Auschwitz for eternity.
Though Auschwitz has become a Jewish mandala of sorts, for the most part, it functions in a perverted way. We gaze on Auschwitz, the site, or invoke its name, as a gateway to the sacred. The last thing on our Auschwitz mind is impermanence.
Auschwitz as a gateway for the spiritual has no depth. In the Jewish imagination, Auschwitz is our fixed eternity. Auschwitz keeps returning in the same form.
Israel as a gateway for the spiritual has no depth. In the Jewish imagination, Israel is our fixed eternity. Israel keeps returning in the same form.
Auschwitz and Israel are real. Auschwitz and Israel are unreal.
As a gateway for the spiritual, Rosh Hashanah has no depth. In the Jewish imagination, Rosh Hashanah is fixed in eternity. Rosh Hashanah keeps returning in the same form.
Yom Kippur as a gateway for the spiritual has no depth. In the Jewish imagination, Yom Kippur is fixed in eternity. Yom Kippur keeps returning in the same form.
This doesn’t mean that what is has to be. It’s not about destroying/erasing our real/imagined place/calendar or our distinct/imagined identity.Jewish identity embraces our past and present as if they matter. As we embrace our identity, we need to release ourselves from identity’s hold on us.
As we hold onto Jewish, it becomes violent and unethical. It drifts away.
Let go of Jewish. If Jewish returns, it will return in a different form.
If you let go of Jewish and it returns, you know it matters.
During these days of reflection, give the prophetic back to God. If you give the prophetic back to God and the prophetic returns, then you know the prophetic is the deepest part of you.
On Rosh Hashanah do something (un)Jewish. Give it all up.
Think Rosh Hashanah doesn’t matter.
Israel/Palestine issue is source of Muslim mistrust of US, but NYT and NBC can’t touch that one
Sep
Philip Weiss
Why do they hate us? And can the mainstream media ever talk about Israel/Palestine? Yesterday Meet the Press devoted an entire hour to the upheaval in the Middle East without touching on the Israel/Palestine issue (as Alex Kane has noted). More notes from the front…
Robert Wright has a very good post up at the Atlantic about why they hate us in which he focuses on three American policies that Muslims don’t like: drone strikes that kill lots of civilians, the presence of US troops in Muslim countries, and the Israel/Palestine issue. Wright’s wrap on I/P:
Again, don’t expect to hear about this from Romney or Obama. During an election campaign, especially, neither man wants to dwell on the downside of America’s essentially unconditional support of Israel even as Israel pursues policies that violate both international law and basic principles of justice, such as the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. But rest assured that the Israeli-American relationship gets plenty of airtime in Muslim, and especially Arab, nations. And, while some of this assumes the form of wild conspiracy theories, the core fact that American support helps sustain highly objectionable Israeli policies is not a figment of anyone’s imagination. Neither is the fact that when President Obama did try to get Israel to freeze settlement expansion, he encountered so much blowback in Israel and America that he had to give up.
Well, now: The New York Times has a front-page piece on “cultural clashes” that are feeding the Arab revolt against the U.S. in the Middle East. And the piece leaves out Israel/Palestine:
Others said that the outpouring of outrage against the video had built up over a long period of perceived denigrations of Muslims and their faith by the United States or its military, which are detailed extensively in the Arab news media: the invasion of Iraq on a discredited pretext; the images of abuse from the Abu Ghraib prison; the burning or desecrations of the Koran by troops in Afghanistan and a pastor in Florida; detentions without trial at Guantánamo Bay; the denials of visas to prominent Muslim intellectuals; the deaths of Muslim civilians as collateral damage in drone strikes; even political campaigns against the specter of Islamic law inside the United States.
The Times is not alone. Richard Engel did the same thing on NBC last week. Steve Walt’s report:
I hardly ever watch network news, but I happened to stumble across this appalling report on NBC’s “Rock Center” last night. In this clip, reporter Richard Engel blames this week’s anti-American violence on “conspiracy theories” that Arab populations have been fed over the years by their rulers, including the idea that the United States and Israel are colluding to control the Middle East.
It’s no secret there are conspiracy theories circulating in the Middle East (as there are here in the good old USA: Remember the “birthers?”) I’ve heard them every time I’ve lectured in the region and done my best to debunk them. But by attributing Arab and Muslim anger solely to these ideas, Engel’s report paints a picture of the United States (and by implication, Israel) as wholly blameless. In his telling, the U.S. has had nothing but good intentions for the past century, but the intended beneficiaries of our generosity don’t get it solely because they’ve been misled by their leaders.
In short, Operation Cast Lead never happened, Lebanon wasn’t invaded in 1982 or bombed relentlessly for a month in 2006, the United States has never turned a blind eye towards repeated human rights violations by every single one of its Middle Eastern allies, drones either don’t exist or never killed an innocent victim, the occupation of Iraq in 2003 was just a little misunderstanding, and the Palestinians ought to be grateful to us for what they’ve been left after forty-plus years of occupation. To say this in no way absolves governments in the region for responsibility for many of their current difficulties, but Americans do themselves no favors by ignoring our own contribution to the region’s ills.
I appreciate Wright’s comments about the Arab street too. The protests represent popular opinion:
Obviously, the fact that an American policy contributes to anti-Americanism in the Muslim world isn’t by itself a decisive argument against the policy. But ever since terrorism became a significant threat to American interests, this consideration has belonged in the policy cost-benefit calculus. All the more so in the wake of the Arab Spring, when the policies of Egypt and some other Muslim countries are more responsive to popular opinion, and anti-American sentiment can therefore translate more directly into anti-American policies.
This is why the Israeli failure to accept either the Saudi peace initiative of 2002 or Obama’s “settlements must end” challenge of 2009, represents a form of national suicide. By failing to cut a deal with authoritarian leaders when it could on the ’67 borders, Israel now has, as a world constituency, the Arab street; and Arabs are concerned about refugees and justice, and won’t shut up about these questions. I suppose the ’67 lines and dignity for Palestinians might satisfy the Arab street; but Israel is incapable of going that way, which is why realistic people fear that apartheid will only end with massive bloodshed.
Back in ’47 and ’48 State Department officials warned Truman that recognizing Israel was a prescription for endless strife. One of those officials later produced this warning:
“President [Roosevelt] told [mideast envoy Lt. Col. Harold] Hoskins that he ‘fully agreed that a Jewish state in Palestine could be installed and maintained only by force.'”
US policy in the Middle East has long been to contain these anti-Israel forces so as to maintain peace. These forces are breaking loose…