A while back I was critical of the campus protestors for not showing concern for all the other atrocities that are happening in the world. It wasn't that I was against their protests, I just thought they were Johnny-come-lately's.
Since then I've continued studying the conflict. Not long ago it came to me that my criticism of the campus protestors was ill-informed. The Israel Gaza conflict is unique, in that it's inextricably tied to America and the American government. Our government has been joined at the hip with Israel since prior to the 1948 war. Since the 1948 war we've armed and funded Israel. AIPAC now has so much control over our country that they should register as a foreign agent.
Another conclusion I've come to is that Israel is committing genocide. They're doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to them. Keep in mind that it was because of what the Nazis did to the Jews, that laws prohibiting genocide were added to the Geneva Convention in 1948.
In this week's Ralph Nader Radio Hour Ralph welcomes doctors Dr. Karameh Hawash-Kuemmerle and Dr. Nidal Jboor.
Dr. Karameh Hawash-Kuemmerle is a clinical pediatric neurologist who specializes in traumatic brain injury and epilepsy at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Nidal Jboor is a doctor of internal medicine and geriatrics working in Michigan. They are co-founders of Doctors Against Genocide.
The world has been seeing in real-time, images from Gaza that are horrific and disturbing.
According to Dr. Jboor, what we're seeing now connects back to what the founders of Zionism intended.
"They gave us the intent of genocide in 1880 when they said a land with no people.
That was the first genocidal declaration by the Zionist movement. They already erased the existence of the whole people there. That is genocidal. The whole project is built on genocide. It's not built on coexistence. It's not building. It's not built on creating something good for all inhabitants of the land".
Later in the interview Dr. Kuemmerle adds:
"A land without a people for a people without a land, which basically eliminated the people on the land of Palestine as if they did not exist. And that translated into practices where, you know, the Palestinians were expelled from their land without any thought of bringing them back.
"Even before 1948, before the war, the villages where the Palestinians were expelled from all more than 400 villages were completely bombed and destroyed and three forests were planted on top of them. Something that makes you think of what is happening in Gaza now, there is like the complete demolition of all homes, all structures in preparation for complete expulsion".
I've heard the "A land without a people for a people without a land" phrase before - it was oft repeated by the first Zionists. Then I asked myself, "Was Palestine a land without a people prior to the Jews living there"?. The answer is no. I wrote about this in my last post, here:
spinbackwards
Moreover according to this Wiki and link from the Washington Report, in 1890 Palestine there were approximately 432,000 Muslims, 57,000 Christians, and 43,000 Jews. Palestine was not "a land without a people".
Contributors to Wikimedia projects
https://www.wrmea.org/1998-march/zionism-at-100-the-myth-of-palestine-as-a-land-without-people.html
Back to whether or not Israel is committing genocide (and therefore should be charged with war crimes). This past week Amy Goodman interviewed leading Israeli American historian and genocide scholar Omer Bartov on Democracy Now!. Here's the interview:
In the 23 minute interview, Omer not only gives his view that Israel is committing genocide, he mentions other scholars who are in agreement. Omer also talks about the historical meaning of genocide, that we shouldn't use the word in passing - which I agree with. Because if we do, we're destined to forget what happened to the Jews, which we should never do.
We should never forget what happened to the Jews. And Americans shouldn't turn their backs on the genocide in Gaza. In respect to the Jews, we should all those involved accoutable.
tty next time,
