Israel @ MindSay 
war
“Mr- President -
The problem isn’t settlements, it’s Arab rejection. We all support peace in the Middle East. But pressuring Israel is not the right approach. The obstacle to peace is not Israel. The settlements are not the impediment. The issue is simple: the Arab and Palestinian rejection of Israel’s right to exist, including through violence and terrorism, for over 60 years. Israel’s right to exist is undeniable and is based on its right to self-determination in its historic homeland. The path to peace is clear. With recognition, Israel has said again and again that everything is on the table without preconditions. Mr. President, it’s time to stop pressuring our vital friend and ally. It’s now time to direct your attention to the rejectionists who refuse to recognize Israel and negotiate an end to the conflict. With your leadership, yes, we can have peace. But the path begins with the recognition of Israel.”
You can see the ad and the formatting here
I really wish this organization would stop espousing it's over-simplified statements on behalf of Israel, because I truly believe they are ultimately to its detriment, and to the detriment of the entire peace process.There are many things I find irritating, and, beyond that, disturbing about this ad. For one thing, it’s this stolid, bull-headed view that the problem is one thing and not the other, that “the issue is simple”: but the issue is ANYTHING but simple! Is it at all possible that both the illegal, aggressive settlements and Arab rejection of the legitimacy of the state of Israel might both be parts of a much larger and much more complex problem, one that, in its complex enormity, has been brewing for many generations, into which people have been born and died, because of which directly people have been born and died?
It’s reflective of a general tendency of the extreme wings on both sides of this conflict to paint it simple, to pretend that it’s an issue of black and white, good guy and bad guy, evil side versus saintly side, when the actual case is, both sides have “good guys” and “bad guys”, and those “good guys” and “bad guys” do not emerge from a vacuum: they emerge from reactions to complex cultures of crisis. As part of this absolutist tendency, there is this cry to absolve Israel of all blame, as if in its entire history, especially its recent history, it has never had a single action that was in any way impeding the process of peace in the Middle East. That statement itself is impeding the process! It only fuels absolutist groupthink on both sides that has so far absolutely failed to solve anything (for proof, see the current state of the Middle East).
There is also this voice involved that exemplifies its own narrative as the only narrative of the situation, in complete denial of the other narratives of the same situation that exist in tandem to it, which themselves are essential to approach and consider if there is going to be any peace at all. The assumed simplicity of all Arab peoples accepting a narrative of the events in Israel’s history foreign to their own--and that all Arab people have one narrative, at that--is not only arrogant: it’s unrealistic. The acceptance of the validity of the state of Israel is more than just a symbolic action, as this ad seems to assume: it’s the acceptance of a point of view of the situation which denies the dispossession and the suffering that people have accumulated in their national memory. It is a complex and difficult struggle, one which I myself have fought with, to announce the legitimacy of the state (and to therefore imply that one condones the actions that occurred in order to establish/maintain/expand that state.) I do believe that, at this point, because there are Israelis who have been born multiple generations in Israel, that at this point the state has a right to exist (noting of course that this is not a simple thing for me, and that it is something which I struggle with daily, and that I do not feel comfortable with condoning the aformentioned things that went into the state and that continue to occur in the state. However, I am not a dispossessed Palestinian. It is much easier for me to come to that conclusion. Especially considering Israel’s past refusal to even consider the Palestinian people a people at all, let alone giving them the right to their own lands (a very, very recent development, one which even to this day has not fully come to fruition), how could it be considered so simple for them to do the same for Israel?
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this ad is its condoning and alleviation from all blame of the Israeli settlements. The settlements are, in my own opinion and in the opinion of many others, a very pointed and continued obstacle to the path of peace in the region. Spurned by the biblical imagining of the land of Israel as including the West Bank and Gaza and the right of the Jewish people to that land, these settlements are aggressively moving into areas outside of the “Green Line” into areas in the West Bank (mostly ceased in Gaza since תוכנית ההתנתקות, the Unilateral Disengagement Plan in August, 2005), much of which is occurring on lands privately owned by Palestinian citizens, and all of which occurs with the intention to “claim” all of Biblically imagined land of Israel for the Jews, devoid of Palestinians. The development of the settlements were unfortunately at various points encouraged and even developed by the Israeli government (therefore making even that issue complex, as there have been people who settled in that land without religious motive, albeit those are not the people who move out to the settlements today),but at this point many of them occur illegally (again, unfortunately, with support from the current right-wing Prime Minister, Netanyahu), but are actively dismantled by the Israeli Army and police---however, to this end, many of the settlers have taken on an anti-government attitude, saying that they will just keep re-building and re-building. If that is not a “problem” in terms of Israel and Palestine developing peaceful relations, I honestly do not know what is. Terrorist activities, suicide bombings and violence against citizens are absolutely awful and cannot be condoned, but neither can actively colonialist, disenfranchising structures and complexes, white phosphorus bombs and aerial fire-strikes on civilian homes and disproportionate military force, or blockades on basic goods. Extremism on both sides must be accounted for and called to end.
This ad is misleading and over-simplistic at best. Of course, to this argument, I have heard the counter-point "But look at what other people say about Israel!", and honestly, I absolutely do not buy that. I for one am sick of the "they did this so we can therefore do that" game. It is obvious to me that the pattern of that attitude will only form the shape of a snake biting its own tail, granting eternal life to and obliterating all hope for an end to a conflict that is creating hostility, unsafe environments, death and destruction for millions of people. The history of this conflict is long and complex, with shades of gray all over the damn place. If anyone truly wants peace, on either side of the conflict, there needs to be a removal of the albeit attractive, appealing goggles of black-and-white visions of righteous anger and the absolutely good nation and the absolutely bad nation, and there needs to be a move to start seeing the conflict for what it is: complex, with good things and bad things being done from both sides. There needs to be an acceptance (which, of course, I realize is a difficult one, and one which will take time and effort to reach) of the multiple narratives involved in the situation. Only once we switch our focus from Us vs. Them to Us and Them (if we can't get it down to just "All of Us") can peace even begin to grow.
Israel is dripping with religious, historical, and significance. Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel. It has more museums per capita than anywhere else on earth. It served as Israel’s cultural and economic center for centuries. The city has numerous archeological and historical museums. Even the streets and parks are full of art and sculpture. Visiting these streets can be more exciting using a car rental. With an Israel car rental service, you can take full control of your time. There is so much to see and do in Israel that a rental car is an absolute must to whisk you from one tourist spot to another.
If you decide to rent a car on your trip to Israel, check out these online car rentals:
http://www.avis.co.il/avis/site/local/avis/html/shortRentalEng.jsp
http://www.israel-cars-rentals.com
http://www.israel-cars-rentals.com
http://www.carrentalinisrael.co.il
http://www.travelmania.com/carental.asp
To lessen your research time, here are some of the recommended places for you to visit in Israel:
-Synagogue Church: This church is located in the old market of Nazareth. It is considered as the Synagogue visited by Jesus as a child.
-Grotto of the Annunciation: The Grotto is built over the site of the Byzantine and Crusader Churches. This is the earliest pilgrimage destinations in Israel.
-The Church of Annunciation: This is located at the Casa Nove Street in Israel. This is one of Israel’s most popular tourist attractions.
-Western Wall: This is revered as Judaism’s most sacred site as the last remnant of the Second Temple.
-Mount of Olives: The place has a panoramic view of the Old City, its ancient Jewish cemetery and historic churches.
-Tel Aviv Art Museum: This museum features the most fascinating changing and permanent exhibits of contemporary Israeli art, French Modernist and other collections.
These are just some of the tourist spots that you can visit in Israel. Just rent a car in Israel, put these on your itineraries and you’re all set onto having the best vacation trip ever!
There is a spider on the wall in the bathroom
It has to die
It has to die
It has to die
Its one of the big fat ones
Not like the daddy long lets under the sink I hold a truce with
It has to die
It has to die
It has to die
I feel like they’re all around me
It has to die
They’ll begin their assault at any second
It has to die
I’m too afraid to do anything else
It has to die
It has to die
Resolve
Put it in a glass cup
Knock it off the wall with the broom
The one you were going to use to sweep up its Raid soaked corpse
Put it in a glass cup
I do
The spider won’t crawl up the sides
It has to die
Resolve
Slide the cu across the floor
To the door
And fling it outside
With Raid close
Just incase
The spider seems angry
A leg breaks off
Dirt collects in the cup
A leg breaks off
It tries playing dead
Only to be forced to its feet again
My moving it along in the cup
Fling spider!
It is stuck
It is in pain
It has lost two legs
It seems
It has to die
Spray the Raid can once
Air
Twice
Air
Three times
All forcing it under the door jam with air
Spray Raid can fifth time on tinier spider
I see passing by
The one has got me so freaked out
It had to die!
Still just air, blowing it outside
Another time on the now six-legged spider
Struggling
Shake can
Spray
Chemicals
If it had a god
Did it pray to it?
If its life flashed before its eyes
Who did it see?
Who will it miss?
What were its dreams?
More struggling
Last spray
Chemicals, air and death.
It had to die
It had to die
It had to die
A number of distressing incidents against Jews have taken place, mostly in Europe, since the recent War in Gaza, which have been attacked as anti-Semitic. Some have also claimed that a rise in anti-Semitism is occurring. Although the incidents are troublesome, that they are anti-Semitic or that there is a rise in anti-Semitism is not clear.
Anti-Semitism is a prejudice, which is defined as an unfavorable attitude toward an entire group of people based upon an unessential trait and without full consideration. To unfavorably view Jews merely because they are Jews is anti-Semitism. To unfavorably view those Jews who support the actions of Israel in Gaza is not.
Surely there are anti-Semitic people. They have been prevalent, especially in Christian Europe, since ancient times. Although the prevalence of anti-Semitism since the end of the Second World War may have lessened, no one can be certain of that. With the rise of what is called politically correct speech, anti-Semites may merely have muted their views, and although it is likely that some of the people who took part in the recent incidents aimed at Jews have included anti-Semites, it is not obvious that all of them were. So those who call these incidents anti-Semitic are themselves exhibiting a prejudice.
The Jews of Israel make some astounding claims, the most often mentioned of which is that Israel has a right to exist—a claim which has no historical basis. Throughout history, many nations have come and gone, including the ancient nation of Israel. The Babylonians, the Persians, the Scythians, the Carthaginians, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Algonquians, the Seminoles, the American Confederacy, the USSR, Yugoslavia, even the Republic of Texas—all gone! None had a right to exist; why should modern Israel have that right?
And although I can't be certain of this, my anecdotal evidence seems to show that the force of Jewish appeals to the holocaust is diminishing. The holocaust was a horrific event to which no people should have been subjected. But most people alive today don't even what the word refers to. Most of those who do, only know it through pictures in books or on the walls of holocaust museums. The pictures of those who died in Gaza recently are much more vivid. And to the dead, it makes no difference whether they died by Zyklon B, missiles, bombs, or bullets.
On Sunday, January 18, the Dallas Morning News published an opinion piece written by Rod Dreher titled, "A fresh lesson on why Israel is so necessary." It itself is a hate piece.
Mr. Dreher writes, "those who believe that the Jewish state should tolerate rockets launched from a fanatical neighboring theocracy that openly seeks its destruction should ask themselves if they would expect any other nation to endure such a thing." Notice the loaded and false phrase, "fanatical neighboring theocracy." If I am not mistaken, Gaza is a democratic entity with a duly elected Hamas government. Is it fanatical? Perhaps! But are there no fanatical Israelis? What about those living in illegal West Bank settlements? But more importantly, Mr. Dreher should ask himself if he would expect any other nation to endure the displacement of its people and the confiscation of its land silently and peacefully. What would Mr. Dreher and other Texans do if the United Nations Security Council decided that what is now Texas really belongs to the Apache nation and gave it back. Would all Texans just say, okay, and pick up and peacefully move to Oklahoma? That's just dumb, Mr. Dreher; very dumb!
But the extreme fault of Mr. Dreher's piece is his biases. He writes, "a Jewish friend . . . was driving . . . when he noticed a truck in front of him. . . . One of the stickers on its bumper said, 'Obliterate Israel' along side a mushroom cloud." Because this event took place in Austin which Mr. Dreher calls "ultra-liberal," he blames this "anti-Semitism" on "Muslims and the leftist fringe." How could he know that? Has he spoken to all of the people who have participated in anti-Israeli demonstrations? How does he know that the driver of the truck, a "shining red pickup" isn't really a dyed in the wool Texan Redneck? Texan Rednecks love to drive shiny red pickup trucks, often with gun mounts in their rear windows, and Texas if full of them. Mr. Dreher, a conservative journalist, dislikes liberals, all of them, regardless of why they hold that point of view. He is also a Christian who dislikes Muslims—all of them! I suspect that he also believes that each and every one of them is "fanatical," but no one in the American Christian right is. Those look exactly like prejudices to me. So, before he call the kettle black, Mr. Dreher should scrub the black off his own pot, and remember, it was conservative Christians who inflicted the holocaust on the Jews, not Muslims or ultra-liberals.
There is no question that the Jews of Israel are in a difficult position, but so are the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and even Lebanon. But the Israelis have not done much to make things better and have done much to make things worse. And when the Israeli government, its supporters, and those like Mr. Dheher call anti-Israeli demonstrations anti-Semitic, they are merely scapegoating others for their own actions.
©2009 John Kozy, Jr.
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