There's a book on BARD, Rise and Kill First, which I have finally forced
myself to read because so many commentators with varying opinions about
Israel, have recommended it. It describes the history of how Israel's
targeted assassination program came to be, the program which our government
has adopted as its very own. The book is detailed and what it makes very
cleary, is how Israel's mentality came to be what it is today. Today, I'm
too tired to say much about it. I was up at 4 a.m. to have lazer eye surgery
to try to lower the pressure in my eye, to hold onto the bit of light
perception that remains. But if you have the time and inclination, it's an
informative book to read. And if I feel more energetic at some point, I'll
write more about it.
Miriam
Why Did CNN Fire a Pro-Palestinian Commentator?
By Cornel West, Guardian UK
06 December 18
No one gets closer to peace by silencing voices critical of a lethal status
quo. We need a candid debate about the grim catastrophe unfolding in Israel
Why is it so difficult, if not impossible, to have a candid debate about the
grim Israeli-Palestinian catastrophe that prevails in our midst? What stands
in the way of our capacity to grasp the undeniable need for justice for
Palestinians and the understandable fear of annihilation of the Jews in
Israel? Is the only option a desperate Palestinian counter-violent struggle
against the structural and military violence of the occupying Israeli state?
The recent firing of Marc Lamont Hill by CNN for calling for a free
Palestine once again opens up this Pandora's box - with little, if any, hope
left for a non-violent solution. Many supporters of the Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions (BDS) movement, such as Hill and myself, see this strategy as
a last-ditch effort to avoid more bloodshed. This is especially important in
the US context, as $3.1bn dollars of military aid currently goes to Israel
to support such an unjust and inhumane occupation.
Yet we must persevere and persist in our quest for free Palestinians and
secure Jews in Israel. We must put the rich humanity of Palestinians and
Jews in Israel center stage by highlighting their equal calls for respect,
fairness and accountability. First and foremost, this equality means a
wholesale stoppage of the silencing of honest and compassionate voices
critical of the lethal status quo.
Hill's courageous UN speech in honor of the International Day of Solidarity
with the Palestinian People was a gallant attempt to highlight the
horrendous suffering of and callous indifference to the Palestinian people.
Building on the heroic Palestinian tradition of critique and resistance -
best manifest in the words and life of Edward Said in the US context - Hill
unsettled the toxic status quo and received its knee-jerk response: he was
cast as an antisemite and promptly silenced from mainstream media. And for
Black critics of Israel, such attacks are especially dangerous given the
intimate and fraught history of Black-Jewish relations in the US and the
tremendous status that Black freedom fighters have around the world.
The climate of opinion is shifting against the impunity of Israel's
treatment of Palestinians. Needless to say, there will be some reckoning.
Lies and crimes do not triumph forever. The crucial challenge is how this
reckoning will - and must - minimize violence and xenophobic sentiments (be
they anti-Jewish or anti-Palestinian).
Hill - like Said - favors a secular, democratic state that respects Jewish
and Palestinian citizens equally. I also find this option morally desirable.
But is it feasible for two peoples who have such enmity toward one another?
Furthermore, the unique history of Jews in the world - from slavery in
Egypt, ghettos in medieval times, expulsions, pogroms, and the Holocaust in
the 20th century - warrants suspicion of any state shot through with harsh
enmity. Security for Jews is a non-negotiable reality in our Jew-hating
world - past, present and future. Yet there can be no Jewish security in an
Israeli state that occupies and dominates Palestinians.
The most controversial moment of Hill's bold address was his call for "a
free Palestine from the river to the sea". For most Zionists and many others
these last words were cast as anti-Jewish, signifying the destruction of the
Israeli state or even the genocide of the Jews. These gross
misunderstandings and misconstruals play upon the deep fears and memories of
vicious attacks and ugly assaults on Jewish people. These fears and memories
are part of the core of what it means to be Jewish, and must be respected.
Yet they must never be used as an excuse to ignore Palestinian suffering or
as a rationale for occupying Palestinian lands and people. This is precisely
what happened. Hill's words - though used by the PLO and Hamas - were not
intended to be either antisemitic or a call for genocide. On a personal
note, after knowing and working closely with him for over 20 years, I am
certain that these words were neither a dog whistle nor an explicit call for
genocide. Hill, like myself, is profoundly disturbed by the escalating
deplorable anti-Jewish words and actions around the world. This must be
vigorously opposed - be it in Pittsburgh, Paris, or the West Bank - but it
must not render invisible the misery of Palestinians under the rule of the
Jewish state.
The great paradox is that one of the great gifts of the Jewish people to the
world - the precious gift of a prophetic tradition from Moses and Amos to
Esther and, in recent times, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - puts justice for
all at the center of any vision of the world. Such justice requires respect,
fairness, and accountability of the people, for the people, and by the
people. When this priceless tradition is crushed by the greed of predatory
capitalism, the hatred that accompanies tribal nationalisms, and the
cowardly avarice of the US Empire, we get the prevailing Israeli-Palestinian
catastrophe. This massive disregard of innocent life, be it thousands of
Palestinians or hundreds of Jews, is a sign of moral decadence. And this
status quo - this house of cards - cannot stand.
The Israeli state will, like so many others, either continue along the path
of authoritarianism and xenophobia or it will embrace the dismantling of
occupation, give full citizenship to Palestinians in Israel, and provide
land justice in some form. Unlike Hill, I do not foresee a singular, secular
and democratic state for both peoples - though, like him, I think it would
be best if possible. But I do see a chance of free and secure Palestinians
and free and secure Israeli Jews with real self-respect and
self-determination guided by not only fears and painful memories but also
hopes and inspiring visions of justice for all in a Palestinian state and
Israeli state with genuine sovereignty in both. Neither Hill nor I have the
answer to this catastrophe but no one gets closer to a peaceful solution by
demonizing persons and silencing voices critical of a lethal status quo.
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