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Keep it up, Ilhan Omar - Opinion

Neither Hamas nor a black day, but a glimmer of hope on Capitol Hill
Gideon Levy
Mar 07, 2019

▻https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-keep-it-up-ilhan-omar-1.6999623

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Maybe Mogadishu will turn out to be the source of hope. This war-torn city was the birthplace of the most promising U.S. congresswoman today.

Ilhan Omar is not only one of the first two female Muslim members of the House of Representatives, she may herald a dramatic change in that body. “Hamas has entered the House,” Roseanne Barr was quick to cry out; “A black day for Israel,” tweeted Donald Trump. Neither Hamas nor a black day, but a glimmer of hope on Capitol Hill.

Maybe, for the first time in history, someone will dare tell the truth to the American people, absorbing scathing accusations of anti-Semitism, without bowing her head. The chances of this happening aren’t great; the savage engine of the Jewish lobby and of Israel’s “friends” is already doing everything it can to trample her.

The president mentioned removing her from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Congress was set to pass a resolution, the second in one month, against uttering “anti-Semitic expressions,” specifically aimed at Omar’s statements.

>> We support you, Ilhan the heroine | Opinion

When will Americans and Europeans stop running scared every time someone screams “anti-Semitism”? Until when will Israel and the Jewish establishment succeed in exploiting (the existing) anti-Semitism as a shield against criticism? When will the world dare to distinguish between legitimate criticism of an illegitimate reality and anti-Semitism?

The gap between these two is great. There is anti-Semitism one must fight, and there is criticism of Israel and the Jewish establishment it is imperative to support. Manipulations exercised by the Israeli propaganda machine and the Jewish establishment have managed to make the two issues identical.

This is the greatest success of the Israeli government’s hasbara: Say one critical word about Israel and you’re labeled an anti-Semite. And labeled an anti-Semite, your fate is obvious. Omar has to break this cursed cycle. Is the young representative from Minnesota up for it? Can she withstand the power centers that have already mobilized against her in full force?

Maybe it’s important that she knows there are people in Israel crossing fingers for her?

Her success and that of her congressional colleagues, Rashida Tlaib from Michigan and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York, could be the first swallows that herald the coming of spring. This is the spring of freely expressing opinions about Israel in America. Cortez already asked this week why isn’t bigotry aimed at other groups condemned just like statements against Israel are.

>> As an American-Israeli, I am thrilled for the Palestinians and for Rashida Tlaib | Opinion

What, after all, has Omar said? That pro-Israel activists demand “allegiance to a foreign country”; that U.S. politicians support Israel because of money they receive from the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, and that “Israel hypnotized the world.” What is incorrect in these statements? Why is describing reality considered anti-Semitic?

Jews have immense power in the U.S., far beyond the relative size of their community, and the blind support given by their establishment to Israel raises legitimate questions regarding dual loyalty. Their power derives from their economic success, their organizational skills and the political pressure they exert. Omar dared to speak about this.
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Just imagine what Israelis and Jews would feel if Muslim Americans had the same political, economic and cultural power Jews have. Such power, above all the intoxication with power that has seized hold of the Jewish establishment, comes with a price. Omar and her colleagues are trying to collect on it.

Due to the Israel lobby, the U.S. does not know the truth about what is happening here. Congress members, senators and shapers of public opinion who are flown here ad nauseam see only Israeli victimhood and Palestinian terror, which apparently emerged out of nowhere. Islamists, Qassam rockets and incendiary balloons – not a word about occupation, expropriation, refugees and military tyranny. Questions such as where the money goes and whether it serves American interests are considered heresy. When talking about Israel one must not ask questions or raise doubts.

This cycle has to be broken as well. It’s not right and it’s not good for the Jews. Omar is now trying to introduce a new discourse to Congress and to public opinion. Thanks to her and her colleagues there is a chance for a change in America. From Israel we send her our wishes for success.

When will the world dare to distinguish between legitimate criticism of an illegitimate Israeli reality and anti-Semitism?

We should be saluting the Gaza Strip
The spirit of Gaza is unbroken by any siege and breathing life into the desperate and lost cause of the Palestinian struggle
Gideon Levy | Jul 15, 2018 2:28 AM Haaretz.com
▻https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-we-should-be-saluting-the-gaza-strip-1.6270636

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Were it not for the Gaza Strip, the occupation would have been long forgotten. Were it not for the Gaza Strip, Israel would have erased the Palestinian problem from its agenda and continued on blithely with its crimes and annexations, with its routine, as if 4 million people were not living under its heel. Were it not for the Gaza Strip, the world would also have forgotten. Most of it already has. This is why we must now salute the Gaza Strip — mainly the spirit of the Gaza Strip, the only one that is still breathing life into the desperate and lost cause of the Palestinian struggle for liberty.

The resolute struggle of the Gaza Strip should also spark admiration in Israel. The handful of people with a conscience who still remain here should give thanks to the unbroken spirit of the Gaza Strip. The spirit of the West Bank crumpled after the failure of the second intifada, as did the spirit of the Israeli peace camp — most of which shattered long ago. Only the spirit of the Gaza Strip stands steadfast in its struggle.

And so, anyone who does not want to forever live in an evil country must respect the embers that the young people of the Gaza Strip are still trying to stoke. Were it not for the kites, the fires, the Qassam rockets, the Palestinians would have entirely exited the awareness of everyone in Israel. Only the World Cup and the Eurovision Song Contest would hold any interest. Were it not for the blackened fields in the south, there would be a huge white flag fluttering not only over the Gaza Strip but over the entire Palestinian people. Seekers of justice, including in Israel, cannot wish for this kind of submission.

It’s difficult, even insolent, to write these words from tranquil and secure Tel Aviv, following one more sleepless and nightmarish night in the south, but all days and nights in the Gaza Strip are much more difficult due to Israel’s inhumane policy, supported by most of its citizens, including people who live in the south. They don’t deserve to shoulder the burden but every struggle exacts a price from innocent victims, who we wish do not become casualties. One should remember that only Palestinians are being killed. On Saturday, the 139th victim of Israeli fire along the border died. He was 20. On Friday a 15-year-old boy was killed. The Gaza Strip is paying the full price in blood. This doesn’t cause it to desist. That is its spirit. One cannot but admire it.

The spirit of the Gaza Strip is unbroken by any siege. The evil ones in Jerusalem shut down the Kerem Shalom border crossing, and Gaza shoots. The malicious ones in the Kirya government complex in Tel Aviv prevent young people from receiving medical treatment in the West Bank in order to save their legs from being amputated.

For years they have been preventing cancer patients, including women and children, from receiving lifesaving treatment. Only 54 percent of requests to leave the Gaza Strip for medical reasons were approved last year, compared to 93 percent in 2012. That is wicked. One should read the letter written in June by 31 Israeli oncologists who called for a cessation of the abuse of Gaza women with cancer whose applications for exit permits take months to process, sealing their fates.

The 31 rockets fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip Friday night are a restrained response to this malice. They are no more than a muted reminder of the fate of the Gaza Strip, addressed to those who think that 2 million people can be treated like this for over 10 years while continuing as if nothing was happening.

The Gaza Strip has no choice. Nor does Hamas. Any attempt to pin the blame on the organization — which I only wish was more secular, more feminist and more democratic — is an evasion of responsibility. It wasn’t not Hamas that closed the Gaza Strip. Nor did the Gaza Strip’s inhabitants close themselves off. Israel (and Egypt) did it. Every hesitant attempt by Hamas to make some progress with Israel is immediately answered by automatic Israeli refusal. Nor is the world willing to talk with them, who knows why.

All that’s left are the kites, which might lead to another round of merciless bombing and shelling by Israel, that Israel of course does not want. But what choice does the Gaza Strip have? A white flag of surrender over its fences, like the one the Palestinians in the West bank raised? A dream of a green island off the coast of the Mediterranean, which Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz will build for them? The struggle is the only path remaining, a path that should be respected, even if you are an Israeli who might be its victim.

#GAZA

The death of guilt in Israel
By Gideon Levy | Jan. 11, 2018 | 12:59 PM
▻https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.834183

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Keshet TV’s morning program. It’s the usual mix of news, leisure and entertainment. A discussion about Gaza, with the usual panel – a retired army general and an expert in Middle Eastern affairs. Whenever they talk about Gaza they bring a reserve general and a Middle Eastern affairs expert, who is close to the defense establishment.

The message is always the same: strike, destroy and deter. Nothing about the siege that has been going on for almost 11 years. No siege. No context. The Palestinians were born to kill, and the Gazans to launch Qassam rockets. Apart from that, they have no interest in life. Moving on to the next topic.

They move on to talk about Ahed Tamimi. They make sure to preserve the holy balance: a leftist journalist next to a representative of the fascist Im Tirzu movement. And again, no context. Tamimi woke up one morning and went to slap soldiers. She doesn’t have a 15-year-old cousin who was shot in the head ­– at short range – an hour earlier, no soldiers who invaded her home.

Dr. Uzi Rabi, Middle Eastern affairs expert, confirms that her family is a “family of murderers,” repeating the libel uttered by Im Tirzu’s representative.

Rabi knows. He’s a Middle Eastern affairs expert. The Tamimi family consists of 5,000 people. All murderers. Rabi knows them. He visits Nabi Salah a lot. He met Bassam and Nuriman, Naji and Bushra, the awe-inspiring struggle leaders, and he knows. Trust Rabi. This is what they say in the defense establishment, and Rabi gives it the academic stamp of approval.

One can assume he’s never met the Tamimis or ever been to Nabi Salah. But he’s playing his role obediently, otherwise they won’t invite him to TV morning shows or to Institute for National Security Studies conferences.

I was in the leftist’s role. I commented that they didn’t mention the siege. The retired general, Yom-Tov Samia, rose defiantly and left the studio. He won’t sit with an Israel hater, he said. A few minutes earlier he had greeted me cordially. But now, with the cameras on and the Labor primaries perhaps on the threshold – he will be defense minister, so he declared – it’s better to walk out. Maybe it will be a news item.

He, of course, is an insignificant man, the general who conceived of the “pressure cooker” doctrine to destroy houses with the fugitives hiding inside them. But his behavior is emblematic. The self-declared candidate for the leadership of the left-center party won’t sit with an Israel hater who dared to broach the siege in Gaza. The hater also mentioned that Tamimi had a right to resist the occupation that barbarically shot her cousin in the head.

As far as the Israeli media and public opinion are concerned, there’s never any context, no cause and effect. Oh, how cozy and pleasant it is to be blind. This is what we have commentators for, to leave us in the comfortable darkness. For this we’ll have them on morning shows, before the cooking programs.

But there was also something encouraging about Samia’s performance. He got up and left because he’s involved, and that’s why he isn’t capable of hearing the truth about himself, a candidate for the International Court of Justice in The Hague. In his mind, he is a moral person (“I’ve done more for Gaza than you have,” said the former head of Southern Command). Such a state of mind can only be maintained by omitting the Israeli atrocities from one’s consciousness. This is the routine of the TV channels’ debates, and that’s why Samia was so agitated when someone mentioned things that are forbidden to mention.

Samia is a wonderful example of the Israeli psychological mechanism, which enables the horror to continue indefinitely, thanks to a systematic, unconscious omission of guilt. Any attempt to dispute this drives him out of his mind. He came to the studio to talk about deterrence, and suddenly – the siege. He came to talk about the female terrorist, and suddenly, she has a cousin left with half a head. What’s going on here? I’ve got to get out of here.

To Samia’s credit, his theatrical exit showed that something in him still lives, moves, rebels. He still feels guilty, that’s why he protested so dramatically. With the indifferent majority, everything is already dead. Guilt died here long ago.

Unarmed Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces at military post near Ramallah
Aug. 26, 2016 1:06 P.M. (Updated: Aug. 26, 2016 6:17 P.M.)
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?ID=772867

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — A reportedly unarmed Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces at a military post near the illegal Israeli Ofra settlement at the western entrance to the town of Silwad in northeastern Ramallah on Friday, contradicting earlier reports by Israeli media that he had opened fire at soldiers.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers stationed at a military post in Silwad identified a suspect on foot running toward them.

The Israeli soldiers “shot towards the suspect, resulting in his death,” the spokesperson said.

No injuries among Israeli soldiers were reported by the army.

Medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent who had arrived at the scene were reportedly prevented from accessing the site by Israeli forces.

Initial reports from Hebrew media, however, said the suspect had opened fire from inside a vehicle, and that a woman might have been inside the car with him.

According to reports, witnesses said that he was shot and critically injured while inside his vehicle, and was later pronounced dead.

When asked about the conflicting reports, and whether or not the suspect had been armed, the Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an the details of the incident were still being checked.

The suspect was later identified by local sources in the Ramallah area as 38-year-old Iyad Zakariya Hamed . He was married and a father of three.

Israeli news site Ynet quoted an anonymous Palestinian official as saying that Hamed suffered from mental illness and was not found to have any weapons on his person when searched, and no signs of gunfire were found on the guard post.

#Palestine_assassinée

AIPAC Is Destroying Israel, Not Safeguarding It
AIPAC corrupted Israel, teaching it that everything is permissible: The day AIPAC weakens, Israel will grow stronger, forced to stand on its own two feet and be more moral.

Gideon Levy (Washington DC) Mar 19, 2016

▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.709751

WASHINGTON – The enemies of Israel will gather here Sunday for their annual conference. Almost 20,000 people will flock to the city’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Almost all are Jews, and almost all are not friends of Israel, despite their organization’s name and pretensions.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee may be the organization that has caused the greatest damage to Israel. It corrupted Israel, taught it that everything is permissible to it. It made sure America would cover up and restrain itself over everything. That it would never demand anything in exchange. That Uncle Sam would pay – and keep mum. That the supply of intoxicating drugs would continue. America is the dealer, and AIPAC the pusher.
America’s second most powerful lobby, after the National Rifle Association, is considered pro-Israel. But it is pro an evil, aggressive, occupying, right-wing and nationalist Israel. With friends like these, Israel doesn’t need enemies in the United States. The day AIPAC weakens, Israel will grow stronger. It will be forced to stand on its own two feet and be more moral.
This is an annual parade of toadying to Israel. Only the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is a more embarrassing and ridiculous organization (there, they also put disabled IDF veterans on the dais to expose their stumps and beg for donations). And in an election year, this embarrassing toadying reaches its peak.
There’s no rational explanation for it. I’ve never met anyone who could provide a comprehensive explanation for the enormous and destructive power AIPAC has accumulated. I’ve never met anyone who could explain America’s blind, automatic policy toward Israel, for which AIPAC is to a large extent responsible, and which contradicts both America’s interests and its declared values.
A belated snowfall is expected to hit the city on Sunday. The cherry trees actually flowered early this year, and this isn’t the only contradiction. At the conference center, presidential candidates will vie over who can be more fawning.
This isn’t a good situation for Israel. Behind this fawning, which more and more Americans are beginning to try to get to the root of, hides suppressed thoughts that will eventually burst forth. Not all of those who fawn over Israel in the Senate and House of Representatives do so willingly. The fear of AIPAC silences them. It also silences the media. This can’t go on forever. It’s also liable to spark anti-Semitic sentiment.
An organization whose achievements include getting Congress to pass a resolution congratulating Israel on the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War can’t continue to congratulate Israel on the 50th anniversary of that cursed war without more Americans starting to ask why. They’re already beginning to ask where their money is going, and for what purpose. Why to Israel, of all places? Why so much for Israel?
After all, residents of the world’s most financially supported state, which is also the best at whining and playing the victim, live in a country that is ranked 11th in the UN’s World Happiness Report – four places above the country of its funders. Is Israel the neediest country in the world? After all, it’s also a military power, in a region where there are virtually no real armies left, so why should all that weaponry go to Israel, of all countries? And what does it do with it: bomb children in their sleep in Beit Lahia? Kill knife-wielding children of the same age at the Damascus Gate?
Conference participants will wallow in a great deal of self-satisfaction: Look how strong we are. Only Bernie Sanders dared not to come. And if he hadn’t been Jewish, he never would have dared. Qassam rockets, cherry tomatoes and the “gay-friendly” slogan will once again star here to the applause and tears of the masses, together with praise for the Mideast’s only democracy.
Very few will cast doubt on it, even though the cracks on its facade are already gaping and apartheid lies in its backyard. Look at Syria, the Israeli propagandists who will arrive here en masse from Ben-Gurion International Airport will say. And nobody will respond that America doesn’t fund Syria, that nobody says Syria is America’s greatest ally.
Therefore, thank you very much, dear brothers from AIPAC, for bringing us to this point. Without your efforts, we would be in a different and much better place today.

It’s Never Israel’s Fault: Two Gazan Children Are Dead and Their Story Goes Untold -
It’s not hard to imagine what would have happened had Hamas killed two Israeli children, brother and sister, with a Qassam.

Gideon Levy Mar 17, 2016

Haaretz.com
▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.709323

She was 6, he was 10, blood siblings. Did they die in their sleep? Did they wake up right before the missile struck their home?
Did they hear the plane and take fright before they died, perhaps attempt to flee? Was there any place to go? What did they do before going to bed on their last night alive? Did they dream of anything on their last night? Did they have any dreams? Israa and Yassin, girl and boy, sister and brother, between Friday and Saturday in the Gaza Strip.
Between Friday and Saturday in the Gaza Strip, 2:30 A.M., long-suffering and bombardment-weary Beit Lahia woke up in terror to the ill-boding sounds of a plane. My friend M. told me his children jumped from their beds in fright.
Israel was avenging the firing of four Qassam rockets into Israel hours earlier. The rockets landed in open areas and caused no damage. Between Friday and Saturday in the Gaza Strip, Israel Air Force planes struck four targets, “Hamas terror installations.”
The plane flew over Beit Lahia, and the pilot released the bombs. The hits were good. The screen in the plane did not show Yassin, dead, nor Israa, dying.

#Lebanon: Who was behind the first rockets fired into Israel?
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-who-was-behind-first-rockets-fired-israel

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A man holds a mock Qassam rocket during a rally organized by Lebanese and Palestinian supporters of the Islamist movement Hamas and the Islamic Group, Jamaa Islamiya in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza strip where Hamas is engaged in a major confrontation with the Israeli army on July 11, 2014 in the southern Lebanese city of Saida. (Photo: AFP-Mahmoud Zayyat) A man holds a mock Qassam rocket during a rally organized by Lebanese and Palestinian supporters of the Islamist movement Hamas and the Islamic Group, Jamaa Islamiya in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza strip where Hamas is engaged in a major confrontation with the Israeli army on July 11, 2014 in the southern Lebanese city of Saida. (Photo: AFP-Mahmoud Zayyat) (...)

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