Poll Shows Public Opinion Is Turning Against Israel

 

The charts above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between August 1st and 4th of a nationwide sample of 1,702 adults, with a 3.3 point margin of error.

Voters Split On Aid To Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, & Taiwan

 

The charts above reflect the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between November 11th and 14th of a nationwide sample of 1,272 registered voters, with a 3.1 point margin of error.

Israeli Major Says Palestinians Are Not Our Enemy

The following post (published in The New York Times) is by Nir Avishai Cohen ( a Major in the reserves of the Israeli Defense Forces):

I was in Austin, Texas, for work on Saturday when I received a call from my commander in the Israel Defense Forces to return to Israel and head to the front line. I didn’t hesitate. I knew that the citizens of my country were in real danger. My duty first and foremost is to join the fight against those who unleashed a massacre on my people. I boarded the first flight I found out of Austin to head home to join the I.D.F. reserves, where I serve as a brigade operations command officer.

During my long flight to Israel, my mind couldn’t rest. I was trying to write down my feelings and thoughts about everything happening — and everything that’s about to happen — in my beloved country.

Little by little, the dimensions of the horrors of the most brutal attack that Israelis have experienced since the establishment of the state were being revealed. Hundreds of Hamas terrorists slaughtered more than 1,200 people, including women, children and older people. About 150 citizens and soldiers have been taken captive. There’s nothing in the world that can justify the murder of hundreds of innocent people.

But I’d like to say one thing clearly, before I go to battle: There’s no such thing as “unavoidable.” This war could have been avoided, and no one did enough to prevent it. Israel did not do enough to make peace; we just conquered the Palestinian territories in the West Bank, expanded the illegal settlements and imposed a long-term siege on the Gaza Strip.

For 56 years Israel has been subjecting Palestinians to oppressive military rule. In my book “Love Israel, Support Palestine,” I wrote: “Israeli society has to ask itself very important questions about where and why the blood of its sons and daughters was spilled. A Messianic religious minority has dragged us into a muddy swamp, and we are following them as if it were the Piper from Hamelin.” When I wrote these words last year, I didn’t realize how deep in the mud we were, and how much more blood could be shed in so little time.

I am now going to defend my country against enemies who want to kill my people. Our enemies are the deadly terrorist organizations that are being controlled by Islamic extremists.

Palestinians aren’t the enemy. The millions of Palestinians who live right here next to us, between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan, are not our enemy. Just like the majority of Israelis want to live a calm, peaceful and dignified life, so do Palestinians. Israelis and Palestinians alike have been in the grip of a religious minority for decades. On both sides, the intractable positions of a small group has dragged us into violence. It doesn’t matter who is more cruel, or more ruthless. The ideology of both have fueled this conflict, leading to the death of too many innocent civilians.

As a major in the reserves, it is important to me to make it clear that in this already unstoppable new war, we cannot allow the massacre of innocent Israelis to result in the massacre of innocent Palestinians. Israel must remember that there are more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip. The vast majority of them are innocent. Israel must do everything in its power to avoid killing innocent people, and focus on destroying the militant army of Hamas.

This war, like others before it, will end sooner or later. I am not sure I will come back from it alive, but I do know that a minute after the war is over, both Israelis and Palestinians will have to reckon with the leaders who led them to this moment. We must wake up and not let the extremists rule. Palestinians and Israelis must denounce the extremists who are driven by religious fanaticism. The Israelis will have to oust National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and their far-right circle from power, and the Palestinians will have to oust the leadership of Hamas.

I try to look for shreds of hope. The Yom Kippur War, the most difficult war that Israel had known until this week, started by surprise in 1973. After a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt was finally signed in 1979, the border with Egypt — one that was once the site of the dead and wounded — became a border of peace.

Israelis must realize that there is no greater security asset than peace. The strongest army cannot protect the country the way peace does. This current war proves it once again. Israel has followed the path of war for too long.

At the end, after all of the dead Israelis and Palestinians are buried, after we have finished washing away the rivers of blood, the people who share a home in this land will have to understand that there is no other choice but to follow the path of peace. That is where true victory lies. 

Another Israeli - Palestinian War!

Another war has broken out between the Palestinians and the Israelis. It started this time when Palestinians fired over 2,000 rockets into Israel and hundreds of fighters attacked Israel. Israel responded by declaring war and attacking.

Most Americans will probably blame this war on the Palestinians. But Israel must share the blame.

How long were the Palestinians supposed to live under the oppression of Israel - having no medical care, no jobs, and no freedom? How long were they supposed to put up with Israel stealing their land for more illegal settlements. How long were they supposed to put up with Israel refusing to negotiate a real two-state solution?

It is time for this insanity to stop!

Israel has a right to exist without being attacked.

And the Palestinians have a right to their own country - one without Israeli oppression.

Both sides must now negotiate a real solution - a two-state solution.

Both sides are wrong, and it needs to stop. Enough is enough!

Israeli Police Disrupt Funeral Of Palestinian-American Journalist (Shireen Abu Akleh)

Shireen Abu Akleh, was a Palestinian journalist (and a U.S. citizen). She was killed a few days ago in Israel, even though she was wearing clothing that identified her as a reporter. On the 13th, her funeral was held, and sadly, Israeli police tried to stop the funeral procession. It was a shameful incident.

Here is how Ayman Mohyeldin describes what happened at MSNBC.com:

Thousands of mourners gathered in East Jerusalem Friday to pay their final respects to Palestinian American and veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh. Abu Akleh, one of Palestinians’ most beloved icons, was killed Wednesday while reporting on an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank. Abu Akleh was reporting from Jenin when, according to eyewitnesses, other journalists, the Al Jazeera Network and the Palestinian government, she was shot and killed by Israeli troops operating in there.

After initially blaming Palestinian militants and denying responsibility, Israeli authorities said they'd investigate the possibility that the shot that killed the journalist was fired by an Israeli soldier.

Like any funeral, the procession was expected to be somber, a moment for this beloved national figure to be buried with peace and dignity and expected to be a chance for a grieving people to collectively close the chapter on yet another Palestinian life cut shortby senseless violence in an occupation that shows no mercy in life or as they saw Friday, even after death.

Mourners gathered at her family’s house to escort her body through the Old City to Church of Ascension for prayers and then to her final resting place in a cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

Israeli police, however, had other intentions. As I have been told by colleagues close to the family, those police had communicated to the family that they did not want a public procession out of fear it would be a public disturbance. They did not want mourners to wave Palestinian flags or partake in any Palestinian chants.

Let that sink in. A nuclear-armed power, with one of the world’s most powerful militaries feared a flag-draped coffin. Israeli police wanted to deny Abu Akleh’s family and the public from publicly grieving the national icon and journalistic hero because they didn’t want her funeral to serve as a reminder of the national cause for liberation, dignity and independence.

When mourners poured out of the house carrying the flag draped coffin and began to chant, the police moved in to block the procession from advancing. Video shows police attacking mourners and pallbearers, beating them with batons, and at one point, almost causing pallbearers to drop the coffin.

Video released by the police to justify the attack shows one Palestinian throwing what appears to be a bottle in the direction of the police who were attacking the mourners.

This is what a dehumanizing occupation looks like. It deprives Palestinians even of their right to mourn, their right to express grief in whatever way brings them comfort and closure. This is what it means to be oppressed, to have one’s cultural expressions subject to the state’s approval and to be subject to violence from the state for breaking those rules. This is what it means to be mastered, to be subjugated, to be silenced by a state that shows its force with bullets, batons, bulldozers and bombs.

But this is not new. Israel has, for years, unofficially prohibited the expression of Palestinian identity and culture in occupied East Jerusalem out of fear that such public expressions could undermine its attempt to control the society and derail its plan to demographically alter Jerusalem’s ethnic composition and skew it in favor of the Jewish state. Israel’s wishful thinking is that by prohibiting symbols and expression of Palestinian identity and nationality, it can cause Palestinian character to be permanently ripped out of the city’s ancient fabric.

Imagine that same country, the one that is denying Palestinians a right to express themselves freely, conducting an investigation and promising to deliver justice to the family of the journalist the country itself is accused of killing.

Time and time again we have seen the Israeli military operate with impunity in the occupied Palestinian territories. No officers are held accountable. No justice is served.

Also, time and time again, American officials condemn Israeli abuses and call for investigationsinto them, but there is rarely, if ever, any justice for the killing of Palestinians, whether they are American or not.

Israel’s track record of violence against journalists in particular is equally horrendous. Abu Akleh is perhaps the most high-profile journalist to be killed there, but she is by no means the first. The Committee to Protect Journalists says an estimated 19 journalists have been killed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories since 1992. Many more have been attacked.

Reporters without Borders, which ranks Israel in the bottom half of its ranking for press freedom — 86 out of 180 countries — says: "Palestinian journalists are systematically subjected to violence as a result of their coverage of events in the West Bank."

A 2019 report by the United Nations Human Rights Council noted that “The commission found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot journalists intentionally despite seeing that they were clearly marked as such” during the 2018 protests along the border of the Gaza Strip and Israel. The reports list four particular individuals who were wearing helmets and flak jackets.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson at the time said, “Israel utterly rejects the biased and distorted kangaroo court 'report'” and called the U.N. Human Rights Council a “de facto accomplice of Hamas”.

However, the incidents — and narratives — surrounding Abu Akleh’s death and the actions by Israeli security forces during her funeral highlight the nature of this depraved occupation.

For now, the family will have to deal not only with the killing of their daughter but the dehumanization of their moment of profound grief in front of the world.

As we watched the horrific scenes during her funeral today, we’re reminded that even when mourning their dead, Palestinians can’t be Palestinian.

More Democrats Are Now Supporting Palestinian Rights

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to solving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis has been the overwhelming support for Israel (no matter what they do) among the U.S. population, and the dismissal of Palestinian rights. This has been true regardless of other political beliefs, with even Democrats solidly in the Israeli camp.

That is starting to change. With Israel continuing to steal Palestinian land to set up illegal settlements, Israel denying human rights to Palestinians (both in Israel and among the Gaza/West Bank Palestinians), and Israeli refusal to negotiate a true two-state solution, many Americans are moving to support the Palestinian cause. This is especially true of Democrats.

The following is part of an op-ed written by Medhi Hasan for MSNBC.com:

On Thursday, at 7 p.m. ET, Israel and Hamas began a “mutual and simultaneous” cease-fire after 11 straight days of airstrikes and rocket attacks. In Gaza, more than 230 people were killed. In Israel, 12 people lost their lives. As of now, that fragile calm is holding. . . .

In many ways, the latest Gaza violence was a carbon copy of the wars of 2008-2009, 2012 and 2014: the lopsided death toll; the horrific destruction of infrastructure; the global outrage and condemnation.

This time, though, there was one major difference. This time we watched as the Democratic Party, which now controls both the executive and legislative branches of the United States government, seemed to shift its position on Israel before our eyes.

Progressives, of course, have led the charge. Last week, members of “the squad” lined up on the House floor to denounce Israel’s actions in the occupied territories. . . .

The next day, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., penned a blistering op-ed in The New York Times, insisting the United States “no longer be apologists for the right-wing Netanyahu government and its undemocratic and racist behavior” and concluding with the words: “Palestinian lives matter.”

But it wasn’t only “the squad” or the Senate’s only self-declared socialist who took Israel to task. For the first time in my life, pro-Israel Democratic Party hawks in Congress publicly criticized the Netanyahu government’s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories — mildly and tentatively, yes, but criticism, nevertheless. . . .

So what happened? Well, for a start, former President Donald Trump’s embrace of the Netanyahu government happened. The Donald’s greenlighting of Israeli annexation and settlements, coupled with Bibi’s lavishing of praise on Trump and his alliance with "the Israeli Ku Klux Klan" at home, made support for Israel much more of a partisan issue. The Trump-Netanyahu axis effectively gave many Democrats permission to criticize Israel’s actions in ways they would have never dreamt of before.

Growing diversity in Congress helps: Nearly 1 in 4 members are people of color, compared to 1 in 10 just two decades ago. Do you think it’s a coincidence that some of the most critical voices of Israel right now are Black and brown Democrats in the House? More and more Black Democrats in particular, such as Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., are drawing a straight line between Black Lives Matter protestsagainst racial discrimination and police violence here in the United States and Palestinian protests against racial discrimination and police violence in the occupied territories.

The Democratic base has shifted too, moving to the left not just on taxes, health care and immigration. A Morning Consult poll released Wednesday found “Democrats and younger voters are more likely to back the Palestinian cause” than Israel’s. In March, long before the latest flare-up, a Gallup poll found “support for emphasizing pressure on Israel is also at a new high of 34 percent, with a majority of Democrats taking this position for the first time.”

Don’t get me wrong. There is still a long way to go before the United States government takes a more even-handed approach to Israel and the Palestinians. . . .

Yes, the Democratic Party continues to be dominated by PEP — “progressive except Palestine” — politicians, from the president on down. Nevertheless, as countless news stories have documented in recent days, the party’s stance is changing.

“The shift is dramatic; it's tectonic," veteran pollster John Zogby, who himself is Arab American, told the BBC, explaining how support for the Palestinians has become “a major wedge issue, particularly among Democrats, driven by nonwhite voters and younger voters, by progressives in general.”

So this particular political genie is now out of the bottle. No matter how hard supporters of Israel’s airstrikes or occupation might try, it isn’t going back in.

Is Israel Really A "Jewish And Democratic" Country?

The United States has supported Israel since it became a country -- both diplomatically and financially. And most Americans agree with that support being provided.

But things have changed in that country in recent years, and I doubt that most Americans understand that. It may be time to reassess some of that support.

Consider the following thought-provoking article in The Washington Post by Hagai El-Ad (the executive director of B'Tselem --  a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, combat any denial of the existence of such violations, and help to create a human rights culture in Israel.)

Most Jewish Israelis spend their time pretending that Gaza and its 2 million Palestinians have fallen off the face of the Earth. The besieged civilian population, the polluted water, the denial of exit permitseven for essential medical care — the endless ways in which Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are humiliated by Israel day in and day out — all are largely invisible to the Jewish half of the population living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Invisible, until once every few years the sirens and the rockets serve as a terrible awakening.

Similarly, Israel would prefer if Palestinian families slated for forced eviction in Sheikh Jarrah — a neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, in the one part of the West Bank that Israel bothered to formally annex — also remained invisible. That desire is reflected in official language: Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to this process of gradual, state-sanctioned cleansing of the neighborhood of Palestinians, to be replaced by Jewish families, as “a real estate dispute between private parties.” That “dispute” is based on racist legislation (1950 and 1970 laws passed under “left wing” Labor governments) that allows Jews, but not Palestinians, to make ownership claims for property predating 1948. Palestinian activists this month succeeded in making sure that these abuses cannot be ignored.

Another fact that tends to be invisible: Palestinian homes are demolished because they are built without permits — in a system designed to deny Palestinians the ability to get those. Or this one: Palestinians are killed with impunity by Israeli security forces — in a system designed almost never to hold anyone accountable. Or the fact that settler organizations are moving into “mixed” cities within Israel proper — the very cities from which most Palestinians were made refugees 73 years ago and not allowed to return to — in a system designed to further Judaize this land.

These are but a few fragments of reality in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Apartheid is the organizing principle that connects all these forms of colonization and transfer, disenfranchisement and oppression, domination and supremacy. Palestinians can be second-class citizens, “permanent residents,” occupied subjects or refugees. The details vary, but the pattern is the same: All Palestinians living under Israeli rule are treated as inferior in rights and status to Jews who live in the same area. . . .

For decades, Israel managed to fence itself off from its supposedly separate and temporary occupation project. Many Palestinians have long seen right through it and called this regime of ethnic domination by its proper name. This diagnosis of apartheid is accurate not only because the occupation is inseparable from Israel (who, exactly, is running the military regime in the occupied territories?) but because policies of domination and supremacy of one group (Jews) over the other (Palestinians) are at the core of shaping reality between the river and the sea.

In this context, eruptions of violence — especially those, like this month’s, sufficiently horrific to break into the global news cycle — are not a bug but a feature of this system. State violence is a permanent tool for dispossession and control, demographic re-engineering and “deterrence.” The specific amount of violence applied is always changing, the fear it dictates never absent.

And so, repeatedly, when one or more of these fragments rises, there is surprise, people are aghast at the violence, and efforts are undertaken to restore what is misleadingly called “the status quo.” But that never means the violence has truly ended. It means only that Israel’s violence against Palestinians has once again been made invisible — that once again, tension has been made absent (for some), with injustice omnipresent (for the rest).

It is a commonly accepted falsehood that Israel is a “Jewish and democratic” state. In fact, it is neither: It is a binational, inherently undemocratic entity governed through an apartheid regime. The fragmentation of Palestinians may serve to obfuscate the truth, but how can a reality of demographic parity — some 7 million Jews, some 7 million Palestinians — be considered only “Jewish”? And when most of those Palestinians are kept disenfranchised, how can it be considered “democratic”?

U.S. foreign policy has for decades been enabling, underwriting and shielding this regime from meaningful consequences. Not only through direct aid to Israel, but also through repeated U.S. vetoes at the United Nations Security Council and the propagation of the seemingly endless “peace process” illusion — instead of prioritizing the protection and realization of the human rights that are violated every single day. Israeli impunity comes with a large “Made in the USA” label, for Washington is where it is manufactured.

Trump Mideast "Peace Plan" Is Dead On Arrival

(Cartoon image is by Gary Huck at huckkonopackicartoons.com.)

After assuming office, Donald Trump bragged that he would come up with a plan that would solve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. He put his son-in-law Jared Kushner in charge of developing that plan, in spite of the fact that Kushner had no foreign policy experience or expertise.

Most people looked at the Trump administration's love for Israel and hatred for muslims (except for rich Saudis), and doubted they could find a solution in the Middle East. The doubters were right. For the last two years, Kushner met repeatedly with Israelis and did not have any meetings at all with Palestinian leaders.

It should be no surprise then that when the Trump "peace plan" was announced on Tuesday, it gave Israel everything it wanted -- including allowing Israel to annex all the land they had stolen from the Palestinians to build illegal settlements. The Palestinians would be given only limited sovereignty and a tiny piece of East Jerusalem as its capital.

The plan is abysmally unfair, and its no surprise that it was immediately rejected by Palestinian leaders. And it has a zero chance of actually solving the Palestinian crisis (or even making a tiny bit of progress toward that).

A Palestinian Tells Us The Truth About Gaza Protests

(This photo of Gaza protests, from the International Business Times, is by Bogdan Cristel / Reuters.)

The Israeli government and the Trump administration would like for you to believe that the Gaza protests are nothing more than an attempt by Hamas to vilify Israel -- and that Israel is not mistreating the Palestinian people living in Gaza. The truth is far different.

The following article is from Think Progress. It is an explanation by a resident of Gaza (Intimaa Alsdudi) of why the people of Gaza are really demonstrating.

 Zaheyya, 70 years old and tired after a long walk from Saladin Road to the “no-go” zone, looked among the huge crowd of protesters for a place to rest as she carried a Palestinian flag and her embroidered bag over her shoulder.

When I approached Zaheyya on Monday and asked if I could interview her to find out why she is participating in the Great Return March in spite of her age and sickness, she replied, “Shame on you, for asking me this question! I will come every day until U.N. Resolution 194 is implemented.”

The resolution Zaheyya recalled was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948, and it called for the return of all Palestinian refugees to their lands. It was never adopted by the U.N. Security Council, and so it was never enforced. But Palestinians have not forgotten.

“I am a refugee from Huliqat village that was ethnically cleansed in 1948 by the hands of the Haganah [the Zionist paramilitary organization] and I have the right to go back,” said Zaheyya. “This is our day to show Israel that the old will die, but the young will never forget… Yes, I will join my people and shout with all my strength, move on people, go back to your homeland, the land is waiting for you.”

It was inspiring, but then Zaheyya started shouting something else. “Tear gas, gas, gas! Run people, run!”

Tear gas cans began rolling between us and the crowds. Everyone ran from the area, while Israeli snipers on top of the hills and watchtowers started shooting randomly at the people protesting.  At one point, I lost sight of my mom. I could not see her, because there was dark smoke everywhere. Do you know what that feels like? To not know if your mother is okay as snipers are shooting at you and everyone around you?

It took me half an hour to find her again — when the air cleared out from the tear gas bombs. After we did, my mom, as always, hugged me. “Calm down. I am okay,” she said. We started laughing and cursing the snipers.

Monday was hard, and it was heartbreaking. After a long day, I found out that my brother Mustafa, who is 29 years old, was shot. He was lucky, the bullet that penetrated his leg was not explosive.

At least 62 people were killed that day, and nearly 3,200 wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. Those injured included journalists, medics, and dozens of women.

Since then, all of the victims have been painted in the international media as martyrs for Hamas. All the protesters – me, my family, Zaheyya, thousands of others like us – have had our demands warped and our voices silenced by others for political purposes.

So let me be clear with you. Gaza is the biggest open-air prison on earth. Nearly two million people are denied the basic freedom of movement. Ninety-seven percent of the water here is undrinkable. The unemployment rate is 44 percent.

We have said over and over again that the right of return is the solution to all of our miserable problems. That is why we protested on Monday. That is why we have been protesting since March 30. Two-thirds of Palestinians in Gaza are refugees from lands stolen by Israel in 1948.

The Great Return March is the first time in my life that I have seen a huge number of people uniting and calling for right of return. It is the decision of ordinary Palestinians in Gaza, and it is the call for everyone who is concerned about humanity. There is only one flag that has been rising up in the marches, carried by kids, the elderly, journalists, nurses, doctors, and teachers. It is Palestine’s.

Issam, a 15 year-old boy from Khan-Younis, was injured with a tear gas canister that was dropped on his head on Monday. He rejoined the march the next day, while his head was still bandaged.

Asked whether he is already healed or still in pain he replied, “I am in pain, but I cannot leave my friends alone today, and we will fly our kites. We spent last night preparing it. We wrote on it: ‘Palestine, we are coming back.’” These are the kites that children fly near the buffer zone, the ones that have been deemed strategic threats by Israel and used as excuses to shoot children.

Last week, my 11-year-old brother Mohammed decided to take his bird to set him free at the buffer zone. He wanted his bird to cross the fence, even when he couldn’t.

U.S. Middle East Policy Is Misguided - Unlikely To Change

The holocaust against Jews during World War II was a driving factor in this country's backing of the creation of a homeland for the Jews in what is modern-day Israel. And the United States has continued to be a good friend to Israel -- supporting its right to exist with both cash and military aid.

But that was a while back, and things have changed. Instead of just struggling to survive, Israel has now become the bully of the region -- and instead of negotiating a two-state solution in Palestine, it has imprisoned the people of Gaza and the West Bank in their own huge concentration camp. They are trying to starve these people into subjugation as they steal more of their land for Israeli settlements every year. The nations of the West (including the United States) have condemned this subjugation and land theft, but Israel ignores that and continues down its brutal path.

In a just world, the United States (and other Western nations) would take action to force Israel to stop its land theft and aggression toward the Palestinian people, but they are afraid of being seen as anti-Israel (as the specter of the holocaust that happened more than half a century ago still looms large). The chart above (from information in a survey by the Pew Research Center) illustrates why the United States won't change to a fairer Middle East policy, as all segments of U.S society still have a far greater sympathy with Israel than with the Palestinian people (who are the real victims in the current situation).

The United States needs to change its policy toward the Middle East if there is to be any solution to the killing and oppression there -- but that would require some political courage, which neither of our major political parties seems to have.

Former congressman Dennis J. Kucinich has written an excellent article regarding the latest violence in that part of the world, and I think it's a very good appraisal of the situation. Here is what he had to say:

Israel invades Gaza because it can. Gazans, in the face of an invasion, have no ability to strike back, while Israel strikes forward. Israel has total military superiority, an air force which can knock and then bomb, a navy which can shell Gazans from miles off shore, an army which can roll tanks into Gaza nonstop. Gazans have no army, navy, or air force with which to defend. Israel, as any nation, has a right to defend itself, but it confuses offense with defense. It is on the offensive in Gaza.

Israel, with its overwhelming military strength, is attacking and invading Gaza in violation of international and U.S. law. Its construction of settlements violates the Oslo agreement. Its Central Bank dries up the Gaza economy and blocks payments to Gazan civil servants. Its total control brings the Palestinians to utter subjection and total despair.

Israel can kill, injure, and humiliate Palestinians at will, with impunity, which is exactly what gave rise to Hamas and strengthens Hamas' hold in Gaza, even as the IDF advances. Israel will go door to door in Gaza in the hunt for Hamas, which comprises the government of the Palestinians and is therefore a necessary party to any peace talks. It is axiomatic that if you kill your partner for peace, you will have no partner for peace.

There will be no peace, for now, as Gaza is turned into an abattoir, to collectively punish Gazans for supporting Hamas. Israel, in its attempt to divide Hamas from the Gazans, will actually multiply Hamas' strength in Gaza and elsewhere. Israel may indeed find and kill Hamas officials. But it is not the current individuals who make up Hamas who constitute Israel's deep dilemma, which threatens its long term security. It is Israel's policies which gave rise to Hamas and which, if left unaltered, will spawn increased resistance no matter how many members of Hamas Israel is successful in apprehending or killing.

What is the end game? To cast Gazans to the sea, where they will be met by the Israeli Navy? To push Gazans into Egypt? To eject all Palestinians to... where? This is a question relevant not only to Israelis and Palestinians, but to the entire world.

There will be consequences for this invasion. The cycle of violence will widen. It will draw in friends of the Palestinians and it will affect Israel's allies. In the U.S., as our great friend presses the attack in Gaza, there will be increasing questions among the American people as to whether the $3 billion we give Israel annually is being used to defend our ally, or whether it is buying the U.S. billions of dollars worth of problems because of the manner in which our friend "defends" itself. Since the U.S. is helping to pay Israel's bills, we cannot avoid the consequences of paying the price for Israel's actions against the Palestinians.

This is why America must soon shift our role from giving tacit consent to an invasion to becoming an active partner in a new, honest search for peace in the Middle East.

Israel Seizes Ship Bound For Palestine

The picture above is of the Finnish-flagged ship, the Estelle. It sailed from Naples on October 7th. The ship had about 20 people of eight different nationalities aboard, and was carrying a cargo of medical supplies and construction materials (mostly cement). It was bound for the Gaza Strip in an effort to end the Israeli blockade and get needed supplies to the desperate Palestinian people.

The effort failed though, as the Israeli Navy once again violated international law. They seized the ship as it was 30 miles off the coast of Gaza. That means the ship was not in Israeli waters, but was instead still in international waters -- making the seizure nothing more than an illegal act of piracy. The Israeli government said there were no injuries among the Estelle's passengers (unlike last time when some were killed and injured by the Israeli Navy), and the ship had been taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

The Israeli's are trying to claim that they are just trying to defend themselves by preventing military materials from entering Palestinian lands. That is nonsense. If that was true, then the ship should have been allowed to continue to Gaza after being searched (since it had no arms or other military supplies). It should not have been seized and taken to Israel.

The truth is that the Israelis are trying to force the Palestinians into submission by denying them their basic needs, like food, medical supplies, and construction materials. The have been unable to suppress the Palestinian desire for their own country, free from Israeli control, so they are now trying to starve them into submission by denying them the basic commodities necessary for a minimally decent standard of living. This blockade of the Palestinian territories is an abominable crime against humanity, whose victims are innocent people (mostly women and children).

It is time for the United States (and other nations) to put their foot down, and demand that Israel stop the illegal blockade -- and also stop building new settlements on Palestinian land, and negotiate a two-state solution in good faith. Israeli actions have made it clear that they do not want to negotiate in good faith. They want to continue stealing Palestinian land suppress any dissent with their harsh blockade. Israel is in the wrong this time, and it is time for the international community to make that clear.

Israel Is The Obstruction To Peace

In the 1967 Arab/Israeli War the state of Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. The Sinai was returned to Egypt as a result of the peace agreement brokered by President Carter. Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 even though the move was condemned by the international community (and the land is still claimed by Syria).

But those are side issues. The real key to Mideast peace is what happens to the West Bank and Gaza. Most of the world, including the United States, thinks these two pieces of land (all of them) should form a Palestinian state. In fact, President Obama has just followed the lead of previous U.S. presidents and announced that this Palestinian state should be established using the borders in place before the 1967 war. This makes imminent sense and would be fair to both sides.

But the Israelis want no part of such an agreement. For many years now they have been establishing illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory and recently announced plans for more settlements to be built there. And even though these settlements have all been built in violation of international law, Israel has no intention of returning any of the land they have stolen to build the settlements. Netanyahu admitted this after his discussions with President Obama -- Israel will not go back to the 1967 borders and give up any of the illegal settlements.

This is the real obstruction to Mideast peace talks. Israel likes to claim that it is the Palestinians who are blocking negotiations by refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist. But most Palestinians do recognize that right and the rest have said they are willing to negotiate it (in return for a Palestinian state). The only thing that is beyond negotiation is the Israelis keeping the land they have stolen, and it is Israel who refuses to negotiate that (because they have no intention of giving any of it back).

There will be no peace talks for a while because Israel doesn't want any talks. They will not agree to any talks until they have finished stealing all the Palestinian land they think they can get away with -- and even then they will only agree to negotiate if they are assured they can keep the stolen land.

America has always been a supporter of Israel (probably because of a lingering guilt over actions not taken in World War II). But America needs to re-examine that support in the light of today's reality. Israel is no longer the victim. They are aggressors now -- who not only continue to steal Palestinian land, but keep the Palestinian territories as virtual ghettos where poverty and want are rampant.

It is time for the United States to act. The U.S. needs to cut off all foreign aid to Israel until it agrees to return to the peace table and negotiate with whatever representatives the Palestinians choose to represent them -- and the illegal settlements should be part of the negotiated settlement. Until the U.S. acts the Israeli's will just continue to delay and to steal more land.

Israel Wants Territory - Not Peace

Most Americans think the government of Israel would like to have peace with the Palestinians, and the only thing that prevents that from happening is the refusal of Palestinians to recognize the right of Israel to exist. That was true back in the mid-1960s, but that was a long time ago and things have radically changed.

The fact is that most Palestinians already recognize the right of Israel to exist, and the rest (like Hamas) have said they are willing to negotiate that with the idea of a two-state solution. It is not the Palestinians that are standing in the way of negotiating a fair and lasting peace -- it is the Israelis. For years the Israelis have been building settlements in the West Bank (and in East Jerusalem) -- land that was not a part of Israel originally, and should rightfully be a part of an independent Palestinian state.

The chart above shows just how extensive the Israeli settlements have become (each blue dot on the map represents an illegal Israeli settlement -- and they continue to build new settlements). The Isrealis know that most of the rest of the world consider the building of these settlements to be against international law. They just don't care, and they have no intention of giving up any of these settlements in a peace negotiation.

Even the United States government has asked the Israelis to stop building new settlements on Palestinian land. But the Israelis know the U.S. is not willing to back up that request with action, so they ignore it. The longer they can put any peace talks off, the more land they can steal. As the map shows, there are only small parts of the West Bank that doesn't have Israeli settlements (and they may well be planning to take most of that land in coming years).

And why should they negotiate a peace? No one is willing to force them to do it, and the longer they can put it off the more land they can take for their own (and to hell with international law). It is to the advantage of these land-grabbers to put off peace negotiations as long as possible.

Right after World War II the Israelis had legitimate moral authority to create the nation of Israel and defend it against anyone who would deny them the right to exist. But that is not the situation anymore. None of the Arab nations in the area pose a real threat to Israel anymore. They would all like to see a two-state solution and a real peace. Israel has the strongest and most modern military in that part of the world, with the latest in military technology. They even have nuclear weapons. They are far from the weak victim they once were.

In fact, they are now the bullies. They have bottled the Palestinians up in what can only generously be called ghettos, and they are systematically stealing their land. And they get away with it by continuing to play the "victim" card. And most Americans are still buying that false and tired old argument.

Even many progressives still believe the Israeli victimhood argument. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who I normally agree with on most issues, can't seem to fathom the truth about Israel. He remarked the other night that there are no Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. That's ridiculous. Does he really believe there are no Israeli soldiers defending all the settlements shown on the map above (and the highways connecting those settlements)? Of course there are Israeli soldiers in the West Bank (and East Jerusalem) -- hundreds of them, and they have no intention of withdrawing them (or dismantling the settlements).

It is time for the American government (and the American people) to adjust their thinking to reflect the realities of the 21st century. Israel is no longer a victim, and they should be forced to the negotiating table (and made to stop building the illegal settlements).

Does Israel Want Peace ?

The United States got Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas together this last week in an effort to get Mideast peace talks going again. Newspaper and TV reports hailed it as some kind of breakthrough, but was it? Has any kind of progress been made to establishing a real peace? In a word, no.

The only road to peace in the Mideast would be the establishment of a Palestinian state -- a separate state that would be ruled by Palestinians and not the Israeli government. As of yet, the Israeli government has not shown it is willing to accept such an arrangement. In fact, that would require Israel to give up possession of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The problem with that is that Israel is continuing to build new settlements in the West Bank -- settlements they will not be willing to give up to achieve a lasting peace. While the building goes on a temporary moratorium was placed on approving new projects, but at the end of this month that moratorium expires and Netanyahu has said he will not renew it. That means new settlements will again be approved for the West Bank in less than a month.

This one issue makes it clear that Israel does not want peace. It is in the process of stealing Palestinian land (with every new settlement built) and it has no plans to ever return that land to the Palestinians. The longer it can delay real peace talks, the more land it can steal. They are gambling that the United States will not cut monetary and military aid, even though the U.S. government opposes the new settlements.

Israel is happy to meet with Abbas and make a show of having talks, but they have no intention of participating in any real talks -- talks that could result in giving up land in the West Bank or control over Gaza and the West Bank. They want the world to believe that they must maintain the status quo to ensure their own existence, but that is not true.

The only real enemy Israel has in the Middle East is Iran -- an outlaw nation that not even the other muslim nations in the area support. The truth is that the existence of Israel is a false issue these days. Once the Palestinians have been taken care of with a state of their own (Gaza and the West Bank), the Arab nations in the area would have no trouble making peace with Israel. Even Hamas has said it is willing to negotiate a two-state solution (but they are unwilling to back down as long as the Israelis continue to steal Palestinian land).

Does Israel want peace? No. They have things just like they want them right now. It is time for the United States to get serious about putting pressure on Israel to get them to change their mind. That pressure should include the cutting off of all monetary and military aid. Not doing so would be tantamount to approving the Israeli mistreatment and enslavement of the Palestinian people and stealing of their land.

Schumer Is Only Liberal When It's Convenient

Israel has imposed and continued a blockade of supplies going to Gaza. They claim they are doing this to stop the infiltration of weapons into the Palestinian area, but that's just not true. If that's all they wanted to do they could check shipments into Gaza for weapons and let all shipments that don't contain weapons through. That's not what they are doing. They are also refusing to allow many food, medicines and building supplies into Gaza -- things that could not possibly be used as a weapon.

The truth is that this blockade is not for defensive purposes. The blockade is purely for political purposes. Israel is very unhappy that the Palestinians elected Hamas leaders to govern them (as was their right under democratic principles). Israel doesn't want to have to negotiate with Hamas, who will be much tougher in negotiations than some other Palestinians. That's one reason Israel has refused to return to the negotiating table. And it's the main reason for the blockade.

The blockade is an attempt to punish Gaza for electing leaders that Israel doesn't like and an attempt to starve them into submission (so they will do what Israel wants them to do). And although Israel denies it, the Palestinians are being starved (and denied basic medical care). The United Nations has declared this to be true and condemned Israel for it.

Sadly, one of the most famous liberals in the United States cannot see this. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) seems to think that Israel cannot do any wrong, especially against the Palestinians. When it comes to Israel, Schumer (pictures) just tosses his liberal principles right out of the window. Listen to what Schumer told the Orthodox Union last Wednesday:

"The Palestinian people still don't believe in the Jewish state, in a two state solution. . .The boycott of Gaza to me has another purpose -- obviously the first purpose is to prevent Hamas from getting weapons by which they will use to hurt Israel -- but the second is actually to show the Palestinians that when there's some moderation and cooperation, they can have an economic advancement. . .And to me, since the Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, while certainly there should be humanitarian aid and people not starving to death, to strangle them economically until they see that's not the way to go makes sense."

There is so much wrong with that statement. First, it is just not true that the Palestinians do not believe in a two state solution. A recent independent poll shows that 74% of Palestinians (and 78% of Israelis) believe in a two state solution and are willing to live peacefully beside the state of Israel. Schumer is just repeating a very old lie to justify his own view (and that of the Israeli government). Nearly as many Palestinians want a two state solution as Israelis.

Second, although he says he doesn't want any food or medical supplies (humanitarian aid) to be denied, the fact that he supports the blockade as a way to "strangle them economically" shows that is not true. Schumer has to be well aware that the United Nations agency in charge of helping the Palestinians says the blockade has created a humanitarian crises in Gaza and "about 70% of Gazans live on less than $1 a day, 75% rely on food aid (which is inadequate), and 60% have no daily access to water." This is indefensible.

Third, it is simply wrong for a country to try and starve another country, region or province into political submission (or a group of people within the country). It is morally wrong to use food, medical aid and other critical supplies as political weapons. I believe Israel has the right to self-defense, but neither it (nor any other country) has the right to starve people into submitting to any political idea.

Schumer would not think this was OK for any other country to do. Why then does he deny his own liberal principles when it comes to Israel? If this is morally correct for Israel to do, why wouldn't it be morally correct for any other country? Schumer's liberal credentials seem to only be in effect when they are convenient, and that's just not good enough.