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UN General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto referred to Israel as an Apartheid state. Phyllis Bennis analyzes the significance of this...
mtippett
Vancouver, Canada
judyinjerusalem
Jerusalem, Israel
Emilio Lizardo
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
dunkelberg
United States
Uwe Paschen
Narita, Chiba, Japan
Alida Antonia Cornelius
Ohio River Valley, Louisville, United States
Anonymous users (2)
rahul
Caracas, Distrito Capital, Venezuela
Rhonda J Mangus
North Tonawanda, New York, United States
Karen Hatter
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
danesller0127
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
kate
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (35)
at 09:48 on December 29th, 2008
I agree that Israel has engaged in apartheid with it's inhumane treatment of the Palestinians.
at 09:55 on December 29th, 2008
I think it is grand time to call it what it is. South Africa's Current President has spoken the same words in his description of the Israeli Regime.
And Gaza is the modern Warsaw Ghetto. This has to stop just as much as other disasters around the World have to be doubt with and called what they are.
at 11:12 on December 29th, 2008
Please your only source is from a country seeped in hatred and despair: South Africa. And the temporary UN general assembly head a known Jew hater and communist priest. You just gotta do better for this to be taken seriously.
BTW, the Warsaw Ghetto was a forced march of Jews into a closed neighborhood. No one forced the Gaza residents to go anywhere. Not an honest comparison. You know it too. Let's play fair here.
at 11:23 on December 29th, 2008
Israel just blockaded them and cut Palestine in two.
It is honest and sad at the same time. I wish Israel could see it self with honesty and clarity.
This is against a Government and a form of politics Tikun, not against a people or their Faith.
at 11:29 on December 29th, 2008
gaza and the west bank were divided long before israel was invovled. egypt controlled gaza and jordan the west bank. get your facts straight.
at 11:43 on December 29th, 2008
I do have the facts strait mindanarchist, the two are still cut in two by Israel and can not freely cross over nor communicate or exchange trade with one another because they are cut in two by Israel.
at 11:36 on December 29th, 2008
Israel has not cut Palestine in two. It never was connected, Paschen. Please look at a map. At NO time has Gaza ever been connected to the rest of the West Bank or Israel. It was and is a strip of narrow land that Egypt owned and the people are in truth Egyptian not even "Palestinian". No one before 1967 ever called themselves Palestinian in Gaza. This was a brilliant creation and spin by Arafat. You got to really see the history of this area in order to understand fact from fiction. i grant you it is not easy considering all the nonsense that has been spread as historical facts.
at 11:43 on December 29th, 2008
Okay, let me clarify this once more, cut in two meaning that it was always rather difficult for Palestinian to go from one to the other due to the fact they had to go through Israel and Israel has used this unfortunate geographic and political set up to the detriment and frustration of Palestinian in both areas. So there for cut in two.
at 11:40 on December 29th, 2008
Are we to assume the chap in this photo taken today in London is an anti-semite too?
Also the BBC reports, "...at the protest was Rabbi Chaim Blayer, 22, from Stamford Hill in north-east London...He said he was there to protest on behalf of "our Palestinian brothers" and also to protest against the state of Israel...He told the BBC: "There should be a whole state of Palestine. My community feels very shocked at what's going on..." Perhaps his community is anti-semitic? BTW, the Warsaw Ghetto was already a Jewish ghetto, into which the nazis force-marched even more. Do some research please.
at 12:53 on December 29th, 2008
poor oligarch come out of hiding if you really want to have a conversation otherwise its over.
at 10:23 on December 29th, 2008
- these anti-Semites' claims are outrageous and extremely biased. It's not only a sham but a shame that these idiots have any voice at all in the UN, which is historically -anti-democracy, anti-American and anti-Israeli.
Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told reporters Monday, while "Hamas is looking for children to kill."
"Hamas is targeting deliberately kindergartens and schools and citizens and civilians because this is according to their values. Our values are completely different. We are trying to target Hamas, which hides among civilians," Livni said.
In all Israel's history, I don't remember a war so pointless and irrational as the one begun by Hamas," Peres said in a statement, adding that "the people of Israel are united behind the IDF's operation."
"Hamas is bringing about a grave disaster to its own people. The firing of rockets against innocent civilians within our borders is a situation no other country would have tolerated," the president said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Majallie Whbee on Sunday criticized international media outlets who were not giving sufficient voice to Israel's take on the fighting in Gaza.
"Some of the foreign media are not getting the Israeli side into their reporting," Whbee told The Jerusalem Post. This means the international media have often failed to report on the pervasive Kassam attacks that preceded the [current] violence, he said.
"Instead of showing who these terrorists [Hamas] are and how Israeli children are hiding in bomb shelters afraid to leave," the media outlets are showing Hamas's side of the conflict, he said. He did not name the media organizations.
at 10:37 on December 29th, 2008
Once again, those defending Israeli apartheid and militarism hide behind the skirts of "anti-Semiticism".
Just as one could not speak out against the arrogance and stupidity of Boy George without being "unpatriotic", one cannot speak out against the cruelty, stupidity and electioneering by bombs, bullets and blood of the current Israeli government without being anti-Semetic.
It is a cheapening of efforts against true anti-Semitism, and a shameful one at that.
at 11:19 on December 29th, 2008
dunkelberg,
I am afraid you don't get it too. Calling Israel "aparthheid" is in fact a racist remark. Because according to the definition it just isn't true. Criticizing the Israeli government and policies are all fair game as far as I am concerned. What is problematic is the use of highly charged words such as the ones you stated above that reflects more on your emotional disturbance about Israeli actions than the truth. This action is against our enemy, Hams-Iran-Syria-Hezbullah axis. We have most of the Arab world behind it also. Ironic that the silence from most of the Muslim world is deafening . Something to ponder.
at 11:30 on December 29th, 2008
If you wish to keep to the strict definition of the South African policy, fine. However, as I am sure you know, "apartheid" has been adopted to include any formal, government-enforced separation of a people from full rights and privileges.
Shall we replace "apartheid" with simple discrimination, segretation, isolation, internment?
Does that make the policy less distasteful and more easily defended when speaking of the second-class, at best, citizens of Gaza? What would the Israeli word for "Jim Crow Laws"?
at 14:35 on December 29th, 2008
Really Dunk, thought you had more intelligence than to be a parrot. See how easy the words can be changed and still make total sense?
at 15:01 on December 29th, 2008
No, Ren
Perhaps you could give me an example?
In the meantime, you might want to review Code of Conduct.
at 15:04 on December 29th, 2008
Think you need to review it yourself. See your cut and paste often.
at 16:45 on December 29th, 2008
Code of Conduct
Sorry, René, I will not be drawn into trading personal attacks.
at 10:30 on December 29th, 2008
It could not be any plainer.
at 11:25 on December 29th, 2008
Personally, I'm more than a little tired of a nation which considers itself by definition superior to everybody else because they are the chosen ones and by virtue of that superiority can displace others from their homeland and treat them even worse than one would treat dogs ...
It's horrifying to me, and in my opinion it is one of the better reasons why humanity will probably be completely destroyed sooner rather than later ...
at 11:56 on December 29th, 2008
Emilio said,"Personally, I'm more than a little tired of a nation which considers itself by definition superior to everybody else because they are the chosen ones and by virtue of that superiority can displace others from their homeland and treat them even worse than one would treat dogs ..."
I think that the only one that should be tired is me with your old and tired rhetoric of the uppity Jews and their superiority. Sorry smacks of prejudice to me. Get a grip. We do not claim anything of the sort. This comes from white supremiscists and other anti-Semites.
at 12:49 on December 29th, 2008
Source: sourcewatch.org
at 12:56 on December 29th, 2008
Emilio this is one organizations use of Hasbara and their definition. Period.
at 14:42 on December 29th, 2008
Pesronsally, I'm extremely tired of the so-called religion and political system which considers itself by definition superior to everybody else because they are the chosen ones and by virtue of that superiority can displace others from their homeland and treat them even worse than one would treat dogs ... Speaking of Islam, are you? You know the one that vows to bring everyone to slavery to their god or else chop off their heads or bomb them to destruction. ie: Hamas, Iran, etc., etc.
This is much more horrifying to me, Emilio, than a country who is just defending it's right to live. Don't know why you consider anything a 'better reason for humanity to be destroyed'. sounds very suicidal to me.
And if you're gonna object, you obviously haven't been reading much news.
at 14:47 on December 29th, 2008
Code of Conduct
at 15:07 on December 29th, 2008
Tell us all why you think it is all right to say these things about Israel, but no one better criticize Palestine, Hamas, Iran, or the political system Islm?
at 15:19 on December 29th, 2008
Please, show me where I said that. Show me where anyone said that, or take back your baseless accusation.
at 15:42 on December 29th, 2008
First of all, Rene, if you are going to quote someone, then please do so accurately. So, here the text of my statement -
Source: my.nowpublic.com
If you want to bring religion into it, fine, but let's consider the religion of nationalism, and compare the behavior of mankind's first nations, say from 5000 BC, and the behavior of nations today.
The only progress I can see is that instead of hurling stones at each other, nations now hurl much more sophisticated weapons ( choose your particlar favorite ) ...
It is for this reason I suggest the human experiment has failed, and miserably so ...
Hope this helps.
at 00:21 on December 30th, 2008
you are the accusation. Can't you see that.
at 11:33 on December 29th, 2008
Why is it permissible for your moral objectivity that a Palestinian launch rockets daily into Israel, targeting children, the infirm and non-combatants, if no other reason than to "Drive back the Zionists?". Why is it that there has been no outcry when Palestinian militants come into our cities daily, killing innocent women and children? Why were you not crying when Samer Hammad killed my son? Why were you not outraged then? A teenage suicide bomber kills other children. You expect Israelis to sit by and allow our families to die, so that you don't have to deal with the fact that Hamas militants are shrouding themselves in the veil on Islam and attacking us from Hospitals, Schools, and Parks. If you do not believe me go to Jebaliya, Go to Gaza, Go to