Netanyahu’s War

Frankly, I don’t have much to say. I suppose I could take a victory lap for having been proven right. I have written for years that Israel’s refusal to honestly negotiate an end to the occupation would lead to this, the beginning of a new era in which Israel is in a constant state of war.  Because I don’t believe this war will end unless the occupation does, fully. And I don’t believe it will as long as the right and the religious nuts are in power in Israel.

No, there will be a cease-fire which will hold until, once again, the Palestinians decide that they can’t stand living in a prison and fight back. This is the future.
The Israel we grew up with is gone.

I wrote previously that Hamas initiated this round. But, after more thinking, I have concluded that is not really true. It is Israel which has kept Gaza under blockade since 2006 when it decided it would not accept the result of a free and fair election that put Hamas in power.

A blockade is an act of war and Israel has, by that definition, been at war with Gaza for almost a decade, a war it waged through its incessant punishment of innocent civilians. Did Netanyahu think Hamas would simply accept that forever?

At the same time, I believe Hamas demonstrated its own stupidity and immorality by attacking Israeli civilians. One, collective punishment is a war crime (international law should apply to both sides.)

And didn’t Hamas know how Netanyahu would respond?  Gaza’s children are being killed by decisions made by Netanyahu and Hamas. Yes, I attach more blame to Netanyahu because, frankly, I do not judge Israel by the same yardstick that I judge Hamas. But still Hamas is guilty too. And, let’s be clear, the only reason it has not yet succeeded in killing Israeli kids is because its missiles don’t reach its targets. Its goal is to kill.

And then there are the American Jewish organizations, which support everything the Israeli government does with no regard for what it means for Israel’s future or if it will have one. They are all fundraising like crazy now.

How else to maintain those $500,000 salaries for the heads of AIPAC, AJC, the ADL, the Federations, etc?  I’ve always believed that they would do fine even if Israel was eradicated (God forbid). The AJC and the ADL would demand respect for the memory of the State of Israel while AIPAC would work to defeat any Congressman who opposed the latest Israel Memorial Resolution. What a racket!

It’s all pretty sickening. But  I’m not taking sides, not between Netanyahu or Hamas. The only side I can possibly be on is of the children of Gaza who are being killed by the IDF. I can only pray (if I prayed) that none of those Hamas rockets kills any children of Israel. And that the IDF stops killing the children of Gaza.  As always, kids are paying the price for the barbarism of so-called leaders on both sides.  Or, to be more precise, war criminals.

In 1997, President Clinton told me that Yigal Amir was the only assassin he could think of who actually achieved his goal: destroying peace.  He may have destroyed Israel as well. 

Also here is my latest piece in The Nation on why I oppose BDS.