CBS poll on Israel and Iran

I wish there were historical data to put the results of this poll on US foreign policy into perspective. My hope is that the number of Americans who buy Israel's rosy view of itself is declining.

Excerpts - italics mine - full info is here

Forty-one percent of Americans call Israel an ally, including 58 percent of Republicans and 29 percent of Democrats. Thirty-four percent describe the nation as friendly but not an ally. Seven percent describe it as unfriendly, and five percent call it an enemy.

While thirty-eight percent say America gives the right amount of support to Israel, nearly one in three says the U.S. supports Israel too much. Seventeen percent - including 26 percent of Republicans - say the U.S. supports Israel too little.

Forty-two percent of Americans support the establishment of a Palestinian state that is recognized by the United Nations, while 34 percent are opposed to it; 22 percent aren't sure.

A majority of Americans - 55 percent - say the threat posed by Iran, which has been developing a nuclear capability, can be contained by diplomacy. Fifteen percent say the situation requires the United States to take military action now; 17 percent say Iran is not a threat. Republicans are more than twice as likely as Democrats to say Iran is a threat that requires military action.

Young Jewish Proud does their thing

settler tot says "go away you dog"

From all I've seen, read and heard, the settlement in Hebron is the showcase for the worst that settlers can do. A tiny colony of Israelis is maintained within a Palestinian city. A full and detailed account of the situation is provided by the Israeli NGO, B'Tselem.

This video, not from B'Tselem, but episode 64 of the series Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem, provides an intimate view. Reporter Ashira Ramadan, accompanied by a Palestinian resident of Hebron, comes across settler children playing in the street. In response to her attempt to be friendly, these 5 somethings insult her and one even wields a stick. The final cry of one of the children is "get out, you dog". Go to 11:45 to see the interaction with the children.

You also should meet Alfred Ginsberg, a settler, apparently from Brooklyn, who denounces "Hussein Obama" as a racist among other insults he doesn't hesitate to voice. Go to 20:10 for Mr. Ginsberg.

The entire video is worth watching.

act to offset the UNESCO cut

As you may know, the US is set to stop contributing to UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in a fit of anger at the absolutely harmless admission of Palestine to the group. This is yet another counterproductive act in the service of Israel. As an American, I'm going to do my small part to make up for this by donating to UNESCO myself. You can too.

thoughts at one year

I've been writing this blog for a year now. Do I have any readers? I haven't a clue. I write because I want a record of my position on what I believe to be the moral issue of our time, just as slavery was a moral issue in the 19th century.

I've come from a state of complete ignorance concerning Israel to one in which I have a good idea of what happens there on a daily basis. I've also greatly deepened my understanding of Israel's position within the region. Here are some thoughts

Israel is a colony, originally of Europeans

Israel is an ethnic-cleansing project

throwing indigenous people out to achieve ethnic purity is not democracy

Jews have a right, no more or less than anyone else, to live in Palestine

the holocaust did not come with a consolation prize - being wronged, no matter how deeply, doesn't entitle the wronged party to do wrong

the holocaust made Israel possible

collective guilt has in the past allowed Israel a pass that no other state would be allowed

the political/financial power of Zionists in the United States is the only thing that now allows Israel immunity to world opinion

the charge of anti-Semitism has been a powerful (but rapidly weakening) force in protecting Zionsim in the United States

the claim that Jewish Europeans are more closely related to the people who lived in Palestine than the Arabs who live there today is pure mythology

the claim that any Jew anywhere in the world is by right entitled to replace any Palestinian living in Palestine is one of the most outrageous claims ever made

Israel will one day be a state for both Jews and Arabs with equal rights. In other words, there is no possibility of two states

racism on the part of Jews in Israel and in the United States toward Arabs is common

the close association of the United States with Israel has been a disaster for the United States, bringing justified charges of hypocrisy and understandable attacks by those sympathetic to the Palestinians. The refusal of the U.S. to see this drives it steadily lower in world public opinion.

the U.S. Congress is a captive of Zionism and will remain so until there is campaign finance reform

HAMAS is the enemy of choice for Israel because it plays on the chessboard of violence at which Israel is a master. Abbas with his bid for statehood in the UN is the more terrible enemy because he plays on the chessboard of diplomacy where Israel's indefensible position is weakening daily.

They're Jews - how can they support us?

Mohammed El Kurd is a young Palestinian man in Sheikh Jarrah, the Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem that Israeli settlers which to see gone.

In this short video you can see the typical action taken - a home is entered and the people living there are evicted. Hate is an understandable reaction and Mohammed describes how he felt it. But what was he to make of other Israeli's, Jews, who came to support his family and hold the settlers at bay?

This blog is dedicated to Jews such as those who help the El Kurd family.

cracks in the wall are appearing

No, I don't mean the wall in the occupied territories that has been ruled illegal, I mean the wall of silence in the United States when it comes to questioning anything about Israel.

Washington Post writer Walter Pincus has just written a very good summary of the many ways the U.S. taxpayer is supporting Israel. This support is sacrosanct in Congress and is never brought up for review as is every other line item in the budget as legislators struggle to reduce the budget deficit and the national debt.

As Pincus says:

The question for the Obama administration, Congress and, in the end, perhaps the American public, is: Given present economic problems, should the United States supply the money to make up for reductions the Israelis are making in their own defense budget?

Take a look at the entire article, (you may have to register) which has been immediately denounced by one of the top Israel First Congressmen, Howard Berman. But such attacks are losing steam as Americans come to realize how badly they are being had by Israel.