Last night I nearly had an argument with my parents, in which I was almost accused, again, of hating Israel.

Why?

Because I don't consider Iran to be an existential thread upon me or my nation.

Why?

Iran has bigger problems, like a civil uprising that's barely being reported now a days - unless it's a foreign national caught in the local politics. The fact that Iran is surrounded by American (and other Western) troops, in Iraq and Afghanistan - Yesterday was Armistice Day and I didn't mention it, because it's not a day commemorated here. We didn't "exist" during the Great War or the Second World War and we have our own military memorial days.
Not to mention Pakistan which really does have nuclear capabilities and appears to have a happy trigger finger.

Ahmadinejad finds Israel, like many other Muslim and Arab nations, an easy Scapegoat - it's part of our Status as Jews, I suppose.

I asked my parental units if they thought Iran was a big cohesive homogeneous nation? The answer was "Yes".
I called Bullshit and they knew that what they had said was not true, but the argument of "Iranian Aggression" doesn't fly when all of the above in taken into account.

I sincerely hope that not everyone thinks Israel is a bunch of Avigdor Liberman's (our Foreign Minister) and Bibi Netanyahu's (our Prime Minister).
Iran is too used as a scapegoat in order to deflect from our own huge problems - like the fact that 1 in 4 Israelis lives in poverty. That public housing is denied to mixed families. That the Settlements are a criminal issue and not just a "National" one.
Just to mention a few of Israel's "Problems".

But that's all small potatoes when we, Israel, an allegedly nuclear nation the tiny nation surrounded by enemies (with whom we are thinking about "peace agreements"... sorta) is being threatened by a politically unstable, non-nuclear and already sanctioned country.

Yeah, I'm feeling safe with Big Brother in this oh so tolerant and enlightened Jewish-Democracy.

I'm so glad I don't need to go out and do things today.
It is miserable out there; thunder and lighting, all very very frightening.

Two things happened on yesterday's Israeli News circuit and I think it show cases the different treatment given to Jews and Palestinians.

The first thing I heard about is that Member of Knesset Mohammed Barakeh was going to be indited for assaulting a police officer during a demonstration in Bil'in.
I've been hearing about this possibility for three years now and I knew it would be just a matter of time.
I'm not keen on calling out unfair treatment, but the fact remains that witnesses have said that if Barakeh touched a police officer it was in defence, because friends... you do not want to get into it with Israeli police officers, especially not the Special Patrol Unit - basically the riot police - who have no qualms about picking people up and throwing them into a crowd - I speak as someone who cushioned someone's landing.

Point being, I've been trying to find more info about the story, because Dudes, inditing an MK for assault is no small thing.

The other News story is the arrest of one Yaakov "Jack" Teitel (an American Jew who immigrated to Israel and has been living in Shvut Rachel - a West Bank settelment - since 2000) who has been titled as The Jewish Terrorist, under his belt are, allegedly: the murder of two Palestinians (a Shepard and a taxi driver), rigging a package bomb that was aimed at and wounded a family of Messianic Jews, the attempted murder of Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell (prominent Left-Wing thinker) and for committing a series of warning attacks against the police at the times of the LGBTQ Pride Parades.

He has confessed to almost all the charges and said he came to Israel in 1997 to carry out attacks on Palestinians as revenge for the terrorist attacks and suicide bombings.

Yeah. ( Click for more )

I think Antisemitism is an issue that should not be taken lightly. I feel very strongly about the fact that the history of my people is that of persecution, internment, exile and extermination.
Growing up in a home in which Jewish identity is very connected to Zionism has made it very difficult for me to unpack the baggage of post-Holocaust trauma and the privilege of being a Jewish person, born and raised in Israel.
I have no choice but to be a Zionist¹, it's what brought my family here and it's what keeps them here and I wouldn't be who I am if it weren't for it.

Israel is an idea and an ideal and like most things which are idea and ideals they do not live up to the hype.
I've been over the hype for a while now and I'm not shy about busting people's happy shiny bubbles about the disaster that is Israeli policy both inside and outside it's ill-defined borders.

The Goldstone Report, the UN fact finding mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, a South-African Jewish man with a history of being good at what he does, has faced a barrage of undisguised Antisemitism for writing down, black on white, that Israel (and Hamas, as people conveniently forget) committed war crimes.

The mere fact that this accusation was brought about is enough for the reactionary monstrosity that is Israeli foreign propaganda known as Hasbara - literally meaning "explanation".

When I see stories like this: Finance Minister [Yuval Steinitz]: UN backing of Goldstone report is "anti-Semitic" it drives me 'round the fucking bend.
Because in the same paper you will see a story like this: Hungarian MP: Jews want to take over the world; and I have to wonder, have us Israeli Jews in fact forgotten what Antisemitism actually is and conflate with Zionism which is a National Ideology comparable to any other in it's myth building and telling of itself?
( Read Moar! )

This is long, but also important and I'm wondering if I should cross post this in some other blog or anti-oppression website.

Footnotes
(1)Ideologically speaking, I'm not a Zionist. At all. But I have to acknowledge the fact that Zionism has privileged me and my family and I wouldn't be who I am without that ideological push and existence.
Back to text.

It's been over a month since the shooting at the LGBT youth centre.

On Saturday night there was a march commemorating the dead. The same article in Hebrew were the only reports I could find about it.

As you can imagine, the police has not reported any suspect, no leads and after what I call the "Shiva" week, it was no longer part of the News cycle.
There were more and other murders going around this summer.

A lynch on the beach, someone killed a couple, a father killed his daughter... it's all very gruesome and that's what makes the Yellow News on the television.

According to a Newspaper poll Israelis feel more secure.
Seeing a title like that, my immediate assumption that this means the people living outside Israel proper feel less secure than ever. That is, that the average Palestinian doesn't feel personally secure.

I can hear the apoplexy already.

But fuck it, because if my "personal security" (which doesn't feel that great by the way) is enhanced because we're crushing the freedoms of others... that's not real security, that's walking around willingly blindfolded in the middle of the road.

In that poll it says that "Leftists were also revealed as more confident on the national front than rightists. Just 39% of rightists said they felt very secure, while 51% of those describing themselves as leftists said they felt thus".

I do not know who these Leftists are, because I don't think I've ever felt, since becoming politically aware and knowing why I'm secure in my home, less secure. Simply because the situation we're in is just not sustainable. The fact that haven't been any Nationalistically motivated crime in a while (even the Qassam rockets in the South haven't been that active) the violence that saturates my society is spilling over onto the News and thus into our conciousness even more.

But our conciousness is dissonant. Us Israelis are so used to danger coming from "Them" that crimes like the shooting at the LGBT youth centre was a surprise, that murders coming from families of known Mafia families, that rape and murder are on the front of the national News pages... we feel more secure, because Palestinians aren't shooting us or blowing themselves up.

So they can keep demonstrating against the Separation Fence and Wall and the IDF can shoot at both Foreign (same story, different News agency) and Domestic journalists who go to witness how the IDF protects Us from Them.
After all: 85% [of civilians are] saying they believed the army would be capable of protecting Israel if it were attacked.

*Thumbs up*

In my previous entry one of my most excellent and good friends asked, more seriously than not, to remind her why she lived here.

I ask myself that as well, but that line of questioning is really counter productive, because I was born here. I've never lived any where else and very likely no place I ever live will ever feel like home.
There is violence, crime and hate everywhere.
Possibly there is a difference in the societal framing of those human behaviours.

The systematic Othering that I feel is so insidious and invidious is stifling. The way the campaign I spoke about in my previous entry very simply and without much thought, casually disseminates the idea that not only are Jews better than non-Jews (the Goyim, the Gentiles), but that we must keep Jews from choosing a life that may or may not include the Judaism that Israel proclaims to be the true path.

I've been told, more than once by more than one person, that I'm narrow-minded. I find, more often than not, that I'm told this when I challenge the ideas that have been presented to me as default.
An argument usually comes to a stalemate when the person I'm arguing with says "I'm secure in the knowledge that I'm right!".
What a lovely thing to have, righteousness.
To never doubt or question, or to have been doubted or questioned.
The last time I felt that way was when I was serving my time in the IDF and when I came back to reserve duty in the same place... my doubts left me less equipped with the ability to deal with the fact that my actions were contributed, contributing, to the death of people (innocent and not).

I know I'm one of the good guys. I don't know how "nice" I can be about it any more.

There is much to blog about, as much happened over the week and weekend, none of them particularly good.

Ah well, such is the state of the State.

As most of you know, Israel presents itself as a Homeland and Nation-State to the Jewish people, all well and good in principle I suppose.
A problem exists though in the notion that Israel has any say about how Jews relate to the State of Israel, or if they were to consider it a Homeland of any kind.
A 2000 year Diaspora is not so easily diminished by the fact that the State exists for 61 years or that the ideal of a Nation came about around the same time as all the others... it was a Spring, if I'm not mistaken.

Let it not be said that Israel doesn't share the arrogance of its neighbours when it comes to upholding what is the correct way for Jews to be Jews, and telling them so.

This week a new campaign targeting Diaspora Jews who have been lost to assimilation was launched.
As can be read in the article linked, the campaign is in aid of MASA, which is a partnership between the Jewish Agency and the Israeli Government that helps bring young Diaspora Jews to Israel for academic programs and things like that.

The propaganda machine of what goes on in programs such as MASA and Birthright aside, the new campaign is by far worse than any I've ever seen.
The video of the ad linked here or viewable ( under the cut )

Now, the problem isn't the fact that this campaign exists, much to my annoyance, the problem is with the idea that Israel has basically created a campaign in which it calls people to tattle to this agency about Jewish people who aren't "Jewish" enough.
And when I say tattle, I mean that the number given in the ad isn't for curious Diaspora Jews to call and inquire, no-no, it is for us, Israeli Jews, to call that number and give the email, facebook, blog, phone-number of people we think are up to no good, like *gasp* not actually care or think about Israel that much, or *shock-horror-and-awe* date someone who isn't Jewish!

That's right! We, the true Children of Zion, must make sure our frivolous siblings in lands filled with temptation and free will and choice in how to be Jewish, know the true path of the Chosen People.

In the most fascist way possible.

Nothing says Homeland like Fatherland.

The ad, aimed at Israelis (hence the Hebrew) is supposed to invoke the feelings of sorrow and grief. The greyness and the music of flutes are themes found more often than not at our memorial ceremonies. Generally speaking, if there we are commemorating something of memorial it is going to be either for our Glorious Dead soldiers, or the victims of the Holocaust.

Israel needs the Diaspora.
It needs it mainly to have something to discount when it comes to Jewish identity.
As I said, the true Children of Zion (me), are the true Jews, all those others Out There, were not brave enough, strong enough in their Jewish conviction, or simply not truly Jewish, to come to Israel (Eretz Yisroel/Palestinah) and fight to create the state.
Or something ridiculous like that.

Surprise, Not all Jews appreciate this new campaign.
No! Really?! I'm so... unsurprised by this faux pas:

A day after mounting a scare-tactic campaign to prevent the assimilation of Diaspora Jews, the Prime Minister's Office and Jewish Agency received some 200 calls, most of them reporting names of Jews living abroad.

However, many callers also blasted the campaign - which describes assimilation as a "strategic national threat."
[...]
About 100 of the callers reported unmarried Jews aged 18-30 living in France, the United States and New Zealand. Callers also left their acquaintances' Facebook and Twitter names as well as email addresses so that MASA people could contact them.

The campaign also evoked many angry phone calls, some calling the campaign a "farce."

"Are we also supposed to report acquaintances who don't intend to have children?" one caller asked.

"We wanted to raise a public debate, even if it arouses argument and emotions," MASA's CEO Ayelet Shiloh-Tamir said Thursday.

Emphasis mine

A public debate.
Yeah, a-huh, right. Israelis, especially ad campaigns, always like "arousing argument and emotions" with the notion that this is what grabs attention and provokes response and any response, is a good response.
When utterly disregarding the fact that an ad campaign of this nature makes it legitimate to give out information about people who didn't give their consent to this, it's no longer "public debate".
It's the basic democratic idea that people can live their lives how they chose, so long as no harm comes to another person.

We're the only democracy... how? Exactly?

If you're interested, you should read No Silent Holocaust on IsraLeft.

*Claps Enthusiastically*

Look! See here!

There's a New US Plan calling for a Palestinian State.

A demilitarised state.

Oh, bravo! Well done! That's the ticket, because nothing says autonomy like a double standard (no, Israel will not be giving up it's planes, tanks, M-16's, cluster bombs or any other bomb).

I'm feeling the fair play here. The impression of justice and political self-actualisation.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss on Tuesday a new initiative which would see a demilitarized Palestinian state set within amended 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its shared capital with Israel, according to the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi.

The initiative, which was reportedly raised by past U.S. president Jimmy Carter, former secretary of state James Baker and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, would also have Palestinians concede on their demand for the right of return, in exchange for compensation.

Oh, did I not mention that this was the Egyptian government presuming to speak for the Palestinian Authority.
Ostensibly reiterating Israeli policy.

Yeah.

This is going to end well.

A-la the famous 300 scream by Gerard Butler, ya know.

Education minister: More combat soldiers needed, is the title of the article, the sub-title is:
"Sa'ar visits military recruit center, promises full cooperation between education system and IDF".

Jesus fucking Christ, are they kidding!?

Because we need the IDF to venture even further into the brain washing tactics of the Israeli Education System.
The system, from kindergarten to high school, is built to prepare us for the fact that we, good Israeli citizens (so long as we're not Palestinian identified, that is) that we will serve loyally in the IDF.

Over the past few years there has been a huge moral panic regarding the "shirkers", those who through means and ways get an exemption from IDF service and usually go on to do some kind of civilian oriented national service which should (though it isn't) be considered equal to military service.
Conciousness objectors who are 18 are rare. That's why they're the ones spoken about more often than not.
The largest section of the (Jewish) population that do not serve in the military are the Yeshivah (Haredi - the people in shtreimels and black suits all year round) Boys who due to religious conviction do not serve, this is the reason Orthodox girls (not Haredi)
Backfire, is putting it mildly.
Demographically, they are also the fastest growing Jewish sector.
I feel the urge to mock and laugh, but that doesn't do much good, because the people vilified by the witch hunt committed upon the "shirkers" are the ones who do not serve either for physical health reasons or mental health reasons.

Bluntly, these are the people that the IDF, the system, rejected. Still, they continue to persecute those deemed "lesser" because serving in the IDF is the way you are "made" into a Good Israeli.
A Good Israeli is a Loyal Soldier, willing to Die for Land and Nation.

Whatever.

The State created loopholes through which people can avoid the draft, legally. Then they get their panties into a twist that people use it.

The IDF is supposed to be a defensive army, obviously it acts as a police force over a civilian population and commits as many war crimes as any other army in the world while it continues to chant: "Most Ethical Army in the World".

During my two years of service I'd never received more than a cursory skim over what constitutes an illegal order or command. I know from friends who were in combat units that they first heard of an illegal order during boot camp like everyone else and never heard those words again.
The skim is in a little pamphlet new draftees get when entering the system, reagrding the behaviour of an IDF soldier.

In the article linked above, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar says:

"The Education Ministry regards with great significance the issue of encouraging IDF service, increasing recruits' rate and combat recruits' rate," the minister said.
[...]
"The education system welcomes a full collaboration with the IDF. I feel positively regarding the introduction of officers into schools."

Minister Sa'ar also stressed that "some of the parameters of the success of an educational establishment are matriculation eligibility, social values and dropout prevention. Military service is an important parameter. Schools in which dropout rates are low should allow a special effort for raising recruitment rates."

There you have it. Kids from low socio-economic backgrounds should be encouraged to follow a path in which they put their lives in danger for a state that would rather have cannon fodder than invest in the actual neighbourhoods.

Some of those kids may attain actual life skills that will grant them upwards social and economic mobility, but in the context of the Occupation and the destructive economy in which Capital and Capitol are more intertwined than ever, I find this a very discouraging development in what should be a civic establishment and not a pre-military education camp.

I still can't stop thinking about Saturday night.

I didn't know the people who were murdered, nor any of the wounded.

It was a youth group meeting, just a bunch of teenagers playing cards while one of the few adults they could trust was there to just... be there for them.

A friend I spoke to today feared this will just be the first of many incidences and I find that so heart breaking and it pisses me off, because I honestly thought that while things were crappy, it wasn't all full of shit.

I wasn't too keen on the anti-religious rhetoric that came out, mainly because I fear it will backfire and I honestly don't believe that all religious people are evil.

Reading this article though, makes me hope that something might actually be done to curb the power of religion in this country.
( Long quote, includes links )
I suggest you read the whole thing, that isn't even the worst.

But the more I read up on the language several Rabbis used, that religious Members of Knesset used over the years to denigrate and demean LBGT people:
Comparing us to bird flu.
That we're sick.
That we aren't legible to adopt and actually went so far as to push for legislation.
Saying that our "lifestyle" causes natural disasters - the famous earthquake comment.
That we undermine the entire Jewish religion.
That we are AIDS ridden.
That we are we are worse than beasts unfit for consumption.
That we have no souls.
That we corrupt children.
That we are the agents of autogenocide in Israeli society.

Bigotry, upon lies, based upon the twisted mindedness of religious people who have too much power and too much air-time.

Now it's our turn and fuck if we're going to be quiet.

On the 15th of May, Israeli News networks got this message:
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's party wants to ban Israeli Arabs from marking the anniversary of what they term "the Catastrophe" or Nakba, when in 1948 some 700,000 Arabs lost their homes in the war that led to the establishment of the state of Israel.

The ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party said it would propose legislation next week for a ban on the practice and a jail term of up to three years for violators.

"The draft law is intended to strengthen unity in the state of Israel and to ban marking Independence Day as a day of mourning," said party spokesman Tal Nahum.

Some, a tad, a bit, of sanity remains in the Knesset - Maybe.

Yeah...

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Clinton said:
"[President Obama] wants to see a stop to settlements _ not some settlements, not outposts, not 'natural growth' exceptions," Clinton said, referring in the last case to population growth on existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank from births and from allowances for adult offspring of settlers to buy homes near their parents.

"We think it is in the best interests (of the peace process) that settlement expansion cease," Clinton added

Israel's reply, you ask?
No! Screw You!

Since the 15th there have been many a demos against the anti-Nakba bill, though I find it distressing the mainstream is saying that the Palestinian-Israelis should shut up already.
It was of course a deliberate provocation to announce the bill of the 15th of May, which is the international Nakba commemoration day.
Just like the raid on New Profile activists happened on the eve Memorial Day.

I'm feeling the Democracy.

No doubt it will come knocking on our door before long.

I used to think Martin Niemoller poem was dated, too ominous to convey the reality that I live in.
Now, I don't think it's ever been more true:
In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then... they came for me... And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

I make no apologies for quoting this over used poem.

I've always been a bit of a floater when it came to Activism - it has to do that I haven't actually been politically active for that long - I've mainly been active at the Uni and participated in a few things in which I didn't particularly feel I needed to actually be affiliated.

Well, since the operation on Gaza and the marginalization of the Left in these here parts I've felt the need to find a place in which I could be active and have a firm support network.

This past Sunday a general meeting of Hadash - the Party I voted for if you recall - the agenda of which was the establishment of a New Left. Of course, it was more about the broadening of the message Hadash always spoke, but because they aren't "Zionist" have been marginalised.

Thank you human ingenuity for the Interwebs.

Anyway, Hadash (al-Jabha in Arabic) is an acronym for The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality. Like many Leftist organizations, fronts and movements, it is kind of taken for granted that women are included, that women have something to say.
And on Sunday, at the general meeting, every single one of the women who spoke to the large assembly of over 300 people, said that there is not enough women representation.

So this morning, the first meeting of what may turn into the Hadash Feminist Forum met up. It was really interesting, 'cause there were a few older Hadash members, including former (and legendary) MK Tamar Gozansky and a whole lot of newbies like Moi.

I won't get into the whole meeting as minutes were taken and I actually don't remember everything that was said.
I added my own 0.2 about queer women and their position in the Left and society as whole, because we kept talking about women of colour (Jewish and Arab), working class women, mothers etc.
I felt good about at least raising the issue

What really bugged me though, was when an Anarchist man ( had some things to say - cut for going off tangent )

It was a productive meeting and we've already arranged to meet other women's movements that are part of the Front and will most likely start getting things done for International Woman Day - 8th of March FYI.

I'm hoping to find an activism base here, because I'd really like to strengthen the parliamentarian Left in these coming months because of blow it took in these election.
Bibi is Prime Minister.
What is the Agnostic/Atheist cry for help and hope and despair?
Oh, the Humanity!

*rubs hands*
So, what do we have here on this fair morning, after yesterday's stormy and election day!

Here's the breakdown according to the latest exist polls according to Politico.co.il with yours truly interesting notes:
Kadima - 28 mandates (23% of the vote) - Meaning Livni, at this point is to be PM. On the one hand, hooray...? Woman PM. On the other hand... woman PM with a Right wing agenda who has a history of voting against woman and minority right bills. And is likely to only turn Left-ish because Bibi will be taking all the Right wing seats under his Wing.

Likud - 27 mandated (21%) - Meaning Netanyahu is not going to let Livni get a clear victory. That fucking ass.

Yisrael Beitenu - 15 mandates (12%) - Oh my holy fuck, we're doomed, whoever ends up being PM is going to have to give Lieberman, that maniac, an actual position!

Avodah - 13 mandates (10%) - this, the party of Ben-Gurion, Golda and Rabin... how the mighty have fallen. Well, seeing as those who were mighty in it no longer had any say, I can't say I'm too surprised.

Shas - 11 mandates (9%) - the reason we went into *cough*early*cough* elections. They wedged Livni's attempt at creating a coalition and I doubt they'll be making things easy this time around as well. But at least they lost a seat this! I'm claiming a small victory over that.

Yahadut Ha'Torah - 5 mandates (4%) - another Right Wing religion party... I'm feeling the representation here.

National Union - 4 mandates (3%) - a party of former Likud and National Religious members. The other parties just didn't seem to cut it... oy.

National Religious - 3 mandates (3%) - these are the ones who ostensibly represent the Settlers interests. Though seeing as the Right bloc is fucking huge... they have a much smaller count than before.

United Arab List - Ta'al - 4 mandates (3%) - same as in the 17th Knesset. Not much to say about them. Like most of the Arab MK's they made a lot of noise, but were mostly ignored.

The Party I voted for: Hadash - 4 mandates (3%) - Yeah Baby! Extra seat in the Knesset! I'm very glad that their word got out and actually got them in! This is the only joint Jewish-Arab Party, it doesn't do tokenism and actually passed laws that were of benefit to everyone, while trying to fight discrimination and (unofficial) segregation.

Meretz - 3 mandates (3%) - what a blow. Their inconsistent message really put a stick in their wheels. Not to mention that with only three mandates, the best feminist and woman MK won't be getting back in because some upshot from the New Movement (which I mentioned not too long ago) got her seat, which is third on the list.

Balad - 3 mandates (3%) - again, no change. This Arab nationalist party is also a big noise maker and is also ignored. Israeli Arabs really have very little say in Israeli politics.

That's all folks. There are still the Soldiers, Diplomats and other Double Sealed (ballots put into double envelopes because the voters couldn't get to their registered ballot box - not the same as absentee) votes that need to counted.
Hopefully the Left gets a little more leverage. But I doubt it.
I hope this was an interesting to you as it was to me.
Probably not.

Any questions pertaining to this little Middle Eastern Banana Republic Theocracy Ethnocracy Mockery okay, okay!
Middle Eastern Democracy.

As this is being written, an Israeli air strike and raid is and has been launched in Gaza... so far there are reports that dozens are dead and injured in Gaza.

Since the expiration of the Tehadiya (literaly the "calm"), that is the truce between Hamas and the IDF (despite the fact that Islamic Jihad continues to fire rockets throughout this period of time), the amount of rockets fired from Gaza has been on average of 50-70 a day, killing and injuring Israelis, and Palestinians (through "friendly" fire).

Practically every single media outlet, local and global, heralded reports that the Israeli government sanctioned a military operation that will put an end to the rockets being fired upon Israeli towns and kibbutzim surrounding Gaza (some of which can get as far as major south-coastal towns like Ashkelon).

I think one thing that seems to be omitted in the international media is that Israel hadn't made any moves to ease the siege over Gaza or renegotiate the release of Gilad Shalit, which really, it can be done.
Oh but Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, surely after that show of magnanimity Hamas should release Shalit.

I guess it all depends on your idea of what being magnanimous is, then. Personally, I think that fact that the released Palestinians were all sent to the West Bank (where the IDF and border police have more "hands on" authority) and none of them to Gaza - once again separating families, colleagues, allies etc. I dunno how much appreciation is going around.

The asymmetry of the attack, which officially has been on "Hamas Facilities", but has actually destroyed civilian infrastructure, is disturbing.

I've always felt and said, that the way the government treats Sderot and the other civilian "hot-spots" in the line of Qassam and morter fire has been to use them as a mask for National Strength and keep them victimised so that the Palestinians remain the eternal villains of this narrative.

The suffering of the people of Sderot and the other places is to be acknowledged whole heartedly.

However, the majority of people killed in the conflict between Hamas and Israel have been Palestinian civilians, mainly from the seige, which will not end any time soon.

Hamas reports 120 dead And the Ministry of Defece reports that the operations are over for now, but they are just the beginning: Report from Reuters via Ynet.

It's been a while since I've written something socio-political and not just person-political.

Where do I start from?

I'd like the begin at a place that won't have me tearing out my hair and spitting like a cat who just got its tail trod on.
But that will happen anyway.

For those of you who aren't in the loop for the what's been happening in the past week in the Palestinian portion of the Holy Land... in a nutshell it has been a cluster fuck!

Let us begin from the beginning of this particular incident.
In Hebron, there is a house.
The house belongs to the al-Rajabi family. It has been nick named the House of Peace (by the Settlers), a tragically ironic name... it is also known as the House of Contention (by the mainstream media and colloquially), which is some what more apt.
In November the Supreme High Court made the decision to evict the nine Settler families that have been living their quite illegally for some time.
One can guess what happened next.
Last week, the Settlers decided to protest this decision by going to the House and... well... settling - Israeli Settlers Create More Chaos in Hebron .
"Protest" is really a mild word for what's been going on.
PM Olmert has gone on record calling the bloody riots a Pogrom.
The media has taken the term and showed the way the Settlers thuggery is more the way gentiles historically treated Jews in Eastern Europe.
Pogrom is a very loaded word, I don't want to get into the history of it all, but to me it looks like the mainstream media is trying to appropriate the very the specific violence that these Settlers are turning towards the Palestinians, which is very different from the kind of violence that was turned unto the Jews in the Pale in the 1800'.
Though, what do you call people who consider themselves to be Masters of the Earth who shoot and throw stones at people who in their eyes aren't even human.
Floating signifier anyone?

I digress.
Point is.
The Settlers and the Extreme Right politics they physically bring into that area are so fucking disgusting I'm ashamed to be remotely related to these people, it took me over four days (in addition to real life stuff eating my time) to actually blog about this shit!

This photo really encapsulates how utterly twisted, deformed and generally delusional the entire Settler movement actually is: ( This photo contains racist and supremacist words and imagery... I'm sorry this actually exists )

The IDF's presence there is a huge complication.
The Settlers treat the soldiers like private security (which ostensibly they are) and at the same time go to Arab villages and fields - "putting themselves in danger" as it were, but seeing as they know they have the IDF behind them, they really have no problem just going into those areas and fucking with the local tribes.
So the IDF simultaneously has to protect the Settlers from the oh so dangerous Arabs, while also doing their best to maybe protect individual Palestinians villages.
When the IDF isn't shooting Palestinians themselves, that is - IDF soldier shoots bound Palestinian at short range. Or, in general assaulting people they perceive to be deserving of violence... one who is recording their violence - IDF probes soldier's alleged attack on Haaretz photographer in Hebron.
The title of this article is very innocuous, the actual writing really leaves no doubt as to the soldier attacking the photojournalist.

This week and weekend is just a bitter reminder as to what is going on there.
It's not crazy.
It's not an "extreme" incident.
It's not just a few bad apples.
Friends, the whole barrel of apples were picked from trees grown from bad seeds.
And really, I don't have much more than that to say.

Objectivism is the epistemological equivalent of "My eyes are closed you can't see me because I can't see you".
But I digress.

I went to the Randroid fan club on Wedensday night with the expectation that I'd be amused.
I wasn't.
I felt sorry for the guy (to be known from now on as [Ranroid!Boy]) who decided to open this "philosophical discussion club" and was didactidly lecturing (much like Rand did in her books) on the basics of Objectivist thought.
I found myself both bored and irritated when my attmpts at explaining the Linguistic Turn didn't go so well... or at all. [Randroid!Boy] was ignoring my terrible "relativist" ways.

The guy was insidiously benign. He told us he discovered Rand in his twenties! He must live a really sheltered life.
Nothing he was saying could actually be pin pointedly seen as bad.
He spoke about the "tennents of Objectivism", the whole man as a heroic figure and the not living for anyone else or asking anyone to live for me.
But rand didn't invent that, nor did she perfect anything, she merely made fascist aesthetics into uber-individualism and too the idea of Nietzsche's Übermensch and positioned it into her economic ideal of Capitalism.
Never mind that Randroids ignore the fact that there are life circumstances that create different life experiences and that you cannot remove them from your own identity.

[Randroid!Boy] didn't get into the supremacy idea, something that many Objectivists seem to forget. The belief that if I just do whatever is good for Me and that that is the best thing completley negates the liberty of other people.
It doesn't matter that you say "everyone else is free to do the same".
Because we are social animals, no matter how terribly we treat each other, there is a need for relationships and inter-relation.

The most ridiculous thing that was mentioned in this little fan club meeting: someone (not me) tried to make a point that not everyone is in a position to think about free will (which is imperative in Randian thought and probably the biggest hole in what is already a swiss cheese system of philosophy) and are able to only think about survival, like a starving child in Africa (actual example used, by the way... not say... a starving child in Gaza... we like to keep things academic). [Randroid!Boy] used that as an example to "prove" the argument as selfishness as an ideal, one does everything to save themselves first.
What?!
I was shocked.
I shouldn't have been.
But c'mon!
There are forces that create circumstances that lead to that child's starvation people!
What the hell is wrong with these people?!

Two actually funny things that kind of disproved [Randroid!Boy]'s entire standing of living an Objectivist life were these:
1) He asked peope not to be late.
Zing! You lose... how dare you impose your own time table on others! What, you expect them to do something for you!
2) He took into account people's abilities.
Zing! You lose again... what abilities are these? You are either a hero or you aren't. If you aren't you're not a human and are of no consequence, etc. etc. etc.
Logical Fallacy!
Error!
Error!
Arrrgh!

Anyway, I'll not be going back, of course. There were only 15 or so people and I know of one other person who will not be going back... hopefully this little club will wallow and die.

---

Oh artists and graphically astute people: would one of you be kind and generous enough to take the philosophical thought written below and icon-ise it with a an actual "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoon?

Calvinian-Hobbesianism: A relationship that is based on the knowledge that reality is a direct product of interaction with imagination.

Thank you in advance!

You know, for the purposes of this entry I was looking through online dictionaries trying to find a definition of Democracy that would help me make my point about the silencing of minority voices within society at large.
The closest was this - "The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community" - from Dictionary.com.

That sweet little exposition aside, let me state that we who live in Democracies (or at the very least, are members of the privileged class/race/religion to which Democracy applies) consider freedom of speech to be a staple in the tradition of the Vox Populi Vox Dei, which I'm always happy to quote.

However, when you live in a society which declares a specific ethos and/or social agenda to be the Only True Path, anything that shows an alternative, or even criticizes said ethos and/or social agenda, those who voice these alternatives and criticism are considered to be the Vox Diabolus (the voice of the devil, i.e. blasphemy).

Earlier today, Attorney General Menachem (Manny) Mazuz ordered the police to open a criminal investigation against the New Profile organization.
This organization which provides information regarding alternatives to Army service in the country - New Profile's Charter - is being accused of encouraging draft dodging and inciting dissent.

The low-grade media circus concerning so called "draft dodgers", is such that everytime I hear or read about it, I feel an apopletic fit coming on and my eyed do this - o_O.
The silencing of opposition voices is so anti-Democratic I can't help but feel that Israel's perpetual myth of being the only Democracy in the Middle-East can not help but be thoroughly debunked.

This is outrageous! I can barely verbalise what I find so upsetting about this whole issue.

The information New Profile offers is not solicited, it is open to anyone who actively seek it it out.

And here are a few more myths debunked concerning the evil, sinister, anti-patriotic "draft dodgers":
These people eighteen year old kids that the IDF doesn't even bother to draft in any case... those who really dodge the draft get sent to jail and that's far rarer than it's played out, seeing as most those who don't want to serve get a legal exemption and shouldn't be fucking prosecuted for it.
We can also talk about all the Ultra-Orthodox Yeshivah boys who aren't drafted due to religious convictions, something which has become inculcated in law because back in the 40's they were a minority and didn't make a difference. In the mean time they've multiplied and are hijacking the social agenda and are even have their own backward and separate education system, which continues to breed ignorance and religious dogma which so happens to be a part of the state.
Not to mention the clause that allows women to not serve in the military due to religious or conscientious objections - note, this is not the same as the conscientious objectors that one hears about on the News, more info here.
By the way, men and women do not serve the same amount of time in the army, by default women two years and men serve three.
This is, by the way, just the Jewish population. The non-Jewish population situation is far more complex for a variety of reasons.

And I'm now so sick of this hearing the media spin this issue.

Government, police and other state officials, stop persecuting people who legally and with your approval don't serve in the IDF and find a way to #1 Negotiate Gilad Shalit's Freedom, #2 Stop enabling Settlement expansion and violence in the West Bank, #3 End the siege on Gaza and stop using Sderot and surrounding towns and kibbutzim as hostages that enable the Army to show off its National Erection and #4 Stop silencing the voices of those who are not the consensus.

This is not 1984, this is 2008 and the only Big Brother around is this one (disturbing for completely different reasons and a totally different level).

Russia plowing through Georgia that is.

I had a feeling something was going to happen, at some point, because Georgia had been appearing more and more in the News over the past two months... as was Russia, though I admit I wasn't looking too close at the connection.

So, yeah... Technically Georgia started it, you know, for wanting to assert some control over a region within it's borders that is known for being mostly Russian in its population and wanting to be a part of Russia (so is my understanding).

Russia's response cannot be seen as anything other than trying to re-assert the control the great Russian Bear had over the various usurped, annexed and conquered nations during the High Days of the Soviet Union.

With the West not doing much other than watching and telling Putin that he's going a wee-bit over board and Putin replying with what could only be described as the diplomatic equivalent of the one fingered salute, I don't think Georgia is going to be making it in the end.

I don't have any clear memories of the days of the Cold War. I was four when the Berlin Wall fell, symbolically marking the end of the Soviet Union, despite it's actual dissolution in the early 90's.

I think since then has been regarded by the West (and specifically the US) as a sore loser in the game of Nations.

Putin is a scary guy. He always reminds me of a Bond Villain, and not because of the KGB thing, but because of the cold, unnerving stare he has. Reading about him earlier this year when he was named Time's ManPerson of the Year, I admit I was spooked.

I didn't get the impression Putin was a fan of being relegated as Bush's "Pal" in the East. I got the impression that Putin was not happy with the way the US plays around the various fronts; militarily, diplomatically and economically.
It's not like Russia was making any secret about any of this in any event.

So Russia watched Georgia closely, like it is watching all of it's neighbors closely, and took it's chance.

During the Olympic games.

Just when China was coming out into the world.

One can almost imagine the two former Communist nations being in cahoots in this.
But I doubt it.
Even my Conspiracy Theory brain can't go that far.
...You never know though...

It's late, so forgive me for what may be an incoherent entry on the subject that has been invading the consciousness of this nation for the past... well... little more than 24 hours.

Two dead men.
Both soldiers and civilians.
In my society there really is no difference.
None.
We are raised from the cradle to believe in the righteousness of the Army and our role, as citizens of this country and inhabitants of this land, to serve our country by serving in the Army.

In a BBC article talking about the high price Israel has paid - and it was, freeing a baby killer (and other combatants and bodies) for a couple of corpses is still obscene in my head, especially because Kuntar was a convicted murderer and not a convicted terrorist - his incarceration was equal in its politics and its criminality.

One of the things that struck me reading the short aforementioned article was this, and I quote:

"It is an essential part of our moral fibre, of our soul," [Col. Eisin] says.

"It is a promise we make to every Israeli mother that, when we send her son or daughter away to fight, we will bring them home whatever happens to them."

This soul is also spoken about:

Col Eisin acknowledges my suggestion that what Israelis see as their "soul" is regarded by their many enemies as a "flaw", a "weakness".

"That's just the way it is," she responds. "We won't change the way we are."

Maybe we need to.
Change, I mean.
Into what I don't know.
I've also mislaid my point somewhere along this post, again, apologies for the incoherence but I've got something I need to get out.

Which is this: There is an inherent problematization[sp?] with the conflation of civilian/solider and of service to nation/service to the military.

I had more points.
But I'm sleepy.
Do you have points?

I've been a busy bee these past few days.
I had a fairly large exam today and handed in the paper I stayed up all night doing (same course, BTW). If I never touch this material again it will be too soon.

In two weeks the second semester exam season is to commence.
*glomps*

Monday and Tuesday there was a bunch of activity on campus planned and arranged by the Student Coalition (with your truly being one part of the planning and arranging team. Yes, I'm touting my own horn) regarding the Occupation, as June marked 41 years of the Occupation in Gaza and the West Bank).

On Monday we arranged an open discussion regarding the One State Solution and the Two State solution. It was great, as a whole bunch of opinions were heard and discussed.
The majority were Leftists, obviously - though the posters and fliers were worded to not be too demagogic or partial, we wanted the Mainstream student body to come a listen - of which there a few but out of thirty or so people that quickly dwindled to twenty to fifteen there weren't a whole lot of Liberals, though those that were there spiced things us a bit.There were no outright Rightists, as they know us and hate us... that's okay, we don't like them much either.

On Tuesday we had a myth busting session; an ICAHD activist gave a hugely informative lecture about the population control that goes on in the West Bank (specifically East Jerusalem, which is a world in and of itself within the Occupation discourse) under the guise of Security and how that word is used as a motivation for a whole slew of attacks against civilians in the West Bank (these attacks include House Demolitions, "Check Points", the Separation Wall etc. etc.).
After the ensuing discussion and break we had MBC reporter Qasem Hatib who came to talk to us about the "No Palestinian Partner" myth and discourse. We discussed how that particular discourse became prevalent in the Barak and Camp David years (and following) and how it has been used since then as a political tool by Israel to keep the status quo (not what he said, but what I gleaned from his very cynical journalistic words - such a pessimist, made us idealists all sad... kidding, I don't think I've ever met a bigger bunch of cynics than those in the Coalition).

Very successful half week so far, I'd say.

So it was a good, if stressful week on campus.
Wednesday was a bad day for Jerusalem.
A man went on a killing spree on a tractor. ( Read more about it, there is a plethora of links to be found behind )

To this kind of News I can only go *snort*.
No, seriously.
I snorted so hard when I read this that I scared my cat.

This gem from Madam Secretary Rice:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Jewish settlement building "a problem" on Saturday and said Israel had not done enough to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

"Look, it's a problem and I think it's a problem that we're going to address with the Israelis," Rice said of recent Israeli settlement construction announcements as she flew to Tel Aviv on her sixth trip this year to try to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Annapolis was less than six months ago and the Settlement growth, which was supposed to cease and desist just continued. With an explicit governmental Carte Blanche I might add.

Eight years in which the only interest Uncle Sam had of this little Hell Hole was that of Israeli weapons capabilities (kudos to us in that regard) and deterrence capabilities with said weapons (we fucked that one up).
So while the Bush is limping around Europe like the lame duck that he is and sending Ms. Rice to run his dirty errands... which here are many and have been neglected.

I'm cynical.
I want this to work out.
I really, really do.
But when only now Hamas and Fatah are talking to each other.
When Hamas fires over fifty rockets into Israel and Israel is constantly retaliating which causes retaliation from Hamas.
There are so many other factors which are just too long to go into, because it's late in the day and I just get depressed when I think about it in a way that isn't in the back of my mind.

Fuck it.