tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23680463.post2589400909570848729..comments2023-11-05T04:40:23.785-07:00Comments on Rusty Idols: Support Libby DaviesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23680463.post-86459628863790144182010-06-18T15:39:20.879-06:002010-06-18T15:39:20.879-06:00And there's the binary thinking again. Either...And there's the binary thinking again. Either you think one side is all good and the other all evil or a side is picked for you whether you want it or not.<br /><br />No, I don't think Iran is some kind of utopia. My sympathies there were and are with the Green movement and I'd like to see Ahmadinejad gone as much as anybody, but the existence of the Green movement itself demonstrates that while Iran has an opressive theocratic government sliding into gangster control by the Revolutionary Guard faction, the population itself is one of the most secular, progressive and cosmopoliton in the Middle East.<br /><br />It would be no more accurate to judge all Iranians by the views of their leadership than it would be to judge all Canadians by the far right pack of mean spirited religious fanatics currently running Canada.<br /><br />Benny Morris is hardly the only scholar in or out of Israel who says Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing - and the fact that he thinks it happened but doesn't particularly object to it if anything lends credence to his position; He doesn't have an anti-ethnic cleansing axe to grind and he <b>still </b>thinks it happened.<br /><br />Libby Davies, and let's be crystal clear on this, DID NOT challenge the existence of Israel. Pointing out that the creation of Israel caused the dispossesion of the Palestinians is simply a historical fact. Like Libby Davies I support the two state solution and I do not question the right of Israel to Exist - unlike Many figures in and out of Israel who seem to be able to question Palestine's right to exist with impunity.<br /><br />Generally speaking, when somebody tries to put their own interpretation on somebody else's words (libby Davies said 1948, therefore she is ipso facto an antisemite who doesn't believe Israel has a right to exist) they are being deliberately disingenuous.<br /><br />Thanks for dropping by Kent, feel free to come back.Cliffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03487395482670731681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23680463.post-39538758585847064282010-06-18T10:33:26.120-06:002010-06-18T10:33:26.120-06:00First, yeah, right. Iran is a true pluralistic dem...First, yeah, right. Iran is a true pluralistic democracy. This is what you are claiming here? You forget that only few years ago, Iranian authorities arrested large group of Jewish leaders and blamed them of treason. No wonder they are so "supportive". <br />Second, according to what you are writing, Canada is just as bad. We also did the same (and far worst) when we came from Europe, didn't we? <br />Lastly, you are not very accurate, describing the 1948 events as a "settled issue". Not at all. In Israel, FYI, it is only Benny Morris, which btw, also argues that TODAY, israel should perform ethnic cleansing. So this is the guy you rely on. Great. And again, it is not as if we were any better here in Canada. No one have the right to claim this is not our home though.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06388565499253520266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23680463.post-86321856248671124532010-06-16T08:26:36.711-06:002010-06-16T08:26:36.711-06:00Well Said Cliff - I am so tired of this attitude o...Well Said Cliff - I am so tired of this attitude of attempting to marginalize anyone who criticizes Israel by playing the Anti-Semite card. According to UN resolutions a people must have a "consistent claim" to a place which the Jewish people do not have in Palestine. Many of the founders of Zionism and even Theodor Herzl mused about founding a Jewish state elsewhere from the middle east. And when they established the Jewish state they did so through violence - a simple fact that many people entirely deny like an act of historical revisionism. (Doesn't the Stern Gang ring a bell to anyone?) It is similar to when I have met ultra-rightists in the US who actually deny that any violence was committed to the Natives in the theft of the lands of North America. <br /><br />And even if we accept the existence of Israel as a practical or even just solution to the historical problems created by anti-semitism, let us not deny the fact that Israel has been slowly taking the land of the Palestinians through pure military might and they continue to build illegal settlements in occupied land. And many of the Israelis believe that they have a religious right to do this and to kill anyone in the land that they claim "God" has promised them. It is a simple fact and you can see these people regularly interviewed by newsmedia making this claim. <br /><br />There are religious on all sides and people who justify their use of violence on all sides. And one of these religious nuts is our own PM who blindly supports Israel because of a perverse Christian belief about the so-called "End Time." It is called "premillennial dispensationalism." We cannot have peace because even if every Palestinian renounced violence the building in the occupied territories and the destruction of Palestine would continue because there are enough Israelis and enough of their Western Evangelical supporters who will do anything to take all of Palestine for themselves. Even if there was no Palestine opposition it wouldn't make a difference to Israeli policy or Harper policy. Premillennial Dispensationalism will move forward the effort to take all of Palestine regardless. And they will continue to portray Israel as the victim etc. . .Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23680463.post-73075096143118848602010-06-16T06:44:32.012-06:002010-06-16T06:44:32.012-06:00MJ, you have fallen into the false duality trap I ...MJ, you have fallen into the false duality trap I wrote about here: acknowledging that Israel committed ethnic cleansing in no way denies that so have Arab nations. I agree, it took place. Is your argument that two wrongs make a right? Most of us out grow that one in pre-school.<br /><br />As to your statement: 'I don't see any Jewish members of parliament in any Arab or Muslim country.' apparently you just didn't look that hard. Iran has the largest Jewish population in the middle east outside of Israel. They face some discrimination but less than you might think, they run what most Iranians agree are the best hospital in Tehran, there are synagogues all over the country and yes, they have a member of parliament. <br /><br />In fact a seat is reserved specifically to represent the Jewish population in Iran. Their MP Maurice Motamed has regularly criticized the antisemitic comments of President Ahmadinejad. and he's still there.<br /><br />In Israel in the meantime, members of the far right governing coalition argue for the expulsion of Arab members from the Knesset, and increasingly and openly for the expulsion of Israeli Arabs from the country altogether.Cliffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03487395482670731681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23680463.post-21897498889753973682010-06-16T00:59:42.533-06:002010-06-16T00:59:42.533-06:00In a free country, we must be able to speak.In a free country, we must be able to speak.Filliblusterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06563618107971013947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23680463.post-71076051642942420292010-06-16T00:03:28.264-06:002010-06-16T00:03:28.264-06:00I think you have it backwards. Ethnic cleansing h...I think you have it backwards. Ethnic cleansing happened in all the Arab lands which killed Jews and forced over 700,000 Jews to flee and become refugees. Israel, on the other hand, has a large Arab population and Arab parliament members. I don't see any Jewish members of parliament in any Arab or Muslim country.MJ Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11539628022868465216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23680463.post-20567336317777620652010-06-15T23:32:35.572-06:002010-06-15T23:32:35.572-06:00Hmmm.
No. I won't support her. She's ove...Hmmm. <br /><br />No. I won't support her. She's over the line.Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03203592149876300192noreply@blogger.com