Category: Israel

Reading Roger Cohen in the New York Times

Roger Cohen: Liberal ZionistM. Shahid Alam

Roger Cohen is the rare columnist at NYT who makes an occasional effort to bring some objectivity to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet, how far does his objectivity go?

Consider his piece of June 10, “Modern Folly and Ancient Wisdom.”

I have selected a few excerpts for comment.

First excerpt:
“Israel’s bloody interception of the Mavi Marmara and its motley crew was crass — another example of the counterproductive use of force — but nothing about it could justify the Turkish prime minister’s outrageous statement that the world now perceives “the swastika and the Star of David together (italics mine).”

Why does he speak of the “motley crew” on the Mavi Marmara? First, is ‘crew’ the appropriate word for the humanitarian activists on a ship bringing relief to people under blockade. ‘Crew’ has unpleasant connotations. Let us consult the Oxford English dictionary. Originally, it meant “an augmentation or reinforcement of a military force.” Now, by extension, it means “Any organized or associated force, band, or body of armed men.”

In addition, why is this a ‘motley’ crew? Does he mean heterogeneous? In fact, most were Turkish. Why then are they “motley?” The word has a bad odor. The OED concurs. Consider two entries in the OED. Entry one: “Of a thing or collection of things: composed of elements of diverse or varied character, form, appearance, etc. Freq. with implication of poor design or organization (italics added).” And entry two: Of a gathering or group of people: consisting of people of diverse or varied appearance, character, etc.; miscellaneous. Freq. depreciative (italics in the original).

Continue reading “Reading Roger Cohen in the New York Times”

Why Turkey is Looking East

Good analysis from Link TV’s Mosaic Intelligence Report. Also see this excellent analysis of Erdogan’s rise by Patrick Cockburn.

linktv — 11 June 2010 — (Mosaic Intelligence Report: June 11, 2010) Turkey votes against UN sanctions on Iran. Erdogan is a hero in the Arab world. Did Turkey abandon its EU dreams? And why is it looking towards the East?

channelled French-Russian philosopher Alexandre Kojève’s idiosyncratic reading of Hegel[1] to

[1] Kojève, from whom Fukuyama borrowed the notion of ‘end of history’, was a major influence on Bloom.

The assault on the Mavi Marmara (hour-long video)

Cultures of Resistance has released Iara Lee’s  hour-long video of the attack on Mavi Marmara. You see events leading up to the attack, the attack itself (beginning at about 36:00), and its aftermath.  (via Juan Cole, whose coverage of the massacre and its aftermath has been stellar)

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Nader says reinstate Helen Thomas

The great Ralph Nader. He calls the attacks on Helen Thomas a ‘political execution’.

TheRealNews — 12 June 2010 — Nader: Helen Thomas apologized – she was attacked with such ferocity because she always asked ‘why’

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terrorist

by Cynthia Dewi Oka

another morning burns
under growl of tanks their hunger
flattens rock and bone alike

sun’s scrutiny ruptured my body
chosen. fingers
too old for their length

pull and prod and manoeuvre
me into sweat misted palm
smaller than a grown maple leaf

invisible my mission
begins in garbled pitch
wailing flaps like dying fish

i knew my turn would come
soon the days of watching
blood crust to earth would end

in the seconds waiting i plot
another life
in the dim of olive trees

Continue reading “terrorist”

George Galloway announces new Viva Palestina convoys to break Gaza siege

George Galloway on the flotilla massacre, the changing political climate, and the new Viva Palestina sea and land convoys scheduled for later this year. (via Counterfire)
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The Images Israel Doesn’t Want You To See

Cultures of Resistance filmmaker Iara Lee, who was on board the Mavi Marmara, has just released previously unseen footage of the massacre that took place on the ship. This is a 15-minute clip of an hour long tape she managed to smuggle out. (At about 05:10 you see the target list being carried by the Israeli soldiers)

Warning: video contains very disturbing images

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Through Israeli Eyes: The Flotilla of Terror

Israeli Pro-flotilla demonstration at Ashdod Dock ~Photography by Gal Lugassi

Though you couldn’t tell from the mainstream media, some citizens of Israel spent the past week running from demonstration to demonstration. Not in our name will unarmed civilians be murdered at sea. Not in our name will over a million people (the majority of which are children) be held under a horrifically violent siege. So we screamed our lungs out, and around 10,000 Israelis marched the streets of Tel-Aviv, last saturday. Around the world hundreds of thousands, knowing exactly how their hard-earned tax money is used, hit the streets, carrying the same message: “Not in our names.”

Of Terror Attacks, Lynches and Unprecedented Violence
In Israel, however, you couldn’t guess this is what was going on, because in Israel, like any other successful totalitarian regime, once the state commits an act so heinous that one’s conscience might start hammering in one’s head, the propaganda machine is turned on to full power. Not only were the pro-flotilla demonstrations that took place this week not reported, unless there was a

Im Tirtzu demonstration at the Turkish embassy

nationalistic counter action by patriotic zealots, but while on my way, Tuesday morning, to the Ashkelon dock, to make sure the captured boats know that there are people here who support and need them, the radio was blurting out statements the likes of “an attack of unprecedented violence on IDF soldiers.” (from memory)

Later on, at home, between the morning demonstration at the dock and the evening demonstration at the Ministry of Defense, I surfed the news channels. All were showing the following shots (courtesy of the official IDF YouTube channel) in a never-ending loop. In the background, the anchor-people of established authority making deep analyses such as “our soldiers expected peace activists and ended up with a band of street fighters.” (from memory) The word “lynch” titling each and every shot:

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The best hasbara: Israeli government to step up front groups in social media sites

Yesterday, Israel’s ‘Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister’ Yuli Edelstein spoke at some length about his country’s ‘PR problem’, including possible plans to create a 24-hr news channel. But further down the article, Edelstein talked about the ways in which Israel’s propaganda effort is being increasingly delegated to volunteers:

“We’ve been working on creating an infrastructure of our friends and allies around the world, in the Jewish and Christian communities, which is not fully ready yet. It’s based on volunteers and professionals [who will coordinate the transmission of accurate information],” the minister said.

Edelstein conceded that the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Ministry suffered from restrictive budget problems. Nevertheless, he was seeking to implement ambitious initiatives based on volunteers.

“This is the 21st century, and that means things that are not officially called hasbara are the best hasbara. The moment things come from the government, the state, or ministries, they are perceived as being less reliable and as propaganda,” Edelstein said.

”There are many things only volunteers can do. Writing on Facebook, Twitter blogs, and sending e-mails to friends is second to none. The best things people can do are not about money, but about doing things in the right way.”

Edelstein cited an operations center housed in his ministry and staffed by volunteers, as well as a ministry secretary, both aimed at maintaining continuous contact with Diaspora communities.

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Voices of Everyday Muslim Americans in the Aftermath of the Flotilla Attack

News of Israel’s brutal attack on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza seems to have moved even this generally apathetic world. As the reactions of global leaders, activists, lawyers, journalists, academics and other public figures saturate the media, hope builds that growing political pressure will have the effect of ending, at long last, Israel’s inhumane blockade of Gaza.

The events of last week also present us with an opportunity to pause and to reflect upon why this attack -in particular- has captured our imaginations more powerfully than previous instances of Israeli aggression.

In search of answers, I decided  to talk to everyday Muslim Americans about the events of last week, asking each of them how they felt about the recent flotilla attack and what, if any hope, the event held for a better future. I interviewed this diverse group of New Yorkers over a period of two days, and my accounts include the voices of a shop clerk, a business owner, wait-staff, an immigration lawyer, a photographer, a retired journalist, bankers, engineers, and a number of students.

What I learned in listening to their narratives is that the flotilla attack – which has largely been produced by the media as a critical moment of rupture – is for many Muslim Americans, an event that indicates not rupture, but continuity: the continuity of Israeli brutality and injustice, and the continuity of Palestinian despair.

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