Criminal

Israel's assault on Gaza continues, which is now an open effort to overthrow the elected Palestinian government and punish the population, something the IDF does quite effectively. The justification for this expanded aggression is to win Cpl. Gilad Shalit's release from whatever faction of Hamas grabbed him, but only the most dishonest or dizziest apologist buys that anymore. Shalit is an excuse to launch an invasion that clearly has been planned for some time, and a brutal one it is, too, with Israeli jets and mobile artillery units pounding a largely defenseless population, cutting off their electricity, which of course affects hospitals, clinics and water purification, as blatant a war crime as one can imagine. It truly is sickening, but par for the course, if you've followed this tragedy with any regularity over the past 25 years or so.

Apart from Max Sawicky, who's written several posts about this, I've seen no consistent liberal outrage of any kind in bloggyland. Not surprising, given that most of the prominent libloggers are politically narcissistic and beholden to a corporate party that supports this type of aggression. Show solidarity with the Palestinians as they are pummeled by a nuclear-powered aggressor state funded with their tax dollars? Why, when there are more important issues at hand, like mocking clueless New Republic writers and pondering which presidential primary should be first. It took weeks before some of the less timid libs said anything about Haditha, so why the fuck should they be in any hurry about what's happening this very moment in Gaza?

Some libs are speaking out -- in favor of Israeli violence, that is. Alan Dershowitz performed at Huffington Post his standard war dance, ending his little shuffle with typical, self-serving flair: "I know this posting will stimulate the usual anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, and anti-Dershowitz fulminations . . ." Naturally, for Israel, anti-Semitism and Alan Dershowitz are all pretty interchangeable, at least in his head. Nice to see that the Dersh Bag hasn't changed since I last wrote about him, but then, at a time when his beloved IDF is assaulting his political/moral inferiors, why would he?

Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" moderated an illuminating exchange Thurs between Josh Block of AIPAC and Norman Finkelstein of DePaul University. Of course it was no contest, but the beauty of shilling for AIPAC is that you never have to consider political reality. This frees you to say anything in defense of your holy state, and ignore or deny any item that may undermine what passes for your argument. In order to paint this invasion as an act of self-defense, Block mentioned the Kassam missiles that Palestinian militants have fired into Israel. But Finkelstein fleshed out the fuller picture:

"So let's turn to the issue that Josh wants to address, namely the context. I’m very happy to do so. Let's look at the context. Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in September 2005 'til today, the estimates run between 7,000 and 9,000 heavy artillery shells have been shot and fired into Gaza. On the Palestinian side, the estimates are approximately 1,000 Kassam missiles, crude missiles, have been fired into Israel. So we have a ratio of between seven and nine to one.

"Let's look at casualties. In the last six months, approximately 80 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza due to Israel artillery firing. Now, on the Israeli side, we hear all of these terrible things about these Kassams. Even Shlomo Ben-Ami, yesterday on your program, who I respect, he said what's Israel to do about these Kassams? What does the record show? I mentioned a moment ago, 80 Palestinians killed in six months. There have been exactly eight Israelis killed in the last five years from the Kassam missiles. Again, we have a huge disproportion, a huge discrepancy.

"Now, Josh says Israel has a responsibility to protect its citizens. I totally agree with that. But Hamas is the elected government of the Palestinians. They have a responsibility to protect their citizens. They have a responsibility to get back their 9,000 hostages. They have a responsibility to protect their Palestinian civilians, who are being daily attacked by Israel."

Read or listen to the entire exchange. There's much more to say about Gaza (especially about how Israel's actions ensure that the militant wing of Hamas has even more sway within the territories, which of course ensures more violence, a side benefit that's not exactly new), but if I keep hammering away, my keyboard will soon snap in two. Oh, for some of Stephen Colbert's ironic detachment!