Gideon Levy: And There Lie The Bodies

Haaretz:

The legend, lest it be a true story, tells of how the late mathematician, Professor Haim Hanani, asked his students at the Technion to draw up a plan for constructing a pipe to transport blood from Haifa to Eilat. The obedient students did as they were told. Using logarithmic rulers, they sketched the design for a sophisticated pipeline. They meticulously planned its route, taking into account the landscape's topography, the possibility of corrosion, the pipe's diameter and the flow calibration. When they presented their final product, the professor rendered his judgment: You failed. None of you asked why we need such a pipe, whose blood will fill it, and why it is flowing in the first place.

Read the whole story: Haaretz

Comments

[SantaFeScribe]

03:16 PM on 01/06/2009

You're not the first , Arvay, to note the US media's de facto gag order ( vs Israel) on critcizing Israeili -- or is it Zionistas? -- policy and practices. We're talking about the MSM (main-stream media), of course, not the popular Free Speech print, on-the-air radio, .or Net alternatives.
We do have a 1st amendment in our Constitution and an FCC to address this blatant censorship and propagandistic 'white-out' , mis- and disinformation. -- especially re the CONTEXT (and history) of the current Gaza masacres.
I agree that AIPAC is unduly influential on our foreign policy but corporate media is the leading culprit, to my mind.
Educate, Agitate, and as a citizen and taxpayer, Stop US funding of military aid to Israel.
Thank you

[arvay]

08:44 AM on 01/07/2009

Thank you. I think more and more people are seeing the truth through the fog.

[arvay]

07:01 AM on 01/06/2009

We Americans envy the freedom if the Israeli press to criticize Israel's policies, a freedom muzzled here by AIPAC's de facto limits on what we can say and read about this rogue state we are financing with our taxes.

Of course, the occupier wants to control the news, and America is also Israeli-occupied territory.. . .

[SuperSam]

10:26 PM on 01/05/2009

I am sickened by Operation Gaza Apocalypse. I think it is time for Operation Secular Democratic State for All.

There is a solution and since the country is already a de-facto one state, it should reign equality for all, not to have a minority rule over a majority.

[SantaFeScribe]

02:38 PM on 01/05/2009

Thanks to Gideon Levy for asking these timely questions, purportedly out of the mouth of an Israeli mathematics professor and sage. They demand a pause for reflection -- which seems to be the columnist's intent -- ultimately leading to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. If war is the answer, what is the question? We must also ask why war? of the militaristic Zionistas , whose recent history has failed to bring true security to Israel -- or their American allies.

[ONESTATESOLUTION]

10:00 AM on 01/05/2009

Because of the demographics in the region if you are not for a One State Solution then you are for an apartheid state

[jasjohn128]

09:20 AM on 01/05/2009

There's too much knee-jerk anti-Israel commentary here and elsewhere lately, most of it not coming from anyone who can do more than argue by assertion - that Israel is, once again, in the wrong, and we can "prove it" by watching the horrible images on television.

This war is a terrible thing, but Israel is going to do what it's got to do, just as we would do it here in any U.S. state if groups like Hamas and the various (newly-arrived-via-Iraq) Salafist militias set up their artillery next door and began lobbing shells into our neighborhoods.

And let's get it straight: the people who live in Gaza, the ordinary citizens, the suffering ones whose pictures and images we see in our newspapers and on TV, are there to fulfill the function of "BAIT" as far as Hamas and the Salafists are concerned.

Israel is entitled to do what it's gonna do, and they'll stop when they're good and ready - just as we would do if our cities were under constant threat of attack.

[anthonylee]

06:02 PM on 01/05/2009

Gandhi, King and Mandela won their respective battles and bought powerful governments to their knees (doing what they had to do), without firing a single bullet or killing their adversaries. The Dalai Lama is currently in a battle with China, and Tibet will prevail.

. . . .which type of victory (in the name of peace) do you think is more "durable and sustaining"?

[BillMelater]

08:14 AM on 01/05/2009

This is a moving article. However, I cannot support Hamas in any way over this situation. It is one that they created themselves. They choose to fire rockets at Israel then run and hide behind the women and the children. It is the same old terrorist tactic of cowardice and shame. Surely the Palestinian women should know it by now. Hamas has led the Palestinians into this mess, they have chosen to spend the little money they had on rockets and arms rather than food and schools. They chose to stay on this path of terror and destruction. The Palestinians had a great chance to improve their lives and their international status. It is sad that they did not use it.

Israel must now take the gloves off and destroy the weapons caches throughout Gaza and eliminate as many of the militants as possible. I hope it will not take long and that they will minimize the deaths of women and children, but that is very hard when your enemy shoots from behind them.

[arvay]

06:58 AM on 01/05/2009

We Americans envy the freedom if the Israeli press to criticize Israel's policies, a freedom muzzled here by AIPAC's de facto limits on what we can say and read about this rogue state we are financing with our taxes.

Of course, the occupier wants to control the news, and America is also Israeli-occupied territory.

[totalliberal]

05:13 AM on 01/05/2009

This whole war is a photo-op for Hamas. They don't care about their own people. It's all about getting blood shots out to the international press. Anyone with a brain can figure that out. They hide behind their own wives and children to accomplish this. These so-called warriors are less than people.

[SouthPrairie]

01:25 AM on 01/05/2009

They are brothers who hate each other--who will break the cycle.

[SuperSam]

01:17 AM on 01/05/2009

I am sickened by Operation Gaza Apocalypse. I think it is time for Operation Secular Democratic State for All.

There is a solution, and since the country is already a de-facto one state, it should reign equality for all, not to have a minority rule over a majority.

[Scoot2711]

11:37 PM on 01/04/2009

The government of Israel has lost its last few shreds of moral authority. It seems that the life of one Israeli citizen is worth 100 Palestinian lives. What kind of indecent calculus is this? The launch of this final battle was planned months in advance. Israel opened its barricades to Gaza ever so slightly last week to "allow" much need humanitarian aid to enter. It did this knowing that the stupid leaders of Hamas would use the opportunity to launch their puny attacks -- and thus give Israel its slim excuse to charge forth.

The silence of the US government is deafening. If we wish to regain any voice as part of the moral vision of the world, the US has to re-evaluate its own status as "the best friend of Israel." What is this friendship really costing us -- and is it worth the price?

[lacrosse]

07:49 AM on 01/05/2009

So maybe Hamas shouldn't have launched their "puny" attacks? What would you do against a regime who claims you have no right to exist?

[BillMelater]

07:53 AM on 01/05/2009

Well, who's fault is it then? Hamas chose to play right into Israeli hands. Hamas could have been much wiser and chosen to live in peace despite the hardship. Hamas would now occupy the moral high road. But instead, Hamas chose the low road to destruction - suicide by proxy.

[Bernique]

09:50 PM on 01/04/2009

Israel --- Cease-fire now.

[jesuswazasocialist]

12:03 AM on 01/05/2009

Oh come do you really think Israel cares about Public World Opinion?
It will not cease until its military goals have been meet.
God said to the Hebrews re: due to their disobedinace ...that they will always have to hold a sword and that they will always have an sword held against them.

[Elliott32]

08:25 PM on 01/04/2009

Thank you, Gideon Levy. If only American journalists had such courage to tell the truth. The press has Constitutional protections for a reason to inform Americans of the unbiased truth. Our media is pathetic. MSM is purposely dumbing down the country. No wonder Americans still ask: Why do they H A T E us. Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh...............

The founding fathers must be rolling in their graves. A free press is vital to democracy. Just look at the past eight years of near dictationship and illegal wars.

[gayleg]

06:51 PM on 01/04/2009

I'm trying to follow the logic of this "Well, if your children/family/country was being bombed you'd want to respond, too." talking point, which is all over the media right now, spoken by Democrats and Republicans alike in defense of Israel's actions.

Doesn't that sentiment give every bombing victim in Gaza the right to enact revenge as well? Where does it end?