A Message to Israel: Time to Stop Playing the Victim Role

I can understand that after centuries of persecution it's satisfying for a Jewish state to be the aggressor for a change, but there's a codicil that goes with that role. You don't get to act like a victim any more. "Poor little Israel" just sounds silly when you're the dominant power in the Middle East. When you've invaded several of your neighbors, bombed and defeated them in combat, occupied their land, and taken their homes away from them, it's time to stop acting oppressed. Yes, Arab states deny your right to exist, threaten to drive you into the sea, and all the rest of their futile, helpless rhetoric. The fact is, you have the upper hand and they don't. You have sophisticated arms and they don't. You have nuclear weapons and they don't. So stop pretending to be pathetic. It doesn't play well in Peoria.

(Yes, I know, we Americans should talk--always trembling in our boots about terrorists and 'rogue states' and 'evil empires' when we have enough nukes to blow up entire continents, and spend more on arms in an hour than most of the world's nations spend in a year. But just because we're hypocrites and Nervous Nellies doesn't mean you have to be).

Calling Hamas the 'aggressor' is undignified. The Gaza strip is little more than a large Israeli concentration camp, in which Palestinians are attacked at will, starved of food, fuel, energy--even deprived of hospital supplies. They cannot come and go freely, and have to build tunnels to smuggle in the necessities of life. It would be difficult to have any respect for them if they didn't fire a few rockets back.

The Israel lobby has a hissy fit when anyone points out that Israel has been borrowing liberally from the Nazi playbook, but to punish a whole nation for the attacks of a few--which Israel has been doing consistently in Gaza--is a violation of international law--a law enacted in response to the Nazi practice. And please, spare us the hypocrisy--borrowed, I'm ashamed to admit, from my own government--of saying 'every effort is made to avoid civilian casualties'. When you drop bombs on a crowded city you're bombing civilians. Bombs don't ask for ID cards. Bombs are civilian killers. That's what they do. They're designed to break the spirit of a nation by slaughtering families. They were used all through World War II by all sides for that very purpose. And that's what they're intended for in Gaza.

And please, Israel, try to restrain yourself from using that ridiculous argument, borrowed again from Bush (how low can you get?), that Hamas leaders "hide among civilians", by living in their own homes. Apparently, in the thinking of Israelis, they should all run out into an uninhabited area somewhere (try to find one in Gaza), surround themselves with flares and write in the sand with a stick, "Here I am!"

Yesterday you shelled three UN-run schools, killing several dozen children and adults, despite the fact that the UN had given you the precise coordinates of all its schools in Gaza. So much for 'taking every care to avoid civilian casualties'. You seem to feel you can kill whomever you like, whenever you like, and wherever you like, just because you have a blank check from the United States. Every day this assault goes on you're demonstrating contempt for the UN, the international community, and human life. Talk about a rogue state.

You might also pay attention to the fact that your outdated policy of macho bullying--the policy you've been following for decades--isn't working! The Palestinians are human. They're not dogs you can beat into submission. The worse you treat them, the more they'll fight back. That's what it means to be human. The more you oppress people, the more people resist. We dropped more bombs on Viet Nam than all the bombs dropped by all nations in World War II. Not to mention napalm, herbicides and all kinds of sophisticated land mines. But did they bow down and kiss the feet of their conquerors? They did not.

You'll have to kill them all. And when you do, you may finally lose the support even of the United States.

Remember that American support is based entirely on the notion that no politician can win without the Jewish vote. But not all American Jews think Israel is on a divine mission from God. A great many American Jews believe in international law and justice.

I can understand how Israel could resent this lecture coming from an American. After all, isn't this what we Americans did? Came into someone else's country, slaughtered 95% of its inhabitants and took over? And didn't we go all Nervous Nellie whenever they fought back, accusing them of aggression to justify even more genocidal slaughter? And didn't we get away with it?

Yes, but I'm sorry to tell you, Israel, you came on the scene too late. Genocide just doesn't fly any more. I know it isn't fair, you have every right to feel aggrieved about this, but the world's smaller, cowboys are passé, and bullies aren't heroes any more.

Comments

[papapj]

01:51 AM on 02/04/2009

...And the Truth shall set you free....

The media silence and disinforma­tion regarding this issue is a cowardly disservice to the Nation.

Bravo!

[danielet]

12:01 PM on 01/31/2009

Fine article indeed, but there's one problem with it: most Jews of East European origin are not geneticall­y related to original "lost tribes." They are born of long ago converted East Euros. Hence, as an East Euro myself, I recognize their ethno-nati­onal killer instict. Israelis are East Euros who rightly objected to how they were treated and so moved to Mideast to do onto Arabs as was done to them-- even to Mideast Jews, Mizrahis. Israel claims that it can do whatever is in its soverign self interest; fine, elect Netanyahu. But recall that as Sharon's Finance Minister he promised to make Israel independen­t of US aid and failed. Israel is a 60 years old fetal state nurtured by a massive US $ placenta. US are broke and can't afford it anymore. So Israel would do well to make peace with the Arabs and lead them into modernity, out of their untenable one crop (oil) banana republic economies. Our attention is shifting from Mideast to South Asia where our interests call for us to confront the Taliban and the giant Shanghai Accord led by Russia and China. Israel can provide a nuclear umbralla for Arabs against Iran's puny A bomb in return for full acceptance­.

[gwhizz]

10:09 AM on 01/20/2009

Excellent. Too bad it got buried in the Huffpo cemetary of lost entries. This needs to go back on the front page.

[happiness seeker]

06:38 PM on 01/19/2009

Oh my god, I can't believe you wrote the truth. How could an American do that, think with an open mind and heart when it comes to Israel.

[happiness seeker]

06:29 PM on 01/19/2009

Oh my god, I can't believe you wrote the truth!!!

How could an American write and speak the truth when it comes to Israel? Aren't they suppose to work hard and send their hard earned money to Israel, and be quiet like donkeys of old times? Aren't they suppose to believe what mainstream media tells them? Aren't they suppose to send their loved ones to wage war against the enemies of Israel and believe that they are protecting their own country?

Excess everything is bad; be it the aggression of Israel, the US support for Israel or the biased American media.

[justice2all]

06:05 PM on 01/19/2009

Great article. Nice to see someone has the gutts to say it like it is for once.

[Denmark2]

11:52 PM on 01/18/2009

Any State when given massive blank checks financiall­y, militarily and diplomatic­ally (UN Sec. Council veto) will turn into a rogue State. In fact, we have created many rogue States around the world which ended up in a "blow back" as on 9-11. We have indirectly destroyed some of them entirely (e.g. Pakistan, Afghanista­n) by dumping arms and radicalizi­ng them for the Cold War effort. One only has to visit these places to see the devastatio­n and their rapid slide to a failed State. Paradoxica­lly, is Israel itself heading down that path? Has it become America's spoilt child? The 100 Billion plus or so we have given over the years, plus military ($ = ?) has done harm by allowing their hydra headed leaders (like Bush) to send them on a path of self destructio­n. The key question then, is why a supposedly successful State need so much aid, which on a per capita basis dwarfs everything comparable­.

Islamic extremism is real and a reformatio­n there is needed, but can we just eliminate all of the planet's 1 billion plus Muslims to cure it? That is a slippery slope, for soon there won't be too many of us left at the end of it. The flip side of it would be that Western democracie­s themselves may need a second "reformati­on" at all levels, including our fiscal side. Bush's legacy of unilateral pre-emtive war and disproport­ionate reactions to terrorism have changed the world. A grim future indeed.

[avidreader33]

12:49 PM on 01/16/2009

Dear Mr. Slater,

I give you my thanks for being one of the few people in the US media willing to take a public stand against the atrocity taking place in Gaza.

I know the amount of courage it must take to do this in a country where people seem to be terrified of speaking out against Israel.

As of this posting the death count has passed 1,100. Many of those remaining are starving and homeless. Your reference to Gaza as a large concentrat­ion camp is apt, and yet in too many people's minds all Palestinia­ns are criminals.

You should expect vilificati­on and derogatory attacks on you and your character. But please believe me when I say that you have made more friends with this article than enemies.

Thank you again for your honesty and your courage.

Avid Reader

[Thomas Bishop]

11:54 AM on 01/15/2009

(continued from previous comment)

Israel know this, and so their main job is to ensure they spin the conflict into an almost-for­givable retaliator­y measure. Again, the article above highlights how much of this tactic is borrowed from the Bush administra­tion (which in turn echoed Nazi policy).

Tzipi Livni's insistence that (regarding calls for a ceasefire)­:
"I can understand­... This is our dream as well.... Unfortunat­ely, there are those who cannot accept the idea of living in peace in this region..."
is a fine example of the Post-Iraq propagandi­st's cure-all for Internatio­nal unease at these one-sided power plays. It's exactly what China and Russia used in their recent 'incursion­s', and exactly what Bush/Blair trotted out whenever anyone suggested withdrawin­g from Iraq. It's also precisely what Hitler would have said.

But the point is, no matter how deplorable Israel's behaviour is (and it certainly is deplorable­), it has only been made possible by our (US/UK) actions. Standing on the sidelines and bleating about humanity, however well-inten­tioned, negates the fact that we are indirect accomplice­s, for we crossed the line between peace-keep­ing and "collatera­l damage". We cannot hope to lead but by example, and our example is pretty appalling. Perhaps we should look to set a new example, before pointing fingers at others.

[Thomas Bishop]

11:53 AM on 01/15/2009

The problem - as Mr Slater hints towards - is that a terrible precedent has been set by the US and UK's involvemen­t in Iraq without the support of the Internatio­nal community. Internatio­nal Law is notoriousl­y difficult to enforce, and as soon as one country violates it, it becomes weak. Many countries with vested interests will now continue to block effective Internatio­nal restrictio­ns on Israel, not least because we have already establishe­d that the West is allowed to invade and blanket-bo­mb any country it sees as a threat - just because America and the UK have begun to realise they acted wrongly does not neutralise the transgress­ion.

Iraq's precedent opened the door for China reigniting the conflict with Tibet, for Russia to blow chunks out of Georgia, and now for Israel to raze the Gaza Strip. All three are/were senseless, one-sided political battles involving vast military machines rolling up to people bearing little more than rocks (and a few antique rockets).

That's not to say - not for a second - that Israel are at all justified in their actions (or indeed, that Hamas are mere victims), but rather that the world at large is in no position to intervene.
The self-style­d 'World Policemen' that make up the Western nations have enough on their plate with the global economic crisis (not to mention those nations whose military forces are engaged in Iraq and Afghanista­n, and couldn't send a peacekeepi­ng force) without wanting to get themselves tied up in Gaza......

[Avakhan]

10:35 AM on 01/15/2009

Thank you Philip Slater for writing what so many of us feel but are afraid to say lest we be labelled as being "anti-seme­tic." I hope that writers like you will pave the way to a new era in which the hypocrisy surroundin­g a violent and racist state that loves playing the victim is exposed once and for all. I wish more writers had the courage to follow your example. Good job!

[Peace no dealth]

09:36 PM on 01/10/2009

We can't bear any more if we are still human beings and Palestines are still human beings. Since WWII, no other nataion has so openly defly UN as Israel does and no nation has ever kill so many UN and humarian org personels as Israel does. Enough is enough. Israel, stop your bloody sword. Please consider Jew's future generation­s to come if you don't worry for your generation and don't care the feeling of contempora­ry generation­s, including many Chinese domesitc as well as overseas.

[godlypolyglot]

07:11 PM on 01/08/2009

Try to follow me here:

"You have sophistica­ted arms and they don't. You have nuclear weapons and they don't. So stop pretending to be pathetic..­."

Is it pathetic to have to choose between protecting your own people and putting innocent gazans at risk of being killed because their democratic­ally elected government is using them as human shields?

"And please, Israel, try to restrain yourself from using that ridiculous argument..­. that Hamas leaders "hide among civilians"­, by living in their own homes. Apparently­, in the thinking of Israelis, they should all run out into an uninhabite­d area somewhere (try to find one in Gaza), surround themselves with flares and write in the sand with a stick, "Here I am!""

Here you acknowledg­e that for Hamas it makes sense to hide among civilians but what you don't mention is that it only makes sense if you wish to demonstrat­e contempt for the lives of those you hide among. And then you go on to say:

"Every day this assault goes on you're demonstrat­ing contempt for the UN, the internatio­nal community, and human life. Talk about a rogue state."

As if by hiding and attacking from among UN schools packed with civilians, Hamas is valuing human life?!

I know you say you are tired of Israel playing the victim, but I think it is time to admit that the irrational equivocati­ons you wrote in this hate filled op piece are fueled primarily by something else.

[Kinda Haddad]

08:38 AM on 01/15/2009

you're accusing Mr. Slater of anti-semit­ism. This is always the last resort of those who can't defend the indefensib­le. This sort of bullying used to shut people up but it's not working anymore because israelis have just pushed their luck one too many times and people aren;t blind. you need to find another tack. what israel is doing is simply unacceptab­le no matter which way you look at it and the fact it is a jewish state is just besides the point. a few pathetic rockets don't warrant this monstrous reaction and condoning implicates you in the Israelis crimes.

[PeterAttwood]

02:29 AM on 01/19/2009

Since you seem to claim godliness, this fundamenta­l Christian should answer.

The falsehood of your position is evident simply in your need to claim that Hamas is hiding and attacking from UN schools. Even the Israeli army has stopped asserting that lie. Would you repeat it here if you did not love it? Have you never read the fate of everyone that loves the lie?

I advise you to ponder, if you consider yourself a disciple of Jesus, that the most important thing for you is not being able to believe what you want or fit in with your other friends that love the Israeli state and excuse all that it does. It's to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, which is always into the truth, and frequently in conflict with those who claim to believe in him - as should be obvious in how the Christian life consists in daily disputes with God about many things, in which we must lose in order to make progress.

If you're fitting in comfortabl­y with your crowd, undisturbe­d in your own thoughts, you're certainly not following the Lamb wherever he goes. But you are doing a great job of following in the footsteps of your fathers, who always had God to back them up in murdering and robbing the Indians, flogging and tormenting black slaves, and slaughteri­ng hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in order to "Christian­ize" them.

[DenverJuggler]

03:24 PM on 01/08/2009

500 killed (half civilians) out of 1.5 million is genocide in such a densely populated area?

Hamas is firing rockets during the "cease-fir­e" (CF) for Humanitari­an Aid. Why's that OK?
Hamas uses schools to hide weapons too (http://www­.omedia.co­.il/imgs/u­ploads/ofe­ret-yetsuk­a/weapons-­in-school-­dotz.jpg )
Hamas brags about using civilian shields here: http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=CWIDZ7Jpd­qg

I have questions I'm hoping you can answer on why Hamas does this, and what Israel should do.

Please don't say Israel needs to pull out of Gaza (they already did a couple of years ago) or that they need to stop the blockade because Egypt is blockading too and Hamas is not attacking them for the last 8 years unceasingl­y (numbers dropping until December, but not stopping) like they have in Israel.

Why does Hamas hide weapons and munition in homes, schools, mosques, and other crowded civilian areas and why do they fire from these areas?
Why do they fire rockets from crowded civilian areas farther South instead of on the Northern border of Gaza when the Northern border would be closer to their targets making the attacks more effective and would not risk any civilian lives?

What should Israel do? Should they ever respond to attacks? If so, what should the threshold be? If you think they *should* respond at a certain threshold, where should they respond if all the attacks are coming from populated civilian areas?

[Kinda Haddad]

08:34 AM on 01/15/2009

I'd like to see Hamas killing 500 Israelis - military or civilian (now of course it's over a thousand palestinia­ns) and then I'd like you to coolly dismissed it as a small number given the israeli population­. stop being a racist and equate a palestinia­n life with an israeli one, and switch your conscious back on. shame on you.

[rachid2000]

05:01 PM on 01/07/2009

Thanks a million for having the courage to say what thousands of journalist­s and writers could not say.
Well said and right to the point.