Very hard to take criticism, especially from one of your own.

Finkelstein is an important scholar. He has honesty and integrity and has exposed some of the underhand shenanigans of ‘the lobby’ to public scrutiny. About time too. It affects all of us at some level.

A non-Jew simply could not take this stand and hope to keep his head. It is important that he is Jewish.

The comma is important too…

never thought the revolution was so fragile, it hung by a comma.

Thanks Peppi for pointing out 2010 could hire you as a sub-editor.

Amira Hass – Israeli journalist from the Haaretz said the other day on Al-Jazeera that the situation is complex because it a combination of Apartheid, colonization, and democracy for only one group of people.

She said that there are different sets of laws for Jews and Palestinians and it has elements of Apartheid especially because of these differential laws as well as the idea of self-rule (like Bantustans)

She said its not racism. If you go to a hospital in Israel, there aren’t separations like SA Apartheid. She put it down to being an issue of “interests”.

“The Israelis profit from this situation”

She said Israel is a society built on the security industry– there is a whole structure that gains from the tension – and the the hatred is simply utilized to justify the system/structure.

I think this is a strong, mostly ignored facet of the conflict. Who gains from all this?

Amira is an Israeli working for the Haaretz, and she has lived in Ramallah, doing much of her reporting from there.

Of course you can say she has Stockholm syndrome (not Oslo). Alternatively, you can say she is staring reality in the face every day. You decide.

Amira recently won the International Women’s Media Foundation lifetime achievement award.

Just a few weeks ago Israeli students, who refused to serve in the Israeli Defence Force on grounds that it constituted an occupying force engaged in illegal activities, hoping to raise awareness of their plight were denied access to Jewish schools in South Africa.

Forced consensus and gagged dissent will further the victims of yesteryear being the aggressors of today.
Here’s to courageous and active engagement.

Ps: Arabs are semites too!

South Africa in this respect, is further than Germany.

The Israel lobby in Germany pisses in its pants when they hear his name – and the comparison between Israel and South Africa is generally described as anti-Semitic because it is believed to be a delegitimization of Israel.

So Azad what do you think???

Finkelstein is clearly moralizing for the Soviet Union. He is trying to use the analogy to explain why he supports Hezbollah.

He claims the Soviet Union was a force of liberation in Europe and, therefore, all the bad stuff about the regime is acceptable. That is moralizing.

I found this extraordinary, within the thread of this commentary. Extraordiary because the writer is speaking of Israel obviously, and he writes this clearly insinuating that Israel has become the wearer of the jackboot, instead of being the recpient of the jackboot.
I respectfully ask him what he feels Israel should have done, following such military attacks like the ones she has had recently (Lebanon and the Cast Lead)?
Which other country sends messages to civilians to evacuate a FAMILY OCCUPIED APARTMENT BLOCK where terrorists fire rockets from.
Which other country resists returning fire after 8 years of rocket attacks and when it does – sends cell phone messages warning the innocents to leave?
What other country sits back and smiles when it hands back an occupied territory in peace, and then watches that territory desecrate its synagogues and burn its greenhouses?

Ruthless?