Kazerooni and Prince on KGNU – Hemispheres – on Israel’s War On Gaza (July 29, 2014) – My Babblings on Zionism.

Victim of Israeli Bombing in Gaza

KGNU – Hemispheres – Israel’s War On Gaza

This (above) is an interview with Ibrahim Kazerooni and myself. It took place at KGNU’s Boulder studio on Tuesday, July 29, 2014. It is our analysis of Israel’s War On Gaza. The program begins about 3 minutes into “the stream”.

I am repeated asked…why do you do this? …the never-ending harsh criticism of Israel. I can answer that in a few words: They (the Zionists, Israel’s blind supporters) are doing it (their punishment, oppression of the Palestinians) in my name. I cannot accept that. Some years ago Jewish groups popped up all over the country with the same title “Not In My Name” … I have always liked that. If in the USA “our” numbers remain a minor trend within the Jewish Community, I am convinced that they are growing with national organizations like Jewish Voice For Peace and local Jewish groups popping up everywhere. Of course others who have become critics of Israel’s Occupation come to their understanding in other ways..and there are more of us, even here in the USA where the media is so one-sided and slanted towards excusing every growing Israeli war crime.

At the same time, let’s be clear about all this: this issue is more, much more than a “Jewish-Moslem”, “Israel-Palestinian” concern. It has emerged as a great universal humanitarian concern, similar in some ways to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and it is in this manner, that Israel’s treatment and oppression of the Palestinian people is increasingly understood…and not all the clever spin of Israel’s p.r. machine has been able to stop that. Nor will it be able to now nor in the future. The sympathy, support for the just struggle of the Palestinian people to create their own independent and viable state will continue.

I remember well, when I first questioned Israeli intentions and actions as a young adult…something in me cracked. It was as if the bubble I was living in – the Israel I wanted to believe existed, but didn’t, could never be reconstructed in my mind. Myth and reality. I’ll take reality every time, painful as it might be. Were the dollars I gave enthusiastically as a pre-Bar Mitzvah kid being used to plant trees or buy bullets for the Israeli military? From that point on – I was 23 – since, I have essentially always been suspicious of Israeli P.R., propaganda, actions and wondered, what about the Palestinians? I have seen the same process in others – for some it was the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon which resulted in the horrific massacre at Sabre and Chatilla camps, conducted it is true by Lebanese fascist elements, but directed by Ariel Sharon, Israel’s military leader at the time and later prime minister. And now, as the bombs rein down on Gaza, and ultra-orthodox Israeli rabbis call for nothing short of the extermination of the Palestinians there,  I hear other Jewish voices, expressing a deep pain, angst as they come to grips with the reality of “the Zionist project.”

Funny, I believe both Kazerooni and I made the points we wanted to make in this podcast…but after the program was over and I was thinking about it, I concluded that some of the more profound remarks were made by long time friend and companero, RonForthofer, who called in. His main point was that the goal of this Israeli war against Gaza was to make life so miserable for the Palestinians there, the destruction of virtually the entire infrastructure, that organized life there would simply collapse (no electricity, less and less drinkable water, all institutions of modern life – schools, hospitals, etc) and that the goal here is an ethnic cleansing. Ibrahim K spoke about how the Israeli authorities keep close track of the caloric intake of Gaza residents, and like the Nazis did at Leningrad,  are trying to keep the Palestinian Gazan diet at levels barely above that necessary to sustain life. The whole idea is to trigger a complete collapse of life in Gaza, sometimes slowly by the stranglehold Israel (and Egypt) conduct against Gaza; sometimes more quickly as with the current genocidal madness military campaign.