A heartbreaking lack of reason
July 25th, 2014 | 
Author: I’m a little embarrassed.
I do hope you enjoy my etchings because of my unapologetic approach when taking on the big issues. I just love the big cats. I confess I’ve been hiding on this one. My reluctance is informed by personal relationships and the deafening heat of the controversy lately. The burning incandescence on social media alone singed me enough to back way off.
Maybe I owe you. MaybeI feel an obligation. I owe myself. I struggled with objectivity and visceral anger. I think I’ve been able to open the aperture wide enough to allow the big picture. Had to let lots of light in. I understand this will chap a lot of asses, but I need to get it off my chest while my hand is steady enough to share my thoughts.
There is no question that the situation between Israel and Palestine is a tragedy beyond imagination for anyone not experiencing it firsthand.
A closed loop of violence leading to more violence. A zero sum game. A vicious cycle of carnage and destruction that is so profound, so utterly horrifying that most of us can not bare to look.
But still, there are those of us who can stare and revel and relish.
It is a vacuum of logic. No matter what the more moderate rhetoric coming from either side asserts, the ultimate goal is the annihilation of the opposing side. Neither side will own satisfaction without the complete extinction of the other. They’ve both said as much. It’s insane.
And for what?
Centuries, sometimes millennia old religious myths. It’s gotta be one of the dumbest, most ridiculous and pointless campaigns in human history. What’s new?
Israel finds itself in the position of rolling tanks to a water balloon fight. Because they can. And they do. Not even close to what any sane observer would call a measured response. Are they guilty of human atrocity and war crimes?
You bet your ass they are.
Kinda like the US in Iraq.
Would Hamas take it upon themselves to engage in exactly the same level of human vivisection if they were wearing the same shoe of absolute military superiority and total economic dominance?
In a fucking heart beat.
Doth both very bad actors have blood on their hands? The intentional blood of their own people on their hands? Let me just say they are both so festooned with gore one would be hard pressed to tell them apart. One might compare numbers but it occurs to me that’s like comparing dicks.
Is the US complicit? Yes, we are guilty as hell. We fucking fund it.
Is Palestine? Absolute Islamic fundamentalist whack jobs. Quite a bit like Christians.
Is the media culpable by only covering the very extreme edges and without humanity, fomenting polarization as rocket fuel for the inferno?
Absofuckinglutely.
To be clear, I’m not blaming anybody, I’m blaming everybody.
From the Hamas Charter:
“….. “our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious” and calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.” -Wikiepedia
“The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews [and kill them]; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!” -Wikepedia
“Every day, official Palestinian television calls Jews “rats” and “animals.” This is repugnant. On the official Facebook page of Palestinian schools, one sees photographs of Hitler, and cartoons that illustrate the hadith (statements attributed to the prophet Mohammed) saying that Muslims must kill the Jews before the Last Judgment (“Yom al-Din”).” -The Washington Institute
As for Israel:
” [The Palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs.” Menachem Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, “Begin and the Beasts”. New Statesman, 25 June 1982.
“When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle.” Raphael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, New York Times, 14 April 1983.
“We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves.” Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv, October 1983.
“One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail.” — Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, Feb. 27, 1994 [Source: N.Y. Times, Feb. 28, 1994, p. 1]
Am I supposed to pick a dog in this hunt?
Explosive murderous hate based exclusively on bullshit undiluted Santa in the sky religious crap.
This cannot possibly end well because logic has no purchase.
The question is, how can it possibly end?
It certainly shows no sign.
Will there ever be a postmortem?
When are we, as a mere single species on this tiny blue marble, going to gain some humility and grow the fuck up?
It is beyond absurd. It is beyond disgusting. There are no words.
A heartbreaking lack of reason.
Drinks for my friends.
Posted in Uncategorized
Amen! So to speak.
You are so absolutely right! Neither side is going to give up anything until they are absolutely positive that every single grievance and revenge on their list has been addressed. Tit-for-tat will go on forever! I, too, blame both sides. However, I also expect that the stronger powers in such a situation should have a larger responsibility to work towards resolving the issues. As long as the US keeps giving Israel a blank check of support, Israel will never feel that responsibility.
The United State gives Palestine money as well. It is stupid to pick a side when this conflict has gone on for centuries. Why dont the Palestinians leave if they are such victims? They are surrounded by other Arab countries. Wont these Arab countries take them in? But if Israel is just as guilty, why have they not wiped out every Palestinian in Israel, because they absolutely have the power? They are actually holding back, trying to get the other side to give up and stop sending rockets, without actually annihilating every one of them. Please think about that when you say both sides are with equal blame. And why dont other Arab countries help the Palestinians if they are such victims?
They don’t leave because it is their county. And the conflict has only been going on since Israel was made a state; not centuries. The irony is that they are all probably distant cousins.
Why do people keep saying “this has gone on for centuries”? This started during World War I, With the occupation and eventual British Mandate over captured portions of the Ottoman Empire. The establishment of a homeland in Palestine for the Zionist movement was proposed in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. This was offered as a reward to the Zionists if they could convince “world Jewery” to fight on their side against Germany, the Austro Hungarian and Ottoman empires. It was also considered to be a helpful ploy to ease America into the war as President Woodrow Wilson two most influential advisors were themselves pro zionist. To further complicate the matter British had previously promised future control of the same region to the Arabs (Facilitated by T.E. Laurence) if they would turn on the Ottoman empire. Before all this Jews, Arabs and Christians lived peaceably in the region.
Thanks for writing this Michael.
I’ve been trying to put this out there for weeks now and getting attacked from so called friends for expressing compassion for those being slaughtered. It seems my friends don’t want me to express an opinion unless it’s theirs. Well I do have an opinion and it’s not for the faint of heart… This is an old war started when the Palestinians were herded from their land and cast out. Their mosque sits on so called Israeli land now and they live in squalor because of the embargo’s. I’m thinking regardless of of the religion, nationality etc. you’d be angry too and that’s exactly how they fell into the hands of HAMAS.
Now in Israel they seem to forget this piece of the puzzle and have to defend themselves against HAMAS who are terrorists fighting to get their land back. Forgetting that important piece allows them not to come to terms with why they are fighting at all.
All I see is suffering, little children, women, men who are not part of the terrorist group but who WILL be now after this slaughter. I don’t have the answer but I do think the pain and suffering should be acknowledged and said out loud. I have Jewish friends, I live across the river from NY in a very mixed community of Caucasian, Middle Eastern, Asian and African American people in a highrise community. I don’t live in a bubble..
Yes America has been compliant for many, many years and I guess that’s politics but it’s ugly. Just look into the eyes of those dying children and tell me I shouldn’t feel compassion… I’m sick of watching this day after day, night after night. I want it to stop.
Good post….Reading the background history of the mid-east…& Israel…for centuries BC you can come to the conclusion there never was peace in that region.
The question is asked here whether Hamas would do as Israel has done if Hamas had the military advantage enjoyed by Israel, and the answer was, yes, they would do as Israel has done. I beg to differ. Given the opportunity, Hamas would wipe Israel from the face of the earth, and they have always
said so. That is a very big difference, and not understanding the truth of this statement kind of invalidates the whole article. I can only imagine what America would do if She were being lamely attacked by, say, Cuba, or what I would do if the neighbors dog nipped at my ankles every time I left my house. The dog would get kicked, and Cuba would lose its right to determine its own destiny.
One thing that you are in denial about is that the Palestinians think the way you do and deep down want peace.They want to dotrsey you with every last fiber in their being.You must remember while you might live in the 21st century, they still pretty much live in the 6th century so you need to read your history books to find out how people treated people back then.
Cogent, and analytical. And right on the nose, Michael.
Rhonda Z.
Let’s not forget this wretched quip from just a few days ago: “Israel must attack Gaza even more mercilessly, expel the population and resettle the territory with Jews,” Moshe Feiglin deputy speaker of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/expel-palestinians-populate-gaza-jews-says-knesset-deputy-speaker
At first I thought the article was about rebus and dems ;D
Didn’t we set Israel up right there where we knew it would inflame the Arab Countries after the WW2 to create a polarized and consistent war state?? A timeless moneymaker for the War Machine!!!
Don’t forget the Russian’s complicity. They fund the Hamas and supply all the more advanced rockets and the technology and parts to assemble the more primitive ones.
All excellent comments here. Michael’s essay puts what appears to be an obvious situation in regards to a crises of humanity into clearer perspective. I agree, it is a “zero sum game,” and I hadn’t thought of it that way. That is, probably, Netanyahu’s approach.
While the quotes from the Hamas charter are probably accurate, the quotes from Israeli leaders are mostly old and not in context. Begin, for example, was likely referring to Palestinians who had attacked and instigated violence, not all Palestinian people, or, if he was referring to an entire people, that was likely because of frustration with the threats and violence.
When faced with an existential crises that is continual and lasts over many generations, the kind of rhetoric pasted in there really just shouldn’t be a surprise. Statements made in the Knesset these days shouldn’t be a surprise, either. There has been a disturbing rise in both the influence and in the future population of radical, ultra-orthodox racist fanatics.
There are a couple of comments that are incorrect and imply that the Palestinians and the Arabs would be peaceful if only they weren’t subjugated and oppressed by Israel. Actually, if the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were allowed basic rights and freedoms, they would immediately utilize tactics of terrorism and war to kill Jews. Israel is a security state. Israelis have been living in relative comfort only because Israeli intelligence and military is extraordinary.
I also don’t agree that Jews went into Palestine and outright stole a nation from a people and made it their own. I believe that the notion that Palestine was a nation with a distinct culture, established government, international relations, cities and its own economy is false. I may be wrong, but what I believe is that Bedouin nomadic Arabs populated lands across the Middle East and only claimed Palestine as the “Palestinian” people and as their own nation stolen from them as part of the overall Arab, Persian and Muslim revolt against the establishment of a Jewish nation. Therefore, to assert that “they don’t leave because it is their own country” is just plainly false. There has yet to be a Palestinian country established because the Palestinians have not been willing nor able to negotiate that. The reason? Because they have refused to accept and to promise peace.
Now we have an Israeli government and complicit arms dealing and funding nations led mostly by the USA that has decided to engage in this zero sum game with Hamas in Gaza. It’s difficult to offer solutions with the likes of Netanyahu and his neo-con, fanatical orthodox and entirely racist thugs.
I simply advocate for avoiding the finger pointing and the blaming and the revisionist histories and instead focusing on what our country and other international powers in the West can do to bring about a more sustainable regard for humanity. With what is going on with slaughters all throughout the Muslim world and in Latin America, it seems that most of us, including those in leadership, have become entirely jaded and are waiting for the last of the matches to burn out in the Middle East at least for a little while.
The pervasive injustice and lack of humanity in Central America and in Mexico as well should not be regarded simply as the way it’s been and always be. US policies and meddling by the CIA have caused what an intelligence report called “blowback” all over the world, and we’re mostly watching others suffer horrifically as a result.
What etchings?
At what point does a country becmoe “real”? I think we agree on the fact that everyone knows its real, whether they accept it or not. That’s the point, it is there, so I think its wise to stop dealing with the rhetorics complicating any form of negotiations, and move on to making realistic deals.I am sure there are people out there who think timbuktu or germany shouldn’t exist, I know for a fact i disapprove of my neighbour’s cat’s existance – but I won’t go all over the media talking about how it shouldn’t be, I’ll go to my neighbour and make a settlement. This cat’s all over the place, making everything messy.