Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Some of the more naive or deceptive attendees at some of the Pro-Hamas events that have been going on over the past days like to try to claim that they support something called Gaza, but not Hamas itself or terrorism, and even that they are against violence, not necessarily Israel itself. There is ample evidence at the rallies themselves, both in the signage, the statements of the speakers and the chants that this is not true ("From the River to the Sea...", "60 Years of Occupation", "Resistance is Justified", "We are all Hamas", etc...). We all know what face "resistance" takes -- what it means -- right? It means terror and the intentional targeting of civilians. That's what it is.
I thought the following quotes from a couple of the organizers of last Saturday's event were revealing as to showing rather clearly what these demonstrations are about.
One of the organizers, Tom Arabia, writes right on the group's FaceBook page:
...It's not a moral question so much as an objective fact that without justice for Palestinians and with the continued existence of Israel, there will be no peace
On the group's Google Group discussion, in a discussion about dumping a member who is tepid about their extremist views, the Somerville Divestment Project's John Spritzler (who already said at the rally, from the stage, that the SDP supports "armed resistance") says:
...Israel should not exist...
To the point. It's not about how Israel fights, or what weapons it uses, or how long it waits, or the nature of its terrorist enemy, or whether it has good or bad PR...it's about existence. That's what we're seeing.
And we repeat, again and again, that the goal of Hamas is the eradication of Israel. They make no secret of it, goodness knows... but still we must trumpet to the skies, every time they say it.
And some well-meaning idiots still don't get it. I heard someone just the other day, earnestly explaining to his child that Hamas is a social-services organization.
Israel is currently fighting Hamas. One side protects children as best it can; the other side glories in childrens' deaths. One side is accountable to its electorate and its courts and its independent press, and as such has a vested interest in staying honest; the other side is beholden to nobody, and lies shamelessly for the slightest advantage.
You'd think that would be enough, right there, for a moral person to choose sides. Unfortunately, it's not.
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
Maybe the likes of Tom Arabia and John Spritzler shouldn't exist, or should be rotting in jail.
Except that, of course, the freedom of speech claim would be used.
However, a legal argument could be made that they are calling for a genocide, and such claims are probably illegal in the U.S., after all.
Why aren't both of them in Gaza now, helping their pet terrorists? Then they could go up in a fiery flash along with their comrades-in-arms to meet their 72 dark-eyed virgins when they are hit by the IDF.
Such sick bastards ...
The quote takes him out of context a bit. What he actually says is that Israel shouldn't exist as a Jewish state.
This is worse, really, because he's objecting to the very idea of ANY jewish state anywhere. But he's apparently fine with all the Muslim and Christian and Buddhist states, most of which provide weaker guarantees of freedom of religion than Israel does.
It ought to be antisemitism laid bare. But so many still seem to be duped.
tom
In my opinion, these people aren't "well-meaning idiots", they're evil. Let's not confuse the two.