Jak's View From Vancouver

Entering The Terrorist Phase

Thirty-seven years ago, on 10th February, three Palestinians attacked El Al passengers with guns and grenades at Munich airport.  One Israeli was killed and 11 were wounded.  The three attackers were captured and arrested.  The Action Organization for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility.  This can be considered the opening shot in what became the public terrorist phase of the Palestine-Israeli conflict.

Hypocrisy and Democracy

As an anarchist, it is right good fun watching the leaders of the "democratic" world condemning the results of a free and fair election in Palestine today.  Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel made the basic claim:

"Hamas is surely not a democratic movement."

Surely, Mr Weisel, if a party receives the most votes in a free and fair election, that is a better definition of a "democratic movement" than anything you might be thinking of.  And Bush, not surprisingly, said, in effect, that the current regime in Gaza should essentially ignore the results of the election:

"[Abbas] is in power, we'd like him to stay in office."

Well I'm sorry, George.  Perhaps you missed the part in your civics class where the folks who get the most votes get to be in power, and the people who don't, get to leave.  How would it have been if your Daddy had decided to stay in office even after he was spanked by Bill Clinton and the voters?  Chaos, eh?

The Secretary of Hypocrisy, Condi Rice, dismissing the results, claimed that:

"You cannot have one foot in politics and another in terror."

She forgets, of course, that such a description fits many of the regimes and organizations that the United States has supported vigorously over the years -- not least the Mujahaddin and then Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.  Moreover, it is a description that accurately reflects the US's own position on so many issues. 

Hypocrisy on so many levels.  It's fun to watch the crazy people dance.

Perverted Irony

While it has always been true that Israel -- exactly like its sponsor, the USA -- was founded on the basis of brutal ethnic cleansing, and developed a streak of racism a mile wide, it has been rare for these naked truths to bubble to the surface of public debate within the country. That seems to have changed.

As reported by Haaretz, a large majority of Israelis surveyed now want a racially pure country, with Arab-Israelis losing their civil rights and actively encouraged to leave Israel.

"[A] majority of the Jewish public in Israel - 63.7 percent - believes that the government should encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate from Israel ... The majority of Jewish respondents, 55.3 percent, said Israeli Arabs endangered national security, while 45.3 percent of those polled said they supported revoking Israeli Arabs' right to vote and hold political office ... Compared to similar polls conducted in 2001 and 2003, the current survey indicates an increase in the public's extremism."

I guess it won't be long now before Bush (or Kerry, it matters little which in this case) comes out in favour of a plan (probably inspired by a brutal Netanyahu, having finally shoved Sharon aside) calling for the complete elimination of native non-Jewish Palestinians from a Greater Israel.

Of course, the Jews know all about racist legislation that takes away civil rights and forces mass emigration. It cost them six million of their own. It is amazing to me, almost unbelievable, that they should be so willing to do the same thing to others.