Hedges on Gaza

Here's Chris Hedges on Israel's 'Crime Against Humanity' in Gaza.  As I mentioned a few days ago, the quote is from the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Richard Falk.  Israel's response to Falk's criticism was to expel him from the country; Falk himself is Jewish, but apparently in Israel blood isn't thicker than keeping your damn mouth shut.

For another example of what Falk has done to so anger the Sparta of the Middle East, see this article of his ("Slouching toward a Palestinian Holocaust").

I sometimes feel bad for Israel because it was unfortunate enough to have its colonial period overlap with a tremendous awakening in the world to the primacy of human rights. But as much as Israelis might want to turn the clock back so they can kill and steal in peace, it's just not going to happen—and Israel will remain a pariah (and the primary source of anti-Semitism) until it finally gives up on its decades-long project of ethnic cleansing.

Comments

[Donald Johnson]

I was about to link to that NYT story about Falk's expulsion, not realizing it was the link in your post. It shows the NYT in its usual "objective" style, where they show little interest in whether Falk's claims are correct and lots of interest in critics of Falk. And they mention his interest in 9/11 conspiracies, but not the fact that he wrote two books critical of the NYT, one on its coverage of the Iraq War and the other on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[Duncan]

Is that the same Richard Falk who wrote an article for the Nation defending Bush's attack on Afghanistan, then tried to exculpate himself by saying that he'd been misled by Bush? (And then changed his mind again and endorsed the attack, if I recall correctly.)

Here's the operative line from Falk's letter to the Nation, 26 November 2001:

"I was misled by the language of George W. Bush, Colin Powell and others, which seemed at the time to exhibit an understanding that this was a drastically different kind of war that required a core reliance on nonmilitary approaches."

Just as I was misled by the language of the e-mail I received from a Nigerian banker, which seemed at the time in exhibit a willingness to send me millions of dollars.

[John Caruso]

Yeah, I enjoyed the NYT article as well; they're always such a dependable source of mainstream talking points.

Duncan, Dennis Perrin was apparently a big fan of attacking Afghanistan as well. At least they both recanted. Falk's always been consistent(ly good) on Israel, as far as I know.

[KDelphi]

I agree, John...I saw the NYT article , and TD--I will check out the other one.

I "killed my keyboard" and had to take it apart--miss me? lol

My brother in law is Jewish. He is not Zionist, however, and he feels that the current actions (and former) of Israel, are doing Hebrew people NO GOOD AT ALL!

The "second Lebanon War" was one particularly horrid example of Israel occupation--even though we were behaving in much the same way in Iraq at the time--that its neither here nor there. In response , Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said, "Arab resistance against Israel would continue to grow stronger". PM Olmert, and plenty of others resgined over what HRC and Amnesty Intl both called WAR CRIMES>

BTW--we gave $2.4 billion in arms to Israel last year alone, and, there is a plan to give $30, now through 2010. I do not hear Obama saying he wil not follow up.

[Donald Johnson]

My comment seems to have disappeared. Anyway, here's a link to an interview with Falk, about his UN role and his (lack of a) position about 9/11. It turns out he's not a 9/11 truther--he thinks there are discrepancies in the official accounts, but doesn't take a position on it, except that further investigation is warranted. But it's not high on his personal interest list.

I think Al Qaeda did it, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are embarrassing facts still being covered up.

Link