There we go again. Slaughtering civilians in a country that presents absolutely no danger to our ourselves, our military bases, or our international hegemony. It is hard not to think about what a bully our nation has become. We obey no international rules about killing women and children, or destroying any number of hospitals and colleges. We are the Death Star home of Darth Vader, that ominous murderer of peace on earth.
For people like me who always cheer for the underdog, disliking one's own country has become inescapable. I think about those 20,000 children killed by US bombs and drones. Or about the hundreds of reporters assassinated. I think about how racist and criminally insane our one true friend in the world really is. The people of the earth understand what we have become. In fact we have been coming to that conclusion ourselves.
Can we disarm Israel, and end its 75 years of Palestinian extermination? Would that be enough to regain our basic humanity? Would our grandchildren forgive us when pictures of starving children came up in their Social Studies books? Will their beloved nation ultimately do the right thing? Or will we as a people join the dark side, and take our place with the monsters of the Death Star?
We can start with shaming any member of Congress who takes Israeli bribes. How about Pat Ryan, who talks about human rights but received a quarter of a million in Death Star funds last year?
Fred Nagel
Reclaiming our basic humanity
The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians
To the NYT Editor:
Thank you so much for publishing Nicholas Kristof's piece The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians. The sexual violence Palestinians who fall into the hands of the Israeli military and/or the prison system is almost never discussed, but is deeply felt in Palestinian society. I shared your article with a friend who was subject to 14 months of administrative detention and ultimately released with no charges. He shared with me some of his experiences which included sexual abuse with pictures taken by his abusers (as well as his losing 1/3 of his body weight from starvation). His wise comment to me, "The shame is not mine, it is theirs."
The Israeli prison authorities' immediate and furious denials responding to the article are just par for the course for a government that rarely investigates abuses of power and never actually holds anyone accountable.
And thank you for pointing out that our tax dollars support these abuses so we are complicit. I would add that state treasurers and controllers like NYS' Tom DiNapoli who have purchased large amounts of Israel Bonds are also complicit.
Again, Thank you. It won't be easy to stand up to the response but if you can, it will be an important demonstration of what journalistic integrity looks like.
Sincerely,
Felice
The Last Chapter
No matter where a Social Studies curriculum starts, it always ends up in the same place. It can begin with Athens and Sparta, or the fall of the Roman Empire. It can explore the Industrial Revolution, the Renaissance or the Holocaust. But no matter where these courses start, they all culminate in the ascendance of the United States. At the end, students and teachers join in hoping that the mass murders of history will somehow melt away under our country's benevolent world order.
In the spirit of human advancement, students explore the end of slavery, but not the 100 years of Jim Crow that followed. They celebrate the American flag on Iwo Jima, but not the two nuclear explosions that wiped out hundreds of thousands. We can all agree that the barbarism of the past will certainly give way to the American dream of human rights and world peace. Our Judeo-Christian leaders fill us with thoughts of a better world.
Except that Israel and the US are perpetrators of the worst genocide of the twenty first century. Hundreds of thousands are being slaughtered, a godless crime against humanity. Is this the Judeo-Christian alliance we are urged to glorify? The empire makes the bombs, and the colony drops them on its helpless victims. The empire manufactures the bullets that the Israel Defense Force shoots through the heads of Palestinian reporters, doctors, and ambulance drivers. And through the heads of the children. Perhaps Moloch, the ancient deity of child sacrifice, is really the last chapter of our curriculum.
Fred Nagel
Rhinebeck, NY 12572
845 430 4676