But let's not deceive ourselves (though I don't think there's much self-deception actually going on, not at least on the Zionists' part): they don't give a damn for the Georgians. The situation in the Caucasus interests them only as a means to divert attention from the oppression of the Palestinians and accuse Israel's critics of (surprise, surprise) antisemitism.
The reasoning goes as follows: Israel critics don't talk about Russia; that's double standards and singling out for demonization; since that demonization is directed against the Jewish state, they're antisemites. Why do they criticize Israel and not China over the Tibet, Sudan over Darfur, India over Cachemira (although with the increasing ties between Israel and India the latter example is being dropped)?
Of course, we could just answer "because we want to." No one's under any obligation to write a treatise on human rights abuses whenever he denounces a particular case. There exist certain absolutes in war (for instance: not using children as human shields), and there's nothing wrong with pointing out Israel's breaking of those rules, even if other countries also break them.
Another possible answer is that while many countries violate human rights, Israel is the only one that does so while making a claim on the high moral ground. The phrase "we've got the most moral army in the world" has been ritually repeated by all Israeli Prime Ministers and Presidents since I have use of memory. Apparently Zionists want to enjoy the right to proclaim themselves the most moral ones, but don't accept an audit on the claim's validity.
But the most relevant point is that these Zionist complaints are disingenuous. Certain peoples attract more attention than others, and the Jewish people is one of them. Thus, the actions of the State that claims to represent all Jews get more coverage than those of other countries. But --and this is what Zionists pretend not to see-- crimes committed against Jews also get far more attention.
The emblematic example is the Holocaust. While many peoples have been victims of genocide, only the Jewish people saw the perpetrators prosecuted and executed; only the Jewish people got reparations in the order of hundreds of billions of current dollars; only the Jewish people's genocide is recognized by all Western nations; and only Holocaust deniers are shunned (by comparison, Armenian Genocide denier Bernard Lewis was honored by the American Congress).
And with regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict, whereas Israeli atrocities get ample coverage, it is also true that Palestinian terrorism is immensely --immensely-- more publicized than that carried out by other peoples against other countries.
Let's see an example. In March this year, a Palestinian terrorist murdered 8 students at Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Talmudic academy. This was the cover of Argentina's foremost daily, Clarín (CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE):
The attack is reported on top right.
Meanwhile, in June this year, terrorists from the Tamil Eelam Liberation Tigers group, in Sri Lanka, attacked two buses killing 21 people. Since 21 are more than 8, it would seem logical for Clarín to devote to this attack a prominent space on its cover, like it did when the victims were Jewish. But (CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE):
No mention whatsoever of the attack.
Thus, we have that the day that follows a Palestinian attack, this makes headlines; but the day that follows a Tamil attack with many more casualties, no mention is made of it on the paper's cover. Under Zionist logic, there would appear to be a demonization of the Palestinians, because their attacks, and only theirs, are reported, when elsewhere in the world there are much more frequent and lethal attacks...
For my dear Zionist friends, this is Clarín's address:
Tacuarí 1840
(C1139AAN) Buenos Aires
ARGENTINA
Fax: 4309-7200/7319
cartasalpais@clarin.com
I guess they'll write immediately to ask for a fair coverage of all terrorisms.
And the day I see all Tamil attacks with more than 8 dead reported on the daily's cover, I promise, I promise I'll be the first one to demonstrate at the Russian Embassy.
6 comments:
It isn't just a matter of the victims but of the perpetrators. The Palestinians want their attacks to be publicized and the fact that they are given wide coverage is partly a function of the fact that the Palestinians are a cause celebre on the left. Sometimes news stories about Palestinian terror attacks are accompanied by pictures of the terrorist's mother crying. The Palestinians have been effective in using terror to gain publicity. Let the Tamils take an Olympic team hostage and then see what happens.
Buster, I've considered many of the same things you have in countering Israel-gets-criticized-too-much arguments. Your post put them all in one place and made me wonder why "Jewish" issues are paid more attention in official society. And why is no attention paid to the Gypsies who are more persecuted today than Jews in Europe (argh, it's that stupid whataboutery again)?
I think it boils down to the self-image Americans have of being the freedom-loving good guys who kicked the tyrants out of Europe. Even Obama subscribes to the myth that the US army can invade troubled regions and sort it out. How much would a US politician suffer if they paid lip service to history and declared it was only possible for the US to take France and West Germany because the USSR absorbed the brunt of the Nazi war machine?
Aside from the fact that we opposed Nazi and Soviet tyranny, nevermind the USSR liberated the death camps, there's now a country made up of the same people we saved fighting Arab tyrants who want to wipe them out. Not everyone spouts this cartoonishness verbatim, but it's clearly the context behind any reporting. The Israelis are the same people we saved in Europe, and on top of that they fight radical Islamists, so they're like family.
We're not going to invade Europe again and save anyone from rightwingers, and every US intervention is doomed to be a crime against humanity, but because we got to piggyback on the liberation of Europe by the same people marked for eventual genocide by the Nazis (i.e. Russians), sections of the electorate are secure knowing everything the US army does is right. And we have natural allies in the battlefield.
That's the explanation I came up with for why the Israel-Palestine conflict is over reported, though under-informed in this hemisphere. Can't speak for Argentina, tho'.
Yitzchak, remember the deranged young woman on a French train a few years ago? She wasn't even Jewish, but she claimed to have been attacked by thugs shouting antisemitic slogans. The world automatically believed her story.
I think it's a bit naïve to deny that attacks on Jews attract disproportionate attention as compared to those on other groups, like the Roma. Or did you even hear about the Democratic Alliance of Hungarian Gypsies deputy chairman Ernő Botos’s house in Tiszaroff being set on fire by neo-nazis?
Andrew, there are multiple possible explanations, but the evident conclusion is that if you're more reported on when you're the victim, you can't complain of being more reported on when you're the perpetrator. You can't have the cake and eat it.
Some good points, Yusuf, comrade.
The response to accusations that antizionists don't condemn other countries' human rights violations and the like is that, in reality, we do. The answer to, 'Why don't you condemn Russia's invasion of Georgia?' is, 'Why don't you condemn Georgia's shelling of Tskhinvali and Israel's arming and training of the Georgian military?'
Another point I often make is that the Saudi government never claims to be acting on my behalf, while the Israeli government does. This entitles me - in my view impels me - to speak out against the atrocities purported to be committed in my name.
I think it's a bit naïve to deny that attacks on Jews attract disproportionate attention as compared to those on other groups, like the Roma.
I wrote "It isn't just a matter of the victims . . ."
Anti-Semitism does get more attention than other sorts of prejudice. The Western World (and now the Global Village)has considerable self-interst in paying attention to anti-Semitism as a phenomenon as it contemplates its more self-destructive urges. The more extreme forms of anti-Zionism fit in there somewhere also.
The phrase "we've got the most moral army in the world" has been ritually repeated by all Israeli Prime Ministers and Presidents since I have use of memory.
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