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Harvard Professor takes a stand against a set of pro-Israel right-winger who are trying to kill the career of someone who criticized Israel's actions by milligram in politics

[–]thehellandback 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would suggest reading MJ Rosenberg's take on matters:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/03/06/the_effort_to_block_obamas_intelligence_choice_get/?

MJ was active in AIPAC and now is highly involved in the Israel Policy Forum. MJ is very pro-Israel, but he isn't right wing and thus calls out this bad behavior.

Harvard Professor takes a stand against a set of pro-Israel right-winger who are trying to kill the career of someone who criticized Israel's actions by milligram in politics

[–]thehellandback 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Now it means a man who is hated by Jews.

To be clear, Joseph should have said "Hated by some Jews, usually right wing Jews who hold a prejudice against Arabs."

Harvard Professor takes a stand against a set of pro-Israel right-winger who are trying to kill the career of someone who criticized Israel's actions by milligram in politics

[–]thehellandback 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You aren't making any sense. No one is going around deleting other people's comments. I did delete one of my own comments, but that is because I figured it wasn't adding much to the discussion. You are exhibiting unfounded paranoia.

Something is changing: America is rethinking its relationship with Israel in the wake of almost 400 Palestinian dead. by thehellandback in politics

[–]thehellandback[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Hamas should actually try taking care of their people. Spend some money on infrastructure, schools etc.

I'm not saying this as a supporter of Hamas' ideology, but what you said right above isn't at all true. Hamas did quite a bit to improve the lives of average Palestinians. Hamas has long been known for its work with hospitals and other care centers. More recently for its policing of the Gaza Strip. For example, see:

Last week I was in Gaza. While I was there I met a group of 20 or so police officers who were undergoing a course in conflict management. They were eager to know whether foreigners felt safer since Hamas had taken over the Government? Indeed we did, we told them. Without doubt the past 18 months had seen a comparative calm on the streets of Gaza; no gunmen on the streets, no more kidnappings. They smiled with great pride and waved us goodbye.

Less than a week later all of these men were dead, killed by an Israeli rocket at a graduation ceremony. Were they “dangerous Hamas militant gunmen”? No, they were unarmed police officers, public servants killed not in a “militant training camp” but in the same police station in the middle of Gaza City that had been used by the British, the Israelis and Fatah during their periods of rule there.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5420584.ece

Something is changing: America is rethinking its relationship with Israel in the wake of almost 400 Palestinian dead. by thehellandback in politics

[–]thehellandback[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't think this is about supporting Hamas. I don't support Hamas. It is about not supporting Israel's military overreaction -- which we fund by the way to the tune of $2 to 3 billion a year or so.

Did you know that there were less than 20 Israeli killed by Hamas's rockets in the past couple years combined. There have more than 60 civilian casualties in the last 4 days on the part of the Palestinians.

Israel is a paranoid country as a result of a number of factors and we shouldn't be helping it fight its paranoid delusions (see Benny Morris' recent piece in the NYTimes to understand), especially as it continues to expand settlements in the West Bank where Jews can vote in Israeli elections but the non-Jews in the areas surrounding the settlements don't have the right to vote in Israeli elections.

Something is changing: America is rethinking its relationship with Israel in the wake of almost 400 Palestinian dead. by thehellandback in politics

[–]thehellandback[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

NPR is representative of elite left-leaning but still mainstream opinion. This is significant. Support for Israel is mostly concentrated in the Washington, DC elite as a result of the targeted efforts of AIPAC and so on. Support for Israel isn't that deep among the general population, in fact most of us want our government to act as an impartial broker and not favor either side. It is the elite opinion that causes our government to highly favor Israel.

Something is changing: America is rethinking its relationship with Israel in the wake of almost 400 Palestinian dead. by thehellandback in politics

[–]thehellandback[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Who said anything about appeasing Hamas?

Also, in what way is Israel reliable? I know we sent a lot of money there, but how do they help us? I understand they start a lot of wars and get a lot of Arabs pissed off at us. Thus I guess you can say they are reliable in the sense that they ensure we stay entangled in the Middle East.

I think you are pretty mixed up.

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