While it creates as many problems as it solves, I decided long ago to
divest myself of any political Party.
It's the same reason I am an Agnostic, and do not associate with any
"Formal" religion. I have no problem with people laying out their
positions and arguing their arguments. I learn from this. But far
too often the next step is to demand my agreement. Frankly, at least
from my quick read, this article is pure Crap.
And just as an aside, I doubt that there is an increased hatred of
Jews today. The Jewish People have been persecuted as far back as
that day Jesus was nailed to a cross. They have been driven from one
nation only to be driven from the next one...and the next. While this
is not very Christian or Humane, the Jews are not alone in this Human
short coming of the need to butcher one another. Over and over
history is filled with the violence of one People against another.
Does our treatment of the Original Occupants, the American Indian,
living on this land ring a bell?
But it goes back through history, hordes of warriors falling upon
innocent folks, and slaughtering them, down to the last child. Mark
my words, Israel was not established out of some guilt for the way
nations were treating Jews. As nice a thing as that might be, Israel
would never have come into being if that were what drove our support.
Israel is our "remote stronghold" in the Middle East. We helped set
up the new nation, we armed and trained them, and we will support them
just so long as they are of value to us. But once their value is no
longer important, or the American Corporate Empire falls, Israel will
find itself once again, a population of Jews without a safe haven.
And their persecution will begin all over again.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/12/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This is getting worse and worse and it is actually distressing me. I
cannot support this position. What the hell has happened inside the SWP?
http://themilitant.com/2017/8103/810301.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 81/No. 3 January 16, 2017
(lead article, commentary)
Obama’s attacks on Israel boost Jew-hatred
BY EMMA JOHNSON
AND JOHN STUDER
The decision by the lame-duck administration of President Barack Obama
to allow passage of a Dec. 23 United Nations Security Council resolution
condemning Israel weakens both the right of Israel to exist and the
fight for the national interests of the Palestinian people. It gives the
green light to anti-Semitic currents that call for destruction of the
Jewish state — including Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions forces — and
to those like reactionary Hamas in the Palestinian Gaza Strip that
organizes terror actions against Jews in Israel and in West Bank
settlements. And it encourages aggressive anti-Arab currents in Israel.
The U.N. resolution, which Republican President-elect Donald Trump urged
Obama to veto, states that “the establishment by Israel of settlements
in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East
Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation
under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the
two-State solution.”
Secretary of State John Kerry added insult to injury in a 70-minute
lecture Dec. 28 blaming Tel Aviv for sinking the prospect of a
negotiated peace settlement and calling the coalition government led by
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the most right wing in Israeli
history, with an agenda driven by the most extreme elements.”
Kerry’s critique excoriated Tel Aviv for robbing Obama of his “legacy,”
ignoring his advice and instructions for what they should do. Like the
liberals and those on the petty-bourgeois left who are aghast at U.S.
workers who rejected Hillary Clinton and voted for Donald Trump, Obama
and his meritocratic brethren find it unfathomable that Netanyahu
doesn’t jump to follow their proscriptions for Israeli policy.
The key question here is the Jewish question, the right of Israel to
exist as a homeland for Jews, and the right to return to Israel for Jews
everywhere in a world where Jew-hatred is on the rise. As the crisis of
capitalism and the class struggle deepen, history teaches, the
capitalists lose confidence that “normal” methods will defend their
rule, and they turn to fascist terror against the working class. Key to
this is fanning Jew-hatred and pogroms to divert the toilers from
fighting for power.
The need for a refuge for the Jews was etched in the consciousness of
workers around the world during the second imperialist world slaughter
when the Nazis marched across Europe, annihilating 6 million Jews —
two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe. The capitalist rulers in
Washington and across Europe closed their borders to Jews who tried to
flee the Holocaust.
Out of this catastrophe Israel was established. The world Jewish
population has still not reached its prewar level. In 1939 there were
almost 17 million Jews worldwide, largely in Europe. Today the number is
just over 14 million.
“Over 2,000 years they were subjected to terrible persecution and then
to the pogroms,” Fidel Castro, the historic leader of the Cuban
Revolution, said of the Jewish people in 2010. “I think their culture
and religion kept them together as a nation.”
The fight between Israeli authorities and the lame-duck Obama
administration takes place as political alliances among capitalist
regimes in the Middle East are undergoing tectonic shifts. Tehran has
increased its military presence and political influence from Afghanistan
to Lebanon. Shiite and Sunni-led regimes are lining up against each
other. As Washington’s influence declines, Moscow attempts to move in.
Israel is a Mideast nation. Today Tel Aviv is forced to take another
look at who are its allies and its enemies. While most governments in
the Mideast do not recognize Israel, many Sunni-led regimes, including
Saudi Arabia and Jordan, are looking to work with Tel Aviv, sharing
common interests in blocking Tehran.
Last year the Israeli government resumed diplomatic relations with
Turkey after a six-year freeze following a deadly Israeli raid on a
Turkish ship delivering aid to Gaza.
Tel Aviv is warming up to Moscow and looking to closer relations with
the incoming U.S. administration of Donald Trump.
Jew-hatred on the rise
Jew-hatred and anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise in many parts of the
world. That’s why the right of Israel to exist and of Jews anywhere to
live there is even more important today. And such a view is the only
road to rebuild a movement capable of winning recognition of a
Palestinian state today, opening the door to fight for a contiguous,
viable homeland for the Palestinian people.
The U.N. resolution encourages the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
campaign, which has growing support in U.S. and European liberal,
academic and governmental milieus. BDS supporters seek to make an
international pariah of Israel, treating its Jewish population as one
reactionary mass and labeling it an “apartheid state.” They demand
boycotting Israeli goods and shutting down artistic, musical and
academic exchanges with Israel.
But Israel today bears no resemblance to apartheid South Africa, and the
position of Jews there and worldwide has no comparison to the murderous
Boer overlords who ruled Pretoria before Nelson Mandela.
Hamas and Palestinian Authority leaders welcomed the U.N. resolution and
Kerry’s speech. This is in line with the course they have followed for
decades, including using terror attacks to try to get the attention of
Washington and other imperialist powers to pressure Tel Aviv. This
course relies on turning the Palestinian masses into passive bystanders.
To defend Jews both in Israel and worldwide, and the only road that can
open the door to mobilizing Palestinian workers and farmers to fight for
their rights, requires recognition of the state of Israel.
Related articles:
Capitalist rulers in Mideast shift allies while toilers face catastrophe
Fidel Castro: Israel has the right to exist as Jewish state
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