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Questioning the Morality of Self Defense In Israel

July 28, 2014

I know a lot of you have been patiently waiting for me to speak out openly and honestly about what we have been witnessing in Gaza, that you’ve been hoping I would for a moment lay down the gauntlet of Libran fairness and Ambassador-driven diplomacy and just speak my mind about the horrors we have been witness to in Gaza. The truth is I have tried very very hard to be fair over the last three weeks. I have been careful and cautious with my every word and deed, respectful of all parties involved. And I promise you that in every waking hour of this conflict I have done nothing but study the issues at hand and the history behind them so that when I do speak I am doing so from an educated place. Tonight I want to honor that commitment I have made to you here in the Diaries countless times, to be always radically honest over politically correct and above all to speak from both my mind and my heart.

Almost three weeks in now and still the siege and annihilation of the people of Gaza rages on by the government of Israel. Over 1,100 Palestinian people have been killed at least in less than three weeks. Shot to death. Or their bodies blown to bits. Almost all of them civilians and nearly half of them women and children. Yet it is surprisingly calm and quiet in the United States regarding the grotesque bloodshed and blatant disregard for human life that we’ve been hearing about and witnessing.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated publicly that he is appalled by Israel’s actions and calls their “right to defend themselves” in how it has been practiced “an abomination.” This is a bold move for any high ranking member of the UN, for if there’s one thing that everyone knows once they reach a certain level in world governance, it is don’t mess with Israel. Yet this brave compassionate man felt he simply had no choice. He spoke the words that hundreds of millions of people all over the world are silently thinking to themselves and are often times afraid to say.

No less than ten different human rights organizations in Israel alone have sent letters to the Netenyahu government urging him to stop the slaughter of innocent men women and children — if not out of basic human compassion then for the sake of the country itself, for they are quite sure now that Israel has committed numerous war crimes. The United Nations itself held a vote last week regarding the same topic and the resulting majority concluded that Israel was indeed suspect of breaking innumerable Laws of the Geneva Convention and suspected of committing numerous war crimes. So they’ve sent a UN investigative team to Gaza to see for themselves.

Of course regardless of what their final determination will be–even if Israel is found guilty of breaking international laws of the Geneva Convention and committing the most atrocious war crimes, absolutely nothing substantial will happen to Israel for it. This is the harsh reality of life in the year 2014 in this day and age on planet earth. Israel is above the law. It is not justice or freedom or democracy that governs the world we live in today, any more than one to two to three hundred years ago; but as it has always been it is money and power. And Israel, this tiny little speck of a country, who’s legitimacy in the eyes of the Illuminati is iron clad but whose origin is controversial and questionable, is synonymous with the United States. And if there is one thing that all earthlings know at this time in our history, the rules and laws of the land, no matter how finely tuned or ingrained in the minds of the people, do not apply to the United States. Nor it’s allies. And Israel is ally número uno.

People all over the world, from nearly every country on earth, have called for protests in the streets — and everyday we see a new one pop up somewhere; and as well they are demanding a world government of any kind to step in and demand that Israel stop it’s murderous invasion of this impoverished little chunk of land. But not in America. For whatever reasons the American government has the majority of its sheople convinced that Israel has the right to kill men women and children in cold blood if they even “suspect” a Hamas militant is in the vicinity or general area. And if it turns out that there was no such militant, que sera sera. Last week Israeli soldiers killed an entire family of twenty-five people as they were sitting down to dinner to break their fast of the holiest Muslim holiday of the year, Ramadan. There were elderly people at that table eating their dinner, along with 13 children and three pregnant women. All of them innocent. All of them now dead.

Yes (I know what you’re thinking) these ARE horrors that are beyond the scope of even our imaginations here in the United States because we have it so good and for so long that we simply cannot even imagine it. Not even when we hear about it. Not even when we see images of it on the news or online. It’s as if we are glimpsing into another world, far far removed from our own. As if it’s nothing more than a movie. And yet these are people just like us. These are our little children whose bodies are being blown to bits all over the streets, where caring men from the community slowly hobble along sobbing and picking up the pieces of the tiny bodies bit by bit to place them in plastic bags. These are our mothers being shot and killed. These are our pregnant wives being blown up by mortar shells, wiping out two generations in one blow. And as well these are our fathers and sons and brothers who are dying.

How do we know this? How can we say such a thing if we aren’t Palestinian ourselves? There are so many different ways to answer those questions. First and foremost we have a decent sized Palestinian population right here in the United States. And these innocent civilians we see getting killed everyday are quite literally their brothers and sisters or mothers and fathers. I can only imagine how saddened they are in this moment, and how angry, watching as the country that they love and call home, the United States, does nothing to help their families. And on top of it their wounds made all the worse as they are forced to hear everyday how strongly supportive the president or Secretary of State is of “Israel’s right to defend itself”. Because even the slowest person in the room recognizes that haphazardly bombing and killing hundreds of innocent civilians on a daily basis is not defending one’s self.

If we ever had a chance of showing our Islamic fellow citizens the virtues of Christianity, we have surely blown it through this travesty of America valuing politics over human life.

How else do we know that these gunned down innocents in Gaza are our brothers and sisters? Because when it happened to us, on 9/11, we not only expected the world to empathize and grieve with us, we felt comforted and loved when they did. Why are we as Americans not repaying that debt in kind to these poor downtrodden victims of a cruel and merciless war? Why are we not showing the other the same empathy and compassion that was shown to us when we were attacked? Why do we not have troops on the ground as we have in so many areas of the world helping to evacuate civilians, bringing food, aid and medicine to the injured sick or dying? What is happening to the brave compassionate American heart that we all know and admire? Why isn’t it in Gaza right now helping lead refugees to safety as Israel bombs the hell out of this little sliver of an area — the people are literally blockaded in on all sides by walls and armed Israeli militants. For years it’s been called a modern day concentration camp by even the most conservative accounts. Yet the United States does nothing to help. But why?

Because the official stance of the United States government is that “we support Israel”. Of course the truth is that 90% or more everyday average Americans don’t have any idea WHY they are supposed to support Israel. They just hear it through the news media day in and day out and have been hearing it for fifty straight years. It’s a rallying cry for every prospective or serving American politician, right up there with “I believe in American Exceptionalism”. And in the constant beating of this strange illogical unexplained drum, Americans get a message perhaps subliminally that it isn’t safe to grieve or empathize or care about Palestinian people because it implies not supporting Israel.

Most of this is due to a great propaganda machine running a constant meme throughout the Americas that states in essence that to speak against Israel in any way is somehow an immoral, nearly criminal offense. Just try it. You’ll quickly see. America is a “free” country, except when it comes to speaking out against Israel in anyway. This is why you see politicians and wannabe politicians leap at the chance to wave their support flag for Israel whenever they’re on TV or giving an interview. Half of them don’t even know why they do it; they’re just trained to. Many more don’t have a clue about the history of the country nor the conflict with the Arabs, nor do they understand what all the fuss is about. They’ve just been warned plenty of times as we all have that to even dare speak out against Israel in any way is somehow a “very bad” thing.

This is propaganda and indoctrination at its finest. It is Madison Avenue advertising means taken to sociopolitical ends for the purposes of brainwashing an entire populace to be very afraid of being labeled an “anti-Semite” or a so called “holocaust denier”. Yes even if you’re intention is simply to question why Israel needs to indiscriminately kill so many innocent civilians, invariably someone will be soon calling you out as a holocaust denier.

Social media in the United States has been on fire for the last three weeks over this issue, pitting both newly made and lifelong friends against each other in hateful ways. As soon as one person voices empathy for the Palestinian people who have been mercilessly killed OR opposition to how Israel is doing it, one or two hapless goons will jump into the thread raving mad and screaming insults the likes of which we haven’t heard since we crushed neo-Nazis and white power skinheads a few years back. They are mean ruthless ignorant barbaric animals with wicked tongues of deceit and vitriol. And they will stop at nothing until they’ve quieted the thread down or scared everyone away.

Believe it or not these are often American Jews, who for whatever reason are more extremist in their radical pro-Israel rightwing views than most Israelis are. In my research over the last few weeks this is one of the many lessons I have been shocked to learn. There is a larger percentage of Israelis who empathize with the Palestinian cause and are against the rampant murder that’s been going on in Gaza over the last three weeks than there are American Jews here in the States. For more on this strange anomaly, look for the Israeli film DEFAMATION on Netflix or Youtube and watch it. It is shocking and eye opening.

While you’re at it, take the time to look for my Youtube Channel, TranscendentTV and find a playlist I created called Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. I have saved a variety of movies and documentaries to this playlist that go over the history of Zionism and the formation of Israel that will help explain what caused this conflict in the first place.

But be forewarned. Once you watch these, it is hard to forget them; once you learn these facts, it is impossible to unlearn them. Your eyes will be opened in a way that you may not enjoy. There is great injustice in the world. And it is we, the well meaning American tax payer, who have often paid for these atrocious acts of unfairness. Especially when it comes to the formation of Israel and what happened to the people who lived there before that time. Take a look at any World Atlas pre-1947 — go to the library or to your grandparents house if you have to — and look for Israel. You won’t find it. Instead, in it’s place you’ll see an area called Palestine. Which is what it was called for over a thousand years until they changed its name to Israel in 1948. And the people who lived there before? in Palestine? Yes… These are the millions of Palestinian refugees who now occupy the areas called the West Bank and Gaza who are now once again being slaughtered.

If you’re like me, and if you’re reading this I trust you might be, your heart breaks at the thought of any living thing being hurt or injured, let alone being killed or losing a child. Perhaps like me you are a Buddhist Taoist Christian, or maybe an Avatar, or maybe just an enlightened and compassionate fellow traveler and humanist. Regardless of what we call ourselves or what labels we ascribe to ourselves for comfort or peace of mind, we can all agree that murdering innocent people is wrong. It is an immoral act of the highest caliber. As Americans we consider it such a heinous crime against civilized society that it is the only crime where we deem there to be no suitable punishment for except execution. And though I do not support capital punishment for I believe that we cannot train a society that something is wrong if we turn around and do the same exact thing ourselves, I believe this illustrates just how firmly resolute we are in our shared conviction that murder is wrong and not to be tolerated in a civilized society.

And yet this is precisely what the current American White House administration wants us as citizens to support. Four young boys playing ball on the beach, killed. A United Nations shelter filled with families seeking shelter from the war, blown up. Schools filled with children, destroyed. Hospitals even, where both the sick and dying and the living breathing personnel have been blown up by air strikes, missiles or tanks. None of this is American. It is not how we were raised. It is the exact opposite of how we were raised and what we were taught about right and wrong. We are a lot of things here in America, some of them gaudy and some of them glorious. But indiscriminate killers we are not. So why are we being asked to support this slaughter of innocent people?

And as Christians… Does one even need go there? Does it even need to be mentioned how utterly inhumane and unChristian these acts are to the Christian heart? Can we even imagine how the heart of Jesus is breaking over what He is witnessing being carried out in His name? Yes as human beings we are appalled. And yes as compassionate Avatars who love precious humanity and are working to create an enlightened planet we are appalled. But as Christians… Are there any words for what we are feeling? In the so called Holy Land no less it is truly, as Ban Ki-Moon reminds us, an abomination.

We are told that we worship the same God as the Jewish people. And we trust that. It is important that there are pious Jews living all over the world who are NOT taking part in this killing of Palestinian people and claim to not support it. In fact the more religious a Jewish person is the more against this killing of Palestinians they are I have recently learned. Secular Jews claim that this is due to “a conspiracy on their part because they are waiting for the Messiah to come and He can only come to earth if Jerusalem is being shared by both Jews and Muslims living in peace and the old temple is rebuilt”. This may be true — we know there are many Christians who believe the same thing; but at least it lends a basic humanity to these people.

I urge everyone to not make this a religious issue. I am sure there are just as many religious Jews who are as appalled by this as there are Christians or Muslims. And speaking of Muslims let us not forget that Hamas is continuously firing rockets into Israel STILL, even after over one thousand of the people they were elected to serve and protect have been killed. That is NOT the peaceful Muslim way of the Holy Koran.

No, this is not a matter of religion. And it never was. Don’t let anyone fool you. This war is about land and power and resources. These are a special breed of people — godless and wild, heartless, wrathful and vengeful — who are capable of things that most of us are not. They need our prayers more than we do — clearly religion isn’t going to help them one way or another. But more than that they need our voices. If we do not speak up to voice our dissent and our disagreement with what they are doing then are we not just as guilty as they are? Have we not seen enough innocent blood shed? Have we not heard enough excuses and soundbites why neither side will agree to a ceasefire?

Every talking head of note from the United States government came on prime news shows last Sunday and this past Sunday to defend Israel’s “right to defend itself”, while at the same time expressing “grave concern for the human rights crisis that we are witnessing in Gaza”. It’s hard to have it both ways, to both be concerned about AND support the cause of the crisis. By now Americans understand that there is more money and influence tied up in supporting Israel than anywhere on earth. This is why the United States allows this carnage to continue in the name of Israel’s self defense and even goes so far as publicly defending it and financially supporting it; and yet they did nothing for the people of Rwanda or Darfur, and will do nothing for the people of Syria today. Hell, we can’t even muster more than 300 “advisor troops” for Iraq while they’re having a bloody civil war and we basically bought that country. With our own money AND our own soldiers. Clearly there is something very special and unique about Israel. [If you’re curious about what it is, buy the book They Dare To Speak Out, which explains that AIPAC, the Americans for Israel Political Action lobby in DC is THE largest lobby in the US of A. Larger than big oil or big Pharma, larger than DuPont or Monsanto, later than GE or Apple or Google or Microsoft and yes larger than the Pentagon or our precious self-defense spending. In other words, more money greases the palms of elected American officials regarding “protecting Israel” than any other single subject or corporate interest in Washington DC. And in return those elected officials promise their public displays of affection and support AND hand Israel 3 billion dollars a year of American tax payer money. It’s a brilliant system. One that overtly should be illegal and criminalized, granted. But for now this is how the system works. If you ever wondered why the United States government pretends to care about “some people” and doesn’t seem to care at all about others, now you have a better understanding….]

This also helps explain why most of our friends over the last three weeks have been too busy posting photos of their Miami vacations or their allegedly cute kids on summer break to care about the crisis in Israel and Gaza: they just don’t believe there is anything that can be done about it. Most Americans know how the system works. They know that when it comes to Israel “anything goes” and that nothing they do as Americans is going to change that.

American Jews don’t have to dig too deep to understand why people all over the world repeat slogans like “the Jews run and control the world” when for all intents and purposes it appears just like they do once one sees and understands just how this American and Israeli exchange of money and weapons for political power works. What else are people supposed to believe?

How on earth are the American people supposed to be even remotely concerned with the plight of the people of Ukraine, as the US government is desperately trying to sell, if at the same time they are being told not to give a rats ass about women and children being slaughtered in Palestine? It just doesn’t add up. So instead they shut off that part of their brain, the caring part, the compassionate humane part. We aren’t designed inside to care only about “some” people. It’s just not how we work. After eleven years of bloodshed in the Middle East with over one million people killed by our money and soldiers, combined with Israel’s killing a thousand Gazans every few years with our money and weapons, how else are the American people supposed to feel?

Frankly I’m surprised we FEEL anything at all. But surprisingly some of us still do. But not many. And that is no surprise. We have become immune to feeling for other people. That’s why despite their best efforts, the White House and their media puppets cannot get the American people to care about Ukraine. There is obviously a lot of oil and natural gas on the line in that little country for our large hungry American appetite; and there may even be reasonably sound and practical strategic reasons for the United States to be there right now — or truly…why else would they be? But the American public just does not care. And who can blame them when their government is constantly picking and choosing which humans to care about and which ones to cast aside like rag dolls? The heart becomes confused. The heart becomes calloused.

And then there’s the fear. I can recite the names of at least twenty people I’ve spoken to this week who have expressed concern for what’s happening in Gaza; from the simplest down-home middle American folk to the highest paid most notable names in society. They use words like horrible, shocking, horrific, tragedy, disgusting, haunted…and yet there are only two who have said anything publicly about it. Only two have stood up to voice their disagreement with how Israel is handling their “self defense”. One of them is a pastor at a prominent church. Not only does he have a moral obligation to do so, but he has always been willing to play the black sheep when leading a charge for human rights. But the rest are afraid to say anything. Afraid isn’t the word. Scared to death is more like it.

Since when did speaking up for human rights or for the value of human life become a crime? Since when did these noble qualities equate to being racist or anti-Jewish? Since the formation of the American based Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Again, if you’re curious about how this system of indoctrination works and why it has been so easy to systematically shut up an entire country about the sanctity of human life unless they’re Jewish, see the film Defamation noted above. Only in America can one be made to feel like an evil racist in five minutes just for speaking out against violence or murder. Countries all over the world have been having marches and protests for weeks now to try to stop Israel from bombing the people of Gaza. But in America we are simply too jaded or too frightened to do so.

But I encourage all of us to lay down our self concern for a moment and embrace our humanity. Just as we did during World War II when we fought to save a people half way around the world from potential genocide, or during the civil rights movement right here at home twenty years later, we are being called upon once again to stand up and speak out on behalf of a desperate and displaced people, a people more economically poor than we can imagine and just as beaten down and trodden upon than those we helped save during World War II. These are a people who are literally being blown to bits like puppets right in front of our eyes every minute of the day, body parts flying around on live TV like an outtake of The Walking Dead — with absolutely no concern for their safety or welfare, nor a care for their futures or how they’ll survive once the killing stops.

People may lash out at you for speaking up. They may call you names. They may accuse you of being a racist or anti-Jewish. They may insult you and scream at you. They may accuse you of not understanding the issues or not caring about the welfare of the Israeli people. But just as before, do not be afraid. Do not be intimidated. Remind yourself and others that we are not speaking out against Israel. And we are not speaking out against Jewish people — for there are just as many Jewish people around the world speaking out about this cause as any other ethnicity and religion. What we ARE speaking out against is killing innocent people and the destruction of homes and whole villages in the name of “self defense”. Surely there has got to be a better way to defend oneself than to kill thousands of innocent people. Surely there is a morality at play in the hearts of all human beings that lifts us above the animal kingdom, even when it comes to self defense. What is there left to defend if we have given away all of our humanity in the process?

Lest we forget we the American people give the country of Israel over three billion dollars ($3,000,000,000) a year of our hard earned income, in the form of OUR taxes. This is money that is NOT going to the poor people of Detroit or Louisiana or to safeguard our borders. This is money that is not going to feed our hungry or shelter our homeless. Instead it is going to Israel. Free of charge. Not a loan, but free money. And it’s been like this for decades now. Forget asking why for the time being. (For that is certainly a reasonable question when the time is right.) For now the question should be do we all really feel comfortable sponsoring such extreme and inhumane acts of killing innocent people? If the answer is resoundingly no then we have a platform to voice it and change this. Each of us needs to pick up that phone tomorrow and call the White House, our Senators and our elected members of congress and tell them to STOP THE KILLING IN GAZA OR WE WILL STOP PAYING FOR IT. I promise each of you that I will do this tomorrow. And I hope that each of you does the same.

Beyond that let us send love and appreciation to all parties involved with the hope that they feel it even for a moment in their hearts and that it somehow helps them to remember their own humanity and morality, guides them to lay down their arms and stop this madness.

Yours,

The Ambassador

Thoughts On the Latest Battle Between Israel & Gaza

July 17, 2014

The last time this happened, in 2008, Princess Little Tree and I staged a BedPeace event to help bring awareness to the violence and bloodshed. We were never under the delusion that we actually accomplished anything. But we learned a hell of a lot from all the phone calls we made and research we did, and in the end believe we may have also inspired a few others to do the same. The learning is the key to ending this madness once and for all. [That footage is easily viewable on YouTube: Search for “Ed Hale and Bed Peace” etc.]

You’re right of course. It’s NOT fair, this latest skirmish between the Palestinians in Gaza and the government of Israel. Israel, being one of the world’s major super-powers and tiny little Gaza being not much more than a primitive but polished up refugee camp. Having seen both myself, the overt differences between the two are mind boggling. Big cities in Israel look and feel like Mediterranean versions of just about any other metropolitan city of the modern world; and the trash laden Gaza Strip looks like not much more than a glorified refugee camp circa the 1800s or even the Bible era in certain areas.

Israel thankfully has an extremely advanced missile defense system — nicknamed The Iron Dome — that shoots incoming missiles out of the sky before they land, essentially rendering air attacks of puny rockets futile; Gaza has none of the above, so citizens just hide in a corner somewhere hoping and praying that the newest missile that hits doesn’t hit them.

Of course that’s a completely useless and arbitrary tactic. Each and every Israeli missile fired IS going to hit and kill SOMEBODY, usually someBODIES as the case has been over the last few weeks. Today it was three young children ages 8 to 10 all from the same family up on the roof feeding the pigeons. Yesterday it was a group of four young boys playing on the beach, hence all the attention yesterday’s death toll received. The day before, it was some random moms, dads, uncles, aunts, children, etc. That’s just how it is in the Gaza Strip when you’re being bombed by Israel. This explains the shockingly out of balance numbers we hear about every day in this “war” –Israel deaths – 1, Palestinian deaths – 230.

Israel claims the reason for such skewed results — not much of a “battle” as much as a spanking by Israel — is because “Hamas fighters hide among the Palestinian civilians”. In other words, Israel can’t help but kill civilians every day because as they’re attempting to target these fighters who are firing these rockets into Israel, they’re having to fire upon innocent civilians. It’s the nature of these kinds of battles claims the Israeli government.

We as objective and compassionate observers have no reason to doubt what the Israeli government and military claims. We also have no reason to believe that Israel is deliberately targeting civilians or deliberately trying to kill them. Not only is it an abhorrently unethical act not apparent or inherent in their nature — who better to understand the plight of a displaced and oppressed people than Jewish people? — but it also works against their greater goal of creating an eventual peace between themselves and the Palestinian people they will always be forced to live with by necessity, simply because of where they decided to plant this “new home for the Jewish people”.

Nope. It truly does not seem likely that Israel itself, as a government or a nation, is intentionally killing innocent men women and children. But regardless of intention, it is a very real side effect of their military campaign. Every day more and more innocent civilians die. Israelis on the other hand go about business as usual. Javelin is there now. Presently in Jerusalem. “You wouldn’t believe how normal peaceful calm and quiet it is is here,” he wrote us yesterday. “The Israeli people have a remarkable gift at dealing with these things as if nothing abnormal is going on at all.”

“Well of course they do,” a friend of ours replied. (This was a group chat, all of us actively involved in the Peace movement in one way or another) “THEY don’t have anything to worry about. Their houses aren’t being demolished. Their children aren’t being blown to bits everyday.” And that’s very true. They’re not. For the average Israeli, they’ve become so accustomed to hearing that “Gaza is throwing some rockets over our way today, so stay in your home if you can” that they’ve developed a subconscious protective shield about the whole issue. Besides the fact that they KNOW that no actual bombs or rockets are going to hit the ground or go off anywhere near them due to the Israeli government’s advanced defense system. This would definitely make it easier to sleep at night. Banks are still open. Schools are still open. Marketplaces still open. In Gaza on the other hand, today during a brief five hour “humanitarian ceasefire” was the first time in two weeks that any banks were open.

So there’s a real difference in how both sides of the conflict are able to deal with it AND what kind of feelings they will be left with once it’s over. Israelis will understandably feel annoyed, like one who gets back from a day at the park when there is one too many pesky gnats or mosquitos flying around. Palestinians on the other hand will feel devastated. Their lives destroyed. Their homes destroyed. Everything they own destroyed. Their children and parents and siblings unfairly taken from them far too soon, their lives snuffed out in an instant, randomly and arbitrarily. And so the wheels of the conflict will continue to spin, even after the trading of rocket fire ends. Because vengeance will burn in the blood and hearts of everyone who lost someone. And it will only be a matter of time before little ones grow up to be big ones who have only one goal in mind: to seek revenge for the death of their brother or sister, or mother or father, or aunt or uncle, or husband or wife.

This is a war that has raged on for far too long. We all know how it plays out. Even those of us thousands of miles away with no skin in the game know the drill. A few weeks of trading rockets and missiles back and forth. Eventually it will just peter out. A limp peace will be brokered. Both sides tired — Gaza tired of so many dead and Israel tired of so much international rage thrown at them from all over the world. Israel will suffer one or two dead at the most with little to no damage to its towns and infrastructure. Gaza will report hundreds or thousands dead, it’s towns and infrastructure demolished and once again go back to looking like even more of a war zone than it already does.

There are a TON of questions that can be asked about this latest skirmish between these two warring tribes. It’s a battle that’s been raging for millenia. No matter what country you’re from on planet earth, and no matter how far removed from the area geographically, you’re all too familiar with at least one story — if not many — about the Israelites fighting with the Philistines or the Jews fighting with the Palestinians. Everyone has their opinions. Some more educated than others. Most not very educated. Truth be told, unless you’ve been there, and unless you’ve spent countless hours studying the history of the conflict and the history of the peoples involved in the conflict, it would be very hard to understand it, or have an educated opinion about it.

Both sides have been wronged. And both sides have been wrong. Both sides have tried to reach out in peace and both sides have instead decided to attack out of anger hate rage greed or ego. It’s a ghastly affair and to a large degree it’s not either side’s fault. Great Britain and the United States have had just as much to do with the unfairness and deception attached to the whole mess as either the Jews or the Arabs. And therein lies one of the biggest problems. From the very beginning, it started out as a noble cause but in practice quickly became a very bad idea. The history of Zionism and the eventual formation of creating an Israeli state smack dab on top of a place where a whole other people already lived for hundreds of years was just a very bad idea. Only money, and lots of it, can create such historically horrible scenarios. And usually there always two sides to these scenarios… the people with the “lots of money” and the people without the “lots of money”. Think European settlers in the Americas supplanting a whole continent filled with millions upon millions of native peoples. Israel isn’t the first time we’ve seen this movie play out.

But what’s done is done. One thing we learn here on earth when and if our goal is to get to the very bottom of a story and not get hung up along the way by side-picking is that once a people with loads of money decide on something, history quickly plays to their side of the story; and the people without loads of money either die off, get killed off, quietly go away or a combination thereof. Kudos to the native Palestinian people who are still living in what we now call Israel for still being there. It hasn’t been easy. We must remember that it took over 400 years for the European settlers who established The United States and all the other countries in South America to kill off the majority of the native Americans who populated that region for over 10,000 years before they knew such a place as Europe even existed. Fought hard they did. But in the end they just had no chance. The Europeans were the minority for many years, but they were way better capitalized. Just as Israel is today.

One often hears American Jews being the harshest about the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. The other day some uneducated douchebag who lives in Florida said on Facebook, “Israel should kill every single one of those dirty Arab bastards and their “moony god””. What exactly he meant by “moony god” only he and his simple brain knows. But this wasn’t the first time I heard this kind of heartless evil language from an American Jewish person. Israeli Jews are much more sympathetic and understanding of the Palestinian people. They’re their neighbors. They live side by side with them. Work side by side with them. Often live next door to each other in the same neighborhood. They can’t afford such misguided ideas. They understand that these people, as tenacious and pesky as they might be at times, are still people. And honestly, when you go there and you’re walking about shopping or just doing your business, you can’t tell the difference between a Jewish Israeli or a Palestinian one. I made the mistake countless times, speaking Hebrew to Arabs or attempting to speak (the five words of) Arabic to a group of Jews. Both groups have been living in the area for thousands of years. (though this point will be strongly debated and argued by both sides of the issue if you dare utter it aloud… So be forewarned.)

One point that does seem valid though is this: Just what ARE the Jewish people supposed to do if Hamas or some other small band of thugs in Gaza or the West Bank decides to fire a bunch of rockets into Israel proper? Are they supposed to sit back and let them fire their rockets? The United States wouldn’t. Hell, I couldn’t even guarantee the safety of a man who broke into my own home and pulled out a weapon, let alone fired it. So this dog eat dog, attack and attack back mentality that’s haunted humankind since the beginning of recorded history is not unheard of. Nor is it that incomprehensible. Hamas did fire first. And unfortunately they just happened to do so from the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians live.

The real question we should be asking ourselves is why won’t the people of Gaza rise up and boot Hamas — and every other terrorist-prone organization — out of their towns and villages? Why let them stay? Why elect them to government? Why even tolerate them at all? If this is their method… fire some rockets into Israel KNOWING that they’re going to get shot down and thus not actually do anything, and then in return the whole of Gaza is going to get the shit bombed out of them…. why allow Hamas to stay in your town? “That’s the best you have? That’s your best idea? Fire some worthless rockets and then run and hide among the people, putting all of our lives in danger? Screw that! We have a better idea: get the hell out of here and don’t come back. Please. Thank you.”

See, I know what you’re thinking, many of you. (Even Jewish people like Jon Stewart are now publicly criticizing Israel for how ridiculously unfair this whole thing seems.) It IS unfair. And It IS freaking sad. And It IS freaking heartbreaking. I’m with you. I hear you. I read your comments and your essays and your Tweets and your status updates. I get it. I was THERE. I saw it with my own eyes. It’s a fucking human rights disaster, Palestine is. Israel a paradise; Palestine a garbage dump with no running water. And yes it’s even more disheartening to hear about 300 innocent people dying in less than two weeks — especially considering how they’re dying — getting blown up by rocket fire and missiles blasting their houses to smithereens. It sucks. Truely. But who’s fault is it? Who started it? How did it start?

Israel didn’t just arbitrarily decide to start bombing the people in the Gaza Strip for the hell of it. They, like us, have their own lives to live. They, like us, would much prefer peace to war. They, like us, hate the idea of the whole world thinking they’re evil murderers and pointing the finger at them. But they, like us, also have the right to live in peace without having to constantly worry about some missile flying over the wall and landing in a crowded marketplace in the middle of a sunny day and killing fifty or more people. They, like us, have the right to protect and defend themselves. And that usually means war. Like it or not, for better or worse, protecting and defending ourselves usually implies killing some people.

Let’s go faster now… Let’s streamline it for a bit with no concern for grammar, rhetoric or composition. Just to vent and brainstorm and get some ideas out on the table.

Okay so one idea would be the above mentioned “Gaza needs to tell Hamas to get the fuck out of here and never return”. That would certainly be a start. Of course Hamas does a lot more than just attack Jews. That’s how they got into power in the first place. They raise money from all over the Middle East and they use it for humanitarian purposes. They build schools, promote education (one can only imagine how one-sided and indoctrinated those educations are… but still, SOME kind of education is better than NO education), they help feed and clothe and house people. So Hamas is not all bad. BUT… a few good deeds does NOT justify even ONE bad deed. And firing rockets into your neighbors yard with the hopes of killing them is certainly a BAD deed.

So the Palestinian people — in both Gaza AND the West Bank — need to get Hamas out of the mix. Whatever it takes. And we all know how difficult that’s going to be. It’s akin to asking your mother in law to leave your house after she’s all moved in. Hamas moves in, brings a wad of cash and other necessities of life with them AND promises to “rid our land once and for all of these evil Jewish occupiers who have been abusing and oppressing us for decades”. Sounds great! Yay! But let’s get real for a second. Yes life has been hard since the formation of Israel in ’48. Yes a shitload of homes were bulldozed even though you and your whole family lived there. Yes thousands of acres of olive fields were destroyed and you were forced from your land. Yes you had to run and hide for fear of your life. Yes you’ve lost loved ones and friends and your heart burns with anger and thoughts of revenge. Yes it seems totally unfair and colonial and bought and paid for by the wealthy elite of planet earth. Maybe it’s all true. Maybe it’s not.

BUT THERE’S NOTHING THAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT NOW. Number one. And number two: there are always three sides to every story. As we all know. At least those of us who know anything. That “third side” of the story is the subtle mysterious truth sitting somewhere in between one side and the other. Reconciliation is all about forgetting and forgiving. At least forgiving. Even if we can’t ever forget. And hell, in certain cases it’s best NOT to forget. One can rest assured the Jews are never going to forget the holocaust of World War II. And maybe there are tens of thousands of Palestinians who are never going to forget what it was like when they were first asked to leave their homes, or pushed out of the door of their own orchard at gunpoint, or hearing that their best friend “died in a strange accident” at the hands of a bunch of Jewish kids down the block or one of the many infamous Israeli military groups that have come and gone through the years.

While it’s true that the United Nations has issued over 230 resolutions with respect to Israel just since 2003 in regards to potential human rights violations — far more than any other country on earth, and six times that of the second placed country, Sudan, it’s also true that no one can recall how many suicide bombs have gone off in some square in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem (because there have been so many…) or how many missiles have been shot over the wall from the Palestinian side into Israel in an attempt to kill or frighten them (again because there have been so many). Both sides have been wicked and cruel and played unfairly. And most of the time these skirmishes — and that’s putting it lightly –(these are out and out wars with horrifying consequences, at least for the Palestinian people) — are caused by someone on the Palestinian side firing rockets into Israel. Israel rarely attacks first. Rarely. Not “never”. Yes we all remember the Six Day War. Point being that If one is Palestinian or just a supporter of Palestinian people THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE LEARNED HERE from these statistics. Eventually they’re going to have to learn. Or eventually there aren’t going to be any Palestinian people left. That’s the cold hard truth of it.

Life isn’t fair. There. Now you know. Good people don’t get special treatment. They’re not immune to bad things happening to them. The universe doesn’t reward us for being good. The universe seems to be as cold and ruthless handling human beings as it is to the rest of the animal kingdom. Israel — a special country for Jewish people (whatever that means… it’s difficult to understand at times for a variety of reasons, for it isn’t a nationality, nor is it a religion for many who claim to be “not religious”…) exists now. It’s strong. It’s powerful. It has access to loads of money. In addition to the fact that it still receives even more money from the United States and American tax payers every year. There is no beating Israel. Praying isn’t going to defeat them. Good deeds aren’t going to defeat them. Denying their right to exist isn’t going to defeat them.

Can they make some improvements? Yes, certainly. Lots of them. And eventually they just might if they ever start to feel safe. In the meantime, even IF one believes that their policies are inhumane and unfair with respect to the Palestinian people, attacking them militarily is not only barbaric and unethical, it’s also futile. It’s only going to cause another world war. And at this stage in the game, with the sides so lopsided in Israel’s favor, fighting a war against them would be downright stupid. (Yes it’s reminiscent of Chechnya and plenty of other heartbreaking examples of poor people oppressed by wealthier people…) At some point Palestinians need to grow up and decide if they want to evolve and progress in the modern world, or if they want to slowly die off from poverty, despair and the occasional airstrike.

If they have a grievance with the present government that controls them and their lands — they do, plenty of them, and justifiably so, then they need to address those grievances democratically and non-violently. It is the ONLY way they will ever make progress. The United Nations has already voted to approve Palestine’s desire to become a country unto itself. Something that should have happened decades ago. But that’s water under the bridge. This is a HUGE deal. A big win. Something that can only be fantastic and do wonders for the Palestinian people. Of course Israel and the United States vetoed the UN’s vote because they’re evil imperialists who control the entire world due to having the most money and the most weapons currently; but eventually world opinion is going to trump even the United States’ UN vetoes. That we can all be sure of.

The Palestinian people can help speed this process along by showing the world that it is indeed ready to become a real country and not a primitive band of terrorists tossing bombs over walls into their neigbors’ yards. (Yep, even if you dispute the wall in the first place… Protest, demonstrate, march, sit in, occupy, write letters, hell light yourself on fire if you have to ala Tunisia or Vietnam-era Buddhists, but whatever you do, stop making war. There’s no way in hell anyone is going to take you seriously as a viable country if you keep on doing the same thing you’ve been doing all these years. Voice your opposition to Israel’s occupation of the so-called Occupied Territories; but do so peacably, elegantly, with grace AND strength. Study history and note how other countries of oppressed peoples have eventually won independence in the modern era. The simple truth of it is: if you aint got mo money, then you need to have more grace style charm and class than your opponent. Human beings will occasionally forgive being poor. But being poor AND being murderous, not likely.

Even the most compassionate among us will never fully support a people who commit violence as their primary tactic to secure their rights and independence. So what Palestinians need to do is step into the 21st century and start playing 21st century ball.

TheTranscendenceDiaries

Tag: United Nations

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