Michael Lerner's most recent Tikun Magainze article is making the rounds -- it's already linked on over 10,900 websites. From "Radio Left" (which bills itself: Now in our 6th year driving the right-wing nuts. Internet talk radio for Liberals and Democrats) to Air America (which needs no introduction), Lerner demonizes Israel's right to defend it's sovereign borders from terror attacks.
One of the more annoying paragraphs was the following:
One of the more annoying paragraphs was the following:
For Israeli militarists and the settlers, Hamas recognition of Israel, however partial, would have been a dramatic propaganda defeat. Within days Israelis began shelling inside Gaza (allegedly to stop Hamas' firing of Qassam rockets against Israeli population centers). One such shell landed on a Gaza beach, killing a family of eight who were simply enjoying the sun and water. A few days later, a Hamas group captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, and Israel used this as its excuse to implement a plan it had developed months before to re-enter Gaza and destroy the Hamas infrastructure.
He posits:
1. Israeli settlers would face a dramatic propoganda defeat were Hamas to recognize Israel. Actually, most settlers don't really care if it's Hamas or Fatah running the Palestinian Authority or if they recognize Israel. In the Middle East, its facts that make a difference, and we've all seen over the past 10 years that it doesn't matter who's running the Palestinian Authority -- the bottom line is that
"But then I rememberd that we- the majority of us anyway- don't want peace with Israel, and are not interested in any real dialogue with them. We weren't then and we are not now. The Entire peace process has always been about getting the land back, not establishing better relations. Even when we do get the land back, it's not enough. People in Egypt lament daily the Camp David treaty that prevents us from fighting. In Gaza they never stopped trying to attack Israel. In Lebanon Hezbollah continued attacking even after the Israeli withdrawel. And the people- the majority of the arab population- support it. Very few of us are really interested in having any lasting Peace or co-existance. I mean, if our left is asking for war, what do you think the rest of the population is thinking?
I think that the Israeli want peace with us because they don't want their lives disrupted. They don't want to have the IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza, rockets coming into their towns from Hamas or having to go to wars against Hezbollah to get their soldiers back. I think they want peace because they want their peace of mind. They view us as if we were a headache. We view them as if they are a cancer.
And this is why there will never really be any peace in the middle-east."
2. One such [IDF] shell landed on a Gaza beach, killing a family of eight who were simply enjoying the sun and water.Despite the empirical and factual evidence that the IDF was NOT responsible for the death of 8 Palestinians in this particular incident, Lerner uses this lie anyway to bash Israel.
3. Everything Israel does is either an excuse or an alleged response...and Lerner offers Israel no credit for any military action.
Is this guy really representative of Liberal Democrats or is he off the deep end?
A good week to us all,
Jameel
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