Jodi Rudoren, "Israel is Facing Difficult Choice in Gaza Conflict: World Seeks Cease Fire," The New York Times, July 22, 2014, p. A1. (More than 600 Palestinians now killed, about 1,500 wounded civilians in Gaza; others in Israel have also been killed. Mr. Obama has expressed concern about Mr. Putin's role in the downing of a civilian plane somewhere in Europe.)
Anne Barnard, "Questions About Tactics and Targets as Civilian Toll Climbs in Israeli Strikes," The New York Times, July 22, 2014, p. A11. ("The Palestinian deaths -- 75 percent of them civilians, according to a United Nations count -- have prompted a wave of international outrage, and are raising questions about Israel's stated dedication to protecting civilians." The U.S. will no doubt blame Vladimir Putin for the killings in Gaza.)
Steven Erlanger, "As Israel Hits Mosque and Clinic, Air Campaign's Risks Come Home," The New York Times, Sunday International, July 13, 2014, p. A6.
As I ponder the events in Gaza, it is impossible not to feel sadness and frustration at the all-consuming and passionate attention devoted in world media to the World Cup final, even as mass murder takes place before our eyes on television screens and in our newspapers when journalists get around to mentioning the fact.
Gaza's atrocities were covered on page 6 of yesterday's New York Times. Today, the front page of America's "newspaper of record" featured the German soccer team's celebrations.
Distraction has become one of the most powerful methods by which nations define our realities and tell us what or whom to care about. ("'Total Recall': A Movie Review.")
If something is not featured on the front page of the Times and is barely mentioned on the news (thank God, BBC world news is devoting a great deal of attention to these events!), then don't worry about it.
I am not surprised that my struggle for the truth from New Jersey is relegated to silence in U.S. media. As I review this essay my access to BBC world news is blocked on my home television system which has been deprived of the on-demand feature.
What's going on in Gaza?
Israel is using a well-equipped, technologically-sophisticated army, financed (substantially) with U.S. taxpayer money, to attack a defenseless population in a territory essentially subjected to a massive strangulation effort (no medical supplies are getting in, water and food are problematic and scarce) and never-ending starvation tactics are all that people can expect for the future. This morning "Democracy Now" devoted most of the show to establishing the extent of the medical emergency in Gaza.
The size of the letters in the foregoing paragraph has been altered, not surprisingly, as one response to the hope and effort to find a peaceful solution to all such conflicts. I suspect Cuban-American Republicans are behind this tactic. I further anticipate the continued use of these methods to attack my writings. ("Time to End the Embargo Against Cuba" and "Miami's Cubanoids Protest Against Peace!")
The ostensible rationale for this horrible attack is the alleged "security needs" of Israeli citizens who must be kept "safe." This claim is absurd in light of the increased risk of reprisals and more effective bombings as well as rocket attacks from Hamas (and others) that these military actions will generate against Israel for generations to come.
The murder of a number of small Palestinian children on a beach as they ran for cover is especially gruesome and unforgivable. Adding to the cruelty are warnings issued minutes before bombs fall to disabled persons in a hospital for the crippled -- who could not run or otherwise escape the fate announced to them -- combined with an utterly cynical disdain for the rights of all Palestinians displayed by so-called "observers" commenting "dispassionately" on what the UN General Secretary called: "the atrocity."
Targeting of medical facilities, a war crime, is designed to maximize casualties among medical professionals and wounded persons. Allegations that UN facilities are also being targeted by the Israeli military make these events even more horrifying.
The UN official responsible for human rights enforcement and judgments spoke of the U.S. continued supply of weapons used by Israel to slaughter civilians in Gaza as "complicity" in grotesque human rights violations (if not mass murder) and called on America to halt all arms shipments to Israel.
Many of the injuries suffered by Palestinians suggest the use of illegal weapons aimed at maximizing injuries to human beings. Fragmentation and shrapnel-like wounds are fatal under conditions of deprived or non-existent medical care with the result that casualties are mounting and they are being seen by the world.
According to the BBC and other sources: casualties number about 140 persons, with more than 1,000 human beings wounded, some severely, on the first day of the conflict alone, even as hospitals (including the facility for disabled children) are specifically targeted by Israel, again, as part of this strategy of heightening the pain for the most vulnerable members of the population.
Even The New York Times has expressed mild reservations after the attempted murder of one of their journalists and shootings targeting a photographer, one of the few not in the pay of the C.I.A. perhaps. This newspaper may be assisting in efforts to censor and suppress my writings and the expressions of others critical of Israeli actions in this matter.
Hospitals are overwhelmed, families are being destroyed, persons are fleeing their homes, people's entire life-savings and properties are burned, or turned into rubble, in what seems a naked attempt to push people out of their ancestral lands and homes in order that they may be stolen by Israelis.
Gaza can only be likened to Auschwitz with the plight of Palestinian residents being a grim choice between a slow death, through deprivation of all necessities, or sudden death by bombing and/or bullets fired into their homes as they sleep.
This is not the "Jewish State" envisioned by the early Zionists nor can it be the nation Americans have admired as an embattled tiny state surrounded by larger hostile powers. Israel is now the regional superpower and has been for some time, thanks to billions of dollars in U.S. aid.
Much of the turmoil in the region and globally -- especially in the Islamic world -- is a response to this appalling and sickening example of blood-thirsty militarism rationalized with unconvincing claims about the alleged "threat" posed by Hamas. All people on the planet will resist against murder or enslavement.
Much of the hostility in the region will be directed against Americans. Mr. Kerry's mild comment concerning Israel's being regarded as a "pariah" nation as a result of walking away from the peace process required an apology from the Secretary of State. Mr. Netanjahu's campaigning for Mitt Romney and against Mr. Obama in the presidential election did not require an apology from the Israeli Prime Minister.
Right-wing Russian Jews -- Mr. Nathan Sharansky is often seen in my neighborhood -- have formed bizarre alliances with far-Right Republicans, like Miami's anti-Castro fanatics, to create a force in the U.S. electorate that is feared by everyone. No one can speak out about these crimes. The Israeli lobby has purchased the few remaining American politicians who might oppose the continued financing of atrocity. Hence, the nightmare continues.
There are certainly no blameless participants in these events. Hamas is largely irrelevant these days, but has (without a doubt) been a force for evil in the past. However, there is no excuse for the use of an army to kill mostly women and children, who are unarmed, in order to make a point or steal land.
Israel is not Hamas. Israel cannot behave like Hamas or Assad, Sadam Hussein, or any other dictator. Israel is held to a higher standard. Nothing can (or should) alter America's fundamental commitment to the security and flourishing of Israel, but this adventure in Gaza is a moral low point for the "Jewish State."
Equally shocking is the indifference of the global community, apathy created by distractions and consumption, entertainment and more sporting events fills the airwaves as Gaza burns. Mr. Remnick's comments on MSNBC notwithstanding, this is an urgent humanitarian crisis that will hurt Israel and America in the long run.
I am sure that what I feel many other persons feel -- including quite a few Jews and Israelis, specifically, many other Americans, too -- but what we "feel" (most of all) is powerless and emotionally exhausted, weary of all the killing, chest-thumping politicians, tired of "leaders" with their slogans and evasions and lies.
Nothing is more dangerous than the hopelessness people feel and express about Israel today and, for the first time that I can remember, also about America.
Desperation only breeds murderous rage and violence. It must be impossible for Palestinians in Gaza to feel anything other than despair and hatred in response to recent events.
Not many years ago James Baldwin cautioned America that the murder of Dr. King, the death of the possibility of loving responses -- even to hatred -- could only produce hatred in response to hatred.
Israel's actions will result in violence in response to violence, murdered Jewish teenagers in response to murdered Palestinian children, perpetuation of oppression and murder for as long as we can see.
The truth must be told and faced, justice must be dispensed, and efforts at amelioration and compensation of the afflicted also must take place before peace will be possible.
Invoking key passages of the Hebrew Bible, Mr. Baldwin reminded the powerful few of the Lord's warning after the flood: " ... the fire next time."
Will that "fire" of the Lord's wrath consume Americans as well as Israelis? Will Europe escape the terrorist response? Will Palestinians and other Muslims not face reprisals for their terrorism? Can this vicious cycle of evil not be ended, finally and forever through civilized, reasoned, fair-minded discussion?
Those of us who love America and Israel must continue to hope for peace, struggle for justice, and never despair.
" ... Israel bombed a mosque, which its aerial photos indicated [allegedly] was harboring ... weapons[, ] and a center for the disabled, killing two residents and wounding three, as well as a caretaker."
Worse:
"A separate strike on the house of a police commander killed at least 18 people, the highest toll so far this conflict, bringing the total number of dead to at least 140, [probably more than 1000 by now,] Palestinian officials said."
