Tasini, Israel, "New McCarthyism"
A side-note to Gur's excellent, news-making interview with Jonathan Tasini on Room Eight:
It's kind of interesting that Tasini's views on Israel have remained below the radar until this point, even if he is a protest candidate.
Here's a picture of him back in March addressing a memorial event for Rachel Corrie, the pro-Palestinian American activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while protesting the demolition of a home in the Gaza Strip. The event was organized after the New York cancellation of a biographical play, "My Name is Rachel Corrie."
I don't know what Tasini said there, but the text accompanying this photo gallery describes the event this way:
"Declaring that the Sharon government could destroy her body but could never kill her spirit, people have stood up to those who would cave in to the new McCarthyism that attempts to stifle opposition and protest to the unjust policies of the U.S. and Israeli occupations."-- Josh Benson
This will not matter to his smattering of supporters. Even the Jewish ones are of the self-loathing kind who think that Israel should either not exist or not defend itself which is tantamount to the same thing.
Yes, Israel is defending itself... from children, Americans and Brits protecting children, and now UN observers.
Tasini joins with the people who would kill all the Jews and toss them into the river. The UN took on the responsibility of ridding southern Lebanon of Hezbollah terrorists who hide behind babies and the elderly. They didnt even try and should have moved their people out. As for the other victims, it is sad and certainly not Israel's goal to kill civilians but with Hezbollah (Hamas too) they hide behind civilians and make it impossible for them to leave when they should. Meanwhile, they TARGET CIVILIANS in Israel and install tiny ball bearings to shoot out of their missiles and kill or maim as many non combatants as possible.
Tasini and his despicable ilk would have Israel just wait for another UN resolution while the missiles go off.
Hillary has my vote now.
Yes, babies and UN observers are killing Israelis with ball-bearings, apparently fired from their diapers and/or blue helmets. Yes, a real bunch of terrorists...
Funny Bubba hates Clinton, except when she kills Arabs.
So Tasini figures he needs the support of the toilet cleaning, sheet-head covering, bomb throwing fundamentalist supporters of terrorism. I guess Hillary Clinton did such a good job of wrapping up all the other votes in town.
Hey Anon 12:27. Now youre saying Hillary is killing Arabs. Amazing what you anti Jewish rhetoricians will say to get attention.
When has Hillary Clinton ever done anything other than cuddle up to Israel when it's in the middle of some genocidal campaign?
Btw, amazing how the grandson of Galician immigrants somehow becomes an anti-Semite the minute he criticizes Israel for engaging in its own modern-day pogrom across the Middle East.
By the way, Observer types, I can't help but notice how you've had my IP blocked every once in a while after I criticize racists, but apparently calling Arabs ragheads is okay. Upper West Side hypocrisy at its finest.
Well, Hillary did cuddle up to Suha Arafat. And I'll bet Chelsea has been to Bowl-mor Lanes in the Village, too...
All those Democrats who are so
progressive on most domestic issues are now being exposed as the bloodthirsty war mongers they really are. But Hillary got Bubba's vote, now that she's advocating on behalf of a nation committing war crimes. Self-defense is not the operative word here.
The anti-Israel types conveniently forget the rockets falling on Israel at a rate of 80-100 per day. Israel did nothing to provoke it except exist. Basically, they want Israel to sit there and absorb the rocket fire without response. If Israel followed their advice, they would mourn Israel's dead with all due sorrow -- and a sense that their deaths are justified because of the suffering of the poor Palestinians. Trying to eliminate a terrorist threat is apparently forbidden since Israel shouldn't exist to start with, in their view.
Israel doesn't target civilians as Hezbollah and Hamas do -- and they don't center their rockets in the heart of residential areas as Hezbollah and Hamas do. Civilians who live among rocket launchers will find themselves in harm's way.
Those rockets didn't start falling until Israel was inside Lebanon. The weapons causing the most lethal and devastating destruction in Lebanon are "gifts" from the American Taxpayers. The rockets killing Israelis are not funded by me.
Israel supposedly doesn't target UN outposts either. They don't believe that anymore in China, Austria, Finland and Canada.
Hezbollah has spent the last six years gearing up for this. They are not suggesting that this is a matter of self-defense, they are talking about liberating 'Northern Palestine' (ie Israel proper). This started as a gambit to kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers so that they could pressure Israel to free prisoners who had previously murdered Israelis. I suppose they are surprised at the ferocity of the response -- but Israel would be suicidal to allow that situation to continue. As for the rockets only starting to fall after Israel is inside Lebanon -- they've been shooting rockets at Northern Israel for years -- not Haifa, but populated areas. It hasn't gotten that much publicity because the news media tends to cover body bags rather than terrorized civilians. But if Canada were launching missiles into a field in upstate New York, the US response would not be muted or restrained.
Tasini looks, and acts, like the inspiration for the bumper sticker "My kid beat up your honor student."
Israel doesn't target civilians? Sorry, they assassinated, in cold blood, a United Nations observer mission. They're not only civilians, they're considered diplomats. And they were shelled, then bombed from the sky. Cold blooded Israeli assassination.
For contrast, the students in Iran didn't even kill diplomats in the Embassy takeover.
And by the way, apparently everyone's forgotten that former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was himself found guilty of killing civilians, by an Israeli court no less, for the last time Israel decided to exercise its so-called "self-defense" in Lebanon.
Of course, Israel is soooo worried about human rights that it elected that bloodthirsty P.O.S. Prime Minister and couldn't part ways with him until he turned into a vegetable.
2:57 Not exactly. Sharon was faulted for failing to stop Lebanese militia who went in and wiped out civilians in Shabra and Shatila. Neither he nor the Israeli forces actually took an action. Of course, they didn't throw themselves into harm's way either, so he should be faulted for that.
I'd wait before drawing conclusions that Israel hit the UN post -- it could turn out to be as true as the Massacre in Jenin or the attack on the family on the beach. Amazing the credulity of the press when it comes to attacking Israel. Then again, not surprising that Kofi Annan would immediately conclude that Israel purposely targeted a UN base -- coincides perfectly with the UN perspective on Israel. This is the same UN that shielded people who kidnapped Israeli soldiers and then refused to hand over the videotape.
Why would Israel waste the ammunition? They've got far more important targets to hit.
The family on the beach was blown up by an Israeli shell.
According to HRW, the injuries sustained (head and torso) were consistent with an artillery attack, not a landmine (legs, abdomen).
Read Tasini'as blog; he's clearly not a self-loathing Jew. Seems rather proud, in fact. He's just terribly wrong on this issue.
4:03 You're a little out of date -- HRW backed away from its original black and white accusation and ultimately suggested that it could also be old unexploded ordinance.
From the Jerusalem Post 6/19/2006: "On Monday, the Human Rights Watch, while sticking to its demand for the establishment of an independent inquiry into a blast on a Gaza beach 10 days ago that killed seven Palestinian civilians, conceded for the first time since the incident that it could not contradict the IDF's exonerating findings.
On Monday, Maj.-Gen. Meir Klifi - head of the IDF inquiry commission that cleared the IDF of responsibility for the blast - met with Marc Garlasco, a military expert from the HRW who had last week claimed that the blast was caused by an IDF artillery shell. Following the three-hour meeting, described by both sides as cordial and pleasant, Garlasco praised the IDF's professional investigation into the blast, which he said was most likely caused by unexploded Israeli ordnance left laying on the beach, a possibility also raised by Klifi and his team.
"We came to an agreement with General Klifi that the most likely cause [of the blast] was unexploded Israeli ordinance," Garlasco told The Jerusalem Post following the meeting. While Klifi's team did a "competent job" to rule out the possibility that the blast was caused by artillery fire, there were still, Garlasco said, a number of pieces of evidence that the IDF commission did not take into consideration. "
CNN had a report from the Israeli army's targeting center, where they showed that the army had mapped every building in Lebanon in 3-D. So if they are not targeting civilians or UN posts I guess, what, they're just lucky?
No, they're the IDF - the same marauding band of genocide minded thugs they have been since the days of the Stern gang.
In other words -- who do you believe -- my press release or my own lying mouth?
JONATHAN TASINI on Democracy Now! 8/9: My father was born in what was then Palestine, fought in the Israeli underground. A cousin of mine was killed in the 1973 War. My step-grandfather was murdered by a Palestinian who was taking revenge for the massacre that Baruch Goldstein conducted against the Muslim worshippers that very day. So I felt the cost of war in a very personal way. And I have been very saddened by Israel's response. I believe Hezbollah did break the law, international law, and at the same time, I think that the Israeli response was, particularly the bombing campaign in Beirut, was disproportionate.