Dear friends,
First, I point you to a post I made on Facebook about a book I just read, Hidden Histories, by Basem Ra'ad. It's worth checking out, but as my post notes, you have been forewarned.
Second, I'd like to share this interesting article from The Times of Israel from 2013 which is indicative of something we are seeing today. Recently, various Israeli figures are, unexpectedly, waking up; and the trend, while still painfully gradual, seems to be gaining momentum after the outcome of the recent Israeli elections and Israeli cabinet makeup. Many who have started to see the light are fearful to make their views publicly known for fear of being isolated in their own communities, but if you watch closely you can see a shift happening, even in the Israeli military, like the recent work of the Israeli group Breaking the Silence has shown.
Thank you Bibi for bringing clarity to the reality we have been bleeding from for 67 years.
Regarding the below article, it is slightly delusional to think that the project of Zionism could have resulted in anything different than what Israel has turned into, but nevertheless. Can you imagine if he could bring himself to view Palestinians in Gaza as human beings, or better yet, the Palestinian refugees (which happens to be 60% of the Gaza Strip) his country refuses to let return back home? What would that add to his analysis?!
Ahh, OK, where do I pick up my Israeli National Insurance Card? And I want some of that free education and subsidized transportation too.
It's time to tell many others to stay home too,
Sam
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The Times of Israel
Former [Israeli] Foreign Ministry director-general invokes South Africa comparisons
'Joint Israel-West Bank' reality is an apartheid state
If Obama intends to ignore the looming 'apartheid cliff' on his visit, he'd be better off staying home, adds Alon Liel, who also served as Israel's envoy to Pretoria
Alon Liel served as the Foreign Ministry's director-general from November 2000 until April 2001. Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal is accusing Liel of treason for his encouraging Palestinian statehood recognition. (photo credit: courtesy)
As long as there is no Palestinian state and Israel rules over the West Bank, Israel is a de facto apartheid state, a former top Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday, using a highly contentious term usually employed only by radical anti-Israel activists.
Alon Liel, a former Foreign Ministry director-general and ex-ambassador to South Africa, also called on President Barack Obama to stay home if he didn't intend to warn Israelis about the dangers of an approaching "apartheid cliff."
"In the situation that exists today, until a Palestinian state is created, we are actually one state. This joint state — in the hope that the status quo is temporary — is an apartheid state," Liel said at a Jerusalem conference about whether Israel is or could become an apartheid state.
"As someone who knows the original apartheid well, and also knows the State of Israel quite well — I was born here, grew up here, served and fought for it for 30 years — someone like me knows that Zionism isn't apartheid and the State of Israel that I grew up in wasn't an apartheid state," Liel emphasized.
"I'm here today because I came to the conclusion that the occupation of the West Bank as it exists today is a sort of Israeli apartheid," said Liel. "The occupation became a hump on the back of Zionism; it has now become the hump of the State of Israel."
There is a real danger of Israel's occupation of the West Bank becoming an integral part of the state, he said. "When that happens, when the West Bank and [Israel in the pre-1967 lines] become one, and the Palestinian residents of the West Bank will not have citizenship — we're apartheid," he said.
Similarities between the "original apartheid" as it was practiced in South Africa and the situation in Israel and the West Bank today "scream to the heavens," added Liel, who was Israel's ambassador in Pretoria from 1992 to 1994. There can be little doubt that the suffering of Palestinians is not less intense than that of blacks during apartheid-era South Africa, he asserted.
Addressing Obama's upcoming Middle East visit, Liel said that just as Americans feared the so-called fiscal cliff a few months ago, they and Israelis should be aware of an Israeli apartheid cliff.
"If you, President Obama, intend to come here for a courtesy visit — don't come. Don't come! We don't need you here for a courtesy visit," Liel said. "You cannot come to an area that exhibits signs of apartheid and ignore them. That would simply be an unethical visit. You yourself know full well that Israel is standing at the apartheid cliff. If you don't deal with this topic during your visit, the responsibility will at the end of the process also lie with you."
Wednesday's remarks were not the first time that Liel — who served as the ministry's director-general from November 2000 to April 2001 — has condemned Israel's policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians. Last summer, he told The Times of Israel that he supports cultural boycotts of Israel and that he himself started boycotting goods produced in the West Bank three years ago to protest the lack of progress in the peace negotiations.
~ Raphael Ahren is the diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel.
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