SherriMunnerlyn
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- Jun 11, 2012
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No Longer David:*The State of Israel As Goliath
No Longer David: The State of Israel As Goliath - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East Eldar for Al-Monitor Israel Pulse*Posted on*September 25.
"Whenever you speak with an American Jew about Israel, you always end up at the same point. The conversation starts with Israel, but rarely ends there. It almost always ends with them. So begins The American Jewish Cocoon, a lengthy article by Peter Beinart published Sept. 4 in*The New York Review of Books.*Them, of course, refers to the Palestinians...
Against this backdrop, the new book by the American Jewish journalist and blogger*Max Blumenthal*is particularly noteworthy.*Goliath*is being published by Nation Books.* Unlike most Jews American or Israeli Blumenthal chose to leave his comfort zone, go into disputed territory and examine the burning questions for himself. In fact, Blumenthals greatest strength and interest is in events on the ground and the people who live there, far from the peace process and diplomatic salons.Goliath*is a portrait of a modern-day Sodom, a society that years ago stopped being David of the beautiful eyes and is determined to sustain an image of being weak and victimized. Blumenthal points to the manipulative use made by Israelis of the memory of the*Holocaust*in order to shape a collective consciousness, strengthen the society's inner cohesion and shut itself off from a world perceived as threatening and malevolent.He focuses on a period starting in December 2008, when Israel launched the attack on Gaza code-named Operation Cast Lead. He describes events that took place in Israel and Palestine during the term of the previous Benjamin Netanyahu government [20092012]. Blumenthal dives into the depths of Israeli society of recent years, describing the prevailing atmosphere and the individuals who shaped it. He tells of Israeli youths who take part in the demolition of a Bedouin village as part of a summer camp rife with nationalism and hatred, of the arrest of anti-war protesters in the name of preserving the public peace (Orwell couldnt have phrased it better) and about permanent, discriminatory ethnic division and separation.The local media is portrayed as a central collaborator in this construction of a false consciousness by presenting the pronouncements of the army spokesman as irrefutable fact and absolute truth, without demanding proof of the information being provided. Blumenthal also does not spare those who are not part of the ruling right-wing coalition. His accusatory finger points toward the Israeli peace camp, which, in the first days of any military operation, tends to line up behind the government Blumenthal provides the example of*Chaim Oron,*the previous leader of the left-wing Meretz party, in the initial stages of Operation Cast Lead.Blumenthals depressing if somewhat radicalized narrative does make room for some righteous people of Sodom. They are personified in the young activists on the margins of Israeli society, and even rejected by it, and members of the Palestinian popular councils. Despite the draconian measures used against them, they adhere to*nonviolent opposition to the Israeli occupation. The figure of the prophet, as professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz is described, hovers above them, and a chapter is devoted to him and to his dark prophecy way back in 1967 regarding the direction being taken by Israeli society, which Blumenthal chronicles.The books stated audience is the American public. In the foreword, Blumenthal writes that he wishes to show them what theyre paying for, the facts as they are today, in a way that is not dressed up and laundered...
The final scene in the book takes place in a New York apartment, in the presence of young Israelis who have gone into voluntary exile after despairing of the struggle for social change in the society in which they grew up. These are young people hungry for life and justice, who sense that they have lost the battle and have therefore chosen to leave the field. This final chord amplifies, perhaps, the warning bells being rung by Blumenthal."
In the You Tube video, Blumenthal speaks of the Zionist colonial enterprise in Palestine being in its final phase. I agree.
No Longer David: The State of Israel As Goliath - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East Eldar for Al-Monitor Israel Pulse*Posted on*September 25.
"Whenever you speak with an American Jew about Israel, you always end up at the same point. The conversation starts with Israel, but rarely ends there. It almost always ends with them. So begins The American Jewish Cocoon, a lengthy article by Peter Beinart published Sept. 4 in*The New York Review of Books.*Them, of course, refers to the Palestinians...
Against this backdrop, the new book by the American Jewish journalist and blogger*Max Blumenthal*is particularly noteworthy.*Goliath*is being published by Nation Books.* Unlike most Jews American or Israeli Blumenthal chose to leave his comfort zone, go into disputed territory and examine the burning questions for himself. In fact, Blumenthals greatest strength and interest is in events on the ground and the people who live there, far from the peace process and diplomatic salons.Goliath*is a portrait of a modern-day Sodom, a society that years ago stopped being David of the beautiful eyes and is determined to sustain an image of being weak and victimized. Blumenthal points to the manipulative use made by Israelis of the memory of the*Holocaust*in order to shape a collective consciousness, strengthen the society's inner cohesion and shut itself off from a world perceived as threatening and malevolent.He focuses on a period starting in December 2008, when Israel launched the attack on Gaza code-named Operation Cast Lead. He describes events that took place in Israel and Palestine during the term of the previous Benjamin Netanyahu government [20092012]. Blumenthal dives into the depths of Israeli society of recent years, describing the prevailing atmosphere and the individuals who shaped it. He tells of Israeli youths who take part in the demolition of a Bedouin village as part of a summer camp rife with nationalism and hatred, of the arrest of anti-war protesters in the name of preserving the public peace (Orwell couldnt have phrased it better) and about permanent, discriminatory ethnic division and separation.The local media is portrayed as a central collaborator in this construction of a false consciousness by presenting the pronouncements of the army spokesman as irrefutable fact and absolute truth, without demanding proof of the information being provided. Blumenthal also does not spare those who are not part of the ruling right-wing coalition. His accusatory finger points toward the Israeli peace camp, which, in the first days of any military operation, tends to line up behind the government Blumenthal provides the example of*Chaim Oron,*the previous leader of the left-wing Meretz party, in the initial stages of Operation Cast Lead.Blumenthals depressing if somewhat radicalized narrative does make room for some righteous people of Sodom. They are personified in the young activists on the margins of Israeli society, and even rejected by it, and members of the Palestinian popular councils. Despite the draconian measures used against them, they adhere to*nonviolent opposition to the Israeli occupation. The figure of the prophet, as professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz is described, hovers above them, and a chapter is devoted to him and to his dark prophecy way back in 1967 regarding the direction being taken by Israeli society, which Blumenthal chronicles.The books stated audience is the American public. In the foreword, Blumenthal writes that he wishes to show them what theyre paying for, the facts as they are today, in a way that is not dressed up and laundered...
The final scene in the book takes place in a New York apartment, in the presence of young Israelis who have gone into voluntary exile after despairing of the struggle for social change in the society in which they grew up. These are young people hungry for life and justice, who sense that they have lost the battle and have therefore chosen to leave the field. This final chord amplifies, perhaps, the warning bells being rung by Blumenthal."
In the You Tube video, Blumenthal speaks of the Zionist colonial enterprise in Palestine being in its final phase. I agree.
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