A blog dedicated to the two topics usually best avoided: Religion and Politics.With a special focus on Israel/Palestine, Judaism, and Middle Eastern politics.
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mediocrepresident asked: Did you see Jon Stewart's lament about Obama's Palestinian speech last night? He seemed to reflect what Mondoweiss and actual Palestinians think judging from what I read on Al Jazeera.
I don’t frequent Mondoweiss, but from what I hear from my Palestinian friends (and what I can understand from my own common sense) agrees with Jon Stewart.
It’s all well and good for Barack Obama to recognize Palestinians’ right to self determination, but if he doesn’t put any pressure on the Israeli government or start attaching strings to the vast amounts of U.S. monetary aid sent, it doesn’t mean much. At best, it’s an ineffectual nod to Palestine. At worst, it’s hypocritical and political maneuvering coming from an administration that doesn’t have an interest in peace.
I’m hoping for the best, as sad as that best is, but I’m hardly convinced.
As for the bit on renewed diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey, well, the segment on the show was hilarious, but I, like Aasif Mandvi and Jon Stewart, find it a distraction from the actual issues Palestinians and Israelis face.
“A Palestinian youth interrupts Obama’s lies and tells him in front of hundreds today that Rachel Corrie was killed with his money. He told him too that he came to give Zionists more weapons, not to spread peace…
“His name is Rabee’ Eid, which is the Arabic for Spring Feast, and that is exactly what he did to Palestinian hearts…
“He was arrested immediately by Zionists…
Via Team Palestina
I wish I could hear what he said on the tape. If the caption is correct I support his dissent completely.
1. Obama did not give “Zionists” more weapons. He gave Israel more weapons.
2. Eid was not arrested by Zionists, he was arrested by IDF soldiers. Referring to IDF soldiers as “Zionists” makes as much sense as referring to US soldiers as “Democrats”.
Zionism means something; it’s not a substitute for Israel.
Activists hold banners in front of the US embassy in Tel Aviv, as a protest against the US military support to Israel. March 22, 2013. (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
(via yafilasteen)
It’s ‘not fair’ that their kids can’t grow up in their own state, he says. President Obama gave a well-received speech to Israeli college students yesterday in which he pressed them to challenge their political leaders to bring about peace. “You must create the change that you want to see,” he…
YES
Now let’s see if Obama actually applies any political or economic pressure.
This is not a routine settlement-construction announcement. Building in E1 would mean cutting off the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem from the West Bank and undermining the prospects of a two-state solution along with it. Resolution of the conflict requires the emergence of a contiguous Palestinian state with the E1 zone as its sole north-south corridor. Construction in this area could ultimately result in the loss of a future, free state of Palestine and the loss of Israel as a Jewish and democratic homeland.
Remember: with all the aid the United States gives to Israel, Obama has the power to put his foot down and say no to Bibi. Let’s tell Obama to use that power.
I’ve never thought about that comparison.
(via obliquecity)
Yemeni Nobel Winner criticizes U.S. drones
Yemen’s Nobel peace prize winner Tawakul Karman has called on President Barack Obama to stop drone strikes in Yemen that could end up helping al-Qaeda, she says, by stoking popular anger against the west.
Ms Karman – who received her Nobel last year, two years after Mr Obama won his – said the president should use his re-election to end targeted killings overseas that fall “outside the scope of law and due process”.
Observers of Yemen believe Washington launched a drone strike in the country the day after Tuesday’s presidential election, part of a pattern of attacks that have killed high-profile suspected terrorists but are also alleged by activists to have caused many civilian deaths.
“We reject drones, whether they are American or Yemeni,” said Ms Karman in an interview at the International Anti-Corruption Conference in Brasilia. “I call on President Obama and all the countries that are using drones to stop.”
Asked if the drone strikes would help recruit people to terrorism, Ms Karman – who won her Nobel for her role in the popular uprising that forced President Ali Abdullah Saleh from office in February – replied: “In a general way, yes – and in particular in Yemen.”
This concern is shared by others such as US-based Yemen specialist Gregory Johnsen. He argues that civilian deaths from drone and other types of counter-terrorism airstrikes are “one of the key reasons” why membership of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap), the local branch of the Islamist organisation, has swelled in the past three years.
Ms Karman added that anti-western terrorism groups in Yemen had also been fuelled by arms handed out to militias by members of the old regime.
The day after Mr Obama beat Mitt Romney in the US election this week, an attack said to have borne the hallmarks of a US drone strike was reported to have killed three suspected militants in an area close to Sana’a, Yemen’s capital. Ibrahim Mothana, a Yemeni political activist, tweeted: “People in Yemen were happy Obama not Romney was elected. Mr President just thanked us with a drone strike in the capital suburb!”
While the US never officially acknowledges drone strikes, activists and right groups say Washington is behind a long-running series of attacks that have killed figures such as Anwar al-Awlaki, a militant cleric who was allegedly a senior Aqap figure. Aqap is suspected of being behind a series of plots against western targets, including an alleged conspiracy in May this year for a terrorist to take an “underwear bomb” on to a US-bound airliner.
But the drone strikes in Yemen have triggered criticism both because of the civilian casualties they are alleged to have caused and because of the lack of clear oversight of Washington’s so-called “kill lists” of targets, particularly as some of them – such as Mr Awlaki – may be US-born or naturalised.
(via obliquecity)
White House Petition to Stop Drones
Hey, Dion, this isn’t quite a submission, but I can’t put links in the ask. I know you’re a vocal opponent of Obama’s brown-people-killing, and I’ve started a petition on the white house website to stop the drone strikes. Obviously, it’s unlikely to accomplish much, but at 25,000 signatures it gets officially reviewed by the white house, and the goal is to make him know that this issue isn’t being ignored as much as he thinks it is. You have lots of politically minded or human rights-minded followers, both here and on your side blogs, and I don’t on any of mine, so I’d really, really, really appreciate it if you’d spread the petition.
Thanks, man.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/stop-drone-strikes/QGjycNt4?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl
We can actually do this—at the very least make him notice it.
What other president has at least given us a tool to call him out on his fuckery?
(via thearcanetheory)
Colin Powell (via our-eloquent-incoherence)
Colin Powell why are you and Condi republicans? That’s the real question I wanna know.
(via theuppitynegras)
(via zaman-al-samt)
akio:
There will be more and more ‘analysis’ - and continuing discussions on this subject (How Jewish voters voted for Obama or Romney.)
On this one, it is hard to think he had enough facts to analyze the subject - supposedly handled in this piece. Because the drop was so small (perspectives differ).
And also another tricky material: How much ‘Israel’ actually matters to American Jewish voters
The J Street poll, like every other poll I’ve ever seen on the subject, found that only a small minority of American Jews vote on Israel. According to J Street, only ten percent of American Jews named Israel as one of their top two voting issues. (Another two percent mentioned Iran). The RJC asked a much cruder question, since it contained no comparative element: “In making your decision on whom to vote for president, how important were issues concerning Israel.” And even here, two-thirds of respondents chose “not” or “somewhat” important rather than “very important.”
