I am sitting around my home this morning, celebrating the aftermath of a peaceful Christmas here in upstate New York. All is well here.But on the other side of the Atlantic, all hell continues to break loose - as the Israeli military bombs the shit out of Gaza, killing over 200, and injuring well over 300 people - men, women, and children. Israeli officials claim they had no choice!
Rarely present in the mainstream conversation about international politics is condemnation of the Israeli policy of violence waged upon the Palestinian people - it is completely absent from American discourse. President-elect Obama, vacationing on a multi-million dollar estate in Hawaii is apparently too busy with other things to comment.
Mr. President, this does not require thought, deliberation, and consideration as how to respond - picture your Hawaii compound destroyed, your two precious daughter dead at your feet, and ask yourself whether you would remain silent! Is this the NEW moral leadership you promised? Is this silence on war crimes your idea of change?
Israel needs to be condemned by the international community. By all of us. With a policy of apartheid, at its most benign, and a policy of genocidal extinction at its most malignant, Israel continues to deny water rights and a homeland to the Palestinian people - the rightful owners of all of Israel - for without the efforts of the United States and the Allies after World War II, there would be no fictitious land of Israel existing on Palestinian land.
No fucking choice????????? Give me a fucking break!
As for the rest of us ... our hearts should weep with the grief of the death of our own children, and our anger and rage should follow in kind.
Happy New Year!
Zachary Marcus
PS - let these images burn into your soul this holiday season ...
