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CounterPunch
January
17, 2003
Give Me That
Old Time Republic
by WILLIAM HUGHES
Martin Peretz, a rabid cheerleader for
Zionist causes, entitles his American-based magazine, "The
New Republic." It's an Israel First organ, if there ever
was one. In the name of America's revered Founding Fathers, I
object! His journal should be labeled, "The New Israel."
In his "Cambridge Diarist"
column of Jan. 10, 2003, he rants, "But many people have
pursued statehood in modern history, and only the Palestinians
have pursued it so barbarically. Terrorism, the truth be told,
is about the sum total of what the Palestinians have bestowed
on our civilization during the last five decades." Peretz's
statement is arrogant, cruel and grossly insensitive. It also
seriously mocks the truth.
The fact that the Palestinians have been
living under a brutal Israeli occupation for more than 35 years
was ignored by the clever wordsmith. He has also overlooked the
Zionist terrorist activities of the infamous Irgun and the Stern
Gang. The massacres of Arabs by Israelis at Qibya and Deir Yassin,
have also conveniently slipped down the "memory hole."
Amnesty International in a recent report
detailed some of the egregious wrongdoings of Ariel Sharon's
regime. It said that since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada,
over 1,800 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli Defense
Forces (IDF), which routinely use "F16 fighter jets, helicopter
gun ships and tanks to bomb and shell densely populated residential
areas. The victims [have] included more than 300 children and
some 80 individuals [have been] killed in targeted state assassinations."
The Israelis also have "destroyed more than 3,000 homes
and damaged thousands more...ten of thousands have lost their
main or sole source of income."
Peretz in his 01/10/03 spiel, also relied
on a quote from the famed English statesman, Edmund Burke, to
support his Palestinian bashing theme. However, history showed
that Burke was a champion of America's right to self-determination,
and Ireland's cause, too. I feel confident that this great man
of principle, would have taken the same position today with respect
to the Palestinian people, who are suffering under the colonial
Israeli yoke.
Even Egypt's Prime Minister, Hosni Mubarak,
came in for an insult. Peretz claimed Mubarak was too much influenced
by "Cairo's rent-a-mob populace." The occupied territories
were glossed over as the "disputed territories" by
the New Republic's guru. (See, The LINK, 10/02 issue, for the
truth about that question and also about the myth of "Israel's
Generous Offer," which Peretz had bragged about in an earlier
column). He also blamed the exodus, over the years, of "hundreds
of thousands of Christians" from the Holy Land, not on the
evils of the Israeli Occupation, but on its victims, the Palestinians.
Isn't this surreal?
Come to think of it, Peretz's railings
remind me of Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York. His massive
Zionism-as-the-center-of-the-universe ego was on display, (12/07/02),when
he did a "Bloomberg Radio" program. Whether or not
he liked somebody depended on how they responded to Israel's
agenda. For example, Koch heaped praise on the Christian Right
ministers, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, for "standing
up for the Jewish nation." Then, he blasted France, Mexico
and National Public Radio for not. ABC's Peter Jennings was smeared
for his supposedly "vicious and unfair portrayals of Israel."
What chutzpah!
The "state-targeted assassinations"
that Amnesty cited, is a politically correct way of saying that
Tel Aviv is running death squads in the occupied West Bank and
Gaza. These are the same kind of death squads that were used
by the oligarchies in Central America, like in Guatemala, in
the 70s, to dispose of their putative enemies. The only difference
between the two is that the Zionist killers prefer to murder
their Palestinians victims from a safe distance, via a missile
shot from an helicopter. Peretz has a duty to speak out on the
moral and legal question of the Israeli death squads.
Israel's use of "fighter jets, helicopter
gun ships and tanks to bomb and shell civilians in densely populated
areas," also cited by Amnesty, is barbaric, too. I would
think that Peretz would agree with that. However, "barbaric"
to him seems only to mean the Palestinians shouldn't resort to
"suicide bombings." He's right, they shouldn't. But,
he's wrong for shrugging off the real cause: the Occupation.
There would have been no Jewish "Warsaw Uprising,"
without the Nazi occupation of Europe, and there would be no
Palestine "suicide bombings" without the Israeli Occupation.
Peretz needs to get off his high horse and address the Occupation
issue, too.
Languishing in Zionist hell holes, in
Israel, according to Amnesty International, are "over 1,000
Palestinians." They are being held under a process known
as "administrative detention," without charges or trial
and based on "secret evidence," often without any "family
visits." Amnesty confirmed many of these inmates are subjected
to "torture."
Unfortunately, Israel's "administrative
detention" practice is another sordid fact of life of the
so-called "only democracy in the Middle East." The
right of "Habeas Corpus," the ancient Common Law writ
incorporated into the U.S. Constitution, is alien to the prison
wardens of Sharon's Gulag. There is no way for Palestinian detainees
to challenge the legality of their imprisonment. And, even if
they did, what kind of hearing would they get from a racist apartheid
government that runs death squads, engages in collective punishment
of innocent people, and regularly bulldozes the homes of Palestinians
with impunity? So, where is Peretz on Israel's barbaric "administrative
detention" scheme? Does he condone it?
On April 21, 2001, Peretz's "The
New Republic" was given an award by HonestReporting.com
for consistently standing by Sharon and "Israel's side,
and exposing the Arab rhetoric commonly parroted by the Western
media." Are we in a Woody Allen movie?
Finally, I think Peretz has taken a very
undemocratic line towards the Palestinians. His position has
nothing remotely to do with America or the core values of the
vast majority of its people. As far as I'm concerned, the American
people should reject Sharonism in all its manifestations.
Give me that old time Republic.
William Hughes
is the author of "Baltimore Iconoclast" (Writer's Showcase),
which is available online. He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.
© William Hughes 2002
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