Israel's Macabre Siege Continues

It's politically convenient to ignore the crimes against humanity committed by Israel onto innocent Palestinians in Gaza.

The Free Gaza Mission - ships bringing medical supplies and baby formulae to starving innocents - are rammed and sunk by Israel's Navy.

Are these Palestinians people? Are we to be silent in the face of this outrage?

In Wisconsin, the sole member of the Congressional delegation to speak up is Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee).

Free Gaza Video, We will not go down, Song for Gaza -
- Witten and performed by Michael Heart (Copyright 2009).
- Footage: RAMATTAN News Agency, Vittorio Arrigoni, ISM Images.

GIYUS Support Killing Palestinians

Update II: UN accuses Israel of Gaza 'negligence or recklessness' Inquiry finds Israel responsible for deaths, injuries and damage to UN buildings

Update: A few facts have come to light from the insightful comments in a crosspost. There is no occupation, and no walls. Palestinians [who do not exist] are free to move around in the West Bank and Gaza as they wish in accordance with their pursuit of happiness, with Israel cheering them on. There is no Israeli militarism and no PR apparatus in support of Israeli militarism - which does not in any event exist.

To deny these facts above is to subscribe to a "world Zionist conspiracy" theory and/or be nonconstructive and/or be drunk/on drugs/off drugs/high and/or hear voices/be insane and/or be a twit and/or be a whack job, and/or an anti-Semite and/or a "Jew hater" and/or a believer in the "decoder ring" [whatever that is; have to admit that last one does seem odd]. Please revise your worldview accordingly and know that when Israel bombs and shoots Palestinians it means well. But I'll say this, these pro-militarist-guys can always be counted on to demonstrate your point in the Comments section. :) See the comments section at: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/5/727993/-GIYUS-Support-Killing-Palestinians.

Readers may have noticed Robert Naiman's On Israeli Settlement Freeze, Public Has Obama's Back at MyDD.

Naiman’s piece is modest, asserting that the American public supports the settlement freeze.

In the face of decades of Israeli-American rejectionisism and continuing terror in the occupied territories, readers may find the settlement freeze diverting from the nature of the savage enterprise of illegally occupying Gaza and the West Bank. [See B'TSELEM at virtually any given moment.]

Yet Naiman comes under attack for his, I think, somewhat meek conclusion reflected in the title.
Ignoring Naiman's argument addressing American public opinion, the GIYUS.org (Give Israel Your United Support) talking points begin to flow.

At least Naiman was spared the ad hominem attacks, but if he were to crosspost around, it gets dirty fast. Check out Salon's lame piece on the film on Rachie Corrie, for example.

Who is GIYUS.org?

It's an online pressure group that has been around for a few years. They mean to insult and annoy, but not address facts or data.

GIYUS.org is, as Alan Johnston notes, a “little army of cyber soldiers” who will do anything but engage arguments. Their mission is to slime, divert, and repeat talking points ad nauseam.

See Israel backed by army of cyber-soldiers (Farago. UK Times, July 28, 2006).

Writes Yonit Farago:

Israel’s Government has thrown its weight behind efforts by supporters to counter what it believes to be negative bias and a tide of pro-Arab propaganda.

The Foreign Ministry has ordered trainee diplomats to track websites and chatrooms so that networks of US and European groups with hundreds of thousands of Jewish activists can place supportive messages.

In the past week nearly 5,000 members of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) have downloaded special 'megaphone' software that alerts them to anti-Israeli chatrooms or internet polls to enable them to post contrary viewpoints. A student team in Jerusalem combs the web in a host of different languages to flag the sites so that those who have signed up can influence an opinion survey or the course of a debate.

Supporting militarism is not all that difficult for some. And supporting peace, recognizing the humanity of Palestinians is apparently impossible.

Exaggeration? Ask Rachel Corrie's family.

So for those who speak out for justice and peace, for those who speak out for victims of militarism: GIYUS.org is at the ready, but not to engage in discourse or dialogue.
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Note on GIYUS.org: GIYUS.org is a worldwide online network supporting Israeli militarism [and dedicated to sullying the memory of Rachel Corrie, among other distasteful pursuits]. It is intended to intimidate bloggers and other writers and create an impression that a strong grassroots community exists in support of Israeli atrocities and state terror.

If you ever seen a piece in MyDD and Daily Kos, for example, that cites human rights data in criticizing Israeli foreign policy—a real no-no for this group—you will see an immediate response from GIYUS.org.

GIYUS.org members’ comments are welcome here to promote their point of view, but actually responding to the points made in the piece would be a welcome change.

Rachel Corrie Lives On

MAL has an e-mail interview coming up with the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice. Look for it soon.

Here is a note from Rachel's family from the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice site.

Written by Craig Corrie on Oct 2, 2006

This speech was written by the family of Rachel Corrie and read on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at numerous peace rallies around the world. Rachel was an accomplished writer and cared deeply about working for justice and peace in the world. To read some of Rachel’s writings, please visit the Guardian: here.

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On March 16 (2003), our daughter and sister Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer while she was trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip. Rachel chose to go to Rafah, a city at the southern tip of Gaza, because she believed the world had forsaken this place.

During her time there, Rachel became our eyes and ears of as she told us about the tanks and bulldozers passing by, about the homes with tank-shell holes in their walls, about the rapidly multiplying, Israeli army towers with snipers lurking along the horizon, about apache helicopters and invisible drones buzzing over the city for hours at a time, about wells and greenhouses, and olive groves destroyed, and about the giant metal wall being built around Gaza.

She told us of help she received from an Israeli soldier who e-mailed to her Hebrew phrases to use when confronting Israeli soldiers in tanks and bulldozers. What would your mother think? She also told us about Ali, the eight-year old Palestinian boy shot and killed two days before she arrived, about large groups of Palestinian men rounded up and held for hours at a time, about Palestinian students and workers who could not get to their university or to their jobs because of closed checkpoints, and about Palestinian municipal water workers fired upon while trying to make repairs. She told us, too, of sleeping on the floor and sharing blankets with a family of five, of helping the young boy Nidal with his English as he helped her with her Arabic, and of kind Palestinians who gave her lemony drinks to cure her flu bug. She wrote, 'I am also discovering a degree of strength and of basic ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances. I think the word is dignity'.

Rachel had dreams. She believed that her hometown Olympia, Washington, could gain a lot and offer a lot by committing to a sister-city relationship with Rafah. She envisioned e-mail exchanges between children in the two cities. She wrote, 'Many Palestinian people want their voices to be heard, and I think we need to use some of our privilege as internationals to get those voices heard directly in the US, rather than through the filter of well-meaning internationals such as myself'.

Rachel believed that she might see a Palestinian state or a democratic Israeli-Palestinian state within her lifetime. She wrote, ‘I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world.’

Rachel aligned herself with non-violent Palestinian peace activists, with non-violent Israeli peace activists, and with non-violent international peace activists working courageously to make all of these dreams come true. She lost her life in that effort when she was crushed four weeks ago by an Israeli army bulldozer.

It is now up to us each and every one of us– to stand up with the same conviction and courage and from our pulpits, from our podiums, from our streets, and through our letters to Congress, the Secretary of State, and the President, to shout along with Rachel, ‘this has to stop!' I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and to devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think its an extremist thing to do anymore. I still really want to dance around to Pat Benetar and to have boyfriends and to make comics for my coworkers. But I also want this to stop!'

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Note on GIYUS.org: GIYUS.org is a worldwide online network supporting Israeli militarism [and dedicated to sullying the memory of Rachel Corrie, among other distasteful pursuits]. It is intended to intimidate bloggers and other writers and create an impression that a strong grassroots community exists in support of Israeli atrocities and state terror.

If you ever seen a piece in MyDD and Daily Kos, for example, that cites human rights data in criticizing Israeli foreign policy—a real no-no for this group—you will see an immediate response from GIYUS.org.

GIYUS.org members’ comments are welcome here to promote their point of view, but actually responding to the points made in the piece would be a welcome change.

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We Are All Palestinians Today

Seven years ago (April 20, 2002) activists held the largest rally in American history for Palestinian rights in Washington D.C.

The marchers called for a domestic and foreign policy animated by social justice, libertarian concerns, with a heavy emphasis on immediately halting the offensive of the Israeli Defense Forces in the occupied territories--a bloody siege described in a widely-distributed pamphlet at the march as a 'macabre saga of violence and methodical repression (Islamic Circle of North America).'

Not much has changed. Will President Obama step up and change this ongoing crime of the terror state Israel?