Around noon, trudging through the dirty slush on my way to the bus stop, I walked by this demonstration at the corner of Dearborn and Adams.
After I saw the first of dozens of Israeli flags, which werehanded out to demonstration participants, I remembered reading about the event a few days back. In fact, I intended to blog on it last night, but forgot after a long day of class.
Police officers stationed in the area told me to “join them or keep on walking,” but I was drawn to stay, to pace back and forth on the block listening to Steven Nasatir, the organization’s president, vehemently defend the state of Israel to a cheering crowd:
“It is incomprehensible that—60 years after the birth of the modern State of Israel—we are still defending Israel’s right to exist in the court of world opinion and on the streets of Chicago!
Let’s say it plainly. This is not about a two-state solution—it’s about an attempt to destroy the State of Israel.”
Meanwhile, across the street, a few grumpy old men handed out pamphlets in opposition to Israel, promoting a Palestinian state.
The scene, in the middle of dreary downtown, made my eyes water.
My roommate and I have discussed the conflict and the current tragedy in Gaza. She’s Jewish, and I’m Christian and “pro-Semitic,” but we’ve become torn over this outburst of violence—when civilians in Gaza are being killed in such large numbers and Israel is so hesitant to permit humanitarian aid.
As much as we’d like to see the age-old conflict end during our generation, we’re confronted with what seems like the reality of the situation: the bombing continues, the fighting does not stop.
I look over the crowd at the Jewish Federation demonstration, with their signs to stop Hamas, their blue-and-white flags, and their concerned faces, and I want to support their cause and rally with them. American politicians and media seem to loyally and continuously do so; a pro-Israel stance comes natural.
But the other side of me says I can’t cheer for a country that has reportedly trapped civilians and barred passage to the Red Cross. I understand the position of groups such as the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, which has spoken out, calling Israel’s violence a “massacre” and offered charity for emergency relief in Gaza.
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25 weeks 18 hours ago
"Hamas civilians?" Are you sure about that?
The more than 800 dead are Palestinians. So far the UN has counted 250 children and nearly 60 women. It's difficult to count because the hospitals are in chaos and people are still trapped in buildings. The first day of bombing killed 70 men attending their graduation from traffic police academy. It's possible that the vast majority of the dead are civilians.
The media in the U.S. has been such a failure at reporting this issue for decades. They continue to be unreliable and awful during this crisis.
I recommend these two sources, which have correspondents in Gaza right now.
http://english.aljazeera.net
http://electronicintifada.net
25 weeks 15 hours ago
You're right, my wording is misleading. "Civilians in Gaza" would be more accurate, will change.
25 weeks 17 hours ago
Fighting with militia like Hamas is difficult. They are not wearing any uniform and look just like "civilians". On top of that, they hide themselves among civilians. In a highly populated area, such battles inevitably would hurt the civilians and bystanders. Having a Palestinian "state" that is split in two, in itself, is a joke. Really, the world should place them on the east side of the Jordan river, their ancient settlement and allow Israel to be a nation back to the biblical time.
25 weeks 15 hours ago
I totally understand how you're feeling. I am 17 and extremely involved with pro-Israel advocacy through JUF and AIPAC and I was actually standing about 2 people ahead of the person in this picture. I have been to Israel 4 times, and have several friends who now live within rocket range in the Southern communities of Israel. It is painful for me to watch the back and forth between Gaza and Israel, and I wish it could be resolved peacefully. The problem is that Hamas does not WANT peace, and they clearly demonstrated this by violating the 6 month ceasefire that ended last month.
Palestinian lives are no less valuable than Israeli lives, whether they are Westerners or not is irrelevant. Unfortunately, these innocent Palestinians freely elected a "government" whose base is violence and death, and they should not be surprised that Israel is FINALLY responding to this rocket fire. This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygb6VrW8WZw) is the daily life for so many people, and Israel REALLY didn't have a choice. They tried leaving Gaza to let Palestinians organize their own state, but instead they decided to launch rockets from it. They tried a ceasefire, but Hamas decided to violate it almost daily.
I think any loss of human life is a tragedy, but if Israel did not take this action, Israelis would continue to be killed. I respect Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas, and I would expect no less of this country to protect me from terrorists in Canada or Mexico. Hamas decides to make their headquarters in HEAVILY populated areas to cause civilian casualties because they know it will look bad on Israel. They are right, but public opinion isn't all that matters.
I'm not sure if any of this makes sense or if I just completely rambled, but Israel is a country that is really held to a higher standard than any other country in the world. It's now fair, and Israel isn't really asking for sympathy. It's asking for understanding that it needs to protect its citizens just like any other country.
25 weeks 15 hours ago
Danny, thank you for your personal perspective from today's event and on Israel's ongoing struggle.
24 weeks 6 days ago
An estimated 14 Israeli's dead
An estimated 800 Palestinians dead
My sympathies lie neither with Hamas nor Israel. They lie with the people of Gaza & Palestine who are the real victims of decades of violent conflict.
Israel has brought any violence it experiences upon itself. Islamic terrorism is a SYMPTOM of a greater problem. It is a politicised dogma & is the result of years of occupation in the Middle East.
Look at how the people in Gaza are forced to live. They are penned in like cattle & denied basic human rights. Israel has created another Warsaw ghetto, yet on a scale that no jew ever endured.
24 weeks 6 days ago
Danny says that if Israel hadn't launched the seize on Gaza, "Israelis would continue to get killed." huh? Look, before Israel began it's air strikes on Gaza on dec 27th, NOT ONE SINGLE Israeli had been killed by Hamas in six months - the duration of the ceasefire. Before Israel violated the ceasefire openly on nov 4th (not to mention the covert violation of not lifting - and in fact tightening - the blockade, as was agreed under the terms of the ceasefire) NOT A SINGLE rocket was fired by Hamas. Meanwhile Israel also continued assasinating these peace-keeping Hamas "militants."
People, know your facts. And for God's sake, don't defend a country's right to kill civilians in what Israeli commentators have called "an open air prison." I would NEVER go to a rally supporting the use of suicide bombs. Why? Because it is wrong. Tell me now: how is israel's assault on Gaze any less acceptable?
One more question: if Israel is right in invading in order to defend against the killing of no one, what then should be the adequate Palestinian response to the killing of more than 800 palestinans, many of them civilians, women, children, including 40 men at a traffic school ceremony, and UN relief aid workers?
These are all facts. I am on my phone, bit when I get to a computer I will post references. In the meantime, if you are interested in the truth, read The Guardian, The Nation, and even the Israeli paper Haaretz, which are all less biased than US media.
Israel does not want peace. It rejected a ceasefire proposed prior the invasion, a ceasefire Hamas was willing to accept. It has been planning this attack for months in order to regain fear of it's militia after the 2006 debacle prior to an election. And it wants to drive the palestinians out in the hopes of a Greater Israel, where only Jews can live, vote and work. And not all Israelis want this, and certainly not all Jews! It is a racist Zionist goal that the administrations in Israel think is attainable.
Scary. Danny, you're 17. Please please educate yourself. Read abunimah, finklestein, levy... I will post links later. If the young people -esp in this country - educate themselves, a lasting peace might finally be attainable.
23 weeks 2 days ago
I beg to differ. Israel wants peace, but it also wants SECURITY. For instance, Israel was once at war with Egypt. Now there is a cold peace, but a peace nonetheless. Israel understands that there will, in all likelihood, never be friendly relations. It won't be like the US and Canada. Israel only wants to ensure the security of ALL its citizens whether they be Christians, Jews, Muslims, Druze, atheists, agnostics, etc. Israel is a modern, democratic nation that is still VERY young and the problems it's experiencing are not that different from the problems once experienced by a young US. In fact, we are still struggling with racial, ethnic and socio-economic struggles in our over 200-year old nation. Israel is only 61 years old.
Please don't implore Danny to read the sources you quoted. I'm only familiar with Finklestein who is a Holocaust revisionist. Knowing that, I don't have much confidence in the other sources you mentioned.
Like many other forms of hate and bigotry, much of the venom directed towards Israel is not founded on facts and logic, but hatred of Jews. Just as some people who are radically right-wing in America harbor a distaste for blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc., there are extreme leftists who side with "the Palestinian cause," because they hate Jews. They would never admit it and might not even realize that antisemitism is the root of their "arguments," but it often is.
Hate and bigotry isn't talked about very much. It's skirted and suppressed and ignored. We're supposedly "beyond that." But no we're not; it still exists. For instance, many black Americans would know what I mean. It's not out in the open, but it's something vile and unpleasant that often seethes below the surface of an otherwise polite society.
Of course many people who are of a racial or religious minority are fortunate enough never to encounter it in their lives. I live in a large, diverse, multi-ethnic metropolitan area and I've encountered it. So I'm here to tell you that it exists and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
21 weeks 3 days ago
Anna,
have you ever actually read finkelstein?? both of his parents survived the warsaw ghetto, so clearly he has never denied or "revised" the holocaust. how can you call someone a holocaust revisionist when that person openly comments on both of his parents surviving the holocaust? it's completely absurd, and haphazardly throwing these labels around is what scares people away from a necessary dialogue.
israel is not, as you claim, a "modern, democratic nation" when it denies the participation of arab parties in elections :
http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3654866,00.html
or allows only jews to use modern roads. a more appropriate description of its current state, per its policies, is that it is beginning to resemble an apartheid nation.
here is a cbs news report/60 minutes segment that comments on the occupation of palestinian land by israeli military and illegal settlers:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752349n
there are two sides to every coin and to every issue. simply disregarding someone who speaks up about the state of things - and got his PhD from Princeton for it, no less - as a "revisionist" is nothing short of dismissing an argument counter to your point because you don't want to hear it. THIS, i'm afraid, is what contributes to the hate and bigotry you so claim to abhor.
you are right. israel is young. and it has a long way to go as it grows up. unfortunately it's headed in the wrong direction. to perpetuate the story that there were no arabs in palestine, or no palestine, pre-1948, or to deny that land was confiscated by terror and foreceful means, is akin to denying the holocaust and is an egregious double-standard. i am the daughter of palestinian refugees who were terrorized by the israeli military in 1948, and then whose home and, indeed, very existence were denied. but i do not want to "wipe israel off the map." my "venom" toward israeli policies has nothing to do with jews, much as my disapproval with bush policies has nothing to do with americans. indeed, if israel were the voice of jews everywhere, then you would not find so many jews who are outspoken against israeli policies, policies which claim to act in the name of jews everywhere. the policies are an insult to the jewish people and the jewish religion.
what i would like to see is a just solution to the palestinian cause. and i don't think justice includes having a land where only peoples of a certain religion can live and work and get full rights - even if some of these people have never set foot in that land before - while those who are simply a "border" away, who grew up in this very land, are denied entry. and lest i forget to mention, the arabs who are israeli citizens, living in israel, do NOT get treated the same as jewish citizens. it is absurd.
so you're right. racism exists as much here as it does in israel. jews are not superior to any other human beings, and it's time that israeli policies acknowledge this.
24 weeks 6 days ago
Hi K8!
Funny that I should click on your blog today... Seems like we had completely opposite experiences. I was going to the downtown area last night in Barcelona and I got out of the metro to an extraordinarily large crowd. But I thought.. well it's saturday night in the most popular part of town. Walking a few paces forward I soon realized that the entire street was blocked and mobbed by about 5000 people rallying for Palestine. I got through the crowd and moved on to my destination, which unluckily for me, happened to be the same plaza were the marchers originated. There was a stage and wall to wall people shouting, chanting, burning things... it was a real rabble.
People were carrying signs saying things like, "Gaza Yes We Can" and "Israel: End The Holocaust". I found the latter in especially poor taste. It just made me see that however fanatic some Zionist Jews are accused of being, the pro-Palestine movement is possessed with no small amount of their own fanaticism. I am with you on not knowing what to think of the whole situation... but thought I would share that crazy/random experience.
Stay well,
Christa
24 weeks 5 days ago
Clearly I meant to say how is Israel's Gaza assault any _more_ acceptable than suicide bombings?
Israel admits that Hamas fired no rockets before Nov 4th:
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=68405627032&h=RpQN8&u=fRZo1
And by:
Oxford professor of international relations Avi Shlaim, who served in the Israeli army and has never questioned the state's legitimacy. But its merciless assault on Gaza has led him to devastating conclusions
How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=44844664231&h=YVoAW&u=4gd0k
And for news, read the papers I mentioned, as well as the sources posted in the first comment.
Please educate yourselves. Let's try to work together to support a lasting PEACEFUL solution, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and anyone else there can live side-by-side. And where Palestinians either have their own self-controlled state, or where they are legitimized citizens of the state of Israel with EQUAL rights.
23 weeks 4 hours ago
I sympathize with you, Kate. Just recently, Obama declared his "support" for Israel. Is that good news?
It is truly disappointing that Israel went overboard in trying to prevent any humanitarian aid in this conflict. They are blatantly violating human rights and seem to do not mind at all. It's really ironic that the supposedly "chosen people of God" are there waging a horrible war. Regardless of who started it, the people deserve some peace and they need it now.
Let's continue to hope for better things.
Cheers!
Kevin
22 weeks 2 days ago
I applaud your efforts to bring more awarenss to this issue. There are very few commercial efforts that accomplish this.
What do you know about this?