An open letter to Tutu

[shira]

Archbishop, I believe you are making a terrible mistake. Without truth there can be no justice, and without justice there can be no peace. The Talmud says: “The world stands on three things: justice, truth and peace.” These three values are inseparable. Archbishop, I am convinced that the sanctions campaign against Israel is morally repugnant because it is based on horrific and grotesquely false accusations against the Jewish people.

<snip>

Archbishop, the Arab/Israeli conflict is not a struggle against apartheid or occupation. It is a century- long war against the very existence of Jews and a Jewish state in the Middle East. There have already been seven major Arab/Israeli wars since the birth of modern Israel.

<snip>

In 2000, the Palestinian leadership launched a massive wave of suicide bombers into Israel, leading to more than 1,300 civilian deaths and 10,000 injuries. Proportionately, such carnage in South Africa would mean more than 10,000 killed and over 80,000 injured! Israel erected a security fence with checkpoints to shield it from such attacks launched from the disputed territories.

Archbishop, you compare these checkpoints to apartheid South Africa. But they are not about pass laws, which don’t exist in Israel. The checkpoints are on the border between sovereign Israeli territory and the disputed territories of the West Bank and Gaza in order to keep civilians from being murdered, and have been very successful in doing so. These checkpoints – like those found in all airports – are there to prevent suicide bombers from blowing up innocent people.

more...
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=193904

[alanquatermass]

1. Blah blah blah. Bottom line is, ISRAEL is a white, First World Country and de facto WESTERN power...

-- while the Palestinians and other nations surrounding Israel (whose denizens are all brown-skinned) are Third World, so therefore: ISRAEL IS THE OPPRESSOR. Q.E.D.

How about putting those facts in your NEXT letter?

[shira]

2. Great DU logic there regarding the Israel-Arab conflict, thanks! n/t

[alanquatermass]

3. Sarcasm, right? Very funny, Shira....

-- 'bout as funny as an Israeli-fired ROCKET into a Childrens' Hospital. Just ask the Palestinians how funny that is, next time it happens. (You won't have to wait long!)

[Tripmann]

4. And then WE won't have to wait long for the claims that hamas were stashing rockets there.

[alanquatermass]

5. Ha! Exactly, Trip!!!

It happens with fucking mathematical certainty: No sooner does Israel retaliate against an "attack" then it starts belly-aching about how Hamas provoked return fire on civilians by launching their rockets from densely populated areas, etc.

These charges that Hamas would deliberately condemn their own people to death are risible and need to be censured by the U.N.