Bill Moyers says that by pursuing the war in Gaza, Israel is “waging war on an entire population,” and that such Israel’s use of brute force in Gaza can be seen as “state terrorism.”
Moyer compares what Israel is doing in Gaza to “what the U.S. did in Vietnam with B-52s and napalm and again in Iraq with shock and awe.” Moyers says, “By killing indiscriminately – the elderly, kids, entire families by destroying schools and hospitals — Israel did exactly what terrorists do and exactly what Hamas wanted. It spilled the blood that turns the wheel of retribution.”
Excerpt from Moyers’ comment on his PBS program, Bill Moyer’s Journal:
“Yes, every nation has the right to defend its people. Israel is no exception, all the more so because Hamas would like to see every Jew in Israel dead.
“But brute force can turn self-defense into state terrorism. It’s what the U.S. did in Vietnam, with B-52s and napalm, and again in Iraq, with shock and awe. Hardly had Israeli tank fire killed and injured scores at a UN school in Gaza than a senior Hamas leader went on television to announce, ‘The Zionists have legitimized the killing of their children by killing our children.’ Already attacks on Jews in Europe are escalating — a burning car crashes into a synagogue in Southern France, a fiery object is hurled through a window in Sweden, venomous anti-Semitic graffiti appears across the continent, and arsonists strike in London.
“What we are seeing in Gaza is the latest battle in the oldest family quarrel on record. Open your Bible: the sons of the patriarch Abraham become Arab and Jew. Go to the Book of Deuteronomy. When the ancient Israelites entered Canaan their leaders urged violence against its inhabitants. The very Moses who had brought down the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ now proclaimed, ‘You must destroy completely all the places where the nations have served their gods. You must tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred poles, set fire to the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their name from that place.’
“So God-soaked violence became genetically coded. A radical stream of Islam now seeks to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. Israel misses no opportunity to humiliate the Palestinians with checkpoints, concrete walls, routine insults, and the onslaught in Gaza. As if boasting of their might, Israel defense forces even put up video of the explosions on YouTube for all the world to see. A Norwegian doctor there tells CBS, ‘It’s like Dante’s Inferno. They are bombing one and a half million people in a cage.’
“America has officially chosen sides. We supply Israel with money, F-16s, winks and tacit signals. Our Christian right links arms with the religious extremists there who claim divine sanctions for Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. Our political elites show neither independence nor courage by challenging the consensus that Israel can do no wrong. Although one recent poll found Democratic voters overwhelmingly oppose the Israeli offensive by a 24-point margin, Democratic Party leaders in Congress nonetheless march in lockstep to the hardliners in Israel and the White House. Rarely does our mainstream media depart from the monotonous monologue of the party line. Many American Jews know, as Aaron David Miller writes in the current Newsweek, that the destruction in Gaza won’t do much to address Israel’s longer-term needs.
“But those who raise questions are accused by a prominent reform rabbi of being ‘morally deficient.’ One Jewish American activist told me this week that never in 30 years has he seen such blind and binding conformity in his community. You’d never know,’ he said, ‘that it is the Gazans who are doing most of the suffering.’
“We are in a terrible bind — Israel, the Palestinians, the United States. Each greases the cycle of violence, as one man’s terrorism becomes another’s resistance to oppression. Is it possible to turn this mindless tragedy toward peace? For starters, read Aaron David Miller’s article in the current Newsweek. Get his book, The Much Too Promised Land. And pay no attention to those Washington pundits cheering the fighting in Gaza as they did the bloodletting in Iraq. Killing is cheap and war is a sport in a city where life and death become abstractions of policy. Here are the people who pay the price.”
Tell me sir, what do you do when a rocket is fired at you? What do you ask your government to do about it? Gazans voted in Hamas and this is now the result! Hamas vows the distruction of Isreal, do they care about their own people while they fire their rockets from a crowded street? I think your position would be quite different if rockets were being fired constantly from across say the Canadian or Mexican border! I believe Americans in unison would demand their government to prosecute those terrorists with extreme prejudice and hopefully innocents will get out of the way! There is no mistake..Isreal has been in a constant fight for its survival….they are a soveriegn country…whether the far left agrees with that or not….and they have a right to defend themselves. Your idealistic criticsm of how cleanly or surgically that is done makes no difference to someone defending his life and the lives of others.
Mike, most of the middle east wants to exterminate the Jews, as do the Gazans. They fired THOUSANDS of rockets into Israel. Did you ever condemn the Gazans for their actions?
Who cares what Bill Moyers thinks anymore? He is just an old man waxing on things he mostly chooses to be ignorant about. Maybe he is trying to make amends for all the sins he committed as part of the Johnson administration’s media machine.
Rick, you ask, “Did you ever condemn the Gazans for their actions?”
I’ve spent some time looking over my recent posts about the Gazan War, and, no, I can’t see that I ever specifically condemned those Gazan’s who have persisted in their rocket launching. My emphasis has been on Israel’s actions. As the biggest, most powerful in the area, as the closest to the US, as the one receiving over $3 billion each year in free US money, it seems to me, Israel has the biggest responsibility.
Of course, I do not approve Gazan terrorism and the wounding or killing of Israelis by Gazan missiles. But, if I or you were forced to endure the living conditions in Gaza and forced to suffer from generational injustice and from Israel indifference to the loss of life of family and friends, how would we respond? Maybe we would be saint like. But it seems unreasonable that saint like behavior could be expected in the population as a whole. Israel’s former prime minister is quoted as saying that if he were in the Palestinian’s situation in Gaza, he likely would commit acts of terrorism, just like Hamas is doing.
Bud, I have a lot of respect for Bill Moyers. I’m not sure what drives him now at this point in his life, but he seems one of the few journalists who will speak truth to those in power.
J Quinn, I basically disagree with your point of view and I review recent posts I’ve made that show a very different way of thinking about the whole Israel / Hamas situation. I wrote this post as a response: The Gazan Tragedy: “Tell Me Sir, What Do You Do When A Rocket Is Fired At You?”
You wring your hands over a country that has learned that to do nothing is to invite further attacks. Listen to the Europeans decry Israels right to defend themselves. These are the ones who like their Jews passive and incarcerated and willing to march to the gas chambers. Take notice Mr Moyers, your criticism of the right of 6 million people to defend themselves against 100 million doesn’t mean a thing! Put yourself in the position of Israel, your borders team with enemies determined to finish what the Nazi’s started, what are you going to do, say “I can’t defend my people because a civilian placed in harms way by my enemy might get killed!” If that is the case you may as well kill yourself because Hamas sure as hell will kill you given the opportunity. The Gazans and the Bush Administrations stupidity brought Hamas to power and now Gazans pay the price.
Barry, thanks for your comments. Israel has caused enormous destruction and death in Gaza, as I posted here. It is important to understand Israel’s rationale and justification for its heavy handed violence in Gaza. You and J Quinn, in response to this article, present a point of view whose purpose is to justify Israel’s actions in Gaza. But, from what I know, the horrible violence committed by Israel’s military in Gaza is really inexcusable.
Obviously we have a difference in how we see this Gazan War. The question is, am I seeing the truth, or are you seeing the truth? What is important is that US policy be reality based, based on truth. It seems to me that the view of reality advocated by you and J Quinn has a lot of problems. Your view of reality seems to be missing a lot of the reality of the whole picture and, instead, appears to be simply a one sided polemic whose purpose is to persuade, not enlighten or inform. Bill Moyers, in my judgment, gives a view of the reality of the Gazan War that needs to be answered. You do not make a very strong case for your point of view, for your understanding of truth, by simply ignoring what Moyers has to say. Neither you nor J Quinn addressed the reality and truth that Bill Moyers presented in his program.
I’ve also been noticing comments by Richard Falk. Falk is the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. He is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and the author of more than 50 books on war, human rights and international law.
I would be interested in your analysis of this statement recently made by Dr. Falk: “The reality was that for the year before Israel attacked Gaza at the end of 2008, not a single Israeli death had occurred as a result of the few rockets that had been fired. Further, Hamas had all along indicated its willingness to enter a long term truce with Israel up to ten years. Beyond that, the temporary truce that had been negotiated under Egyptian auspices last June, had held pretty well until Israel broke it on November 4, by attacking some alleged Palestinian militants within Gaza and killing six people.”
Mike, it is becoming evident to me that you are a member of the Blame America First, Blame Western Civilization First crowd. Since you have not condemned Hamas for its use of force over a period of years, then you have forfeited your moral right to complain about Israel’s response. Under international law, a nation has a right to invade another nation when people in the second nation (they don’t even have to be associated with the government) cross the line and attacks the first nation.
You state: “Of course, I do not approve Gazan terrorism and the wounding or killing of Israelis by Gazan missiles. [Your silence indicates you are not very concerned about it.] But, if I or you were forced to endure the living conditions in Gaza and forced to suffer from generational injustice and from Israel indifference to the loss of life of family and friends, how would we respond?” First, if I were a Gazan, I would not elect the moral equivalents of the Nazi party. Second, I would accept responsibility for myself and my family. Third, I would demand that the Gazan government cause no problems for Israel. Fourth, if a party like Hamas or Al Fatah were elected I would work to overthrow such an evil machine. I would hope that many of those Nazis would die at my hands.
Moyers, as usual, has several factual errors. Israel is not waging indiscriminate war on entire people. On the whole, Israel has staged precision strikes at military targets. It was Hamas that chose to site its military operations among civilians. Any deaths of civilians are the responsibility of Hamas, which is the government of Gaza.
You quote Moyers: “Already attacks on Jews in Europe are escalating — a burning car crashes into a synagogue in Southern France, a fiery object is hurled through a window in Sweden, venomous anti-Semitic graffiti appears across the continent, and arsonists strike in London.” Yes, Muslims throughout the world hate the Jews and want to exterminate them. It is sad that Moyers has sided with them. (In spite of his statement that Israel has a right to defend itself. The rest of his piece demonstrates he does not believe that.)
You made a factually incorrect assertion when you state Israel “as the one receiving over $3 billion each year in free US money. Egypt receives exactly the same amount of foreign aid as does Israel. Jordon receives foreign aid, as do many other Muslim countries in the region.
It was easier for the Israelis to end their invasion of Gaza than for the connected political rhetoric to fade.
The namecalling “Blame America First” thing is a staple of conservative emotionalism, used interchangeably with “criticize what America does ever” generally when anyone suggests that the nations sole remaining superpower, or perhaps more accurately the world’s most powerful state with the highest leverage over wealth and certainly the world’s most destructive military, has some responsibility when it uses its power to harm others either intentionally or unintentionally. Besides we can’t control what Gazans do but we can what we do.
Like it or not, Likud is not going to get many votes among Palestinians. Fatah is the party of Yasser Arafat, who is probably the Palestinian equivalent of Geroge washington. Unfortunately he also ran a corrupt political machine so Gazans turned to Hamas, which is Islamic, ran a decent social service network, and promised an end to corrupt, and resists the moral authority of Israel to invade and occupy Palestinian land and deny the Palestinians a state. They resist with the weapons available to them. Israel has more weapons, thanks in part to us, so there was a 10-1 body count during the invasion. However in a way Hamas wins among the people as long as they survive and continue to resist. Even if you blame the civilians for voting for Hamas and kill them, you don’t really resolve anything. You just make more and deeper enemies.
Israel receives big bucks from the US. So does Egypt. Gaza did not. Egypt did nothing military to help Gaza so the bucks worked there as they have in the past. However Egypt’s leaders are always vulnerable and in fact Egypt acts undemocratically to exclude Islamists from election. Someday this may blow up.
Attacks on synagogues around the world always escalate when Israel makes war on its neighbors. I believe there is no more of the old anti-Semitism, as it was discredited by the Nazi evil. There is only the state of Israel, and the actions of Israel. Israel is not “the Jews” but this conflict has given new life to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and similar things in the Middle East. This does not bode well for Israel as it is surrounded by hundreds of millions of Arabs, and an ever increasing number within its borders.
This situation is not a clash of civilizations or religions or a revival of the Third Reich. It is a conflict over lands which came about as a result of the inability of people in the West to get along, the promises of colonialists, and aggravation caused by Western conflicts and oil geopolitics.
The conflict needs to be resolved by creation of a prosperous Palestinian state that is economically interdependent with Israel, and the creation of human connections and other institutions of peacemaking in the area. The Israelis and Palestinians are not getting there on their own and the US needs to take the lead, more as a honest broker than as a pro-Israeli patron. Dividing up Palestinian land with Israeli settlements threatens this possibility, and continuing incursions and killings only make things worse. This conflict underlies many of the problems in the region and aggravates conflicts over oil. We must hope that President Obama will give attention to resolving this conflict.