Exposing the Dark Underbelly of Israel: The Horrors Your Tax Dollars Support. A Palestinian woman and boy walk among Israeli soldiers and military vehicles in the West Bank town of Nabi Samuel.Photo Credit: Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com October 16, 2013 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. Drop the New York Times’ international section and pick up Max Blumenthal’s new book. If you want to peel back the layers of deception pro-Israel groups and the media have created, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel is the perfect place to start. It’s the bluntest book you’ll read about the state of Israeli society, as it looks deep into the soul of an ethnocracy that dominates the lives of millions of Palestinians.
Blumenthal’s book, based on four years of on-the-ground reporting and research, takes the reader from the occupied West Bank to prisons for African refugees to Palestinian areas within Israel. Last week, AlterNet sat down with Blumenthal for a conversation about his book. A tale of two peace offers. In 2008, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the Palestinians an offer so reasonable and enlightened it made Ehud Barak's "generous offer" at Camp David look like the Treaty of Versailles. Bending over backwards to reach a peace settlement, Olmert offered the Palestinians a state on virtually all of the occupied territories.
Alas, stubborn as always, Palestinian negotiators turned him down. Much like Barak's mythical "generous offer", this account of Olmert's proposal has been widely repeated, conforming as it does to convenient narratives that place the burden for the continuing conflict on the Palestinians, and demonstrating for all to see that, as Abba Eban famously put it, when it comes to peace, the Arabs "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity".
What did Olmert really offer? Thanks to the Palestine Papers – leaked internal Palestinian documents related to the 'peace process' – we don't need to speculate. Already it is difficult to see what the fuss is about. First, find out what isn't true... | Discussion & Factual information on the Palestine/Israel issue – So people can have a well informed opinion. Israel and Palestine, an animated introduction. THE MAPS TELL THE TRUE STORY. The truth is that far from being the poor victim it likes to portray itself as, Israel is in fact the most aggressive and belligerent nation in the region, having invaded pretty much everyone it shares a border with. The following maps show just who is wiping who off of the map! Stop buying into what Sharon claims Israel "has to do" and look at what Israel has actually done. The maps tell the story of a nation eager to conquer lands which do not belong to it.
Israel has invaded virtually every nation it shares borders with, including Syria and Lebanon, and as the map above shows has almost conquered Palestine and is ready to "ethnically cleanse" the region. Far from being the poor victimized society desperately defending itself Israel likes to pretend it is in order to wrest more money from Americans, Israel is in fact the most militarily aggressive nation in the region. "Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . Oh? The following is by Nima Shirazi.
The Bizarre Religious Motivation Behind Our Support For Israel. The History of the Middle East Conflict in 11 Minutes. Course: Zionist Editing on Wikipedia. Zionism. Theodor Herzl is considered the founder of the Zionist movement. In his 1896 book Der Judenstaat, he envisioned the founding of a future independent Jewish state during the 20th century.
Zionism (Hebrew: צִיּוֹנוּת, translit. Tsiyonut) is the national movement of Jews and Jewish culture that supports the creation of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the Land of Israel. A religious variety of Zionism supports Jews upholding their Jewish identity, opposes the assimilation of Jews into other societies and has advocated the return of Jews to Israel as a means for Jews to be a majority in their own nation, and to be liberated from antisemitic discrimination, exclusion, and persecution that had historically occurred in the diaspora. Overview The movement was eventually successful in establishing Israel on May 14, 1948 (5 Iyyar 5708 in the Hebrew calendar), as the homeland for the Jewish people. Zionism also sought assimilation into the modern world.
Terminology Organization. Why Orthodox Jews are Opposed to the Zionist State. The People of Israel oppose the so-called "State of Israel" for four reasons: FIRST -- The so-called "State of Israel" is diametrically opposed and completely contradictory to the true essence and foundation of the People of Israel, as is explained above. The only time that the People of Israel were permitted to have a state was two thousand years ago when the glory of the creator was upon us, and likewise in the future when the glory of the creator will once more be revealed, and the whole world will serve Him, then He Himself (without any human effort or force of arms) will grant us a kingdom founded on Divine Service.
However, a worldly state, like those possessed by other peoples, is contradictory to the true essence of the People of Israel. SECOND -- Because of all of this and other reasons the Torah forbids us to end the exile and establish a state and army until the Holy One, blessed He, in His Glory and Essence will redeem us. Zionism will not replace the Jewish People. Manifest destiny. In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was the widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent. Historians have for the most part agreed that there are three basic themes to Manifest Destiny: The special virtues of the American people and their institutions;America's mission to redeem and remake the west in the image of agrarian America;An irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential duty.[1] Historian Frederick Merk says this concept was born out of "A sense of mission to redeem the Old World by high example [...] generated by the potentialities of a new earth for building a new heaven".[2] Merk concludes: From the outset Manifest Destiny—vast in program, in its sense of continentalism—was slight in support.
It lacked national, sectional, or party following commensurate with its magnitude. The reason was it did not reflect the national spirit. Context[edit] John L. Journalist John L. Themes and influences[edit]