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whatever you might think of basing political claims in real time on religious texts--a move which, in principle, i would deplore--the fact is that it is no longer relevant, like i said above: israel is a fact, it is a regional superpower, no combination of neighboring states is in a position to do anything to remove them, and most have stopped even considering it.
nothing--nothing--justifies the treatment being handed to the palestinians.
nothing justifies the settlement program.
nothing justifies the wall.
however, since so many posts act as though it is impossible for the posters to seperate israel as it current is from the longer-term narratives that situate it for them, let's think about some of what has been said above:
if one of the main justification of the state of israel sits on the basis of the holocaust, on the basis of having experienced in horrifying measure the effects of racism/religious persecution, why would the same state then allow itself to become party to this kind of conflict, to inflict it on another group--who should know better the consequences of it than israelis? why is this religious/racist discourse around at all?
even if you blame the surrounding countries for starting it by referring to teh antisemitism that too often permeates their opposing discourse, even then, why on earth would the israeli right in particular allow themselves to drift into this kind of discourse themselves? how is this not a betrayal of the most fundamental principles on which the state was founded in the first place?
and as an aside:
there IS an israeli left.
these kinds of questions a very prominent within that political space--i think they are fundamental issues that need to be thought about, need to be addressed--just as there has been a significant element of zionism that worked for a coexistence with the palestinians--an element that seems to have lost, sadly for everyone..the obvious point here is that neither israeli politics nor zionism is a single thing.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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