Israel's image problem

[Doug Henwood]

My Yale class of '75 has a listserv that I read as a good index of 
liberal bourgeois opinion. The political consensus is generally 
Clintonite. Of course there are a couple of enthusiastic Sharon 
supporters on the list, but I've been surprised over the last couple 
of days by the level of criticism of Israel. I most certainly did not 
expect to read this response to a post from a Sharon supporter (the 
quoted bit about "extermination"). I've stripped out names in the 
interests of discretion.

Doug

----


>  >Somewhere, there should be recognition that profoundly evil actions should
>  >lead to extermination of the perpetrators.
>
>Too bad this "principle" was not applied to Sharon's war crimes in Lebanon,
>nor to the continuing colonialist atrocities of "jewish settlements" in the
>West Bank and Gaza.
>
>"Profoundly evil actions" take place on both sides of the Arab-Israeli
>conflict. Unfortunately the Palestinians have no means to bring zionist
>terrorists to justice.  But if they could, would you support the
>"extermination of the perpetrators"?
>
>Israel reneged on the Oslo accords and continued building settlements. The
>Palestinians only recourse to this was the second intifada, an uprising
>that was provoked by Sharon the butcher of Lebanon. Strangely, Arafat was
>blamed by Israel for the strikes and demonstrations that followed Sharon's
>provocation yet Arafat was not enthusiasm for mass struggle. Later he is
>blamed for terrorist bombings carried out by Islamic fundamentalists. These
>fundamentalist also hate mass actions and, like Sharon, they acknowledge
>that their actions (terrorism) are intended to undermine Arafat and thwart
>any peace agreement.
>
>I think that Sharon targetted Arafat because zionism can't tolerate even
>the shadow of a Palestinian authority.
>What's next, "ethnic cleansing"?