[lbo-talk] Re: NYT: Israel speeds up bomb delivery

Seth Kulick skulick at seas.upenn.edu
Sat Jul 22 11:01:08 PDT 2006



> From: "Dennis Perrin" <dperrin at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] NYT: U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the
> Israelis


> > Seib writes in today's WSJ that the 1982 invasion of Lebanon was met with
> > much more criticism in the US - so much so that Reagan pressed Begin &
> > Sharon to pull back, unlike now, when the House passed an endorsement
> > resolution 410-8. I don't remember 1982 well enough to know whether Seib
> > was right. Anyone else?
>
> > Doug
>
> The '82 invasion was when I first began reading anything about the Middle
> East. But I recall there being very little domestic criticism, outside of
> Chomsky, Cockburn in his Press Clips column in the Voice, and surprisingly
> Nat Hentoff, who woke up to the realities at this time.
>
> Yes, Reagan ordered Begin to stop, but only after the carnage got so bad
> that it began getting embarrassing for the US. As bad as Lebanon is getting
> hit now, it hasn't reach '82 levels -- yet.
>
> Dennis

I've been wondering about the support for the 1982 invasion at the beginning, in Israel and here. Just as a useful reminder for those who are now triumphantly throwing about the Maariv poll. My memory is hazy, but as I recall, in the U.S. there was the usual fanatical blind support among so-called "supporters of Israel", until things started to look particularly bad in September, at which point people praised themselves for caring so much about the victims, unlike the lousy Arabs who only cared about killing Jews. But even in September, people were quite insane. I was a sophomore at the University of Pennsylania at the time, and I remembering arguing with people about the war, and got quoted in the school paper as saying that people shouldn't blindly support whatever Israel is doing. Sheesh. What a mild statement, and it still pissed some people off.

In Israel, others can say far better than me, but as I recall there were a sizeable antiwar movement, but I don't know what the support was at the beginning of the invasion. There are some sad words about this by Michael Warschawski at the as-always-invaluable Alternative Information Center page:

http://www.alternativenews.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=460&Itemid=1

[...]

The present crisis is not close to an end, for several reasons. First,

there is no sign of any readiness to surrender, neither in the

Palestinian Occupied Territories, nor in Lebanon. Though many Arab

regimes, in particular Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, as well as part

of the Lebanese ruling elite, are unhappy with the Hizbollah

counter-war, the brutality of the Israeli attacks is rapidly creating

broad Arab sentiment against the Israeli violence and in support of

the Resistance. Second, there is no, and will be no, international

pressure on Israel; even the EU is treating Israel as the victim, with

a legitimate right to retaliate, albeit with proportional use of

force. Third, the Israeli public does not consider the loss of Israeli

lives a failure of the policy of its government and a catalyst for an

anti-war mass movement, as it was during the Lebanese war in

1982-1985. The majority of Israeli public opinion, having internalized

the &ldquo;clash of civilizations&rdquo; world view and therefore the

need for an unending preemptive war, considers the fact that there are

Israeli victims, civilian and military, natural and unavoidable. In

other words, the government is no longer accountable for the suffering

of the Israeli people, considered a legitimate price to pay for the

protection the State of Israel, as part of the &ldquo;civilized

world&rdquo;, from the &ldquo;barbaric&rdquo; Muslim civilization.

The fallacy of the &ldquo;clash of civilizations&rdquo; has become

deeply entrenched in Israeli public opinion since 1996, making it

extremely difficult to combat. This entrenchment is further confirmed

by the total collapse of Peace Now, by far the biggest Israeli mass

peace organization, which was silent during the brutal war of

destruction launched by Ariel Sharon between 2001 and 2005, and which

today supports Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon.

This is why, unlike the demonstrations of 1982, only 800 men and women

demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Sunday night against the aggressive

operations in Lebanon and the Israeli policy of might. Brave and

determined they may be, but activists of the anti-colonial movement in

Israel cannot change the course of action of the government and its

drive towards an unending war in the region. However, their clear

opposition to Israeli war policy is living proof that there is no

definitive &ldquo;clash of civilizations&rdquo; or, in the words of

Israeli spokespersons, &ldquo;a general cultural problem&rdquo;

between Jews and Arabs. Indeed, there is a clash-a clash between, on

the one hand, those who, in Washington and Tel Aviv, are driving for a

re-colonization of the world under the domination of the multinational

corporations and the US Empire, and, on the other hand, the peoples of

the world who aspire to real freedom, sovereignty and true

independence.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list