What bugs me about all this is the similarity to our own history of gun running, fire-water, and ultimate annihilation of the indigenous peoples on this continent.

Some of the folks here sound highly informed about the minutest details of events "over there" but if there are ethical considerations, we should back up a few goddam steps and look at what we've done.

Gun running? Even the Iranians were recipients of "bear spares".

So what is the expected outcome of all this mayhem?

Same old same old. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, of if you want it in REAL SIMPLE TERMS, you cannot serve both God and Mammon.

Thanks Bill.

Glad you're back.

PS. I'm not a human, but I'll fake it, ok? (re. the captcha word(s))

Bill:

Do you really think that the borderng and Gulf Coast Arab states really care if there is peace between Israel and the Palestinians? Do you really think this is an actual bone of contention between them? Do you really think they privately blame Israel for what is ocuring there, the way you do?

If so, let one Texan chaw with another for a moment and anyone else who wants to listen in.

They do not care becasue there is no love lost between Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Oman, the UAE, or Egypt as what happens to the Palestinians. Does that surprise you?

Let me fill you in with some facts. The Palestinians, particulary Hamas, do not share the same religious beliefs as the Saudi majority and in that area of the world, it makes a big difference.

Saudi is an ultra-Conservative Sunni people and Hamas is Shi'ite who are supported by Saudi Arabia's arch nemisis in both geo-political and religious terms, the Iranians. In fact, the Shi'ite population has become edgy in Saudi Arabia over these past few years and this worries Saudi Arabia. This religious ultra-Conservative Shi'ite and Iranian grumblings also worries Egypt since they are a Nassarite Socialist country and not an ultra religious based government as in Iran, who are also not friendly with Egypt, to put it mildly.

Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel and Saudi Arabia never directly went to war with Israel and think that these three countries do a lot more sharing of ideas, intelligence and trade then what is known.

Jordan depends on Israel for defense and are at peace with them.

Syria and Israel want to make peace but have been impeded by the former Bush administraiton and Iran for doing so -- using both countries as pawns in the two larger countries geo-political game.

The Palestinians were thrown out of Jordan (Black September) for trying to overthrow the Jordanian government and how the Moslem Broetherhood which supports Hamas were massacred in Syria for the same reason there (Hama, Syria 10,000-30,000 killed).

The Palestinians were held at arms length in Lebanon and I would imagine part of the reason the US marines and French paratropers bwere blown up in Lebanon by Hezbolla was because they were not happy when Reagan sent the marines in to protect and escort Arafat and the PLO out of Lebanon when Syria, the Hezbolla, and Israel all wanted Arafat's head on a platter.

So, it is more than an Israeli issue, but one of all Bordering and Gulf Coast Arab countries which find Fatah, Hamas, the PLO, the Moslem Brotherhood, a threat to their governance and they have demonstrated this push back time and again (did I mention the Lebanese-Syrian attacks on refugee camps as well in Lebanon, or is Israel only to be mentioned?)

What about when Arabs went in droves to join the Nazi SS in Bosnia when the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem called on volunteers -- before Israel was created? Or is this quesiton beyond your pay grade as well?
Finally, to imply that Jews are somehow inherintly prone to violence is nonsense. An African American named James Byrd jr. was dragged to death behind a car in Jasper by white Texans. Does that mean you have a bumper sticker on your car stating: Warning to all African Americans, stay 100 feet away from this car, it is owned by a Texan. Or that you are a half wit war monger because you are from Texas?

The point being is you went from one blow hard, hot air, state to live in another. You ought to know the world is a big place with more events happening than there is to store all of it.

You ought ro take a break and get a clearer and more broader perspective of these mutli-layered events before you start sounding as if you are all hat and no cattle.

It certainly pulls on the heart strings to see the carnage in Gaza. I know Palestinians and do you know what "they all say"? They would happily live side by side peacefully with Israel in their own country in Gaza, the Golan, and the West Bank. The matter of exact borders and East Jerusalem are side issues that can be negotiated once bilateral relations are started they say. Unfortunately, the media does not give credence to their voices. Israel has already given back Gaza unconditionally. Israel is certainly prepared to relinquish the West Bank and to begin the difficult negotiations on Jerusalem and borders. What is stopping all of this? What is the one and only source of the hold-up? Why are average Palestinians so frustrated as they continue to be thwarted? One word folks, and everything you see on the Moyers broadcast is the result of it: HAMAS.

With thousands of rockets fired by Hamas into Israel since the first month that Gaza was given back to the Palestinians, Israel has had to take action as any country would to protect its civilian population. Under these circumstances where southern Israel is assaulted daily by a Palestinian leadership whose covenant calls for the complete and utter destruction of nearly 6 million Jewish men, women, and children, if there is someone out there that has a clear answer for Israel as to how to achieve peace, then please post your thoughts here. I for one would like to see the Arab League pressure Hamas to stop the shooting and to recognize Israel's right to exist. They have the power to do so. Other than that, unless Fatah and the Palestinian Authority can replace Hamas as the governing power in the occupied territories there does not seem to be much hope for a peaceful solution. What do you think folks?

In response to the recent extreme reaction against Secretary of State Clinton for raising the question of humanitarian issues in Gaza:

When a person is psychologically unable to have criticism directed at him or herself, that person is said to suffer from a personality disorder (for instance, narcissism).

What I wonder is the word for a group of people or country that has the equivalent problem?

Bill Moyers: I'm full of admiration for your courage and intelligence. Courage for speaking out about the things that your heart entertains as important (the military campaign of Israel in Gaza is a good but only last example of it), and intelligence in the very effort you make to bring some sense to what we are living today as individuals and as a nation, and to try to articulate those thoughts as clearly as you can, for yourself and the American public. You are one of the few people on television speaking honestly and clearly. And that is, if I'm allowed to say it, what "real" intelligence is all about.

Your last-week interview with Park J. Palmer was, to use a redundant word, heartbreaking. But it was so in a good way. It made me confront reality (economic, social, individual), but it didn't let me down or depressed me. It left me with a hope: that seeing and speaking out is the very first step towards change and healing. And I understand now a little better that it is always your call and responsibility to describe the world that you live in as you honestly see it.

In that sense you are fulfilling last-administration annoying command ("if you see something...") to its consequences.

Thanks to both of you for that interview.

Sergio Revah

The following is from an earlier post posted at this site. The poster seems to be a lot wiser than good ol’ Bill Moyers. European Jewry invaded Palestine just like the English before them. I would like Bill Moyers to look at the link below and tell me which of the three Jews resembles him the most. That one would be the one who came stampeding to Palestine. The pretense that this is biblical won’t wash. European Jewry is European! Pictures don’t lie. Look it at!

[Dear Mr. Moyers, Yours is one of the few news programs I watch regularly and respect, I generally agree with your views and learn from your programs. However your analogy of thye Israeli-Palestine conflict is inaccurate. It is not the old Biblical rivalry. It is a modern conflict over resources - namely land and water. The Palestinians were displaced by the Israelis first in 1948 by being thrown out of their villages and they continue to lose land and access to water. The more accurate analogy is what the early European settlers did to the Native Americans here - pen them into reservations as the Palestinians are penned into Gaza and the West Bank and the various refugee camps and subject to the violence of occupation. Reducing this to a Cain/Abel conflict obscures its origins rooted in modern aggression and land-grabbing.]

http://ziomania.com/who%20are%20the%20jews/jews1.jpg

Why is Abe Foxman complaining? Didn't the good old Bill Moyers deliver what Foxman desperately wanted to hear, such as:

1. All the more so because Hamas would like to see every Jew in Israel dead!

2. A radical streak of Islam now seeks to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth.

I have to agree with Alison Weir that the good Bill Moyers was forced to make an appearance on the Gaza Holocaust because:

“The most recent Israeli carnage has prompted him to finally speak out on something that he has joined the American media in hiding from Americans for many years.”

I deeply appreciate Mr. Moyers' clear-eyed approach to this situation and the U.S. role in it.

Mr. Moyers,
Thank you for your comments on Israel. You took a huge risk, and now you will be labeled as anti-semitic. Anyone that does not fully support Israel is labeled as such. I support your courage, and also stand against Israel on this issue.

Thank you Bill Moyers for your brave analysis.

Mr. Moyers begins his speech with the typical, and inaccurate, attack on a group defending its population from massive attacks by the fourth most powerful military on the planet. The most recent Israeli carnage has prompted him to finally speak out on something that he has joined the American media in hiding from Americans for many years. Yes, he finally condemned Israel's most recent savage violence -- after first misrepresenting its cause.

The fact is that it is Israel that had violated the cease-fire -- not Hamas.

In fact, in the many truces and cease-fires since the intifada began in fall of 2000, it is Israel that has overwhelmingly initiated the resumption of violence.

The fact is that Palestinian resistance groups only began firing their mostly small, homemade rockets after Israeli forces had invaded Gaza and the West Bank, killing and injuring hundreds of Palestinian men, women, and children. In eight years, these rockets have killed 18 Israelis. During this period, Israeli forces have killed 6,288 Palestinians, at least -- 140 of them BEFORE a single Israeli in Israel had been killed; 82 Palestinian children BEFORE a single Israeli child had been killed.

Mr. Moyers needs to be more honest, accurate, and precise. No, Mr. Moyers, Hamas would NOT "like to see every Jew in Israel dead." Hamas would like Israel to end its decades-long assault on Palestinians, confiscation of their land, and torture of the 11,000 men, women, and children currently held in Israeli prisons -- many of whom have never even been charged with a crime.

To learn the facts on Hamas, Israel, and Palestine, go to IfAmericansKnew dot org.

Please, Mr. Moyers, stop kowtowing to the ADL, an organization whose mission seems to have become to defame anyone who conveys facts about Israeli crimes. The more you bend over backwards, the more they will attack you, as you have recently seen. Instead, please begin to speak the unvarnished truth. Lives depend on it.

Your fundamentally inaccurate and highly inflammatory January 9th report on Gaza impaired my trust and respect for “Bill Moyers Journal.” In that report you accused Israel of “waging war on [the] entire [Gazan] population,” indiscriminately killing “the elderly, kids, entire families” and deliberately destroying schools and hospitals. You went on to accuse Israel of bragging about its operations in an IDF You-Tube posting. Not content with these gross canards, you quote the Hebrew Bible to prove that the Arab-Israeli struggle is “genetically encoded.” In these statements, among others, you erred.

Your assertion that Israel decided to wage war on the “entire population” of Gaza is outrageous defamatory hyperbole of which you should be ashamed. We Americans and our British allies sought to wipe out entire urban populations in the Second World War (Hiroshima and Hamburg, for example) , but simply glancing at the number of claimed Gaza casualties should have convinced you that Israel has no such intent here. Do you imagine that a war waged on “the entire population” of Gaza (1,500,000) for several weeks would result in but 950 casualties (including Hamas fighters, none of whom wear uniforms)? If Israel’s war were aimed at all Gazans, would it suspend military operations for three hours a day to permit humanitarian assistance to them, an act unprecedented in the annals of warfare? Would it warn Gazans in advance by telephone and leaflets of its next targets so that Gazans could seek shelter elsewhere?

Similarly, you accuse Israel of “indiscriminately” attacking schools, hospitals, and mosques. Your charge is “indiscriminate.” Israel has deliberately fired at military targets only. Tragically, in any battle conducted in urban areas, civilian casualties and property destruction are inevitable. So are accidents and mistakes: Israel has killed several of its own soldiers with “friendly fire.” In Gaza civilian losses are magnified by Hamas’ deliberate strategy of storing its munitions in apartment buildings, schools, and mosques and firing its weapons---including mortars and rockets--- next to or from hospitals, apartment buildings, and school yards and from highly populated areas generally. That’s been Hamas’ strategy since it began its shooting war against Israel years ago, as you surely know. Hamas hopes thereby to protect its fighters and munitions from Israeli attack or, failing that, to make Israel appear to be engaging in “state terrorism” (your term) rather than war. You remained mysteriously silent about this strategy and its consequences for the hapless Gazans in your report.

You displayed a complete disregard for journalistic integrity when you accused the IDF of “bragging” by posting Internet videos of its air attacks on Hamas fighters and its weapons storage sites. Those videos vividly demonstrate why to stop Hamas’ fighters from firing rockets on Israel it must jeopardize civilian life and property, as even the best targeting does when the enemy chooses to convert cities into battlegrounds. One video, for example, depicts a gigantic, secondary explosion after a bomb hit a mosque, establishing Israel’s claim that Hamas hides its munitions in places of worship and other protected sites that international law requires combatants to shun. The viewer can’t tell whether you failed to catch the significance of the movies or deliberately distorted the IDF’s reasons for posting them. Of course, you produced not one whit of evidence that the IDF was “bragging”; I cannot help but believe that animosity, not analysis, lay behind that assertion.

Exaggerated reports like yours contribute to the “cycle of violence” that you rightly deplored in your report. Hamas and its ilk have made their strategy perfectly clear. That strategy is to launch lethal weapons (including murder bombers) against Israeli civilians (including children) in the hope that Israel will respond with force. When it does, Israel’s enemies distribute photographs, recordings, and written reports of the truly awful carnage, suffering, and fury of those in whose midst the terrorists operate to persuade the world---and its journalists---that Israelis are Nazi barbarians and induce Israel’s friends and critics alike to demand an end to Israel’s attack, thus freeing Hamas’ fighters to start again. The strategy is very effective, as you noted, and you helped make it more so.... thus ensuring that the terrorists will resort to it again and again.

You ended your tirade with an assertion that the violence between Israel and the Arabs is “genetically encoded.” For this you rely on the Bible’s report of the rivalry between Abraham’s sons and then go on to quote Moses’ injunction, in God’s name, utterly to wipe out the seven pagan peoples then in the Land. Forget your reliance upon the theory, put to rest by Darwin, that acquired characteristics may be inherited. More than a millennium ago the rabbis authoritatively ruled that the ruthless commandment applied exclusively to the long extinct pagan peoples then living in the land. Beyond that, no serious Biblical reader equates Arabs with Canaanites. Arabs are monotheists, and we Jews viewed them as such well before we recognized that Christians were also. As to the enmity between Arab and Jew genetically going back to Abraham, let me remind you that 1) throughout history and in many places, Arabs and Jews in the Arab World lived peaceably together; 2) Christians claim to be descended from Abraham, and so if Jews are “genetically encoded” so are Christians; and 3) yours is a counsel of utter despair that Jews, Christians, and Muslims certainly should reject. It prevents accurate analysis of the situation and any constructive movements towards peace, for which we earnestly pray.

I know you agree that war is horrible, and modern war is in many ways more horrible than the wars that afflicted humankind in the past because, among other things, a higher proportion of civilians are killed, maimed, and injured. Gaza is no exception, though other urban populations have suffered much greater casualties in recent wars. Hamas has no regard for the civilians of Gaza, as one fighter’s statement, reported in The New York Times, shows (civilians should become martyrs along with us) and the tactics it employs demonstrate. It stops its attacks only when forced to. And nothing but “brute force” will persuade it. When and how will it end? You point out that Israel’s resort to force will not lead to a lasting solution. But that’s no answer to Israel’s feeling that it has no choice but to deal a severe blow to Hamas in the not unreasonable hope that for a time Hamas will be unable or too chastened to renew the war. You did not, I suspect because you could not, point to a viable Israeli response that would end the rocket firing permanently.

Bill Moyers, Thank you for your piece on Israel and Gaza. Americans need a good dose of reality.

Bravo Bill Moyers. With Jimmy Carter's book, your comments and Bob Simon's brave piece on 60 Minutes (not to foget John Stewart's comments)I think that in the past two years the genie has quietly emerged from the bottle and isn't going back in again.
More and more journalists are telling the truth about what really goes on in that part of the Middle east and more will follow despite the screams of rage from AIPAC, the ADL, Dershowitz and all those neocons and others who wish to censor what we Americans may read about the goings-on over there.
What makes me crazy about this is that if you read the Israeli papers they let it all hang out and are unafraid to publish stories Dershowitz and co. don't want us to read. They even objected to Ha'aretz publishing an English edition, so afriad are they that we learn the truth.
Thank you Bill. You're a true Christian

Thank You Bill Moyers for your efforts.

This world is very dificient of people like you.

Thank you.

From Israel, Uri Avnery, one voice of indignation against Planned State War crimes: "Black Flag", Gush Shalom http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1233508695

When Bill Moyers criticized Israel on January 9, 2009 he was breaking new ground, just as Edward R. Murrow was doing when he criticized Joseph McCarthy on March 9, 1954. For his criticism of Israel Bill Moyer is labeled by the defenders of this nation as an “anti-Semite”, “Jew-hater”, & “terrorist-lover”. For his criticism of McCarthy Edward R. Murrow was labeled by the followers of McCarthyism as “anti-American”, “communist”, & “Russian-lover”

It’s interesting to hear what these two journalists have to say about these controversial issues, which ultimately deal with foreign & domestic policies. And it’s interesting to see how they were attacked & smeared for exercising their Freedom of Speech, & their Freedom of the Press.

On January 9, 2009 Bill Moyers dared to criticize Israel on national T.V., something which mainstream journalists don’t have the courage to do. Most journalists don’t dare criticize Israel’s war against the Palestinians or our foreign policy toward this nation. These mainstream journalists don’t dare question Israel’s killing of civilians in the war against Gaza. And they don’t dare question whether our close alliance with Israel serves American interests. But Bill Moyers does question these thorny issues, such as Israel’s killing of innocent civilians, as well as our policy that “Israel can do no wrong”.

For example, Bill Moyers denounced Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on Palestinian civilians when he states that: “By killing indiscriminately - the elderly, kids, entire families [&] by destroying schools and hospitals — Israel did exactly what terrorists do.” He then denounced the media for its lack of objectivity & honesty regarding Israel: “Rarely does our mainstream media depart from the monotonous monologue of the party line.” And he denounced our government for its blind support of Israel: “Our political elites show neither independence nor courage by challenging the consensus that Israel can do no wrong.”

On March 9, 1954 Edward R. Murrow dared to criticize Joseph McCarthy on national T.V., something which his fellow broadcast journalists wouldn’t dare do. The journalists were threatened by McCarthyism’s tactics of smear and name-calling which had worked successfully against members of the government & the military. These journalists knew that their careers were in jeopardy if they criticized McCarthyism, therefore they allowed the intimidation & bullying to go on. But Murrow realized that this can’t be allowed to continue, otherwise Americans would be threatened & terrorized by McCarthyism, every time they criticized it.

On this famous broadcast he said McCarthy’s “primary achievement has been in confusing the public[‘s] mind”, by distorting the issues regarding “the internal & the external threats of Communism”. He reminded Americans that “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty” of our nation when we criticize befuddled & distorted facts.

Edward R. Murrow then attacked McCarthy’s claim that his critics are “communists” as a false accusation to stop criticism. And reminded his viewers that “We must remember always that accusation is not proof”.

See the transcript of Murrow’s 1954 broadcast: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy.html

While Israel may have given Hamas what it wanted in accidentally killing innocent victims in Gaza, I wonder what Mr. Moyers would have Israel do? Few countries would be as restrained as Israel in the face of constant terrorism. Israel made its own citizens move out of Gaza and freely gave Gaza to the "Palestinians." But this was not enough for them.

As James asked on Jan. 30, why is there so much confusion about who the terrorists are? Israel put up with rockets fired on innocents for a long time before taking action. If Hamas did not want children, elderly and women killed, it would not fire rockets from schools and homes. It is HAMAS that is killing these people, in effect, not Israel.

It's about time that the whole world calls Israel A TERRORIST STATE AND THE 'CENTER OF EVIL'!!!!!! There is NO possible, RATIONAL, NOR HUMAN EXCUSE to declare war on a concentration camp of their own creation and never will be. ALL WAR CRIMINALS TO THE HAGUE!!!!!! AND THEIR ALLIES, ARMS DEALERS AND PR FIRMS AS ACCOMPLICES.

It is amazing to me, that there is so much confusion over who the terrorists are. Hamas is a terrorist organization that condones and facilitates suicide bombings and will kill every Jew on the planet if they have the chance.
Israel is an energetic democracy with a vibrant press. Israel is a free country that abides by the rule of law. By contrast, if a writer were to go to Gaza or Iran, for instance, and start writing bad words, he might wind up on the news, dead.
Israel allows Christians and Arab Muslims to worship freely, while Hamas wants to see us all at the bottom of the sea. Hamas, supported by Iran, is clear about their goals: they want to wipe out Israel completely, utterly, with finality. But it's not just Israel that Hamas wants to kill; they want to kill all Jews everywhere. Complete genocide

Thank you for your honest and fair report on the Gaza issue. We need many more voices willing to speak out against Israeli atrocities as they already speak out against the Palestinians.

Thank you Bill Moyers for your timely report. It reminds us that beyond politics here and in the Middle East, real people are suffering and dying. Your piece also reminds us that Washington will most likely continue with 'politics as usual', despite the unrealistic hopes that people have pinned on the Obama administration.

You need to stop condemning Hamas. As you'll note, it doesn't save you from the onslaught of Jewish racists, and you are just joining them in their racism if you voice the nonsense that Hamas doesn't have the right to shoot rockets at Israel. Hamas is the lawfully elected government of Palestine and you need to start respecting that, if you have ANY respect for American values of equality and democracy. If Hamas had tanks, it would have every right to send them against Israel. The fact that the UN has NOT sent in bombers and tanks against Israel is a war crime. Israel must be stopped.

Never again - not to anyone. Its amazing that we are praising a Journalist for doing what he is supposed to do: report the truth. Sadly, Moyers and Simon are among the few worthy of the title.

This bears repeating, from an earlier poster:

But from the outskirts of town it's easy to see that if you're not being called an anti-semite by somebody, then your rhetoric is not even close enough to be in radio contact with the truth.

Thank you for an insightful and refelctive commentary on this painfully complex and controversial topic.

The details of real people with real names who suffer daily are much more important to keep in mind, than the tit-for-tat name calling and accounting of affronts by one side against the other. And it is all too often this human aspect of this tragic situation that gets buried under the cloak of complexities. Thank you again for this compelling essay.

Dear Mr. Bill Moyers,

Thank you very much for reporting on the Palestinian tragedy and how state terrorism leads to retribution.

I would also ask you to reconsider how Hamas is depicted by the media. They were democratically elected by the population because they offered hope instead of the weak, puppet leadership that has plagued Gaza and the West Bank. It is easy to paint Hamas as nothing more than a hate organization but at the core it is a resistance movement.

Examining Israeli rhetoric and policy in action, one could much more easily assume that Israeli is hate based nation with the aim of getting rid of the Palestinians through a slow genocide, humiliation, torture, and open-air imprisonment.

If the world had not spoken out, and peacefully and also violently protested the Holocaust would we today understand the importance of defending our fellow man from atrocities? What have we learned from the Holocaust if not that people cannot be treated the way the Palestinians are because of their religion or ethnicity?

Thanks for the brave commentary Mr. Moyer. While I disagree with your characterization of Hamas (though I am certainly no fan, it is not true or fair to say that it wants the death of every Jew in Israel ) and the fact that you seem to imply a moral equivalency between the Palestinians and the Israelis (I do not believe you mentioned the occupation), in the context of US journalism, this piece is a gem

This infernal machine will continue its bloody chug-a-lug right through the generations until observers like Bill Moyers are willing to risk their credibility and publicly state the hard truth: the initial idea of establishing and recognizing yet another divisive theocratic state in that region was expedient, misguided, shortsighted, and ultimately racist.

I'm not trying to suggest that the bell should be unrung, but somewhere along the line, right-to-exist has become right-to-oppress, right-to-steal from and starve, humiliate and kill. Given the precedent for Israeli violence set long before British Mandate, the madness in Gaza was completely foreseeable. So what were those wise world leaders of old thinking? In whose interests were they acting?

Today, the highest wall between the Palestinians and the Israelis is the taboo against open and honest discussion of what has happened to the broken dream of Eretz Yisrael. All this tip-toeing through the minefield of Zionist bigotry does nothing but spare you from the anti-semite label. But from the outskirts of town it's easy to see that if you're not being called an anti-semite by somebody, then your rhetoric is not even close enough to be in radio contact with the truth.

Whatever one wants call it, however one chooses to justify it, every Israeli knows one thing for sure: if the situation were reversed and the death in Gaza was happening to them, it would be immoral -- no political ifs, no religious ands, no racist buts.

Thanks for “the post, the truth and the excellent video report” from a point of view of a
professional Journalist, such as you Mr. Simon. I felt, that it is a report that should be view by the
entire world. Though I posted “your video” I was not sure that it was going to be posted
due to copy rights.

to those afraid of the truth and blame Bill Moyers, please wactch this report.

a report by journalist Bob Simon showed the damage to the cause of peace caused by the ever-expanding and illegal Israeli settlements, the evictions of Palestinians from their homes, the humiliation they experience at Israeli checkpoints, the “Apartheid” roads and wall built by Israel, and the bizarre experience of Palestinian families imprisoned in their own homes by Israeli soldiers.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752349n

The 60 minutes report – video of January 25, 2009 gives clear view of the intent, the
“goal, the death and destruction in Gaza!”
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752349n

excerpt:
Noam Chomsky writing on the latest horror inflicted on the Palestinians by one of the most advanced military nations in the world. It is a tribute to the dedication of Chomsky to the plight of the down trodden when he produces such a scholarly piece only seven days after the death of his wife. He completely destroys the notion that Israel accidentally and regretfully kills civilians but rather deliberately targets them to spread terror amongst the general population:

"All of this is normal, and quite openly discussed by high Israeli officials. Thirty years ago Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur observed that since 1948, "we have been fighting against a population that lives in villages and cities." As Israel's most prominent military analyst, Zeev Schiff, summarized his remarks, "the Israeli Army has always struck civilian populations, purposely and consciously...the Army, he said, has never distinguished civilian [from military] targets...[but] purposely attacked civilian targets." The reasons were explained by the distinguished statesman Abba Eban: "there was a rational prospect, ultimately fulfilled, that affected populations would exert pressure for the cessation of hostilities." The effect, as Eban well understood, would be to allow Israel to implement, undisturbed, its programs of illegal expansion and harsh repression. Eban was commenting on a review of Labor government attacks against civilians by Prime Minister Begin, presenting a picture, Eban said, "of an Israel wantonly inflicting every possible measure of death and anguish on civilian populations in a mood reminiscent of regimes which neither Mr.Begin nor I would dare to mention by name." Eban did not contest the facts that Begin reviewed, but criticized him for stating them publicly. Nor did it concern Eban, or his admirers, that his advocacy of massive state terror is also reminiscent of regimes he would not dare to mention by name.

Eban's justification for state terror is regarded as persuasive by respected authorities. As the current US-Israel assault raged, Times columnist Thomas Friedman explained that Israel's tactics both in the current attack and in its invasion of Lebanon in 2006 are based on the sound principle of "trying to `educate' Hamas, by inflicting a heavy death toll on Hamas militants and heavy pain on the Gaza population." That makes sense on pragmatic grounds, as it did in Lebanon, where "the only long-term source of deterrence was to exact enough pain on the civilians -- the families and employers of the militants -- to restrain Hezbollah in the future." And by similar logic, bin Laden's effort to "educate" Americans on 9/11 was highly praiseworthy, as were the Nazi attacks on Lidice and Oradour, Putin's destruction of Grozny, and other notable attempts at "education."

More on this interview
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/23/noam_chomsky_obamas_stance_on_gaza

IDF's violations of laws-of-war prohibitions
Jan. 25, 2009
kenneth roth , THE JERUSALEM POST

Israelis take comfort in the belief that the IDF does all it can to spare civilians, but its shelling of Gaza calls that belief into question. Two kinds of artillery shells selected for use in Gaza - one as an "obscurant," the other as a weapon - were utterly inappropriate for the densely populated areas where the IDF deployed them. Their use violated the IDF's obligations under the laws of war.

The first was white phosphorous. A typical shell releases 116 phosphorus-soaked wedges which, upon contact with oxygen, burn intensely, releasing a distinctive plume of smoke. That smoke can be used legitimately to obscure troop movements, but white phosphorous can be devastating when used in urban areas, igniting civilian structures and causing people horrific burns. Its use violated the legal requirement to take all feasible precautions during military operations to avoid harming civilians. The IDF never should have used it in densely populated sections of Gaza.

The IDF has tried to defend itself with denial and obfuscation. It first denied using white phosphorous at all. Then, when that proved untenable, it claimed that use was limited to unpopulated areas. Neither claim is true. On January 9, 10 and 15, a Human Rights Watch military expert personally observed white phosphorous being fired from an artillery battery and airburst over Gaza City and the Jabalya refugee camp. Its telltale jellyfish-like plume was a dead giveaway, as can be seen from photographs.

The Times of London also photographed an IDF artillery battery firing white phosphorous shells. The shells are color coded and labeled with the IDF term for white phosphorous - "exploding smoke." They are also marked with the code used by the US manufacturer of white phosphorous - M825A1. Similarly marked and color-coded shells and other evidence of white-phosphorous use have been recovered within urban areas of Gaza where they fell.

As for obfuscation, the IDF claimed that all weapons it used were "legal," but that begs the critical question of how they were used. The use of white phosphorous is legal in certain circumstances but illegal when deployed in a way that causes unnecessary or indiscriminate harm to civilians, as the IDF's use in Gaza clearly did. The IDF even harped on press reports suggesting that the International Committee of the Red Cross supported its position, but in a rare public comment, the ICRC denied that claim.

The IDF's latest line is that the shells fired in Gaza "contained phosphorus material, but were not actual phosphorus shells." That is semantic game-playing. Nothing that indiscriminately burns the way the IDF's shells did, regardless of name, should be used in densely populated areas.

THE IDF'S USE of 155 mm. high-explosive artillery shells in Gaza was also clearly unlawful. These weapons can injure civilians from blast and fragmentation over an area with a radius of as much as 300 meters. In the densely populated residential areas of Gaza, where Human Rights Watch saw these shells used on January 15, they can cause extensive civilian casualties. Such use violates the laws-of-war prohibition of indiscriminate attacks because the shells strike military targets and civilians without distinction.

Some might argue that the IDF's unlawful use of white phosphorous and high-explosive shells is justified by Hamas's deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on Israeli cities and towns. But illegality by one side to a conflict does not excuse illegality by the other. And as should be obvious, it is hardly in Israel's interest to degrade international law protecting civilians.

The IDF holds Hamas wholly responsible for civilian casualties in Gaza, alleging that Hamas combatants stored weapons in mosques and fought from among civilians. Those allegations may or may not be true. Long experience, as during the 2006 war in Lebanon, shows that we must take such ritual IDF pronouncements with a grain of salt. We will not know exactly how Hamas waged the war until human rights monitors can conduct on-the-ground investigations. The IDF's refusal during the fighting to allow journalists and human rights monitors into Gaza suggests that it did not want its claims tested by independent inquiry.

Israelis seem dismayed that the world has not embraced the justness of its latest war in Gaza. Of course Israel is entitled to defend itself from Hamas's rocket attacks, but when it does so in violation of its duty to spare civilians, and with so massive a civilian toll, public outrage is entirely predictable.

kenneth roth
executive director of Human Rights Watch

Dan you speak with so much bravato when your "armies" are only good at indiscriminately dropping bombs from 40,000 feet , firing tank shells from miles away and hiding in armer carriers on the battlefield.
one word describes you. cowards.
you want a blockade on arm shipment to the Palestinians while you receive 3000 tons of missiles and ammo. thats' the western ultimate hypocrisy

To Mahmoud,
FYI
Israel became a nation about 1300 BCE, two thousand years before the rise of Islam.

My disappointment with this piece lies with Mr. Moyers willings to swallow fact-checking and details in order to create a poetic piece on the tragedy of war. He fails to understand that this conflict will not be resolved if sophisticated journalists and others like him cannot deal with the conflict on its own accord, instead of trying to apply historical analogies. That's a sad commentary for such a respected member of the media.

Thank you, Mr. Moyers, and thank you again.

Yours is an authentic voice of wisdom, and absolute integrity, and moral authority, and genuine compassion for each of God's children and all of God's creation. You are an inspiration, the voice of truth and reason in a time of delusion and violence. Your armor is shinning with the brilliant and infallible light of truth. You light the way out of the wilderness and you, Mr. Moyers, know the path to the promise land. Peace be upon you. Your courage is indomitable, your humility genuine, sincere and real. Yours is the kingdom. Yours the eternal reward. Thank you for example.

Read
just because somebody disagrees with you, doesnt mean they hate you. Your posts have the most number of "hate" words in this forum. Treat others you want them to treat you.

Barbara and John King,

Oh, and so telling (about you!) that you assume I was attacking Moyers's critique of Israel and Hamas, and not the hate speech of others on this blog. Interesting that you aaume that I am a member of some imagined priviledged group that you think controls the media and that you make this assumption based on your mistaken belief that I wanted to silence Moyers in his critique of the Israeli army. Also interesting that you assume that, because I must (in your mind) be of that media-controlling group, that I must also be of big money. (I wish it were so!)

Oh how much your complaints say about who you and your own "Klan" are (or did I forget a couple of Ks in describing the crowd your assumptions place you with??)!

And FOX news? How many people do you know who support PBS and are long-time Moyers fans who also watch FOX?

You know what they say about people who make baseless (and hateful) ASSumptions...

I don't know what your political leanings are, but please keep your thinly-veiled support of hate and maligning stereotypes to yourself.

no matt
we don't care how much many Arab countries are there or how much land the Arabs live on.
if you, the USA and Europe care about jews so much why not give them one of your states and solve the whole problem.
don't give out something that do not belong to you. we will fight you all the way for every grain of sand and make your lives so unpleasant like you are doing to us

Dan,
you have copied and pasted from and Israeli propaganda website. I am sure you are no history teacher or have any real background in history

Who is afraid of the truth?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/24/bishop-richard-williamson_n_160598.html

To Truth
FYI
Israel became a nation about 1300 BCE, two thousand years before the rise of Islam. The people of modern day Israel share the same language and culture shaped by the Jewish heritage and religion passed through generations starting with the founding father Abraham. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BCE, the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.

The Arab nations are represented by 21 separate countries (see Table). There is only one Jewish nation with a tiny country, Israel. The combined territories of Arab countries is 650 fold greater than Israel (see map above comparing size of Israel versus those of Arab countries). Their population is 50 fold greater than Israel. The average per capita GDP in Arab countries is $3,700 versus $18,000 for Israel. This despite the fact that many Arab countries have world's richest oil resources.

Country Government Territory
(sq km) Population
(2001 est.) GDP
(Billions)
ARAB Total Mostly monarchies 13,486,861 292,400,267 $1,195.49
Israel Democracy 20,770 5,938,093 $110.20
Arabs > Israel 649 fold 49 fold 11 fold
Algeria Republic 2,381,740 31,736,053 $171.00
Bahrain Monarchy 620 645,361 $10.10
Comoros Republic 2,170 596,202 $0.42
Djibouti Republic 22,000 460,700 $0.57
Egypt Republic 1,001,450 69,536,644 $247.00
Iraq In transition 437,072 23,331,985 $57.00
Jordan Monarchy 89,213 5,153,378 $17.30
Kuwait Monarchy 17,820 2,041,961 $29.30
Lebanon Republic 10,400 3,627,774 $18.20
Libya Dictatorship 1,759,540 5,240,599 $45.40
Mauritania Republic 1,030,700 2,747,312 $5.40
Morocco Monarchy 446,550 30,645,305 $105.00
Oman Monarchy 212,460 2,622,198 $19.60
Qatar Monarchy 11,437 769,152 $15.10
Saudi Arabia Monarchy 1,960,582 22,757,092 $232.00
Somalia None 637,657 7,488,773 $4.30
Sudan Military regime 2,505,810 36,080,373 $35.70
Syria Military regime 185,180 16,728,808 $50.90
Tunisia Republic 163,610 9,705,102 $62.80
UAE Emirates 82,880 2,407,460 $54.00
Yemen Republic 527,970 18,078,035 $14.40
ARAB Total Mostly monarchies 13,486,861 292,400,267 $1,195.49
Israel Total Democracy 20,770 5,938,093 $110.20
Arabs > Israel 649 fold 49 fold 11 fold

Figures in the table were compiled from The World Fact Book.

US State dept.
Current List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations

Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
Abu Sayyaf Group
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
Ansar al-Islam
Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
Asbat al-Ansar
Aum Shinrikyo
Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA)
Continuity Irish Republican Army
Gama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group)
HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
Hizballah (Party of God)
Islamic Jihad Group
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) (Army of Mohammed)
Jemaah Islamiya organization (JI)
al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
Kahane Chai (Kach)
Kongra-Gel (KGK, formerly Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, KADEK)
Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LT) (Army of the Righteous)
Lashkar i Jhangvi
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM)
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK)
National Liberation Army (ELN)
Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLF)
PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC)
Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (QJBR) (al-Qaida in Iraq) (formerly Jama'at al-Tawhid wa'al-Jihad, JTJ, al-Zarqawi Network)
al-Qa’ida
al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (formerly GSPC)
Real IRA
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
Revolutionary Nuclei (formerly ELA)
Revolutionary Organization 17 November
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C)
Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, SL)
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)

Matt,
I am from India, and know more about the division between India and Pakistan. The muslim population in pre-partition India had been living there for centuries, and participated equally in the freedom movement to get the British out. The British decided to partition India before leaving because that was their strategy to divide and rule. It was a painful partition resulting in a lot of rioting and loss of life. Hindus from Pakistan area had to move to India, and muslims from India moved to Pakistan. Nobody came from Europe/Arabia or elsewhere to settle in the new Pakistan/India by displacing the natives from these places.
Also the border was final, inspite the few wars that have been fought between the two countries, Pakistan is a soveriegn nation, an almost equal in power (atleast militarily) to India.

Israel was created by bringing back the Jews who lived for centuries in Europe/elsewhere back to Palestinian land to live in the "land God meant for them". Please understand this difference. It is very very different when you come from elsewhere take the natives land and drive them into a cage and a life of humiliation. If you had to equate this to anything, you should equate it to the creation of your big brother, America. Europeans moved here displaced the native americans, systematically almost eradicated them, and now that is forgotten history. Perhaps that is what you wish would happen for Israel also.

Atrocity and crime against humanity; it is absolutely against American value...

Gaza girl's grief (01:45) Report Jan. 22, 2009
http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=97479&videoChannel=2603

Make no mistake: if it were any other country to be attacked, no one would deny that country the right to defend itself. But since that country is Israel it’s an entirely different matter. Pakistan was a country carved out of British India, and invented for Muslims; Greece was a country carved out of the Ottoman Empire invented for ethnic Greeks; Belgium was a country carved out of the Netherlands and invented for French speaking Catholics. The idea that Pakistan, or Greece, or Belgium, have no right to exist, and that Indian, or Turkish, or Dutch terrorists have the right to claim their land, is beyond outrageous and you will find no one supporting it in the West. But the suggestion that Israel — a country carved out of a British protectorate inside what used to be the Ottoman Empire and created for Jews — is not fully legitimate and was illegally imposed upon Arabs, that idea enjoys wide sympathy in the West

Dear Mr. Moyers,
Thank you for having the courage to state the truth. The circle of violence will not stop until we Americans educate ourselves and ask our politicians to stop the one-sided unconditional love for Israel and its policies. To be accurate this is not a conflict of biblical sources, this is a modern problem which started with the creation of Israel by the British without any care or provision for those who already lived there, the Palestinians.
Regardless of the politics of this issue, every human being deserves to live with dignity and freedom, Muslim, Jew, Hindu or Christian or others. The golden rule "do unto others as you want them to do to you" is universally accepted, but unfortunately is often ignored when it comes to the plight of the Palestinians. I do not think any of us would like it if some one took over our house and then told us this was really their land, promised to them by god.
I wonder if the world was as silent about the events leading to the holocaust as they are to the treatment of Palestinians in their own land occupied by Israel?
Thank you for your courage to tell the truth. We need more people like you in this world. God bless you Mr. Moyers.

Matt,
I can also fill in the this whole page with the 100 times more Palestinians that have been killed by Israel. If you want to count the loss of life from both sides then israel has way more blood on its hands.

For you information FAR more people die in Israel in traffic accidents. In one year alone as seen on this website:
http://www.factbook.net/EGRF_Regional_analyses_Africa.htm
Isreal had 537 people dying in road accidents. 5 times more than the number you have reported for 2001. Why dont you do something about that?

Since you bring up the statistics, please check out this website:http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2000.html
Total israeli children causalties since 2000 are 123, and total Palestinian children are 1050. 10times more!!
Life of every human being is important whether Israeli or Palestinian, muslim, jew or christian. You cant score points by giving such statistics, the reality is far more obvious. Do unto others as you want them to do unto you. Everybody deserves to live their life with dignity.

Perhaps pro-Israel posters could read on the subject and learn why the Palestinian's are lobbing homemade rockets into Isreal..as opposed to reacting emotionally and attacking Mr. Moyers who has the courage to speak out about the injustice Palestinian's have had to endure since the creation of Isreal.

Israel needs to rejoin the human race.. most of us treat our animals better than Israeli's do the Palestinians.

Lesson..when you treat people like animals they will respond in kind.

When you cage and starve people and kill their families what do you expect?
Kisses?

Free the Palestinians...open the borders. Allow them the life they deserved before and after they were driven out of Israel.

Help Israel to become truly Democratic... non-racist, and peaceful then, they will find peace.

Jewish people are no longer victims...rejoice and put some compassion in your hearts. Stop the murder....

Moyers indicts Israel for "killing indiscriminately" but although the civilian death toll is regrettable (as well as low, in comparison to other, similar conflicts)there is no way to fight against an implacable terrorist enemy in a densely populated area such as Gaza without harming civilians. How can it be done? And the checkpoints are not in place for the purpose of "never missing an opportunity for humiliating Palestinians"-- they exist to prevent Palestinian Arabs from coming into Israeli cities and blowing themselves up in markets and buses and taking Israelis with them.

Partial list oh Hamas terror:

The 1 June 2001 suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv discotheque, in which 21 people were murdered and 120 were wounded;
The 9 August 2001 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem restaurant, in which 15 people were murdered and 130 were wounded;
The 1 December 2001 double suicide bombing on the Ben Yehuda Street pedestrian mall in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and 188 were wounded;
The 2 December 2001 suicide bombing of a #16 bus in Haifa, in which 15 people were murdered and 40 were wounded;
The 9 March 2002 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem cafe, in which 11 people were murdered and 54 were wounded;
The 27 March 2002 suicide bombing of a Netanya hotel on the first night of Passover, in which 30 people were murdered and 140 were wounded;
The 18 June 2002 suicide bombing of a #32A bus in Jerusalem, in which 19 people were murdered and 74 were wounded;
The 4 August 2002 suicide bombing of #361 bus at Meron junction, in which nine people were murdered and 50 were wounded;
The 21 November 2002 suicide bombing of a #20 bus in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and 50 were wounded;
The 5 March 2003 suicide bombing of a #37 bus in Haifa, in which 17 people were murdered and 53 were wounded;
The 17 May 2003 suicide bombing in Hebron, in which two people were murdered;
The 18 May 2003 suicide bombing of a #6 bus in Jerusalem, in which seven people were murdered and 20 wounded;
The 11 June 2003 suicide bombing of #14A bus in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and over 100 were wounded;
The 19 August 2003 suicide bombing of a #2 bus in Jerusalem, in which 23 people were murdered and over 130 were wounded;
The 9 September 2003 suicide bombing of a hitchhiking post near the IDF base at Tzrifin, in which nine soldiers were murdered and 10 were wounded;
The 9 September 2003 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem cafe, in which seven people were murdered and 70 were wounded;
The 29 January 2004 suicide bombing of a #19 bus in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and 44 were wounded;
The 14 March 2004 double suicide bombing at Ashdod port, in which 10 people were murdered and 16 were wounded.
On Aug 31, 2004 16 people were killed and 100 wounded in two suicide bombings within minutes of each other on two Beersheba city buses, on route nos. 6 and 12.
I will post 2004-2009 Hamas terror attacks soon.

I am writing to comment on your reflections on the situation in Gaza but I’d like to begin by saying how much I respect and admire you for the work that you do. I can’t think of any other journalist today that works as hard as you do to bring the truth about so many important issues to your viewers eyes and ears. I especially appreciate your speaking out on this subject which can often result in widespread condemnation should you give voice to any serious criticism of Israeli policies.

In your essay you bravely hit on many of the difficult issues confronting us, but one thing you said I believe needs a bit of context applied to it. It seemed to me that your comments put Israeli policies and actions against the Palestinians and the Palestinian actions against the Israelis on a tit for tat basis and supported the often stated characterization of the "conflict" that the Jews and Arabs have been at each others throats forever and it will always be that way. Although there may be some historical evidence to support this idea as you suggested, in this current situation, this argument does not stand up to scrutiny in my view because it disregards the critical underlying issues which are at the heart of the conflict.
First, the way in which the state of Israel came into being by killing and expelling the majority of the existing Palestinian population, creating the world’s largest population of refugees who are still not allowed to return to their homes.

Second of course is Israel’s brutal and bloody occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip which has been responsible, as you pointed out in your comments, for the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians and has made their daily lives a living hell.

Third, the continuous “annexation” of Palestinian land for the building of Israeli only settlements and confiscation of their precious natural resources to the point where Palestinians are now allowed restricted use of only 13% of the Palestinian territories and Israel exercises control over 100% of all of Palestine.

All of these policies and actions fly in the face of countless U.N. General Assembly and Security Council resolutions and international law which Israel has chosen to ignore with unwavering diplomatic, political, financial and military support from the U.S. government. Although they speak of living in peace with the Palestinians and have stated their support for a two state solution, Israel has consistently refused to commit to ending their occupation of the Palestinian territories and thus reveals the insincerity of their public statements.

Faced with these sobering facts, is it any wonder that the Palestinians would resist?

This leads to another point in your comments I would like to address. You said, "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." This is a comment one hears often now, as it was when the PLO was pressured to remove similar language from their charter in Arafat's days of negotiating with Israel for a just solution to this decades-long catastrophe. We have to keep in mind that the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas and Hezbollah all began their existence as an expression of resistance against the brutal occupation of their lands by the Israelis. All too often they are written off simply as terrorist groups bent on the destruction of Israel. This is unfair and paints a very incomplete picture. In all three cases, these organizations have been at one time, the sole providers of the basic services necessary for their fellow citizens to survive under the severe conditions imposed on them by the occupation. Consider that since Hamas was elected into the Palestinian government they have made several overtures to Israel expressing their acceptance of a two state solution based on the 1967 borders. Israel’s response, again with U.S. support, was to close the border crossings into Gaza and to support a Fatah led coup to remove Hamas from power. Another demonstration of their refusal to get serious about making peace.

I for one do not believe in the use of violence to resolve conflicts of any kind and in this case I feel that the use of violence by Palestinians against Israelis works against them in the court of public opinion and weakens their position. I can however understand their extreme level of frustration, anger and feeling of helplessness and am not surprised that some among them would lash out at their oppressors. So one question begs for an answer. Who will come to the aid of a people who have been brutalized for 60 years while the world sits back and does nothing?

I recognize that this is a complex issue and feel that all Americans would benefit from more exposure to the facts. I hope you will continue your struggle to shed light on the truth and suggest that you broaden this discussion on your show. There are many voices even in the Jewish community speaking to the need for justice and peace. A few names come to mind, Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Tanya Reinhart, Howard Zinn, Ali Abunimah and many others to be sure.

Perhaps it was the remarks attributed to Mr. War Criminal Ariel Sharon himself who best encapsulated the Untouchable mindset as well as the idea that “Jews will be Jews” in an interview taking place in 1982-

“…You can call me anything you like. Call me a monster or a murderer. Call Israel by any name you like, call it a Judeo-Nazi state. Why not? Better a live Judeo-Nazi than a dead saint. I am not after the admiration of the gentiles. I don’t need their love. I don’t need to be loved by Jews either…”

“Even if you’ll prove to me that the present war in Lebanon is a dirty immoral war, I don’t care. Moreover, even if you will prove to me that we have not achieved and will not achieve any of our aims in Lebanon, that we will neither create a friendly regime in Lebanon nor destroy the Syrians or even the PLO, even then I don’t care. It was still worth it. And do you know why it is all worth it? Because it seems that this war has made us more unpopular among the so-called civilized world…

http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/israel-and-the-logic-of-being-untouchable/

Israel vs. Hamas; civilization vs. terror

Try to imagine any other state receiving randomly targeted rockets from a sworn enemy and refraining from violent response. Russia’s foreign minister has urged Israel to end its Gaza campaign because of “the suffering.” Can one imagine how long Russia would keep its bombers on the ground if Georgia fired rockets onto Russian soil? France, as the current head of the EU, deplored “disproportionate use of force.” Is France prepared to hold its fire if Belgium starts lobbing explosives across its border? Would Russia or France tolerate 5,500 missiles exploded on its soil?

"Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the Qur'an its Constitution, Jihad its path, and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief." The Charter says that jihad, or holy war, "becomes an individual duty binding on every Muslim man and woman; a woman must go out and fight the enemy even without her husband's authorization, and a slave without his masters' permission."

Richard Falk
Here is what we know about Mr Falk:

He supported the Iranian revolution and attacked Jimmy Carter for labeling the Ayatollah Khomeini a religious fanatic. His love for Iran is shown with thsi quote “Having created a new model of popular revolution based, for the most part, on nonviolent tactics, Iran may yet provide us with a desperately-needed model of humane governance for a third-world country”
He is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist
He argues that Vietnam war protesters were entitled to bomb facilities in the US as a form of protest
It is no surprise then that he supports suicide bombings as a valid method of struggle.
Compares Israel to Nazi Germany
So Mr Falk is a huge champion of human rights - the right to suicide bomb, and the right of that nice peaceful human rights loving Ayatollah.

Hamas Principles
The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant or Charter, given in full below. Following are highlights.

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. "

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."

Hamas terrorists choose not to expose themselves by firing these weapons from open areas. They construct launch pads in densely populated regions in Gaza, using the local Palestinian population as a shield because they do not care if their fellow Palestinians are killed by their own misfiring rockets (as frequently occurs) or by retaliatory strikes by Israel. The leaders of Hamas, like their ideological soul mates in Hezbollah, actually prefer that Israel hits back because they know that if civilians inadvertently are casualties, the international community will blame the Israelis.

Article 51 of the United Nations Charter reserves to every nation the right to engage in self-defense against armed attacks. As Professor Alan Dershowitz has also noted, "The claim that Israel has violated the principle of proportionality -- by killing more Hamas terrorists than the number of Israeli civilians killed by Hamas rockets -- is absurd. First, there is no legal equivalence between the deliberate killing of innocent civilians and the deliberate killings of Hamas combatants. Under the laws of war, any number of combatants can be killed to prevent the killing of even one innocent civilian. Second, proportionality is not measured by the number of civilians actually killed, but rather by the risk posed. This is illustrated by what happened on Tuesday (December 30, 2008), when a Hamas rocket hit a kindergarten in Beer Sheva, though no students were there at the time. Under international law, Israel is not required to allow Hamas to play Russian roulette with its children's lives."

Thank you for your courageous and truthful report.

UN human rights official Richard Falk: Gaza evokes memories of Warsaw Ghetto

By Haaretz Service and Reuters
Tags: Gaza, IDF, Israel News

There is evidence that Israel committed war crimes during its 22-day campaign in the Gaza Strip and there should be an independent inquiry, UN investigator Richard Falk said Thursday.

The mental anguish of the civilians who suffered the assault is so great that the entire population of Gaza could be seen as casualties, said Falk, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Falk, speaking by phone from his home in California, said compelling evidence that Israel's actions in Gaza violated international humanitarian law required an independent investigation into whether they amounted to war crimes.
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"I believe that there is the prima facie case for reaching that conclusion," he told a Geneva news conference.

Falk said Israel had made no effort to allow civilians to escape the fighting.

"To lock people into a war zone is something that evokes the worst kind of international memories of the Warsaw Ghetto, and sieges that occur unintentionally during a period of wartime," Falk, who is Jewish, said, referring to the starvation and murder of Warsaw's Jews by Nazi Germany in World War Two.

"There could have been temporary provision at least made for children, disabled, sick civilians to leave, even if where they left to was southern Israel," the U.S. professor said.

Falk said the entire Gaza population, which had been trapped in a war zone with no possibility to leave as refugees, may have been mentally scarred for life. If so, the definition of casualty could be extended to the entire civilian population.

Falk, who was denied entry to Israeltwo weeks before the assault started on Dec. 27, dismissed Israel's argument that the assault was for self-defense in the light of rocket attacks aimed at Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip.

"In my view the UN charter, and international law, does not give Israel the legal foundation for claiming self-defence," he said.

Israel had not restricted fighting to areas where the rockets came from and had refused to negotiate with Hamas, preventing a diplomatic solution, Falk said.

A Foreign Ministry official rejected Falk's accusations.

"There's no need to lose one's temper. Falk is a well-known Israel hater," he told Army Radio.

About 1,300 Palestinians, many of them civilians, were killed and 5,000 wounded in the assault. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians, hit by cross-border rocket fire, were killed.

Read and consider this open letter by a reputable Arab gentelman, journalist to his (Gazan) Palestinian Arab brothers (and sisters). http://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2009/01/youssef-m-ibrahim-to-my-arab-brothers.html

Perhaps as courageous as Moyers, but with some concrete suggestions. Could he be featured, maybe along with Professor K. Mohamad of San Diego?

"James" claims Israel is dragging the U.S. into hell.

I don't think this is true, but perhaps it can be said that Hamas is dragging Palestine into hell: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/01/22/MNHV15EHUT.DTL

Excerpts:
(01-22) 04:00 PST Ramallah, West Bank --

"As Israel's last troops left the Gaza Strip Wednesday, Hamas officials conceded that they are executing Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel during the three-week invasion.

"In the West Bank, Fatah officials said at least 19 of its members have been executed and many more brutally tortured. Gaza residents say Hamas is using schools and other public buildings in Gaza City, and the towns of Khan Yunis and Rafah as detention centers to interrogate members of Fatah, their political rivals. They said three men have been blinded during questioning and more than 60 have been shot in the legs as punishment.

"'They are committing human rights violations in a very brutal manner,' Mahmoud Habbash, Palestinian Authority minister of social welfare said in Ramallah. 'Not only did Israel perpetrate war crimes, but Hamas also has been targeting innocent Palestinians.'

Perhaps Bill Moyers will see fit to write an essay condemning this type of "state-sponsored terrorism," along with an accompanying on-air exposition? Or would that be asking for too much balance?

(And do he and his staff even read these posts and suggestions?)

Israel is dragging US to hell...

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090119_peace_is_in_the_eye_of_the_beholder/

Its always amazing to me how you people can defend the killing of women and children in the name of security.

Wondering why all the proIsraelis start spamming every discussion on this topic with their hyprocritical cries of victimisation?
They want to dominate the world view with thier one-sided story, but sorry most people arent getting swayed and can see through their farceness. They kill innocents and then wail "those bad guys made us do it", like the typical abuser. They are abusers of power. If Palestinians had proper weapons that matched what they have managed to acquire, they would think many times over before trying to attack them this way. The reason why inspite of all animosities India and Pakistan restrain each from a war, the reason why Bush decided to leave N.korea alone. The solution probably is to legitimately arm Palestine or completely disarm Israel.
I know the Israeli cyber soldiers will start attacking this post as they have been doing here already.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article693911.ece
Excerpt from Times article:

WHILE Israel fights Hezbollah with tanks and aircraft, its supporters are campaigning on the internet.
Israel’s Government has thrown its weight behind efforts by supporters to counter what it believes to be negative bias and a tide of pro-Arab propaganda. The Foreign Ministry has ordered trainee diplomats to track websites and chatrooms so that networks of US and European groups with hundreds of thousands of Jewish activists can place supportive messages.

In the past week nearly 5,000 members of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) have downloaded special “megaphone” software that alerts them to anti-Israeli chatrooms or internet polls to enable them to post contrary viewpoints. A student team in Jerusalem combs the web in a host of different languages to flag the sites so that those who have signed up can influence an opinion survey or the course of a debate.

Jonny Cline, of the international student group, said that Jewish students and youth groups with their understanding of the web environment were ideally placed to present another side to the debate.

“We’re saying to these people that if Israel is being bashed, don’t ignore it, change it,” Mr Cline said. “A poll like CNN’s takes just a few seconds to vote in, but if thousands take part the outcome will be changed. What’s vital is that the international face of the conflict is balanced.”

March 13, 2007 Obama:
"Nobody Is Suffering More Than The Palestinian People"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17631015/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2451908450811690589&ei=waxlSb7SHI6cqALgzqndBw&q=occupation+101&hl=en&dur=3

Mr. Moyers,
How sad to hear your comment on Gaza. I thought about correcting you, but on reflection, it would have been a waste of time. Your ignorance is only exceeded by your narrow mindedness. It is heartening to notice that your compassion for the children of Abraham is limited to the sons of Ishmael. Jewish blood has always been cheap. One only has to read about Xian history to confirm it. I'll only mention two points. A muslim living in Ottawa, Canada, Mahmood Elahi, wrote that since the rockets are so ineffective (6000 plus, terrorizing a population of 900 000 civilians for years) all Israel had to do is build more shelters and let Hamas get tired of firing them. Eventually, they would realize the futility of it all and sue Israel for peace. The second is that if Gaza does not attack Israel, Gaza lives. If Israel does not defend itself, Israel does not.
I know you to be a "good hearted and humanitarian person". Given the opportunity, you would write the most beautiful epitaph for our people. Many, like you, in your country,throughout Europe and especially in the Islamic world would love to do the same. My reaction to your video-comment is for you to think of the best expletive that I CAN THINK OF and dwell on it.

Joseph

PBS=Palestinian Broadcasting System.):

Dear Mr Moyers

I find your `Reflections on the Middle East` to be extremely biased. You failed to mention that Hamas was using the safety of houses to fire rockets into Israel, knowing full well that Israel would not retaliate because of the civilians, who in reality were being held hostage. Your comments do nothing to help ease this situation, but instead cause Anti- Israel feeling. It appears that you are irresponsible in your reporting.
A reply will be appreciated.

R. Statman

Thank you Bill. I was losing faith in PBS with it new funding of Hollywood donors, during the election cycle, and the substitution of the BBC.

I can't begin to describe the sickness I get from watching the media and congress act like Gaza doesn't exist. Barbara Boxer is one of the authors who drafted the bill to proclaim Israel has the right to defend itself. That is a great propaganda band-aid statement, since it there is no discussion about the illegal occupation of indigenous Palestine.

It's most probable that all newscasters, who want to speak-out, are muzzled by the pro-zionist media.

May god make the Americans see of the United States see.

The famous American line that Israel has the right to defend itself is nothing but a diplomatic cover up for oppresion of palestinians ,the death and destruction in Gaza and sufferings of millions of people who have been forced to live as refugees.The truth is that where the Israel's freedom begins the liberty,honour and life of a Palestenian ends.

richard friedman: to see the "outstanding idiot
" look in the mirror.
you clowns can't handle the truth. 60 years of oppressing Palestinians, steling their land, and killing their people. at a moment your fascist behavior is brought to attention, you cry antisemitism and holocaust. guess what. the true victims of the holocaust are the Palestinian people, and its time to treat you like the Nazi's you have become.

There is no need for belaboring the discussion- There is a mistaken assumption that a talking head with a good voice who grants interviews has a corresponding skill level in and deep knowledge of history or philosophy. It is obvious to anyone with a rudimentary education in history that Moyers is an outstanding idiot

Mr Moyers,
you are a respectable journalist, and thats why I like to listen to your journal. There have been several one sided accounts on this whole affair in the US media, and it is commendable that you have added the Palestinian angle. Although I still feel you are very obligated to make the favorite American statement "Israel has a right to self defense". This is the US stand, and this is where the problem begins. Do you recognise the fact that Israel is an occupier? That Palestinians have been oppressed for the last 60yrs, with the aid of US provided weapons to Israel. If you were driven out of your ancestral homeland and restricted to a small area surrounded by walls, what would you do? Would you resist? Of course if your people had weapons you would never be in that situation. This is the ROOT of the problem. You conveniently forget this part when you pat Israels back and say yes, yes go defend yourself.

Also, where did you get this theory that Hamas wants to kill all Jews? There were reports on BBC about the Israeli soldiers leaving behind hate grafitti like "Arabs die" and so on before retreating. What do you call that? There was a pro-Israeli demonstration in NewYork attended by the Governor of NY and some US senators. You can watch this on democracynow.org. The supporters of Israel make statements like "kill them all", and so forth, would you conclude then that the Jewish Israeli state wants to kill all Palestinians?

Your opinions and your reporting matters. Where there have been so many killed and maimed, the American people need to know the truth. What is the future of youth in Palestine? Why is it easy for them to get swayed into becoming suicide bombers? I watched on BBC again reports of one child that got injured twice during this war, another family that had to bury one of their children on top of another cousin that was killed 2 yrs ago by Israel, because they ran out of space to bury their dead. Can you imagine the psyche of kids growing up with all this?

You gave your perspective, but it was in my opinion still not speaking the raw truth that is. Just closing our eyes to the problem will not make it go away. Israel can drop bombs after bombs, it will only encourage and justify radicalism it is trying to protect itself from. Please the Palestinians were not the ones responsible for the Holocaust, it was not even the muslims. They shouldnt have to pay for it.

Thanks Bill Moyers. Its heartening to see that people in the US still use neutral judgement. It was wrong that Israel occupied palestine and still keeps most of it. It is again wrong that the palestinians still get pounded over by bombs even in their restricted concentrate areas. Powers likle the US need to shed off its loyalties to Israel and start working on truth and justice. If you really keep justice in the forefront of judgement, it not a very hard call to make. Bravo for this enlightening review........

Thank you for your honesty and courage in your coverage of the war on Gaza. You have truly honored your field of journalism in a time when this field has been tainted by people who are afraid to come out and speak to the truths that they see. God bless you and God bless our nation. May we all come to a state of enlightenment.

it never ceases to amaze me how vitriol can be translated into calm seemingly civilized argumentation by well meaning people like Bill Moyers who does not have hatred in his heart, I believe. The brazen verbalization of the 'oppressed' aggressors who only know how to teach hatred, killing, oppression of the weak (their own), oppression of women and many other forms of actions that only produce more violence. their sole reason for existence is the humiliation and destruction of Israel. there have been 30,000 killed in Israel from this violence since the state of Israel was formed because these same people have been trying to kill jews in Israel since it was founded. there is no compromise with them. the civilians voted to introduce Hamas leadership possibly because of coercion and fear and the few weak Fatah members left in Gaza were slaughtered and killed just like they do to anyone that opposes them. why is it if Israel is so militant that it is very natural for an Palestinian to enter an Israeli citi and for a Jew that makes a mistake on the road and enters gaza or another citi in the west bank their lives are worth nothing facing probable stoning (yes like in the middle ages) beheading (yes....yes) or hanging in the central sqaure by a mob (shabab) of blood thirsty people pacified only by death? back to Bill Moyers calm voice and sound reasoning and the view of gaza being bombarded....its the context that matters and when a country that has no options left on protecting its citizens the only feasible approach is what you saw in gaza

So, I'm confused... After the cease fire ended, didn't Hamas fire missiles into Israel FIRST before Israel fought back? Is Israel just supposed to let them fire missiles into their country until the end of time without trying to put a stop to it?

This should not even be a Israel-Gaza issue except people are blinded by their own prejudices.

In other words, many people on here who are outraged about Israel's actions would have no problem with their country doing the same thing if it was repeatedly struck by missiles from a neighboring country.

Also, I find it interesting that Moyers does not even cover the fact that Hamas purposely hides weapons in their civilian populations thus bringing death to their own civilians on purpose.

I'm not saying this means Moyers is an anti-semite but it does mean he is a pretty poor journalist.

Bravo Mr. Moyers! Very few journalist have the courage and integrity to point out the obvious. I hope you are not labeled as anti-semite. For many of the people who have posted and many of us living in America, I think there is a need to expand our Horizon by traveling and visiting other countries. You will be surprised at what you believe. Being a naturalized citizen, I also once thought that America was a land of "girls gone wild". And much to my surprise and shame I found that America has one of the most morally upright people.

Thank you Mr. Moyers for your courage to say the truth in a country that is fallen hostage to the Zionists & their terror net-work AIPAC.

Israel’s dogs of war have been baying for blood for some time now. They have sniffed their prey with ravenous lust as if they have been the ones starved of food instead of the Palestinians whom they have primed for slaughter. Now the pack is encircling Gaza, teeth bared and snarling, while others do their dirty work from the skies. To them, the blood of women and children smells the same as that of the men-folk who fight to defend them.

There is not a great deal left to say about the state of Israel. It was born in criminality and has lived in criminality since the day of its birth. It is a sociopathic, tribal state in a world of nation states, obeying no laws but its own, a state which lives in a state of cognitive dissonance, denial and self-delusion, a state which could not live without the arms, diplomatic protection and financial assistance of the United States. Morally and ethically it is a failed state and through its violence and refusal to live within international law it is a rogue state. ‘Israel’ remains what it was six decades ago – occupied Palestine. There is scarcely a foot of Palestinian land that does not belong to the Palestinians, individually and collectively. The citizens of Israel live in cities stolen from the Palestinians, in houses stolen from the Palestinians and in settlements built on Palestinian land and over the ruins of hundreds of villages. Time does not efface the crime. Yet none of this counts with the Israelis. They are outraged not at what they have done and continue to do but at the Palestinian response, totally feeble in comparison to any of Israel’s actions. They are outraged because after six decades of brutality and two years of a genocidal siege the Palestinians are still firing their home-made missiles at towns and settlements near the Gaza Strip. Firing them, it needs to be said, at the towns of Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod, all of them built on the ruins of destroyed and ethnically cleansed Palestinian villages.

To all who believe in God, thoght out history God's word has been there to show who is in control of world and it's peoples and countries. History has proven to the nations of the world that as is it said in Genesis 12:3 "I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse, and in thee all the families of the earth will be bless" very soon god will take care of his blessed people and those who have hate in their hearts for Isreal will feel his curse. May the God of Isreal seach your hearts and judge according.

BRAVO MR MOYERS..I SALUTE YOU!.....HOPE THEY DON"T GET TO YOU!!!

Would Washington pundit Moyers care to explain how, if Israel was targeting civilians rather than Hamas rockets, infrastructure, and military, it happens that half (according to Arab sources) to three quarters (according to Israeli soldiers on the ground) of the fatalities are Hamas soldiers? Hmmm?

That would suggest that the civilian enclaves that Israel supposedly attacked just happened to have a huge amount of Hamas soldiers present perhaps purely by accident?
Dig in and research pundit Moyers.

Instead of skimming on the surface of Hamas photos, Washington pundit Moyers should, if he wants to maintain a shred of journalistic integrity, investigate incidents such as the UNRWA school and the UNRWA food storage (which Israel encouraged and allowed to be sent into Gaza). Moyers would have found that mortar rounds in response to Hamas mortar rounds caused the former (mortar shells can kill a handful not dozens) and a fuel tank parked alongside the food storage that was struck by bullets caused the latter.
As for Moses decreeing the destruction of Canaanite religious sites (he did no such thing, it was a later edict against Jews adapting such practices)- it was not Arabs (whose first documented existence as an ethnic group was 400 years later than the return of the Israelites or Moslems whose religion was founded 1800 years later who were the practicers of the Canaanite cult.
I will have to reexamine your broadcasts more carefully if this represents your Journalistic standards.

Yea I am 14 years old and a canadian citizen does that give israel the right still and or the people in canada to invade my privacy and to demolish me into nothing basically as ive been through HELL

Dear Mr. Moyers,
I read your amazing respond to Rudie the Rude. Mr. Moyers, my grandma used to tell me” Angelita -as she used to call me- when somebody is rude to you, you must never go to their level”. Grandmothers play a very important role in our societies. Well Mr. Moyers, my grandma also told me that one must respect everybody, specially, our elders. I’m going to tell one or two things to Rudie. I’m going to use the same tone that he used with you, for which I apologize to you.
Dear Rudie,
If you call Mr. Moyers a Nazi, I’m calling you Rudie the Rude. I guess you were not as lucky as I was to have such a sweet grandma as I did, I’m very sorry you didn’t. Mr. Moyers is trying to make a point about the insanity of any war. Wars, Rudie, must be part of our past, if we want to have a future. Individuals like you, who didn’t have a nice grandma, are very angry. Anger will not be the solution to any of our differences. Reason, if you know the meaning of the word, is the only way we’ll find answers to our troubled world. Rudie, I’m going to assume, although, one shall avoid assuming anything, that you live in this great nation, United States of America. Don’t we all live in peace here? Rudie, if we don’t stop this war madness cycle that we have been stuck for so long, I have news for you, we, humankind, will not be here for too much longer. Mr. Moyers has been trying to make people come to senses. In my case, I must say, that a combination between Mr. Moyers and my sweet grandma, Silvia Caballero de Garrido, rest in peace, has made me come to senses. Rudie, do you have a family: mother, father, wife, Kids, sisters or brothers? This is a personal question, but I would like to know the answer. Once in a while, as a good coming to senses exercise, is good to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. How about if the ones being killed were your own relatives? Hurts, just to think about it, doesn’t it, Rudie? War has become a business, as we all know by now. We now face another huge mafia, different product; nowadays the mafia is selling weapons, Rudie. We used to identify only drug dealers, now we have to start identifying war dealers. Reasoning Rudie, must be the answer to our differences, and when you come to senses, and I sincerely hope you do, I will be delighted to call you Rudie the Reasonable. And please Rudie, do me a favor, apologize to Mr. Moyers. It will be the only way that you will redeem yourself.
Peace and Love,
Angela Maria

Mr. Moyers,

Your heavily biased OPINIONS regarding Gaza are just that. Sadly, you feign compassion for Israel and what it has gone through, i.e. over 8,800 rockets and mortars fried at its civilians from Gaza over the past 8 years.

While you claim to understand Israel has a right to defend itself you fail to give any other solution. You also cling to “civilian” numbers killed in Gaza provided to the world by anything but impartial groups. You use these unverifiable numbers to condemn Israel and make comparisons as if any other country in this world can be compared to what Israel has had to endure since its inception.

What is the definition of a “civilian,” sir?

Webster’s definition of civilian:
“a person who is not on active duty with a military, naval, police, or fire fighting organization. A nonmilitary person, a noncombatant.

First we must consider that these “Civilians” overwhelmingly voted Hamas into power during their democratic election. Hamas’ charter states, “Jihad its path and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief.” There is no question as to their goals, and the people who voted them in share the very same beliefs. How they cast their vote made them anything but civilians.

You slyly mention Israel’s destruction of houses, hospitals, mosques, etc and even casually compare Israel’s supposed careless abandon to the US in Vietnam. What you left out is the truth. You must bring facts to the table otherwise all you are doing is pushing your own agenda which you have made crystal clear.

These places that were SYSTEMATICALLY and SURGICALLY destroyed contained huge weapon caches. Your so-called “Civilians” were knowingly storing these arms in their homes, in their hospitals and in their mosques where they cry out death to all Jews. And Israel’s video page on You Tube was not to show off their bombing raids but to show how surgical their strikes were. This was not sheet bombing, this was targeted destruction of terrorist infrastructures. Tell people the truth, sir.

Any other country except the US would have indiscriminately killed all civilians. Instead, Israel did not wish to harm these silent terrorists who refused to leave their homes even after warning leaflets were dropped. So what does that “terrible” Israel do? They start calling these morons on their cell phones! They speak to the “civilians” and tell them their house has been targeted for destruction as a result of harboring rockets, mortars, etc. What do these “Civilians” do? As instructed by their appointed leader, they take their entire family and head up to the rooftop. It does not stop there. They call others and have them join them. Yet Israel STILL does not blow up the house. Instead, they surgically send a small missile into the house alluding to where the next one is going. Finally the “Civilians” get the hint and leave.

Hamas puts women and kids in harm’s way and Israel literally takes every measure possible to avoid killing them. Why don’t you report about the Israeli Apaches that would target terrorists and would even deviate their missiles to an open field if a “civilian” appeared before it had a chance to reach its target? Why aren’t you applauding Israel for being the most humane country in the world… ever?!

Put the blame where it belongs, sir? You are intelligent, well educated, well informed… which is why this leads me to only one conclusion. You are a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You are an anti-Semite disguised by your disdain for Israel, disguised as a humanitarian with, G-d willing, dwindling influence.

Where is your criticism of Hamas not just killing but torturing Palestinians during the Gaza incursion?

Here is the Pepsi challenge for you, sir. I would like you to walk through any “Civilian” area in Gaza, the West Bank or any Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem while wearing a kippa on your head. My guess is you will not make it from one block to the next. Perhaps you should try the first part of this self-discovery mission first. Put on an Arab shmata and walk through ANY part of Israel and you will not be harmed.

Put simply, sir, “If the Arabs put down their weapons tomorrow there would be peace. If Israel put down its weapons tomorrow there would be no more Israel.”

"We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us." – Golda Meir

They have 22 countries already. They cannot have what is not theirs.

Enough is Enough,

Dvir Yaakov

Mr. Moyers,

Please continue to provide your courageous and truthful coverage of this conflict and humanitarian crisis. It is rare that a journalist dares to speak truth to the humanitarian crisis of the Palestinians.

It is unfortunate that so many of your detractors here resort to slander and bigoted statements against Palestinians in order to stage a half-hearted defense of Israeli agression.

I encourage you to ignore these folks and keep providing analysis to the rest of us in the civilized world.

no the cowards are the one's that can't find hamas so they go about bombing U.N schools, and warehouses. they are the ones that demolish whole buildings while they are full of inhabitants and hide behind BS excuses.
cowards are the so called brave army firing from 30'000 feet in the air or tanks from miles away while running like chickens with heads cutoff at the sounds of sirens. to see them look at your israeli government and its immoral destructive force

sami
son of yaffa

Hey, Khalid, I thought Hamas loved death! Or was that just bravado as you sent suicide bombers into cafes, you coward!

Thank you, Bill Moyers, for being one of the few journalists who dare to even begin an honest debate on Israel and its shameful policies. It is because of the high ethical and journalistic standards you maintain that my husband and I contribute to PBS and are members. We are so very sorry that your honesty and bravery are meeting with hate from those who wish everyone to kowtow to Israel: sadly, kowtowing to Israel is only creating enemies and bad feeling for the US worldwide. Can you imagine what the families of those 350+ children killed in Palestine must be feeling right now? Each of them knows this was done with US money. This blind US support of Israel, and the ridiculous 3 billion dollars a year and unlimited diplomatic support has to stop.

This brutality will never break our will to be free
For six months we in Hamas observed the ceasefire. Israel broke it repeatedly from the start.

Khalid Mish'al

For 18 months my people in Gaza have been under siege, incarcerated inside the world's biggest prison, sealed off from land, air and sea, caged and starved, denied even medication for our sick. After the slow death policy came the bombardment. In this most densely populated of places, nothing has been spared Israel's warplanes, from government buildings to homes, mosques, hospitals, schools and markets. More than 540 have been killed and thousands permanently maimed. A third are women and children. Whole families have been massacred, some while they slept.

This river of blood is being shed under lies and false pretexts. For six months we in Hamas observed the ceasefire. Israel broke it repeatedly from the start. Israel was required to open crossings to Gaza, and extend the truce to the West Bank. It proceeded to tighten its deadly siege of Gaza, repeatedly cutting electricity and water supplies. The collective punishment did not halt, but accelerated - as did the assassinations and killings. Thirty Gazans were killed by Israeli fire and hundreds of patients died as a direct effect of the siege during the so-called ceasefire. Israel enjoyed a period of calm. Our people did not.

When this broken truce neared its end, we expressed our readiness for a new comprehensive truce in return for lifting the blockade and opening all Gaza border crossings, including Rafah. Our calls fell on deaf ears. Yet still we would be willing to begin a new truce on these terms following the complete withdrawal of the invading forces from Gaza.

No rockets have ever been fired from the West Bank. But 50 died and hundreds more were injured there last year at Israel's hands, while its expansionism proceeded relentlessly. We are meant to be content with shrinking scraps of territory, a handful of cantons at Israel's mercy, enclosed by it from all sides.The truth is Israel seeks a one-sided ceasefire, observed by my people alone, in return for siege, starvation, bombardment, assassinations, incursions and colonial settlement. What Israel wants is a gratuitous ceasefire.

The logic of those who demand that we stop our resistance is absurd. They absolve the aggressor and occupier - armed with the deadliest weapons of death and destruction - of responsibility, while blaming the victim, prisoner and occupied. Our modest, home-made rockets are our cry of protest to the world. Israel and its American and European sponsors want us to be killed in silence. But die in silence we will not.

What is being visited on Gaza today was visited on Yasser Arafat before. When he refused to bow to Israel's dictates, he was imprisoned in his Ramallah headquarters, surrounded by tanks for two years. When this failed to break his resolve, he was murdered by poisoning.

Gaza enters 2009 just as it did 2008: under Israeli fire. Between January and February of last year 140 Gazans died in air strikes. And just before it embarked on its failed military assault on Lebanon in July 2006, Israel rained thousands of shells on Gaza, killing 240. From Deir Yassin in 1948 to Gaza today, the list of Israel's crimes is long. The justifications change, but the reality is the same: colonial occupation, oppression, and never-ending injustice. If this is the "free world" whose "values" Israel is defending, as its foreign minister Tzipi Livni alleges, then we want nothing to do with it.

Israel's leaders remain in the grip of confusion, unable to set clear goals for the attacks - from ousting the legitimately elected Hamas government and destroying its infrastructure, to stopping the rockets. As they fail to break Gaza's resistance the benchmark has been lowered. Now they speak of weakening Hamas and limiting the resistance. But they will achieve neither. Gaza's people are more united than ever, determined not to be terrorised into submission. Our fighters, armed with the justice of their cause, have already caused many casualties among the occupation army and will fight on to defend their land and people. Nothing can defeat our will to be free.

Once again, Washington and Europe have opted to aid and abet the jailer, occupier and aggressor, and to condemn its victims. We hoped Barack Obama would break with George Bush's disastrous legacy but his start is not encouraging. While he swiftly moved to denounce the Mumbai attacks, he remains tongue-tied after 10 days of slaughter in Gaza. But my people are not alone. Millions of freedom-loving men and women stand by its struggle for justice and liberation - witness daily protests against Israeli aggression, not only in the Arab and Islamic region, but worldwide.

Israel will no doubt wreak untold destruction, death and suffering in Gaza. But it will meet the same fate in Gaza as it did in Lebanon. We will not be broken by siege and bombardment, and will never surrender to occupation.

Thank you for being one of the few journalists in the United States who has the courage to even begin to give an honest perspective on this issue. Kowtowing to Israel is one of the most dangerous things that the US does -- the 3 billion dollars a year of US military aid that Israel gets are being used to create more dangerous enemies for the US: can you imagine how families of the 1000+ palestinians (300+ of which are children) are feeling right now? Especially since the blockades and amputations and other miseries being visited on them by Israel give them no real options in life except, perhaps, to dream of revenge -- each of them knows it is US money that has been used to kill their parent/child/brother/sister.

Yes, the human cost is terrible. But I heard nothing from Bill about how to placate the genocidal Hamas and its ilk in Al Qaeda, etc. It's as if there was no '47 partition, no Oslo process, etc. Israel tried, Bill, at great cost to its own security. So is it fair to criticize Israel for not doing the impossible? I think not.

Citing verses from the Book of Geneses, Jewish rabbi Mordachi Elyaho,
who is the religious reference of the popular religious current in the
Zionist entity sent outgoing Israeli premier Ehud Olmert a weekly
leaflet containing articles allowing the Jews to carryout the idea of
massive punishment against the enemies in accordance with the ethics
of war in the Torah, the paper pointed out

"This standard could also be applied to the case of Gaza as all Gaza
inhabitants bear the responsibility because they didn’t do anything to
stop the firing of Qassam Brigades" said Elyaho in his letter to
Olmert, urging him to continue the military aggression on the
Palestinians because "harming innocent Palestinians was a legitimate
matter."

Yesrael Rozin, another fanatic rabbi, was also quoted as saying that
law of the Torah stipulates the killing of men, children, women,
elderly, infants, and animals [of the enemy], the paper furthermore
added.

For his part, Safad rabbi Sholomo Elyaho underlined, "If we kill 100
of them but they refuse to halt this [firing of rockets] them we
should kill 1000; and if we kill 1000 of them but they didn’t stop,
then we should kill 10000 of them, and we must continue killing them
even if they reach one million and despite the time spent in killing
them".

"The Psalms says "I should continue chasing my enemies and arrest
them, and I won't cease till I finish them completely", the rabbi said
according to the report.

the rabbis opined that the Israeli massacres
in Gaza Strip falls in line with Jewish teachings that consider such
killing as "mass punishment to the enemies".

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are to possess and casts out the many peoples living there, you shall then slaughter them all and utterly destroy them…You shall make no agreements with them nor show them any mercy…You shall destroy their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people unto the LORD thy God and He has chosen you to be a special people above all others upon the face of the earth…”

–Book of Deuteronomy, 7:1-8

My but the GIYUS are out in force, and how they do rage.
Interesting to note, if one cares about such things, that the land just north of Gaza, containing Ashkalon and many thousands of Palestinians, was part of Palestine as recently as 1947. Under what documented treaty did this acreage switch sides, and how was it cleansed?
Thanks for the long overdue comments Bill.

Using racial determinism to explain the policies of the modern state of Israel is a tactic routinely used by anti-Semites in the Middle East and has no place on any television network, much less a network supported by taxpayer-funding.

Pilgrimsoul - can you tell me how they kept their yarmulkes on before bobby pins and hair clips? never seen one worn without them.

It is sad that this Nazi is paid by tax payers money for spreading blood libel. You, Nazi, before talking about Jewish genetic code why would not you look at genetic code of yours who two thousand years either murdered Jews or very happy that Jews are murdered. Jews never threatened to you and only wanted to go with their own lives. It was so wonderful to build museums and memorials for dead Jews. Now Jews dare to protect their life and you and your Jew hating cohorts are so upset. There were never in history of war any army which would treat its enemy with such humanity and kindness as IDF and this is regrettable, because Jewish lives are lost as a result. You and other heirs of Jew murderers have no right to spit out. So revolting Nazi please shut up. May you be damn forever! Shame to PBS for giving the forum to this Nazi who always smears Jews and whitewashes Moslem and other Jew haters.

ADL: Apology and Denial League?

By Lawrence Swaim, Columnist, Southern California InFocus

http://www.infocusnews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29454&Itemid=857

Pvt. Michael Handman, 20, thought it would be no big deal to wear a small head-covering worn by many Jews, called a yarmulke (or kippah), during US Army basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia-it is, after all, permitted by army regulations. But nobody could have predicted the violent reaction to that simple act, or the uproar that followed, which included an attempted cover-up, racist outbursts, appeals to the Secretary of Defense and the shocking duplicity of the Anti-Defamation League.

No sooner had Pvt. Handman put on his yarmulke than two drill instructors began to yell anti-Semitic insults, prominent among which were "kike" and "f------g Jew." By doing this in front of other recruits, the drill instructors were clearly inciting them to act. Handman wrote to his mother that he feared a physical attack-and not long afterwards, he was lured into a laundry room, knocked unconscious and beaten while laying on the ground. Afterwards he was taken by ambulance to a base hospital with a concussion-but then, inexplicably, sent back to the same platoon.

Michael's father, Jonathan Handman, sought help from Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R), who asked the Pentagon to investigate. Handman also contacted Michael (Mikey) Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, who called up the company commander. Weinstein says this commander claimed to have "100 sworn affidavits" attesting that Pvt. Handman had never been subjected to anti-Semitism.

But the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff wrote to Senator Chambliss admitting that Pvt. Handman had, indeed, been subjected to anti-Semitic taunts. The Sept. 26 letter also acknowledged that army regulations permit yarmulkes, and that the two NCOs responsible were being reprimanded. But if that were true, why had Pvt. Handman been sent back to the same unit? The letter carefully avoided any reference to the brutal attack.

Then, on October 16th, came the publication of an interview with Mr. Neil Block, a Jewish lay leader at Fort Benning, in "The Public Record," a website for investigatory journalism. Block accused Handman of "playing the Jew card" and acting like a victim, adding: "I mean everybody uses the 'n' word every now and then to refer to African-Americans." Mr. Edward O. DoBose, the President of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, didn't find that racist usage either common or acceptable. He and Mikey Weinstein fired off a joint letter to Robert M. Gates, US Secretary of Defense, denouncing in very strong terms Block's outrageous statements.

The issue had now progressed from a simple kippah kerfluffle to something much more explosive. It now involved serious charges of racism and cover-up-and Pvt. Handman's parents were concerned about the continuing safety of their son. Into this volatile stew of charges and counter-charges came.the Anti-Defamation League, apparently invited in by army brass to "close the case" before the investigation could go any further.

"The ADL came in like they were knights in shining armor," Pvt. Handman's father Jonathan told InFocus disgustedly, "but they really didn't do anything. The brass called them in because they knew they [the ADL] would just follow the path of least resistance." The ADL entered negotiations without once discussing it with Pvt. Handman, his parents, or the MRFF, in effect usurping Weinstein's role as advocate. The ADL and the army cobbled together a hasty "resolution" of the problem, without once determining whether there was a criminal attack. Nor did they deal with the racist statement by Neil Block, or guarantee the future safety of Pvt. Handman.

This behavior should surprise nobody. The ADL is today less of a civil rights organization than the main US lobby for rightwing politicians in Israel. It has absorbed much of the neocon ethos, increasingly aligning itself with establishment forces rather than individual Americans, and abandoning the struggle for social justice inherent to the Abrahamic tradition. One can only be grateful that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is still on Michael Handman's case, despite the interference by the Anti-Defamation League.

"Sadly," Weinstein told InFocus, "it seems that where hate crimes against religious minorities in the military are concerned, the acronym 'ADL' now stands for "Apology and Denial League."'

Southern California InFocus News is California's Largest Muslim Newspaper

Lawrence Swaim is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Freedom Foundation. His column addresses current affairs from an American Christian and Interfaith perspective. The Interfaith Freedom Foundation is funded by grants and donations, which may be sent to P.O. Box 133, Fremont CA 94537.

ADL: Apology and Denial League?

By Lawrence Swaim, Columnist, Southern California InFocus

http://www.infocusnews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29454&Itemid=857

Pvt. Michael Handman, 20, thought it would be no big deal to wear a small head-covering worn by many Jews, called a yarmulke (or kippah), during US Army basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia-it is, after all, permitted by army regulations. But nobody could have predicted the violent reaction to that simple act, or the uproar that followed, which included an attempted cover-up, racist outbursts, appeals to the Secretary of Defense and the shocking duplicity of the Anti-Defamation League.

No sooner had Pvt. Handman put on his yarmulke than two drill instructors began to yell anti-Semitic insults, prominent among which were "kike" and "f------g Jew." By doing this in front of other recruits, the drill instructors were clearly inciting them to act. Handman wrote to his mother that he feared a physical attack-and not long afterwards, he was lured into a laundry room, knocked unconscious and beaten while laying on the ground. Afterwards he was taken by ambulance to a base hospital with a concussion-but then, inexplicably, sent back to the same platoon.

Michael's father, Jonathan Handman, sought help from Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R), who asked the Pentagon to investigate. Handman also contacted Michael (Mikey) Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, who called up the company commander. Weinstein says this commander claimed to have "100 sworn affidavits" attesting that Pvt. Handman had never been subjected to anti-Semitism.

But the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff wrote to Senator Chambliss admitting that Pvt. Handman had, indeed, been subjected to anti-Semitic taunts. The Sept. 26 letter also acknowledged that army regulations permit yarmulkes, and that the two NCOs responsible were being reprimanded. But if that were true, why had Pvt. Handman been sent back to the same unit? The letter carefully avoided any reference to the brutal attack.

Then, on October 16th, came the publication of an interview with Mr. Neil Block, a Jewish lay leader at Fort Benning, in "The Public Record," a website for investigatory journalism. Block accused Handman of "playing the Jew card" and acting like a victim, adding: "I mean everybody uses the 'n' word every now and then to refer to African-Americans." Mr. Edward O. DoBose, the President of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, didn't find that racist usage either common or acceptable. He and Mikey Weinstein fired off a joint letter to Robert M. Gates, US Secretary of Defense, denouncing in very strong terms Block's outrageous statements.

The issue had now progressed from a simple kippah kerfluffle to something much more explosive. It now involved serious charges of racism and cover-up-and Pvt. Handman's parents were concerned about the continuing safety of their son. Into this volatile stew of charges and counter-charges came.the Anti-Defamation League, apparently invited in by army brass to "close the case" before the investigation could go any further.

"The ADL came in like they were knights in shining armor," Pvt. Handman's father Jonathan told InFocus disgustedly, "but they really didn't do anything. The brass called them in because they knew they [the ADL] would just follow the path of least resistance." The ADL entered negotiations without once discussing it with Pvt. Handman, his parents, or the MRFF, in effect usurping Weinstein's role as advocate. The ADL and the army cobbled together a hasty "resolution" of the problem, without once determining whether there was a criminal attack. Nor did they deal with the racist statement by Neil Block, or guarantee the future safety of Pvt. Handman.

This behavior should surprise nobody. The ADL is today less of a civil rights organization than the main US lobby for rightwing politicians in Israel. It has absorbed much of the neocon ethos, increasingly aligning itself with establishment forces rather than individual Americans, and abandoning the struggle for social justice inherent to the Abrahamic tradition. One can only be grateful that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is still on Michael Handman's case, despite the interference by the Anti-Defamation League.

"Sadly," Weinstein told InFocus, "it seems that where hate crimes against religious minorities in the military are concerned, the acronym 'ADL' now stands for "Apology and Denial League."'

Southern California InFocus News is California's Largest Muslim Newspaper

Lawrence Swaim is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Freedom Foundation. His column addresses current affairs from an American Christian and Interfaith perspective. The Interfaith Freedom Foundation is funded by grants and donations, which may be sent to P.O. Box 133, Fremont CA 94537.

The notion of "anti-semitism" as used today is a hollow cliche. It became that only because amazingly, it is often used to stifle criticism of Israel, as if the two are somehow equal. The short-sighted people who do this in fact belittle the real suffering of Jewish people due to anti-semitism in the past and in the present. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, because with your stupidity you're encouraging the real actual anti-semitism of the future.

Linda Collins abuses the term "genocide" when using it to describe the lawful combat killings of armed fighters.

If Israel really were out to commit genocide against Gaza, it would have been over in two days with a series of carpet-bombing runs over the tiny 10x13-mile region, and not a building would be left standing.

But instead the IDF has been phoning and texting civilians in the target area warning them of impending strikes.

But I guess "genocide" is such a compelling buzz-word that it's hard to resist flinging it heedlessly at Israel, regardless of how foolish and ignorant it makes one look.

Mr. Moyers, what a nice change in news reporting. You spoke simply and elegantly on a very important news fact that no other reporter would. I do have to add that the Senator from Ohio is the only other voice in politics that is speaking out against the brutality and oppression on the Palestinians. It's hard to celebrate MLK day today, the leader of peaceful demonstrations while so many have no voice and while peace seems so far to them. I have never seen the media and its audience so far from each other on the political spectrum. I am not against presenting opinions, but what I do ask for is for the media to show the facts as they are and you have so graciously done so. I applaud you for it.

Mr. Moyers. I understand and share your frustration with the violence in the Middle East and in particular with the latest conflict Gaza. I agree that the images of the many children dead in Gaza were difficult to bear. Unfortunately, these images only showed part of the story. There were no images of the suffering that has been going on in Israel on a daily basis for many years as a result of the indiscriminate rockets launched by Hamas terrorists. Women, kids, elderly who cannot walk around freely in their towns without fear that that at any moment a Hamas missile will explode next to them; of having only 15 seconds from the sounding of an alarm to find a bomb shelter. That's been the daily life of the residents of southern Israel but we don't have images of the internal damage that it causes living under those conditions. We also don't have images of the schools in Gaza where many of those same children who were killed are indoctrinated by Hamas teachers that Israelis are pigs and all other seeds of hatred toward Israel. Schools where palestinian children are taught to recognize the virtue of death-for-Allah and preach the value of acts of terror. These same palestinian children who were used as human shields during the conflict in Gaza. That's the Hamas that Israel had to attack. It is Hamas which has the palestinians in Gaza captive, not Israel. An organization with no national aspirations; only aspirations to destroy the state of Israel and spread its form of fundamentalist islamic law to all palestinians and other arabs.

To say that Israelis are genetically coded to fight the arabs based on some biblical passages is outrageous and intellectually dishonest. You crossed the line there sir.

To: Emily Vanlangenburg | January 17, 2009 11:32 PM:

You ranted about stupidities for a long time. I realize that anybody can say anything on this board. Your comments had nothing to do with the anti-semite Bill Moyers (or as some refer to him as Bill Moyle). I condemn PBS for allowing an anti-semite like Moyers to have air time. When they ask for money, we should ignore their requests even if they offer great CDs of some musical performance. I wish they would side with Israel not with the terrorists who hide behind the Muslim religion. Remember that Hamas promised the Israelis would be defeated when they tried to "invade" the Gaza. Now the Hamas proclaim victory. How sick is that when so many innocent Gazans were killed.

The best part came at the end when he said "That's it for the Journal." Unfortunately, he added "We'll be back next week." I have seen and heard enough from this anti-semite.

Dear Bill Moyers

Excellent work in showing true journalism. I wish America had more journalists like you. But you will be considered now anti-semite because you decided to report aganist Israeli genocide. AIPAC will be calling CBC News about stopping millon dollar donation. AIPAC will donate those million dollars to our senators now to keep the genocide on.

Great Piece Bill! True face of Journalism. While most of the American media would not stand up against the AIPAC, you have the courage to offer us the true journalism. Wake up dear congressmen and senators to prevent 21st century holocaust.

Obama, take away the pain in my stomach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcGm-gxmxHw

In Our Hearts and in Our Work: The Continuing Influence of Rachel Corrie in Olympia

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June04/candio0609.htm

I hope you appreciate the freedom of journalism. If you lived in Gaza and attempted to tell them to stop their 'war of terror' your days would be numbered. Western civilization and freedom of speech is the enemy of Islam.

Where were these 'humanitarians' when holocaust survivors and innocent Jewish children and civilians are murdered? Hamas is a 'cult of death', as was Jim Jones, who sacrifices innocent civilians of there own in the name of Islam. The Gazans suffer because of their Arab brothers.

Is Ehud’s Poodle Acting Up?

by Patrick J. Buchanan

As Israel entered the third week of its Gaza blitz, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regaled a crowd in Ashkelon with an astonishing tale.

He had, said Olmert, whistled up George Bush, interrupted him in the middle of a speech and told him to instruct Condi Rice not to vote for a U.N. resolution Condi herself had written. Bush did as told, said Olmert.

The crowd loved it. Here is the background.

After intense negotiations with Britain and France, Secretary of State Rice had persuaded the Security Council to agree on a resolution calling for a cease-fire. But Olmert wanted more time to kill Hamas.

So, here, in Olmert’s words, is what happened next.

“In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a cease-fire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favor.

“I said, ‘Get me President Bush on the phone.’ They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care. ‘I need to talk to him now.’ He got off the podium and spoke to me.

According to Olmert, Bush was clueless.

“He said: ‘Listen. I don’t know about it. I didn’t see it. I’m not familiar with the phrasing.”

“I told him the United States could not vote in favor. It cannot vote in favor of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favor. …

“She was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favor.”

The U.N. diplomatic corps was astonished when the United States abstained on the 14-0 resolution Rice had crafted and claimed her country supported. Arab diplomats say Rice promised them she would vote for it.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, with Rice at the United Nations during the debate on the resolution, said Olmert’s remarks were “just 100 percent, totally, completely untrue.”

But the White House cut Rice off at the knees, saying only that there were “inaccuracies” in the Olmert story. The video does not show Bush interrupting his speech to take any call.

Yet, the substance rings true and is widely believed, and Olmert is happily describing the egg on Rice’s face:

“He (Bush) gave an order to the secretary of state, and she did not vote in favor of it — a resolution she cooked up, phrased, organized and maneuvered for. She was left pretty shamed. …”

With Bush and Rice leaving office in hours, and Olmert in weeks, the story may seem to lack significance.

Yet, public gloating by an Israeli prime minister that he can order a U.S. president off a podium and instruct him to reverse and humiliate his secretary of state may cause even Ehud’s poodle to rise up on its hind legs one day and bite its master.

Taking such liberties with a superpower that, for Israel’s benefit, has shoveled out $150 billion and subordinated its own interests in the Arab and Islamic world would seem a hubristic and stupid thing to do.

And there are straws in the wind that, despite congressional resolutions giving full-throated approval to all that Israel is doing in Gaza, this is becoming a troubled relationship.

Two weeks ago, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in opposing any truce, assured the world there “is no humanitarian crisis in the (Gaza) Strip,” and the humanitarian situation there “is completely as it should be.”

Not so to Hillary Clinton. In her confirmation hearings, the secretary of state-designate, reports The New York Times, “struck a sharper tone toward Israel on violence in the Middle East.”

Clinton “seemed to part from the tone set by the Bush administration in calling attention to what she described as the ‘tragic humanitarian costs’ borne by Palestinians, as well as Israelis.”

More dramatic was a weekend report by the Times’ David Sanger that the White House had rebuffed Olmert’s request for new U.S. bunker-buster bombs and denied Israel permission to overfly Iraq in any strike on Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant at Natanz.

Sanger described these U.S.-Israeli talks as “tense.”

Repeatedly, Israel has warned that Iran is close to a bomb and threatened to attack unilaterally. Indeed, Israel simulated such an attack in an air exercise of 100 planes that went as far as Greece.

Bush both blocked and vetoed that attack, says Sanger. But he did assure Olmert that America is engaged in the sabotage of Iran’s nuclear program by helping provide Tehran with defective parts.

This would seem a stunning breach of security secrets, but no outrage has been heard from the White House, nor has any charge come that the Times compromised national security.

With Olmert, Rice and Bush departing, and Obama and Hillary taking charge committed to talking to Iran, can the old intimacy survive the new friction and colliding agendas?

"

The problem with Antisemites like Bill Moyers, is not he himself, It is the many Ignorant Un-educated Idiots who need a "leader" to satisfy their own hatred for Jews.
Congratulations Bill Moyers you just became their "leader".

Posted by: Manny Mzahv | January 18, 2009 2:50 PM
"

hey Manny - the palestinians ARE semites

the askenazi who control israel are NOT semites

Sadly most of us are not well versed in the issues in the middle east and we are more emotional than we are balanced in our thinking. My guess is Bill Moyers has no more idea how to address the differences between Jew and Muslim, Israeli and Arab than the people themselves. Is this an issue going back thousands of years or is it stemming from the creation of a nation in territory that was not any nation at all? Why do some people glorify death and others want to preserve it at almost any cost? The point to me is: Israel is a nation, here to stay. Accept it and deal with it on a rational level. The people living in Gaza chose a leadership that wants to destroy Israel and is open about that and how they are prepared to make it happen. These people have determined their own fate; or they can chose a wiser, more peace-oriented leadership and determine a different future for themselves. It is their choice. It seems to me that Israel has bent over backwards to work out a peaceful relationship with its Arab neighbors and the people in Gaza. But that has been defiantly rejected by Hamas who continues to terrorize and murder. The blockade is in place to prevent murderers from entering Israel; it is not a 'concentration camp' imposed by a murderous ideology. Neither Bill Moyers nor anyone else has offered an acceptable solution to this difficulty, since I do not see Hamas rushing to implement it. Does Hamas want to work out a peaceful end? Not according to its charter. It is Hamas that is deserving of world condemnation for putting its people in such a dire situation.

Just another reason why public funding for PBS should stop. Whenever PBS wants to raise money, they show Holocaust documentaries. As soon as the drives end, it is back to terrorist sympathizing junk. PBS is pathetic. Moyers is worthless.

PBS supporters and taxpayers should know that David Duke's official website has a statement embracing Bill Moyers as one of their own. It says:
"The truth is that David Duke has been a lot more forthright over the years on the Zionist threat than Bill Moyers, but we certainly are happy to see Mr. Moyers, like so many others, finally come around to David Duke’s way of thinking."
They also have a quiz on the website entitled: "Who Said It? Bill Moyers or David Duke?" The challenge to the reader is to determine the source, Moyers or Duke. They conclude by saying:
"How did you do? If it was difficult to tell the difference, we might have found PBS a replacement for Moyers when he retires."

HOW SCARY IS THAT?!!!!

I watched Bill Moyers on an episode featured on PBS that centered around the conflict between Hamas and Israel.Putting it bluntly,the entire episode was disturbingly innacurate.1st the Palestinian/Israeli conflict cannot be remotely compared to the Vietnam War.PBS 's reputation for accuracy is being undermined by Bill Moyle.For example Bill Moyle includes film clips of injured Palestinians which provoke emotions,but there is no relevant context.In one clip Bill Moyle has Hamas leader ,Mahmoud Zahar,stating that Israel is killing children leaving your viewers with an impression that Israel is at fault.What Bill Moyer fails to do is to include who and what Mr.Mahmoud Zahar is all about and how he is directly responsible for putting Palestinians and Israeli civilians in harms way.Here is a quote from Mr Mahmoud Zahar that provides the "context"that is so obviously missing in this piece. ""[Hamas] will not change a single word in its covenant [which is calling for the destruction of Israel]."
(Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas leader, after casting his vote in the Gaza Strip, January 25, 2006, Ha'aretz) PBS is well known for having a standard of excellence that should be the model for all media.Currently the war between Hamas and Israel is a test for accurate and responsible media.Too bad that they are failing miserably,and are not doing the public any service by reporting news using pictures and other sources without any CONTEXT.PBS is an educational channel,and Bill Moyle has offered a biased emotionally provocative story with out offering even the slightest bit of education.In fact his was a show that can be used as an example of how Hamas was successful in using the media in a PR campaign using rockets to provoke Israel,and pictures of bloodied Palestinian children to seduce the media.This type of media is contrary to the principles of democracy and human rights.Imagine a hostage taking where the police are forced to act in the interests of others,and there are innocent casualties.If the media are not explicitly showing the beginning ,middle and end,they it might look as if the police that were protecting society were actually killing civilians,when that would be the furthest from the truth.The media would be putting the lives of innocentcivilians in danger by making the police reluctant to act in the future.Which is why Israel did virtually nothing in the last 8 years of rocket attacks on their civilian population.Bill Moyle could have been educational if he had done some research.For instance why not do a story on how Israel left Gaza and gave Palestinians 4000 green houses that produced 200 million in revenue each year,and fed 5 million Israelis?Bill Gates was one of the contributors to GUSH KATIF.Here is a link of the events and how Palestinians destroyed GUSH KATIF because it would be contrary to their campaign of misinformation making Israel look like a villain,when in fact that was the furthest from the truth.Here is the link. http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/ExodusFromGaza.html

Mr. Moyers:

I have a great deal of respect for you and what you stand for.

However, your comments on the Gaza War were at best, incomplete and at worst, racially tinged.

It is fine praising the demonstrators for their concern for civilians lost at war. I share their concern as do many Israelis. Perhaps this whole war would never have happened if the demonstrators had come out two years ago, when Hamas started lobbing rockets aimed at Israeli civilians. Had they marched in the streets of Paris, London, Rome and New York -- had they picketed congress, parliament, and other governments perhaps it might have convinced Hamas to stop and consider negotiating. Of course it is unlikely, because Hamas has a hatred of Israel (and Jews) that goes beyond reason. It isn't occupation that is the issue, for Israel gave the Gaza Strip to Hamas. Israel and the Palestinian Authority are very close to a compromise, but not Hamas. Indeed when Israel withdrew from Gaza, a number of Jewish philanthropists put up $5 million dollars to save several hydroponic farms to help the Gazans start an agricultural industry. These farms were the first ones destroyed when Hamas took over. Because they were made by Jews.

So how does a nation deal with a neighbor who hates it and tries to destroy it? If you can bring Hamas to the negotiation table Bill, be my guest. I'm sure Israel would agree to this too.

Now why do I think your comments were racially tinged?

For someone who knows the Bible,you know little about Jewish-Arab relations. Isaac and Ishmael never fought a war. The Bible says that both will be great nations. The quote of Moses dictum about killing the Arabs, was specific to one people -- the Amalakites -- who attacked the Israelites from the rear, intentionally killing their women and children. You see, the Israelites did not place their soldiers in the middle of their civilians, as Hamas does. So the people of Amalak were given a special role -- more to teach the Israelites that if you go to war you should not attack civilians.

Sure Judaea fought the Philistines to defend their land, but in time the Philistines were integrated into other populations and are probably not the ancestors of the Palestinians. The Arabs of today are the followers of Mohammad, and the Koran has ambiguous discussions about the Jews, both praising them as the people of the Book and criticizing them if they do not accept Mohammad. But instead of a racially based need to go to war, the Jews and followers of Mohammad lived peacefully for hundreds of years in Spain and North Africa, their cultures enriching each other. That is when the culture of the Moslems was Sufi, The Sufis were tolerant. So there is no racial memory that Jews fight Arabs. For a Christian to suggest this is intolerant. All we need is tolerance and democracy. Israel brings these two attributes to the table. Oh, if there were only a neighbor to join them.

Remember what Golda Meir said. "I can forgive the Arabs for killing our children, but I can't forgive them for making us kill their children (in a war)"

Bill Moyers wouldn't know the TRUTH if it bit him squarely in the backside. Just another Arab apologist hate mongering liberal democrat for Barack.

Mark

Bill Moyers, What would you suggest if Chavez sent some of his hencmen to Mexico and the started dropping rockets into El Paso or Brownsville, TX?

Thank you Bill Moyers for your courage to say the truth in a country that is fallen hostage to the Zionists.

Israel’s dogs of war have been baying for blood for some time now. They have sniffed their prey with ravenous lust as if they have been the ones starved of food instead of the Palestinians whom they have primed for slaughter. Now the pack is encircling Gaza, teeth bared and snarling, while others do their dirty work from the skies. To them, the blood of women and children smells the same as that of the men-folk who fight to defend them.

There is not a great deal left to say about the state of Israel. It was born in criminality and has lived in criminality since the day of its birth. It is a sociopathic, tribal state in a world of nation states, obeying no laws but its own, a state which lives in a state of cognitive dissonance, denial and self-delusion, a state which could not live without the arms, diplomatic protection and financial assistance of the United States. Morally and ethically it is a failed state and through its violence and refusal to live within international law it is a rogue state. ‘Israel’ remains what it was six decades ago – occupied Palestine.

I have one more thing to say about these outrageous comments by Mel:

"In the current conflict fewer than one quarter of the casualties have been civilians".

"Israel has NOT 'destroyed' any schools or hospitals. Not one. I challenge Mr. Moyers to document the destruction of one single school or hospital."

Hey Mel.. are you just another Nazi Zionist who is still in hiding?!, or just another lair deceptive who works for the Zionist Israel?. That's what all of you think; that the people don't read and watch but they just listen to you.

The "lobbing of rockets"is just an extension of Jew hate that began well before 1947.Israel is DEMOCRACIES foot hold in the Middle East.MAYBE BILL MOYLE SHOULD POINT OUT HOW ONLY ISRAEL LOOKS LIKE THE EUROPEAN UNION, AMERICA, CANADA.IF AN MUSLIM IMMIGRANT LIVING IN KANSAS DECIDES TO MOVE TO NEW YORK ALL HHE HAS TO DO IS PACK HIS BELONGINGS-IF A MUSLIM LIVING IN PARIS WANTS TO TRAVEL TO DENMARK HE JUST HAS TO PACK A BAG-IF A JEW WANTS TO PACK HIS BAG AND LEAVE ISRAEL,THE REST OF THE ARAB/MUSLIM WORLD IS CLOSED TO HIM!WHEN THE ARAB/MUSLIM MIDDLE EAST LOOKS LIKE THE EUROPEAN UNION,OR AMERICA,CANADA ETC THAN THERE WILL BE PEACE.UNTIL THAN JEWS ARE SEGREGATED FROM THE REST OF THE MIDDLE EAST,AND CAN ONLY LIVE IN ISRAEL AND THE WEST BANK FOR A WHILE.ISRAEL IS NOT VICTIMIZING PALESTINIANS,IT IS PALESTINIANS WHO VICTIMIZE THEMSELVES.PALESTINIANS ARE AND CAN LIVE IN ISRAEL,GAZA AND THE WEST BANK..WHILE JEWS CAN ONLY LIVE IN ISRAEL,THAT IS CALLED APARTHEID

BIll Moyers condemns Israel While holding terrorists harmless.There is no rationale to his commentary and could never stand the test of accuracy or morality.Cant compare VIETNAM to Israel.Palestinians suffer in Gaza for the same reason that they cheered on Saddam Hussein when he invaded KUWAIT.Their ignorance and violent mentality could not over come the reality that 450,000 PALESTINIANS WERE EMPLOYED, AND LIVING, IN KUWAIT WHILE IRAQ EMPLOYED NONE AND ONLY REWARDED PALESTINIANS WHEN THEY BLEW THEIR CHILDREN UP IN SUICIDE BOMBINGS.KUWAIT EXPELLED 450,000 PALESTINIANS..BILL MOYERS IS NOT CONDEMNING KUWAIT!

"[Hamas] will not change a single word in its covenant [which is calling for the destruction of Israel]."
(Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas leader, after casting his vote in the Gaza Strip, January 25, 2006, Ha'aretz) WATCH BILL MOYLES VIDEO AND SEE HOW MAHMOUD ZAHAR IS PICTURED.WHAT BILL MOYER DOES NOT TELL YOU RELATES TO CONTEXT.THERE IS NO CONTEXT IN THE ANTI ISRAEL CAMPAIGN OF MISINFORMATION.

Mr Moyers:
Golda Meir once said that the Israeli people can not forgive the Arab world for turning Israeli soldiers into killers of Arab children. Yet, the Israelis have no choice, for unless they in fact become killers of Palestinian children they will become victims themselves. Rather, than sitting comfortably in a studio in the US and offering worthless critiques perhaps Mr Moyers can offer a workable solution. Until such time as he or others can, then keep in mind that there is no moral equivalence between victims of terror and victims of a necessary evil called self-defense.

I do not have time to read all the comments that have already been posted so I apologize if I am repeating some things that have already been said in response to Mr. Moyers' anti-semitic rant which is filled with lies and inaccuracies.

Israel is NOT waging war on the entire population of Gaza. If they were, they could carpet bomb and kill thousands of civilians in minutes. Israel is fighing Hamas terrorists who, unfortunately, use inncocent Gazan civilians as human shields. The Israeli army is trained to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible. In the current conflict fewer than one quarter of the casualties have been civilians. That is remarkable given the fact that Hamas stores weapons in schools and mosques and fires its rockets and mortars from locations surrounded by civilians.

Israel has NOT 'destroyed' any schools or hospitals. Not one. I challenge Mr. Moyers to document the destruction of one single school or hospital.

Most offensively, it is vicious and dangerous anti-semitic nonsense to say that 'God-soaked violence became genetically coded' in the Jewish people. This is a modern day blood libel and should not have been allowed on the air on a network that is funded by taxpayer dollars.

I will never contribute one cent to the PBS network that allowed this rant to appear.

How come so many pro-Israeli comments here sound so close minded?

Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis have competent leaders capable of stopping the violence. They should be pitied for this tragic fact.

Peace is not achieved through bombs, it is achieved through people.

Hey Terri, it's cute how you don't address what Israel should do when faced with thousands of rockets from a crazy islamic terrorist organization, and instead ramble on about everything you can think of to blame Israel for what crazy palestinian militants do.

The intended last line of the first paragraph from my comment posted on Jan.16th does not appear for some reason. The entry should include the following:

When will we learn that "the means *are* the end?"

Some of the comments on this are truly bigoted, and I mean the ones that support Israel in it's continuous crimes against humanity inflicted on Gazans, lets remember Mossad is the one that gave Hamas it's entity. I would also encourage everyone to read the Balfour Declaration, and how it has been misinterpreted by Zionists,to mean that no matter where Jews are in society they have impunity over all they do. It is Britain that started this mess and it should be up to Britain to clean it up. As far as I can tell the largest threat to mid-East Peace is Britain...United States...Israel and mid-East client states that are nothing more than proxys of a twisted form of Democracy, which in fact does not go with the mid-East. Democracy at the end of a weapon that rips your body asunder?? Is this what society has become? Thankyou for your honest and somewhat informed commentary on this horrendous atrocity.

Moyers proves the truth is what our bias would have us believe. More words, no solutions! Would he have us think conflict can be legislated out of existence?

The problem with Antisemites like Bill Moyers, is not he himself, It is the many Ignorant Un-educated Idiots who need a "leader" to satisfy their own hatred for Jews.
Congratulations Bill Moyers you just became their "leader".

I salute you Bill Moyers for Courage and speaking the truth. You are an icon for true , unbiased, non-corporate journalism.

The ADL's of this world are merely instituitions to hamper dissent in our world and promote their agenda's.

May you live long .....so we get to hear the last bastion of true journalism forever!!!

as a jew, i detest the racist implication that "God-soaked violence became genetically coded" into my genes. it isn't.

maybe nazism is genetically coded into bill moyers' genes?

The question is not: "what would we do if Canada shot missiles over the border at us...would we not attack them and defend our families?" No, the question is: "what would we do if Canada took our land and homes, wiped out any historical evidence that they exisited and forced us to live in a ghetto cut off to the outside world...would we sit meekly by and have our destiny dictated to us by Canada?"
I think the Israeli Professor Ilan Pappe (Exeter University) offers us useful history in order to understand the conflict: Part I:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2378048083114640496&ei=LJhlSanAEJyyrQL6_ozhDg&hl=en

Part II:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1045070103971656266&hl=en

Part III:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9069594734659501057&hl=en

Part IV:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3343805094273077232&hl=en

When you have time, the acclaimed movie (winner of many awards including
Best Documentary): Occupation 101:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2451908450811690589&ei=waxlSb7SHI6cqALgzqndBw&q=occupation+101&hl=en&dur=3

Posted by: jeff s | January 18, 2009 1:00 AM

In your letter to the ADL, you mention 3 points.
1. The checkpoints and security fence. These may be "humiliating," but they are saving lives. Israel has begun decreasing the number of checkpoints in the West Bank. This welcome development can continue if Israelis are allowed to live in peace.

2. Quoting a Norwegian physician, Mads Gilbert. He is not an impartial observer. If you compare the Gaza operation ( NOT onslaught) to operations by the Allies in World War II and to operations in the Serbian War by the Allies, there is a much lower civilian casualty rate. Although Israel has fewer losses, the rockets are deliberately aimed at civilians and not at soldiers. The observer in question is as honest as Hamas in measuring civilian losses, has attacked the US and Israel, and criticized the group Doctors without Borders for aiding both Palestinians and Israelis.

3. Your statement did sound as is the Jews alone were coded for violence. You defense reminds me of Jimmy Carter stating his book erred in suggesting that Palestinians were justified in terror attacks upon Israelis. Why does the awkward statement always have an anti-Semitic undertone?

Finally, the herding of Palestinian civilians into a building only to be bombed sounds either like a Palestinian propaganda piece or a terrible mistake by Israel. This is the only army that stops its operations to allow aid to civilians and calls to warn them before an IAF strike to move. I am not surprised that this would be presented by a journalist who failed to ask Rev. Jeremiah Wright more about antiAmerican statements and his embrace of anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan. PBS is the only station to allow a documentary about Nazi atrocities without using the word "Jew." They also refused to air a documentary about Radical Islam. In the future, I am not contibuting to PBS, watching PBS, or watching Bill Moyers.

Posted by: Laura Goldmeier | January 17, 2009 11:59 PM

I have friend that we’ve been close for a long time. She once fell in love with Jewish man. He was a body-builder. He was dark and handsome Israel born man living in Honolulu. She was a beautiful Swedish blond, a beauty queen, Miss Honolulu. They were like a regular fantasy promoted through Hollywood movies or on TV─ a dark Jewish man always having a romance with a Nordic blond! But this one was in real life. But I knew that this guy wasn’t particularly Jewish; I knew that he played up his “Jewishness” whenever he wanted to manipulate others. Just like some African Americans I had known playing black to intimidate others. First they were lovers and after couple of years she wanted to be more serious. He insisted that if they were to be married that she had to learn Hebrew and convert. Having raised as a Christian girl she struggled with the idea of becoming “Jewish” for awhile, but eventually she agreed. She worked hard at becoming Jewish. She read about Jews and Jewish experience and went to the Synagogue and leaned Judaism. She took Hebrew classes regularly and about Jewish culture. This went on for couple of years. But I know one thing for sure is that he would never allow her to have a Christmas tree in the house. I knew every time that Christmas came around she was very depressed, because of his prohibition on “Christmas trees.” He said that he was being Jewish. I knew they used to have huge long drawn fights over “Christmas Trees.” She used to call her “Christmas Tree Wars.” Being an American, Christmas was important part of her upbringing and her childhood experience. But he was never ready to compromise. He insisted that a “Christmas Tree was out of the question.” It would be against his religion. Once he was in Israel she went to see him in Tel Aviv and only to find out that his family was Jews by name only and they were really atheists! All of his “acting” and “pretending” to be Jewish was─ for the sake of her consumption and the manipulation. That really broke her heart. It took years of hard work for her to pull herself back together. I still feel that he really damaged her, with all his insincerity and pretentions. They broke up after nine years and she now lives in San Diego. I see her often now and spend time with my beautiful friend. It’s always wonderful to see her any time during the year, but it is very special to spend time with at Christmas. She always make sure that she has the most beautiful; Christmas tree in the whole world!

Posted by: Emily Vanlangenburg | January 17, 2009 11:32 PM

"NN recently broadcast an oral report from one of their senior reporters who, despite Israel's attempt to prevent media access to Gaza, had made his way into southern Gaza via Egypt. He reported that there was great fear among the people of Gaza, but the only destruction he reported was massive bombing of the Egypt-Gaza border...."

Don't waste the time of this feedback forum with this kind of BS.

At very least, you could show us the respect of posting comments that don't fly in the face of reality and common sense. It is widely-accepted as fact--like death and taxes--that Israel has wreaked havoc and destruction on the civilian population of Gaza. There is no debate over that fact. Add to that fact the various comments pertaining to strategy we hear from pro-Zionists in the media(whose views are probably congruent with those of the Olmert, Barak, and the Knesset), and it becomes a near-certainty that the killing of Palestinian civilians was deliberate.

Posted by: Robert Wright | January 17, 2009 11:31 PM

"As a Holocaust scholar I recognize Moyers' rhetoric as being straight out of Mein Kampf". David Sherman.

Comments like this are old, tired, and worn-out. They no longer stir up the feelings of guilt you hope they will. Rather, they are recognized as knee-jerk Jew/Zionist reactions to criticism of Israel. Likewise, they lend creedence to the notion that Zionists depend upon the status of Jews as perpetual victims for the advancement of their agenda: the expansion of Israel.

What expansion of Israel, you say? From the Tigris to the Euphrates: the two stripes on the Israeli flag. You haven't returned the Golan back to Syria, now have you? Nor have you moved out of the West Bank.

You will, eventually. You just don't know it yet.

Posted by: Robert Wright | January 17, 2009 11:13 PM

Dear Mr. Moyers,
After reading the posts here of all those rabid Jews-haters,or as they are now called --anti-Zionists, drawn to you like flies to fire, I fully agree with prof. Landes in his assessment of you.
I have stopped watching you a while back and now it is high time for me to sever completely my support for PBS.

Posted by: Antonia | January 17, 2009 10:48 PM

Mr. Moyers,

Have you ever interviewed Arundhati Roy?

Here is a film using her words juxtaposed with images and music. It is called, appropriately "We":

http://www.weroy.org/watch.shtml

We is a fast-paced 64 minute documentary that covers the world politics of power, war, corporations, deception and exploitation.

It visualizes the words of Arundhati Roy, specifically her famous Come September speech, where she spoke on such things as the war on terror, corporate globalization,

Forget about the historical facts and religious conflicts and nations hatred. it's all about Israeli's incoming elections and who's gonna kill more Arabs to get more votes. this war's an attempt to wipe out the bad memories of "Israel second war on Lebanon" in 2006.

Forget about the historical facts and religious conflicts and nations hatred. it's all about Israeli's incoming elections and who's gonna kill more Arabs to get more votes. this war's an attempt to wipe out the bad memories of "Israel second war on Lebanon" in 2006.

Forget about the historical facts and religious conflicts and nations hatred. it's all about Israeli's incoming elections and who's gonna kill more Arabs to get more votes. it's an attempt to wipe out the bad memories of "Israel second war on Lebanon" in 2006.

Thank you, Bill. As the PBS is gradually taken over by the same Lobby that censors news from the Middle east, it is great to have an honest man still in place. The Gaza Massacres, after 40 years of horrendous occupation of Plaestinian lands (against which occupation Menachn Begi warned in 1969 !) finally end the horrendous use of Holocaust as a political weapon, as Haaretz of Jerusalem warned long ago. May Israel find peace, security and justice by ending its injustices and return to an unmilitarized democracy- for all or sakes.And thank you for Simon Shamur, equal with Amy Goodman is speaking the truth in love !

I was completely disgusted by the lack of knowledge implicit in this video.
I spent the past year in Israel and visited most of its sites. I've seen more then you, Mr. Moyer, have probably seen. Do you know the reason that the Israeli army built fences and made checkpoints??? It was to provide safe passage for the INNOCENT CIVIALIANS who for years walked on those roads and were KILLED BY THE ARABS BULLETS! Yes, the Arabs love to shoot at innocent people, and they have quite a record of it.
Why are there so many checkpoints?? Because of all the suicide Arab bombers who felt that blowing up INNOCENT JEWS would give them eternal bliss.
Theres a name for what you feel,and there is a name for what the Arabs feel. There is a name for how the Germans felt, a name for how the Spanish felt,and a name for how the Greeks and Russians felt. It's called Anti-Semitism.
There is a Law in our Torah, (or Old Testament) that says, "He who stand up to kill you, rise up and kill him first." I am certain that any Arabs who remained in Gaza, after so many warnings from the IDF of the incoming bombs and war, surely remained becuase they felt themself to be martyrs. And Arabs who want to be martyrs are Arabs who will one day blow up Jews, and who support the callous murder of innocent Israelis by rockets. And so we are commanded to "RISE UP AND KILL THEM FIRST," before they kill us.

There is much that could be said in reply to Moyers sweeping moral incoherence. I'll focus on Moyers' real purpose:

quote:
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.

I've got to say first, that last line is a howler. He must not read the NYT or Reuters or listen to the BBC.

Moyers' is making a naked attempt to disarm and discredit the Jewish state. Israel is surrounded by failed and despicable Arab regimes which use Israel and Jews as deflection from their own lack of legitimacy; these states use the most rancid Nazi inspired propaganda to roil their masses. In fact, these regimes use the Palestinians themselves. Moyers plays the part of a wizened fool enabler of those regimes -- he helps propagate lies. Moyers is saying "Jews control America". This is a renewal of the anti-Semitic slurs of old.

Moyers offers no suggestions about what a state should do when missiles fly into its cities for weeks. Did Moyers speak up at the time? Did he deplore the Hamas criminals before Israel acted? Tell us about your PBS commentary about these Hamas jerks Bill. What state would tolerate the toxic Palestinian leadership? If Moyers cared about Palestinians he would be enraged endemically by their deplorable society.

Moyers' commentary is a despicable attempt to deny a democracy the right to defend itself. Moyers conflates the two sides, thugs on one side, dim Brown Shirts really, and an egalitarian democracy on the other, and Moyers claims he "seeks peace". By what moral standing does a TV middle-brow claim such authority? Moyers tries to undermine support for a state that shares our values and our decency as a country.

Moyers is a Jimmy Carter kinda guy. Smug, ingratiating towards the enemies of our country (the enemies of Israel are indeed the enemies of America), cluelessly ponderous, a self-appointed moral arbiter -- perfect for public television -- he fits in so well. Moyers is as etiolated as PBS itself.

Everyone, especially the jews, should watch this acclaimed movie (winner of many awards including Best Documentary): Occupation 101:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2451908450811690589&ei=waxlSb7SHI6cqALgzqndBw&q=occupation+101&hl=en&dur=3

It's nice to see an attempt at balance. Let's, however, see what has been going on.
Hamas has been lobbing rockets against pre-1967 Israel since the "withdrawal" from Gaza. Several daily. No one says a word. Hamas shoots at Israeli civilians, raining daily rocket attacks targeting, killing, and harming civilians and hides behind a population of women and children. Does it leave the Israelis no response? You and Mr. Carter feel that the Palestinian's "civilians" who constantly film themselves preparing to slaughter the Jews and lauding any and all attacks against Jews (and the west) provide shelter for a band of people who not only do not wish to leave a state of Israel on the earth but have proclaimed the legitimacy of attacking Jews all over the world. "Kill them wherever they may be."

Thus playing by your rules, whatever those rules may be, Israel has no right to respond.

Further, I want to see what gene has been genetically implanted that codes from the time of Abraham genetic response and hatred in the Israelis. (Who has slaughtered whom over the past several thousand years? Which nation undertook to fight wars of expansion and offered the Koran or the sword. Is dhimmi a Hebrew concept or construct?) The assertion is hateful, unverifiable, and at the very best a vestige of old anti-jewish canards. How a modern intellectual, with the stature of Moyers, in the U.S. could possibly say this in the 21st century is mind boggling. Such assertions against any other group would not make it past the network censors. From the speaker, to those who aired the broadcast, this canard is outrageous.

Moyers claims the checkpoints are there to humiliate. The checkpoints you cite are there to protect against your wonderful victims suicide bombs. The fact is Arabs can enter and work in Israel. How does one distinguish between a working Arab and a suicide bomber? Do the Israeli's have to wait for him/her to blow themselves up to do a search? How many Jews can enter and work in the Arab world? Should your solution of two states exist, which state will consist of mixed groups of Arabs and Jews? Which entity has representation of both groups? Which entity has legislated laws protecting the religious practices and holy sites of the other? What happens when the Arabs gain control of sites revered by the Jews from the oldest of days? Do they provide access? Improve the site? Or, do they tear down and destroy?

Which society has protests in support and defense of the other? When was the last protest in support of Israel's right to exist held either in Gaza or the West Bank (or for that matter in any Arab town in Israel). Should the Arab side of this conflict lay down their arms, the Israelis would not attack (though their brethren might). Should the Israelis lay down their arms they would all be dead within a short time (the only barrier being how efficiently the Arabs are able to kill).

You may see balance, but that is only because you are wearing blinders against Jews finally defending themselves. The Israelis practice the highest standard of morality in dealing with their sworn enemies. They do this out of deep conviction. Even if they did not the world would be watching and come down on them hard.

Peace in this world at this time is a fate to be hoped for, its realization, as long as militant Islam exists, is totally illusory. In their view, the world will be peaceful when Islam is the only religion (and, I'm sure, only their brand of Islam). Shame on you all!

Your 9 January program on Israel and Gaza is a deplorable twisting of the truth. Israel has been attacking only Hamas terrorists, and only to defend Israel's men, women and children civilians against continued rocket attacks by Hamas. How would you feel if you and your home in the U.S. were being subjected continually to terrorist rockets specifically aimed to kill, maim and shock civilians?

I look forward to Friday nights with Bill Moyers but this broadcast did upset me.Genetically coded? Suggesting that Israel should tolerate daily rocket attacks? What would we do along our borders? There are many responses I could make, but I will choose only one: to Ken and his speech that Obama could make. "....If they were granted Israeli citizenship." Arabs living within Israel have full citizenship, even though they are a "fifth column". Israel did not annex the West Bank or Gaza. The inhabitants hate Israel and certainly do not want Israeli citizenship. Arabs in the eastern part of Jerusalem are eligible for citizenship, but most of them do not apply for it...because they are afraid of being murdered by other Arabs as "collaborators". 2).."The Western Powers took the land from the Arabs, who had nothing to do with the Holocaust and gave it to the Jews."

There are 2 canards here. The Land did not belong to the Arabs, so it was not taken from them. There were just as many Jews in "Palestine" who had lived there for millenia or bought land from Arabs. The Mufti of Jerusalem, after learning from Hitler that killing Jews was his program, raised a battalion of Arabs to fight alongside Germans for the purpose of KILLING JEWS. Don't believe it? Check it out.

sydney herbert

Mr. moyers: your comments last night (Jan 13, 09) were
more conciliatory than your previous diatribe against Israel, when you sounded angry and vicious. (Jan. 6.) However, you still did not say what Israel should do: take it, as the Jews have for over 2000 years largely from people with your religious convictions?
Gunter Hiller, Holocaust survivor

Moyers tries hard to be a balanced commentator. He must try harder and with far better fact checkers than he uses today. They ill serve him and strike many that he's using rhetoric that is inflammatory to and prejudicial against the Jewish community.
Allow me to suggest that he get ahead of events by telling us how he intends to disarm Hizbollah before they pull the trigger that leads to the next round of horrific civilian deaths in Lebanon when Israel responds. At least then,he would have respect for at least trying to stop the carnage before it happens. I don't recall him doing that for Gaza. Therefore crying stop only after Palestinian Arabs in Gaza are killed and not when Jews, Druse, Bedouin and Arab are killed in Israel makes his prejudices startling clear. I guess he's a proponent of proportionality. As long as the body count is roughly the same its okay.

Moyers tries hard to be a balanced commentator. He must try harder and with far better fact checkers than he uses today. They ill serve him and strike many that he's using rhetoric that is inflammatory to and prejudicial against the Jewish community.
Allow me to suggest that he get ahead of events by telling us how he intends to disarm Hizbollah before they pull the trigger that leads to the next round of horrific civilian deaths in Lebanon when Israel responds. At least then,he would have respect for at least trying to stop the carnage before it happens. I don't recall him doing that for Gaza. Therefore crying stop only after Palestinian Arabs in Gaza are killed and not when Jews, Druse, Bedouin and Arab are killed in Israel makes his prejudices startling clear. I guess he's a proponent of proportionality. As long as the body count is roughly the same its okay.

Mr. Moyer's record as a journalist who speaks truth to power is unparalleled. This is just another wonderful example. Thank you, Bill.

You speak the truth Mr. Moyers.

The people who do your research for you are not very good at their jobs. The Commandment is "Thou Shalt Not Murder", a very different concept. The Bible says that if someone comes at you with intent to kill you, you must kill them to defend yourself.
Hamas is out to kill all Jews in Israel, as you stated.

You managed to get in a lot of criticism, something that is easy to do. But you didn't say what you would do if your neighbors wanted you dead and kept tossing rockets into your home. How would you handle it? If you have a better solution than to do nothing for four years while your family members are killed, maimed and terrorized and then finally fight back I would love to hear it.

Israel does more than any army on earth to minimize the killing of innocent people. They drop leaflets warning people of an inpending attack, they go house to house (rather than just bombing the neighborhood safely from the air) allowing people to leave the building before they go in. Hamas uses its citizens as human shields, hiding in schools, homes and hospitals. Which group has the Palestinian's welfare in mind?

Hamas trains children to hate, fight and blow themselves up. This is child abuse at its worse. Any comment? Why don't you compare children's TV in Gaza with children's TV in Israel? One teaches hate and one teaches love and peace. All Israel wants to do is live in peace. All the Palestinians want to do is kill Jews and take over Israel. Checkpoints and fences have cut down on the murder of Israeli citizens. If that humiliates Palestinians it is just too bad. Maybe they should demand that their government spend the millions of dollars it receives yearly on schools, hospitals, jobs, and food instead of rockets to send into Israeli cities to kill as many civilians as possible.

Do some reading about the history of Israel. Jews have lived there for 3,500 years! The Muslims have been around about half of that time (since the 600's). Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible, it is not mentioned at all in the Koran (maybe in the account of Muhammed going to heaven on his horse but not by name). In all the time that Jordan controlled Jerusalem only one Arab official came to Jerusalem. Muslims feel they have to control the world...read the Koran. Look what they did to Lebanon. It was the "Paris of the Middle East"...a mostly Christian country. But Christians were persecuted, killed and fled their own country. Now it is a Muslim country. Do some research. You are letting your prejudice overcome your intellect.

Your assumption that Israel seeks to humiliate rather than defend itself from rocket fire and suicide bombing is anti-Semitic rhetoric used by your fellow travelers -- Islamo-fascists. Trying to insulate yourself from such charges by using moral equivalence arguments only underlines the toxic nature of your thought processes.

The security barrier was put up to diminish suicide bombing, which it has accomplished although you don't mention that; the "cage" Palestinians live in is used to launch attacks on a democracy -- a cage with many unacknowledged holes apparently unnoticed by Bill Moyers; used for assault by Palestinians, shooting randomly into the crowd with the INTENT to kill civilians (very distinct from Israel's aims) -- all with a cache of weapons seldom found in cages.

The assumption that Israel is targeting civilians rather than murderers hiding in the midst of innocents is moral retardation. The Arab leadership has remained silent because they can't stand Hamas either. You don't find peace by lying about Palestinian behavior and actions and celebrating yourself narcissistially as a good person. Your lack of a moral compass is striking actually -- you have a Bachelor of Divinity, Bill?! You are a PBS paradigm.

Palestinian's have agency. They have taught their children bigotry, hate and rejectionism. That is child abuse Bill. Palestinians are adults, irrespective of your paternalistic condescension towards them. They could have chosen to build a model society for all the Arab world to see. Instead they have turned Gaza into a terrorist camp.

Mr. Moyers has good intentions, but he uses half-truths to come to a half-baked conclusion; beginning with one of the ten commandments that, according to Mr. Moyers, says: “Thou shall not kill”. Oops: correct translation is “Thou shall not murder”. The Israelis are, sadly, killing, but are not murdering. Hamas is murdering; both Israelis (Muslims, Christians and Jews) and Gazans.
The Israeli P.M. went on Arab TV 2 days before the Gazan incursion and begged Hamas to stop the rockets against 1,000,000 innocent civilians in southern Israel. He specifically has said (as have many Israeli officials) that Israel does not want to hurt Gazan civilians. Israel wants to try to live in peace with the Palestinians.
The Israelis are so concerned about trying to AVOID killing innocents, that they dropped leaflets and telephoned thousands of Gazans; telling them to leave areas from where Hamas is launching rockets and shooting at Israelis. Hamas are the ultimate cowards and murderers; willing to sacrifice their OWN women and children to “prove their point”. Hamas soldiers have even been found dressed up as nurses in hospitals. Hiding behind skirts and children is what terrorists do.
In response to the corruption of Arafat and his Fatah party, the Gazans voted for Hamas to speak for them. Hamas has said that all Jews must die; There can be no Israel – only Palestine from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea. This echo of the Nazis “Kill all the Jews” does not seem to be a problem for the U.N.
Nor is it a problem when U.N. buildings are taken over by Hamas and used as rocket launching pads to kill Jews. It is only when Israel returns the fire against Hamas (and, yes, innocent Gazans are then killed) that the U.N. (and Bill Moyers) wring their hands and – condemn Israel.
Mr. Moyers’ assertion that the purpose of the security wall and checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza are to humiliate Palestinians – again reveals his ignorance. Since they have been put in place, suicide bombings in Israel have been reduced to almost none – saving thousands of Jewish (and Israeli Arab) lives; but I guess that is not relevant to Mr. Moyers.
Not all American legislators and Jews march in lock-step coordination with the Christian “right” and Israel. Jews always question what we do and whether we can be better, more ethical and more moral. Jews (and Israelis) feel awful about having to invade Gaza to defend against another Holocaust. Israel gave the Sinai desert back to the Egyptians (include all of the oil fields) because they wanted peace. They made peace with Jordan (Jordan refused to take back the West Bank because they were/are afraid of the Palestinians). Israel vacated Gaza only to be thanked by a steady flow of rocket attacks. Israel is prepared to discuss giving up almost all of the West Bank for peace – however, Israel is not dumb enough to give it back without a guarantee that the Arab world will not complete the second Holocaust. Mr. Moyers needs to understand that.
I suppose Mr. Moyers was against ending World War II by bombing innocent Japanese and Germans. Maybe, he thought there was a better way. Perhaps, he thinks that we should still be negotiating with Hitler’s Nazis and Stalin’s communists and that all wars are useless. There are 6,000,000 Jews that cry out from the ovens that would disagree with him.

Israel is fighting a Palestiinian population that elected a terrorist gang as its government. That gang is now using the very people who voted for them as canon fodder.

Israel has a right to protect itself. Bill Moyers, ancient hatemongering arguments of those who suckled anti-Semitism with their mother's milk is a disgrace. PBS isn't worth anyone's support.

Mr. Bill Moyers,

Journalist of your moral status and courage should be cloned!

Thank you
and Welcome to the Matrix

Mr. Moyers:

You want equivalence? If the Palestinians laid down their arms and promised to let Israel exist, there'd be instant peace. If the Israelis laid down their arms, there'd be a new holocaust.

Mr. Moyers, you are just as evil as the radical Muslims and Hitler.

Dear Mr. Moyer,

You seemed to have slipped from one slippery slope to another and then completely off the end. You equate Israel with all Jews, even though only half the world's Jews live there and Israel's population is only 80% Jewish. That's the first slippery slope you slithered down, having sunk from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism. But you then dig the hole you're furiously working away at by asserting that Jews are genetically programmed for violence. Normally I consider equating anti-Semites with Nazis to be over the top, but you have quite literally adopted the Nazi party line, which sought to demonize Jews as irredeemable subhumans because of their genes. Congratulations for being the first member of the mainstream media to make Godwin's law irrelevant!! I'm sure there's some sort of award in it for you.

By the way, Mr. Moyer, I would challenge you to go live in Sderot for a year, and then come back and tell us all about your experience. If you survive it, of course.

Mr. Moyer You very conveniently start telling the story from THE MIDDLE, because that is in line with your own anti-Israel point of view. I too am saddened by the loss of lives of innocent Arabs, but the story started by Hammas terrorist taking over Gaza after Israel had left, and Hammas raining deadly rocket fire on INNOCENT ISRAELIS. That left Israel with no choice but to do what it HAD TO DO

Mr. Moyers:

The thrust of your piece is that Israel's acts of self-defense have morphed into "state terrorism" and that Israel is now attacking the civilians of Gaza.

This, in spite of Israel's decision - at the risk of the lives of its soldiers - to create a midday "time out" so civilians can stock up on food.

This, in spite of Israel's decision - once again at the risk of the lives of its soldiers - to refrain from killing executive Hamas staff who order death and destruction for Israelis and even distribute paychecks, because they do these acts from Shifa Hospital.

Israel is fighting an enemy that literally forces children to attend school in buildings from which rockets are launched against Israeli civilians!

In the greatest of ironies, Mr. Moyers, you deplore the videos of Israeli airstrikes that Israel has posted on YouTube. This is ironic because those videos were taken by Israeli camera men attached to every unit to document every attack. This, to defend against exactly the sorts of accusations you are now leveling. When an Israeli bomb hits a mosque and provokes huge secondary explosions, the thing demonstrated is not an Israeli attack; it is rather an act of Israeli self-defense.

For shame!

Short Hills NJ

I just LOVE your programs Bill Moyers!!!!! I always feel that you encourage open dialogue and dissenting viewpoints. You recieve as well as shell out constructive criticism from/to all sides. I am continually reminded how much I love this country every week that I get to watch your program!!! I am very grateful that you investigate the strategies of the "powers at be", that you represent the underdogs, the disenchanted and that you discuss in detail the tough issues that face this country and this paradoxical world. I feel that your mild-mannered, calm, charming, yet poignant and precise questions lure your viewers to watch the dance that unfolds between you and your guests as they reveal the depths of the subject that you so adeptly unravel. PLEASE CONTINUE WITH YOUR PROGRAM!!!!

In regards to the Israeli/Gazan-Palestinian War; so much could be asked about each side: who is just a little more right, who has perhaps caused less physical or emotional harm, whose intentions of good or harm are more sincere, which side has incurred fewer deaths, which side lives with more fear, whose hands are more chained, who wants to kill whom under which exact circumstance, whose definition of death, killing, martyrdom, has most validity,etc. There are as many answers as there are people. Just meeting to sit in silence or to dialogue, to have open discussion, honest admission (w/o heads of state from other countries) and ironically, to have faith in each other's sincere intentions are the only things that will bring together two estranged populations. For in the midst of open space (such as in a simple meeting with no agenda) a quiet can emerge, free from blame, free from trying to be right. There is no side that is more "right" than the other. Each has committed atrocities over the years of war. It is time to put "they did this and they did this" aside. Instead, the two sides have to work towards allowing silence to creep up admist the open space of dialogue or no dialogue. From this silence, there can spring forth a well of sharing, sharing in the commonality of the essence of humanity, of being human. This is what we all share on this planet. This is what can bring us together. It is a start! Otherwise, this war will continue indefinitely!! May they/we find the answers to come together!!!

Dear Bill Moyers

I am truly sadden by the war on Gaza. Thank you for stating why Hamas starting launching rockets on Israel. The Blockage by Israel is the real cause.

I would like to propose a Solution to the Palestinian and Israeli Conflict.

Middle East Solution
A Three State Solution. Two Palestinian States
1. West Bank
2. Gaza
One Israeli State

The Existing Gaza Territory should be given to Israel. All territory North of Hadera and Janin should be given to Gaza to create a seperate Palestine State for Gaza.

A Wall and Demilitary Zone will be created and manned by an International Peace Keeping Force for 40 years.

International Commitment of 5 Billion Dollars per year for 20 Years should be given to assist the Two Palestinian State for Economic Development, and Institution Development.

Israel will agree to withdraw for the West Bank. The two Palestinian States will be free to choose their type of goverment and leadership.

Any violations will be dealt with by the International Community.

Dear Bill Moyer
I’m an admirer of your show because you set very high standards of reporting and example of moral journalism. You reflection on the situation on Middle East however doesn’t meet that high standard. For the most part it is not your fault because for many westerners reality of Middle East warfare is not possible to comprehend. I’d like to ask you and other people who contributed comments several questions:
1. What is proportional response in the situation when your neighbor stated goal is to annihilate your people? The only reason why it has not been done yet because they don’t have sufficient means to do it.
2. How can you avoid civilian casualty when the main tactic of Hamas to set up attacks, weapons depository within the most populated area to expose their own population for attacks as a way to ignite the anger of world community (including you).
3. The reason why Israel has so few victims despite of days when 200-300 rockets fired from Gaza is because they really take protection of the civilian population seriously. Every house by law must have a bomb shelter and all country has extended network of alarms to warn population of incoming attacks.
If I’m mistaken on the question number two, I will admit that your reflection is more valid than I thought. Could you please do more research in this area? I read a transcript of interview of Israeli ambassador and also read in Israeli newspapers that leadership of Hamas our hiding in basement of largest hospital in Gaza?

With respect,
Stella Belenkaya

How can you degrade Israelis, when all they are doing is defending themselves from rockets? Where is the criticism of Arab Palestinian rocket attacks?

Its regrettable that you chose to depict Israel's motivation in building a fence (96% fence-not a wall) and taking other defensive actions, to their need to "humiliate'” Palestinians. Depicting Israeli's in this defamatory manner is unfounded, you provide no proof that Israelis are cruel people. I am sorry that you believe this.
In fact, the dramatic reduction in suicide bombings and Israeli deaths since the fence has been built demonstrates that the fence is a highly effective means of reducing the number of Israeli civilian deaths without killing anyone on the other side. Hundreds of Israeli civilian lives have been saved since its construction. It is Palestinian terror and violence that has built this fence, not Israel's need to “humiliate” them.
On the one hand, Mr. Moyers, you object to Israeli's defending themselves through military means and on the other hand you defame them when they use other non-lethal means. If you are truly concerned about saving civilian lives I would hope your concern extends to Israeli civilians.

Off to your lovely liberal probably Unitarian Peace Group, and leave the business of protecting real human values to those who GET IT!

ethan: You've got me curious. How about posting a bucket of them hateful Torah parts

Posted by: Klark M. | January 16, 2009 1:21 PM

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/talmud1.htm

Dear Bill,
You dared to speak out about one of the worse injustices in our modern History.
Don't be afraid by your critics. They use this Holocaust card to stiffle any discussion and will do so whenever somebody stands for the Palestinians. That is their tactic and they will use it over and over because they know it works. They have paralized your representatives for almost a century. It is the Aipac tactic. Don't listen to them. They are loosing ground slowly but surely.
God bless you!
Shamir from Israel

Dear Bill,
You dared to speak out about one of the worse injustices in our modern History.
Don't be afraid by your critics. They use this Holocaust card to stiffle any discussion and will do so whenever somebody stands for the Palestinians. That is their tactic and they will use it over and over because they know it works. They have paralized our representatives for almost a century. It is the Aipac tactic. Don't listen to them. They are loosing ground slowly but surely.
God bless you!
Shamir from Israel

Dear Bill,

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no clear evidence either way - Bertand Russell. My feeling - Anytime people start promoting war within the teachings of their chosen religion they've turned religion into a cult that reflects their personal pain. This is typical of male dominated childlike behavior. There is no solution, only dollars to be made discussing such terrible deeds.

Thank You,

Scott
Dallas, Texas

In order for this discussion to have true meaning, people must have the facts straight.
Many comments repeat and promote certain statements as IF they were facts...when, in reality, they distort and change history. Too many have been mentioned in the previous comments so I will just address a few. Someone mentioned that 60 years fago, the Jews TOOK the land from the arabs. That would be impossible because most all the land in the ENTIRE mideast belonged to the Ottoman empire. After WW1 - ENGLAND "acquired" all that land...now, what does acquire mean in waratime??? ENGLAND in 1947-48 turned over a parcel of HER holdings in the ME...which ENGLAND, the UN divided giving part ot the Jews and part to the arabs. The following facts of history is what has devestated the arabs to this day. When the land for a state was given to the Jews - they said YES. They have had da state for 60 years. When the arabs were offered land for THEIR state - they said NO.

Had the arabs said YES - they too would have had a state for 60 years.

When Israel declared herself a state...Israel allowed the arabs that did remain to become Israeli citizens. What arab country recognizes a Jew as a citizen with privileges of voting (if they had any), education and freedom of religion anad bassic civil rights? NONE.

Israel has never delibeately desecrated a religous site just because it wasn't representing Judaism. All Holy Land places of interest, archives, churches, etc have been preserved under the Israeli watch. Now, let's discuss what the palestininas/arabs/moslems have done. One not even only refer to Israel. The great religious sculpture that was carved into the side of a mountain that these terrorist groups blew up saying they will destroy anything that doesn't represent their beliefs. Yet, anyone can retrace the 14 stations of Jesus in Jerusalem. Even today.

Do you know that Bethlehem and Nazareth are barely Christian towns any longer now that a CERTAIN group has been incrementally taking it over?

Now, someone used the word occupied. WRONGO! I am going to quote someone else who has a great handle on the truth.

Dennis Miller is a comedian. He is not Jewish. He recently said the following:

"A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans who still don't get it, I now offer you the story of the Middle East in just a few paragraphs, which is all you really need.

The Palestinians want their own country.
There's just one thing about that: There are no Palestinians.
It's a made up word.
Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years.
Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but is really a modern invention.

Before the Israelis won the land in the 1967 war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, the West Bank was owned by Jordan, and there were no "Palestinians."

As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the "Palestinians," weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" and "nation."

So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" anymore to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths, until someone points out they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what they are:

"Other Arabs Who Can't Accomplish Anything in Life and Would Rather Wrap Themselves in the Seductive Melodrama of Eternal Struggle and Death."

I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters." Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. They could've had their own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago at Camp David but if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living.

That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course -- that's where the real fun is -- but mostly they want Israel.

Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it -- for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth . . you know that's really saying something.

It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim Middleast. Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one.

Chew this around & spit it out: 500 million Arabs; 5 million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that, if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding.

My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the Numbers. Imagine 500 million Jews and 5 million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not. Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab State into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting.

No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death.

Mr Bush, God bless him, is walking a tightrope. I understand that, with vital operations in Iraq and others, it's in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all, that can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of super models who've just had their drugs taken away.

However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some. After September 11th, our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful. Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and then every day), start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint.

If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan."

In Peace,
Laurie

I am sending a heartfelt but belated thanks for the superb job you did in connecting the march of the brave people called March of the Dead (?)
with the lack of respect accorded the war dead here and with the coverage of the grotesquely uneven and criminal assault on Gaza.
As a yeshivah-educated Jewish woman, I hold that the actions of Israel are unforgivable and disproportionate and worse: done for political and territorial gain.
NO, rockets should not be fired on civilians, but solve the underlying conditions or you will simply get more and more rockets.

"Genetically encoded"?? Sieg heil!

Mr. Moyers,
I guess you never bothered to look at the photos oF many very young Jews, who were killed by Hamas rockets while terrorized or sleeping in bunkers in the south of Israel. I guess that their lives are not worth as much to you as those of Palestinian children. There are no "BUTS" to protecting more children like them. Why didn't you wonder about them?
You are very well spoken, but your rhetoric carries the signs of anti Zionism, anti Israel, and perhaps ant Semitism.
You mentioned one poll that states that American's opinions are against Israel. You never mentioned the polls that show that the majority of Americans are blaming Hamas.
I stopped contributing to NPR, but have always given to PBS. They may lose my support, and I will pass the word on unless you show signs of fair and balanced reportin.

Really? Genetically coded murder? Bill Moyers, you've officially lost your mind. I have one question for you: if Israel is targeting civilians, then why have the Palestinian civilians chosen to stand on top of rooftops? The Palestinians know that Jews will not target civilians . . . as opposed to the leaders of Hamas. Your illogical, factually deficient report is a disappointment. Please bring your Middle East reporting up to your usual standard.

(P.S. -- It's "Thou shalt not murder", not "thou shalt not kill". That's a mistranslation.)

Mr. Moyers,
You don't care to mention the photos of all of the many Jewish children, who were not being used as shields for the Israeli army, but were killed nevertheless in their beds by Hamas rockets? Israeli children in Sderot have spent many months sleepig and traumatized in bunkers.
You mentioned the poll that states that Americn opinions are against helping Israelis. Why didn't you mention the polls that shows Americans are blaming Hamas by large majorities?
There are no "Buts" about self defense.
You are a well spoken anti Zionist, anti Israeli and probably anti Smite.
If you continue to use P

Mr. Moyers,
You don't care to mention the photos of all of the many Jewish children, who were not being used as shields for the Israeli army, but were killed nevertheless in their beds by Hamas rockets? Israeli children in Sderot have spent many months sleepig and traumatized in bunkers.
You mentioned the poll that states that Americn opinions are against helping Israelis. Why didn't you mention the polls that shows Americans are blaming Hamas by large majorities?
There are no "Buts" about self defense.
You are a well spoken anti Zionist, anti Israeli and probably anti Smite.
If you continue to use P

Exactly how is dropping a bomb from 30,000 ft. and killing a hundred innocent people different from a bomb strapped around a person which kills a hundred innocent people?

sorry Mr. Moyer,,, this indescriminate killing you remarked on is quite incorrect!
you're a newsman,,, so you know Hamas takes advantage of civilian populaces.
When newsmen say Israel has the right to defend themselves, I just dont see real answers from you in how to realisticly get that done.

sorry friend, you wouldnt put your family thru what south Israel has been enduring.

sorry Mr. Moyer,,, this indescriminate killing you remarked on is quite incorrect!
you're a newsman,,, so you know Hamas takes advantage of civilian populaces.
When newsmen say Israel has the right to defend themselves, I just dont see real answers from you in how to realisticly get that done.

sorry friend, you wouldnt put your family thru what south Israel has been enduring.

sorry Mr. Moyer,,, this indescriminate killing you remarked on is quite incorrect!
you're a newsman,,, so you know Hamas takes advantage of civilian populaces.
When newsmen say Israel has the right to defend themselves, I just dont see real answers from you in how to realisticly get that done.

sorry friend, you wouldnt put your family thru what south Israel has been enduring.

Beyond the deeply self-destructive nature of the Gaza campaign and our support for it, I am puzzled by the change in the kind of people Americans see themselves as being. When I was in public school in the US during the early 60's, we were taught that the difference between the Communists and rest of the world is that we do not believe that the end justifies the means. What happened to that idea, I wonder? When will we remember that the means are the end?

Thank you for telling us so gently what we need to hear. Your wisdom, courage, love for humanity and for all that is good in America give me solace at this dark time.

Moyers biased, ill-informed (or purposely deceitful) diatribe against Israel is unfounded, unfair and indeed, anti-Semitic (genetically coded violence). Nowhere does he indicate that hospitals, schools, mosques etc have been used to hide weapons and terrorists, nowhere does he acknowledge that Israel has gone to remarkable lengths to avoid civilian injuries (if not, it certainly would not have taken three weeks for the Israeli military to essentially flatten Gaza and the civilian injuries would be more like those inflicted by the allies during WWIII or elsewhere), etc.
Moyers should apologize to his listeners for his inaccuracies, misleading references and racial slurs, for misguided moral equivalencies, lies that Israel is waging war on the entire population (again, the obvious facts on the ground show that to be an outrage), etc.
PBS should either take him off the air or at least stop his pro-terrorist propaganda and should certainly give rebuttal time to others.

Mr. Moyers' selective outrage is silly and deplorable.

You can learn something about a society by the way they treat women and minorities. So here's a question: which Arabs in the Middle East have the most freedom? Answer: Arabs living in Israel. Where in the Middle East do women have the most freedom? Answer: again, in Israel.

Mr. Moyers would do well to spend a little more time chastizing the brutality committed by Arabs against their own people. Just the other day. Hamas fighters were running through a hospital, shooting people they thought opposed them.

When I was in public school in the US during the early 60's, we were taught that the difference between the Communists and rest of the world is that we do not believe that the end justifies the means. What happened there, I wonder?

Thank you for telling us so gently what we need to hear. Your wisdom, courage, and love for humanity give me solace at this dark time.

DEAR MR. MOYERS,
YOUR INACCURATE, HATEFUL AND DISTORTED COMMENTS SHOW ME ONE THING: ANTI-SEMITISM IS STILL ALIVE AND WELL IN AMERICAN JOURNALISM. I USED TO BE A GREAT FAN OF YOURS: NO LONGER. I AM SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU AND YOUR STATION. THE IRONY HERE IS, THAT YOU ARE SIDING WITH PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KILL YOU (AND EVERY OTHER RELIGION), AFTER THEY MURDER THE JEWS. THEY ALREADY KILL CHRISTIANS IN DROVES AND HAVE JUST REINSTATED THE ROMAN CRUCIFIXION AS A WAY TO MURDER CHRISTIANS. IS THAT WHAT YOU SUPPORT AND WANT?
WE KNOW ONE THING FROM 2000 YEARS OF HISTORY, FASCIST MURDERERS WHO WANT TO CONTROL THE WESTERN WORLD FIRST TAKE OFF AFTER THE JEWS-- A SMALL GROUP THAT PROMOTES PEACE. JEWS ARE NOT THREATENING PEOPLE. THEY ARE LAW ABIDING PEOPLE. NEXT, OR OFTEN, SIMULTANEOUSLY, THE KILLERS BEGIN TO MURDER OTHERS. WHEN JEWS ARE EXPELLED OR HURT, THE COUNTRY OR PEOPLE WHO HAVE DAMAGED THE JEWS FALLS. READ HISTORY. DO YOU WANT THE FREE WORLD AND AMERICA TO FALL?
MURDERING JEWS IS ALWAYS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG OF A MUCH LARGER IDEOLOGY OF HATE. FIRST JEWS, THEN, THEY GO AFTER THE REST OF THE WORLD TO BRING ABOUT ITS DEMISE.

WHEN SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL THE JEWS OR UNFAIRLY BLAME THE JEWS, THEY ARE REALLY AFTER THE FREE WORLD BECAUSE JUDAISM IS ABOUT FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, SPEECH, DEMOCRACY, KINDNESS, HUMANITY AND LIFE.
AFTER ALL, WHAT OTHER COUNTRY, DEFENDS ITSELF FROM AN ENEMY THAT RELENTLESSLY ATTACKS THEM WHEN THE ENEMY HAS BEEN UNPROVOKED, YET MAKES SURE TO KEEP CIVILIANS OUT OF THE WAY AND TO TREAT THE WOUNDED ENEMIES IN ISRAELI HOSPITALS? WHAT OTHER COUNTRY WHEN AT WAR WITH AGGRESSORS, GIVES HUMANITARIAN AID TO THE CIVILIANS OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HARMING THEM? ONLY ISRAEL.
MR. MOYERS, YOU NEED TO LEARN ABOUT JEWS, JUDAISM AND ISRAEL BEFORE MAKING SUCH DAMAGING, INHUMANE, UNCHRISTIAN AND FASLE STATMENTS ABOUT JEWS/ISRAEL. AND, YOU NEED TO LEARN ABOUT THE RELIGION FROM JEWS TO FULLY UNDERSTAND IT.
YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF. I AM NOW THROWING OUT BOTH OF YOUR BOOKS. LITTLE DID I KNOW YOU WERE A FRAUD.

DEAR MR. MOYERS,
YOUR INACCURATE, HATEFUL AND DISTORTED COMMENTS SHOW ME ONE THING: ANTI-SEMITISM IS STILL ALIVE AND WELL IN AMERICAN JOURNALISM. I USED TO BE A GREAT FAN OF YOURS: NO LONGER. I AM SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU AND YOUR STATION. THE IRONY HERE IS, THAT YOU ARE SIDING WITH PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KILL YOU (AND EVERY OTHER RELIGION), AFTER THEY MURDER THE JEWS. THEY ALREADY KILL CHRISTIANS IN DROVES AND HAVE JUST REINSTATED THE ROMAN CRUCIFIXION AS A WAY TO MURDER CHRISTIANS. IS THAT WHAT YOU SUPPORT AND WANT?
WE KNOW ONE THING FROM 2000 YEARS OF HISTORY, FASCIST MURDERERS WHO WANT TO CONTROL THE WESTERN WORLD FIRST TAKE OFF AFTER THE JEWS-- A SMALL GROUP THAT PROMOTES PEACE. JEWS ARE NOT THREATENING PEOPLE. THEY ARE LAW ABIDING PEOPLE. NEXT, OR OFTEN, SIMULTANEOUSLY, THE KILLERS BEGIN TO MURDER OTHERS. WHEN JEWS ARE EXPELLED OR HURT, THE COUNTRY OR PEOPLE WHO HAVE DAMAGED THE JEWS FALLS. READ HISTORY. DO YOU WANT THE FREE WORLD AND AMERICA TO FALL?
MURDERING JEWS IS ALWAYS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG OF A MUCH LARGER IDEOLOGY OF HATE. FIRST JEWS, THEN, THEY GO AFTER THE REST OF THE WORLD TO BRING ABOUT ITS DEMISE.

WHEN SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL THE JEWS OR UNFAIRLY BLAME THE JEWS, THEY ARE REALLY AFTER THE FREE WORLD BECAUSE JUDAISM IS ABOUT FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, SPEECH, DEMOCRACY, KINDNESS, HUMANITY AND LIFE.
AFTER ALL, WHAT OTHER COUNTRY, DEFENDS ITSELF FROM AN ENEMY THAT RELENTLESSLY ATTACKS THEM WHEN THE ENEMY HAS BEEN UNPROVOKED, YET MAKES SURE TO KEEP CIVILIANS OUT OF THE WAY AND TO TREAT THE WOUNDED ENEMIES IN ISRAELI HOSPITALS? WHAT OTHER COUNTRY WHEN AT WAR WITH AGGRESSORS, GIVES HUMANITARIAN AID TO THE CIVILIANS OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HARMING THEM? ONLY ISRAEL.
MR. MOYERS, YOU NEED TO LEARN ABOUT JEWS, JUDAISM AND ISRAEL BEFORE MAKING SUCH DAMAGING, INHUMANE, UNCHRISTIAN AND FASLE STATMENTS ABOUT JEWS/ISRAEL. AND, YOU NEED TO LEARN ABOUT THE RELIGION FROM JEWS TO FULLY UNDERSTAND IT.
YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF. I AM NOW THROWING OUT BOTH OF YOUR BOOKS. LITTLE DID I KNOW YOU WERE A FRAUD.

DEAR MR. MOYERS,
YOUR INACCURATE, HATEFUL AND DISTORTED COMMENTS SHOW ME ONE THING: ANTI-SEMITISM IS STILL ALIVE AND WELL IN AMERICAN JOURNALISM. I USED TO BE A GREAT FAN OF YOURS: NO LONGER. I AM SO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU AND YOUR STATION. THE IRONY HERE IS, THAT YOU ARE SIDING WITH PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KILL YOU (AND EVERY OTHER RELIGION), AFTER THEY MURDER THE JEWS. THEY ALREADY KILL CHRISTIANS IN DROVES AND HAVE JUST REINSTATED THE ROMAN CRUCIFIXION AS A WAY TO MURDER CHRISTIANS. IS THAT WHAT YOU SUPPORT AND WANT?
WE KNOW ONE THING FROM 2000 YEARS OF HISTORY, FASCIST MURDERERS WHO WANT TO CONTROL THE WESTERN WORLD FIRST TAKE OFF AFTER THE JEWS-- A SMALL GROUP THAT PROMOTES PEACE. JEWS ARE NOT THREATENING PEOPLE. THEY ARE LAW ABIDING PEOPLE. NEXT, OR OFTEN, SIMULTANEOUSLY, THE KILLERS BEGIN TO MURDER OTHERS. WHEN JEWS ARE EXPELLED OR HURT, THE COUNTRY OR PEOPLE WHO HAVE DAMAGED THE JEWS FALLS. READ HISTORY. DO YOU WANT THE FREE WORLD AND AMERICA TO FALL?
MURDERING JEWS IS ALWAYS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG OF A MUCH LARGER IDEOLOGY OF HATE. FIRST JEWS, THEN, THEY GO AFTER THE REST OF THE WORLD TO BRING ABOUT ITS DEMISE.

WHEN SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL THE JEWS OR UNFAIRLY BLAME THE JEWS, THEY ARE REALLY AFTER THE FREE WORLD BECAUSE JUDAISM IS ABOUT FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, SPEECH, DEMOCRACY, KINDNESS, HUMANITY AND LIFE.
AFTER ALL, WHAT OTHER COUNTRY, DEFENDS ITSELF FROM AN ENEMY THAT RELENTLESSLY ATTACKS THEM WHEN THE ENEMY HAS BEEN UNPROVOKED, YET MAKES SURE TO KEEP CIVILIANS OUT OF THE WAY AND TO TREAT THE WOUNDED ENEMIES IN ISRAELI HOSPITALS? WHAT OTHER COUNTRY WHEN AT WAR WITH AGGRESSORS, GIVES HUMANITARIAN AID TO THE CIVILIANS OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HARMING THEM? ONLY ISRAEL.
MR. MOYERS, YOU NEED TO LEARN ABOUT JEWS, JUDAISM AND ISRAEL BEFORE MAKING SUCH DAMAGING, INHUMANE, UNCHRISTIAN AND FASLE STATMENTS ABOUT JEWS/ISRAEL. AND, YOU NEED TO LEARN ABOUT THE RELIGION FROM JEWS TO FULLY UNDERSTAND IT.
YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF. I AM NOW THROWING OUT BOTH OF YOUR BOOKS. LITTLE DID I KNOW YOU WERE A FRAUD.

We are Westernizing and Look What Thanks We Get

1. For the first time we held open Democratic elections to choose which Terrorists would represent us in govt. and you would not recognize our Terrorist govt.

2. We also accept your concept of Freedom of Religion and have been launching Rockets freely from the Mosque in Gaza. And what does Israel do with respect to our Freedom, they blew up the Mosque.

3. We also want to promote Freedom of Speech and Expression. We have been expressing our opinions to the Israelis using Qassams, mortars, and Grads. Look how you Israelis have responded to our Freedom of Speech.

4. We also embraced your Freedom of Press and spent enormous amounts of money staging the deaths of Muhammad Dura, photoshoping other humanitarian disasters to broadcast on our propaganda Networks and Israel blows up our broadcast facilities.

How do you expect us to behave like Western Civilization if this is the way you respond to our attempts?

ethan: You've got me curious. How about posting a bucket of them hateful Torah parts over on the Power of Poetry page. I'm serious. Always curious about theology...

Ethan: You're entitled to an opinion, but continue to explore by talking with real people. I went to the Jewish Community Center for an event in October and found American and immigrant Muslims in attendance. Some Jews, especially secular, have befriended me and helped me, so you can see why I wouldn't want them hurt any more than Palestinians. It's our government's fault too: and there goes tax money for weapons.

Joke: If you watch Christian programming on some of those obscure cable channels you'll need a converter box after Jan. 20th, because you know, Obama is a MUSLIN!

Believe it or not, a Puerto Rican evangelical minister told me that at work last week. I couldn't tell if she was serious or not. I kind of laughed, very carefully.

Irene said :"You have shown yourself as such a good, honest and caring man previously, so I can't help but wonder who or what instigated your hate."

not hate so much as absolute disgust

at the actions of the Israeli's, the constant whine about the 'holocaust', the notion of being 'chosen people', the absence of democracy, the attack on the Liberty, the spying, the multiple billions of dollars which our country gives Israel and the English translation of the Torah which I have read parts of.

We don't watch PBS anymore and this is why.

Once upon a time we even use to give donations, now were in a different decade and a different world. Moyers and his ilk are now part of our enemy's team.

Grenades around the babies necks for Palestinian family pictures and nothing from this side?
Indoctrinating children into Jew hate via their national tv children's programs? And the likes of moyers say NOTHING about this child abuse?
Can you say never ending generational generated terrorism, boys and girls?
PBS stinks as a credible news source.

The Crying Game

The Israeli government's media strategy barring reporters from Gaza is working, but the rest of its strategy is not.
Christopher Dickey
Newsweek Web Exclusive

Perhaps you are thinking you have seen a lot of horrible images coming out of the Gaza hellhole; very likely more than you want to see. Among the 1.5 million Palestinians under bombardment in an area 7.5 miles wide and 25 miles long, many somehow manage to get online and get their stories onto the World Wide Web. The satellite news network Al Jazeera has staff based in Gaza who feed their control room in Qatar a constant stream of dispatches. At least one European photographer, my Belgian friend Bruno Stevens, has managed to slip in. And the pictures we're seeing are as shocking as they are predictable: a blitz from the air that has run out of primary targets but just keeps hitting and hitting; a slow-moving Israeli advance on the ground against zealous Hamas fighters; and day after day, a slaughter of innocents.

A steady stream of video showing screaming, bloodied children and tiny corpses has fueled outrage against Israel not only in Arab and Muslim countries, but in Europe, where anti-Semites have seized on this fresh pretext for their vandalism and arson against Jewish targets.

Among a lot of my war-correspondent colleagues, it's become a truism that the Israeli government's refusal to let foreign reporters into Gaza is counterproductive for the Israelis themselves, as if once Western correspondents got in, their reports might actually counteract the flow of gruesome images that keep coming out. But I am not so sure.

I think the Israeli government's strategy of banning reporters is working. Its attempt to stop Hamas from firing rockets onto its territory is justifiable, but the kind of urban warfare Israel is engaged in now is a hideous business. Soldiers move into and through a dense maze of ambushes and booby traps, constantly threatened by snipers and would-be martyrs making their last stands. Even the most disciplined troops are likely to shoot anything that moves. When you're doing this in one of the most densely populated places on earth—where half of the population is younger than 17—a lot of children will be cut to pieces in the crossfire. There's no way around it. The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, has charged Hamas with using kids as human shields. But, really, they are just part of the terrain. Thus far, citing Palestinians and U.N. sources, available news reports say more than 1,000 Gazans have been killed in 20 days of fighting, among them more than 300 children.

If Western correspondents were on the ground seeing these events first hand, they might discredit some Palestinian hyperbole. During the battle for Jenin on the West Bank in 2002, for instance, when Western reporters finally slipped past the Israeli lines to see for themselves what was happening, they were the first to debunk histrionic claims by Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat that 1,000 civilians had been killed. (In fact, about 50 Palestinians had fought and died in a ferocious battle that also cost the lives of 23 Israeli soldiers.) On the ground in Gaza, Western reporters might be able to verify Israeli government claims that scores of Palestinians actually have been murdered by Hamas as suspected collaborators. It's unlikely, in any case, that American reporters would lionize the Islamic resistance.

But what Western correspondents would do is give new credibility to accounts that show the human cost of fighting like this. The suffering of the children would seem more real when an American or European reporter beheld it first hand, verisimilitude would become verity, and demands for a ceasefire that the Israel government does not yet want would be pushed even higher on the agenda of the United States, Europe and the United Nations.

Andrew Tyndall, who publishes a daily in-depth survey of television news in the United States, suggests that on balance the Israeli government has been able to shape the American coverage along the lines it wants. To be sure, about twice as many Palestinians as Israelis have been given air time on the American networks as eyewitnesses to the war and its effects. (The Palestinian casualties are as much as 100 times higher.) But, as Tyndall told me, compared to the Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, in this conflict "the explanation of the fighting, the framing of it, is more tightly controlled and more top-down on the Israeli side."

In the week of Jan. 5 through Jan. 9, for instance, Tyndall counted the sound bites from politicians, government spokespeople and experts commenting on the conflict on the U.S. networks' nightly news broadcasts: 15 were Israeli, 5 were from the United Nations, 1 was from the International Committee of the Red Cross, 1 was from Hamas and 1 was from the Palestinian Authority.

You may see footage from camera crews embedded with Israeli troops, but the voice you hear is of an official spokesman or a senior Israeli official, says Tyndall. And since only one or two Western reporters have been able to get into Gaza on their own, there is much less of the double-sided drama that attracted the anchors of the major American networks to cover the Lebanon War. With no American media stars to tell the story—with no American TV correspondents in Gaza at all, in fact—the Palestinians just don't get the play that the Lebanese did, and often the conflict doesn't make it onto the evening broadcasts. As the Western media run out of fresh perspectives on the Gaza fighting, the explosions and screams become just so much background noise.

In the print press, much of the coverage has been self-consciously same-old same-old, "here we go again." And this, too, works to Israel's advantage with Western audiences, whose indignation has a short attention span. In 2002, Israel's then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon explained the basic strategy of a stop-start invasion of Palestinian lands. At the time, he wanted to halt a horrific series of suicide bombings and to crush the Palestinian administration of the late Yasir Arafat. Sharon sent thousands of troops into territories known as "Area A" that had formerly been returned to the Palestinians under the peace agreements following the 1993 Oslo Accords, but he didn't retake them all at once. People "forget what things were like in the beginning," he told the daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot. "When we went 300 meters into Area A, the whole world was shocked." But after a while, Sharon boasted, "I got the whole world used to these incursions."

So it's not surprising that the Israeli government persists in preventing journalists from crossing into Gaza. The whole world has gotten used to it. The media strategy is working in the West, and especially with Western governments that continue to pass impotent resolutions calling for a truce. What really is not working, what really is counterproductive is the Israeli strategy as a whole. It rests on the notion of a military victory won with the power of an awesome arsenal—a victory meant to impress the Israeli public as much as Israel's enemies, and to win the respect of Washington as much as of Gaza City or Ramallah.

But for Hamas, Western hearts and minds are largely irrelevant. Hamas and its cheerleaders in Iran want the shocked sympathy and righteous anger of Arabs, Muslims and a whole vast array of formerly colonized peoples around the world who could not care less about what Brian Williams or Katie Couric, or for that matter The New York Times is telling them about the conflict. What matters to the target audience of Hamas is that its mystique of resistance continues to grow, fueled by the awesome power of the Palestinians' suffering. In the past such images have inspired protests around the globe, revolutions in the Arab world, and violent attacks against targets in Europe and the United States. Those will surely come again. Same-old same-old indeed.
URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/179627

Ken: Judging from your proposed speech President Obama could do no better than to engage you as a speechwriter, the sooner the better.

But I am disappointed in my correspondent ethan allen.
Presenting all Jews as a political monolith is foolish and a lie. The Biblical literalism you use as a device to condemn Jews betrays superstition and ignorance. You have shown yourself as such a good, honest and caring man previously, so I can't help but wonder who or what instigated your hate.

Like some hateful Jewish correspondents you have the opportunity to learn and change. Reading the archives shows how posters have moderated and apologized for errors on this blog. I believe your hot blood overleaped your better angels, and that you should carefully reconsider. It is a shrinking and diminishing world we face now, and the slighted neighbor has nowhere to flee.

Tonight we had a vigil for the Palestineans suffering in the Gaza Strip. Most of the people there were Muslim students at the Catholic university were I am a graduate student. The Jesuit priest who led the vigil works with Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans and told us that a hundred and twenty of these veterans commit suicide each week and we prayed for them, Muslims praying for American veterans so that they don't succumb to the temptation to commit suicide. Only the willfully ignorant do not know that Jews, Christians and Muslims all pray to the same God of Abraham. Why else have we fought each other for the possession of this same Holy Land for two thousand years? Since thirty per cent of the Palestinians are Christians why hasn't occured to more people that the Palestinians themselves are descended from Jews who at some point in history became Christians (probably after Constantine), many of whom in turn later became Muslims? There are not a few of us who have devoted our lives and academic careers to studying the origins and history of these three Abrahamic religions who strongly suspect this to be the final unspeakable irony of this conflict.

The speech that Obama unfortunately won't make:

My fellow Americans,

I have been working extensively on the economic challenges we currently face. However, we also have another critical challenge which we need to face immediately. That emergency is our Middle East policy.

As I mentioned throughout the presidential campaign, the American people need change. The economic turmoil from Wall Street to Main Street make that abundantly clear. From the sub-prime mortgage collapse to scandal on Wall Street, we see how America has greatly suffered from a focus on short term interests at the expense of our values and what we know is right. Some might even say that we were in denial of what we knew was too good to be true.

The same is true of our foreign policy. Immediately after 9/11 we had the greatest sympathy from the world. But now, after Abu-Ghraib, Guantanamo, the lack of WMDs found in Iraq and hundreds of thousands, if not over a million Iraqis killed in violent conflict since our invasion, many people throughout the world no longer view America as a moral leader. This is an extremely painful conclusion especially after we have lost more than 4,000 of our own service men and women in these efforts.

Unfortunately, the Israeli-Palestinian situation is similar. The increases in violence leading to Israel's ground troops moving into Gaza is disheartening. We have been Israel's greatest ally; they are the largest recipient of American foreign financial and military aid.

However, as with the economic situation, the denial we have had in our Middle East policy is coming home to roost. Clearly atrocities have been committed by all parties. Killing of women and children by anyone, anywhere is not something with which we want to be associated. In fact, if we are to regain our moral leadership in the world, we need to stand against the killing of civilians. Can we do it? Yes we can.

The situation in the Middle East is very complex and includes a long history. Nonetheless, we need to be absolutely sure that we are not siding with our allies because they are our allies but because their actions reflect our values. If we are to regain our moral leadership, what we do and stand for today is more important than history. As Hillary Clinton stated in her Secretary of State confirmation hearings, “America must be an exemplar of our values. ... our nation must lead by example rather than edict.”

Yet the world sees that we support and provide weapons for Israel to limit the freedom of Palestinians through its occupation and blockade. The world has also seen how we did not support the election results of the Palestinians and instead of celebrating democracy we imposed sanctions and encouraged others to join us. It's not that there may have been good reasons for some of these decisions. Nonetheless, we must look ourselves in the mirror and ask what values we stand for.

Our own history has parts for which we are not proud, many groups were not given rights or treated as our own, from Native and African Americans to Chinese and Japanese Americans. But what makes America great is our ability to fix what is wrong and make it right. Can we regain our moral leadership in the world? Yes we can.

Can't we wait until after inauguration? The reason I sound the alarm today is because by not acting and voicing my concern NOW, I would be supporting the killing day after day of mostly innocent civilians with our weapons and under our implied authorization.

But what will it take to do so? The first step is to acknowledge what is wrong. We have to face the reality that we have been so focused on our interests that we have lost our values when dealing with other countries and peoples. It has become so obvious that the whole world knows it except us. It is no wonder that on a regular basis the U.N. General Assembly votes on a resolution related to the occupation and over a hundred countries vote against us. The slightly more than a handful regularly vote with us; they are Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau.

We have been standing by Israel's demands that Hamas cease importing weapons into Gaza and recognize Israel's right to exist. Yet to the Arab world this is terrorism and completely unreasonable since after 60 years, Israel has yet to recognize Palestine and instead of a similar Israeli arms restriction we provide them with much of the latest in military hardware. We not only won't win the war on terror if we maintain these double standards but we will continue to fuel the fire of anger, hate and revenge.

We have truly lost our credibility in the world, but especially in the Middle East. For example, we stated that one of the reasons we were invading Iraq was to bring democracy to the Middle East. Yet Arabs and Persians know that we don't consistently support democracy. In the 1950s we were instrumental in overthrowing a democratically elected government in Iran and helped install the Shah. We are a strong ally of Saudi Arabia, a kingdom. However, the most egregious in many minds is our support of Israel in the Occupied Territories. Unlike Saudi Arabia which has never even implied it was a democracy, we have stood by the claims that Israel is one. And technically it is. But that is because a large percentage of the population who were born and have lived their whole lives under Israeli law and control are not granted citizenship. If they were granted Israeli citizenship then Arabs would be a majority in Israel and Israel would not be a Jewish state. So when Arabs hear us talking about democracy, they don't believe us because our actions do not support our claims.

Israel just celebrated its 60th anniversary. As a state, it was created with the intent of providing a safe place for Jews to live after the Holocaust in Europe. The Western Powers took the land from the Arabs, who had nothing to do with the Holocaust, and gave it to the Jews.

However, even after 60 years, it is not proving to be a safe place for Jews or Palestinians. The Hamas rockets being fired deeper into Israel and Israeli troops back in Gaza make that clear. If we are to be the moral leader in the world then we need to take a stand for peace in the Middle East. And if we are to take a stand for peace in the Middle East, then we need to start with our greatest ally in the area, Israel. Although many supporters of Israel may think I am acting against Israel; I am not. I do not believe that Israel can continue to be safe while subjugating millions of Palestinians; I would rather the change happen peacefully for all than it escalate to become an even larger conflict.

Many American presidents have tried brokering peace before but peace has yet to be attained. This seems like a potentially impossible task, but do I think we can accomplish this task. Yes we can. Not only can we; we have to. If we don't, all our efforts at fighting terrorism are in vain. All our desires to be leaders for change in the world are in vain. If we do not take a stand for equal rights among all peoples including those in Israel and its Occupied Territories, and the immediate cessation of aggression towards an occupied people, then we don't stand for justice. Abraham Lincoln said it so clearly in his Gettysburg address, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

In 1948 and 1949 we stood for freedom and democracy when West Berlin was held in a siege. We airlifted food and supplies for almost a year until the siege was lifted. Today we are faced with a similar situation, where a population is held under siege and its rights violated, its borders locked down and only occasional humanitarian supplies are allowed in. Meanwhile there have been over a thousand dead including hundreds of women and children. The difference is this time our military might is being used to attack the civilians rather than to protect them.

We have had plenty of warning about the injustices of Israel's occupation by courageous and honorable men. President Jimmy Carter, whose life is clearly dedicated to peace and human rights, wrote a book entitled: 'Palestine: Peace not Apartheid'. He was widely criticized for using the word 'Apartheid' even though the segregation in the Occupied Territories is extreme. Reverend Desmond Tutu, another Nobel Peace prize winner, also described the occupied territories as Apartheid; he knows what Apartheid is. Yet despite these warnings, we did not change.

More recently Cardinal Renato Martino, the president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, described Gaza as a concentration camp. The Auschwitz concentration camp has a sign at the entrance that says, “Arbeit macht frei” (Work brings freedom). Yet work or no work in fact brought death to Holocaust victims. Palestinians, and Gazans in particular, were similarly told peace brings freedom and a Palestinian state. Yet, every year the Palestinian West Bank gets smaller as Israel takes land from the Palestinians and builds more of its settlements. The recently ended cease fire agreement was supposed to have eased border restrictions in exchange for the stopping of rockets; however, Israel left the borders closed. Gazans, who have been in what has been called by many the largest prison in the world, cannot freely come and go or even get the food they need. Israel controls their borders, their air space, their sea access, their supply of food, electricity and water. We need change.

Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, stated when accepting the Nobel Peace prize: “Poverty is a threat to peace.” He further stated in his acceptance speech for the 2006 prize that “I believe terrorism cannot be defeated by military action.” “We must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all times to come.” “Poverty is the denial of all human rights.” “Peace is threatened by an unjust economic, social and political order, absent of democracy, environmental degradation and absence of human rights.” “For building stable peace we must find ways to provide opportunities for people to live decent lives.” Can we do it in the Middle East? Yes we can.

This is what I believe America stands for. This is the change in foreign policy that we need to regain our leadership, to truly weaken terrorism and to bring peace to all people in the Middle East. The only solution I see is the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops and military bombardment in Gaza, a similar cessation of attacks by Hamas, the opening of the borders and sea access around Gaza and resupply of humanitarian food and medical assistance. Anything else is a threat to peace in the region and something for which America will not stand.

Good night and God bless America and all people in Israel and the Occupied Territories.

Judaism in its Finest Hour

Mark Glenn – The Ugly Truth January 15, 2009

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are to possess and casts out the many peoples living there, you shall then slaughter them all and utterly destroy them…You shall make no agreements with them nor show them any mercy…You shall destroy their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people unto the LORD thy God and He has chosen you to be a special people above all others upon the face of the earth…”
–Book of Deuteronomy, 7:1-8

The aerial assault on Gaza thus far resulting in several hundred deaths and close to a thousand casualties (much of which will result in even more deaths) must–if it is to be understood correctly–be placed within the historical context of the religious ideas expounded by Judaism since its inception and which today constitute the philosophical lifeblood of the state of Israel.

It is an increasingly popular fad these days amongst those taking the moral high road against Israel’s 60 year-long orgy of violence and bloodshed against the indigenous Semites of Palestine, Lebanon and other surrounding areas to erect a separation wall between “Zionism” as a violent, racist political movement and “Judaism” as a “holy religion” devoted to the worship of God. Such arguments, whether made by groups such as Neturei Karta or “Rabbis For Human Rights” or whoever maintain that the two ideologies are as different from each other as the lion is to the lamb. Some go so far as to refer to Herzl, the founding father of Zionism as a “heretic” who abandoned the “godliness” of Judaism in favor of a secular, Marxist ideology responsible for creating the modern Jewish state.

However, despite some very impressive arguments made by prominent individuals and groups in trying to paint this picture the fact is that the aforementioned argument is as real as any other fantasy created by Jewish Hollywood that defies the laws of reason or reality. Modern day Zionism and Judaism are synonymous, and it has been the fundamental misunderstanding of this fact that has brought the situation to where it is today, both in the Holy Land and in the present “Clash of Civilizations” between the West and the Islamic world.

Judaism is based upon the Old Testament, and in particular, the first five books that constitute “The Law”, referred to as “The Torah”. As many undoubtedly remember from their Sunday school classes, it begins with the story of creation, the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark and other seemingly harmless tales of persons and events.

The point at which it transforms into the creature responsible for so much of today’s mayhem is when Abraham, a landless, penniless nomad living in modern day Iraq, begins hearing voices in his head telling him he has been favored by a God named Yahweh who than promises him a future of wealth, land, power and superiority over all other persons, encapsulating this idea with “I will bless those who bless thee and curse those who curse thee”. Shortly thereafter, he again hears voices in his head telling him to engage in the barbarity of human sacrifice by killing his own son Isaac in worshipping this God named Yahweh. With knife at the throat of his son and a mere few seconds away from becoming a murderer, he is then prevented from doing so by an angel, and some 3 generations later, his descendents (made up by 12 tribes) come to be known as “Israelites”.

Not long afterwards an Israelite named Moses also begins hearing voices from this same god, telling him to rescue the Israelites being “oppressed and persecuted” by the Egyptians. After a series of plagues brought against the oppressors–seemingly a fulfillment of Yahweh’s promise to “Curse those who curse” the descendents of Abraham, Moses–again, under the direction of the voices he is hearing–orders the Israelites to steal all the gold and silver of Egypt and to follow him to the land “promised” them by Yahweh residing between the two great rivers, the Nile and the Euphrates. Before entering this land however, Moses instructs the Israelites that they are to kill all the inhabitants, man, woman and child–”infant and suckling” and to rob them of all their possessions. An extermination campaign is mounted, in effect a “holocaust” of the Semitic peoples in the promised land, left unfinished by Moses but taken up again by his protégé Joshua and other subsequent leaders such as Saul and David.

By the time all is said and done, 31 cities inhabited by non-Israelite peoples–including but not limited to the Midianites, Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Hivites–have been completely destroyed. The only non-Israelites allowed to remain alive are young girls “who have never slept with man” who then become concubines for the Israelites as well as those adults who resign themselves to live as “carriers of water and hewers of wood”–in effect, slaves for God’s chosen people.

So in other words, Zionism–the idea that the “Chosen people” were promised the land encompassing modern day Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and elsewhere and were given the commandment to expel, murder and enslave the peoples and civilizations already there got its start with Abraham and was later put into practice by Moses and those who came after him. By definition then, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Saul, David and all the other “Patriarchs” (the George Washingtons, Thomas Jeffersons and John Adams of “Israel”) were Zionists.

Putting this into context, any other person or group of persons claiming to have received divine messages from some “higher power” telling them they were superior creatures and commanding them to invade, slaughter, enslave and rob other peoples not like them would–rightly–be branded criminally insane, delusional, fanatical and locked away for life. As it is today though, this situation is not categorized as such. Rather, it has been made into a “holy” religion that guides the actions of a nuclear-armed nation.

As all who understand the situation in Palestine can attest, the moment the Jews made their “exodus” from the various lands they previously inhabited and returned to “redeem and make clean” the Promised land, they have repeated the very same process of killing, expelling and enslaving today’s version of the ancient Midianites, Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Hivites, etc of Moses’ heyday. NOTHING HAS CHANGED. The Jews of today are in effect trying to implement 21st century BC ideas in a 21st century AD world with results no different than what took place as recounted in the Old Testament. It is this history that forms the foundation of their existence as a people and now as a nuclear-armed, messianic nation. The only difference between the Israelites of old and those of today is that when today’s Israelites “smite” the non-Israelite inhabitants living in close proximity to them they do not hack them to pieces with the edge of a sword or an axe but rather blow them to pieces with hellfire missiles, Apache attack helicopters and one-ton bombs made in the USA.

This being the case, it only stands to reason then that massacres such as what took place 2 days after Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ occur. Just as Christians go to church on Sundays and Muslims to mosque on Fridays to commemorate the persons and circumstances of their respective faiths, so too must the Jews engage in the same type of holy war against the non-Israelite peoples living in or near their “promised land” as a means of “keeping holy the Lord’s day”. This genocide against civilians is the glue that holds them together as a people and prevents what is an already organically-fractured nation from disintegrating from within. The fact that this latest massacre took place during the religious festival of Hanukkah, (the festival of lights) where the Jews celebrate the “temple” being rescued and redeemed from the Assyrians over 2,000 years ago lends even more credence to the notion that for them it is all about religion and has nothing to do with the stated justifications of “security”. That the Gazans were starved for months upon months prior to this recent holocaust is yet one more manifestation of this religious mindset, and in particular the commandment to “Cut down the groves” of the non-Israelites living in the promised land.

A recent case (covered by Palestinian journalist Khalid Ameyreh) taking place in Israel just prior to the Gaza massacre adds even more proof to this idea encompassing the theme of “Judaism VS the world”. Said case involves one Daniela Weise, a rabidly anti-Gentile “Israelite” who regularly quotes from the Old Testament, telling hundreds of Jewish fanatics it is a mitzvah (religious commandment) to attack Arabs and murder them because “their lives have no sanctity and their property belongs to us” and adding that “The Bible shows us the way we should be dealing with the Arabs. The Bible can’t be wrong“. In another similar case, an American tourist in Israel recently engaged in a discussion with a Jew where the following exchange took place–

Israeli Jew–“You are a Christian, aren’t you?”

American–“Yes”

Israeli Jew–“Do you believe in the Bible?”

American–“Yes”

Israeli Jew–“Well then, you know God ordered the ancient Israelites to wipe off the goyim (gentiles) from the holy land of Israel. If that was right then, why can’t it be right now?”

As all are told (and have been on a daily basis now for the last century) Israel is not like other nations. Both secular and religious leaders have gone to great lengths in trying to sell the idea that the Jewish state is the “embodiment of God’s word” on earth. As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once quipped Israel is “The fulfillment of a promise made by God Himself…It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy.”

What all of this means in the final analysis is that as long as Israel (a nation founded on the Old Testament tales of genocide, rape, pillage, expulsion and enslavement of “the other”) exists, massacres such as the one taking place against the Palestinians in Gaza will be a regular occurrence, just as they have been throughout the last 60 years. Having been nursed on the poisoned milk of tribal supremacism first envisioned by a greedy, covetous, ambitious nomad hearing voices in his head complimenting his own delusions of grandeur and later adopted by the great “Patriarchs” manifested in violence and bloodshed of innocents as extolled in the religion known as Judaism means that the Jewish state MUST engage in these acts as a means of paying homage to the deity Yahweh.

Although 2,000 years too late, it is imperative now more than ever that the world come to grips with these facts, and until it does that “great day of reckoning” commonly referred to as Armageddon will continue to barrel towards civilization like an out-of-control freight train. The curing of any disease begins with isolating the cause, and in the case of the present circumstance involving the Jewish state being at war with the entire world (and more specifically against the Arabs in Palestine) it is the recognition of the “I will bless those who bless thee and curse those who curse thee” mindset coupled with the justification of genocide and enslavement of “the other” that threatens all life on earth.

Anyone needing proof of this should simply visit some of the photos of the most recent massacre taking place against the Palestinians–Christian and Muslim alike–who are and have been sacrificed now for the last 60 years upon the altar of twisted Judaistic thinking. This most recent massacre taking place during the Jewish “festival of lights”, where Gaza was “lighted up” with balls of fire after 200,000 lbs of high-explosives were dropped on schoolchildren is proof positive that Israel is not a nation of people devoted to a righteous, loving God, but rather a civilization of vampires making up the caricature of the beast described in the Book of Revelation that threatens all life on earth. And unless the rest of the world comes to this “revelation”, they too will soon find themselves in the same place as those today being exterminated in the interests of appeasing the “God” of the Jews.

(c) 2008 Mark Glenn

Correspondent, American Free Press Newspaper
http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/the-hanukah-massacre-on-gaza-judaism-in-its-finest-hour/

Jerome, do you really think that Moyers literally thinks that anyone can be “genetically coded”? He used a metaphor which was preceded and followed by facts.

I understand your dire situation, but your government is pushing others away, just like Bush has done.

If you think Moyers is an anti-Semite, then please tell me what you think of this guy. Except for the metaphor, he basically says the same thing about the current state of affairs. http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/daily-show-strip-maul

And by the way, I still think this skirmish is a distraction from the economy.

10 jews = 1000 arabs = 100,000 jews, ..., the end.

UN outraged after Israel shells its aid compound:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/15/mideast/mideast.php

I am Jewish and am astounded that people are calling Bill Moyers anti-Semitic. Since when does criticism of violence against innocent people qualify someone as an anti-Semite? This indiscriminate violence is doing Israel more harm than good because it is breeding more terrorists. Have we forgotten the basis of our morality--Do not unto others what you would not want done unto yourself?
Dr. Florence

Many years ago Mr. Moyers did a program on Pub Tv on the bible. He then also demonstrated his anti- semitic sentiments by stressing elements which he deemed to show the virulence of the old testament.
If nothing else he is persistent....

Bravo, Bill. I saw your essay. Typically on, goring sacred cows, which upsets the status quo & powers that be. Israel is not, and cannot, be immune to criticism simply because it's Israel, any more than we can as the U.S.

I believe Bill Moyers is genetically encoded to be an anti-Semite.
You are disgusting.

I want to tell the world
http://palestinian.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1970466%3ABlogPost%3A21449

What's disproportionate is the coverage of this issue. Lebanon totally destroyed the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in 2007 and no-one cared although it took 3 months.
Between Christmas and New Year 2008, Rwandan rebels murdered 400 Congolese civilians. No-one even knows.
That does not mean Israel is automatically exonerated but it does mean that the media is an incompetent and biased judge. Moyers, I mean you. You are intellectually offensive.

David,
I am no fan of the Saudis or of President Bush either but I am afraid you miss the point entirely. Rather than dreaming up (or in this case, exaggerating) nefarious conspiracies of leadership we all need to understand that there is a right and a wrong side in this dispute.

My problem with Mr. Moyers is that he is willing to place the (ridiculous) blood-libel curse of genetic violence on the Israelis in order to preserve his soothing fantasy that if the Israelis were just nice enough this whole thing would go away.

Sorry, it is the CULTURE of Caliphate Islam that is the problem. No Israeli concessions will change that and making believe that there is some sort of lurid, genetic defect at work is foolish, destructive and racist. The good news is that the Arabs and the Jews are not genetically disposed to mayhem. The bad news is that now you and Mr. Moyers have to face the hard fact that until the caliphate culture is DEFEATED there can be no peace. If the Arabs lay down their weapons today there would be peace- If the Israelis lay down their weapons today there would be another holocaust.

British MP: Israel exploiting Holocaust

Jewish lawmaker says gentiles' guilt providing Israeli government with excuse to murder Palestinians
Associated Press

A British lawmaker declared Thursday that Israel was taking advantage of the guilt many non-Jews feel over the Holocaust to ruthlessly press ahead with its offensive in Gaza.

Gerald Kaufman, a governing Labour Party legislator, sharply criticized Israel in a House of Commons debate on Gaza, arguing that the Jewish state has exploited guilt that much of the world feels for having ignored the slaughter of millions of Jews during World War II.

"The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from Gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians," he said.

The offensive started in response to Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli cities. Medical officials in Gaza say about 1,100 Palestinians have been killed since the offensive started.

Kaufman, a frequent critic of Israel who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, commented on the claim that large numbers of the Palestinian victims were militants.

"I suppose the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw ghetto could have been dismissed as militants," he said.

Kaufman urged the British government to impose an arms embargo on Israel.

"My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town. ... A German soldier shot her dead in her bed," he said. "My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza."

Jerome, Annie, Daniel and Gilbert, here’s what Moyers said about "genetically coded":

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.

Your beef is not with Moyers, it should be with your own government for not going after the government, the House of Saud, which has been funding the PLO, Hamas and Hezbollah.

After 9/11, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld invaded Afghanistan and Iraq even though the terrorists were from Saudi Arabia and had been funded by Saudi Arabia (just ask Jonathan Bush and Riggs Bank). And, now India has been provoked by Pakistani terrorists (Saudi funded) and the Israel government has chosen to fight with Hamas (Saudi funded), meanwhile Saudi Arabia just sits back and watches with glee.

Come on folks, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist, wake up and smell Geo-con coffee.

God bless the Israelis, the Shi’a and the poor Sunnis who happen to live amongst you, because the Saudis have declared your land as their battle field and you as expendable.

Now with these perfectly timed war distractions out of the way, can we get back to talking about how the Saudis paid the Bush’s to destroy the U.S. economy?

To: Bill Moyers
As a former student of Professor Burt Visotsky, with whom you presented a wonderful program on "Genesis," I have always had a high level of respect for your erudition and your character--until I realized that the anti-Semitic streak was not far below the surface in you either.
Do you truly believe that genetic claptrap which you presented, that "God-soaked violence became genetically coded?"
Because if you don't, then you are hypocritically pandering to anti-Semites, and if you do, then you clearly are one yourself!
Either way, does you no credit.
Neither does your ridiculous equating of ancient Israel of 4000 years ago with modern Jews and Israel. Because ancient Britain was a war-soaked, violent place, does that mean that all modern English people are violent savages?
You really should be ashamed of yourself.
Sincerely yours,
Marion Shulevitz

Mr. Moyers,

What the Bible says is not "thou shalt not kill" but "thou shalt not murder." There is a huge difference.

Jewish teaching also says that if you know people are coming to murder you, you have the right, and often a duty, to attack them first.

Finishing your comparative religion lesson, Moses was commanded to destroy the altars in the Holy Land was given for a very good reason- the altars were used for human and child sacrifice. It was the accepted norm in the land at that time; the commandment recognized the psychological power and evil of such places. Destroying the altars would effectively put an end to the very culture of human sacrifice.

This Old Testament commandment was the first great blow against human sacrifice which is now all but non-existent because all modern religious and legal systems have followed Judaism's ban of the practice.

If Mr. Moyers thinks humanity is somehow the poorer for the loss, he can use a Moyer family member to sacrifice. But, Mr. Moyer, don't presume to lecture the Jewish people on what our ancient teachings mean and what is in our DNA.

Sincerely,

Gilbert Borman

Israeli forces shell UN headquarters in Gaza

By IBRAHIM BARZAK and AMY TEIBEL – 1 hour ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, engulfing the compound and a warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD95NLG8G0

Mr. Moyers is certainly free to criticize Israel's conduct of the war; Israelis themselves do that all the time (unlike the Gazans who are anything but free to criticize Hamas and its policy of genocide towards Jews). But he has crossed a line in suggesting that a tendency to violence is "genetically encoded" in any group. That cannot be understood as anything other than prejudice. Maybe those folks in Washington, and other folks around America, know something Mr. Moyers does not.

Dear Mr. Moyers:
I am Jewish and I never, never want to kill anyone. I was born in an Arab country where people of all races and religions lived in peace - until Israel was attacked during the 6 day war. My DNA is fine. Your comment about DNA of Jews being prone to violence reminds me of the comments of another "holier-than-thou" critic of Israel, Jimmy Carter. Both of you should examine your motives, which come from the strain of Christian based antisemitism that gave rise to the Inquisition and to the Holocaust. You should check your own DNA. It could be possible that there is a genetic condition in those who consider themselves religious - both Christian and Islamic - who are prone to vile, antisemitic feelings. Shame on you.

Mr. Moyers

The similarity between alleging that Jews have a genetic disposition to be violent and saying that black people genetically like fried chicken and watermelon is not just that they both have a kernel of truth in as much as all human beings have a propensity for violence and all humans likewise have a liking for sweet melons and fried chicken.

The real similarity lies in the unconscious but pervasive prejudice that blinds the speaker to his own impulse to use such a statement to demean and impugn Jews or people of color. Mr. Moyers, whose work I have admired in the past, has given us a glimpse into a very ugly (and, I might add, mistaken) emotion that he harbors toward the Jewish people.

Note to Mr. Moyers: You sir, are a mere journalist. You are way beyond the purview and expertise level when you read a short excerpt from a three thousand year old book, ignore all of the subsequent commentary of three millennia of gentle and wise sages and use the evidence you select to place this blood-libel on the heads of an innocent people- a people that has, even in the face of an enemy that is dedicated to the annihilation of all Jews, practiced the most restrained and "civilian respecting" military policy in the history of mankind.

I can think of nothing that makes what you have done in this instance any better or less damning than any of the other blood-libels visited on us by the worst hate-mongers.

Shame.

Correct Mr. Weisberger!!!!

I would suggest, rather beg, that anyone or any group that has any influence upon the Israeli government lobby now for cessation of the attack on the Gaza Strip Reservation Camp. Today the IDF have hit the UN Headquarters with phosphorous bombs, refugees and personnel are killed, wounded or fled. I hate to imagine it. The fuel tanks are about to explode. Phosphorous burns are some of the worst injuries ever treated. These, along with DIME warheads should be outlawed. DIME, once intended as strike localizing devices, have proven to amputate limbs and sever bodies up to 200 yards, which is hardly precise. The worst thing is the pulverized tungsten (inert metal) they broadcast. It has been shown medically that anyone wounded by this material will probably develop fatal cancer. If that is not extermination I would hate to imagine anything crueler. How can anyone who has supported the runaway and excessive outlaw government of Israel not now be ashamed. How can the citizens of Israel not know better? I regret that I was so long deceived by American media. You can't fool me, a peace solution of some sort is possible now. Now, I say!

14 January 2009

It is astonishing and frankly outrageous to me that Bill Moyers should be accused of anti-Semitism for his essay on the sufferings of the civilians in Gaza, in which he specifically displayed the funeral of a Jewish victim of rocket attacks and clearly acknowledged the intentions of Hamas to destroy Israel. His opinion, which I share along with large but hitherto silent numbers of other American Jews, is that neither of those justify the infliction, by bomb and blockade, of death, wounds, hunger, sickness and intolerable misery on the entire helpless people of Gaza, children included.

It is, I regret to say, a knee-jerk reaction of far too many self-described defenders of Israel to launch the charge of anti-Semitism against anyone who dares to criticize actions and policies of the Israeli government, even when the criticism is clearly not directed against the Israeli people, against Judaism itself or Jews in general. Those who do so are either seriously misguided, or so blinded by bias that they are beyond reasonable discourse and recognition that genuine friends of Israel do far more good by honest criticism than slavish acquiescence in whatever Jerusalem decides.

This is in part a personal matter with me. I have been a friend and sometimes collaborator of Mr. Moyers for twenty-eight years. I am furious at the mere fact of this spurious and meritless accusation having been injected into this discussion forum. So , I suspect and hope, will be any one who has followed Moyers' incisive, respectful and open-minded explorations of public issues, and especially of religious questions, over many years--particularly the Jewish clergymen and scholars who have taken part in them. Even some of the postings that repeat the canard begin by the writers' admission that they have admired Bill Moyers' work up to the moment of this apparently unforgivable sin of looking honestly at the "facts on the ground" this past two weeks. I suggest to them an equally honest examination of their prejudices.

Bernard A Weisberger

In the final analysis, those that wish to protect Israeli lives must protect the lives of others. Those that want to protect Palestinian lives must protect the lives of others. Unfortunately, the main focus of political and military leaders of Israel and Palestine is on how to impose their will on their own people and others through force. Sadly, those that are powerless are pawns. Shame on Israeli leaders. Shame on AIPAC. Shame on Palestinian leaders. Shame on Congress. Shame on Bush and shame on Obama.

Martin Luther King would never allow a lack of courage to soak his hands in blood. We need leaders of people hold our hearts and touch the earth.

For me you are a national treasure; your show is indispensable and courageous; the best in in American journalism....I'm so glad you dared to speak out on the catastrophe that Israel has created in Gaza--a massive, extraordinary war crime--but you undercut it with uninformed dismissal of Hamas as seeking the destruction of Israel, wiping it off the map, etc.... There's plenty of inflammatory rhetoric from both Israel and Hamas, sure, but Hamas isn't stupid. It knows very well that Israel isn't going away and that it will have to deal with that reality. The hamas leadership,Khaled Mashaad and Prime Minister Haniyeh, have both indicated willingness to accept a two-state solution if Israel withdraws from the occupied territories. I don't think this is the answer; it's too late, with Israeli roads and settlements everywhere and Israeli contol of border, air, and sea, an "independent state" would be anything but that. Only a binational, unitary, secular democratic state in all of Palestine has a chance to unite the people of the Levant in peace. But the sad thing is that in spite of your kindly and compassionate self, by your uninformed trashing of Hamas you've demonized and dehumanized the people of Gaza and made it easier to see them as "the other" and thus easier to be collectively punished and to be killed. That's, I'm sure, an unintended consequence, but there it is, and it's a damn shame. Those of us who are in the "enabler state" which arms and covers for Israel need to step back from the various actors in the conflict, stop enabling Israel, and work to heal the region. Send doctors, educators, food and supplies, not bombs and U.N. vetoes....

Dear Mr. Moyers,
I watch and very much appreciate your show. Your editorial last week surprised me. I am very interested in what you think Isreal should do about the attacks from Gaza?

Dear Mr. Moyers:

I usually respect your commentaries but this was a surprising exception. I do agree that the death of any innocent person is tragic although Hamas does not agree about that and is willing to put their only people in harms way to deliberately aquire a favorable world opinion. No civilized society places weapons in schools and hospitals. When Hamas does so it to put Israel in a difficult position since it forces Israel to attack the sources of the weapons. By doing so, Hamas has successfully manipulated you and others against Israel and your statements condone and encourage this practice.
Personally, I am not against Palestians and feels very sympathetic that they have no control over their situation since they had no choice but to elect a corrupt government or or a terrorist government. Furthermore, by closing the border and having a sercurity fence suicide bombers are no longer getting into Israel which Hamas encourages.

No one asks Hamas what their definition of "occupied territory" is when they throw rockets into Israel.

Sincerely,
Lorraine Slaff

Relief Boats to Gaza in danger: See ethan allen below.

ethan- I've watched all of NOW, and I never heard anything as strong as Bill's recent pronouncement on Gaza.
No one can shut him (or you) up if a majority of informed people support his humanitarian editorials. Things are changing and the day is coming. I don't think this blog is that well monitored, but I do wish Bill would have a live web chat monthly like Diane Rehm. (Not that she is as progressive. She is celebrity and status struck like a lesser Barbara Walters.) Who's your favorite talk show host, Ethan, besides Bill or David/Maria. I'm right in there with you in preventing a war with Iran and saving the relief boat from Israeli attack. I'm sticking by what I told Moyers. Good people don't have to completely agree on everything. We can appreciate honesty above opinion and forge practical plans (as long as the elite don't pre-empt).

Dear Bill Moyers:
The Journal is the TV event of the week in my home. Last Friday's show was a good example as to why. While other news and commentary have been fixated on the politics of "The Transition", you are still dealing with real world issues. I was disappointed to read many of the commentaries posted above. Without taking sides, your courageous commentary points to the needless violence on both sides. Here's another situation that never gets "resolved", with obscure roots, and hardened current positions. Right now, it doesn't look like "change" will reach into this territory with any real consequences. It is depressing. Your evident emotions are appropriate.

Bob A

P.S. I realize the machines are not supposed to be able to read the "two words" below, but neither can I. I keep trying to post ... perhaps I am a machine?

Breaking - Jan 13

There are two humanitarian boats headed to Gaza. One is being sent by Iran but this one below is not the same one. It is sponsored by the Free Gaza organization. The same one that Cynthia Mckinny was a part of. They are sending another one now. And Iran is also sending one. The Free Gaza one below is in dire need of help!

Israel says it will attack it. Also Iran has said that they will be sending theirs through international waters only not Israeli waters. Iran says if its boat is attacked it will see this as an act of war on Israel's part. This situation is totally out of hand now and is a huge global crisis. We must act with out delay. Get in contact with all your state and government reps and tell them to stop Israel from attacking these boats and stop attacking Gaza!

THE "SPIRIT OF HUMANITY" IS AT SEA, HEADING TO GAZA. ISRAEL SAYS IT WILL USE "ALL AVAILABLE MEANS" TO STOP IT.

On Dec. 30, Israeli gunboats rammed, disabled and nearly sank our last boat "Dignity" in international waters. Thanks to the heroic efforts of our many supporters, we were able to get another, larger boat, which has already left Larnaca for Gaza despite Israeli threats. The boat is carrying urgently needed medical personnel and supplies, members of several European parliaments and journalists, all of whom have been prevented by Israel from entering Gaza. The delegation leader is human rights lawyer Huwaida Arraf of Michigan. A complete passenger list is at www.freegaza.org.

PLEASE CALL your Senators and Representative and tell them to demand that ISRAEL MUST NOT ATTACK THIS BOAT! Tell them to DO IT NOW!!

Everyone knows that this boat is not a security risk to anyone, and only trying to help the Palestinian people of Gaza in their great hour of need. We must insist that Israel respect all civilian lives, both on the boat to Gaza and more importantly in Gaza as well. IT IS A WAR CRIME TO ATTACK A CIVILIAN TARGET AND ALL MILITARY ACTIVITIES ARE REQUIRED TO PERMIT THE ENTRY OF HUMANITARIAN MEDICAL AND RELIEF SUPPLIES.

Here is where to find the telephone number of your Representative and Senators:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/mcapdir.html

AFTER YOU MAKE THOSE CALLS, DO THE FOLLOWING:

CALL the Israeli Embassy in Washington at Tel: 202-364-5500 and tell them the same thing.

ALSO CALL
Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it. mark.rege

Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod. media

Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy:
+ 972 5 781 86248

Irene - you said:
"Next, air your doubts about corporate capitalism and the 9/11 investigation. Criticize Obama and tame the money. I predict you'd be better respected than ever, if you'd only be bolder. You are strong enough with the people behind you to roll away the stone from the tomb of Integrity. Easter and Spring are inevitably coming for people like us."
...........................
I have heard Mr. Moyers speak out on such topics - that's why they threw him off the NOW program.

PBS is rife with zionists and corporate moneymen who would love any excuse to silence him permanently.

I do wish he would have a website unrelated to any media controllers so we could hear his wisdom uncensored.

Wonderful plea for peace. Thanks, Bill.

thanks bill,
we need your support for the palestinians, and someone needs to publish what benjamin franklin said about the jewish when he was warning our new american leadership about running this country. the jews have tried to say it is not a true document, but it is fact and can be documented.
paula

How much restraint should a bully take before they defend themselves? The provication is usually ignored but the retaliation is always horrifically overplayed. Why not ask- "Why does Hamas PROVOKE then HIDE behind women and children."

I would like to watch the entire cast, but as I cannot afford the latest technology nor the bandwidth, it would be nice to have a text summary.

I thank the people in the March of the Dead for being where I could not, even had I known about the event in advance.

Thank you, Bill Moyers, for your continuing intellectual honesty.

As another poster says, nothing justifies this level of response from Israel.

Why did you wait so long to speak up. Bill Moyers? See, it didn't turn out so badly. The libations have totally diluted the vinegar. Next, air your doubts about corporate capitalism and the 9/11 investigation. Criticize Obama and tame the money. I predict you'd be better respected than ever, if you'd only be bolder. You are strong enough with the people behind you to roll away the stone from the tomb of Integrity. Easter and Spring are inevitably coming for people like us.

Most of you are either blind or too ignorant to admit that the state israel was founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of Palestinians from their land. its a state that even now engages in ethnic cleansing, that violates international law, that is inflicting a monstrous collective inhumane punishment on the civilian population of Gaza and that continues to deny to Palestinians their human rights and national aspirations.

In April 1948, the same month as the infamous massacre at Deir Yassin and the mortar attack on Palestinian civilians in Haifa's market square, Plan Dalet was put into operation. This authorised the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expulsion of the indigenous population outside the borders of the state.

In July 1948, 70,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in Lydda and Ramleh in the heat of the summer with no food or water. Hundreds died. It was known as the Death March.
In all, 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. Some 400 villages were wiped off the map. That did not end the ethnic cleansing. Thousands of Palestinians (Israeli citizens) were expelled from the Galilee in 1956. Many thousands more when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Under international law and sanctioned by UN resolution 194, refugees from war have a right to return or compensation. Israel has never accepted that right.

It is amazing that many of you are crying foul for one comment made by Bill Moyers when for the past sixty plus years your side has lead a propaganda and smear war of distortion. the true victim of the holocaust are the Palestinians whom have been killed and lost their land because the west would rather see us the Palestinians suffer rather than them paying for their crime

Hahhmoud Ahmad
Son of Yaffa
Palerstine

Thank you so much for once again speaking with the voice of reason about the issue of violence in the Middle East. Also, thank you for featuring the protest group at the beginning of the piece. Too little attention is paid to the message of those who object to government actions on a moral basis and respect for life.

The suffering being endured in the middle east will not be relieved by more violence and more weapons. I fear that, again, as in the past, the war profiteers are at work. Who really benefits in any meaningful way from this protracted bombardment of civilians?

I support Israel. But I think those who call Moyers' remarks anti-Semitic need to go back to 5:10 of his talk, where he says "genetically coded," and check out WHO he's referring to! The immediate prior text was 2000 years old from Moses; the immediate next image shows radical Islamists. And he also says Hamas's goal is to kill every Jew (which may even be overstatement, given that Hamas increasingly draws moderates in). He's clearly saying that both sides - both descended as he had already noted from Abraham - each encode into their succeeding generations a violent ethic. (I can't believe that Moyers, or anyone, thinks the DNA gets altered.) And we must also listen at 7:00, where he says why both sides are equally to blame.

You can call those statements anti-Semitic if you believe that almost any tactic is OK when used by Jews. You can call those statements anti-Muslim if you believe that almost any tactic is OK when used by Palestinians. But either way, you lose credibility, and eventually sympathy, with everyone else. I myself can't support the current indiscriminate killings if done by anyone.

I personally think it's a crying shame that few if any of the letters-to-the-editor anywhere that support Israel are written by people with obviously non-Jewish names anymore. Israel needs security, and it is losing credibility in its own region, so it needs non-Jewish allies in the US more than ever.

If you disagree with Moyers, than please watch this:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/daily-show-strip-maul

Peres = Bush

As a constant proponent of "good" in the battle with "evil," I am saddened and feel betrayed at your January 9th support of the Palestinians in the most recent "hot" war with the Israelis. For how long would you wait to respond when a people at your border who have vowed to annihilate you and your countrymen continue to shoot rockets into your land? With the sixty year mantra of driving Israel into the sea, how can there be a basis for negotiations? I cannot believe that you, the lone voice of sanity and fairness have made this venemous attack of the State of Israel. The following website will give you some background on this never ending conflict and hope that it will introduce some factual background to you about this ongoing conflict. http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened.

In response to Frank Staropoli:

Moyers was anything but neutral. He was factually incorrect in advancing Hamas talking points and he used classical anti-Semitism in his comments on Jewish genetic code.

Also, counties have allies and Israel is a valuable ally to America. In World War II America stood by England to help it against its enemies who were trying to end its existence. England shared American views on democracy and ideals the way Israel does today. On the other hand, Hamas is a puppet of Iran. Hamas and the extremist leadership in Iran publicly hang men for the crime of being gay and relegate women to little more than chattel. A common saying among the Palestinians is that "Iran is willing to fight Israel to the last Palestinian."

In this piece, Bill speaks from a relational perspective that resonates for me. In my own study and application of systems thinking, it's clear that in a conflict between others, one can only be effective from a position of neutrality. For a variety of historical reasons, the US has not been, and has not been perceived as, neutral. This is the root of the enmity we experience from much of the Arab world. True neutrality requires an even-handed readiness to support and to critique both parties. Moyers makes the point that this principle is violated routinely in both administrative and congressional branches. Because of the tremendous clout of the American Jewish population, there is an aversion to calling Israel to account for its own participation in the tragic history and present situation in Gaza. There is such immediate reactivity to even articulating this challenge that leaders are reluctant, even cowardly about it. Even in response to the kinds of statements I've made so far, vehement objections would be raised about Israel's right to defend itself. I would be summarily dismissed as pro-Arab or anti- Semitic. to be clear: I personally abhor the violence perpetrated by Israel in its strikes against Hamas,every bit as much as I abhor the violence perpetrated by Hamas.

We have spent many decades enmeshed in an unhealthy role in the Middle East, and it will take many decades to even begin to right ourselves in that imbalance. My hope is that Obama has the native instinct and leadership capacity to speak even-handedly to both sides. If he does so, he will incur wrath here and in Israel. But I believe this shift in posture - from bias to neutrality - is essential to our own national security. The "War" on terrorism cannot be won with military power - but only by a changed mindset, a recognition of past errors, and a dedicated commitment to a neutral stance.

Thanks Bill, for yet again boycotting the rhetoric and getting to the source of it all once again.

Dear Mr. Moyers,

I was blindsided by the venom of this segment. Did it occur to you that it might be an opening to a diatribe from a terrorist? It transcended the bounds of a journalistic editorial. Moreover, your usual thoroughness in fact checking was lacking. For example, were you aware that Hamas has a military command center in a bunker under Shifa Hospital? Who stores munitions in medical centers, schools and religious buildings? Though you briefly touch on Israel's need to end terrorist aggression against its people, you refrain from expressinging shock at Hamas brutalizing and martyring their own people. All this death and destruction is in service of Hamas' stated aim of wiping Israel off the map. Ah, you say, but Hamas is the democratically elected government in Gaza. And when the people voted for Hamas, could most of them have envisioned that Hamas would embroil them in a bloodbath, in a war in which the people have everything to lose?

I note that most of the posts to your blog are anti-Israel. Some of them, not surprisingly, are posted by individuals who oppose the existence of a Jewish state. Others are by individuals who are opposed to this war, an understandable response to the hideous photos coming out of Gaza. Does anyone consider that it is at least as painful for Israelis to view these images on their tv screens? Imagine the trauma to an Israeli soldier coming home from inflicting this kind of death and destruction.

Mr. Moyers, you have been a respected journalist for many years. In this segment, I felt that you lost your journalistic integrity.

Sincerely,
Andrea Novotny

I too have lost respect for Bill Moyers. His argument that Jews are "genetically coded" for violence harks back to the hoariest anti-Semitic stereotypes of the Jews as a race. It was extrmely offensive to me and other Jews. For the sake of accuracy and his own self-rwepect, moyers should apologize for this comment ASAP.

Also, as someone who once presented a wonderful series on the Book of Genesis, he should know that the biblical commandment is not "Thou shalt not kill," but "Thou shal not murder."

David Szonyi

Mr. Moyers states: "So God-soaked violence became genetically coded". When anyone states that Jews are violent by nature because it is in their genes as a result of Moses urging the Israelites to violence then that person loses all credibility and cannot possibly present an unbiased, non prejudical evaluation of the Middle East crisis. Mr. Moyers has revealed himself here. He is not who or what many of us believed him to be. I have lost all respect for him.

This brutality will never break our will to be free

For six months we in Hamas observed the ceasefire. Israel broke it repeatedly from the start

Khalid Mish'al

For 18 months my people in Gaza have been under siege, incarcerated inside the world's biggest prison, sealed off from land, air and sea, caged and starved, denied even medication for our sick. After the slow death policy came the bombardment. In this most densely populated of places, nothing has been spared Israel's warplanes, from government buildings to homes, mosques, hospitals, schools and markets. More than 540 have been killed and thousands permanently maimed. A third are women and children. Whole families have been massacred, some while they slept.

This river of blood is being shed under lies and false pretexts. For six months we in Hamas observed the ceasefire. Israel broke it repeatedly from the start. Israel was required to open crossings to Gaza, and extend the truce to the West Bank. It proceeded to tighten its deadly siege of Gaza, repeatedly cutting electricity and water supplies. The collective punishment did not halt, but accelerated - as did the assassinations and killings. Thirty Gazans were killed by Israeli fire and hundreds of patients died as a direct effect of the siege during the so-called ceasefire. Israel enjoyed a period of calm. Our people did not.

When this broken truce neared its end, we expressed our readiness for a new comprehensive truce in return for lifting the blockade and opening all Gaza border crossings, including Rafah. Our calls fell on deaf ears. Yet still we would be willing to begin a new truce on these terms following the complete withdrawal of the invading forces from Gaza.

No rockets have ever been fired from the West Bank. But 50 died and hundreds more were injured there last year at Israel's hands, while its expansionism proceeded relentlessly. We are meant to be content with shrinking scraps of territory, a handful of cantons at Israel's mercy, enclosed by it from all sides.The truth is Israel seeks a one-sided ceasefire, observed by my people alone, in return for siege, starvation, bombardment, assassinations, incursions and colonial settlement. What Israel wants is a gratuitous ceasefire.

The logic of those who demand that we stop our resistance is absurd. They absolve the aggressor and occupier - armed with the deadliest weapons of death and destruction - of responsibility, while blaming the victim, prisoner and occupied. Our modest, home-made rockets are our cry of protest to the world. Israel and its American and European sponsors want us to be killed in silence. But die in silence we will not.

What is being visited on Gaza today was visited on Yasser Arafat before. When he refused to bow to Israel's dictates, he was imprisoned in his Ramallah headquarters, surrounded by tanks for two years. When this failed to break his resolve, he was murdered by poisoning.

Gaza enters 2009 just as it did 2008: under Israeli fire. Between January and February of last year 140 Gazans died in air strikes. And just before it embarked on its failed military assault on Lebanon in July 2006, Israel rained thousands of shells on Gaza, killing 240. From Deir Yassin in 1948 to Gaza today, the list of Israel's crimes is long. The justifications change, but the reality is the same: colonial occupation, oppression, and never-ending injustice. If this is the "free world" whose "values" Israel is defending, as its foreign minister Tzipi Livni alleges, then we want nothing to do with it.

Israel's leaders remain in the grip of confusion, unable to set clear goals for the attacks - from ousting the legitimately elected Hamas government and destroying its infrastructure, to stopping the rockets. As they fail to break Gaza's resistance the benchmark has been lowered. Now they speak of weakening Hamas and limiting the resistance. But they will achieve neither. Gaza's people are more united than ever, determined not to be terrorised into submission. Our fighters, armed with the justice of their cause, have already caused many casualties among the occupation army and will fight on to defend their land and people. Nothing can defeat our will to be free.

Once again, Washington and Europe have opted to aid and abet the jailer, occupier and aggressor, and to condemn its victims. We hoped Barack Obama would break with George Bush's disastrous legacy but his start is not encouraging. While he swiftly moved to denounce the Mumbai attacks, he remains tongue-tied after 10 days of slaughter in Gaza. But my people are not alone. Millions of freedom-loving men and women stand by its struggle for justice and liberation - witness daily protests against Israeli aggression, not only in the Arab and Islamic region, but worldwide.

Israel will no doubt wreak untold destruction, death and suffering in Gaza. But it will meet the same fate in Gaza as it did in Lebanon. We will not be broken by siege and bombardment, and will never surrender to occupation.

• Khalid Mish'al is the head of the Hamas political bureau

America’s Shame

By Paul Craig Roberts

January 08, 2009 "Information Clearinghouse" -- Why does Israel have a right to exist, but Palestine doesn’t?

This is the question of our time.

For sixty years Israelis have been stealing Palestine from Palestinians. There are maps available on the Internet and in Israeli publications showing the shrinkage over time of what was once Palestine into what Palestine is today--a small number of unconnected ghettos or bantustans.

Palestine became “the occupied territory” from which Palestinians were ejected and Israeli settlements built for “settlers.” Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are full of refugee camps in which Palestinians driven off their lands by Israeli force have been living for decades.

Driving people off their land is strictly illegal under international law, but Israel has been getting away with it for decades.

Gaza is a concentration camp of 1.5 million Palestinians who were driven from their homes and villages and collected in the Gaza Ghetto.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency was created 60 years ago in
1949 to administer refugee camps for Palestinians driven from their lands by Israel. As of 2002, the registered Palestinian refugee population was 3.9 million.

Caterpillar Tractor makes a special bulldozer for Israel that is designed to knock down Palestinian homes and to uproot their orchards. In 2003 an American protester, Rachel Corrie, stood in front of one of these Caterpillars and was run over and crushed.

Nothing happened. The Israelis can kill whomever they want whenever they want.

They have been doing so for 60 years, and they show no sign of stopping.

Currently they are murdering women and children in the ghetto that they have created for Palestinians in Gaza. The entire world knows this. The Red Cross protests it. But the Israelis brazenly claim that they are killing “Hamas terrorists who are a threat to Israel’s existence.”

The American media knows that this is a lie, but does not say so.

Israel has been able to slowly exterminate a people for sixty years without provoking sufficient outrage to stop it.

The United States, “Christian America,” has been Israel’s greatest enabler in its long-term murder of the Palestinian people. Millions of “evangelical Christians” endorse Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

The rest of the world condemns the Israeli military attack on the Gaza Ghetto. Last week the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution requiring a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Israeli SS from Gaza.

The United States abstained.

While the rest of the world condemns Israel’s inhumanity, the US Congress--I should say the US Knesset--rushed to endorse the Israeli slaughter of the Palestinians in Gaza.

The US Senate endorsed Israel’s massacre of Palestinians with a vote of 100-0.

The US House of Representatives voted 430-5 to endorse Israel’s massacre of Palestinians.

The resolutions endorsed by 100% of the US Senate and 99% of the House were written by AIPAC, as were the speeches praising Israel for its inhumanity.

The US Congress was proud to show that it is Israel’s puppet even when it comes to murdering women and children.

The President of the United States was proud to block effective action by the UN Security Council by ordering the Secretary of State to abstain.

Be a Proud American. Swagger and strut. Pretend that you are not besmirched by the shame that your government has heaped upon you. Take refuge in your ignorance, fostered by 60 years of Israeli lies, that the murder of Palestinians and the theft of their lands is “Israel’s right of self-defense.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21712.htm

Maryam Medina: I second your proposal. I might consider moving there if it happened.

I am not going to argue the history, because one's personal version of history is always biased. I am not going to argue which atrocity is worse or tally a body count on either side, because that is counterproductive.

What I want to ask my fellow Americans is this -- Do you believe in the American ideals of "with liberty and justice for all"? Or how about equality, freedom and the pursuit of happiness? If the answer is "YES", then how can you give your "unwavering support" and tax dollars to a country and regime that is founded on the basis of one religion to the exclusion of all others? Israel is a JEWISH country, and in order to maintain its JEWISHNESS it must place all those Non-Jews in concentration camps. The Israelis lead their cushy lives while the non-Jews have a deprived existence of barely having food, water and medicine. How can you turn a blind eye to what must be done for the preservation of a JEWISH country - the death and destruction? Yes on both sides, but more so on the side of the Palestinians.

Formation of a country on the basis of one religion, especially when the land it was formed on was already inhabited by people of another religion was a tragic mistake. A mistake that been allowed to fester and boil over for the last 60+ years. THIS IS THE ROOT OF THE ENTIRE PROBLEM.

Based on pure results of the last few decades, it is obvious that making this division of religions permanent with a two-state solution is just plain not workable. It will not work! Even if the state of Palestine was created tomorrow, it would be a failed country. Israel would never be able to leave Palestine alone simply because of security concerns - so the limitations and control over everything that comes and goes would continue, the choke-hold would never end and Palestine would fail. The economy would never develop. But most of all - the big wall will not difuse the hatred and resentment the people of Palestine and the muslims all over the world would have for Israel. And you cannot go on passing off support for Palestinians as anti-Semite, because I have no problem with the Jewish faith or its followers. Replace the JEWISH basis of the country with any other religion, and I would feel EXACTLY THE SAME WAY.

With a two state solution, I can assure you the wars would continue and spread throughout the region. All it would take is for one disgruntled group of Palestinians to do some kind of attack in israel, and the israelis would once again collectively punish all Palestinians with another bout of death and destruction using American weapons and money. Which also means that hatred for America around the world would never end, putting american lives and interests at risk for eternity.

It is obvious to me and many more people much smarter than I am, that the only solution to this problem that will last is to dissolve the JEWISH political framework and replace it with a democratic framework that represents all the people of that place. Equality, justice, freedom for EVERYONE. By recreating a Jewish state into one based on democratic values for everyone, there will no longer be the everlasting deterrents to peace, which are: the Palestinians right of return, control of Jerusalem, access to airports and ports, borders, walls.. All that would vanish in an instant.

I am not minimizing the difficulty that lies ahead in implementing this plan. The end to slavery in this country was not an easy one. The end to the Apartheid in South Africa was not an easy one. But that does not change the fact that in order to solve this problem we must act righteously, and not with superiority and ignorance.

A very large delivery of US weaponry to Israel consisting of 3,000 tons of "ammunition" is scheduled to sail to Israel. The size and nature of the shipments are described as "unusual":

"Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity.

"This (kind of request) is pretty rare and we haven't seen much of it quoted in the market over the years," he added.

"Shipping brokers in London who have specialized in moving arms for the British and U.S. military in the past said such ship charters to Israel were rare. (Reuters, Jan 10, 2009)

The Pentagon has entrusted a Greek merchant shipping company to deliver the weapons to Israel.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20090111&articleId=11743

I knew you had courage to speak out on many issues and you are a breath of fresh air amidst the terrible reporting on television and radio. However, your comments on the middle east were so well stated, and, as a Jew, I knew you would be accused of anti-semitism, because so have I for holding the same views as you!! There was NOTHING anti-semitic in your comments. But, it seems, that the attitude is prevalent among most Jewish Americans that if you aren't rabidly pro-Israel (right or wrong) then one is anti-semitic. That "card" is being played too frequently and loosely and will someday backfire when a truly anti-semitic remark is made by someone.
Please keep up the excellent work you do and I salute you for your continued honesty and bravery in presenting us, the viewing public, with the high excellence of journalism that should be the standard!

Thank you Mr. Moyers for a touching editorial that shows All lose in this. Of course - by simply not towing the "party line" and daring to speak out - you will be accused of many things as seen in this blog.

Thank you for your courage to speak anyway.

Bill Moyer

I am a faithful watcher of your program every Friday evening. In fact my plans for that evening are based on your program and Now on PBS. I have in general been in agreement with your point of view, and your expose of corruption and mismanagement. However I was shocked by the bias and Anti-Semitism in the last part of your show this Friday. One can not equate the situation in Gaza with the war in Iraq or Vietnam. Israel was being attacked from Gaza for the last few years. The charter of Hamas calls for the elimination of Israel and also death to all Jews. This is a fundamentalist movement which believes in the restoration of Islamic rule to not only the Middle East but even to Spain. Hamas has been smuggling in larger and more powerful missiles, not defensive, but offensive weapons.. What other nation at war will telephone or send messages to the civilian population that they are in danger because Hamas are using their apartments as points of fire. I, like you feel sorry for the population of Gaza, and for the children killed and maimed. However in trying to figure out casualties in this war how does one distinguish a Hamas fighter from a civilian. I agree that one should be able to criticize Israel and Israeli policy without being called an Anti-Semite. However to use the bible as a source , and imply that Jews are genetically violent is pure Anti-Semitism. You are giving ammunition to all the extremist Anti-Semitic movements. Why don’t you point to the thousands killed in Darfur, Nigeria, Congo, Sri-lanka, Chechnya among others. The civilian casualties are much higher than in Gaza . Does Israel not have the same rights as others, to live in peace ?
I really have lost trust in your judgement.
To others who have written in, I would point out that Jews have always lived in Palestine. That prior to 1948 they bought large tracts of land for settlement and did not disposess the local population. The U.N decided on a two state solution, rejected by the Palestinians and the country was invaded by surrounding Arab armies. The result was victory for the Jewish population and the taking over of Gaza and the west Bank by Egypt and Jordan. Why was no Palestinian state established then ?. Jordan lost the west bank during the 6 day war. Only a small part has been settled by Jewish settlers. The wall ( which I have seen, and is part wall and part fence) was built to prevent suicide bombers, and has been quite effective.

MiltonTaylor

Usually I look forward to the insightful and interesting stories and people on the journal every Friday night, but I was appalled this passed friday by how biased the reporting was on the current conflict in Gaza. Mr Moyers claimed that Israel has been firing indiscriminately into the civilian population of Gaza, but he failed to mention that the reason Israel is doing this is because the Hamas militants that are firing rockets into Israel do so from houses, schools, or even mosques, which are surrounded by civilian homes and businesses. If Israel is allowed to defend itself, then how is it supposed to do so if not by targeting the locations where the rockets are coming from? In addition, Mr. Moyers failed to mention that the Hamas militants' tactics are against the Geneva Convention; if they weren't mixed in with the civilian population then there wouldn't be as many casualties as there are today. Again, I couldn't believe how skewed the reporting was on this topic and I hope something is done to balance the reporting for the next time.

ethan allen: come on, please give peaceful Jews a chance.
Ethnic separation does not work here nor there. If Israel's constitution is an impediment it can be changed. Ours probably has more mines buried in it since it is so much older. Lets get rid of phosphorous rockets, cluster bombs, and mines worldwide. Then we can argue that we are becoming civilized.
(Sorry I kidded you ethan. I thought you had more to share. Thanks.)

· With a unanimity that has become all too familiar, politicians, the media, NGOs, and church leaders across the globe took their cue to denounce Israel's legitimate act of self-defense against one of the world's most extreme terror organizations. This chorus of disapproval is in stark contrast to the utter indifference to far bloodier conflicts that have been going on around the world.

· Why do citizens in democracies enthusiastically embrace a radical Islamist group that not only seeks the destruction of a fellow democracy but is overtly committed to the substitution of a world-wide Islamic caliphate for the existing international order?

· Decades of mistreatment of the Palestinians by the Arab states have gone virtually unnoticed. Only when they interact with Israel do the Palestinians win the world's attention.

· The fact that international coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict has invariably reflected a degree of intensity and emotional involvement well beyond the normal level to be expected of impartial observers would seem to suggest that it is a manifestation of longstanding prejudice that has been brought out into the open by the conflict.

· The Palestinians are but the latest lightning rod unleashed against the Jews, their supposed victimization reaffirming the millenarian demonization of the Jews in general, and the medieval blood libel - that Jews delight in the blood of others.

A Tidal Wave of International Indignation

No sooner had Israel opted to stop Hamas' attacks on its civilian population, after years of self-imposed restraint, than it was confronted with a tidal wave of international indignation. With a unanimity that has become all too familiar when it comes to the world's pronouncements on Israel, politicians, the media, NGOs, and church leaders across the globe took their cue to denounce this legitimate act of self-defense by a sovereign democracy against one of the world's most extreme terror organizations, overtly committed to its destruction, which for years had been raining down thousands of rockets and mortar shells on civilian communities (not to mention the long string of suicide bombings).

Echoed by the international media's blanket coverage of Israel's response in Gaza, but not Hamas' murderous ideology and actions, this chorus of disapproval over the Jewish state's "disproportionate" use of force is in stark contrast to the utter indifference to far bloodier conflicts that have been going on around the world, from the long-running genocide in Darfur, with its estimated 400,000 dead and at least 2.5 million refugees, to war in the Congo, with over 4 million dead or driven from their homes, to Chechnya, where an estimated 150,000-200,000 have died and up to a third of the population has been displaced at the hands of the Russian military. None of these tragedies saw protesters flock into the streets of London, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Oslo, Dublin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Washington, and Fort Lauderdale (to give a brief list), as has been the case during the Gaza crisis.

Arab Mistreatment of the Palestinians Went Unnoticed

How can this be? Why do citizens in democracies enthusiastically embrace a radical Islamist group that not only seeks the destruction of a fellow democracy but is overtly committed to the substitution of a world-wide Islamic caliphate (or umma) for the existing international order based on territorial nation states? Not because of compassion for the Palestinians, whose plight has never attracted genuine international interest, especially by the Arab states (and for that matter, the Palestinian leadership), whose decades of mistreatment of the Palestinians have gone virtually unnoticed.

Between 1949 and 1967, Egypt and Jordan ruled the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively. Not only did they fail to put these populations on the road to statehood, but they showed little interest in protecting their human rights or even in improving the quality of their life - which is one of the reasons that 120,000 West Bankers moved across to the East Bank of the Jordan and about 300,000 others emigrated abroad between 1949 and 1967.

Nobody in the international community paid any more attention to this than they have more recently to the ongoing abuse of Palestinians across the Arab world from Saudi Arabia to Lebanon, a country which was condemned in a June 2006 Amnesty International report for its "long-standing discrimination and abuses of fundamental economic and social rights of Palestinian refugees."

Nor has there been any international outcry when Arab countries have massacred Palestinians on a grand scale. In 1970 King Hussein of Jordan ordered the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian refugee camps in the course of putting down the Palestinian uprising during "Black September." This left between 3,000 and 5,000 Palestinian refugees dead. But the fact that Hussein killed more Palestinians in the course of a single month than Israel managed to do in decades was never held against him or dented the widely held perception of him as a man of peace. As the supposedly pro-Palestinian journalist Robert Fisk put it in his recent memoirs, King Hussein was "often difficult to fault."

Again, more than two decades ago Abu Iyad, the number two man in the PLO, publicly stated that the crimes of the Syrian government against the Palestinian people "surpassed those of the Israeli enemy." While in the wake of the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Kuwaitis not only set about punishing the PLO for support of Saddam Hussein's brutal occupation by cutting off their financial support for Yasir Arafat's overblown and corrupt organization, but there was also a widespread slaughter of Palestinians living in Kuwait.

This revenge against innocent Palestinian workers in the emirate was so severe that Arafat himself acknowledged: "What Kuwait did to the Palestinian people is worse than what has been done by Israel to Palestinians in the occupied territories." Yet there was no media coverage or specially convened UN meetings because it is only when they interact with Israel that the Palestinians win the world's attention.

Only Palestinian Interaction with Israel Wins World Attention

In other words, the extraordinary international preoccupation with the Palestinians is a corollary of their interaction with Israel, the only Jewish state to exist since biblical times, a reflected glow of the millenarian obsession with the Jews in the Christian and the Muslim worlds. Had their dispute been with an Arab, Muslim, or any other adversary, it would have attracted a fraction of the interest that it presently does.

On occasion, notably among devout and/or born again Evangelical Christians, this obsession has manifested itself in admiration and support for the national Jewish resurrection in the Holy Land. In most instances, however, anti-Jewish prejudice and animosity, or anti-Semitism as it is commonly known, has served rather to exacerbate distrust and hatred of Israel. Indeed, the fact that the international coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the libels against Zionism and Israel, such as the despicable comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa, have invariably reflected a degree of intensity and emotional involvement well beyond the normal level to be expected of impartial observers would seem to suggest that, rather than being a response to concrete Israeli activities, it is a manifestation of longstanding prejudice that has been brought out into the open by the vicissitudes of the conflict.

There is another side to the ledger. For millennia Jewish blood has been cheap, if not costless, throughout the Christian and Muslim worlds, where the Jew became the epitome of powerlessness, a perpetual punching bag and a scapegoat for whatever ills befell society. There is no reason, therefore, why Israel shouldn't follow in the footsteps of these past generations, avoid antagonizing its Arab neighbors and exercise restraint whenever attacked. But no, instead of knowing its place, the insolent Jewish state has forfeited this historic role by exacting a price for Jewish blood and beating the bullies who had hitherto been able to torment the Jews with impunity. This dramatic reversal of history cannot but be immoral and unacceptable. Hence the global community outrage and hence the world's media provision of unlimited resources to cover every minute of Israel's "disproportionate" response, but none of the devastation and dislocation caused to Israeli cities and their residents.

Put differently, the Palestinians are but the latest lightning rod unleashed against the Jews, their supposed victimization reaffirming the millenarian demonization of the Jews in general, and the medieval blood libel - that Jews delight in the blood of others - in particular. In the words of David Mamet, "The world was told Jews used this blood in the performance of religious ceremonies. Now, it seems, Jews do not require the blood for baking purposes, they merely delight to spill it on the ground."

Zionism Failed to Solve the "Jewish Problem"

To make such an argument will no doubt be dismissed as "Zionist propaganda" by many opponents of Israel. But in fact this not only runs counter to the prevailing wisdom among Israeli academics and intellectuals, for whom such arguments are anathema, but it also challenges one of the most fundamental tenets of Zionism - that the creation of a Jewish state, where the Jewish diasporas would congregate and become normalized, would solve the "Jewish problem" and ameliorate, if not eliminate altogether, the phenomenon of anti-Semitism.

What this line of thinking by the founding fathers of Zionism failed to consider, however, is that the prejudice and obsession that had hitherto been reserved for Jewish individuals and communities would be transferred to the Jewish state. As the poet Heinrich Heine, himself a convert from Judaism, once wrote, Judaism is "the family curse that lasts a thousand years" and no matter how much it has tried, Israel has never been able to escape this disturbing reality.

A saddening thought indeed. But is there any other explanation as to why, sixty years after its establishment by an internationally recognized act of self-determination, Israel remains the only state in the world that is subjected to a constant outpouring of the most outlandish conspiracy theories and blood libels; whose policies and actions are obsessively condemned by the international community; and whose right to exist is constantly debated and challenged not only by its Arab enemies but by segments of advanced opinion in the West?

· With a unanimity that has become all too familiar, politicians, the media, NGOs, and church leaders across the globe took their cue to denounce Israel's legitimate act of self-defense against one of the world's most extreme terror organizations. This chorus of disapproval is in stark contrast to the utter indifference to far bloodier conflicts that have been going on around the world.

· Why do citizens in democracies enthusiastically embrace a radical Islamist group that not only seeks the destruction of a fellow democracy but is overtly committed to the substitution of a world-wide Islamic caliphate for the existing international order?

· Decades of mistreatment of the Palestinians by the Arab states have gone virtually unnoticed. Only when they interact with Israel do the Palestinians win the world's attention.

· The fact that international coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict has invariably reflected a degree of intensity and emotional involvement well beyond the normal level to be expected of impartial observers would seem to suggest that it is a manifestation of longstanding prejudice that has been brought out into the open by the conflict.

· The Palestinians are but the latest lightning rod unleashed against the Jews, their supposed victimization reaffirming the millenarian demonization of the Jews in general, and the medieval blood libel - that Jews delight in the blood of others.

A Tidal Wave of International Indignation

No sooner had Israel opted to stop Hamas' attacks on its civilian population, after years of self-imposed restraint, than it was confronted with a tidal wave of international indignation. With a unanimity that has become all too familiar when it comes to the world's pronouncements on Israel, politicians, the media, NGOs, and church leaders across the globe took their cue to denounce this legitimate act of self-defense by a sovereign democracy against one of the world's most extreme terror organizations, overtly committed to its destruction, which for years had been raining down thousands of rockets and mortar shells on civilian communities (not to mention the long string of suicide bombings).

Echoed by the international media's blanket coverage of Israel's response in Gaza, but not Hamas' murderous ideology and actions, this chorus of disapproval over the Jewish state's "disproportionate" use of force is in stark contrast to the utter indifference to far bloodier conflicts that have been going on around the world, from the long-running genocide in Darfur, with its estimated 400,000 dead and at least 2.5 million refugees, to war in the Congo, with over 4 million dead or driven from their homes, to Chechnya, where an estimated 150,000-200,000 have died and up to a third of the population has been displaced at the hands of the Russian military. None of these tragedies saw protesters flock into the streets of London, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Oslo, Dublin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Washington, and Fort Lauderdale (to give a brief list), as has been the case during the Gaza crisis.

Arab Mistreatment of the Palestinians Went Unnoticed

How can this be? Why do citizens in democracies enthusiastically embrace a radical Islamist group that not only seeks the destruction of a fellow democracy but is overtly committed to the substitution of a world-wide Islamic caliphate (or umma) for the existing international order based on territorial nation states? Not because of compassion for the Palestinians, whose plight has never attracted genuine international interest, especially by the Arab states (and for that matter, the Palestinian leadership), whose decades of mistreatment of the Palestinians have gone virtually unnoticed.

Between 1949 and 1967, Egypt and Jordan ruled the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively. Not only did they fail to put these populations on the road to statehood, but they showed little interest in protecting their human rights or even in improving the quality of their life - which is one of the reasons that 120,000 West Bankers moved across to the East Bank of the Jordan and about 300,000 others emigrated abroad between 1949 and 1967.

Nobody in the international community paid any more attention to this than they have more recently to the ongoing abuse of Palestinians across the Arab world from Saudi Arabia to Lebanon, a country which was condemned in a June 2006 Amnesty International report for its "long-standing discrimination and abuses of fundamental economic and social rights of Palestinian refugees."

Nor has there been any international outcry when Arab countries have massacred Palestinians on a grand scale. In 1970 King Hussein of Jordan ordered the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian refugee camps in the course of putting down the Palestinian uprising during "Black September." This left between 3,000 and 5,000 Palestinian refugees dead. But the fact that Hussein killed more Palestinians in the course of a single month than Israel managed to do in decades was never held against him or dented the widely held perception of him as a man of peace. As the supposedly pro-Palestinian journalist Robert Fisk put it in his recent memoirs, King Hussein was "often difficult to fault."

Again, more than two decades ago Abu Iyad, the number two man in the PLO, publicly stated that the crimes of the Syrian government against the Palestinian people "surpassed those of the Israeli enemy." While in the wake of the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Kuwaitis not only set about punishing the PLO for support of Saddam Hussein's brutal occupation by cutting off their financial support for Yasir Arafat's overblown and corrupt organization, but there was also a widespread slaughter of Palestinians living in Kuwait.

This revenge against innocent Palestinian workers in the emirate was so severe that Arafat himself acknowledged: "What Kuwait did to the Palestinian people is worse than what has been done by Israel to Palestinians in the occupied territories." Yet there was no media coverage or specially convened UN meetings because it is only when they interact with Israel that the Palestinians win the world's attention.

Only Palestinian Interaction with Israel Wins World Attention

In other words, the extraordinary international preoccupation with the Palestinians is a corollary of their interaction with Israel, the only Jewish state to exist since biblical times, a reflected glow of the millenarian obsession with the Jews in the Christian and the Muslim worlds. Had their dispute been with an Arab, Muslim, or any other adversary, it would have attracted a fraction of the interest that it presently does.

On occasion, notably among devout and/or born again Evangelical Christians, this obsession has manifested itself in admiration and support for the national Jewish resurrection in the Holy Land. In most instances, however, anti-Jewish prejudice and animosity, or anti-Semitism as it is commonly known, has served rather to exacerbate distrust and hatred of Israel. Indeed, the fact that the international coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the libels against Zionism and Israel, such as the despicable comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa, have invariably reflected a degree of intensity and emotional involvement well beyond the normal level to be expected of impartial observers would seem to suggest that, rather than being a response to concrete Israeli activities, it is a manifestation of longstanding prejudice that has been brought out into the open by the vicissitudes of the conflict.

There is another side to the ledger. For millennia Jewish blood has been cheap, if not costless, throughout the Christian and Muslim worlds, where the Jew became the epitome of powerlessness, a perpetual punching bag and a scapegoat for whatever ills befell society. There is no reason, therefore, why Israel shouldn't follow in the footsteps of these past generations, avoid antagonizing its Arab neighbors and exercise restraint whenever attacked. But no, instead of knowing its place, the insolent Jewish state has forfeited this historic role by exacting a price for Jewish blood and beating the bullies who had hitherto been able to torment the Jews with impunity. This dramatic reversal of history cannot but be immoral and unacceptable. Hence the global community outrage and hence the world's media provision of unlimited resources to cover every minute of Israel's "disproportionate" response, but none of the devastation and dislocation caused to Israeli cities and their residents.

Put differently, the Palestinians are but the latest lightning rod unleashed against the Jews, their supposed victimization reaffirming the millenarian demonization of the Jews in general, and the medieval blood libel - that Jews delight in the blood of others - in particular. In the words of David Mamet, "The world was told Jews used this blood in the performance of religious ceremonies. Now, it seems, Jews do not require the blood for baking purposes, they merely delight to spill it on the ground."

Zionism Failed to Solve the "Jewish Problem"

To make such an argument will no doubt be dismissed as "Zionist propaganda" by many opponents of Israel. But in fact this not only runs counter to the prevailing wisdom among Israeli academics and intellectuals, for whom such arguments are anathema, but it also challenges one of the most fundamental tenets of Zionism - that the creation of a Jewish state, where the Jewish diasporas would congregate and become normalized, would solve the "Jewish problem" and ameliorate, if not eliminate altogether, the phenomenon of anti-Semitism.

What this line of thinking by the founding fathers of Zionism failed to consider, however, is that the prejudice and obsession that had hitherto been reserved for Jewish individuals and communities would be transferred to the Jewish state. As the poet Heinrich Heine, himself a convert from Judaism, once wrote, Judaism is "the family curse that lasts a thousand years" and no matter how much it has tried, Israel has never been able to escape this disturbing reality.

A saddening thought indeed. But is there any other explanation as to why, sixty years after its establishment by an internationally recognized act of self-determination, Israel remains the only state in the world that is subjected to a constant outpouring of the most outlandish conspiracy theories and blood libels; whose policies and actions are obsessively condemned by the international community; and whose right to exist is constantly debated and challenged not only by its Arab enemies but by segments of advanced opinion in the West?

You accused Israel of "killing indiscriminately" the people of Gaza. Do you not believe that Israel is targeting Hamas militants? Do you believe Israel hitting the UN school was deliberate, any more than the friendly fire killing of their own soldiers? And do you really think Israel's mostly secular leaders are basing their strategy on the Book of Deuteronomy? You also overstate Hamas's guilt. Killing all the Jews of Israel is not their goal. It's merely a strategy towards their goal of replacing both Israel and the PA with a Shari'ah-based regime.

How ignorant of Moyers to give us that liberal pabum that one man's terrorism is another man's freedom fighter. To compare the Muslims targeting of the civilian population of Israel to the Israeli trying to end that targeting is sick. That the Muslim terrorists hide behind their own civilians is unfortunate but those civilian are the ones who elected Hamas to power.

I for one would like to see a proportional response. Let the Israeli's set up rocket launchers and randomly shoot rockets into Gaza. That would be proportional.

Last, for all you balance seeking people, including you Mr. Moyers, why is it perfectly acceptable to you that Muslim countries and so called "palestinian territories" have no Jewish population. Why is it not OK for Israel to have no Muslim or Arab population. Are you saying Muslims are allowed to be racists?

If Israeli's put down their weapons today, tomorrow there would be no Israel. If the Muslims put down their today, tomorrow there would be peace.

Mr Moyers,

I was stunned at the accuracy of your summary at the end of your piece regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the war against Hamas.

It was refreshing to hear an honest and accurate report on the ruthlessness by Israel and one sided reporting by the main stream media in favor of Israel.

Mr. Moyers recommended a book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Does anyone recall the name and author?

RW, isn't it awful how a few well place nuts can ruin everything.

My friends,

Please don't conflate America and its people. Many of us Americans are horrified and ashamed at what is being done in our name to Iraq. These are not American values that are being enacted, and the numbers of us who feel this way is growing around the world.

My friends,

Please don't conflate Israel and 'the Jews'. Many of us Jews are horrified and ashamed at what is being done in our name to Gaza. These are not Jewish values that are being enacted, and the numbers of us who feel this way is growing around the world. Thanks to Bill Moyers and the Jewish women of Toronto who occupied the Israeli consulate this week.
RW

Dear Mr. Moyers,

Thank you for speaking out on this issue. Almost no reports that I've seen discuss the vigorous opposition to the Israeli governments actions among Israelis themselves. I think some investigation and airing of this would help demythologize the sense of a monolithic Israel where the people and its government are of one mind.

After all, others made this assumption about our government's actions in Iraq even though there were tens and hundreds of thousands protesting before that war.

From Israeli friend's of my son, it seems they too have protests that are mis-reported.

Any chance of a follow up on this?

Th