New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

New York University's independent student newspaper, established in 1973.

Washington Square News

Peace does not come from empty dialogue

Avital Kaplan and Josh Lavine’s recent WSN op-ed condemned an Israeli Apartheid Week event held by NYU Students for Justice in Palestine. The authors claimed an interest in holding a “panel on peace,” but, as their article demonstrates, their conception of peace comes through silencing those they oppose — be they “well-educated,” and therefore “dangerous,” speakers at an SJP event, or the Palestinian people at large, who had the audacity to elect officials from a political party the authors dislike.

Since the launch of the Madrid-Oslo talks in 1991, the U.S.-brokered peace process has demanded that Palestinians engage in negotiations that offer them no tangible gains. Palestinians have seen the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank rise from 110,000 in 1993 to 350,000 in 2013. Each year, Palestinians witness Israel detain 500 to 700 Palestinian children. Three in four of those detained will be subjected to physical violence. In Gaza, Palestinians endure Israel’s frequent blockades, which leave them without power or clean water. Asking Palestinians to continue participating in a farcical peace process is asking them to passively watch further confiscation of their land, and the imprisonment and murder of their neighbors.

The anti-Palestinian logic of this sham peace process is reflected in Kaplan and Lavine’s argument. To start, they introduce the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria,” thus disregarding the internationally recognized Palestinian claim to the land. At this very moment, unofficial annexation of the West Bank continues in the form of settlement building. Next, Kaplan and Lavine turn a blind eye to the lopsided nature of the conflict by equating Palestinian stone throwing with Israeli state-sponsored violence. Israel is one of the most militarily advanced nations in the world, while Palestinians are an occupied people with no military. Israeli military offensives such as “Operation Cast Lead”  exemplify this imbalance — 1,400 Palestinians were killed, the grand majority of whom were civilians. Finally, in referencing the “12 elected Arab members” of the Israeli Knesset, Kaplan and Lavine obscure the fact that, by definition, a state that defines itself as Jewish privileges one ethnic group over all others. We see this in Israel’s segregated school system and again in the state’s treatment of African immigrants.

We would be mistaken to think that the assaults on freedoms end within Israel and Palestine. We feel the effects of repression right here on university campuses. The Israeli-sponsored effort to censor Palestine solidarity activism in the United States has had significant consequences. This semester alone, Barnard College administrators removed an authorized SJP banner due to allegations of anti-Semitism. Likewise, Northeastern University’s SJP was suspended as a result of similar pressures. NYU students must ensure this type of censorship does not occur on our campus.

We must therefore be critical when Kaplan and Lavine label Max Blumenthal anti-Semitic for his principled criticism of Hillel. In reality, Hillel excludes Jews who criticize Israeli occupation, especially those who question the morality of religious states like Israel. By confusing anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, Kaplan and Lavine ignore this uncomfortable fact. Hillel students at Swarthmore College recently rejected this discriminatory policy by deciding to become the first “Open Hillel.” They were denounced by Hillel’s national president.

Freedom of speech is not reserved for safe topics. Students have the right to speak out against Israel, even when that involves questioning NYU’s partnership with an organization that funds an unjust occupation.

A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday, April 2 print edition. Donnie Donilon, Ellis Garey and Shafeka Hashash are contributing columnists. Email them at [email protected].

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  • O

    OpinionDec 7, 2015 at 8:42 pm

    @Fanon: Arafat may come across as too extreme, I agree, but Muslims HAVE colonized the territory of modern-day Israel. How do you think Arabs came to settle there in the first place? We should take into account every factor, including the immensely complex historical background, involving many waves of immigration and exile on both sides, before making any sweeping generalizations.

    Reply
  • A

    ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 10:14 am

    Wise and All-Knowing NYU Editors,

    Am I allowed to contribute the
    post I just submitted two minutes ago or does being PC now trump being honest and nice and respecting one’s right to a free press?

    For you should know (unless you are hiding your heads in the sand) that something ain’t exactly kosher in the Islamic world and that my shining a spotlight on it might actually be an enlightening experience for those open enough to new information.

    Sudan,
    Somalia, Nigeria, now Kenya (once a haven of peace), Pakistan, southern
    Russia, NW China, southern Thailand, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon (once a tourist destination), Egypt, Syria,
    Turkey, Iran and Iraq (one million killed in their 7 year war), Bahrain
    and Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Kuwait where people live in fear of the
    religious police, on and on and on the list goes. How many thousands of Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2011? What about Kashmir and Islamic claims to that land? What of the slavery in Niger, Mauritania and elsewhere in the Islamic world?

    Time to wake up and smell the coffee (or the oil money as the case may be).

    Time to accept comments that are not PC and that show a broader and deeper understanding of this deeply disturbing issue.

    My
    thanks to you for allowing my comments, as non-Kumbaya as they are, and
    I hope you continue respecting my right – indeed all our rights – to a
    free press and to express my views on this and related topics.

    Reply
    • F

      Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 11:43 am

      Behold, Arafat, the glorious hasbara troll advocating for “not PC” and overtly racist comments in the name of the struggle for Zionism. Not surprising Arafat in the past has advocated against equal rights and basic human rights.Thanks for tokenizing yourself as the resident WSN troll of over racism.

      Reply
      • A

        ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 11:52 am

        Fanon,
        Is English your second language?
        Ad hominem attacks is nothing new to me. For me it means I won the argument (that you cannot defend your point of view), and that your reaction is that of a frustrated child.
        Please do your best keeping your comments on the issues instead of accusing me of being something I am not.

        Reply
        • F

          Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 11:56 am

          I hope they pay you enough for this, because your arguments still don’t even hold in a historical setting being connected to Palestinians. Ad hominem or not, it’s pretty pathetic that you spend all your time with 4057 comments all containing the same argument of the ever encroaching ‘world muslim domination’. You sound like a conspiracy theorist to state managers, where it’s highly irrational to even believe that radical islamist jihadist even have the means to take on nations of the “Second” or “First” world. Your fear mongering is not an arguing tactic, it’s a concession to the arguments that have been made by Palestinian solidarity activists, that you cannot even talk about the conflict currently for the facts on the ground show that you are blatantly blind towards current events.

          Reply
          • A

            ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 12:02 pm

            “I hope they pay you enough for this, because your arguments still don’t even hold in a historical setting being connected to Palestinians.”

            Israel was founded by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel was founded by repelling the Massacre’s of the last century as well in Palestine, not just in Germany and Russia. You will not find any Muslim that says they did not descend from Abraham either. Perhaps you should read sennacherib prism. He was an enemy of Israel in the 8th century BC. He himself bragged about how he shut up King Hezekiah like a dog in Jerusalem. What you probably lack, is just how much suffering Jews have endured. There is centuries of history. Yassar Arafat and his PLO tried to take control first of Syria and also in Jordan in 1971. The “Palestinian” people ( no “P” in Arabic ) have been kicked out of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia because even they were too radical for moderate Muslims. 1492 spain, Stalin’s Russia, blamed
            for the black plague, ect, ect… There is no safe place on earth for the Jewish people from the historical record, where they should not worry about another racist generation appearing. Read the charter of Hamas, Hezbollah.
            Israel gave up gaza for peace in 2003 and they received over 15,000 rockets and mortars in return. I even saw a 80 year old lady who had witnessed the Hebron Massacres, call for them again. That was long before 1948. Please read history.

          • A

            ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 12:07 pm

            “You sound like a conspiracy theorist to state managers, where it’s highly irrational to even believe that radical islamist jihadist even have the means to take on nations of the “Second” or “First” world.”
            Ah, dear Fanon, living in his Fan-world.
            Islam is the world’s youngest religion yet it spans from Indonesia to Morocco and from the Maldives to the north Caucuses. Its Jihadists are wiping out the ancient Christian Coptics from Egypt and the ancient Chaldeans from Iraq and the ancient Assyrian people of Syria, the Armenians who once prospered in Constantinople (oops, I mean Istanbul).
            The great Hindu civilizations that once spanned from Bangladesh to western Pakistan are now only concentrated in India as Muslims have all but wiped out the Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
            I fear it is you who needs to study history, not I.

          • F

            Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 12:43 pm

            Let’s do some fact checking on Arafat shall we team?

            “Israel was founded by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel was founded by repelling the Massacre’s of the last century as well in Palestine, not just in Germany and Russia.” False, Palestine was founded by European Zionists in 1948 through a settler-colonial process and ethnic cleansing [we have covered this Affy] that pushed Palestinians out of perspective lands by a military operation to receive the land “pure” for Jewish settlement, with settlers literally moving into former Palestinian homes that still have Palestinian property residing in it. Prior to that as we both know, Palestine was under British control and prior to that it was under Ottoman control. Jewish control of sections of Palestine in the ancient world never spanned the area that many in revisionist Zionist camps demand for and is often based on mythology that has been replicated since Jabotinsky’s rants.

            “1492 spain” –> Muslims as well where expelled and killed along with Jew

            As well stating the wrongdoing’s or cowardice of imperialist leaders using Muslim rhetoric in the past to conquer lands or unrelated to Arab leaders killing Jews indiscriminately and oppressively does not excuse Israeli colonization and1492 spain oppression towards the Palestinians. As Ghassan Kanafani wrote in his magnificent short story “Returning to Hebron” he states advice I hope your arrogant self can take against the overtly racist and problematic logic you have going about in that head of yours:
            “I know that one day you’ll realize these things, and that you’ll realize that the greatest crime any human being can commit, whoever he may be, is to believe even for one moment that the weakness and mistakes’ of others give him the right to exist at their expense and justify his own mistakes and crimes.” (186)

            http://engl102-f11-howland.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/Returning+to+Haifa.pdf/243776167/Returning%20to%20Haifa.pdf

        • F

          Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 11:59 am

          Also are you good friends with Etan J. Shwartz? I hope so, because you guys would realllllllyyyy get along http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/02/portrait-of-a-hasbara-troll/

          Reply
          • A

            ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 12:07 pm

            Fanon are you a fan of Joseph Goebbels?

          • F

            Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 12:26 pm

            Nope, especially since the murder of Rosa Luxembourg.

  • M

    Mark ColasurdoApr 5, 2014 at 1:53 am

    Ellis looks like she’s just staring into your soul.

    Reply
  • H

    Howard SachsApr 3, 2014 at 8:20 am

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts with the community on and off campus. The bottom line to all of this back and forth is that the two contending parties live in two completely different moral universes. That’s the crux of the matter. Whether we call the land Judea and Sameria or the West bank is not the issue. The issue is good guys and bad guys. And thank heavens the vast majority of our good American people know it. The good guy, the people of Israel, have, since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the forming of multiple countries in the Middle East including Israel always reached out an open hand to their Arab brothers and sisters in the area and said Let us together live here in a land we both hold dear- you with your Muslim/Arab oriented state and us with our Jewish State. Five or six times that hand has been met with savage distain, vile aggressive wars of annihilation, revolting anti-Semistism, and unending lies and propaganda to delegitimize Israel. The issue is not apartment complexes in the East part of the capitol of Israel. The problem is the bad guy, the core Palestinian leadership and core society, and Leftist Americans that have rejected American values, that says we will not stop until this disgusting contamination of Jewish life on soil of the Middle East is eliminated. The minute the bad guy comes around and says we were wrong, our Jewish brothers and sisters have a right to Israel as a Jewish state here on their ancient homeland, nothing is going to change, no discussions about apartments, or names, or water rights is going to occur. The hand is out every day, every week, every year from the people of Israel. The old Karthum “NO NO NO” is the response every day, every week, every year from the Arabs who demand a Jew- free Middle East just like they are actively and violently making a Christian- free Palestine and Egypt and Syria and Saudia Arabia ,Iraq, Iran and Nigeria. Good Americans stand firm and strong with Israel as great ally in the community of free and open and democratic nations. Our hand is out but, we will stand strong for goodness and morality and not give in to the darkness, lies and bigotry as represented in the essay by the students above.

    Reply
    • F

      Fanon IIApr 3, 2014 at 2:27 pm

      Howard Sachs, I am glad that you are at least proud to spew such elitist and racist vile that is put on a pedestal by the likes of Thomas L. Friedman, Ayn Rand, and Samuel Huntington, but this article is not about a “Clash of Civilizations” but a defense for resistance against colonization on the part of Palestinians. When you want to describe the conflict one of being “good guys and bad guys”, please tell me how do you typecast Israel as the good guys? What is good about White Phosphorous? What’s good about celebrated racist vile that one can observe with the foundation of the state? What is good about apartheid policies or settler colonialism? The answer is that none of the processes of Israel becoming a state and later a larger military power has not been something the Palestinians would probably not discuss as a good thing, not because they are “anti-Semitic”, but because the Middle-East has been repeatedly colonized by the West for the past two centuries and prior was part a very eclectic empire. There is nothing wrong with Palestinians and Arabs, comprised of all differing religions whether Druze, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim, seeking self emancipation away from the West and previous colonial expenditures in the area.

      It is a testament that you decide to put the struggle in some ahistorical vacuum with ignoring both the blatant crimes that Israel and the United States have participated in, which are ironically both Settler-Colonial states. I would love to see you tell a Native American this “myth” that “good Americans stand firm and strong with Israel as great ally in the community of free and open and democratic nations”, where like the Palestinians, Native Americans despise acknowledging their occupier who treats them as second class citizens, subhuman, and has murdered their community members, as something “democratic”. Regardless it comes to no surprise that a person turning a blind eye to the colonizing aspect of Israel would suggest that the fault is upon the Arab communities in the surrounding area and the Palestinians themselves. If you want to talk good against bad guys, you are going to have to grapple with the question of oppressed and oppressor. When you look at this, who has the standing army in this situation? Who has the nukes in this situation? Who has the resources? Who has the backing of the largest capitalist country in human existence? The answer to all of these is Israel whom fits the criteria as the open ended oppressor and occupier of the Palestinians.

      The worst part about all of this though is Stern’s blatant ignorance is that Palestinians and these author’s are not demanding much other than the acknowledgement of past massacres, the immediate stop to military occupation and aggression, and equal rights. If these three demands are too much for someone when it comes to this conflict, you should really look at yourself and ask why you are advocating for the suppression of a entire people or why a group of people demanding democracy is a threat to your cause. That’s usually the definition of bigotry and cognitive dissonance incarnate, but this as well is the only way one can be an apologist for a racist state such as the so-called state of Israel.

      Reply
      • H

        Howard SachsApr 3, 2014 at 6:00 pm

        Thanks for taking the time to reply. It sounds like my spewing has raised your blood pressure and hopefully not caused you any physical harm. We unfortunately live now in different moral universes. People can change. Hopefully some day you will. A beautiful free democratic liberty- loving country like Israel with a million Arabs living under its government- all free to vote- all free to worship in their Mosques- all free to run for and sit in Parliament or be on the Supreme court, this country you see as vile. And the racist charge you cast is the vile thing. Racist Israel- the country that gathered the black skinned Jewish Ethiopians to bring them to a better life in Israel! The beautiful Israel that has gathered in people from Sudan and Ethiopia to give them better lives! The beautiful Israel that is one of the first countries to bring medical aid to Hatians, or victims of the indonesian tsunnami. The beautiful Israel that currently has a field hospital set up in the Golan to help Syrians running from their war. The beautiful good Israel that treats thousands of Jews and Muslims in its great hospitals– this is the racist state! Such comments are right out of the book of savage evil anti-semitsm known to us all.

        And you have the lies of Leftism down pat- Israel, the Jewish white colonizers. You left out the little fact that the Jewish people have lived in that land continuously for about 4000 years. They are colonizers like fish are colonizers of the sea. And I certainly understand that the Arab people of that area have lived there too, for hundreds of years and certainly have legitimate connections to the land. They too are not colonizers. (Yet if you think of it, we all came out of Africa and colonized the whole world.)

        And beyond the boarders of Israel is country after country that has no religious freedom, no or little freedom of private property, no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press- country after country that oppresses women and gays, oppresses dirty Jews (the handful that are left) and infidel Christians- These are the beautiful good guys in your book. Indeed we inhabit two different moral universes. Thank God most Americans understand this. And the day after people like you are willing to say, “Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state as it does now, committed to liberty and freedom of all its citizens; the day after that there will be peace between Arab and Jew. And by the way, is your vision of a Palestinian State similar?. Is your vision that of a Muslim Country committed to liberty, rule of law,d kindness and compassion for all its inhabitants, Muslim or Jew or Christian or atheist? If so, the world has seen little of it. How many synagogues or churches are thriving in the Arab world? How many free newspapers are being published? Israel of course has its faults but like America its a light unto the nations. Gather in some of its light; move along and start building rather than destroying the world in which you live. My 2 cents: Im sure you disagree with every word but thats life… take care HS

        Reply
        • F

          Fanon IIApr 3, 2014 at 6:32 pm

          You appear to be almost as dense as steel Sachs. You do realize much of what Abunimah and Blumenthal (as well as all those crazy leftists who are human rights evaluators of the U.N.) have systematically called out not only the unadulterated aggression Israeli society has had towards Palestinians, but as well kept an eye out on the racism that has now been exuded upon these refugees. You may be able to sit and ignore that in Israel that these refugees are referred to as ‘infiltrators’ (much like the indigenous Palestinians) and endure programatic persecution by either those on the streets or in border patrol. “The country that gathered the black skinned Jewish Ethiopians to bring them to a better life in Israel” is also the same country that is putting these refugees in the Negev dessert because Sudanese, Eritrean, and Ethiopians are viewed much like the Arab population as a demographic threat. This violence, not exclusively carried out by settlers, is being accepted with the larger sway of the far-right within Israeli politics currently (as well as symptomatic of a colonial-settler state , think Americans hypocritically attacking undocumented migrants in Arizona). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPxv4Aff3IA

          I really don’t understand though, after my comment, that you must change the subject to how beautiful of a state the so-called state of Israel is. I understand that it is beautiful, but it is a beautiful country that can be shared by all, but is refused to by such Knesset members in Parliament such as Avigdor Lieberman or Meir Kahane, or most Parliament members whom are ambivalent to the silencing of Mizrahi Jews or Arab populations that live in Israel. Not a single Parliament member had spoken out at the visceral racism, sexism, and vile attitudes that are shown in Knesset, especially towards Haneen Zoabi. These are events that are occurring today and not in this 4,000 year old mythological story of diaspora, where you are right, there have been Jewish communities that have been present in that area for thousands of years, however, they never necessitated a state that you defend.

          However, if you want to talk about lack of freedom, let’s talk about Israel. In Israel you can be jailed for being a Palestinian solidarity activist, shot for being Arab, systematically thrown out of your home, denied property rights by the JNF, be jailed and fined for advocating for BDS, shoved out of contemporary society for refusing military service, and have your house destroyed strictly for not being Jewish. These are not qualities of a democratic state. These do not show supposed values that should be held by liberal and democratic states that would be upheld by such thing as a constitution that this state as well doesn’t have. Israel defines itself upon on a strict identity after colonizing an area with which a multitude of demographics resided in without issue until European colonizer showed to the area. This is not “lies of leftism” or false, but the accounts of those on both sides whom lived during the colonizing process of 1948. Even most revisionist Zionists admit that this project has always had the idea of colonizing the greater area of mandate Palestine.

          Finally I want to address your incredibly odd and racist assumptions that because I support Palestinian rights and liberation that I am an apologist for reactionary regimes that can be found in that area. Not only are you trying to diverge the subject away from Israeli war crimes by comparing it to other states that have similar structures of oppression that are deterrent of a class society, you are as well assuming all countries in the middle east are repressive and have colluded as such to stay this way. These states are complex on their own and have relation to Israel only as a being by products of colonization and infiltration by the West, wether it be Coup d’etats sponsored by the West or economic sanctions that riddle the areas into problematic situations. That being said, this conflict is not about Muslims vs. Jews but Oppressor vs. the Oppressed. Those whom are apologists of Zionism and want to consistently deny Palestinians equal rights will remain being Oppressors such as the state of Israel while the oppressed, those whom speak out against Zionism whether be Israeli Jews or Palestinians, will consistently fight for the liberation of both the oppressed from the torment of exclusion and destruction and the oppressors from their roles of exploiting those whom they took land from. This has been seen before within South Africa, as well as Alabama, and although oppression exists economically, the loosening of race based oppression began to wither away minority thanks to the struggle of those whom are oppressed. Your apologism for Israel makes you no better than those who where apologists for South Africa.

          Reply
          • A

            ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 10:02 am

            Fanon II,

            Riddle me this.

            Why is it Muslims are free to violently conquer lands anywhere and everywhere without a word of protest from American Muslims, or any Muslims or any liberals?

            But if Jews have a legally established homeland Muslims and
            Liberals and their ilk will never stop protesting against it? Why is this do you suppose? What explanation can be given other than as the Qur’an states repeatedly that Islam’s goal is to establish a worldwide caliphate in which all non-Muslims are
            subjugated. And, of course, liberals are too dumb to know this.

            For instance, Mohammed was born around 571 AD thousands and thousands of years after Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism existed. But within a few centuries of Mohammed’s birth Islam had violently conquered vast sections of Asia, all of North Africa and smaller sections of Southern Europe.

            Now Muslims tell us that all this land belongs to them even
            though, for instance, in Afghanistan they killed every last Buddhist who once lived there. According to Muslim logic per Israel shouldn’t this land belong to the Buddhists?

            Or in North Africa all the Berbers have been forcibly converted to Islam or have been killed and now we’re told all this vast
            landmass belongs to Islam. That’s interesting, if not completely hypocritical.

            And what about Southern Thailand. Did anyone know that in
            the last several years something like 5,000 Buddhists have been killed by Muslims because, or so we’re told, the land the Buddhists are on belongs to Islam. Gosh, I wonder, when did that land become part of the Caliphate?

            Ah well, more dead Buddhists left in the wake of Islamic conquest.

            And Southern Russia? Muslims are relentlessly waging a slow
            reign of terror in Russia because, you guessed it, Russians are treating Muslims poorly and they should give up the Southern section of that country to Muslims since Islam deserves all lands.

            Or, let’s take Sudan as another example. How many millions
            have been killed in Sudan? How many babies and children have starved in Sudan while Islamists steal the food from aid compounds? How many women have Muslims gang-raped in Sudan all because that land belongs to Muslims and only Muslims. All other people can go somewhere else to live, I guess. Maybe they should flee to Israel?

            And Kashmir? The same. Despite Hindus having lived there for 3,000 years – something like 2,000+ years before Mohammed was born – Muslims tell us Kashmir belongs to them. Amazing logic isn’t it? Muslim logic, I guess.

            And that brings us to Israel. Israel also belongs to Islam
            too. Did you know that? It’s true. Just ask a Muslim or a liberal if you prefer. Even though it’s no bigger than a small pimple on the caliphate’s ass it is still their land and they will fight to the death to prove their point.

            Doesn’t the logic here make a lot of sense. Isn’t it as clear as day? Of course it does. The world belongs to Islam and we’re mere players on their stage.

          • F

            Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 11:52 am

            For all those who do not know (I’d assume the WSN staff already knows) that Arafat [a name he probably facetiously choose to disorient, taking Yasser Arafat last name as a mockery] is what people would commonly call a hasbara troll. Hasbara trolls are usually hired [not often though, I assume Arafat here is just dimwitted and racist himself] to spread un-intelligible criticisms against Palestinian liberation movement and trying to change the subject to associating all Palestinians with the supposed sins of Muslim countries being linked to all Arabs. This is pretty wrongheaded to project upon the Palestinian people, for not only their struggle for liberation has been riddled with mostly secular ideologies [PLO, PFLP, and the DFLP] and Palestinians comprise of various different religions and ideologies. Regardless Arafat ensures that he comments on all articles pertaining to Palestinian liberation and Israel advocating very racist and offensive comments to disorient Palestinians and Palestinian solidarity activists. Although this is the case, even 4057 comments pertaining to right wing positions across the North East college newspapers, and he still reverts back to the same tactic of telling us the suffering of others to distract from the material and destructive living standards that Palestinians endure under an occupation. http://www.thenation.com/article/176703/israel-cranks-pr-machine

          • A

            ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 11:59 am

            A “Hasbara troll”?

            That’s nice Fanon. Sounds like something the Third Reich would have coined. Is it PC?

            How does it compare with a Muslim Jihadist who cries out “Allahu Akbar” before blowing himself up in, say, a vegetable market in Kabul?

            …………………

            “… to spread un-intelligible criticisms against Palestinian liberation movement and trying to change the subject to associating all Palestinians with the supposed sins of Muslim countries being linked to all Arabs.”
            I apologize if I’ve done a poor job associating Islamic Jihad in Kashmir, Sudan, Thailand, Russia, China, Nigeria with the Palestinian Jihad against Israel.
            But in my defense, Fanon, all one needs do is listen to what Palestinian shieks, Imams and leaders say to understand the association; for it is quite common for them to use the word Jihad in association with their holy war against the Israelis.
            Are you deaf, dumb and blind? Are you denying this truth? Are you suggesting when a Palestinian Jihadist blows himself up on a bus in Jerusalem his motivations are different than a Pakistani Jihadist who does the same thing in Kabul?
            If this is your logic then please explain where the difference lies?

          • F

            Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 12:11 pm

            ” Sounds like something the Third Reich would have coined. Is it PC?” How to argue like a Zionist, evoke Nazi’s and the Third Reich in reference to any term used by Palestinian solidarity activists. This not only will change the subject, but as well try to lump together two topics that are not related to each other in the slightest http://theredplebeian.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/zionism-and-the-art-of-changing-the-subject/

            Regardless “Are you suggesting when a Palestinian Jihadist blows himself up on a bus in Jerusalem his motivations are different than a Pakistani Jihadist who does the same thing in Kabul?” – Yes, people are motivated by differing conditions that are set upon them. Yasser Arafat [you know the man your handle is named after] was secular, the majority of the Palestinian struggle had been secular, while you continue to try to change the subject to Islamist jihadist. Regardless what motivates people to blow themselves up is often not religion, but desperation and a lack of will to live under an occupation. This has been seen with the occupation of Iraq, the occupation of Afghanistan, and is seen in the occupation of Palestine. These motivations are brought by occup.ation, lack of human rights, and military aggression, not fanatical religious beliefs that are used as ideological that stands as a platform among one of the many different Palestinian factions.

            Basically your arguments de-historicize and take away the context in the histories that surround “Kashmir, Sudan, Thailand, Russia, China, Nigeria” such as class dynamics, foreign aid, occupation, and discrimination against these populations. Your argument is densely illogical and comparable to spewing out arguments in word vomit fashion of histories that are not set in the actual context that they lie, and are only made two dimensional as “Islamic Jihadism” rather than nationalistic struggle or wrongheaded and reactionary ideals of imperialism. However, these Islamists have not as much to do with Palestinian liberation [note: every congress of the PLO where Jihadists get berated by Communist and Socialists] and you continuously have been making this mistake in every comment I see you make.

          • A

            ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 12:28 pm

            Yes, Arafat was secular but he was as imbued with Islamic culture and understanding of and sympathy with its core tenets as one could get. His speeches in Arabic prove this to be so. And the same is true of most secular Palestinians.
            Theirs is a holy war a grand Jihad and they have said these very words over and over again.
            Fanon, you can do your best to obfuscate the Islamic tenets of jihad, caliphate, infidels, taqiyya as much as you want. You can pretend Islam’s core tenets do not cross borders. You can pretend what motivates Somalian Muslims when they murder UN workers is different than what motivates Nigerian Muslims when they murder polio workers, but I do not buy it.
            Within 300 years of Mohammed’s birth, Muslim jihadists had violently conquered almost the entire Middle East and North Africa, huge sections of Asia, Spain and other smaller regions of Europe.
            Now you would have us believe this had nothing to do with Islam’s core tenets. I guess you would tell us it had nothing to do with Islam, but not everyone is as dumb as you think they are.
            Islam IS an aggressive, violent religion. Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, was an aggressive violent man. There was no “turn the other cheek” for Mohammed. There was no peaceful meditation for Mohammed.
            Now you can fabricate anything you want about Islam but the facts on the ground as well as the historical facts on the ground prove yours to be a fanon fantasy.
            The Qur’an, hadiths and Sunna support my argument, not yours; and so do the facts on the ground.
            Israel could be populated by Hindus, Animists or Buddhists and the same thing would be happening, i.e., Muslims would be unable to contain their urge to invade and conquer just as they did in the 7th century.

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            Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 12:35 pm

            You did that thing again, you got off subject. We are not talking about the foundation of Islam and pre-state conquering that Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians, and other supposed clans and tribes that resided in the Middle East prior to the Ottoman Empire, we are talking about Israel’s war crimes and occupation today of a land that has never belonged specifically to them. Jews, Palestinians, and others have lived in Palestine for decades prior to the colonization of Israel for the most part peacefully. The decision of Herzl going to Palestine was because of the relative autonomy and freedom that Jews had within this area compared to their European counterparts (Ironic because this helped the colonization process from Palestinian Peasants). You are still trying to put a past history that still lies in the 7th century into an entirely different historical time period, world economic structure, and geopolitical changes. Honestly, your arguing like frantic schoolboy sifting through his notes labeled: “Why I Hate Muslims: A manifesto”. You sound a little mein kampf-ish don’t you think?

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            ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 12:38 pm

            “…Jews, Palestinians, and others have lived in Palestine for decades prior to the colonization of Israel for the most part peacefully.”
            Peacefully? Really? I want what you’re smoking.
            You clearly have no idea what you are talking about nor of the history of Israel.
            I might as well debate a little child who makes things up to suit his will regardless of the facts.

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            ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 12:44 pm

            “The decision of Herzl going to Palestine was because of the relative autonomy and freedom that Jews had within this area compared to their European counterparts (Ironic because this helped the colonization process from Palestinian Peasants).”
            You really are an ignoramus. The Jews connection to Israel is inextricably linked to their identity. It is mentioned hundreds ot times in their holy books (but not once in Islam’s holy books).
            The fact that you do not even know this, or are willfully lying about this, tells me you have no interest in facts or fair play but are motivated by either hatred of Jews and/or are a paid water carrier for Islam.

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            Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 12:46 pm

            Having your identity linked to a specific area does not excuse them for colonizing the area. French argued they had an inexplicable link to Syria when demanding it’s territories post-World One, this does not excuse them controlling the land because Syria is tied up with Mennonites. Your arguments logic reminds me of sand: malleable, dry, and disinteresting.

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            ArafatApr 9, 2014 at 12:53 pm

            Fanon, Screw the French but not the Muslims who colonized Israel, eh?
            Screw the Brits but not the Muslims who colonized Egypt, eh?
            Screw the Belgian but ignore the Muslims who colonized Afghanistan, eh?
            Your hypocrisy is only exceeded by your prejudice.
            A simple fact, Fanon. The French, Brits, Belgium and all the others have been around long before Mohammed and his thugs were. That does not excuse them from brutalizing native people as the Europeans did, but for you to ignore what Muslim jihadist hordes have done in Africa, Asia and elsewhere while blaming Europeans and others for all the problems tells us once again that you are nothing more than a water carrier for Islamic jihad.
            “Allahu Akbar” he shouted as he cut off Daniel Pearl’s head.

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            Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 12:59 pm

            Muslims never colonized Palestine in this century or historical time period. I have not ignored the specific groups of people who took up the name of Islam to conquer areas, but this does not speak for all of Islam much like how Israel does not speak for all Jews. You have now entered a new existence of being utterly ignorant, and you decide rather to observe the injustices now, you rely on living in your revisionist past and fantasy world that you have now constructed for yourself to justify the now. Justifying the 6, 792 Palestinians who where killed by HELLFIRE missiles and indiscriminate killing by occupiers who have nuclear arms is not something I call a fair conflict. For all intensive purposes its an occupation, yet you choose to fantasize about the middle ages. http://visualizingpalestine.org/sites/default/files/images/inforgraphics/vp-violence-timeline-2012-11-23_0.png

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            Fanon IIApr 9, 2014 at 12:48 pm

            The only childish arguments here are the ones that you have been echo chambering form Zionist propaganda you are spewing that is only 67 years old. Watch this and listen to the actual people involved in this struggle tell their own thoughts on the matter that it was not until European Jews arrived they started referring to each other especially on ID cards wether they are “Jewish” or “Arab” [note: Not Muslim quite yet, or Palestinian]. http://www.eyalsivan.info/index.php?p=fichefilm&id=10