Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been Critical Of Israel?

We live in a quid pro quo political universe. There are few laws that can keep the very rich from buying up all our elected representatives. The trick is to buy both the Republicans and the Democrats, and that is what the very rich have been doing for decades.

Foreign countries have learned this lesson as well. The Israel Lobby was there for Harry Truman when he was running low on reelection cash. In turn, he pressured the UN to recognize the state of Israel, in spite of the fact that Palestine was already owned by someone else.

More recently, the Israel Lobby has emerged as the most sinister political pressure group in our nation's capital. Biden was paid more than any other member of Congress during his long, quid pro quo career. Trump has done him one better, selling the move of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for 20 million in cash. Sheldon Adelson, billionaire Zionist, paid for the bribe.

A brief look at opensecrets.org will find that even our local House Representatives are awash in Israel Lobby money. Representative Pat Ryan from the Hudson Valley  stood tall against any cease fire resolution, despite the fact that millions of children in Gaza were starving. The Israel Lobby gave him over two hundred thousand last year to look the other way. In fact, the Lobby paid Congress over $58 million during the last election cycle, more than any other political action committee.   

But the US Empire is getting something more from its troubled relationship with apartheid Israel. The dominance of the Middle East has long been one of the Empire's goals, and Israel is more than willing to be our military proxy. That way, American troops aren't committing war crimes or dying in our perpetual wars for oil. The various international courts like the ICC and the ICJ blame Israel and not the Empire for the charnel house that Gaza has become. And the rest of the world strongly condemns Israel for crimes against humanity, while overlooking the country that is supplying the missiles and two thousand pound bombs.

Another benefit for the Empire is the right to use "antisemitism" to crush human rights groups in the United States. Controlling the free expression of ideas has long been a goal of the Empire, especially when college students and faculty speak out against US militarism and racism. Now, our Congress is busy passing laws that equate all criticism of Israel's war crimes with antisemitism. You don't like the destruction of the hospitals, universities, and public infrastructure in Gaza? Why, you must be an antisemite! Don't think starvation should be used as a weapon of war? Why, you must hate all Jews!

How many students will be mistreated or expelled under this new McCarthyism? How many teachers will be terminated or denied tenure? How many reporters will be fired? The Empire is having a field day with its new weapon against the free expression of ideas. Even bringing up the fact that the International Court of Justice found Israel guilty of genocide could cost someone their job.    

Some pro Israel institutions are more than willing to support the Empire's assault on our First Amendment rights. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance has come out with a definition of antisemitism that includes several examples of criticizing Israel. Many local and state governing bodies have accepted this flawed definition, without thinking too much about it. But conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel has dangerous consequences for freedom of speech throughout American society. Apartheid and genocide must always be resisted, despite what the Empire would have us believe.

Fred

Genocides of the Last Century

Genocides of the Last Century

The genocides of the last century have all had their official beginnings. For example, the "Final Solution" was officially implemented when Goring was appointed to head it on July 31, 1939. But he was really following a Nazi directive signed in January of that year which called for the "emigration and evacuation in the best possible way" of all Jews under German control. And all this planning was done after the establishment of concentration camps, most during the late 1930s. In fact, both the German Gestapo and Dachau concentration camp were formed back in 1933.

The extermination of the Palestinian People can be seen as commencing with this most recent mass murder in Gaza called Operation Swords of Iron. But it too has had several several starting points. The current genocide in Gaza was preceded by several other savage attacks by the Israeli Defense Force starting in 2006. Each has been more catastrophic than the last, with an ever widening bombing of schools, hospitals, and residential areas. Military action to murder the Palestinians in this open air prison has been fair game for almost two decades.  

At the end of genocide comes a recognition of how human beings can be goaded into becoming monsters. Many even celebrate the bloodletting with a deadly mixture of nationalism, religion, greed and hate. "The only good Indian is a dead Indian."

The American genocide of the Palestinian people will be remembered as the monstrous deed that ultimately undid our bloodthirsty empire.

The Self Awareness Of Empire

The holocaust of the Palestinians is upon us. The ongoing eradication of two million people isn't really hidden, nor is the fact that the US is the major driver for the butchery. We supply the bombs and the planes to make it happen. We send billions upon billions to Israel just in case they run out of money while pulverizing hospitals, schools and apartment buildings. And we defend Israel's crimes against humanity at the UN, making sure that the killing can go on without international interference.

Joe Sacco

But what has this genocide taught us about our own society? We don't have two political parties when it come to supporting this carnage; we have only one. They can demonize each other, but would never question the slaughter in Gaza, the West Bank, and now Lebanon.

We have such congeniality within our religious community that our ministers, priests and rabbis would never mention this holocaust amongst themselves or to their congregations. That wouldn't be the sensitive thing to do, so they all agree to avoid ever bringing it up.

We have a national media that continually defends Israel's wholesale war crimes. New York Times reporters were instructed not to use the words "genocide," "ethnic cleansing" or "occupied territory" when writing about Israel's massacrers. A similar directive must have been issued for the word "slaughter" which only gets applied to Hamas and not to the Israeli army.

We have have college and university presidents who fall all over themselves not to appear critical of Israel. They fire teachers who speak or write about this holocaust. They send in the cops to physically break up student groups that are demanding an end to apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

We have police departments that are more than willing to crack a few heads when students complain about free speech rights on campus. Chances are that at least some of their senior officials have been sent to Israel for "counterterrorism training." At least 1,000 top brass have taken part in such indoctrination, while thousands more have participated in US conferences run by Israeli security officials.

We have a political structure that is awash in large political donations. They are bribes, of course, like Sheldon Adelson's $20 million gift to the Republican Party that resulted in Trump moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In legal terms this is called "quid-pro-quo," the oxygen of our completely corrupted two party system. Take a peek at how much the Israel Lobby is able to give to almost every member of Congress by looking at OpenSecrets.org. So many of our representatives are paid hundreds of thousands to look the other way while children are purposely starved to death in Gaza.

Our children or grandchildren will be asking about all this someday. How is it that you let our country commit a genocide? Didn't you know that millions of women and children were being slaughtered by Israel? Were you aware? How in God's name could you have done nothing?

Fred Nagel

Benefit of the Doubt

As a U.S. veteran, I have always given the benefit of the doubt to my country. The millions killed in Korea and Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s just could have been the fault of US weapons makers, eager to trade body counts for corporate profits.

And then there were the millions slaughtered in the misguided U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Like the previous conflicts, the invasions were all based on dirty little lies about defending our country or spreading freedom to the Third World.

But America's unrelenting butchery in Gaza has nothing left to cover its war crimes. The Palestinian children are dying with no food, no water and no shelter from the storm. The empire has decided it needs these human sacrifices for some arcane geopolitical advantage. And the savagery is now going into its second year.

We are finally coming to realize that the empire and its grubby, bloodstained ally, Israel, are the true impediments to world peace. Most countries already know this, judging by the huge numbers of UN member states that castigate the US and Israel for their ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Only the American people stand in the way of the worst genocide since the Third Reich. It is a simple choice: demand an end to our country's mass murdering of children or become part of it. Insist that our venal Congress stop accepting millions in Israeli bribes, blood money that supports this most grotesque of all apartheid colonies.

Fred Nagel
8 Clay Ct.
Rhinebeck, NY 12572
845 430 4676

Common antisemitic words

Joe Sacco War On Gaza

Common antisemitic words and phrases to watch out for:

"NAKBA" Because it implies that Israel has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians forever. It's only been 75 years.

"HOLY LAND" Because it describes several religions in this region, when we know that only Jewish people are allowed.

"HOME DEMOLITIONS" Because everyone knows that only Israel is bulldozing houses in Israel/Palestine. There must be other countries doing a lot of bulldozing that are being routinely overlooked.

"APARTHEID" Because it suggests that Israel is a racist country. In fact, only Jimmy Carter and a few human rights organizations use this word. And they only use it because they are antisemites.

"WAR CRIMES" Because it brings to mind two million people starving and dying in Gaza. Its use at colleges will make some Jewish students sad and even upset.

"ISRAEL LOBBY" Because it implies that Israel bribes the US Congress. Congress takes boatloads of money from the oil lobby, the weapons makers, and the pharmaceuticals. Why is Israel being singled out?

"ONE STATE OR TWO STATE SOLUTIONS" Because Israel has been dead set against either solution for a very long time. Even asking this question is another sign of being an antisemite.

"FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE" Because the Israel Lobby says this is antisemitic. What gives people the right to put "Palestine" and "free" in the same sentence?

"GENOCIDE" Because everyone already knows that the IDF is slaughtering tens of thousands of Palestinians. Can't people get off Israel's back!

Fred Nagel

 

Trail Of Tears

Joe Sacco War On Gaza

 Trail Of Tears

Bodily feelings sometimes go away, but always return with a bit more urgency. Like hunger, you can forget it for a while, but it invariably comes back stronger. That is what the children learn, as they are slowly starved to death by the US/Israel death machine.

I find that as I immerse myself in day to day events, this slaughter is always waiting to come back to me. Could the country I love be starving children to death by the thousands? By the tens of thousands? Their spindly arms and legs have that Buchenwald look. I can't bear the images that wait for me to close my eyes.

Once the children behind barbed wire fences appear to me, my mind starts a desperate search. Could my own country be murdering children like this? Could our own churches and synagogues be cheering on the extermination? Did we catch this endless warfare and charnel house slaughter from the Nazis?

Both political parties want this butchery. All the money we have is going into more bombs and planes. We can't get enough of it. We wave our flags, heedless of what our country is really doing. We sing "God Bless America," as if we had the right to ask our lord to celebrate the holocaust of this century.

Are we incapable of empathy? Is this life but a trail of tears, the name given to our very own ethnic cleansing and annihilation of the Cherokee Nation? Who on earth can protect the Palestinians from the barbarians?

Fred Nagel

The Moral Issue Of Our Time

 

Palestinian artist Mohammad Sabaaneh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Moral Issue Of Our Time

America's genocide in Gaza will someday come back to haunt us all. Generations to come will describe the empire that talked about human rights and freedom, while it slaughtered tens of thousands of civilians, and starved their children.

For proof of American's war crimes and crimes against humanity, historians need only look at last week's shameful events. As a parting gift to Israel, Genocide Joe is sending another 8 billion in bombs and missiles to get the job done faster. This while the House of Representatives is writing up a plan to sanction the International Criminal Court for its attempts to end the butchery.

To be honest, our Congress is awash in Zionist bribes. A quick look at opensecrets.org reveals the tens of thousands going to almost every member of this unscrupulous and venal institution. For 2024 the Israel Lobby spent twice as much on bribes than even the weapons makers.

As many of us know, our government represents the interests of the billionaire elites rather than the workers of this country. They don't care about our own children, much less about the wandering hoards of Palestinian youths, crying about their murdered parents and looking for a piece of bread.

Our news media suffers from the same affliction. It is owned by the billionaires, just like Congress and our president. That leaves only us to resist the American genocide of the Palestinian people. It is the moral issue of our time, the true measure of our humanity.

Fred Nagel