- News story: Israel’s attack on Gaza comes just as a truce was being successfully negotiated with Hamas. The airstrike that killed Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari came just hours after he received the proposal, which was being negotiated by Gershon Baskin, an Israeli peace activist, who was also involved in negotiating the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit one year ago. He is interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. Watch the interview: http://www.democracynow.org/2012/11/16/israeli_negotiator_hamas_commander_was_assassinated#.UKZv-K7OFmE.reddit Read his article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/opinion/israels-shortsighted-assassination.html?_r=0
- March for Gaza – TODAY IN DENVER – 1 pm, starting at the Capitol. Details: http://billboards.webstarts.com/billboard_2.html?r=20121116013720
- Kai Staats, son of Linda Staats, who is part of the Rocky Mountain Synod staff, is working in Jerusalem with Bishop Mounib Younan and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land, as the Interim Communications Director for the ELCJHL and assistant to Bishop Younan, on a 3-4 month contract. Kai is a lay person with a background in business and web development. His mom describes him as a “general entreperneur/inventor ….a world traveler, creative thinker and writer.” She put me in touch with the blog he is writing about his experiences in the Holy Land and all he is learning. His recent posts tell his story of living in Jerusalem as rockets and fighter jets are overhead: http://www.kaistaats.com/blog/category/out-of-the-middle-east/
I’m personally struck by the disparity in how the news is
reported about the attacks on Gazans and the attacks on Israelis. The blame for
Israel’s attack falls on Hamas. I haven’t heard reporters question Israel’s
assertion that Hamas is responsible for Israel’s attacks. What is missing in
these reports is Israel’s everyday harassment and airstrikes on Gaza or
information about the Gazan farmers, fishermen and children killed over the
last month by Israeli military.
Reporters let Israeli spokespersons get away with claiming
that they are only defending themselves. The only broadcast I’ve seen/heard on
mainstream US media outlets that has mentioned the occupation as the cause of the
current violence was Piers Morgan’s interview with Hannan Ashrawi last night.
But in his interview with Michael Oren a few moments earlier he let the Israeli
ambassador go unchallenged when he blamed the Gazans for Israel’s attacks.
The story I’m hearing on the US news is that Israel is only
defending themselves—in spite of their airstrikes and bombs, they are seen as
the helpless victims, while Hamas is the aggressor. I am frustrated that no
reporters are investigating Israel’s stranglehold on Gaza—how the blockade is
the primary reason Gazans are suffering, unable to import or export goods. In
2009-10, Israel destroyed their infrastructure—electrical plants, schools,
government buildings. And since 2010, in spite of Ambassador Oren’s assertion
that Israel has withdrawn from Gaza, Israel continues to control its borders,
refusing to allow building materials through the checkpoints.
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