“Tell me who you walk
with and I’ll tell you who you are,” author Esmeralda Santiago wrote. I recalled this Puerto Rican proverb after
watching All In with Chris Hayes on August 1, 2014.
The segment was about
the civilian death toll in Gaza. Chris
Hayes cited a Wall Street Journal op-ed article, “Hamas’s Civilian Death
Strategy,” written by Thane Rosenbaum.
Mr. Rosenbaum argues Hamas’s uses civilians and children as “cannon
fodder” to entice worldwide sympathy for Palestinians and condemnation towards
Israel.[1]
Furthermore, Mr.
Rosenbaum argues, “On some basic level, you forfeit your right to be called
civilians when you freely elect members of a terrorist organization as
statesmen, invite them to dinner with blood on their hands and allow them to
set up shop in your living room as their base of operations. At that point you
begin to look a lot more like conscripted soldiers than innocent civilians. And
you have wittingly made yourself targets.” [2]
Also, in the segment, the
President of the New York Board of Rabbis, Rabbi David Seth Kirshner said at a
Pro-Israel rally in New York City, “When you are part of an election process
that asks for a terrorist organization which proclaims in word and in deed that
their primary objective is to destroy their neighboring country and to not
build schools or commerce or jobs, you are complicit and you are not a civilian
casualty.” [3]
I recalled a similar attitude
towards civilian casualties. “The American
people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will;
a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen,
consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the
Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous
killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and
choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they
want.
“The
American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb
us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine,
the Armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which
insure the blockade of Iraq. These tax
dollars are given to Israel for it to continue to attack us and penetrate our
lands. So the American people are the
ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the
expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected
candidates.
“This
is why the American people cannot be innocent of all the crimes committed by
the Americans…” [4] The author is Osama bin Laden.
Terrorism is a crime against humanity. But Mr. Rosenbaum and Rabbi Kirshner are not
censured for advocating state sponsored terrorism against the Palestinians. Mr. Rosenbaum and Rabbi Kirshner believe
Israel occupies the moral high ground arguing there are no innocent
Palestinians. However, agreeing in
theory with Osama bin Laden, they support the same outcome, shoulder to
shoulder, ideological soul mates with bin Laden, above Gaza’s destruction. “Tell me who you walk with and I’ll tell you
who you are.”
[1] “Hamas’s
Civilian Death Strategy,” Thane Rosenbaum, Wall Street Journal, 7/21/14.
[2] “Hamas’s
Civilian Death Strategy,” Thane Rosenbaum, Wall Street Journal, 7/21/14.
[3] “If
You Voted for Hamas, Israel Has a Right to Kill You,” Phillip Weiss, Op Ed News,
7/30/14.
[4] “Full
Text bin Laden’s Letter to America,” The Guardian, 11/4/02
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