I
am currently reading Brant Rosen’s Wrestling in the Daylight. Respecting that I have decided to resurrect my
dormant blog to capture some of my longer Facebook thoughts and quotes. What is below seemed like a good place to
begin the resurrection.
The
following quote is from American Jewish Rabbi Brandt Rosen on June 15,
2009. It demonstrates that not much has
changed with Israeli government’s policies and Netanyahu’s ideology in the last
seven years. Just this past Sunday the
Israeli government approved $20 million in financing for the expansion of settlements
in the West Bank; Settlements that are illegal under international law. Why doesn’t the US stand up to these illegal
actions? One potential reason is that it
is political suicide. In 1992 George
H.W. Bush stated that US Aid to Israel would be contingent upon Israel
discontinuing settlement expansion. Later that year he would lose the
presidential election to Bill Clinton.
We
are more than 20 years removed from that event and I believe the winds are
shifting. Bernie Sanders recently ran a
very competitive campaign being open and honest about the oppression that
Palestinians live under and being very critical of the disproportionate damage
the IDF caused in the last Gaza War.
However, while the winds may be shifting toward justice and a
recognition of international law here in the U.S. I remain skeptical with respect to Israel: Brant’s
quote:
“I’m
in agreement with the pundits who conclude that there was absolutely nothing
new for consideration offered in Netanyahu’s speech. Perhaps he achieved a personal milestone by
finally uttering the words ‘Palestinian state,’ but beyond this, it was a tune
we’ve all heard before. He offered ‘peace
negotiations immediately without prior conditions,’ then proceeded to spell out
the all-too-familiar prior conditions that everyone knows are nonstarters for
the Palestinians (i.e. Jerusalem remains the united capital of Israel,’
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