I?ll ?fess up: I could be comfortable living in the San Francisco Bay area. I?m a moderate to liberal person. I passed through Berkeley, that liberal bastion, during my first visit to the region.
I can?t be comfortable living with the lopsided attitude against Israel in the Bay area. Berkeley City Council took Israel-bashing to a new low on September 9, hours after two Hamas suicide bombers murdered several Israelis at a Jerusalem restaurant, including Dr. David Applebaum, the emergency room physician who treated terror victims.
That night, council members voted 5-4 for a resolution demanding an investigation into the death of Rachel Corrie, the butt-inski from Olympia, Washington, who thought she could block a bulldozer without getting hurt. She was trying to prevent an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing a Gaza home near the Egyptian border when the bulldozer ran her over. The Israeli military determined that the driver did not intend to harm her.
Corrie was part of the International Solidarity Movement, an organization that advocates for the Palestinians, which is fine, but has rarely if ever lifted a finger to help Jewish victims of the war. ISM members ? many of whom are Americans and Europeans - have regularly attempted to disrupt Israeli military activities in a sovereign nation where they are but guests.
The council members defeated another resolution that called for an investigation into the deaths of all Americans killed in three years of war in Israel, including Berkeley student Marla Bennett, who died in a suicide bombing.
The Berkeley vote was brought to light by John Gertz in a guest opinion published by the San Francisco Chronicle. Gertz, a past president of the Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, identified council members in the majority as Linda Maio, Kriss Washington, Maudelle Shirek, Donna Spring and Margaret Breland.
Gertz eloquently exposes the council majority?s hypocrisy when he writes, ?Rachel Corrie did not deserve to die, but neither did she deserve to be canonized? Contrast the circumstances of her death with the more than 800 people murdered by Palestinian terrorists... Every single victim was murdered with malicious intent. On all this carnage, the council?s cynical foreign policy stands mute.?
To rival Berkeley?s council majority in tastelessness, two members of the International Solidarity Movement from El Cerrito wrote in a follow-up letter to the Chronicle that the ISM ?does not ?endorse? violence. It merely recognizes the right of self-defense, i.e. that of an occupied population to resist.?
Does resistance mean starting a war after a more dovish prime minister offered them most of what they wanted?
Paul Larudee and James Harris posed these questions: ?Was it an accident or deliberate? What is or should be the status of unarmed human rights activists with respect to armed forces? Should the United States be financing the armed forces that commit such acts??
Investigators for the sovereign nation where this occurred determined that Corrie?s death was an accident. ISM members know going in that they are guests in a foreign country. If they don?t like it, they should stay out of trouble or stay home.
The question of the status of unarmed ?human rights activists? is a legitimate concern, but ISM members are troublemakers who could not even draw much sympathy from a writer for Mother Jones, a liberal San Fran-based national magazine. They should be deported the instant they interfere with governmental activities.
As to the third question - what acts are they talking about? They need to clarify this.
Finally, a sample of their sensitivity: ?This is not to say that Rachel?s life was more important than anyone else?s. Marla Bennett?s death was equally tragic, but in her case we know who did it, that he paid the price, that it was deliberate and that our government does not support it.?
Equally tragic? He paid the price? Bennett did not intentionally put herself in harm?s way for a questionable cause. Her killer is now enjoying the pleasures of 72 virgins. Or is that a 72-year-old virgin? Besides, the Berkeley council could have at least condemned the terrorist attacks.
Besides, I thought that a suicide bombing is Harris and Larudee?s idea of ?self-defense.?
I can?t be comfortable living with the lopsided attitude against Israel in the Bay area. Berkeley City Council took Israel-bashing to a new low on September 9, hours after two Hamas suicide bombers murdered several Israelis at a Jerusalem restaurant, including Dr. David Applebaum, the emergency room physician who treated terror victims.
That night, council members voted 5-4 for a resolution demanding an investigation into the death of Rachel Corrie, the butt-inski from Olympia, Washington, who thought she could block a bulldozer without getting hurt. She was trying to prevent an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing a Gaza home near the Egyptian border when the bulldozer ran her over. The Israeli military determined that the driver did not intend to harm her.
Corrie was part of the International Solidarity Movement, an organization that advocates for the Palestinians, which is fine, but has rarely if ever lifted a finger to help Jewish victims of the war. ISM members ? many of whom are Americans and Europeans - have regularly attempted to disrupt Israeli military activities in a sovereign nation where they are but guests.
The council members defeated another resolution that called for an investigation into the deaths of all Americans killed in three years of war in Israel, including Berkeley student Marla Bennett, who died in a suicide bombing.
The Berkeley vote was brought to light by John Gertz in a guest opinion published by the San Francisco Chronicle. Gertz, a past president of the Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, identified council members in the majority as Linda Maio, Kriss Washington, Maudelle Shirek, Donna Spring and Margaret Breland.
Gertz eloquently exposes the council majority?s hypocrisy when he writes, ?Rachel Corrie did not deserve to die, but neither did she deserve to be canonized? Contrast the circumstances of her death with the more than 800 people murdered by Palestinian terrorists... Every single victim was murdered with malicious intent. On all this carnage, the council?s cynical foreign policy stands mute.?
To rival Berkeley?s council majority in tastelessness, two members of the International Solidarity Movement from El Cerrito wrote in a follow-up letter to the Chronicle that the ISM ?does not ?endorse? violence. It merely recognizes the right of self-defense, i.e. that of an occupied population to resist.?
Does resistance mean starting a war after a more dovish prime minister offered them most of what they wanted?
Paul Larudee and James Harris posed these questions: ?Was it an accident or deliberate? What is or should be the status of unarmed human rights activists with respect to armed forces? Should the United States be financing the armed forces that commit such acts??
Investigators for the sovereign nation where this occurred determined that Corrie?s death was an accident. ISM members know going in that they are guests in a foreign country. If they don?t like it, they should stay out of trouble or stay home.
The question of the status of unarmed ?human rights activists? is a legitimate concern, but ISM members are troublemakers who could not even draw much sympathy from a writer for Mother Jones, a liberal San Fran-based national magazine. They should be deported the instant they interfere with governmental activities.
As to the third question - what acts are they talking about? They need to clarify this.
Finally, a sample of their sensitivity: ?This is not to say that Rachel?s life was more important than anyone else?s. Marla Bennett?s death was equally tragic, but in her case we know who did it, that he paid the price, that it was deliberate and that our government does not support it.?
Equally tragic? He paid the price? Bennett did not intentionally put herself in harm?s way for a questionable cause. Her killer is now enjoying the pleasures of 72 virgins. Or is that a 72-year-old virgin? Besides, the Berkeley council could have at least condemned the terrorist attacks.
Besides, I thought that a suicide bombing is Harris and Larudee?s idea of ?self-defense.?