Macrolog
Israel Under the Spotlight
Earlier this week I saw some pretty disturbing pictures of Rachel Corrie, an American student and peace activist, who had been literally run over by a bulldozer sanctioned by the Israeli military as she protested against the needless destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The images, though fuzzy and blurred, were undoubtedly powerful, even frightening to look at. Especially since Israel are supposed to be ‘the good guys’.
I’ve learned enough by now to know that such images (some of which can be seen here) never tell the whole story—in fact a number have pointed out some potentially significant discrepencies between photos of the event—so I did some searching and discovered this, a series of e-mails from Rachel to her family in Olympia, Washington published in yesterday’s Guardian (there are additional e-mails archived here), where she gives a vivid account of everyday life in the Palestinian territories.
Somewhat related to this, albeit unintentionally, on Monday night the BBC broadcast a shocking documentary on the plight of Mordechai Vanunu, the whistle-blower who exposed Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program, and his illegal apprehension and treatment at the hands of the Israeli government. As to be expected, the Israeli response was one of indignation.
How much is it going it take for the world to realise the corrupt nature and moral bankruptcy of the Israeli government? The evidence is there. Ariel Sharon and his ilk are right up there with Saddam Hussein in the bad guy stakes.
Wed 19 Mar 2003 at 20:04 ·
Comments (6 responses)
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Posted by eoin
Thu 20 Mar 2003
at 16:15
which is why a court in belgium ruled a few weeks ago that once he is out of power, he can be tried for war crimes against palestinians in the lebanon (i think it was the lebanon anyway)
I know about the Belgium court ruling, but thanks for reminding me Eoin.
There was something else that I was going to add to this post, it’s a personal observation, I thought it might have been a bit too inflammatory. But I might as well speak my mind; it certainly seems, with respect to the situation in Israel, that anyone who opposes the Israeli government is unfairly tarred as an anti-Semite. At times, it even seems to me that they play the Holocaust card with relish (ie the world feels guilt for what happened to Jews under Hitler during WWII, and so in reparation we must let Israel do whatever they want), which is a despicable thing, and a big up-yours to those who suffered through that horrible period. As far as I am concerned, the people of Israel are entitled to a homeland, but so are the Palestinians, and the Kurds, and any other disenfranchised peoples around the world.
Posted by eoin
Sat 22 Mar 2003
at 16:20
by the way, dunno if you saw it on tv, a documentary called “The revolution will not be televised” where an irish film crew were making a documentary about the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, and got caught up in the coup last year. If you didn’t see it, or you want to check out more information on it, go to www.chavezthefilm.com
I saw the last few minutes of it the first time it was shown, a few weeks ago. I’ve got to see the whole thing, it looked really good.
Posted by eoin
Sun 23 Mar 2003
at 16:31
..on a totally different tv note, did you see the a-team yesterday, hulk hogan was in it, looking strangely younger, yet just as bald. it seems himself and BA had been old pals back in ‘nam, during the Tet offensive
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a twenty-something journalist, editor and all-round creative type living in Dublin, Ireland.
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You are reading Israel Under the Spotlight, a Macrolog entry by MacDara Conroy. It is filed under Current Affairs, and was published in March 2003.
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