Our Zoom call this week, for paid subscribers, will be at our regular time, Friday at Noon EST. Our guests will be Huwaida Arraf and Rabbi Asher Lopatin, for what will be an unusual and, I hope, important conversation. Huwaida is a Palestinian-American activist and former Congressional candidate in Michigan. Asher is
but if the IDF thinks its record is so good why is it so fervently opposed to any outside investigations--by any international human rights group or organization-of its behavior? Also worth noting that Israeli human rights groups--including Breaking the Silence, which takes testimony from former soldiers--take a far darker view of IDF conduct. I don't think Israeli soldiers are bad people. not at all. But when you're overseeing a civilian population to whom the state is not accountable because they aren't citizens, and you have almost complete impunity, I think any military is likely to do terrible things. The problem isn't the quality of the people in the military. It's the impunity.
Richard--in regards to this list: I'm against any references to religion or ethnicity or race in national anthems because they are exclusionary of the people in that country who don't share them. But references that equate citizenship with a particular ethnic/religious/racial group are far more exclusionary when they are married to state policies that discriminate against people who don't share that ethnicity/religion/race. So a British Jew, Muslim or British Hindu may not like Christian references in the national anthem but they do, for the most part, enjoy equality under the law. In Israel, the exclusionary language of Hatikvah is mirrored in the most profound ways in law: the fact that Jews can come to israel and gain citizenship on day 1 but expelled Palestinians and their descendants can't return, the fact that 80% of the Palestinians under Israeli control (W Bank, Gaza, E Jerusalem) can't become citizens or vote for the government that controls their lives and that even Palestinian citizens are fundamentally discriminated in terms of land by a land authority that gives almost half its seats to the Jewish National Fund. That's what makes the reference to "Jewish soul" matter so much. That, I think, is what Lucy and virtually all Palestinian citizens are reacting too. I won't have time for another post on this thread but wanted to respond to your note.
El Salvador - The national anthem of El Salvador, "Himno Nacional de El Salvador", contains the phrase "Al trabajo y a la paz, cristiano pueblo salvadoreño" (To work and to peace, Christian Salvadoran people).
Federated States of Micronesia - The national anthem of the Federated States of Micronesia, "Praising God", contains the phrase "Praising God for the Christian faith".
Marshall Islands - The national anthem of the Marshall Islands, "Patriotic Exhortation", contains the phrase "Christian nation, Marshall Islands".
Nauru - The national anthem of Nauru, "Nauru Bwiema", contains the phrase "God save Nauru, our Christian land".
Palau - The national anthem of Palau, "Let Us All Unite", contains the phrase "Christian nation, Palau".
Dominica - The national anthem of Dominica, "O Lord, Our God, We Praise Thee", contains the phrase "O Lord, Our God, We Praise Thee, Thou Christian nation".
Grenada - The national anthem of Grenada, "The Hills of Grenada", contains the phrase "And may God bless our land, the land of the free, the land of the Christian".
Saint Kitts and Nevis - The national anthem of Saint Kitts and Nevis, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past", contains the phrase "O God, Our Help in Ages Past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home".
Saint Lucia - The national anthem of Saint Lucia, "The Saint Lucia National Anthem", contains the phrase "May God bless our land, the land of the free, the land of the Christian".
Muslim:
Afghanistan - The national anthem of Afghanistan, "Hamd Paigham-e-Nabi" (Praise be to the Prophet's Message), contains the phrase "Islam, Islam, Islam".
Iran - The national anthem of Iran, "Sorud-e Melli-e Iran" (National Anthem of Iran), contains the phrase "In keshvar-e Islami-e Iran" (This Islamic country of Iran).
Mauritania - The national anthem of Mauritania, "Hamdulah" (Praise be to God), contains the phrase "Wa islamuna ad-din" (And our religion is Islam).
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The State of Israel was founded on May 14, 1948, as a Jewish state, in accordance with the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which called for the creation of two states in Palestine, one Jewish and one Arab.
Since its founding, Israel has been a state that was has a Jewish character reflected in its laws, its symbols, and its culture. And yes, in it’s national anthem. That does not mean that the 21% of Arab Israelis cannot live as equal citizens and become doctors, lawyers, politicians, or journalists. They can and they are.
All these comments reveal the bankruptcy of the national anthem itself -- any national anthem -- which is a celebration of nationalism, itself a suspect, dangerous ideology defined by exclusion.
First of all, Lucy Aharish is perfectly "able" to sing Hatikvah even though it refers to the Jewish spirit or soul. Her logic that she can't sing it because "it refers to nefesh Yehudi, a Jewish soul" makes absolutely no sense, and even if it did, one individual person for some reason feeling uncomfortable with a national anthem does not make a state with one ethno-religious group "racist."
No one besides you and Aharish are saying that singing the national anthem "requires you to have the soul of a particular ethno-religious group". The concept is completely absurd.
It's time to get over the fact that Israel is a state for a particular ethno-religious groups, just like dozens of other ones. How do British atheists feel when they sing "God Save the Queen"?
Honest question, Peter. Do you think the NAACP is racist, because it exists only for the benefit of Black people?
Thanks, Peter. The house of cards called Israel is being dismantled, card by card, in the face of reality. The protesters must wake up to the historic correction that may have a chance to save Israel from itself--"Equality or nothing", as Edward Said wrote, in any number of states one's heart desires.
Lucy Aharish is most incredible and more Jewish than most jews, she hosts the program DemocraTV that I listen all the time. She interview and talk to all the leaders of Israel, politician, rabbis, and artist who expresses their love to her.
The reason there is no state of Palestine is Palestinian rejection. Period. Palestinians adopted the uncompromising stance regarding the ‘right of return’ that Erekat himself published an article in the Guardian, stating that the main principle in negotiations was the nonstarter issue of ‘right of return.’
This is not how to promote a fair settlement of ‘two states for two peoples’. This is how to eliminate it. And it’s the Palestinian people who are the ones most hurt by this.
Peter and his followers should be focusing on the corrupt Palestinian leaders to advocate for a Palestinian state and stop rejecting an Israeli one (the very definition of ‘right of return’.
The usual comments from Zionists who refuse to even consider the possibility that their state was founded on racist exclusion, brutality and mass death to Palestinians. Yes, that is deeply disturbing. But, as we are seeing around the world (and as happened to me), it is becoming the accepted understanding of what Israel is all about. Many Zionists have always known this and just don't care. Democracy and freedom must come to Israel/Palestine.
but if the IDF thinks its record is so good why is it so fervently opposed to any outside investigations--by any international human rights group or organization-of its behavior? Also worth noting that Israeli human rights groups--including Breaking the Silence, which takes testimony from former soldiers--take a far darker view of IDF conduct. I don't think Israeli soldiers are bad people. not at all. But when you're overseeing a civilian population to whom the state is not accountable because they aren't citizens, and you have almost complete impunity, I think any military is likely to do terrible things. The problem isn't the quality of the people in the military. It's the impunity.
Richard--in regards to this list: I'm against any references to religion or ethnicity or race in national anthems because they are exclusionary of the people in that country who don't share them. But references that equate citizenship with a particular ethnic/religious/racial group are far more exclusionary when they are married to state policies that discriminate against people who don't share that ethnicity/religion/race. So a British Jew, Muslim or British Hindu may not like Christian references in the national anthem but they do, for the most part, enjoy equality under the law. In Israel, the exclusionary language of Hatikvah is mirrored in the most profound ways in law: the fact that Jews can come to israel and gain citizenship on day 1 but expelled Palestinians and their descendants can't return, the fact that 80% of the Palestinians under Israeli control (W Bank, Gaza, E Jerusalem) can't become citizens or vote for the government that controls their lives and that even Palestinian citizens are fundamentally discriminated in terms of land by a land authority that gives almost half its seats to the Jewish National Fund. That's what makes the reference to "Jewish soul" matter so much. That, I think, is what Lucy and virtually all Palestinian citizens are reacting too. I won't have time for another post on this thread but wanted to respond to your note.
Thank you, Virginia. I appreciate it
Christian:
El Salvador - The national anthem of El Salvador, "Himno Nacional de El Salvador", contains the phrase "Al trabajo y a la paz, cristiano pueblo salvadoreño" (To work and to peace, Christian Salvadoran people).
Federated States of Micronesia - The national anthem of the Federated States of Micronesia, "Praising God", contains the phrase "Praising God for the Christian faith".
Marshall Islands - The national anthem of the Marshall Islands, "Patriotic Exhortation", contains the phrase "Christian nation, Marshall Islands".
Nauru - The national anthem of Nauru, "Nauru Bwiema", contains the phrase "God save Nauru, our Christian land".
Palau - The national anthem of Palau, "Let Us All Unite", contains the phrase "Christian nation, Palau".
Dominica - The national anthem of Dominica, "O Lord, Our God, We Praise Thee", contains the phrase "O Lord, Our God, We Praise Thee, Thou Christian nation".
Grenada - The national anthem of Grenada, "The Hills of Grenada", contains the phrase "And may God bless our land, the land of the free, the land of the Christian".
Saint Kitts and Nevis - The national anthem of Saint Kitts and Nevis, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past", contains the phrase "O God, Our Help in Ages Past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home".
Saint Lucia - The national anthem of Saint Lucia, "The Saint Lucia National Anthem", contains the phrase "May God bless our land, the land of the free, the land of the Christian".
Muslim:
Afghanistan - The national anthem of Afghanistan, "Hamd Paigham-e-Nabi" (Praise be to the Prophet's Message), contains the phrase "Islam, Islam, Islam".
Iran - The national anthem of Iran, "Sorud-e Melli-e Iran" (National Anthem of Iran), contains the phrase "In keshvar-e Islami-e Iran" (This Islamic country of Iran).
Mauritania - The national anthem of Mauritania, "Hamdulah" (Praise be to God), contains the phrase "Wa islamuna ad-din" (And our religion is Islam).
---------
The State of Israel was founded on May 14, 1948, as a Jewish state, in accordance with the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which called for the creation of two states in Palestine, one Jewish and one Arab.
Since its founding, Israel has been a state that was has a Jewish character reflected in its laws, its symbols, and its culture. And yes, in it’s national anthem. That does not mean that the 21% of Arab Israelis cannot live as equal citizens and become doctors, lawyers, politicians, or journalists. They can and they are.
All these comments reveal the bankruptcy of the national anthem itself -- any national anthem -- which is a celebration of nationalism, itself a suspect, dangerous ideology defined by exclusion.
Peter, this is even less coherent than usual.
First of all, Lucy Aharish is perfectly "able" to sing Hatikvah even though it refers to the Jewish spirit or soul. Her logic that she can't sing it because "it refers to nefesh Yehudi, a Jewish soul" makes absolutely no sense, and even if it did, one individual person for some reason feeling uncomfortable with a national anthem does not make a state with one ethno-religious group "racist."
No one besides you and Aharish are saying that singing the national anthem "requires you to have the soul of a particular ethno-religious group". The concept is completely absurd.
It's time to get over the fact that Israel is a state for a particular ethno-religious groups, just like dozens of other ones. How do British atheists feel when they sing "God Save the Queen"?
Honest question, Peter. Do you think the NAACP is racist, because it exists only for the benefit of Black people?
So Jews shouldn't have rights because a song might make Lucy Aharish feel sad.
This is a joke, right?
ran--what's your email?
actually i already have it. but won't be for this week
it's a thought. what's your email
yes, unfortunately. i'm figuring out what to do in his absence
A very good article, from a man who writes from the heart. A decent, honest, compassionate, good soul. Thank you Peter.
Thanks, Peter. The house of cards called Israel is being dismantled, card by card, in the face of reality. The protesters must wake up to the historic correction that may have a chance to save Israel from itself--"Equality or nothing", as Edward Said wrote, in any number of states one's heart desires.
Lucy Aharish is most incredible and more Jewish than most jews, she hosts the program DemocraTV that I listen all the time. She interview and talk to all the leaders of Israel, politician, rabbis, and artist who expresses their love to her.
The reason there is no state of Palestine is Palestinian rejection. Period. Palestinians adopted the uncompromising stance regarding the ‘right of return’ that Erekat himself published an article in the Guardian, stating that the main principle in negotiations was the nonstarter issue of ‘right of return.’
This is not how to promote a fair settlement of ‘two states for two peoples’. This is how to eliminate it. And it’s the Palestinian people who are the ones most hurt by this.
Peter and his followers should be focusing on the corrupt Palestinian leaders to advocate for a Palestinian state and stop rejecting an Israeli one (the very definition of ‘right of return’.
Excellent article: https://fathomjournal.org/a-modern-history-of-palestinian-rejectionism/
The usual comments from Zionists who refuse to even consider the possibility that their state was founded on racist exclusion, brutality and mass death to Palestinians. Yes, that is deeply disturbing. But, as we are seeing around the world (and as happened to me), it is becoming the accepted understanding of what Israel is all about. Many Zionists have always known this and just don't care. Democracy and freedom must come to Israel/Palestine.