As some of you might or might not know, I am a big defender of the Jewish people. Usually my biggest fights with my ideological soul-mates are over issues having to do with the Jewish Palestinian conflict, and Israel's right to exist in the Middle East. No need rehashing that fight tonight. My position on the matter is pretty clear.
Still, tonight we have to revisit that subject, because Israel is once again in the news. Chalk it up to a raid on an alleged humanitarian boat taking supplies to Gaza. Quite a few activist were killed, (I am hearing anywhere from 7-16) and since most of them were Turkish, the Turkish government, along with the rest if the International community, is pissed. The Turkish Ambassador is calling it a very sad day and as is usually the case when Israel is involved with these types of incidents, the usual suspects are all coming to the fore.
They are burning Israeli flags in Istanbul and Athens, the UN has called for an investigation, and the Israeli PM canceled a trip to meet his O ness because of the crisis. They are calling the people who lost their lives pro-Palestinian peace activist and they allege that Israeli commandos stormed their boat and slaughtered them.
"So field, are you going to come out and condemn your beloved Israel now?" Come on field, it's clearly an act of aggression on their part which caused these poor people to lose their lives. The Turkish aid group involved released a video, field, why don't you look at it?"
Yes, I am sorry for the people who lost their lives. But unlike the folks who have been e-mailing me and commenting on this subject, I don't know all of the facts. I do know that the Israeli government has denied that this is how things went down, and they have pointed to the very same video in the link above as proof of their position.
And, for the record, if we are going to keep it real with each other; let's talk about Turkey for a minute: What's with all the outrage when they have a Kurdish population in their own damn country who have been at the shitty end of some serious human rights abuses? "People in glass houses." I mean if we are going to keep it real.
Look, I am no fan of Benjamin Netanyahu. As far as I am concerned he represents within Israel what right wingers represent in this country, and I think that there is a dangerous escalation taking place in the Middle East right now. (Poor Obama) With Netanyahu in charge there is no telling where that region is heading. So I have some concerns.
But I will end this post where I started: I don't know all the facts, so I will take a wait and see attitude before I jump all in. Unlike some folks who I just know can't wait too tell me about the evil Israelis.
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