"How The Invasion Of Gaza Changed Rabbi Brant Rosen's Mind"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/how-2009-invasion-of-gaza-changed.html
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http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/how-2009-invasion-of-gaza-changed.html
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David McReynolds
(I am writing) with a sense of the deep tragedy of Gaza that has not yet seen the end of what is now clearly a criminal military adventure by Israel.
I do not politically agree with Hamas, but at this point the issue is not the political problems with Hamas, but the profound dangers which face us as a result of Israel's actions.(It is absolutely true, as Israelis might argue, that the US has done the same thing "in spades" in Vietnam, in Iraq, in Panama, in Afghanistan, and the Russians in Chechnya. But in legal terms it does not help the criminal, when brought before the bar of world opinion, to argue that the arresting officers might also be guilty. The Nuremberg Trials were important - even though, given the level of bombing of civilian targets in Germany and Japan, the victors were also guilty).
A friend noted that even Jon Stewart in his Daily Show has danced around the Gaza issue - it is too hot even for him. (His fans might drop him a note asking when he will take it up).
One might hope that the pacifist and peace groups, in the US and abroad, would form immediate working coalitions focused on the demand Israel end the blockade and the killing in Gaza. (One does not need to demand an end of the Hamas rockets - they will end the moment the blockade is lifted). And such groups should seek what links they can with democratic left groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America, the Socialist Party, and the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. We saw such a movement in the Vietnam War. We need it again. And we need it urgently. Israel has not only done terrible damage to Gaza, it has wounded itself far more deeply than it realizes.
(the writer is retired, was for many years on the staff of the War Resisters League, was twice the Socialist Party's candidate for President and served a term as Chair of the War Resisters Internatonal and can be reached at: davidmcreynolds7@gmail.com)
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