Thursday, March 11, 2010

I know this is like pissing into the wind, but...

I say this knowing I am pissing into the wind - and I don't want to annoy or hurt any of my Jewish friends, but why do we continue to fund Israel when they shit on us all the time?
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I used to think my friends from England were just very anti-Israel, an outpost of freedom in the middle east.
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But Israel has been using our weapons to inflict civilian harm ("non-proportional response to eliminate a threat") on Gaza. And, in fact, they have closed Gaza to imports because they (and the US) don't like the legally elected government.
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Now, I am not saying this isn't their right. They are in a bad neighborhood and have a crazy assed political system that rewards extremism. AT THE SAME TIME, I have a right to say, not with my fucking tax money to the tune of $5 Billion plus a year.
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They have promised not to build settlements - and yet they announced new ones as our Vice President was there talking to them -but he found out via the press corps.
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I don't say we abandon them as friends, but I do say that we treat them as friends - not as allies. Stop sending our money there, but keep the free trade agreement. Stop turning a blind eye to their faults simply because they are less nasty than the other guys. At this point, stealing land in the West Bank (and yes, the US has "committed" itself to Israel's 1967 borders), breaking their commitments and starving the civilian population of Gaza - I am not sure they are less nasty than the other guys.
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As for a rebuttal from any friends, feel free to send it to me and I will post it as an Update (with or without a signature).
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I just feel like the United States is looking like the battered wife that returns time and again to get punched by the drunk, who wakes up and says he's sorry and it won't happen again. Only now, he doesn't even bother to pretend it won't happen again.
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AND to my friends in the UK, one of the reasons that a significant portion of the Evangelical Right supports the Jewish People of Israel is that they believe that the Israelis will rebuild the Temple and start the Apocalypse - in which the Jews will be slaughtered as Jesus returns to Earth. Which is an odd reason to support the countr, but there you have it. The Israelis are happy for support, even if it is based on a premise in which they die in "rivers running red with the blood of the unbelievers".