Confessions of an Israeli anti-settler Bigot

"Settlement has long been, and remains, the fuel for the fire of de-legitimization, the basis of charges of apartheid and ethnic cleansing. It undermines the foundation of the the idea of a Jewish state. It turns the very word settlements into an obscenity."

Interesting blog post in Haaretz today. It's great to hear Israelis speak out against the settlements and how our money is being spent. I just hope this voice gets strong enough to counteract the damage being done. He makes a great point about Jerusalem. The tourism centers being built on top of Palestinian neighborhoods are indeed sheer "cockamamie." Why would Israelis want to destroy historic parts of the city and replace them with kitschy tourist traps? I think the assumption that all Israelis support that decision is damn insulting.

One of the comments:
"Israel is careening downwards on a path to extremism, and too many Jews are going along with it. I know plenty of them are unhappy with what's happening, and I just hope that like you they find the courage to speak up loudly and save Israel from itself."

Half of the comments were similarly supportive. Yet, the winning argument is still "It's all Israel, and it's all for the Jews." And a few commenters referred to Obama as "Hussein." Seriously? Are we already looking at Huckabee the Palestine-denier for 2012? At times I think that would be a fun battle. In an exhausting, "I can't believe this is even a debate" kind of way.

We shall see.


Peace, peace, and that's my piece
It's still all about the bullet in the belly of the beast
From the East my brother, we came
The lessons might change
But the essence of the message is the same.