A Different Kind of Donkey #2 (For Sale)
I could go on and on about the different meanings such a statement has, but for now I’ll focus on the literal. While I’m no scatologist, some shit does occasionally catch my attention, especially when it smells funny…
It’s something to laugh and cry at – some Israeli guy selling donkey doo… as Holy Shit! Yes, he encloses turds in plastic; it’s all presented in a blue box. The pieces of shit sell as high-end souvenirs for $70 dollars each. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true – people can actually buy poo-poo when they visit Israel. Even if the cubes of crap don’t sell out this holiday season, it’s sad that some stupid tourists are actually indulging in this latest version of Zionist propaganda.
The shit peddler in question runs a tourist attraction called Kfar Kedem, “a recreated ancient Galilean village” that enables visitors to “touch the past.” The concept is one familiar to many Jewish Americans who go on brainwashing journeys through the Holy Lands. Many of them actually go to Kfar Kedem, and I have a feeling many of them will be spending $70 to buy some worthless piece of shit – an ironically fitting reminder of the things they will learn.
$70 sounds like a bargain…. Washington has been buying Israeli bull shit for about $6 Billion a year.
This reminds me though, they sold something similar in Wisconsin. Plastic enclosed bull doo. They called it Wisconsin Bull Crap, it sold well as a paper weight for about $4.50.
Only if these Wisconsinites had the sense of entitlement, they could make a lot more.
I’ve gone ahead and added the “poop” label on this, Kalash.
Well at least this poop is from donkeys and incased in plastic as opposed to all the other Israeli “poop” that our US government relishes serving us up in taxes supporting a racist state which does NOT comply with our own supposed values!
Robin, pretty much every state in the region is a ‘racist state’ to some degree or another… Israel does comparatively better than most of ‘em.
And c’mon, Bethlehem, anyone? Nobody has a monopoly on getting tourists to buy cheesy crap. The alternative is no tourists, which means no tourism dollars, which is always worse (unless you’re a nativist).
Many states are as racist as Israel but those states don’t receive my tax dollars to support those policies.
Thats the difference.
Israel is in a league of its own. Its very foundation (Zionism) is partially rooted in racism.
“”Many states are as racist as Israel but those states don’t receive my tax dollars to support those policies.
Thats the difference.”"
Those states don’t do nearly as much to promote liberal democracy and secular humanism as Israel does.
“”Israel is in a league of its own. Its very foundation (Zionism) is partially rooted in racism.”"
The foundation of pretty much every other state in the region was rooted in racism, too… the idea of a particular state for a particular people.
Also, I’m not a Zionist, but you apparently know very little about Zionism. Up until the revisionist Zionism, with the specific notion of a Jewish state in the region, Zionism simply meant ‘Jews moving to the land of Israel’. Many of them came from Eastern European backgrounds, with more education and skills than the other peoples living in Palestine. If the Palestinian Arabs had been more liberal-minded and co-opted the non-statist Zionists as friends against the Revisionist Zionists, things might have turned out very differently. But instead, those who came to Israel from abroad were met with racism and distrust, much as many immigrants to America are today, and the situation deteriorated.
“Those states don’t do nearly as much to promote liberal democracy and secular humanism as Israel does.”
Unfortunately, that liberal democracy and secular humanism has not done anything to prevent Israel from being one of the longest standing human rights violators in our contemporary era.
Significant amounts of my tax dollars go to Israel and Egypt (although Egypt is given this money as a bribe to maintain a pro-Israel position; so in effect its more money for Israel). My money does not go to Saudi Arabia nor does it go to Iran nor does it go to Sudan, the Congo, Burma, China, or any other place that has a history of human rights violations.
As an American who pays taxes its my job to ensure that my money does not finance the misery of other people, anywhere in the world.
“”Unfortunately, that liberal democracy and secular humanism has not done anything to prevent Israel from being one of the longest standing human rights violators in our contemporary era. “”
Actually, compared to other governments in the region, Israel’s human rights violations are comparatively minor.
Furthermore, from a pragmatic perspective, Israel’s human rights violations are of a *better kind* than those in other states in the region, because they’re mostly targeted at people who *aren’t* citizens of Israel.
If you look at it pragmatically, it’s MUCH easier to get a nation to stop abusing OTHER people than it is to get it to stop abusing its OWN people.
The Palestinian statehood problem will be resolved LONG before other governments in the region resolve their own, more serious human rights abuses, for precisely that region.
Not to mention that I doubt the government the Palestinians will eventually set up will protect human rights all that much, either.
I look forward to the day I can see a gay pride parade in Ramallah while passing out free copies of Christopher Hitchens’ “God Is Not Great” translated into Arabic, without any fear or censure, but I think it’ll be a long, long time after Palestinian independence before that’s possible.
“” My money does not go to Saudi Arabia nor does it go to Iran nor does it go to Sudan, the Congo, Burma, China, or any other place that has a history of human rights violations. “”
You really, really aren’t paying attention, then. Uzbekistan and Egypt, just to pick a couple? The new (and already rights-violating) governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, which support human rights violations?
“You really, really aren’t paying attention, then. Uzbekistan and Egypt, just to pick a couple? The new (and already rights-violating) governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, which support human rights violations?”
Uhmmmmm… I did mention Egypt. As for Afghanistan and Iraq, those are puppet states under American occupation. I protest against those governments and their occupation as well.
Furthermore money given to Israel is deposited into the Israeli treasury without the Israeli government having to account to the Americans for any of the funding. Even Egypt has to give the United States a receipt for every purchase it makes with U.S money. This does not apply to Israel. Which means that Israel can use my tax money to fund settlements, outposts, and maintain its illegal siege of Gaza while building the Apartheid wall directly with my money. Egypt on the other hand must make a detailed report of all the projects it would like to embark on with my tax dollars.
“Actually, compared to other governments in the region, Israel’s human rights violations are comparatively minor”
Lets see…
1) The expulsion of more than a million people from their homes to make room for non-indigenous Europeans.
2) The incarceration of thousands of people without a trial. Nearly 1/3rd of the Palestinian population under Israeli jurisdiction has spent time in an Israeli prison, most of them without having any charges filed against them.
3) The illegal and disgusting siege of the Gaza strip.
4) Ignoring more U.N resolutions than any other country in the region combined.
5) Targeting of civilian infrastructure.
6) Continued settlement and outpost building, with no end in sight.
7) The creation of a full fledged apartheid system in the West Bank. Not to mention legal and social discrimination against Israeli-Arabs.
Israel is up there with the likes of Sudan and Iran when it comes to human rights violations.
On top of all this, all these other countries in the region are vilified in the U.S media and everyone knows about the atrocities that occur in Sudan and Iran. Even the people living in the region are fully aware of the fucked up nature of their own governments. On the other hand, Israel is shown as a beacon of democracy in a sea of totalitarian regimes bent on human rights violations. When in fact Israel is no better than its neighbors, and unlike the majority of its neighbors, Israel receives billions of dollars in monetary support and incredible amounts of political support from my government.
“I look forward to the day I can see a gay pride parade in Ramallah”
I look forward to the day when that can be done anywhere in the world, including many parts of the United States where Gay people are still murdered in the street.
Let the Palestinians experience “real peace” before you expect them to question some of their social qualms.
“”
Uhmmmmm… I did mention Egypt. As for Afghanistan and Iraq, those are puppet states under American occupation. I protest against those governments and their occupation as well.”"
Your position on Afghanistan demonstrates complete moral blindness. The occupation of Afghanistan is completely legitimate under international law, and as an occupying force, we’re far superior to the previous occupying power, the Taliban. We’re also superior to Pakistani rule-by-proxy. (And if we left tomorrow, yes, we’d be abandoning them to Pakistani rule-by-proxy.)
As for Iraq… last I checked, their government has set a time-table for us to leave, and we’re sticking to it. They’re not fully independent in a day-to-day sense, but they’re not truly ‘occupied’ either.
“”Furthermore money given to Israel is deposited into the Israeli treasury without the Israeli government having to account to the Americans for any of the funding. Even Egypt has to give the United States a receipt for every purchase it makes with U.S money. This does not apply to Israel. Which means that Israel can use my tax money to fund settlements, outposts, and maintain its illegal siege of Gaza while building the Apartheid wall directly with my money. Egypt on the other hand must make a detailed report of all the projects it would like to embark on with my tax dollars.”"
This is true, but at best, a minor complaint. The amount of money we give to Israel is pretty tiny in the grand scheme of things, both for us and them, and it doesn’t fundamentally change the dynamic
if we were to cut off funds. Accounting transparency is an even more minor issue.
“”
1) The expulsion of more than a million people from their homes to make room for non-indigenous Europeans.”"
Those people were, by and large, just as willing to see the Israelis expelled from their homes.
Losing a war doesn’t make you more moral, if you were willing to behave just as badly — if not more badly — had you won.
“”
2) The incarceration of thousands of people without a trial. Nearly 1/3rd of the Palestinian population under Israeli jurisdiction has spent time in an Israeli prison, most of them without having any charges filed against them.”"
This statistic sounded exaggerated, so I googled, and sure enough, it’s inaccurate.
The closest cite I could find was “nearly 20%” have “been detained”, from ‘Defence for Children International/Palestine Section, A Generation Denied 163 (2001)’
‘Nearly 20%’ is not ‘Nearly 1/3′, and ‘have been detained’ is not ‘have been in prison’.
Generally speaking, incarceration without trial is a bad thing. Considering the standards of the region, though, it’s not outside the status quo.
“”
4) Ignoring more U.N resolutions than any other country in the region combined.”"
Ignoring a U.N. resolution is not, in and of itself, a human rights violation. U.N. resolutions aren’t particularly meaningful. Hell, the U.N. itself isn’t particularly meaningful.
See the latest vote on gay rights at the UN for an example of that.
“”
5) Targeting of civilian infrastructure.”"
This is, we agree, not good. In the grand scheme of things, though, still not nearly as bad as the human rights abuses of most other countries in the region.
“”
6) Continued settlement and outpost building, with no end in sight.”"
Again, we agree that this is a problem — I’ve personally said that morally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with people who want to oppose the illegal settlements with lethal force. That said, a lot of it is not ‘intentional policy’, per se, but a reality of parliamentary politics, where the detestable Gush Emanim are able to set themselves up as a swing vote. If their system was majoritarian, they’d be doing a lot better at making these decisions — Leftists who’d like to see parliamentary democracy in America, take note! That said, the government has taken some steps to curb settlements, and the Israeli supreme court has been helpful, even if these actions are halting and incomplete.
Again, not good — but other countries in the region are doing far worse things.
“”7) The creation of a full fledged apartheid system in the West Bank.”"
It’s occupation, not apartheid. At the end of the apartheid system in South Africa, you had one nation; at the end of the occupation of the West Bank, you will have two. All people cared about in apartheid South Africa, as far as your rights were concerned, was your skin color. In Israel, the primary dividing line is between citizens of the West Bank and citizens of Israel, and the citizens of one will not become the citizens of the other after the occupation ends. Israeli Arabs face some discrimination — I saw plenty of it firsthand — but they’re far better off than, say, Palestinian Christians who, if you want to reduce it to skin color, could pass for Lebanese if you met them on the street.
The word ‘apartheid’ is the new ‘fascism’, which has become amended to simply mean ‘something I don’t like’.
Discrimination within Israel against Israeli Arabs is a major problem, we agree — this is why the work of groups like the New Israel Fund is so important — but Israeli Arabs nonetheless have their rights violated far less than the citizens of most other Middle Eastern countries do.
“”On top of all this, all these other countries in the region are vilified in the U.S media and everyone knows about the atrocities that occur in Sudan and Iran. Even the people living in the region are fully aware of the fucked up nature of their own governments. On the other hand, Israel is shown as a beacon of democracy in a sea of totalitarian regimes bent on human rights violations. When in fact Israel is no better than its neighbors, and unlike the majority of its neighbors,”"
Your second point doesn’t at all follow from your first. Yes, media coverage in America is often biased in favor of Israel (though media coverage elsewhere in the West is often biased against Israel). However, it is inaccurate to say Israel is no better than its neighbors.
Note, just to take one example, the flexing of Israeli-Arab political power — the idea of Jewish citizens in other Middle Eastern countries successfully organizing politically to that degree is unfathomable.
Also, blasphemy, the basic freedom upon which all others rest to some degree, is nice and common in Israel. Plenty of other Middle Eastern countries, however, have laws against it.
“”
I look forward to the day when that can be done anywhere in the world, including many parts of the United States where Gay people are still murdered in the street.”"
Moral blindness again. If you can’t see the stark difference between the degree of societal acceptance of gays in America and gays in the Middle East, you’re high on something. One does not have to be perfect to criticize others for failing to measure up, merely significantly better.
“”
Let the Palestinians experience “real peace” before you expect them to question some of their social qualms.”"
No. How they handle fundamental human rights among their own people (what you dismissively call ‘social qualms’) is a serious measure of to what degree we should get worked up about whether they deserve peace or not.
“This is true, but at best, a minor complaint. The amount of money we give to Israel is pretty tiny in the grand scheme of things, both for us and them, and it doesn’t fundamentally change the dynamic
if we were to cut off funds. Accounting transparency is an even more minor issue.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. We give more money to Israel than all of Africa. In fact 1/3rd of U.S foreign aid goes to Israel.
This does not even count the loan guarantees we give Israel which more than triple the amount of money we send there.
This does not even count the spare military equipment we give them free of charge. Nor does it count the ridiculous diplomatic support we give them at the expense of America’s prestige.
“but Israeli Arabs nonetheless have their rights violated far less than the citizens of most other Middle Eastern countries do.”
uhmm no.Israeli-Arabs can’t even go back to their ancestral villages and they have huge restrictions placed on them when it comes to purchasing land, not to mention the fact that much of their properties were confiscated from them and sold off in auctions. And this does not even cover the social discrimination.
“Also, blasphemy, the basic freedom upon which all others rest to some degree, is nice and common in Israel. Plenty of other Middle Eastern countries, however, have laws against it.”
In Israel you go to jail for not participating in the occupation.
“Moral blindness again. If you can’t see the stark difference between the degree of societal acceptance of gays in America and gays in the Middle East, you’re high on something”
Outside of some major cities, Gays have a long way to go in America. Israel only recently allowed Gays into its military. So please find something else to whine about.