A guest post from Carlos:
Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post both pulled out the t-word to describe the bulldozer attack in Jerusalem today.
It seemed that the word “terrorist” applied not only to masked gunmen firing rockets, to suicide bombers, to rock throwers, to members of any organization who pledge themselves to fight an illegal and immoral occupation and usurpation of their land.
Apparently, it also applies to Palestinian bulldozer operators who use the construction equipment to ram into police cars and buses. If they demolished Israeli homes would they be terrorists.
Would Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post use the “t-word” to describe Israelis who use the same type of machinery to destroy dozens of homes in East Jerusalem?
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to express the greatest extent of scorn recently when she called Israel’s home demolition policy “unhelpful.”
Unhelpful is when someone purposefully gives you wrong directions to the highway. It’s what you call the bank employees who chit chat while you wait in line.
Let’s be honest about language. The Israeli/American media (and governments) could have said “angry bulldozer operator crashes machinery into police car and bus.” Or it could have been, “frustrated tractor man shot after retaliating against lifetime of occupation and oppression.” But in the end, they chose a largely undefined and loaded word, “terrorist,” a word that does not even objectively describe an action, or one partaking in it, as much as it says about the ethno-religious origins of the actor.
When Israel does much worse, it is “self-defense.” When Palestinians commit lesser crimes, this word is evoked as if to frame their crimes as baseless and outside the realm of reason.
Before the first Palestinian bulldozer attack, Israel used bulldozers to destroy more than 18,000 Palestinian homes since 1967. It should make you wonder.
Before you assume this means I am justifying such attacks, all I am arguing is for a non-biased application of terminology. I can accept that such attacks are terrorism only if you can use the same term to describe Israel’s state policies.
Related posts:
- GUEST POST: “Why won’t this work?”
- Bulldozing Peace
- Guest Post: A Pick ‘N’ Choose Freedom of Speech
- Guest Post: Who Put the Hate In My Sunday Paper?
- Guest Post: James Zogby and the Politics of Perception
If they demolished Israeli homes would they be terrorists. Would Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post use the "t-word" to describe Israelis who use the same type of machinery to destroy dozens of homes in East Jerusalem? That is an interesting point. Clinton criticizes Israel over East Jerusalem demolition
Posted by eagle007blogger | March 5, 2009, 9:17 pmIf they demolished Israeli homes would they be terrorists. Would Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post use the "t-word" to describe Israelis who use the same type of machinery to destroy dozens of homes in East Jerusalem? That is an interesting point. Clinton criticizes Israel over East Jerusalem demolition
Posted by eagle007blogger | March 5, 2009, 9:17 pmIf they demolished Israeli homes would they be terrorists. Would Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post use the "t-word" to describe Israelis who use the same type of machinery to destroy dozens of homes in East Jerusalem? That is an interesting point. Clinton criticizes Israel over East Jerusalem demolition
Posted by eagle007blogger | March 5, 2009, 9:17 pmIf they demolished Israeli homes would they be terrorists. Would Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post use the "t-word" to describe Israelis who use the same type of machinery to destroy dozens of homes in East Jerusalem? That is an interesting point. Clinton criticizes Israel over East Jerusalem demolition
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Posted by Faggot79 | October 23, 2009, 7:44 amIt is sad that there are many forms of terrorism nowadays. In this case, I can still consider it as a form of terrorism as it threaten to take people's lives and properties. Destroying the homes of the innocent people is like killing them in a different way. The Israeli government should address this issue by hook or by crook because people have the right to live in the very sense.
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