David's Slingshot

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu showing off the new Iron Dome system

Israeli defense officials just ordered four new "Iron Dome" missile defense system. Israel is planning to export the system to other countries.
I'm happy Israelis from Ashdod to Beersheba and Tel Aviv will sleep easier under the protection of this system, but I have some questions:
1) Defense Minister Ehud Barak agreed to fund the system with the understanding that it will destroy "90% of all incoming missiles." This has not yet been demonstrated. Even if that high number is achieved, what then? Won't the Gazans who do this kind of thing just find another violent way to vent their anger and desperation?
2) Israeli military types have a penchant for cuteness. Such was the murderous onslaught on Gaza's population that was given the name "Cast Lead." This, as has been pointed out many times, was lifted from a classic, Zionist Hanukka song. In the song it's a dreidl - not a missile - that is made of cast lead.
Now, the missiles in the Iron Dome system have been named "David's Slingshot." Nothing illustrates the Israeli establishment's warped grasp of reality than to cast itself as David and Gaza as the Goliath.
In dollar amounts, each of the Gazan rockets costs several hundred dollars. That explains why they are so wildly inaccurate. By contrast, the Israeli missiles cost upwards of $70,000 each. The system itself costs in the tens of millions.
The next four batteries will cost $205m. All paid for by the US taxpayer, in addition to the regular annual $3b military payments to the Israeli military.
 

Demilitarizing Israel-Palestine

                                                


CTA, Chicago's public transportation system, is now hosting an advertizing campaign aimed at demilitarizing the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Of course, I support a campaign that espouses the mission of this blog.
Fifteen years ago, when I was living in Israel, the so-called two state solution was publicly supported by only one political party, the Jewish-Palestinian list, formerly communist, Hadash. This party was beyond the pale of the polite society I belonged to. I could not have voted for Hadash without wading uphill through a lot of social negativity. Hadash was communist. Worse, Hadash was non-Zionist.
Well, that was then, and now, even the racist Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Bibi "Terror" Netanyahu support the two-state solution. Now that the two-state proposal is part of standard right wing rhetoric it is clear that it carries no hope. The dream of a viable future for the  Israelis and Palestinians is best served by campaigns such as www.TwoPeoplesOneFuture.org

The CTA campaign reminds me of Israel circa 1995. An urgent and simple truth, that is ahead of the mainstream curve: we need to find a way for both peoples to share the land.

Many American Jews will argue that Israel is embattled and is in a dangerous neighborhood and Israel needs all the support it can get from its principal ally, the U.S. Therefore, the U.S. should continue to give Israel billions of dollars annually in military aid with access to some of the U.S. premium armaments,
I disagree. If Israel were truly under threat, the U.S. would rush to the rescue. This was true in Israel's traumatic 1973 Yom Kippur war and, it's abundantly clear that this is just as true today.

President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu                                                       

This campaign will not put a dent in the military aid Israel receives from the U.S. Yet, it will educate Chicagoans as to how our tax dollars give the current Israeli government the confidence to dominate the Palestinians militarily.

The news last week that the Netanyahu government has successfully demanded that the U.S. commit in writing to providing 20 F-35 warplanes, before it was willing to consider a limited 90 day freeze West Bank construction in exchange, illustrates how damaging the current military relationship is.

For a powerful exposition of the scale of U.S. military aid to Israel, please watch this testimony by Josh Ruebner:

                                

Looking forward to seeing this campaign spread to other cities across the United States.

Palestinian and Israeli-Jewish fathers dream of a peaceful future for their daughters