To the editor,
Thank you for carrying Rick Salutin's
article on Gaza.
article on Gaza.
He exposes just how ridiculous it is for Israel to
claim it is under threat from these imprisoned
people, when in fact IT is threatening THEIR
lives and their future and their heritage, every day.
claim it is under threat from these imprisoned
people, when in fact IT is threatening THEIR
lives and their future and their heritage, every day.
We're tired of Israel's phony tears.
Bring us more of the tears of the other side.
It's all right, I'm only bleeding
RICK SALUTIN
Rabbi Dow Marmur is someone I feel lucky to know. He
came to Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple in the 1980s
after an already rich life: childhood in Poland,
refuge in the Soviet Union during the war, coming of
age in Sweden, career and family in England. When we
met, he said that on arrival here, he was told to
avoid two people. I was one. So he got in touch. He
has been a rabbi and friend. He is a lifelong Zionist
and fearless critic of Israeli behaviour, based on his
love for Israel. In last week's Globe, from Jerusalem
where he now lives much of the time, he defended
Israel's blockade and attacks on Gaza. He did not try
to morally justify them. He said instead that the
"prospect of destruction" outweighs "moral scruples."
That's honest, brutally so. No moral argument except
survival itself. But what's the evidence that Israel
is menaced -- by Gaza! Not Iran, Syria or even the
feeble West Bank. A tiny, surrounded enclave with no
army or economy versus a nation with first-world
standards and a mighty military. It's because, he
says, Hamas are anti-Israel fanatics who "don't accept
any half-measures."
Now it seems to me half-measures typify Hamas. In
1999, its leader, later assassinated by Israel, said,
"Let's end this conflict by declaring a temporary
ceasefire. Let's leave the bigger issues for future
generations." When Hamas was elected two years ago,
they offered a 10-year truce. They supported the
"prison document" that involves a two-state solution
based on 1967 borders. They kept a self-imposed
ceasefire for 16 months. Dow's thinking seems to me
muddled: reason overwhelmed by angst, and it's not
shared by everyone there. A "countrywide relief
convoy" will head to Gaza this Saturday. Still, when
even he writes this way, it suggests a hardening that
makes any resolution even remoter.
What could unlock this jam?
How about that incredible prison break from Gaza
through the fences to Egypt on Wednesday.
Occasionally, something happens in the world that
isn't scripted or interpreted by official sources. It
doesn't need words, but clarifies. It's way more
illuminating than the restrained outrage of human
rights rapporteurs. Never mind Israel's heralded
withdrawal. Gaza remains a prison: surrounded,
strangled, guards on the walls, selectively cutting
food and power. We've seen this movie: Dog Day
Afternoon. The Kill Pit. The guys inside use hostages,
but here, the guys inside are the hostages: 350,000
streamed through the breach, said the UN. When they
get out, what do they want to do: Make holy war? No:
go shopping! For bombs? No, cement, so they can build
a house and marry. Antacid!
Don't worry, the border will soon close again, due to
U.S. and Israeli pressure. Will people out here have
learned anything from the brief gusher of ordinary
life -- talk about reality TV? Probably not. It all
gets muddled again, so easily.
But it's a reminder not to rely on the normal
versions, from official sources, relayed through the
media. Take last week's spat over a Canadian
government training course that named Israel and the
U.S. as potential torturers. The minister ordered the
names omitted. A Globe editorial huffed about "so
breathtaking a denunciation of Canada's democratic
neighbour and friend -- one of the world's staunchest
defenders of liberty." This is sheer rhetoric.
Democratic states do torture. The most efficient,
hard-to-detect torture methods were developed by
democratic pillars, exactly because they need to deny
or conceal torture when they do it. France in Algeria.
The U.S. in Latin America and Vietnam, the U.K. in
Ireland, Palestine. "There is a long history of
torture in the main democracies," writes academic
Darius Rejali in Torture and Democracy, a huge,
respectable, cautious book. It has 3,400 footnotes
from 2,000 sources in 14 languages. It's not even an
exposé, it's a survey.
Deep breaths now. Take another look, at whatever you
took for granted.
Bring us more of the tears of the other side.
It's all right, I'm only bleeding
RICK SALUTIN
Rabbi Dow Marmur is someone I feel lucky to know. He
came to Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple in the 1980s
after an already rich life: childhood in Poland,
refuge in the Soviet Union during the war, coming of
age in Sweden, career and family in England. When we
met, he said that on arrival here, he was told to
avoid two people. I was one. So he got in touch. He
has been a rabbi and friend. He is a lifelong Zionist
and fearless critic of Israeli behaviour, based on his
love for Israel. In last week's Globe, from Jerusalem
where he now lives much of the time, he defended
Israel's blockade and attacks on Gaza. He did not try
to morally justify them. He said instead that the
"prospect of destruction" outweighs "moral scruples."
That's honest, brutally so. No moral argument except
survival itself. But what's the evidence that Israel
is menaced -- by Gaza! Not Iran, Syria or even the
feeble West Bank. A tiny, surrounded enclave with no
army or economy versus a nation with first-world
standards and a mighty military. It's because, he
says, Hamas are anti-Israel fanatics who "don't accept
any half-measures."
Now it seems to me half-measures typify Hamas. In
1999, its leader, later assassinated by Israel, said,
"Let's end this conflict by declaring a temporary
ceasefire. Let's leave the bigger issues for future
generations." When Hamas was elected two years ago,
they offered a 10-year truce. They supported the
"prison document" that involves a two-state solution
based on 1967 borders. They kept a self-imposed
ceasefire for 16 months. Dow's thinking seems to me
muddled: reason overwhelmed by angst, and it's not
shared by everyone there. A "countrywide relief
convoy" will head to Gaza this Saturday. Still, when
even he writes this way, it suggests a hardening that
makes any resolution even remoter.
What could unlock this jam?
How about that incredible prison break from Gaza
through the fences to Egypt on Wednesday.
Occasionally, something happens in the world that
isn't scripted or interpreted by official sources. It
doesn't need words, but clarifies. It's way more
illuminating than the restrained outrage of human
rights rapporteurs. Never mind Israel's heralded
withdrawal. Gaza remains a prison: surrounded,
strangled, guards on the walls, selectively cutting
food and power. We've seen this movie: Dog Day
Afternoon. The Kill Pit. The guys inside use hostages,
but here, the guys inside are the hostages: 350,000
streamed through the breach, said the UN. When they
get out, what do they want to do: Make holy war? No:
go shopping! For bombs? No, cement, so they can build
a house and marry. Antacid!
Don't worry, the border will soon close again, due to
U.S. and Israeli pressure. Will people out here have
learned anything from the brief gusher of ordinary
life -- talk about reality TV? Probably not. It all
gets muddled again, so easily.
But it's a reminder not to rely on the normal
versions, from official sources, relayed through the
media. Take last week's spat over a Canadian
government training course that named Israel and the
U.S. as potential torturers. The minister ordered the
names omitted. A Globe editorial huffed about "so
breathtaking a denunciation of Canada's democratic
neighbour and friend -- one of the world's staunchest
defenders of liberty." This is sheer rhetoric.
Democratic states do torture. The most efficient,
hard-to-detect torture methods were developed by
democratic pillars, exactly because they need to deny
or conceal torture when they do it. France in Algeria.
The U.S. in Latin America and Vietnam, the U.K. in
Ireland, Palestine. "There is a long history of
torture in the main democracies," writes academic
Darius Rejali in Torture and Democracy, a huge,
respectable, cautious book. It has 3,400 footnotes
from 2,000 sources in 14 languages. It's not even an
exposé, it's a survey.
Deep breaths now. Take another look, at whatever you
took for granted.
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