Identity is at the Root of the Genocide in Gaza

This past Tuesday PBS's Frontline aired an investigative report on the protest encampments at various universities around the country titled "Crisis on Campus." The protests spread like wildfire as graphic news of Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continued unabated. Indiscriminate bombing of cities, including hospitals and apartment buildings full of people, intentional mass starvation and even denial of drinkable water appalled most of the planet. But not the Biden administration, which supplied the bombs, guns, ammunition and money.

Students protested not only the U.S. complicity in the genocide, but their university bureaucracies' large investment portfolios in Israeli businesses. To find out your government, and even the institution of higher education where they study are enabling and even promoting genocide generated horror and outrage, and it spilled over in a fairly innocent manner: setting up tent encampments that students used as gathering places and symbols of defiance, making speeches, carrying signs.

University bureaucrats responded in predictable fashion, declaring the encampments illegal, calling in police to break them up, arrest the students, expel and ban them from campus and amplifying claims of "antisemitism." The idea that students would have something to say about how a university raises money is anathema to those who wield power. Any sharing of power is seen as a threat to their control over decision making, and less power might mean less income. And, of course, alumni and donors might be displeased, and relieve them of their jobs.

A good part of Crisis on Campus was devoted to the testimony of three university presidents before the U.S. House of Representatives last December. It was a grandstanding event by House Republicans, but Frontline treated it as a legitimate inquiry into anti-Semitism on campus. Demagogues made theatrical displays, aggressively questioning the presidents about what they were doing about supposed hatred of Jews on their school grounds. The presidents responded in bureaucratese, parsing their answers with semantic evasions. Grandstanders versus bureaucrats in a surreal comedy of public posturing. No concern whatsoever was shown about the carnage in Gaza that was at the root of the student protests, including by the seemingly objective Frontline presenter.

Big nothing, a surprise from Frontline. The documentary showed that some anti-Semitism existed, but nothing widespread or rampant. A picture was shown of a protester holding a sign that said "Go back to Poland," evoking the memory of Auschwitz. A counter-protester, older than a typical student, held a sign that said "Flatten Gaza." Hate balances hate. Zero sum.

As a result of the phony hearing one of the university presidents resigned, and another was fired. They will be replaced with new bureaucrats. The grandstanding congress members accomplished their mission, and likely will be reelected this fall. Meanwhile, the genocide in Gaza continues unabated. Genocide Joe, who last fall when questioned about the need for a ceasefire, said "Not yet," is now posing as the peacemaker, offering a ceasefire proposal that he previously lied was made by the Israeli government. So far, the ceasefire hasn’t been agreed to by Israel, so what’s a U.S. Secretary of State to do? Easy. Blame Hamas.

I have written before that this madness will not end well for anyone. For the Palestinians for sure. But also for Israel and its sponsor, us. To coin a phrase, the whole world is watching. If ever there was an illusion that the U.S. government acts with good intentions, that illusion is now gone, a laughable pretense. Invasion, mass murder and destruction is heinous and evil when perpetrated by the Russian government, but legitimate self-defense when sponsored by the U.S. government.

There is a way out of this stupidity. If the Frontline segment was propaganda by omission, we can look at what was omitted. What about the universities' investments in Israel? There is such a thing as ethical investment, which includes the purchase of assets that benefit the environment, promote democracy, and work for peace. The effort to disinvest in Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s helped bring down the government. It is no coincidence that the democratic government of today’s South Africa brought charges against Israel to the International Court of Justice.

We can force Genocide Joe from office. He should be remanded to the International Criminal Court for his complicity and indeed full participation in the carnage in Gaza. We don’t need him. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, among several others, would be a much better candidate for president than he ever was.

Beyond that, we can start questioning the imposition on the land by human societies, organized into various identities. Especially religious identities. The idea of a "Jewish" state is silly and ridiculous. An old religion, its adherents calling themselves "God's chosen people." Better than anyone else, who are all unchosen. How is it that it is a cohort of humans are God's chosen people? First, presume that there is such a being as "God." Next, "he" chooses some for, hmm, salvation, or eternal reward, or first place on Planet Earth. This is all true because we (they) say it is. No proof that this religion is the one, true religion, or even true among others. Just the declaration of truth and superiority.

We of course have seen this before. The Nazi regime in Germany wasn’t based on any religion, but on the pretend mastery of the "Fuhrer," Adolf Hitler. Just by declaration he was lifted to the level of a manifest deity. Sort of like the declaration that our own Donald Trump is a quasi-deity, above the law, an exalted being, he who has the celebrity power to say "You’re fired!" Both of these self-exalted beings attained exaltation by merely saying so. Hitler declared Jews, Roma (Gypsies), communists, homosexuals, disabled people, prisoners of war and others to be unpersons, and put them in concentration camps

One of the problems with identity is that some people within the identity will take it to a new level, becoming even more identified, and organize into groups. In Judaism, this extreme identity is known as "Orthodox," or in a more obscure expression as "Hasidism." I am no expert on this, but I have been around them, having lived in the Jewish resort area of the Catskill Mountains of New York State, the "Borscht Belt." Hasids make a point of being different, the men growing their hair into long curls, wearing black clothes and black brimmed hats. They speak in Yiddish, a mixture of Hebrew, German and European Jewish vernacular. To the unfamiliar person, including other Jews, it can seem very weird. When I was working in catalog clothing sales I encountered many of them, often with names like Malki and Rivky. They tended to be very difficult and demanding, but not always, and I learned to just stay with them, be patient, and not get intimidated. They are just other human beings, not really anyone special, and certainly not God's chosen people.

This is all really unbelievable. Genocide Joe became Genocide Joe because he called himself a "Zionist." Duh. What a dumb guy. A Zionist. He isn’t even a Jew, by identity, genetics, culture or religious practice, but somehow he calls himself a Zionist. As such, he fully supports the genocide of the people next door to God’s chosen people, the hapless Palestinians, who previous to the awarding of the State of Israel were just the people who lived there. They were identified from without, and became identified from within as "the Palestinians." Thus beginneth an endless war between identities.

I used to identify as someone of some sort or another. "Catholic," Irish, Scot, male, "white," heterosexual, American, Fighting Irish, Tommy, Saluki, Huskie, sort of Sikh, sort of Hindu, sort of Buddhist, sort of Taoist, sort of First Inhabitant religionist, sort of Pagan, rebel, veteran, survivor. Now I don't identify with anything except myself, and that is an identity that I am reducing daily. I don’t see that there is any possibility of reaching a higher level of existence without withdrawing form all identities of lower existence. Withdrawing from identity is a form of the Vedic meditative practice of Neti Neti (Not this, not this), eliminating all that is not Brahman. 

Putting myself in the place of an Israeli soldier, massacring civilians and destroying their homes, I see no prospect of such a person achieving any kind of higher level consciousness, serenity or tranquility. Only a sociopath feels no remorse, no shame, no sense of error. And a sociopath will not ever be happy. Perversely gleeful, maybe, but never truly happy. For the many non-sociopaths in the Israeli army, for the rest of their lives they will be haunted by the memories of the things they did. Just in time for climate change to kick into high gear, and for the toxic infinite-growth worldwide economic system to collapse.

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Here's a song. Here's another. Creedence. Johnny Cash. Duane and Gregg Allman. Neil Diamond. Iris DeMent. David Byrne with 10,000 Maniacs. R.E.M. Another from R.E.M. One more from R.E.M. Todd Rundgren.

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I received an email a few days ago from the Action Network, appealing to me to send a letter encouraging disgruntled State Department employees to resign over the genocide in Gaza. They offered a scripted letter, and encouraged me to write some words of my own. I did, thusly:

I'm writing to you to express my deep concern over President Biden’s failure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and your continued role in his administration. I have worked for the Federal Government in a number of capacities: three ignominious years in the U.S. Army (1968-71), the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the VA, and the U.S. Census Bureau. Trust me. There is life after working for the Federal Government. Not only is there life, but there is life with dignity and a clear conscience. Actually, there is life after any job, and sometimes you have to quit to maintain your self respect. I am a serial self-respecter, but all you need to do is quit once.
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I sent a letter to both of Madison's established newspapers in recent weeks suggesting I might not vote for Genocide Joe or his supporter Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin. Neither of them published it, but I can here:

To The Editor:

To Sing or Not to Sing

In my retirement years the only entertainment I can afford is when it is free. Such as the show by Madison stalwart Cris Plata May 29 at the Olin Park Pavilion. It was great, a mix of Tex-Mex, Rock, Flamenco, Mariachi, Western Swing and Alt-country. Who could ask for more?

In the intermission Biden supporter Senator Senator Tammy Baldwin showed up, and the stage announcer had the crowd sing her happy birthday, though it wasn't her birthday. Some didn’t sing, including me, a form of quiet dissent. To support Joe Biden is to support genocide, and to support genocide anywhere is to support genocide everywhere, including here. As we are seeing with Joe Biden, there is no "red line" when it comes to genocide.

I called Tammy Baldwin’s office a few months ago, trying to get her to support a ceasefire in Gaza. I ended up telling her phone person that I would be voting for Alfred E. Neuman for Senate. Again, not much of a dissent. For president, Ralph Nader, who isn’t running. Such is democracy. I prefer non-existent, non-candidates to what we have. Meanwhile, all a poor boy can do is find something free to do, and hope no genocidists show up.

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In some cosmic joke news, the p.r. stunt humanitarian pier Genocide Joe had built may be demolished. 

Update, June 20, 2024: The Wisconsin State Journal published the letter I sent, edited obnoxiously, their own headline, but what the heck, the essence stayed pretty much the same as I wrote it. I take what I can get. 

I responded to the Frontline segment thusly:

Watching this was painful. I let it set in for a couple of days, gradually realizing that this supposed documentary is a propaganda vehicle for the interests behind delegitimization of the campus protests, reducing them to Jewish students versus antisemites. The ongoing genocide in Gaza was mentioned in passing, but the bulk of the story was focused on pro-Palestinian campus protesters and Jewish counterprotesters, with a gratuitous coverage of the testimony of three university presidents before a U.S. House of Representatives committee. Grandstanders aggressively questioning bureaucrats in a made-for-TV display of theater of the absurd. 

The story was limited to east coast schools - Harvard, MIT, Penn and Columbia and a passing mention of Tulane. A more accurate story would have included UCLA and other west coast schools, not just one president, from Berkeley. The violence at UCLA didn't fit the narrative, with pro-Palestinian protesters being attacked violently by a curious mob of "counterprotesters" woven among brutal police. 

This is different for Frontline. Usually there is a chief investigator, someone who did the research and leads the questioning. Instead, what we have this time is the show reader, not involved in the reporting, just narrating ala Peter Coyote narrating a Ken Burns film. Mission accomplished. Donors, underwriters, corporate sponsors are well-served.

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The most thorough and insightful explanation of Israeli settler colonialism I have heard can be found here.

Democracy Now describes the new movie being shown on Al Jazeera, The Night Won't End, covering Biden's War on Gaza.

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R.I.P. Donald Sutherland. Here are some scenes from my favorite of his movies, Kelly's Heroes. I was serving in the Army at the time, and this movie fit perfectly with my attitude - and of many others.
 

R.I.P. Willie Mays. He was baseball at its best, played with pure joy and zest, a delightful human being.