Glass Maze Every jumbled pile of person

Atrocity Schmatrocity

The atrocities going on Palestine right have been, if nothing else, an opportunity for pretty much every American politician to trot out their support-Israel-no-matter what bona fides. From pro-Israel rallies to outrageously false analogies¹ to congressional resolutions, it’s been a steady drumbeat of one-sided, morally bankrupt demagoguery since the slaughter began.

I saw the best distillation of this trend on Rachel Maddow’s show the other night, in an interview with Ben Nelson, senator from Nebraska. It was all on display: the reflexive, unthinking support; the incoherent ratiocinations; the implicit assertion that Palestinians are subhuman pawns in a giant battle between good (Israel) and evil (Arabs). You have to watch the whole thing to get the full effect, but I’ve included a couple of outtakes below, with helpful translations.

We’ve been rather silent throughout a lot of the … uh … challenges between the Palestinians and Israel.

We’ve heroically stood by and watched Israel build illegal settlements on Palestinian land for decades. We’ve watched them choke the life out of Gaza since they “withdrew” three years ago. We’ve blocked any attempt to censure them for their illegal, immoral treatment of the Palestinian people.

[In the partnership between Israel and the United States], Israel has certain rights that they could exercise. So I think that perhaps there would be a discussion about it. But I don’t think we’re in a position to tell them what to do and what not to do. But certainly discussions and consultation — those have to occur for a partnership to succeed.

As long as they call us every night before we go to bed, and consult us about things we have no right or desire to interfere with or consult on, then we’re fine with the killing. But we would appreciated a call, if they get a chance, during murdering breaks.

There ought to be humanitarian efforts made by the United Nations and by other nations as well to try to … er … to … um … deal with the challenges that are there that are human.

I don’t think of Palestinian people as human, exactly, so I have a hard time referring to any aid dispatched to them as “humanitarian”. I like the word “challenges” though. Non-humans can have challenges too!

The challenge is what kind of humanitarian aid and where do you go. The bombing of the schools seems to be — at least the argument is made — haven’t seen the evidence — but the argument is made that those schools were repositories for military equipment and were used to fire rockets out of Gaza into the Israeli territories.

Here’s the rule, ok? If someone somewhere says something unsubstantiated and unverifiable about the bad guys maybe possibly storing weapons in a building, that building instantly becomes terroristy. And, when that happens, it doesn’t matter what the building is. It could be a school, a church, a mosque, a little shack crammed with orphans and nuns, whatever — if it’s terroristy, it has to be de-terroristified. Now, I wish there was a way to de-terroristify a building without destroying it utterly and killing everyone inside, but there simply isn’t.

There are those who would like to conclude that it’s one side or the other … this has been going on for centuries, but I do think it begs for peace, and I hope that there would be some effort to establish — and I agree with Condoleeza Rice — an enduring peace process because if we don’t have a truce that’s enduring, this will continue to go on as it has over these last several years.

I’m going to claim that a conflict that started with a massive displacement of Palestinians from their homeland in 1948 has been going on for “centuries”, because then it makes the situation seem endless and intractable. I’m also going to say the word “enduring” a lot, to drive home the point that the only way to solve an intractable centuries-long conflict between two parties is to eliminate one of the parties and call the resulting humanitarian apocalypse peace. Enduring peace.

Besides being morally indefensible, this is just a terrible performance. It’s like these guys aren’t even trying. I mean, really, if our politicians can’t even do bullshit well, we’re in real trouble. That’s what politicians are for.

[...] two forms: First, that Israel’s response is disproportionate and therefore wrong; and second Atrocity Schmatrocity – doodleplex.com 01/15/2009 The atrocities going on Palestine right have been, if nothing else, an [...]

Amen.