What Other Country
Max Blumenthal reports from a pro-war rally staged by New York politicians and some local Jewish groups:
Sen. Chuck Schumer highlighted Israel’s supposed humanitarian methods of warfare by pointing to its text messaging of certain Gaza Strip residents urging them to vacate their homes before Israeli forces bombed them. “What other country would do that?”
Todd Gitlin observes that this is pretty ignorant and solipsistic:
The U. S., for one. According to the National Museum of the U. S. Air Force, the U. S. dropped millions of leaflets over North Vietnam during Operation Rolling Thunder of 1965-68, in which Americans flew over 300,000 sorties, dropping more than one-and-a-half times as many bombs as in the entire Pacific theater during all of WW II. Among other things, the leaflets “warned civilians to stay away from military installations.” (You can buy a sample leaflet from eBay for a little more than $40, including postage.) In 2002-03, the U. S. also dropped such leaflets over Iraq during 2002-03.
Russia, for another, during the first Chechen war. Leaflets, that is, not text messages.
Those inclined to be supportive of what Israel’s doing can make of this what they will. But I would observe that self-deception has rarely done anyone or any nation much good and this kind of thing reeks of self-deception. Meanwhile, it’s a bit unusual to see a US Senator lauding a foreign country as morally superior to his own, and a foreign military as morally superior to America’s armed forces. To do so without checking the facts rigorously first is especially odd.
43 Responses to “What Other Country”
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January 13th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Text message went like this:
“Hi Eyrabs! we’re going to bomb the [expletive] out of you. Be careful! LOL!”
January 13th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
D3AR PAELSTINIAN WE R GONG 2 B BOMBNG IN UR AERA!!111!1!! OMG WTF PLZ VACAET UR HOUES!11!1!!1! OMG WTF
Truely, the ability of Israel and its supporters to set themselves up for mockery knows no bounds.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Leaflet drop? How about this one:
http://members.home.nl/ww2propaganda/0098501.jpg
Humanitarian!
More here:
http://members.home.nl/ww2propaganda/dutch40.htm
January 13th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
And they would go where? Seems cruel to me.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
matt–thanks for the push-back against the insane lock-step right-wing likud lobby.
it really has been one of the bizarre features of american politics for many decades. i’m glad that you and greenwald and klein and others are finally calling shenanigans on it.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
“Dear Palestinians, please get out of Gaza. Oh wait, you can’t, LOL!
XOXO The IDF”
January 13th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
daveNYC (#3) deserves Comment of the Day!
January 13th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Gettin’ the Gazans out of the house makes it easier to white phosphorous the fuck out of them.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
If Schumer doesn’t believe this but is trying to please his constituents, is that better or worse?
January 13th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
1) For years, Chuckie was on the Board of Advisors for a pro-Israel propaganda front called the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Run by Clifford Mays and some guy from the Israel Embassy. Chuckie’s buddies on the Board were such stalwarts as William Kristol, Richard Perle, and Charles Krauthammer. Normally one would have to go to a third-rate titty bar to find company that distinguished.
Chuckie left FDD about a year or so ago –too bad. He was my prime example for refuting leftists who claimed that whores for Israel’s right wing Likud were only to be found among the Republican Neocons. Until I do some more digging, I am restricted to Kenneth Pollack, Marty Indyk, Michael O’Hanlon and Jane Harman.
Chuckie’s other charm was that he was Chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee — which had a shitload more money than the Democratic National Committee’s pot. Which signaled to the Democratic professionals just how displeased several billionaries in the Israel Lobby were with the grassroots for putting Howard Dean in a DNC Chairman after S Daniel Abraham had shiv’ed Dean in the 2004 Iowa primary.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
If Schumer doesn’t believe this but is trying to please his constituents, is that better or worse?
I don’t know about Schumer, but does anyone really believe Patterson was honest there? What an hack, bring Spitzer back!
January 13th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Matt says: “Meanwhile, it’s a bit unusual to see a US Senator lauding a foreign country as morally superior to his own, and a foreign military as morally superior to America’s armed forces. To do so without checking the facts rigorously first is especially odd.”
Are you assuming that Schumer considers Israel a foreign country?
January 13th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
As I stated before… that business of the text messages is complete BS, doesn’t pass the smell test. I am not sure that it can be done at all, figure
a) What cell phone is in which house.
b) The power had been shut down, did the cell phones were charged?
c) How long did the antennas and other elements of a wireless grid survived the initial bombing.
If they in fact send test messages it was to tell their informants to peel off.
As for the civilians the only text messages were the ones written on the 2000 pound bombs…
January 13th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
So what’s Matthew’s point – that Israel lives up to the highest standards set by the most civilized countries?
Ah, so Al considers Nazi Germany one of “the most civilized countries.”
What I have my differences with his worldview, I must admit I’m impressed by his honesty.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Nazi Germany was highly civilized; great infrastructure and transport, a keen interest in high culture, and completely free of corrupt Jews, degenerate homosexuals and stupid Blacks and Gypsies.
If they’d only left Russia alone, they’d still be with us.
Shame.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
So if some gangsta decides to air out a competitor’s crib it’s OK so long as he tags the joint with a threat warning first?
January 13th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Per Wikipedia, looks like we dropped some leaflets on Nagasaki around August 10, 1945. What other country would do that?
January 13th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Re Steve Sailor\
Nazi Germany was highly civilized; great infrastructure and transport, a keen interest in high culture, and completely free of corrupt Jews, degenerate homosexuals and stupid Blacks and Gypsies.
If they’d only left Russia alone, they’d still be with us.
Shame.
Actually not, since the German nuclear program was almost nonexistent. The US and Britain would have eventually used nuclear weapons to bomb Germany back into the stone age.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Matt. . .
Chuck Schumer does not represent his state or his country. He represents Wall Street.
Wall Street is NOT as thoughtful to innocent civilians as is Israel. . . When Wall Street is going to “bomb” us poor slobs they do not give advance warning the bubble is going to burst.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
I’d respond to Senator Schumer on behalf of Gazans that they would rather not get messages from Israel telling them their house was about to be bombed. What would happen if someone sent such a message to Schumer? Wouldn’t he call it terrorism?
January 13th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
What percentage of Gazans do you suppose are capable of receiving text messages?
January 13th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
It’s one thing to drop a leaflet saying “we’re going to be bombing this city” over the next month, and quite another to send a text message or make a phone call saying “we’re going to bomb your house in 1/2 an hour.” The US does the former, Israel does the latter.
And what’s so unusual about praising other country’s morality? I’ve heard Ezra Klein, for example, praise France’s universal health care, which is a moral issue. He’s an odd one, that Ezra.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Anybody who believes this Israeli propaganda bullshit about sending text messages to targets is unbelievably fucking stupid.
They’re probably as stupid as the morons who believed the bullshit propaganda story that Israel was destroying Lebanon’s infrastructure in 2006 because Hizballah had an office anywhere near it. Or the bullshit propaganda story that Iraqi soldiers were tossing babies out of incubators in Kuwait back in 1991 or that Iraqi troops were massing on Saudi Arabia’s borders – or that Iraq had WMDs in 2003.
Which would certainly explain the reactions of Al and Ragout – stupid motherfuckers, both.
Israel is not going to alert anyone in an insurgency that they’re going to drop bombs in their vicinity. Given that Hamas is EVERYWHERE in the Gaza strip, and the fact that Israel has been bombing CIVILIAN INFRASTRUCTURE in Gaza BECAUSE it necessarily has connections with Hamas, it’s ridiculous to believe that Israel would be deliberately warning their targets.
Israel doesn’t give a rat’s ass about civilian casualties (except Israeli civilian casualties, and not much about those either as long as the politicians in power get what they want.) They have demonstrated that in every one of their wars starting in 1948 and culminating in Lebanon in 2006.
Israel sending text messages to their targets is a complete fucking obvious lie. Exactly the sort of “chutzpah” lie you expect from scumbag Zionists who have zero intellectual honesty.
It would behoove any of you idiots who buy this shit to remember that one of the consistent statements coming out of Gaza in the last two weeks is that “there is no safety anywhere.” Israel is bombing EVERYBODY in Gaza, regardless of whether they are a military target (of course military targets – and Palestinian civilian infrastructure including schools – get first priority), and regardless of any civilian casualties. The civilian casualty rate makes that perfectly clear.
And anybody who believes Israeli body counts of “Hamas fighters” vs civilian casualties is an idiot, as well. Israel simply picks a target of value to the Palestinians and bombs it regardless of civilians in the vicinity.
Israel is a rogue terrorist state that needs to be put down far more than Iraq’s Saddam ever did.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Fake Steve Sailer at 6:25,
Are you freaking kidding me? You think you’ll convince people with that? Stop screwing around and get serious about this. Or step the hell aside for someone that can be a real fake Steve Sailer.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Amira Haas, reporter for Ha’aretz who has been reporting from within the midst of the Gaza operation, looks to make no friends among more hawkish Israelis and their backers:
No one would mistake Haas or Gideon Levy for the Israeli mainstream, not even on the liberal side, but at least Ha’aretz doesn’t silence even these voices.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
I mean fake Steve Sailer at 5:07.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
a bit unusual to see a US Senator lauding a foreign country as morally superior to his own
Not if the other country is Israel
January 13th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
A side question would be why New Yorkers elect people who are obviously so stupid that they have no idea what the fuck comes out of their mouth?
Chuck Schumer is a fucking AIPAC tool. FUCK.THAT.MOTHERFUCKER.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:14 am
The Einsatzgruppen were nice enough to send parakeets to local synagogues in Poland and Russia to warn the residents thar they’re might be trouble ahead and to head to a town called Auchswitz asap. “Run, Jews, run” they squawked.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Trevor,
EXACTLY!
Like I said Schumer is nothing but a lying genocide loving scumbag.
January 14th, 2009 at 4:42 am
Hell, the IRA used to phone people up just before they bombed em. Everybody does it.
January 14th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Chuck thinks Israel is the sixth borough and was appalled that some yahoos from Hudson County were attacking it
January 14th, 2009 at 7:18 am
I suppose we have to concede Ragout’s point – text messaging your victims was pretty rare before there were text messages.
I’m tempted to send Schumer a text message telling him that I’m about to bomb his house, so he better clear out, except I think I’d be arrested. Maybe one of the people who thinks this is really excellent civilized behavior can lend me their phone?
January 14th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Baader-Meinhof group and Provisional IRA – both routinely gave warnings for their bombs, didn’t stop anyone calling them terrorist groups. Both routinely ended up blowing up innocent people too of course.
I believe Bin Laden gives warnings to Americans every now and again to the effect “stop x, y and z or pay the price, infidels” – what a huumanitarian! To be fair that kind of generalised warning is not as helpful as if he had sent a text message warning people to vacate the WTC on 9/10 but I have a feeling he would not have been lauded for his humanity all the same…
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