Sadly most of us are not well versed in the issues in the middle east and we are more emotional than we are balanced in our thinking. My guess is Bill Moyers has no more idea how to address the differences between Jew and Muslim, Israeli and Arab than the people themselves. Is this an issue going back thousands of years or is it stemming from the creation of a nation in territory that was not any nation at all? Why do some people glorify death and others want to preserve it at almost any cost? The point to me is: Israel is a nation, here to stay. Accept it and deal with it on a rational level. The people living in Gaza chose a leadership that wants to destroy Israel and is open about that and how they are prepared to make it happen. These people have determined their own fate; or they can chose a wiser, more peace-oriented leadership and determine a different future for themselves. It is their choice. It seems to me that Israel has bent over backwards to work out a peaceful relationship with its Arab neighbors and the people in Gaza. But that has been defiantly rejected by Hamas who continues to terrorize and murder. The blockade is in place to prevent murderers from entering Israel; it is not a 'concentration camp' imposed by a murderous ideology. Neither Bill Moyers nor anyone else has offered an acceptable solution to this difficulty, since I do not see Hamas rushing to implement it. Does Hamas want to work out a peaceful end? Not according to its charter. It is Hamas that is deserving of world condemnation for putting its people in such a dire situation.
Will Middle East Peace Rest on the Shoulders of Tzipi Livni
I watched Bill Moyers on an episode featured on PBS that centered around the conflict between Hamas and Israel.Putting it bluntly,the entire episode was disturbingly innacurate.1st the Palestinian/Israeli conflict cannot be remotely compared to the Vietnam War.PBS 's reputation for accuracy is being undermined by Bill Moyle.For example Bill Moyle includes film clips of injured Palestinians which provoke emotions,but there is no relevant context.In one clip Bill Moyle has Hamas leader ,Mahmoud Zahar,stating that Israel is killing children leaving your viewers with an impression that Israel is at fault.What Bill Moyer fails to do is to include who and what Mr.Mahmoud Zahar is all about and how he is directly responsible for putting Palestinians and Israeli civilians in harms way.Here is a quote from Mr Mahmoud Zahar that provides the "context"that is so obviously missing in this piece. ""[Hamas] will not change a single word in its covenant [which is calling for the destruction of Israel]." (Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas leader, after casting his vote in the Gaza Strip, January 25, 2006, Ha'aretz) PBS is well known for having a standard of excellence that should be the model for all media.Currently the war between Hamas and Israel is a test for accurate and responsible media.Too bad that they are failing miserably,and are not doing the public any service by reporting news using pictures and other sources without any CONTEXT.PBS is an educational channel,and Bill Moyle has offered a biased emotionally provocative story with out offering even the slightest bit of education.In fact his was a show that can be used as an example of how Hamas was successful in using the media in a PR campaign using rockets to provoke Israel,and pictures of bloodied Palestinian children to seduce the media.This type of media is contrary to the principles of democracy and human rights.Imagine a hostage taking where the police are forced to act in the interests of others,and there are innocent casualties.If the media are not explicitly showing the beginning ,middle and end,they it might look as if the police that were protecting society were actually killing civilians,when that would be the furthest from the truth.The media would be putting the lives of innocentcivilians in danger by making the police reluctant to act in the future.Which is why Israel did virtually nothing in the last 8 years of rocket attacks on their civilian population.Bill Moyle could have been educational if he had done some research.For instance why not do a story on how Israel left Gaza and gave Palestinians 4000 green houses that produced 200 million in revenue each year,and fed 5 million Israelis?Bill Gates was one of the contributors to GUSH KATIF.Here is a link of the events and how Palestinians destroyed GUSH KATIF because it would be contrary to their campaign of misinformation making Israel look like a villain,when in fact that was the furthest from the truth.Here is the link.
"Other Arabs Who Can't Accomplish Anything in Life and Would Rather Wrap Themselves in the Seductive Melodrama of Eternal Struggle and Death." I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters." Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. They could've had their own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago at Camp David but if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living. That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course -- that's where the real fun is -- but mostly they want Israel. Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it -- for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth . . you know that's really saying something. It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim Middleast. Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one. Chew this around & spit it out: 500 million Arabs; 5 million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that, if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding. My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the Numbers. Imagine 500 million Jews and 5 million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not. Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab State into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting. No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death. Mr Bush, God bless him, is walking a tightrope. I understand that, with vital operations in Iraq and others, it's in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all, that can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of super models who've just had their drugs taken away. However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some. After September 11th, our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful. Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and then every day), start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint. If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan."
The suffering being endured in the middle east will not be relieved by more violence and more weapons. I fear that, again, as in the past, the war profiteers are at work. Who really benefits in any meaningful way from this protracted bombardment of civilians?
I knew you had courage to speak out on many issues and you are a breath of fresh air amidst the terrible reporting on television and radio. However, your comments on the middle east were so well stated, and, as a Jew, I knew you would be accused of anti-semitism, because so have I for holding the same views as you!! There was NOTHING anti-semitic in your comments. But, it seems, that the attitude is prevalent among most Jewish Americans that if you aren't rabidly pro-Israel (right or wrong) then one is anti-semitic. That "card" is being played too frequently and loosely and will someday backfire when a truly anti-semitic remark is made by someone. Please keep up the excellent work you do and I salute you for your continued honesty and bravery in presenting us, the viewing public, with the high excellence of journalism that should be the standard!
Bill should keep to secular speaking because his attempt to sound intelligent about the spiritual underpinnings of the unrest in the middle east clearly prove he is not spiritually alive. Choose life, it's easy..."Saving Mail." 2ff7e9595c