Discussion for article #222129
The two state solution is merely a device that allows US Jews to feel good about Israel. It isn’t a serious offer. Netanyahu has zero intention of allowing any two state solution and Hamas has zero intention of accepting one.
But pretending it is on the table allows US Jews to pretend that the discrimination against Palestinians is only temporary, that the right of return is something other than Jim Crow.
Like Donald Sterling, Zionism is based on a set of beliefs that haven’t aged well.
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coward, again the “mighty” USA cowers to netanyahoo. Lets continue the bulldozing and blockading, after decades of this the Palestinians will give up soon.
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Kerry spoke perfectly clearly on the subject. And he was dead on. I know too many Palestinians and heard their stories too often to have such an unshakeable support for Israel. The Palestinians have been treated like dirt by Israel. I don’t know what Israel expects?
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I don’t see why Kerry should have to apologize for anything because he NAILED it. Consider;
John Kerry’s comments, unabridged and not hacked to spin him as some kind of antisemite:
“A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens — or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state. Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two-state solution, which both leaders, even yesterday, said they remain deeply committed to.”
Anyone who can deny this, is lying to themselves and to the world.
Israel has three options:
- Two-state solution
- One-state w/apartheid
- One-state with demographic creep resulting in an Arab majority and the end of the Jewish state.
They should choose wisely.
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I wish we could have an honest and open discussion about Israel. Kerry’s remarks are accurate. If Israel keeps on this path, it will become just like South Africa was. This isn’t insulting. It isn’t anti-Semitic. It’s accurate. The situation in Israel is incredibly complex and difficult to unravel, but honestly, if we cannot have an actual discussion about what is wrong in Israel without being accused of bigotry and forced to apologize for what could happen, then we cannot stop it from happening.
In fact, the accusations of bigotry and bias have clouded the issues on both sides and prevented everyone involved from actually looking at how to unravel this.
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Czesław Miłosz: “In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.”
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Well, making the statement and then backing off is an old aged political ploy. You can interchange words likeUS Jews with Jewish Lobby and Military Industrial Complex and finally the religious fundamentalists.
Israel is nearly back to the pariah state that it was in the 60s. At the time before apartheid fell in South Africa Israel had a very similar stance. I for one am tired of the peace process attempt that neither side will endorse. It’s like listening to the Donald claim he is going to run for President. It just won’t happen.
Sec. Kerry was absolutely correct in his assessment and his 'apartheid" statement. Israel is heading towards something like that if they cannot reach so sort of lasting deal between themselves and the Palestinians. I really am sick and tired of people taking issue with others who criticize Israel for their bad behavior and not wanting to play by the rules. Those people who are so willing to give Israel a pass on everything, is one of the reasons there is no peace there. As a Jewish person, who has felt the same sort of criticism Sec. Kerry is hearing right now, having heard it from members of my own family, I sympathize with him. But I also support what he is saying. Israel has bulldozed homes of Palestinian people to build Jewish settlements, bombed them in the place they sought refuge, killed and imprisoned their men. Sounds like what the United States government did to the Native Americans here in the U.S. Stole their land, placed them in refuge settlements, the U.S. government called reservations, killed and imprisoned the men…The worst kind of “democracy” is the one where the minority has majority rule. Does sound a bit like historical South Africa doesn’t it? Whatever happened to the principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community?
He spoke accurately but like our host Josh Marshall, he can only see the alternative to the two state solution as an unimaginable catastrophe. So he starts from the assumption that a one state solution isn’t a possibility.
Israel isn’t at risk of becoming an apartheid state. It is an apartheid state already and has been one for several decades now. What Kerry states as two alternative options are in fact the same option and the first will lead to the second.
Ten years ago when I first started talking about Israel as an apartheid state the terminology was considered offensive even on the left. Today it isn’t even particularly noteworthy.
People have all these scorecards and loyalty tests but there are only three questions I need to ask a candidate: Do you reject AIPAC? Do you reject the NRA? Do you reject Americans for Tax Reform? Anyone who will spit in the eyes of at least two is OK as far as I am concerned. Anyone who will reject all three, I’ll call a cause.