To Olmert and Company
How many nanoseconds did it take your hasbara specialists to transform the “Gaza Massacre” into a heroic tale of self-defense against the Hamas terrorists? How many percentage points will this operation in Gaza gain your…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
On Reciprocity and Responsibility
My friend Laura Weis (who is currently working in Indonesia) sent me the following excerpts from a piece by Glenn Greenwald. A while back, an Israeli friend of mine asked me, “Why should you care…
Candor
Israeli Arnon Soffer: “We will tell the Palestinians that if a single missile is fired over the fence, we will fire ten in response….when 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it’s going to…
Dear Layla
Do you Remember The days Of Bert Sacks? Robert Fisk? Fadi Kiblawi?
Change You Can Audaciously Put Your Hope In
From today’s New York Times, on Israel and Gaza… In the campaign, Mr. Obama made statements that sounded similar to those issued by the Bush administration on Saturday. “If somebody was sending rockets into my…
An Israeli Poet
The following poem by Israeli Aharon Shabtai is translated from the Hebrew by Peter Cole. It appears in his aptly entitled collection from New Directions, J’Accuse. “War” I, too, have declared war: You’ll need to…
Journalists (Monitoring Power)
Thought of the day from journalist Robert Fisk from his The Great War for Civilisation: “I suppose, in the end, we journalists try–or should try–to be the first impartial witnesses to history. If we have any…
I Don’t Expect Obama Will Be Quoting This Any Time Soon
“Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose…
Email from Cameroon
Dr. C, Hello! Hope this email finds you well. Classes must be well on its way and I am sure you are enlightening many other students like myself as we speak. I’ve wanted to write…
On War Heroes, Pilots, and Civilians (American Values/1)
Imagine reaction in the United States to the following scenario: An ambitious, tough-talking Russian politician is vying for greater political power and influence. Twenty years ago, he served his country as a pilot in the…