dev

20
Jul

A brief note

Cian in the comments: Israel started targetting civilians, in their “disproportionate” response to a military action. They were the country that first flagrantly violated the principle of civilian immunity. Hezbollah were retaliating. This is rubbish, as Shalom Lappin reminds us: The attack on July 12, which sparked the current conflict, involved a large scale katyusha assault on Israeli towns along

Read more

20
Jul

Panel discussion on antisemitism

And well-timed too. The cartoon at left appeared in the Guardian of 7/19. (The paper ran this rather weak clarification today.) OPPOSING ANTISEMITISM IN THE MOVEMENT: A WORKSHOP FOR ACTIVISTS When: Sunday, July 23, 6:30 p.m. Where: Bluestockings, 172 Allen Street, between Stanton and Rivington Streets, Manhattan The panelists are: April Rosenblum, a Philadelphia-based activist and author of “The Past

Read more

20
Jul

Fog upon fog

For some reason I continue to believe it’s possible to have civil discussion of the Mideast conflict — even in the blogosphere, which I’m beginning to think is an inherently poisonous medium. In the last couple of days I’ve been accused of ethnocentrism, support for ethnic cleansing, even tacit sympathy for Lebanese Maronite fascism. I’m not going to respond to

Read more

17
Jul

Music notes

Now playing: Jean-Marie Leclair, Leclair Sonatas — II (from Op. 9) (Hyperion)Composed between c1738-1743, for violin, cello and harpsichord. The Convivium ensemble plays this music at a pitch of A=415Hz, substantially lower than modern concert pitch (440). The result is harmonically bright music that sounds strangely dark. Music not to listen to while writing about violence and death —Luciano Berio’s

Read more

17
Jul

In other news

Sunni gunmen rampage against Shia civilians in Mahmudiya, Iraq, killing up to 48. You know things are bad when that’s not the day’s biggest news, not even close. The mass media gaze is drifting away from Iraq, but the ongoing bloodbath must not be forgotten. Both Sunni and Shia death squads are now operating in police or security uniform, engaging

Read more

17
Jul

What instead?

Gene at HP insists that those who criticize Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon should stop griping and offer concrete suggestions on how to repel Hezbollah. Here are some words from Michael Totten, a Westerner who has lived in Lebanon and actually knows something about the place:What should the Israelis have done instead? They should have treated Hezbollahland as a country, which

Read more

17
Jul

More fog

Cian in the comments asks: Does this principle of civilian immunity only apply to Israelis, then? Not only has Israel has killed far more civilians in Lebannon, but their response to the military kidnap of a soldier was to bomb civillians. Or do you think that all Lebanese civilians are somehow not civilians? Really amazing — in the posts of

Read more

15
Jul

Fog of war commentary

Unsurprisingly, Marc Cooper is taking heat for condemning Hezbollah. “Angry Arab” apparently has no problem with Hez launching rockets indiscriminately at Israeli cities, in flagrant violation of the principle of civilian immunity. Again, the very existence of an armed Hez violates a standing UN resolution. Even more amazingly, people are attacking Marc for lacking the “courage” to criticize Israel. The

Read more