No longer asking (Gideon Levy)

We've stopped asking. The press, whose job is to ask, almost doesn't ask questions; the Knesset doesn't ask questions; the attorney general doesn't ask questions; the Supreme Court doesn't ask; nearly all the teachers, doctors, students, and intellectuals don't ask questions; the heads of the army and the defense establishment certainly don't ask questions, they never asked. Nothing is more symptomatic of a society's ills than the fact that the society has stopped asking questions.

Even during a particularly bloody week like last week, when 14 innocent civilians were killed, nearly no questions were asked, and certainly not the real questions. In a feeble voice it was asked why it was necessary to fire missiles at a vehicle in the heart of Gaza, and why the second barrage was necessary when it was obvious that innocent civilians would gather around the car after the first barrage. But nobody asked about the difference between firing a missile into the heart of a city and a suicide bomber blowing himself up in the heart of another city. They asked who killed the Ghalia family on the beach and what Israel should do about the Qassams, but few asked what Israel should not do, under any circumstances, and what would happen if, heaven forbid, the GRAD missile in the vehicle were to blow up on a street bustling with people. Nobody, of course, even considered asking the commander of the air force or the chief of staff if they should take responsibility for this war crime.

And nobody asked what happened to the debate, which nonetheless has been underway here for some time, about the very policy of assassination, its legality and morality, nor even whether it is sensible or effective. Does anyone take into account the bloodshed stemming from the reaction to assassinations? They asked who started the current round of violence and answered in a chorus: the Palestinians. They fired first. But nobody dared ask, why do they fire? Were they born to kill, to launch Qassams? Do they enjoy it? What really motivates them? Has a new round of fighting begun, this time with Qassams, or maybe it is the inhumane conditions in which they live, the boycott Israel has imposed on the Palestinian Authority and the intolerable siege? We've locked them up in Gaza and blocked international economic aid, they shoot to free themselves of the heavy yoke we've placed on them ? as just a struggle as any for freedom ? and we don't even ask why, just dare to argue that "they started it."

And why has Israel rejected Mahmoud Abbas' outstretched hand for so long? Israel at least admits he is peace-seeking. And why haven't we listened to the new voices in Hamas? What would have happened if the prime minister were to invite his counterpart Ismail Haniyeh to a meeting the day after the latter was democratically elected? Would the danger to Israel from that meeting have been greater than the horror of the Qassams and the terrorist attacks yet to come? The killing we sowed has undermined the prisoners' document that was supposed to encourage Israel. Through a campaign of assassinations and massive bombings, Israel made it practically impossible for Abbas to conduct the referendum, which would have yielded results that could have been a lever for peace. And has anyone asked lately why the "safe passage" has not been opened as we promised, or why prisoners, starting with Marwan Barghouti, have not been freed?

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/727935.html

In the US, the media is even more compliant. They would rarely print commentaries from people like Gideon Levy or Tanya Reinhart (much less Palestinians, even when Edward Said was alive, he very rarely got any opportunity to speak. When he did, they treated him like shit. He said the Israeli media treated him with more respect).

So now even in Israel, few are questioning their government decisions, or the pronouncements of the military. This is tragic.

Levy needs to find a new job reporting for the Palestinian media. Let's see if is "introspective" eye works as well there as it does in Israel.

He's doing fine where he is.

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what precisely is wrong with this article? It strikes me as a clear sighted analysis. I may not agree with every single point, and Levy certainly has his own slant on things, but it's a valid argument. Instead of just saying he's a sop, why not counter his argument? Let me add, that from my comments on this board, you should know that I'm not someone who reflexively blames everything on the Israelis or has much use for the purple prose that people too often post here. This doesn't fall into that category.

Honestly, I really like your voice here. You are one of the ONLY people I have ever seen that I could think of as neutral (I know I am not).

I could point many things in his opine that are inaccurate or flat out wrong, but I will have to save that for a later time because it is so late (early) here in NOLA.

I say he is a sop because of his numerous anti-Israeli screeds. This is but one more.

I will ask you to do this...find a Palestinian source or even an Arab source that blames the PA for the problems in Gaza. Did you know that in recent fighting between the two factions a pregnant woman and three children were killed? You won't find that in the Arab press (at least not their names), nor even here at DU.

Let's hope you get an answer :)

That's two. :eyes:

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