Archive for January 20, 2009

Party pooper

I am sure that I am not alone in feeling like a party pooper today–yesterday. I mean, with the horrors of Israeli butchery and terrorism in Gaza it is not easy to be festive.

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Terrorist rhetoric from an Israeli "leftist"

This is supposed to be a leftist “peace” loving Israel. It only shows you that there are no discernible differences in the Israeli political spectrum–they only disagree over the desirable number of Palestinian children to be killed: “Obviously, the Palestinians cannot be let off the hook for their crimes and mistakes. That would be tantamount [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

teaching the natives a lesson:

“Estimates for the proportion of civilian deaths among the 1,360 Palestinians killed range from more than half to two-thirds. Politicians, diplomats and journalists are by and large shying away from the obvious, namely that Israel has been deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians and the very infrastructure of normal life, in order to – in the best [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Self congratulation

I have written before about the American propensity to self-congratulation. But do you notice how politicians and journalists keep referring to the “unique” American tradition of “peaceful transition” of power. As if there are is no peaceful transition of power in other countries. Hell, Lebanonesia–the potato republic–has peaceful transition of power.

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Trash that is not fit to print

There are no organizations or centers in DC that chronicle and catalogue the daily trash that Israeli leaders vomit on daily basis.

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Evidence

“In a post on Amnesty International’s Livewire blog, the team described how “previously busy neighbourhoods have been flattened into moonscapes,” and “how there is no camera lens wide enough to embrace the sheer dimensions of the devastation.” The team also described how power lines have been torn down, and water mains ripped up. Gaza’s infrastructure [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

City of Tents

“According to Professor As’ad AbuKhalil, author of the ‘Angry Arab’ blog, fellow blogger Ahdaf Souif in (Egyptian) Rafah told him, “Outside the general Hospital in Egyptian Rafah a city of tents has sprung up. I counted 200. But the soldiers there told me they have many more and can set them up immediately. They said [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

I am speaking at UC Irvine

I almost forgot. “Those are some of the themes explored in “Whither the Levant?: The Crisis of the Nation-State,” a day-long program of films, panels and a symposium at the UCI Student Center on Jan. 31. The event will feature authors As’ad Abukhalil, Mark LeVine, Lina Haddad Kreidie, Chuck O’Connell and more. Also attending will [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Obama and Bush

In Obama’s speech–or anthology of American political cliches–he said that markets “expand freedoms”. How does that work? Like if I buy chicken mcnuggets I make contributions to freedoms around the world? Watching Bush leave in disgrace: in the US and around the world, I could not help think: who in the world would invite that [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Zionist militias

“The problem is that the Palestinians, students of a universal humanism in which they consider themselves equal to everyone else, keep failing Israel’s racial lessons and tests. What the Palestinians ultimately insist on is that Israel must be taught that it does not have the right to defend its racial supremacy and that the Palestinians [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Abdur-Rahim Fuqara’ on the Daily Show

I received many emails complaining about Abdur-Rahim Fuqara”s appearance on the Daily Show. He is the bureau chief for AlJazeera (Arabic). I must agree with the criticisms, `Abdur-Rahim. I saw it and you were so careful to not antogonize any supporter of Israel among the viewers. You even managed to praise Israel’s handling of the [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Chomsky

“Fatah by now is more or less functioning as Israel’s police force in the West Bank.” (thanks Olivia)

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Gaza and the Lebanese president

Comrade Khalid’s critique of the Lebanese president of the potato republic

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Zionism is terrorist racism

““But most disturbing of all was the graffiti they daubed on the walls of the ground floor. Some was in Hebrew, but much was naively written in English: “Arabs need 2 die”, “Die you all”, “Make war not peace”, “1 is down, 999,999 to go”, and scrawled on an image of a gravestone the words: [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad

Our conflict with Israeli state AND society

“Simultaneously, the Israeli media has been towing the government line to such a degree that no criticism of the war has been voiced on any of the three local television stations. Indeed, the situation has become so absurd that reporters and anchors are currently less critical of the war than the military spokespeople. In the [...]

Posted on January 20, 2009 by As'ad