Dan DeWalt, a frequent contributor to these pages and one of the founders of this newspaper, writes that if he didn't love his country, he "wouldn't spend so much time trying to get it to live up to its purported principles."
NEWFANE-Free speech - the very essence of America's mythic "exceptionalism"- is under assault by flag-draped "patriots" who are undermining our rights and freedoms by enabling fascist white nationalism and corporate hegemony to reach ascendancy.
Under the guise of concerns about antisemitism, right-wing Zionists and Israeli apologists are doing their best to prevent the world from reacting to their campaign of genocide against the Palestinians and to criminalize all criticism of their crimes.
In Israel, it is against the law to deny the genocide of Jews by the Nazis, but in the U.S. and around the world, it's increasingly becoming illegal not to deny the genocide that Israel is currently inflicting on the Palestinians.
In fact, the reactionary right would have you jailed for simply uttering the phrase "Palestinian genocide." Laws are being promulgated here and abroad to that effect.
In the U.S., laws have been passed like one in Oklahoma in 2021, which defines as few as three people being together and expressing their views to be an unlawful assembly and subject to state and federal anti-racketeering conspiracy penalties.
Pending federal legislation would put universities and colleges at risk of losing all federal funds if they don't suppress campus protests and/or pro-Palestinian encampments. You risk losing your job if you say the words "Free Palestine."
In the U.K., the group Palestinian Action has been deemed a terrorist organization because they splashed red paint on some bombers. If you simply hold up a sign that says "I support Palestinian Action" you are liable for a 14-year jail sentence.
Australia is hard at work criminalizing protest actions, especially ones that pertain to Palestinian rights and freedom.
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Somehow, the phrase "Palestinian genocide" is no longer a description of systematic killing and displacement of a people as their homeland is bombed into rubble. Instead, it has been deemed a threat to Jews worldwide, denying Israel the freedom to do their murderous work unimpeded.
"From the river to the sea" is another taboo phrase that can land you in hot water. This phrase has engendered hysteria among many Israeli supporters, even those in the United States, far from the violence in Palestine and Israel; they fear for their safety whenever they hear the phrase.
But "from the river to the sea" is perfectly acceptable to them when uttered by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other Israeli political leaders, as they claim their right to "evacuate" Palestine and eliminate the Palestinians.
As Netanyahu plainly stated: "For 30 years, I am very consistent, and I am saying something very simple: This conflict is not on the lack of a state of Palestinians, but the existence of a state, the Jewish state. […] And therefore I clarify that in any other arrangement, in the future, the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea."
In a social media post, Knesset member Tally Gottliv said, "It is time for Doomsday weapons. Firing powerful missiles without limits. Not simply flattening a neighborhood, but crushing and flattening all of Gaza."
These sentiments aren't limited to extremists in the Israeli government. U.S. Rep. Andrew Harris of Maryland states flatly that "Israel is for Jews, from the river to the sea."
If that strikes fear into the heart of Palestinians whose homes lie between that river and the sea, no one seems to care.
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When the Holocaust started to unfold, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the U.S. government chose to ignore it until the war's end, when the horror was so great as to be impossible to ignore.
Then we shamefully rejected the exodus of surviving Jews who desperately tried to come to our shores to escape further persecution.
So when the early Zionists succeeded in getting a foothold for their Israeli state in Palestine, President Harry Truman embraced their efforts and pledged to be their friend and protector. (Better there than here.)
As the Zionists built their power and gained military strength, the U.S. saw them as a buttress against Arab nationalism (which threatened American and British oil interests), strengthening western hegemony across the region.
But now Israel has achieved status as a full-fledged state. They are a nuclear power and, thanks to U.S. tax dollars, are the strongest military power in the entire Middle East. And far from being content to conquer part of Palestine for their Jewish state, they are still pursuing their original plan of seizing all the territory from the river to the sea and driving out all Palestinians that they haven't managed to kill.
In this quest, Israel has committed scores of war crimes over the decades. Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to stand trial for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Many world leaders, even as they maintain their support for Israel's right to exist, have condemned its barbarous excesses and crimes, reducing arms sales and financial support.
But the United States has been a steadfast partner. The Biden/Harris administration funded, materially supported, and participated in the genocide in Gaza.
The Trump administration has given Netanyahu and his extremist allies free rein to massacre and conquer as they see fit, with nary a whisper of complaint, even as the vast majority of Americans call for an end to the Israeli onslaught, which is now fully involved in the West bank as well.
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What benefit do U.S. officials see in being complicit with war crimes and genocide today? Could it be the fear that our political class has of the power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the lobbying group that has, until this year, been almost invincible as it has poured millions and millions of dollars into election campaigns, defeating politicians who wouldn't give Israeli expansion unqualified support? Smear campaigns, false advertising, fearmongering, and racism have all figured into these campaigns, and they have been effective.
But now, for the first time, AIPAC millions are not buying success at every election. The American people have started to wrestle free from the grip of AIPAC's propaganda. But even if politicians can see the writing on the wall, they continue to countenance genocide and support Israel regardless of its actions.
Maybe this is because of the understanding that in order to control a restive American public, inspirational speech will not be enough; active suppression measures must be taken so that dissidents who stand a chance of getting traction can be jailed and silenced to protect the power of the corporo-fascist state.
The aforementioned laws are a start, and they are making it ever more dangerous to speak up for the rule of law and human rights.
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The surveillance state is also an important component of suppression of the population. Now, Flock cameras connected directly to law enforcement can give the government a chance to hunt down whomever they deem to be undesirable or "dangerous."
Israel is a leader in the world of surveillance technology and cyber warfare. By aligning ourselves, the U.S. shares not only its technology, but also its unfettered disregard for international law and human rights, as we hope that they will help us do our dirty work.
America and Israel are working hand in hand as two rogue nations, imposing authoritarian laws and restrictions on their populaces even as they pretend to be democracies reflecting the will of the governed. At this point, the tail is wagging the dog. Israel is calling the shots, Trump obeys, and American politicians - Democrat and Republican - are willing to go along.
They know that unfettered freedom of thought and truly free elections in this country will lead to their demise. Their abject failure in governing is obvious to we the people. Our political class is selling us to the corporations and the police/surveillance complex, hoping that artificial intelligence and algorithms will give them the tools to keep us down, distracted, and powerless.
They will continue to shamelessly profit from what the corporations allow to trickle down to them through corruption as well as the lucrative revolving door through which the pols enter the corporate world that they once "regulated."
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If we are to save ourselves and our nation, we must understand that with a few notable exceptions, the entire political class is working hard to sell us out. They will certainly embrace the worst that the surveillance state has to offer to keep us in check.
What is being done to the Palestinians and other perceived enemies of Israel is a dry run for what will happen to us as we become restive.
We can have hope for our nation, but that hope can only be grounded in ourselves. Our political system is currently the enemy of the people. Not only must we elect the breed of politicians who reject the current system, we must also recognize that the system has become an evil that must be stopped from destroying us.
Understanding and accepting this is the first step to being able to take action to reverse this dismal reality.
Because no nation has the "right" to exist if its existence depends on genocide, military aggression, or suppression of its people. This includes, as we have now become, the United States and Israel.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.
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