A pre-Yom Kippur note re Yitzhak Rabin & @AOC -
Every chapter of a book changes the meaning of all the chapters before.
Every day each of us writes a new chapter of our book.
Rabin's bio includes harsh chapters.
In the final chapterโฆ
In the final chapter of his life, Rabin broke the mainstream Israeli taboo, recognized Palestinian nationalism, and determinedly pursued peace with the Palestiniansโฆ
In the final chapter of his life, Rabin also broke the Israeli taboo on a political alliance with the parties representing Arab citizens of Israelโฆ
Rabin's showed his courage not only in pursuing peace, but in willingness to examine what led to the First Intifada and change his own belief and direction.
No Israeli leader, and very few leaders anywhere, have shown the same kind of courage...
Rabin's willingness to change direction are only emphasized by his earlier chapters, including his actions in the 1948 war and during the early months of the Intifadaโฆ
Put very simply, @AOC, boycotting a memorial for Yitzhak Rabin means boycotting change, boycotting the hope of changing minds in principled arguments, and boycotting courage.
There's nothing progressive about it...
Personal addendum: I coauthored a bio of Yitzhak Rabin. I could also dig up harsh articles I wrote criticizing Rabin. I know what a complex figure he was.
But, @AOC, you've made a mistake. You can change your mind.
Postscript: Have seen tweets blaming Rabin for Oslo leading to no-peace, continued occupation.
They bizarrely ignore fact that Rabin was murdered by a right-wing extremist who sought to stop process - and succeeded.
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US Sect of State Blinken saying that Israeli settlements in West Bank are "inconsistent with international law" is indeed important symbolically.
However, news items on this are mixing up the history of US policy on settlement illegality.
The Carter administration wasn't the first to label settlements illegal. That was US policy from 1967 onward. As seen in this cable of 8 April 1968 from the State Dept to the US embassy in Israel:
In 1976, the US ambassador to the UN, William Scranton, said in the Security Council that settlements violate IV Geneva and are illegal.
This @washingtonpost deep dive, like others, confirms Hamas deliberately provoked the invasion of Gaza, knowing that it was sacrificing countless Palestinian lives.
@washingtonpost The deaths of thousands in Gaza are as much part of Hamas's plan as the deaths of Israeli civilians on October 7.
The goal was to set off greater conflict, in the name of achieving Hamas's goal - both cruel and utterly without a chance of success - of destroying Israel.
@washingtonpost Hamas fought its way through the thin line of Israeli soldiers on the border in order to reach civilians - to kill, take hostages, and commit other atrocities.
Churchill's knowledge of Nazi mass murder in occupied Soviet territory came from Bletchley Park, where master codebreaker John Tiltman's team had cracked the cipher used by special German police units to report how many people they'd shot. (2) @calder_walton@spyhistory
Like this message from 18 July 1941, in which a Nazi police regiment reports that it had shot "1153 Jewish plunderers."
The reports were coldly bureaucratic.
So @OferShelah says a party actually needs a program. Totally true. Therefore asking for his program on:
โฆฟ Achieving 2-state outcome
โฆฟ Settlements, & defunding them
โฆฟ Raising taxes on wealthy, to pay for -
โฆฟ Smaller classes, better-paid teachers...
More questions to @OferShelah - what do you propose to
โฆฟ Heal underfunded health system
โฆฟ Make it possible for young people to afford apartments
โฆฟ Restore jobs lost to pandemic
โฆฟ Make public transport affordable, efficient, replace cars...
And more questions to @OferShelah - what do you propose to
โฆฟ Deal with long-lasting effects of Ashkenazi-Mizrahi wealth & education gap
โฆฟ Ensure full equality for Arab citizens - incl place in govt for their representatives
โฆฟ Transform haredi education...