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| Miko Peled - Gideon Levy - Huwaida Arraf |
On an all-day conference in Washington on the power and the influence of the Israel Lobby organized by the "Institute for Research/Middle East Policy" and the "Washington Report for Middle East Affairs" Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy delivered an impassioned speech at the National Press Club blaming the Zionist lobby for the dominant role Israel plays in U. S. politics.
"Let's call it from now on the United States of Israel." According to Levy, one has to ask oneself who is the superpower between the two. The American political class is permanently talking of an "ironclad friendship" between the U. S. and Israel, but for Levy it's a "corrupting friendship". "If there wouldn’t be an Israel lobby, Israel would be a better place to live in, Israel would be a more just place. And I think that if it wouldn’t be the Israel lobby, the US would be a better place and a more democratic place."
Change can only come from within the U. S. "In Israel – is a lost case, forget about it. Israeli society has surrounded itself with shields, with walls, not just physical walls but also mental walls." According to Levy, Israel can live with this brutal tyranny of the occupation because
- It deeply believes that "we are the chosen people. Then we have the right to do what we want."
- Never in history has an occupier presented himself as a victim, as "the only victim around".
- Israelis have undertaken the " systematic dehumanization of the Palestinians". The occupation does not involve questions of human rights. Almost no one in Israel "will treat the Palestinians as equal human beings like us".
Levy painted a very realistic picture of his country, which the U. S. public has never been confronted with. The fawning U. S. media do a very good job to keep the American public misinformed. The Americans know nothing about the rampant racism, the supremacist Zionist ideology, and Israeli exceptionalism.
Of course, the mainstream media did ignore Gideon Levy's speech. On the panel were to other prominent speakers: Miko Peled, who wrote an excellent book "The General's Son", criticized the fabricated Israeli narrative that is propagated by the Zionist Hasbara and AIPAC. Without this false narrative. Israel would lose its legitimacy.
Huwaida Arraf introduced herself as a "Palestinian citizen of Israel". "It's an assertion of my national identity." She rejected being called an "Israeli Arab" or "Arab Israeli" and even a "Palestinian Israeli". The Israeli government has been trying to eradicate our national identity for decades. She mentioned the 50 Israeli laws that discriminate against non-Jews. Arraf was born in the U. S. but is also a "Palestinian citizen of Israel". She and her family do not visit Israel anymore because of the strip search and the degrading treatment by entering and leaving Israel.
Due to the three speeches, one gets the impression that there are no moral boundaries for Israel and the country can behave like a bully, without fear of any consequences.
Watch the three excellent speeches here.
