This past Monday I had the opportunity to attend a round table discussion about the Israel-Lebanon war with Congressman Earl Blumenauer and six others who had been invited. Earl held two round tables, one with a “pro-Israeli” group and then us, which I’m not sure what we were, but based on what my own views are and what I gathered from the comments and opinions of the others there, I would have to say we were the “anti-Rumsfeld style shock and awe because it doesn’t work” group, or more simply put the “cease fire now” group.

Although I’m a big fan of Earl’s, I found his defensiveness of Israel’s shock and awe campaign on Lebanon disturbing, particularly in the face of his strong opposition to the US war in Iraq. On several occasions Earl began to get argumentative with participants and then stopped himself by saying “I’m not here to argue with you. I’m here to listen.”

The most important point that many of us made repeatedly during the discussion was not about which side is morally right or wrong, but rather how this is making Israel less secure in the region, and because the US backs Israel unconditionally, it hurts US interests. We all understood that the moral argument is circular, and thus pushed the strategic argument, even though Earl tried the moral argument at one point by stating that Hezbollah types “celebrate the deaths of Israelis.” We responded with specific examples of how there are Israelis who are just as comfortable celebrating the death of Arabs. I asked him if he had seen the recent Washington Post picture of two young Israeli girls engraving “With Love from Israel” on Israeli missles bound for the streets of Beruit. He said he hadn’t seen it. I found it frustrating that Earl even went down that “who hates more” dead end road.

Although Earl willingly and enthusiastically criticized Bush administration foreign policy in the wider Middle East, the administration’s policies with Israel seemed off limits to any kind of criticism during our meeting. And it’s not just Earl. All of Oregon’s delegation has been deafeningly silent on the issue, lacking the will to even call for a cease fire in order to stop the blood shed and the spread of increasing hatred. Demanding a cessation of hostilities with the promise of an honestly negotiated peace agreement that is just and fair is not being anti-Israel. So why the silence?

Contact your representative here.

There will be a peace vigil this Saturday (8/12) in Portland’s South Park Blocks behind PSU’s Smith Hall at 7pm.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 10th, 2006 at 4:09 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.