Hero

'Jack fell as he'd have wished,' the Mother said,

And folded up the letter that she'd read.

'The Colonel writes so nicely.' Something broke

In the tired voice that quavered to a choke.

She half looked up. 'We mothers are so proud

Of our dead soldiers.' Then her face was bowed.

Quietly the Brother Officer went out.

He'd told the poor old dear some gallant lies

That she would nourish all her days, no doubt.

For while he coughed and mumbled, her weak eyes

Had shone with gentle triumph, brimmed with joy,

Because he'd been so brave, her glorious boy.

He thought how 'Jack', cold-footed, useless swine,

Had panicked down the trench that night the mine

Went up at Wicked Corner; how he'd tried

To get sent home, and how, at last, he died,

Blown to small bits. And no one seemed to care

Except that lonely woman with white hair.

By Lt. Siegfried Sassoon, 1917.

Joan,

Just in case it escaped your attention.

There is a war going on in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of Palestinians and two Israelis have been killed.

As a Salon reader, is it unreasonable of me to expect some coverage of these events, rather than "the year in sports" and "my year in politics"?

Lets face it Joan, you're no good at editing Salon.

Please make plans to resign, before you're pushed.

For those of you interested in facts, the boat in question is one of several operated by the Free Gaza movement, an off-shoot of the International Solidarity Movement (I.S.M).

A wide variety of passengers have been taken to Gaza, including members of the European parliament, medical experts, political activists and journalists.

The Free Gaza website is full of information and you can find it here:

http://www.freegaza.org/

Glenn,

Thank you so much for your tireless work this year. You're best thing in Salon and one of the best things online. You also remind me that despite everything, the United States is capable of self criticism and change.

Happy New Year.

Great interview Glenn and credit to them for inviting you and allowing you to speak at length without too many interruptions.

A couple of minor nit-picks, where you may have challenged their assumptions:

HH: Now of course in Israel, the government is not run by those extremist elements, to whatever extent they exist, and I just don’t know. I know that Kahane was an extremist, et cetera, but I just don’t know that there were many of them, nor have they ever been in power in Israel.

Israel has had several leaders and governments who were by any standards extreme. For example, the former terrorist Menachem Begin, former leader of the Irgun, was Prime Minister of Israel from 1977-1983. Then there was former senior member of the Stern gang, Yitzhak Shamir, Prime Minister of Israel from 1983-84, and again in 1986-1992. He once said "neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat."

Then there was Ariel Sharon, former leader of Unit 101, under whose leadership the Qinya massacre of 1953 and other atrocities occured. He was Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.

Regardless of the undoubted qualities and experience of these individuals, they were NOT moderates!

I also belive you are wrong that journalists would not be welcome:

GG: It depends. I mean, it’s probably, you’re probably right that especially now, Western journalists, Jewish journalists, would not be welcome in Gaza for reasons that aren’t that difficult to understand.

Right now, the Free Gaza movement (http://www.freegaza.org) has at least five westerners living and working alongside the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Western journalists are desperately neeeded to report on the atrocities now being comitted in Gaza, and the Palestinians realise this.

"My father taught me to take risks, to accumulate wealth. He said it didn't matter how I did it. But this was after 40 members of his family were killed in Auschwitz and his motto became, "God abandoned us. There is no such thing as morality, and it's every man for himself."

Sounds like Bernie and your Dad had similar moral frameworks...

"Do I blame my father, who has been dead for eight years? Or is it Hitler's fault that I put my money into a Ponzi scheme?"

Yes, blame Hitler.

Debbie Schlussel is the most obnoxious woman on the entire Internet.

Jonathan,

WHY exactly do you think the Palestinians hate Israel so much?

What are the things that Israel has done to the Palestinian people over the past 50 years or so that might be the cause of such hate?

Please answer my questions, I wasn't asking why Hamas hate the Isrealis.

I knew you wouldn't answer my questions.

Zionists never do.

A massive thank you to Mr. Karon for writing what is one of the clearest and most succinct articles I've ever read on the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Of course he'll be called antisemitic or self hating or maybe just a Nazi for his trouble, but thanks to articles like this and the sheer nastiness of Israeli policy, the mood in the United States seems to be changing albeit too slowly.

Thank you once again.

One day, the Bush era will be as embarrasing and shameful as the era of Senator Joe McCarthy.

There are just so many people living on illegal settlements that it's really quite hard to imagine how everyone could be rehoused on the Israel side of the Green Line.

We're talking of possibly 300,000 people who would need to be moved and housed.

If such a thing was to happen, I just know it'll be the long suffering American taxpayer that funds the whole exercise and there'll be tons of propoganda about the extraordinary lengths that Israel is willing to go too in order to bring peace.

Poor Americans - always paying for Israel's mistakes.