We need a thousand of him.

"NOTE: Due to a server problem, we are unable to post this week's episode of BILL MOYERS JOURNAL at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience and will post the show as soon as possible. Thank you."

Seems odd.

Apparently Moyers assumes many congressmen and senate members abhore what Israel is doing but are afraid to say so. Could it simply be that they are privy to the realities of Israel's situation and know that Israel has no choice - that all its other options have failed in the past at the cost to Israeli lives - and that it's 'a job that must be finished rather than left undone for only more (and harder) work that will have to be done in the near future?

Most of the time the rhetoric in liberal blogs about I/P, there is no room for mentioning the goal of some Palestinian hardliners that want to destroy Israel. Thanks to Moyers for including that, and the right of Israel to respond.

But thanks in larger part to his willingness to point out that this does not serve Israel's larger goals, only creates more suffering and rage, and cannot be justified by any "right to respond".

Not this violence. Not this mayhem. Not the killing of innocents.

I've always been a staunch supporter of Israel, while finding their militarism abhorrent.

Israel is losing me here. I can't abide the suffering of innocent people in the name of "safety", whether it be the U.S. in Iraq, torture, rendition and imprisonment of alleged terrorists (most of whom turn out to be innocent), or Israel in Gaza.

It's just wrong.

The transcript is right here:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01092009/transcript4.html

They had some sort of technical problem on the website that is going to delay posting the video by a few hours -- hardly the stuff of a conspiracy.

And I never said there was a conspiracy, only that it was odd.

Odd due to the nature of the subject matter and the threads here lately. There may be names for coincidences like that; but conspiracy is not one I would choose.

As a boss of mine once said, "between purposeful malevolent action and ignorant inattention --- it almost always is inattention."

Dang!

I also meant to say thanks for the link, Glenn.

Amen to that.

From an op-ed in the WSJ online, this morning, by George Bisharat:

"Israel's current assault on the Gaza Strip cannot be justified by self-defense. Rather, it involves serious violations of international law, including war crimes. Senior Israeli political and military leaders may bear personal liability for their offenses, and they could be prosecuted by an international tribunal, or by nations practicing universal jurisdiction over grave international crimes. Hamas fighters have also violated the laws of warfare, but their misdeeds do not justify Israel's acts." (http://online.wsj.com)

I'm waiting for a similar op-ed in the New York Times, the LA Times, the Washington Post and other major newspapers. I'm waiting for this issue to be given serious coverage on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and PBS, including the Sunday talk shows.

Let's just say I'm not holding my breath.

On the other Israel thread I have just posted a link to an article I found on the JINSA site. Worth a look at. And you probably know much more about that crew than I or some of the other of us do so any comments from you I'd be grateful to hear.

All wars of agression are claimed to be in the name of self defense, at least over the last 150 years. US in Iraq, if you believe the ongoing rethoric at the time, America and the world was in peril of being wiped out from the planet by Saddam and his wooden flying drones. Remeber the duct tape idiocy? A friend of mine, who swallows the right wing radio parlance undigested was convinced at the end of 2002, that the sheer survival of the US depended on the obliteration of "Iraq war machine".

How many people in the US are terrorized by the primitive less than 1 megaton nuclear weapon of N. Korea? Wold N. Korean generals be so idiotic to even think of using it?

The Sandinista revolution in Central America would utterly destroy the US if Reagan did not act so swftly. . . They were a mere 2 day march distance from the US border! Oohh my heart is pounding. . .

Grenada? a vital threat for the existance of freedom. . .

Vietnam? the domino effect. . .

Poland: Our spiritual father Adolf affirmed that the security of Germany was so precarious that the constant terroristic attack from Poland could not be tolerated, and proceeded to answer bullets with bullets, bombs with bombs. . .

Those evil Poles, so dangerous were able to resist the German army for almost 4 days. They fared much better than the Iraqis in the Shock and Awe operation of the time.

And I am just getting started. . .

The most striking aspect is that sober, fact-based, even-handed commentary like this about Israel automatically subjects one to widespread, profoundly ugly accusations of being "anti-Israel" and even "anti-Semitic," to the point where not a single ...

I saw a poll by the local newspaper in Orlando asking if Israel's actions in Gaza were justified. Approximately 80 percent said yes; and the quotes were out of Zoltan's play-book. This indicates that few in America ever get the facts: the real facts.

At the same time, a friend begins his annual unit on "The Holocaust" for 8th grade students. He told me about what he does with them and I doubt Zoltan would find anything in there to disagree with.

I asked my dear friend if he covered how the land went from being owned by Palestinians in 1900 to now being owned (over 90 percent) by the state of Israel. He said that the UN gave the land to Israel and that they took more of "their ancient homeland" during various Arab started wars.

So, where does an American go to find an even handed account of what happened to displace a people from the land? I have found that opinions formed during the schooling years (up through college) become set in the mind to the point that even considering contrary evidence is rare. America's youth may be taught a myth that they will never question.

No wonder they think the only Injun is a dead Injun.

Opps, getting my genocided natives mixed up.