Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Sharon's cellmate

If my prime minister is a war criminal, so is Tony Blair
Daphna Baram
Thursday March 10, 2005
The Guardian
I read Ken Livingstone's article on these pages in which he explained
his position on Israel and anti-semitism with great care, and agreed
with it. I have always respected his unequivocal stance against racism
and I don't believe that he is anti-semitic. And yet I am angry. I am
angry with Ken and with the British left generally. Please allow me to
explain why.
I agree that my prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is a war criminal. From
the intentional killing of 69 civilians in the village of Qibya in
1953, through the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, all the way to the wild
bombing of Palestinian cities in the last few years, his career is
steeped in vile criminality. I have dedicated my adult life to making
this point, not only to my people, but also to yours, and to the rest
of the world. I believe that international pressure is vital to change
Israel's policies, not only for the sake of the Palestinians, but for
Israelis too.
In the little political sub-culture of the non-Zionist left which I
come from, calling the prime minister a war criminal is no big deal.
Israelis tend to say what they think out loud. The fact that so many on
the British left call my prime minister a war criminal too is fine by
me.
But if justice is to be dispensed evenly, what about your prime
minister? Yes, Tony Blair, the bloke who took the British army into
Iraq and butchered tens of thousands of Iraqis in an illegal war and
under a false pretext? What is he, exactly? I, for one, think he
deserves to share a cell with Ariel Sharon. Indeed, Sharon may
reasonably protest: he is yet to be responsible for killings in such
numbers.
Yes, I know the British left were against the war in Iraq. But it is
rare to hear them refer to Blair as "a murderer", "a butcher", or "a
war criminal". Blair is more often presented, even by ardent anti-war
commentators, as "misled", "mistaken", "sincere but wrong", "well
meaning but cheated by Bush", "acting out of great religious
conviction", and so on. Even Ken decided to rejoin Mr Blair's party
after the criminal invasion of Iraq, and at a time when sinister hints
as to British and American intentions in Iran and Syria were already in
the air. This is what makes serious Jews and Israelis sneer at his
statements against Sharon.
The way to prove to liberal and left Israelis (they are the only ones
in Israel Ken stands a chance of convincing) that he means what he says
is to apply the same lofty standards to Blair, and to use the same type
of words when describing their very similar activities.
So my message to the British left is: either moderate your language
when talking about Sharon, or escalate it when talking about Blair. One
way or another, it is time to set equal standards. Occupation, torture,
killing and wars of aggression are as bad when committed by Britain as
when committed by anybody else.
· Daphna Baram is the author of Disenchantment: The Guardian and
Israel
K
-- 
Tonibaruch detto il bagarozzo, dopo aver fatto cilecca per l'ennesima volta
si sfogo' su IPI dicendo:
"Ma a voi funziona bene ..." 

 Israel
Carino. Sottoscrivo.
Am.