Submitted Comments RSS Feed Comments by Kevin Kamberg
Posted in: Organ harvesting: Part II
This post is a bit misleading. First, the assertion that the original "story is about Israeli doctors taking organs from people who died on their own" understates the admitted facts since most would reasonably interprete "died on their own" as some sort of reference to either a natural death or an unaided death. Whereas the admitted facts include victims of violence. Indeed, for Abu Kabir to have ended up with some of these bodies the victims had to have died of decidedly unnatural causes involving some sort of martial cause. Secondly, the quoted assertion that this story is unconnected to the earlier Aftonbladet piece is belied by the fact that the professor who released the info about Abu Kabir directly cited the Aftonbladet issue as a primary reason for releasing it. Thus the admonition of the media to not connect the two issues is itself bordering demagoguery. Thirdly, in the immediate aftermath of the Aftonbladet furor multiple sources urged Israel to investigate it rather than dismiss it out-of-hand. Had that been done then this current story about Abu Kabir would have been exposed to the cleansing light of the truth rather than having to be outted by a non-Israeli. http://www.counterpunch.org/weir08282009.html http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/i-challenged-haaretz-writers-on-the-organ-harvesting-story-last-summer.html Lastly, previous denials not withstanding, I see no logical reason to assume that these two stories aren't connected on some level. Why was the nonconsentual harvesting of organs done in the first place? Such practices were universally considered grossly unethical prior to the 90s and yet the harvested happened anyway, year after year after year. And what do we really have beyond bald-faced assertions that the practice ended at the end of the 90s?
Posted in: Roger Cohen: The Israelis are the problem
Cohen should have addressed what the Palestinians should do as well. I agree up to that point. However, the larger onus is on Israel by virtue of the fact that she is the controlling or occupying power over all Palestianian lands. Thus the Palestinians could do all sorts of changing and it would be for naught - within the context of permanently resolving the conflict - unless Israel changes, because the Palestinians don't control their own terroritory and will never be in a position to militarily dislodge Israeli control without explicit Israeli acquiescence. That doesn't excuse the Palestians or give them license to never change. It simply aknowledges objective reality for what it is.
Posted in: Goldstone's motivation
I agree with what Goldstone says here. All of it.
Posted in: Cohen: Enough about the Holocaust already
Echo David Szonyi's criticism of Uriel Hellman's blatent misrepresentation of what Cohen called for. I fail utterly to see how the interests of Jews anywhere on the planet are furthered by such glib intellectual dishonesty. I expect more from JTA. A lot more! Take away the intellectually honest reporting and these daily JTA digests are just more unwanted spam cluttering my inbox.
Posted in: If AIPAC ain't broke...
Cheryl, perhaps you missed the following Freilich quote in the article: "Those Jewish Americans, who share a deep concern for Israel's trials and travails, have the right, even the duty, to express their criticism within the Jewish community, the public at large, pretty much anywhere -- except before the administration and Congress." Freilich's own words clearly show that he is presuming to tell American Jews how to conduct our business in America. He is in effect saying that our first allegiance as American citizens is to "present one voice" to our own elected leaders viz Israel. That is both presumptuous and exceptionally arrogant given his criticism of American Jews voicing criticism of HIS elected government.
Posted in: If AIPAC ain't broke...
If, as Freilich asserts, it is presumptuous of American Jews "to believe that they 'know better' what is right for Israel" then by that very same logic it is presumptuous of Freilich and Israeli Jews to believe they 'know better' how American citizens ought to handle our civic responsibilities as American citizens. Yet there is Freilich presuming to tell American Jews what our duty is as American citizens. We don't exist to rubberstamp AIPAC or whatever government happens to be in control of Israel at any given point in time. We are Jews, but we are also citizens of the United States and most of us take our citizenship very, very seriously. We do not owe our first allegiance to the government of Israel and it is the height of presumptuous arrogance for Freilich to suggest otherwise.
Posted in: West Bank university disqualified from competition
The university unequivocally characterises itself as being of, by and for Israeli citizens. There is no mention of accessibility for Palestinians, although it does explicitly mention accessibility for Jewish emigres from the former Soviet Union and from Ethiopia. From the english language version of the university website: "As a demonstratively Zionist institution, the University Center has two key requirements: every student must study one course per semester on some aspect of Judaism, Jewish heritage or Land of Israel studies, and the Israeli flag must be displayed in every classroom, laboratory and auditorium on campus." Academic suppression sucks. But it sucks no less for the Palestinians unable to attend than it does for the univeristy students barred from this competition.
Posted in: Responding to Goldstone
Mr. Sideman's attempted rebuttal is simply an exercise in shooting the messenger. He doesn't even attempt to rebutt a single substantive charge in Goldstone's report. Worse, Sideman trots out a StrawMan logical fallacy by implying that Goldman asserted a perfectly 50/50 equivilency between the actions of Hamas and of Israel, which of course the report doesn't do. It's highly ironic that in challenging the objectivity of the UN commission Mr. Sideman demonstrates that his own objectivity is questionable.
Posted in: Goldstone: Panel had to pursue justice
I see lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth in comments here, but not a single rebuttal of any of the report's findings. Not one. Just as Ari has observed.
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 02/09/12 @ 05:54PM EST
- A poll showed that nearly half of likely voters believed the United States should use military force to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
- Rabbi Gunther Plaut, a major figure in Reform Judaism, died in Toronto.
- The application for a proposed Hebrew-language charter school was accepted by the District of Columbia Public Charter School board.
- A truck driving calves from Eilat to the Golan Heights was hijacked into the West Bank.
- U.S. Rep. Howard Berman introduced legislation that would allow eligible Israeli nationals to receive non-immigrant investor visas in the United States.
- Poll: Half of U.S. voters back strike on nuclear Iran
- Reform leader Rabbi Gunther Plaut dies
- D.C. Hebrew-language charter school accepted for review
- Op-Ed: Kick the reaction addiction on campus
- Berman moves to grant investor visas to Israelis
- Holy cow! Calves hijacked into Palestinian territory
- Report: Israeli journalist also works for prime minister
- Larry Greenfield tapped to lead JINSA
Posted in: Siegman: Israel = apartheid
01/11/10 07:39 PM
It's instructive to note how Siegman's critics have lined up here to attack/dismiss him while glibly ignoring the substance of his argument.