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Bootleggers and Baptists: some unconsidered dynamics underlying the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, OR what is systemic unaccountability?

July 23rd, 2014 1 comment

[Tweaked from a Facebook post]

Below are several underlying dynamics of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict; when viewed from the perspective of US involvement, this looks like an amazing “Bootleggers and Baptists” coalition to use, abuse, distract and pander to taxpayers, while in fact serving a few special interests:

1 – elites in both US and Israel are closely tied to crony defense/military-industrial complex firms: war is their bread and butter. The more “peace” fails and “wars on terror” perversely bring about more terror (surprise! sowing dragons’ teeth fosters blowback! who knew???), the longer these elites stay in power and the longer they can grift off, distract and impoverish the rest of us. As a business model, blowback is a smashing success!

2 – the US provides massive subsidies to Israel (to the tune of $3 billion annually) and — by providing significant direct support to the Palestinian Authority and indirect support to Gazans via the UN (together, over $1 billion annually) — both sweeps up after Israel’s biennial turkeyshoots in Gaza (providing a quantum of solace to trampled West Bank Palestinians) AND keeps Palestinians relatively passive and dependent (and thus less active managers of their own futures and less able to either cooperative via business with Israel, or to stand up to Hamas OR Israel). Support to Palestinians also helps US lawmakers pretend they are even-handed and have no responsibility for what Israel becomes or what Israel does.

3 – US subsidies to Israel enable Israel’s own crony elites to cultivate and cater to (rather than rein in) Jewish Zionist fundamentalists — who resolutely desire no peace with Palestinians whatsoever.

4 – Israel’s status as the possessor of the “Holy Land” provides a deep, emotional excuse for thoroughly corrupt and cynical US leaders to game/distract “conservative” “Christian” Americans and much of rest of the West (who all have some degree of Judeo-Christian-derived culture) into vocal support and approving massive tax subsidies/military support to Israel and to our own Military-Industrial Complex, for the purpose of helping Israel “safeguard Jerusalem” from dirty infidels (on top of the significant amounts that American Jews are able to fund themselves to “save Israel!” from non-existential threats that Israel keeps alive via systematically frustrating peace efforts and periodically touching off blowback).

Thus, by our participation US elites fuel fundamentalism in Israel, among Muslims and among Christians at home. We also generate increasing antagonism to the United States in general, by peoples who tire of both US domineering and of the US role in fostering extremism and in supporting despots.

What do we know about systems that absolve those who act within them from personal responsibility for negative consequences to others?

P.S.: This interesting interview with Jewish writer Yossi Gurvitz provides some insights into Talmudic Judaism and the Jewish fundamentalists who, coddled by a US-subsidized Israel, diligently sabotage peace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSy6ENVAJlY

Further interview here: http://mondoweiss.net/2012/03/the-radicalization-of-yossi-gurvitz.html

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