Hate Speech or Fact Sheets?!

Almost every time we criticize israel or try to show the world the israeli war crimes, some people throw us with "off the shelf" accusations: "hate speech", "anti semitic", "propaganda" , "promoting violence" and "supporting terrorism" and some new expressions like warmongers..

I want peace, but I believe that the corner stone for peace is Justice. Martin Luther King said it before: ""True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."

I live in South Lebanon, and I have witnessed a series of Israeli war crimes, some were 100-500 meters away from my house. I saw children in pieces, literally, children that I know their names and I used to meet them and their parents every now and then. So, when I go to forums or publish a post describing or protesting against these Israeli war crimes, I am not spreading any hate, I just want justice for these children and their families and I want to stop this from happening to other families. Now, if you hate israel for committing such crimes, well, that is only normal.

I dont write to spread any propaganda, I just write what I know and what I feel and what I saw and see. They call it propaganda, maybe because they are used to spread propaganda and because the truth is too much for them to handle.

We believe in people and nations right of self defense. But, Israel cant occupy lands, destroy houses, detain 11000 prisoners among them children and women, put 1.5 million in Gaza under siege, and then claim it is self defense. I don't think an occupation can claim any right of self defense.

220 child killed in Gaza, if we say that, are we promoting a hate speech? Well, they have killed, massacred 220 child! What are we supposed to say?!

STOP THE ISRAELI WAR CRIMES.!

Salam, (Peace,in Arabic)
Moustafa Ghaddar
http://web2gaza.org

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Comment by Riyo Widianto on January 13, 2009 at 1:17pm: just like what desmond tutu said about "neutrality", “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”.......

Comment by Riyo Widianto on January 12, 2009 at 5:37pm: to my friend bookstolistento please visit this site....
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

Comment by Moustafa Ghaddar on January 12, 2009 at 11:32am: I wonder, how United Kingdom would feel and act if someone try to establish a state there and occupy the lands of its citizens, because that what israel did here.

Why dont you go live in Gaza and try to help them get food and medicine, dont help them get guns, just help them food and medicine. aparently, you are smarter than everyone there, even the red cross and unrwa, so please, go help them and we will appreciate it.

Because a 3 months sick infant died because of that siege, we dont want that to happen again, would you please be kind enough and tell them how to bring these medicine and food?

Oh, the only or the most dangerous terror gangs in the Middle East are israel armed forces and Al Qaeda, they both mass kill civilians and try to make it "legal" in the religious or civil laws.

By the way, livni was to displace these israeli arabs, and there are many reports about the discrimination and hate against them.... it is not just about voting.

Salam(Peace)

Comment by Bookstolistento on January 12, 2009 at 11:13am: The trouble is, Riyo, that the Israeli "checkpoints, walls, blockades and sieges, the bombings, the killings, the Israeli only roads" are themselves a reaction to the attempts by the Arabs to destroy Israel (and strangle it at birth). It is interesting that the rocket attacks on Israel intensified AFTER the Israelis had withdrawn from Gaza. What sort of a message does it send out, when they effectively say: "You have withdrawn from Gaza? We will respond by firing rockets at you!"

You compare Israel to apartheid. But Israel's 1,150,000 Arab citizens (20% of the population) are able to vote in Israeli elections and because of Israel Proportional Representation system are guaranteed representation in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) A further 275,000 Arabs in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are eligible for such citizenship but reluctant to accept it for fear of reprisals by other Arabs against them or their families. I don't recall anything like this in South Africa. And of course Arabic is an official language of Israel.
Obviously there is room for improvement.

But these improvements are hardly likely to be brought about by terror gangs like Hamas and Hizbollah. And whilst they complain about blockades, Israel has the right to control its own border. They can still bring in material from the Egyptian side. They manage to bring in guns and bombs after all. So why not food and medicine?

Comment by Riyo Widianto on January 11, 2009 at 1:25am: action or reaction that is how we judge hamas' "violence" that has been commited in palestine against israel.....that it is a reaction to the brutal israeli apartheidistic military occupation of their homes and livelihood...a reaction to the check points, the walls, the blockades, the sieges, the bombings, the killings, the israeli only roads, the illegal settlements, the settler violence and all awful things that comes from it....surely you don't expect human beings to sheepishly comply with all these, they will resist it and resistance to oppression and occupation is justified under the un charter....if south africans can put up resistance to apartheid in their land, why not palestinians ?...as for taking sides, yes we have to take sides, we have to side with the weak and defend them, defend their rights and lives, we can't be "neutral" in this, just as we can't be "neutral" when dealing with apartheid south africa....

Comment by Moustafa Ghaddar on January 10, 2009 at 7:59pm: I am taking, as much as I can/know of, the side of the TRUTH and PEACE, that is why I am trying to show the facts as I know them and I have witnessed them in South Lebanon before.

Want Hamas to stop rockets, Give them their rights. The Katyusha stopped from Lebanon when israel withdrew from Lebanon. Except, few incidents that are less than the number of israeli violations of our skies and land.

Any hate against israel is simply a result of the israeli massacres in Gaza and before that in Lebanon and other places. Stop the massacres, there will be no hate. How would anyone feel about an organization that killed 260 child in 10 days?!!

Comment by Irit Hakim-Keller on January 10, 2009 at 7:49pm: Lilu
thank you for the comment - it is much of my thoughts. only, you have the right words to express them (which I do not). lately, more and more hate and criticism are being spread toward Israel, here - on theses pages of iPeace, and no one is mentioning the Hamas' part in this. As if there is only one in this tango... I do not agree with war in Gaza at all, and I do my best to help stopping it. I have my criticism too, but I believe that the discussion should be balanced. It is natural for people to take sides, but in a correctly way of a discussion one must remember that there are two side of the coin, and should be "brave" enough to look at the faults of the side one was taken. And, speaking of taking sides - why not everyone takes the side of TRUTH and PEACE and be positive instead using hate, and being negative. Of course all is very complicated, but there are standards to be kept.

Comment by Riyo Widianto on January 10, 2009 at 5:57pm: typical...they always ignore the core issue, the root of all these atrocities..that is the brutal israeli military occupation....everything that happens in palestine has to be viewed from that frame that it is happening under a brutal apartheidistic military occupation impose on the palestinians by the israelis....it's that simple...we as indonesians have had the same experience under the dutch colonial era, the british, and the japanese empire.....and it is quite common for foreign occupying power to put scary labels on those who oppose their oppression...indonesian freedom fighters are labeled "extremists" by the dutch in the same way that palestinian freedom fighter are labeled "terrorists" by israelis, and the american and brits are doing the same thing in iraq and afghan....putting scary labels on their victims foreheads so they could murder them at will without being protested by their own mostly malinformed citizens....

Comment by Moustafa Ghaddar on January 9, 2009 at 12:43pm: I did not see Hezbollah bombing a UN camp and killing a 106 child like Israel did! I saw Nasrallah telling in a TV speech the Israeli army to leave the civilians and fight against the fighters who are on the borders. But instead, israel continued to target civilians, civil defense and children, while the world say that is "self defense". April 1996 agreement was to avoid civilians on any side, until Israel broke this agreement and committed massacres, then Hizbollah responded by attacking the cities. Although, Hezbollah did not commit any massacres there.

The propaganda by israel and some pro-israeli about alleged crimes from Hamas or Hezbollah is simply a twist to make the victim and the killer equal.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1927/21/54/787427730/n787427730_1128662_3405.jpg

While neither Hamas nor Hezbollah are perfect, and there might be collateral damage in any way, even in israeli attacks, but when 220 child get killed, that is not a collateral damage or accidents, these are war crimes. I did not see Hezbollah do such things.

Salam,
M.G.
http://web2gaza.org

Comment by Lilu on January 8, 2009 at 10:55am: There's a simple explanation for you.
Talking about crimes of all sides makes it a demand for justice.
Talking about crimes of just one side and ignoring the other makes it propaganda.

That's the difference, that's why people react the way they do to what you say. Because focusing all the blame on one side is not a reflection of the truth, thereby exposing the motive of revenge and hate instead of fighting injustices. For example, Hamas fighters holding a palestinian family hostage at gunpoint at a house so they don't leave and they stop providing them human shelter, that is a war crime. If you ignore the plight of those poor souls though, and only talk about Israel, then any claim of yours about seeking justice for civilians is hypocritical at best.

So if you want your words to be seriously heard, when you speak of Israeli crimes, you must also speak of Hizballah crimes, or Hamas crimes alongside it.