John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PHILIP WEISS IN MONDOWEISS
“Israel is ridiculous, antiquated and based on lies about other people’s land, Seth Rogen says”
https://mondoweiss.net/2020/07/israel-is-ridiculous-antiquated-and-based-on-ethnic-cleansing-seth-rogen-says-but-hes-afraid-to-tell-other-jews/
Seth Rogen is a very brave man. He has done nothing but speak the simplest truth, using no exaggeration or harsh words, but Israel's situation is something you are not allowed to be truthful about.
The mantra "There is no such thing as a Palestinian," first dishonestly spoken by Golda Meir, has been repeated many times by American politicians.
The last I recall was the appalling Newt Gingrich who went around sticking the line into speeches after receiving about 20 million dollars in campaign contributions from a certain American oligarch, a man who today heavily influences Trump's Middle East policy of lawbreaking.
Israel’s relationship with truth is very similar to America’s. And there is a very good reason for that. Israel in many ways resembles more an imperial colony than an independent nation, a very special colony with many privileges and huge public and private subsidies.
It is America’s pied-a-terre in the Middle East, and telling any truth about America’s global empire – its countless wars and conflicts and coups – is also something that really isn’t allowed.
Few Americans understand the realities of Syria or Iraq or Iran or Yemen or Libya or Venezuela or, indeed, the realities going back to the horrors of Vietnam.
The Pentagon and CIA exist as the monstrous institutions they are in order to control much of the planet, not to defend America.
We have a new hero in Seth Rogen. Where power is concerned, truth is very rare.
