by Don Pelton

You could read Columbia Professor Rashid Khalidi’s exccelent book, “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017” in maybe ten or twelve hours.

Or, you could watch Khalidi’s interview with Chris Hedges (below, in about one hour) covering the essential arguments of his book.

Oh, sorry, either of those would require an actual effort.

So, if you prefer minimal effort, get the cartoon version (of Israel simply as a victim of terrorism) by tuning in to MSNBC or CNN, or reading the New York Times or  the Washington Post. Hardly any effort requred. Most comforting story of all. But simplistic, leaving out essential context.

So that you can appreciate why I would recommend at least some effort, here’s a sample from the interview with Professor Khalidi, in which he debunks the accusation that students using the phrase, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be  free” are being antisemitic:

“So you shut down the debate by saying, well, they’re antisemites, and their slogans are genocidal, which is actually what a university  administrator at Columbia said, that the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be  free” is genocidal. [But] It’s part of the laws of the state of Israel! It’s the platform of the  Likud party, that from the sea to the Jordan, there will only be Israeli sovereignty. That was  the platform of the Likud party in 1977. So a bunch of students are hollering “from the river to  the sea, Palestine will be free.” And the Israeli government actually is instantiating in law, in its constitution, that from the river to the sea, the only sovereignty will be Jewish sovereignty … And this lot [the students] are persecuted for their beliefs. [In the interview, Hedges reminds us that the student chant refers to equality of Jews and Palestinians in Palestine]. And on the other hand, you have an Israeli state supported by people in the US, which is made  part of its constitutional laws a provision to that effect [of Jewish sovereignty]. We’re operating obviously at  Columbia and other university campuses in an unfavorable environment. But in a situation where  there is enormous support for Palestinian rights across American society, especially among  young people and minorities, but among many right-thinking people who can see through the  hype and the cant and the hypocrisy and the lies of the mainstream media and the framing  of the mainstream media and of our government. You listen to President Biden and it sounds  like he’s reading from an Israeli teleprompter.” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ55JmOlSdg