Monday on CNN’s “Crossfire,” cohost S.E. Cupp prepared the viewing audience to brace themselves for a “doosy” of a statement embedded deep in Hillary Clinton’s new book, Hard Choices.
Curious to know what this controversial statement might be? It’s a sentence from her recollections of a trip taken with Bill Clinton to the Palestinian city of Jericho in 1981. Of that trip, Clinton writes:
“In the West Bank, I got my first glimpse of life under occupation for Palestinians, who were denied the dignity and self-determination that Americans take for granted.”
After reading the above statement, Cupp pointed to Tracy Sefl, a representative of the pro-Clinton super PAC Ready for Hillary, and emotionally reminded her that Chris Christie was forced to apologize to ‘pro-Israel’ groups in America for using the language of “occupation,” emphatically employing air quotes for the word occupation.
She then looked at Sefl and asked the following:
“Is Hillary Clinton going to apologize to Israel for using that same language?”
Indeed, is Clinton going to apologize for recognizing what the international community, and Israelis themselves, understand as an obvious truth? Is Clinton going to apologize for what President Obama himself described as a “permanent occupation of the West Bank” in comments directed at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu?
Of course, the issue here isn’t about whether or not Clinton misspoke. The issue is about conservatives and those who claim to support Israel making the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a foreign policy wedge issue. Perhaps more specifically, this is about making any critique of Israel appear as though it is an attack against the country’s legitimacy.
Credit: Creative Commons
More than anything, though, what occurred on “Crossfire” is a prime example of how ridiculous public discourse in America has become on the topic of Israel, where honest public discourse is virtually unheard of, and where the fight over what can, and cannot, be said about Israel erupts virtually whenever the country arises in conversation.
The Israeli historian Gershom Gorenberg said it best recently on this issue when he said the following:
“The American fight about what you can’t say about Israel, and where you can’t say it, will always sound to an Israeli as if Lewis Carroll scripted it.”
Of course, this is all so silly when one considers that Clinton, in this same book from which she was quoted, expresses how she would have been much more hawkish than Obama, and would never have asked Israel to freeze settlement construction in the context of peace negotiations.
The real question should be this: does Hillary Clinton need to apologize to Palestinians for not supporting American efforts to stop Israel’s settlement expansions?
Perhaps, but it’s not a question you’ll ever hear on American airwaves.
Credit: Creative Commons
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, published recently by Oneworld Publications.
Follow him on Twitter @David_EHG.
Or maybe the real question is whether you need to apologize to Hillary for doing a cynical Fox News hit job on her for a statement concerning a trip she took more than 30 yeats ago?
Self-determination of a people is a formation of a nation-state on the basis of a shared religion or ethnic identity. That makes those who do not share the paradigm of the state second class citizens. I am thankful that the US does not have self-determination and that all citizens are equal under the regardless of ethnicity or religion.
National liberation is incompatible with human liberation. No state should discriminate on the basis of religion or ethnicity. I hope self-determination does not come to the US. The US Civil War was fought because the white South wanted self-determination.
The US Civil War was fought because the white South wanted self-determination. I am glad they didn’t get it. Self-determination is the formation of a nation-state on the basis of an ethnic, religious or linguistic unity. That makes those citizens who do not share that second-class. No nation should discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion or language. We don’t have self-determination in the US, and I don’t want it. What is Hilary talking about?
Christie did not have to apologize to Israel or to pro-Israel groups. Plenty of pro-Israel groups recognize that this is an occupation. Christie had to apologize to Sheldon Adelson because he was depending on financial backing. Hillary won’t be getting any funding from Adelson.
Two other points.
1. The right wing is trying to own the phrase “pro-Israel”, as if criticism of settlement policies somehow makes a person anti-Semitic or hostile to the peace and prosperity of Israel. Nothing could be further from the truth. This us similar to the offensive claim of the words “pro-life”, as if believing a woman should control her own reproductive system means one is opposed to life.
2. The whole move to make the term “occupied” taboo is about avoiding the fourth Geneva convention under which the settlements are illegal. It’s about manufacturing a change of perception. It’s a grand deception, aka propaganda. Netanyahu recently commissioned a report that conveniently (and not surprisingly) found that the Geneva Conventions did not apply. That conclusion is a sham. This is a double game, since if the territories are not occupied then the presence and operations of the IDF in the territories are illegal and these forces need to withdraw immediately. Israel can’t have it both ways.
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/australia-fluffs-its-lines-in-the-language-of-occupation
The more controlling demands Israel and Israel supporters ask of all others ,the less credibility and trust Isreal and its supporters will have and get. Israel its own worst enemy for a secure and decent future created by its own actions and unrealistic and reasonable demands! Israel actions are not just Anti Palestinians, but its Anti world free speech and opinion! This type of behavior is a sure result to singling out attitude toward Israel and its ligitimacy.
Rather than apologize, which sheds no light, Hillary should explain her reasons why she called it an “occupation” and why she did not support stopping the settlements. Then hopefully a media national debate will ensue on the two issues. Those who insist on an apology in lieu of a debate probably are afraid of losing. :-))
It has been argued, and quite credibly too, that the state of Israel and its government as they are now configured is apartheid. Can we have your opinion on this claim?
The word “Apartheid” means “the state of being apart”.
Considering the Apartheid Wall, the separate laws, courts, roads, checkpoints, etc that exist under the current regime in Palestine, how could any sane person claim that word “Apartheid” did not apply?