tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post1917171722756394387..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Erich Fried: A Jew to Zionist Fighters ("I want to be a new Jew with these new Jews...")Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-22768993002999419022015-10-16T14:29:46.253-07:002015-10-16T14:29:46.253-07:00Mr. Baraban—in lieu of Mr. Clark’s refusal to crit...Mr. Baraban—in lieu of Mr. Clark’s refusal to criticize my use (via Erich Fried) of the detestable (to you) term “Jewboy”, all I have to say is this: Though you sound like a decent enough fellow (I mean, “mensch”), shouldn’t you have focused more on Israel’s atrocious occupation of former Palestinian lands and the resultant devastation of property and lives rather than engaging in sophomoric linguistic “politically correct” horseshit? Or is that beyond you, since you seem to prefer putting the cart before the horse?vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14515165428574974933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-5791433254601215102015-10-16T12:55:17.949-07:002015-10-16T12:55:17.949-07:00By the by, the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, the...By the by, the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, the other half of today's mesmerizing double feature -- the half that wasn't dying of cancer when the text posted here was writ, the half that's a senior editor at Haaretz -- appeared yesterday on Democracy Now! in a discussion of the current (and seemingly, now, permanent) troubled state of things in Israel and Palestine. Presuming you'll have missed that, here's an interesting bit of the exchange between the show's co-host and Levy:<br /><br />NERMEEN SHAIKH: In an appearance at Harvard University, Secretary of State John Kerry appeared to draw a link between the wave of violence and increased Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.<br /><br /> SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: Unless we get going, a two-state solution could conceivably be stolen from everybody. And there’s been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years. Now you have this violence because there’s a frustration that is growing -- and a frustration among Israelis, who don’t see any movement. So, I look at that, and I say, you know, if that did explode -- and I pray and hope it won’t, and I think there are options to prevent that -- but we would inevitably be -- you know, at some point, we’re going to have to be engaged in working through those kinds of difficulties. So, better to try to find the ways to deal with it before that happens than later.<br /><br />NERMEEN SHAIKH: That was Secretary of State John Kerry speaking Tuesday. Gideon Levy, could you respond to what he said and give us a sense of what the mood there is?<br /><br />GIDEON LEVY: Unfortunately, I must say that John Kerry’s declaration is rather hypocritic[al]. The Americans could have prevented long time ago; the Americans know exactly how to prevent it. If they really wanted to put an end to the occupation, the Israeli occupation would have come to its end long time ago. This policy of only serving carrots to Israel, of flattering to Israel again and again, is now decades long and never worked, never, ever worked. And the Americans never really tried the alternative path of putting pressure on Israel in order to bring Israel back to the international law, back to legal and order, back to morality.<br /><br />And now John Kerry is saying that this can be prevented and should be prevented? Where were you in the last 67 years, in the last 48 years, when Israel is so much depending on the United States like never before, and you just gave Israel a carte blanche to go wild in Gaza, in the West Bank, again and again, build settlements, go for wars, and never tried to push Israel and to put an end to all this? So, really, with all the respect to John Kerry’s good intentions, this is not the way to deal with Israel after all those years.<br /><br />NERMEEN SHAIKH: But Israeli government officials, Gideon Levy, if you could give us a sense of how they’ve responded to remarks made by U.S. officials? The defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, for example, accused Washington of completely misreading the situation on the ground in Israel-Palestine. The public security minister called the U.S. remarks "foolish."<br /><br />GIDEON LEVY: Yeah, they got all the same message from the prime minister’s office: now to condemn the United States. In the last years, they found out that condemning the United States doesn’t take any price. Israel can talk to and about the American administration as if Israel is the superpower and the United States is just like one of those small countries which depend on Israel. They allow themselves what no country in the world allows themselves vis-à-vis the United States, going and trying to sabotage an international agreement with Iran in the American Congress against the American administration. Things which are unheard of by any other country, Israel learned in the recent years that they are possible -- and not only possible, they are productive, and they are working. So, sure, Israel will attack now the Americans for any kind of criticism [...] -- because, you know, the Americans will not punish Israel for this.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-10355460298337520512015-10-16T09:53:58.747-07:002015-10-16T09:53:58.747-07:00Barry, Abdal-Hayy, Vassilis, many thanks, among ot...Barry, Abdal-Hayy, Vassilis, many thanks, among other things for having the courage to actually hear what Erich Fried was saying.<br /><br />Mr B, the name's Clark, not Cark, to start with. It appears you have not understood that our good friend Vassilis, a great poet and man of principle, is quoting Erich Fried's poem. And Erich Fried was quite serious about all this, as a matter of fact. His father was killed by the Nazis. The "option" of resettlement to Israel was later available to him, he declined, and subsequently expressed his revulsion concerning Israeli Zionism more than once, in writings that make almost everybody uncomfortable, right down to this moment.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-61170655822936953222015-10-16T08:54:12.653-07:002015-10-16T08:54:12.653-07:00Will you at least criticize the person who used th...Will you at least criticize the person who used the word "Jewboy" in his comment, or is that slight bit of decency beyond you, Mr. Cark? Stephen Barabanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09637400683517160112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-70803919434174312352015-10-16T02:17:57.864-07:002015-10-16T02:17:57.864-07:00Re photo 4: For the new Jewboy not in full regalia...Re photo 4: For the new Jewboy not in full regalia, it looks like the operation was just another ho-hum workout at the local gym—no sweat, mensch—but for how long?vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14515165428574974933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-59859902733774675132015-10-15T22:36:19.841-07:002015-10-15T22:36:19.841-07:00Yes, this poem of Fried has just the right bite of...Yes, this poem of Fried has just the right bite of heartstrung lyricism and silver backing to mirror to the complacent Jewish public what israel has become, the victimized child become heartless victimizer in turn. It so perfectly expresses what we can barely bring ourselves to write... not ourselves viscerally in the thick of it. Now it only seems right and proper that it should (if Auden's wrong) bring some sanity about. Your sainted duty (Tom) hammering (as in a tuning fork) doggedly (but of an elegant pedigree) on.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02805691060049652839noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-61494480492909366322015-10-15T21:28:18.604-07:002015-10-15T21:28:18.604-07:00Powerful post, Tom. I read Fried (for the first ti...Powerful post, Tom. I read Fried (for the first time, here) and think yes, there are truths, and they're straightforward, and they can be stated clearly. Why is that so difficult and rare? Naive of me, I know.Barry Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02121653352771218338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-50158596979498486372015-10-15T20:43:01.144-07:002015-10-15T20:43:01.144-07:00Thanks, Michael. Erich Fried, a Viennese Jew exile...Thanks, Michael. Erich Fried, a Viennese Jew exiled to London after 1939, became a fierce critic of Zionism. He wrote from a unique vantage, with particular authority, and his poems are marked with the sting and bite of painful truth.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-79679515863510420052015-10-15T20:28:31.688-07:002015-10-15T20:28:31.688-07:00thank you for posting this Tomthank you for posting this TomLallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05310472614196384595noreply@blogger.com