Becky,

Just like Bush's proclamation that "you're either with us or you're with the terrorists," you have fallen into a manichean dichotomy where there are only heroes and demons, dark and light.

In this particular case, the false dichotomy immediately benefits (and is perpetuated by) a small, but extremely powerful sector of Israeli society who prefer war over peace, dominance over equality, who prefer to maintain a constant fear mentality in their society. This is similar to (and closely connected to) the US neoconservative philosophy of perpetual war, of rule by fear and paranoia.

Your continual protestations that Israel, internally, is a multi-cultural paradise is irrelevant. Besides the fact that there is significant evidence to show that this is not the case (just as it is not the case in the US), the more important factor is that a country's internal behavior does not necessarily have ANY reflection upon its external behavior.

==========

Noam Chomsky,
From a talk delivered in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, October 13, 2004

"....But it’s not an Israeli attack. It’s a US-Israeli attack. It’s an attack by US airplanes, US helicopters, piloted by Israeli pilots. The US sends them helicopters knowing full well that they are not for any defensive purpose, they are for the purpose of actions like the carrying out assassinations, like the assassination of Sheikh Yassin and half a dozen or so bystanders who just happened to be there. In the previous six months, according to Israeli press reports, there have been 50 such murders, murders of suspects by mostly US-supplied equipment bought for that purpose, along with 80 or 90 bystanders."

"Well, none of this enters the annals of state terrorism. But that’s because we are agents of it. Since we’re doing it, our clients are doing it, it’s not terrorism. But others don’t necessarily look at it that way...."

www.chomsky.info/talks/20041013.htm


Or maybe check out this interview that Chomsky gave March 9, 2004, in an article titled, "South Africa, Israel-Palestine, and the Contours of the Contemporary Global Order."

www.chomsky.info/interviews/20040309.htm