CounterPunch has so many anti-Semitic "hit-pieces" that it really has become hostile to Jews. However, I will address just a few things in the article, lest I be accused of "missing the point."
In Wachter’s enthusiasm for Israel, she failed ever to mention that in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, which Israel has controlled for 38 years, more than three million Palestinians enjoy no democracy at all under Israel’s rule. (from the posted article)
As Occupied Territories, Israel does not have to extend ‘rights’ to these areas. Much the same way the US does not apply labor laws in the Marianas Islands.
Inside Israel, where over one million Palestinian Muslims and Christians are citizens of Israel, they live in a distinctly second-class status because they are not Jews. Because Israel was established as a specifically Jewish state and explicitly defines itself as a state not of its citizens but of Jews everywhere, it gives benefits to Jews that Muslims and Christians do not enjoy. (from the posted article)
What a broad, offensive statement to make without any proof, other than conjecture.
Although they can vote, Muslim and Christian Palestinians in Israel are subject to various types of institutional discrimination. Because 97 percent of Israel’s land is held “in trust for the Jewish people,” non-Jews cannot even purchase land in Israel. (from the posted article)
Oh dear! Here is a whopping lie! Is this supposed to be “proof” of the aforementioned charge that only Jews have rights in Israel? I hope not, because I am about to blast this apart. See, the same things the authors are claiming about the speakers propagandizing for Israel, they are doing in reverse and doing so with lies, half-truths, and deception.
Let’s see…”
Private lands. There are no restrictions on the purchase of private land in Israel. Israeli Arabs or non-citizens, including Arab foreigners, may freely purchase it. The Israeli authorities have placed no obstacles in the way of such purchases,…” and “
In fact, state land amounts not to 91 percent of Israel's territory but to roughly 80 percent; neither Arabs nor Jews can buy state land; the Jewish National Fund holds no state land; and JNF land is leased, with some restrictions, to Israeli Arabs.” Of course, the “distinguished” authors could compare Israel land policies to the PA and Jordan, where if an Arab sells land to a non-Arab, he (the Arab) is sentenced to death. Although, the Jordanians have repealed that law in some ways, it is still not permissible to sell land to Israelis without high level government permission. (from:
Can Arabs Buy Land in Israel?)
The bible on the status of Palestinians in Israel was written by a Jewish-American scholar, Ian Lustick, in a 1980 book entitled Arabs in the Jewish State: Israel’s Control of a National Minority. Just as Fox News’ self-description as “fair and balanced” does not make it either fair or balanced, Wachter’s enthusiasm about Israel’s democracy does not make it a democracy for non-Jews.(from the posted article)
Well, well…we agree on something! Just like Fox News’ calling itself “fair and balanced” does not make it so, distorting facts without merit to prove something patently false, doesn’t make it so.
Wachter said the project longs for the day when two states will live side-by-side in an atmosphere where Israeli children aren’t afraid to go to pizza parlors with their friends and “where Palestinian children are taught to grow up wanting to be doctors and lawyers and not to glorify suicide bombers.”
This is a sly reference to a distortion that has gained wide acceptance throughout Israel and throughout the Israel-supporting public in the U.S. Frequent reports over the last several years of what is most often called “incitement” in Palestinian school textbooks...(from the posted article)
Was it a “sly reference” to the Palestinian schoolbooks or was it a reference to imans stating it is good to die and take Israelis/Jews with you? Perhaps it was a ‘sly reference’ to TV programs where children are showing playing their favorite game “Kill the Israeli?” We will never know, because Wachter just stated what she wanted, yet the ‘good’ authors decided to “spin” it to their views, not unlike Fox News, or even of what they are accusing Wachter.
This "article" is fraught with inaccuracies and its own propaganda. To continue to dissect it would be a graduate thesis.
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