Links from my del.icio.us account for February 3rd:
- http://www.guydelisle.com/WordPress/ – Cool Quebecois cartoonist draws Jerusalem.
- IDF rabbinate publication during Gaza war: We will show no mercy on the cruel – Haaretz – Israel News – Fundies, fundies everywhere.
- Belgium to stop exporting ‘arms that bolster the IDF’ to Israel – Haaretz – Israel News – Great news! Let's hope the Belgiums push this on the EU's agenda too.
- Report: Irish FM hinted EU may need to be flexible on Hamas – Haaretz – Israel News – Irish to take on the lousy Czechs… (I remain convinced these Eastern Europeans should have never been allowed to join the EU!)
- BBC NEWS | Middle East | Top US diplomat to Iraq ‘named’ – Curiouser and curiouser… Christopher Hill is perhaps the most accomplished diplomat of the Bush administration, hailed for his work on North Korea. But he's neither an Arabist nor a Middle East guy. Does it matter?
Thanks for the Belgian link. If it wasn’t so sad, the hypocrisy and anti-Semitism implicit in their actions would be funny:
“The report, which accuses Israel of human rights violations, also says that Belgium’s major weapons clients in the Middle East are Saudi Arabia (69 percent), Jordan (17 percent) and the United Arab Emirates (4.2 percent). The 15-page report does not deal with human rights violation in those countries.”
Gotta love that last part, about how the human rights violations in the other countries aren’t even addressed at all. But of course, it’s to be expected, this isn’t about human rights at all, it’s about anti-Semitism pure and simple, and using Israel to divert attention from the real war crimes and human rights violators.
But I doubt that there’s much bite to the Belgian bite. They’ll want the money from the arms sales, and so will probably continue them. They are Christians and Europeans, after all, and Christians and Europeans always talk about ethics, but they rarely practice them. It’s money that will count with them in the long run.
Easy with the automatic accusation of anti-Semitism, Mike! There’s a difference in international humanitarian law between domestic human rights abuse and contravening the laws of war. Saudi, Jordan, and the UAE – despicable regimes all – do not occupy other countries, use banned weapons in massive military operations, or back a settlement movement with the aim of permanently occupying other people’s land.
Also, the line “They are Christians and Europeans, after all, and Christians and Europeans always talk about ethics, but they rarely practice them. It’s money that will count with them in the long run” is really just a sort of mad-libs exercise — replace Christian/European with “Jewish, “Saudi,” “American,” and the sentence sounds as plausible.
to Arabist: I agree with you 100%, but I think it would be relevant to know what use the Belgian weapons get put to in those other countries. If, for example, in Saudi they’re used to arm police groups known to commit violations of human rights, then that would be a red flag. It’s totally fair (and right, in my opinion) to argue the international community should prioritize protecting IHL than preventing domestic abuses, but if it’s a Belgian gun being used in both cases, Belgian should consider equally how its helping create both situations.