Re: Israeli exceptionalism

[David Walters <dwalters@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dave S. wrote:
> Re: Vietnam.  Did the NLF/NVA deliberately target non-combatants?  Not
> to my knowledge.  Did they deliberately target areas where
> non-combatants were present and would be killed?  Absolutely.

Yes, all the time in fact. Villages that were demonstrably pro-ARVN
were targeted. The same was true during the Russian Civil War. But none
of this is relevant since Vietnam was not a colonial settler state like
Israel or SA.

> Are you willing to state that those members of the ANC military wing
> who deliberately targeted white only cafes in Durban, Capetown ,
> etc.were guilty of a war crime?  Should the truth and reconciliation
> commission indict them for murder?

No, they made the decision not to, but rural settlers were targeted "in
total" by both the ANC and PAC military wings. Civilians, all white,
targeted. What's the problem?
> So?  So that's not rape or torture.  Rape and torture are
> counterrevolutionary, not illegal, because those practices reproduces
> the fundamentals of exploitation and oppression already existing in the
> social order to be overthrown.

I would agree with you and it's why I differ a bit with Jose on this.
When I see the graphic violence against the most working class sectors
of the Israeli State...that's who is targeted by Hamas in particular,
buses not people with individual vehicles, discos, etc., I get sick. Of
course, we don't EVER see the results of Israeli bombing of civilian
areas of Gaza or the West Bank. But that's me...I like to think I could
never kill children or civilians and doubt I could even in dire
circumstances. I wish it would end. It is a STUPID tactic, making it
impossible to develop even a small minority of Jews to support to the
Palestinian cause. And I don't mind, unlike Jose, in stating so. But
Jose is correct in that "we" in the West can't dictate to "them" how
they can liberate their country, even if the consequences are
reactionary (that is, setting back, not forwarding the cause of a
unified Palestinian state).

David Walters
San Francisco
>



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