Open Letter to Annie Lennox Regarding Israel and Gaza
Be sure to check the comments below. Pretty intense.
I know from experience that Muslims in the last twenty years have done a lot of attacking then acting like victims— attack… play the victim.
It’s a cowardly strategy and like much of their practices has no place in a modern societ y and should not be accepted by an intelligent and objective global citizenry— AF
Subject: COMMENT: Open Letter to Annie Lennox
A MAGNIFICENT RESPONSE TO THOSE WHO ARE SO VITRIOLIC ABOUT ISRAEL’S ACTIONS.
The letter below is one of the finest presentations of Israel’s case against Hamas.
________________________________AN OPEN LETTER TO ANNIE LENNOX
Dear Annie,
As a long time fan of yours, I must say that I was so disappointed to see you sitting under a Palestinian flag, in the company of “Red” Ken Livingstone, George Gallagher, etc, all of them unabashedly not only anti Israel, but anti Semites to boot.
As well as being beneath your personal dignity to sit with such people you are also placing yourself decisively behind and identifying with only one side in the conflict and have abandoned any pretense of impartiality whatsoever. I definitely value your concern for human rights and my heart goes out to your obviously genuine heartache for the Palestinian suffering. As do ours. Where, however was that beautiful voice of yours when 6000, yes, 6000 rockets rained down on unprotected Israeli civilian villages, towns and kibbutzim, all of them purposely targeting civilians and only civilians. A whole population lived in fear, children suffering post traumatic stress, economies floundering, and for what?
We unilaterally pulled out of Gaza , uprooted enterprises of 30 years standing, which during that time had prospered and made the previously neglected desert bloom.
We pulled out with peace in our hearts, and the deeds to prove it. We left behind, intact, the most technically advanced hothouses in the world. We were prepared to train Palestinians and conglomerates of American Jews (please check the facts) were offering to do joint venture with these Palestinians to help them develop their economy. This would offer unheard of opportunities in the ‘refugee’ world which I might add would really defeat the aim of the Islamic nations who USE these poor people as pawns. Gaza was presented an opportunity to have become a thriving tax free port city and we could have been living in peace and trading (this is the best method of peace) with a prosperous Gaza . The Gazans unfortunately strengthened the old adage “The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity” and alas, the hothouses were looted and wantonly destroyed and we were met with a barrage of rockets instead of joint ventures.
Foreign aid was spent on deadly weapons. Even when we had a “cease fire” rockets rained in on a daily business and the Hamas interpreted our incredible restraint as weakness. We pleaded, we threatened, until
our threats had lost all meaning. Enough was enough. Where were you (and Sky News for that matter) when we were shown gruesome live footage of an Israeli boy screaming on the floor of a Supermarket.yes, a Supermarket where civilians do their shopping, subsequent to an unprovoked rocket attack.. His leg had been sheared off by an assault calculatingly and cynically targeting civilians. The stories are endless. Military might doesn’t solve anything.the answer is in diplomacy suggests Miss Lennox. Annie, who with? The Hamas will neither speak to us nor even recognize our basic right of existence. Like their Iranian masters they
steadfastly call for our utter and total destruction. Non less. It is said that they are holding out for open border crossings. They had open crossings till they started bombarding us. The crossings were never permanently closed but their temporary closures were vainly and ineffectively used as a deterrent. They even bombed the crossings!! Go figure. Is all of this madness in order to gain what they already had, and could have had way back then by doing one simple thing. Stop bombarding us! Israelis yearn for peace and have proved with deeds that we are prepared to pay a high price for this. Our peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt are living proof. The Gazans will not talk peace, at very best a truce. The last “truce” with Hamas was exploited in their smuggling weapons, building tunnels, training shock troops in Iran and building fortifications, as well as maintaining their daily bombardment of Israeli civilians. Hamas, Hizbollah, Al Quaida, etc. not only call for the destruction of Israel but mock the Western democracies, which they have also openly promised to demolish. These threatened Democracies call for even handedness in the region which is also perceived gleefully in their eyes as weakness. Did we learn nothing from Chamberlain? Be forewarned, Annie, in Londonstan, when you are wearing a burqa , at least we will, at least ,still be able to see your beautiful eyes.Why is it that you, and other “liberal” people like yourself so savagely condemn Israel , with its democratic government, vocal opposition, free press, a world respected legal system, rights for minorities, etc? In short the only people in the Middle East who adhere by YOUR standards, are vilified whilst you defend the people who trample on democracy, human rights, woman’s in particular, freedom of religion, freedom of speech. need I go on with the list?
We have tried restraint, negotiations through 3rd parties, (as they won’t speak to us) cease fires (albeit one sided) nothing worked, all the above were seen as weakness. Like feeding the proverbial lion in order to get him to leave you alone it only increased their insatiable appetite, and so the time had come to act, and act strongly. Was our reaction unproportionate? Maybe we should have emulated them. For every Kassam rocket fired indiscriminately into a civilian population, should we have replied by sending helter skelter a rocket aimed into civilian areas and trust to luck where it falls? What would you, Red Ken and the gang have said about us then?
Hamas is to be judged, not only by its hideous actions but also by the company it keeps, Iran, Hezbollah, Syria, El Qaeda, all “giants of democracyand human rights,” all reviled by the democracies of the world, whichnevertheless combine in a knee jerk reaction to malign Israel, when it eventually does what any other country would have done ages ago.exercise its right of self defence and fulfill its obligations to its beleaguered citizens.
Annie, unfortunately you too, whom I so admired, must ultimately be judged by the company you keep.
Stanley Lipschitz
Jerusalem
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Well said. It surprises me that people are still siding with terrorists after 9/11 seeing that they do not reason, negotiate nor have any concern for the Geneva Convention or any other legitimate political entity.
Hamas, standing up to you is a bitch,eh-y? If only Arafat would’ve made the agreements he was faced with in the Clinton days…..hmmmm.
well well all the same stories with you Jews, feeling sorry for yourself well think again the world sees the truth and notice what Israelis are up too NOW. no more tears for KILLERS. what happens to those innocent children in Gaza who are suffering post traumatic stress by the Israelis. every one knows now that Isreal is the foremost terrorist state and a greedy one too. what goes round comes round hard well your time is coming.
your game is over. 9/11 was Bush and isreal games but its fading nicely now. the truth is out and live with it. what about those innocent children in Gaza who has being going this pain under the isrealis for more than 50 year now.
you need to come to term of excepting that Hamas is here to stay. I think Hitler should have done a good job not leaving cancer or aids like you. it time Palestine has there land back. go back to Germany or Poland see what happens too you. you will never learn from your mistake. what you all are killers, murderers, all you want is want want nothing to give back. no WANDER WHY YOU GUYS ARE CURSED BY GOD. THAT IS THE TRUTH AND YOU CANT LIVE WITH IT. YOU END IS SEVER PUNISHMENT THAT IS WAITING FOR YOU.
LONG LIVE UNITY AND PALESTINE IM FOR IT ALL THE WAY. YOU KILLERS SHOULD BE KILLED. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A DISEASE THAT HAS NO CURE BUT CURED FOR THE REST OF THE YOUR LIFE. YOU WILL SEE WHEN TIME COMES WHEN THERE WILL BE NO USA OR UK HELPING YOU. THE TRUTH IS OUT AND TERRORIST IS THE ISRAEL STATE WHO ARE NOTHING BUT LOSERS.
YOU DON’T HAVE A HOMELAND…EXCEPTED YOU STOLE IT. GIVE IT BACK AND LIVE YOUR LIFE…WHAT YOU HAVE IS ONLY ON EARTH. WHAT DOES IT SAY IN YOUR HOLY BOOK IF YOUR RABBIS DIDNT CHANGE IT….YOU ARE CURSED AND WHAT YOU HAVE IS ONLY FOR THIS WORLD NOTHING MORE.ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN. LEAVE ANNIE SHE HAS A HEART FOR THE TRUTH.
MOVE ON IN LIFE…LIFE IS TO SHORT. STOP LIVING IN THE PASSED…..HOLOCAUST SHOULD BE DEMOLISHED NOW. ITS GONE
Great letter. Along with the regular libs, I’m amazed that even people I thought I knew well are siding with the Hamas in this conflict.
Anyone less than 40 years old doesn’t know about the wars that raged against Israel over and over again in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Most people now only know the story they see on the news and that story is, sadly, one sided at this point. This letter does a great job explaining what Hamas has done for years to lead up to what we see today.
The sad part is that the conflict has been going on for thousands of years and no one has an answer, nor could they be expected to.
what a fucking nutty bastard that edward is eh? let me see if i got this right…
Hitler killing jews= Good Hitler
George Bush Being “hitler” because he smashes terrorists= Bad Hitler
You people have to stop mixing your hitler metaphors. Its amazing the bedfellows liberals find themselves with isn’t it?
A message to all of those who oppose terrorism (in any form) and support Israel’s (and our own) right to exist: american liberals have a lot in common with people like edward. Remember that hitlers movement was SOCIALIST. Make society better at all costs. Sound familiar?
creating israel in a land that was already occupied was big mistake… they should’ve given wyoming to the jews. this is just a bad situation and nobody is innocent–there are zealots on both sides keeping the conflagration burning. but if you want to look at who’s actually doing more killing, there’s not much argument about that (note the deaths under 18 in parentheses):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_palestinian_conflict#Casualties
what exactly defines terrorism? because israel has killed way more civilians than hamas ever did… they have way better technology for it. A suicide bomb that kills a dozen people grabs headlines away from boilerplate like this: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23617472-details/Israeli+PM:+We%27re+sorry+for+heavy+civilian+casualties/article.do — LOL WUT? you killed 435 civilians and you’re “sorry”?
so I’m coming off pro-palestinian here, but I assure you I’m not pro- either side… I’m just trying to point out how ridiculous it is to paint israel as the only victim here. both sides are victims, and everyone has blood on their hands. and I got no answers… seeing each side as “having the right to defend itself” will only lead to eternal bloodshed in the name of “defense.”
oh fuck you and your self rightous bullshit. Its been 16 days. Care to know how many palestinian people have been murdered, how many blameless sounds departed? Or do they just not matter to you? Stupid fucking terrorist spawn have it coming. Well fuck you. Fuck you and your politics. Cant a country as powerful and advanced as israel possibly arrange for assasinatons of hammas leaders? Of course they fucking can. But its no fun when there’s no bloodshed.
Im not for hammas. Im not for israel. Im not for any combination of politics and religion. I am for the palestinians, and for palestine. Remember them? The ones whos houses were stormed into. The people who’s country they got kicked out of. You uncutured insensitive prick.
Its 996 by the way. 996 people. Over 300 kids. Thats the death toll in gaza up till now.
Enjoy their terrorist blood on your hands.
I don’t think i’m being self righteous since this has nothing to do with me. I’m stating an opinion. Probably not something that is accepted in places like Palestine but it’s when you express how you feel and think about something.
I think that Israel does strike back very hard and violently. Maybe they have to. Understand that they are a country surrounded by other countries that speak openly and publicly about wanting to see them all dead. That’s why they all have to join the military at 16 years old.
If Hamas hadn’t been consistently and cowardly shooting their little pea-shooter rockets at Israeli civilian areas for the last 6 months Israel would have NO REASON to go in there and kill anyone.
Let me put this into perspective for you:
If me and some buddies were in San Diego shooting rockets into Tijuana, Mexico MY OWN COUNTRY’S police would come and arrest me to the fullest extent of the law. If they failed to do, or were even implicit in me and my friends shooting rockets Mexico would (and should) take this as a serious affront and if they chose to, would launch a war against my country.
Condemn the people that are causing innocents to be killed– Hamas. You seem to have ZERO anger towards them, and therein lies the problem in the middle east. You muslims gotta stick together.
I do condem Hammas. This their fault. Stupid ignorant fanatic mongrels.
Hammas do not speak for the people, or the government. Just like Hezbolla do not speak for Lebanon or the Lebanese. Just like the KKK does not speak for the United States of America.
Nice analogy there, with the Mexico/US thing. Too bad it doesn’t apply, like at all, because the government is compeletely overrun. There’s no law in times of war, specially in underdeveloped and impoverished and war stricken countries like the ones in the middle east. You’re seriously comparing Palestine’s legal system to the US’s? I don’t Palestine even has legal boundries anymore, let alone a neat book of laws and constitutions.
Please don’t talk out of your ass.
They’re throwing their rocks at Israel because they want their holmes back. Sick bastards arn’t they?
Way to go, bullshitting your way around bloodshed. A child is a child, maybe he be Palestinian or Israeli. What difference does it make? Are you serious? ‘Maybe they have to’? 311 dead kids and you still sit there from the comfort of your computer chair and spew shit like, ‘well they feel threatened, maybe they have to spill some baby blood to send a message’. Yeah. Great point you got there. That’s the difference between you and I. To me religion doesn’t define people. Judging by your deep hatered for all things Mulism, I’m assuming your just as much a racist prick as I think you are. Man I called you out the second I started reading that letter. You disgust me.
Lastly,
Thank you, for defining freedom of speech to me. And thanks again for proving you’re self rightous and full of it; acting like you have no idea that only a minority of the world’s countries actually have such a thing as free speech. Or maybe you’re just uncultured and sheltered.
I’m Lebanese/Canadian, you prick.
Did you think I was using my wifi direct from Gaza?
Tala I don’t get why you people (yeah I said ‘you people’) have to come at every issue with such anger. If there’s a terrible misconception, then fix it calmly. Show that you’re reasonable and calm and friendly. You may not be able to tell but i’m actually open minded on the issue. What I wrote wasn’t a diatribe, it acknowledged both points of view and then stated my opinion with that information.
The government system is screwed up in most middle eastern countries– i’d hate to be a citizen under such a government and i’m sure your family had the same thoughts in mind when they moved to Canada. But if that’s the case, then who should Israel target? The palestinian government?
Let’s say the US government could not stop my friends and I from lobbing rockets into tijuana and Mexico could. Wouldn’t the US government be like “great please go in and remove those scoundrels for us!”. Of course, unless ego and machismo were involved, which they are.
You wouldn’t let a jew put you out if you were on fire.
(I wouldn’t either, but that’s just because I don’t think the jewish people at large have the firefighting background that say, the irish protestants do or other christians do, and I’d worry that might cause me further harm)
p.s. don’t try to insult me with saying that I assumed you were using wifi from Gaza. As a matter of fact I assumed people in Gaza didn’t even HAVE wifi technology.
Palestine is like a toy that the children in the Middle East just can’t stop fighting over. The war is obviously never going to stop as long as there is someone that can claim that they were displaced from their “home” or that they are the “chosen” inhabitants. The only way that this can end is if the grownups (i.e. the civilized world outside of that shithole)step in and take it from you both.
I’m sick of hearing all the excuses, if someone shoots a rocket, you fucking shoot one back at them. If the rocket shot back at you is bigger, you have no one to blame but yourself.
And I hate to say it because it sounds prejudiced (and it is) but if a group of people– the best and the brightest— let’s say Myself, Junkyard, Tala and someone of the same mind as Tala got together to decide the fate of that region..us all in a room for a week with coffee, cigs and some palestinian hash… and the resolution was fair but wasn’t EXACTLY what palestinians and the rest of the middle east wanted (and Lebanese-Canadians?!) Junkyard and I would be subject to threats, bombings, fatwas, etc.
That is how children behave so I think the fighting over the toy analogy is sound and in line with the behavior.
I don’t think that the israelis would threaten to kill us because we make them compromise in order to end this once and for all. They’d probably make us heroes. And if they did that i’d want nothing in return except for a lot of whatever currency they use and 10 israeli babes with the biggest hooters in tel aviv.
I read a story in the Guardian today about a little four year old girl in a Gazan hospital, who had been shot in the back with heavy ammunition from a tank, destroying her spine. She was saying that her two sisters and mother had gone to heaven, and that she loved them. They had been told to come out of the house by an Israeli loudhailer, so the women and children left first, and the tank, only 15 metres away, clearly able to see women and children holding white scarves as replacements for white flags, opened fire with a machine gun.
I cried when I read that.
And you call this a war? I call it a massacre.
I’m British, and one day, we will have to come back to sort out the country we gave to you, because you have not treated it well, neither of you.
Andy, understand this before you go on any further with your judgement. Im not an anti semite. I love jews, have jewish friends and I think jewfros are the cutest thing since babies were invented. Now, i know you couldnt say the same about muslims. I read that one article about obama using his middle name to be muslim friendly, and the barrage of gun carrying, fire loving, hate spewing fanatics that came with it. Boy if that’s what muslims looked like we would have taken over the world ages ago. I also happen to drive a tank to school, incase i run into any infidels. You know how it is.
Secondly, I’m sorry to come off harsh, I’m simply a girl with a cursing problem and burning misanthopy. I’m not going to beat around it though, you’re still an arrogant patonizing dick.
Discussing the fate of the region over hash and coffee? I’m in. All I have to do know is worry over how best to conceal the ak47 I carry around with me, amirite andy?
Annie Lennox’s statement to the press relating to the Gaza war is surprising by its total disregard for Israeli suffering.
Israelis have had to submit to hundreds of terrorist attacks, ie. attacks against their civilian population for over 40 years now. In a recent eight day period, 300 missiles were sent into Israel with missiles at times hitting southern cities, towns and villages. The constant psychic toll of never knowing if a missile will claim you is a staggering demand to make of any individual.
As Canadian Nobel prize for literature nominee, Irving Layton once put it, “Why should they be expected to sit there like clay ducks in a shooting gallery?”
And as we speak of Canada, Canada has not been hit even once by a terrorist attack and yet it has enacted legislation that allows for “security certificates”, ie. the right of Canadian enforcement agencies to detain and charge anyone suspected of planning to commit a terrorist act, without them knowing what the charges are. If Canada can go that way without even one attack, surely Israel has the right to properly defend itself considering the kind of long history it has had to endure relating to attacks against its civilian population.
The war in the Falklands was a British war over a wisp of a land mass in the middle of nowhere in the Atlantic over a very questionable British possession. In effect the war was fought for ego reasons alone, but approx. 300 Argentinian sailors were blown out of the Atlantic by the British navy. Where was Annie Lennox? Did she protest? In contrast Israel is fighting for the survival of its population and its towns and villages.
Is part of the truth that: Annie Lennox knows who’s buttering her bread in the U.K. ; that it’s ok to kick the Israelis but that to keep one’s nose clean in Britain is imperative. I checked Ms. Lennox’s website forum sub-section, “Activism”. Actually her scope for activism is puzzlingly restricted for someone so vocal and passionate in her attack against Israeli force. There ’s not a sign of any activism to fight British Petroleum, known to be not only corrupt in its predation but a company with one of the world’s worst pollution records (which other Brits have protested); or British presence in Iraq (incl. abuses) (which other Brits have protested); or the refusal by British museums to allow for repatriation of iconic heritage cultural art treasure heirlooms by the African countries of origin , from whom they were stolen during days of “Empire”(which other Brits have protested).
Although Ms. Lennox is a Scotswoman, it’s clear she has been infected by English sanctimonious finger pointing hypocrisy, and is cow-towing to it.
Alexie Sayle (an English Jew), Harold Pinter (an English Jew), and Annie Lenox ( a woman married to an Israeli )have all needed to “make penance” for the sins of Israel. They have no need to make pennance for days of Empire. Neither Sayole or Pinter or Lennox have ever protested BBC TV drama programming that glorifies the days of the British Empire, an Empire that enslaved hundreds of thousands of Africans , that pillaged their resources and art treasures and hung signs on their whiskey cocktail lounges saying, “No entrance to natives”.
They make penance while Israelis wonder where and when the next missile is coming.
What I’m really ranting about is not her expression of compassion for Gazans. That’s totally understandable. It’s her Calvinist dualist view that makes her blind and does not allow her to stand up at the same news conference and show some compassion for the Israeli side.
Yes, I confess that though Ms. Lennox is an admirable artist, I will NEVER AGAIN PURCHASE any of her recordings.
“I am battling against the worst of the English vices: hypocrisy” – Oscar Wilde
“We live in a country with structured hypocrisy” – John LeCarre
great comment Arikcarlo. Very well thought out.
Israelis are vermin from the sewer. Einstein called them Nazis and fascists in his famous letter to the NY Times.
All people of conscience want Israel destroyed..especially Jews, who are sick and tired of having our heritage associated with Nazi filth and racist psychotics.
Fuck Israel.
Taking my usual stance, however, they’ll just keep on killing eachother with the same evil in their hearts and minds. The true nature of humanity will rear it’s ugly head again and again. Little men, Big guns.
Let them continue this idiotic conflict or just remove the people and destroy the gaza strip, no strip, no strip to fight over.
ISREAL…..PALESTINE……….ISLAM…..JUDAISM…. two wrongs never make a right.