Public Comment

Some people who usually brand Berkeley Daily Planet and Executive Editor Becky O’Malley anti-Semitic have turned up their diatribe to silence a few voices that decry the crimes committed in Lebanon by the Zionist regime. All around the world, there have been demonstrations and protests against the genocide of civilians and children in the hands of Israeli forces. Have you not seen the photos coming from Lebanon? Have you not seen the photos of dead toddlers some with their pacifiers around their necks? Most probably not, because the complicit corporate media in the United States conceals these killings. The media only magnifies news of rockets fired by Lebanese fighters; rockets that are incomparable with the military hardware of the Zionist regime. But know this: So far some 800 Lebanese, mostly civilians and children, have been killed, compared to 80 Israelis, mostly Zionist soldiers. The U.S. media is hard at work to divert the attention of Americans from the destruction of Lebanon by the Zionist regime. You mostly find irrelevant stories, such as same-sex marriage, drunken Mel Gibson, etc., in the U.S. media. While Americans are amused with such stories, the U.S. Congress almost unanimously passed a resolution for full support of the Zionist regime and killing of more Lebanese civilians. Even your favorite politician, Barbara Lee, remained silent when the resolution was put up for vote. 

Perhaps the usual folks who attack Berkeley Daily Planet are right: There is, after all, anti-Semitism in the world. One can argue that the genocide of Lebanese people in the past few weeks has fueled anti-Semitism. But this is not the only reason. One should ask why anti-Semitism has persisted throughout the centuries. 

Let us go back to 539 BC, when Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, went to Babylonia and liberated Jews. One can ask why Jews were enslaved by Babylonians. Also, one can ask why Jews had problem with Egyptians, with Jesus, with Europeans, and in modern times with Germans? The answer, among other things, is their racist attitude that they are the “Chosen People.” Because of this attitude, they do wrong to other people to the point that others turn against them, namely, become anti-Semite if you will. Since they think they are the Chosen People they can murder Lebanese and Palestinian children at will. Do you not remember the scene where a Palestinian father was screaming to stop Israeli soldiers shooting his son? But, the soldiers killed the boy mercilessly. Perhaps, Americans are so busy to amuse themselves with their iPods, lap-top computers, or cell phones. They do not have time to see the murders committed by the Chosen People. The Chosen People have become the Chosen Murderers. So long as the Zionists have no regard for the lives of others, people around the world will turn into anti-Semites, regardless of their religions. Even some Jews are condemning the atrocities of the Zionist regime. 

When people witness what is happening in the Middle East, they dream to fight for freedom and dignity of Lebanese and the entire Middle East. Even President Hugo Chavez who is thousands of miles away from Lebanon recalled the Venezuela’s ambassador to Israel and called what Israel is doing genocide. The U.S. media only brands President Chavez as crazy. People in the Middle East and around the world now know that Israel is murdering innocent people, with the approval of the United States and UK. Condoleezza Rice wants to give birth to a “New Middle East.” But, know this: Her evil child will be stillborn. The New Middle East will be the reincarnation of the children who have been murdered by the Zionist murderers. They will free the Middle East from the U.S. hegemony and its perverted democracy. The Middle Easterners believe that the U.S. brand of democracy is nothing but, hegemony, oppression, murder, destruction, and rape. In the past four years, the United States in Iraq has proved what it means by democracy. If the United States and the U.S. Congress are globalizing their terror by sending the United States made bombs to the Zionist regime via British airports, then the freedom fighters will fight back to stop the U.S. crimes and save the human dignity. 

Kurosh Arianpour is an Iranian student studying in India.