'Israel paves path toward self-destruction'
Sun Mar 11, 2012 7:25PM GMT
Interview with author and academic Ghada Karmi
Any body which breaks laws, international law all the time, which oppresses another people visibly and brutally and obviously cannot expect to continue to do that without any sort of repercussion. So in a sense she (British Baroness Jenny Tonge) encapsulated by saying, ‘Israel in its present form’, I think were the words, ‘can’t expect to last’. And why would one want it to last? For heaven’s sake, it’s not only a statement of fact but it’s actually a moral and sensible statement. Do you want a state that behaves like this to last? Does anybody want it to last?”
An entity such as Israel which continually and brutally oppresses Palestinians cannot expect to last, an analyst tells Press TV defending the recent comments of a British politician on the issue.
The comments come as Baroness Jenny Tonge has been forced to resign as a Liberal Democrat frontbencher in the House of Lords after saying she sees the Israeli regime’s end coming.
"It will not go on for ever; it will not go on for ever. Israel will lose support and then they will reap what they have sown," Tonge was filmed as saying during a student panel address at Middlesex University in February.
"Beware Israel… One day, the United States of America will get sick of giving £70 billion a year to Israel to support what I call America's aircraft carrier in the Middle East - that is Israel. One day, the American people are going to say to the Israel lobby in the USA: enough is enough," She added.
Following her remarks, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg apparently gave Tonge an ultimatum to apologize or step down, but she refused to make an apology and resigned.
Press TV has conducted an interview with author and academic Ghada Karmi to further discuss the issue.
The following is a transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Welcome Ghada to remember Palestine. That was the third time in fact that Jenny Tonge, Baroness Thong was censored, told off by her party leaders for comments she has made, having herself been a visitor to Palestine and seen the human rights abuses by Israel.
What does this say about the state of British politics? That the statement about the situation in another country can’t be spoken about freely?
Karmi: Yeah, actually more to the point I was speaking on the same platform as Jenny Tonge at the meeting that caused this apparent alleged offence and I can absolutely attest that what she said was not only perfectly reasonable, the sort of thing that most people are saying.
You know, very much in the context of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, Israel, everybody recognizes is oppressive, it’s disapproved of, so that wasn’t new.
But the thing that really worries me about the story is the aspect of it which I would call the Americanization of British politics because the concept of actually defending a foreign state, which is what Israel is- it’s a foreign state.
Defending a foreign state and in the defense of that state punishing a domestic politician and in Jenny Tonge’s case a member of Nick Clegg’s party to reprimand her and to punish her that number of times, why? Because she may have caused offence to the supporters of a foreign state Israel- is very worrying.
It’s the sort of thing we know happens all the time in the United States, so much so that you know the American political process is polarized by the Zionist lobby. Well, do we want that here in this country?
Press TV: Israeli supporters in the UK would say that Jenny Tonge was calling for the end of Israel as they know it and that statement beyond her remit, what do you say to that?
Karmi: She said that if Israel; continues in this sort of way, then it is not likely to last which is a statement of fact.
Press TV: In what way?
Karmi: Well, any state, any organization, any body which breaks laws, international law all the time, which oppresses another people visibly and brutally and obviously cannot expect to continue to do that without any sort of repercussion.
So in a sense she encapsulated by saying, ‘Israel in its present form’, I think were the words, ‘can’t expect to last’. And why would one want it to last? For heaven’s sake, it’s not only a statement of fact but it’s actually a moral and sensible statement.
Do you want a state that behaves like this to last? Does anybody want it to last?
Press TV: What does this say of the situation with a resignation being forced by a party leader, in this case a deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. What does it say about some of the side stepping of the issue of Israel’s behavior by party leaders particularly in Britain?
Because certainly we’ve had labor leaders Tony Blair giving speeches about the rights of Palestinians to secure a stable life and a good future and then on the other hand making pro-Israeli statements about Israelis and their security and being forth-right about that?
Karmi: The problem is that the liberal Democratic Party has its own record, its supports the rights of Palestinians to self-determination, to a free life, to be free from repression.
All that is on the record, further more actually one has to be fair the record of Lib Dem grassroots members and members of Parliament has been very good on Palestine. The issue that seems to happen, the whole thing unravels when Israel is attacked in some way.
Now this is a nonsense- you can’t support the people who are being oppressed by Israel at the same time as not criticizing the oppressor, Israel- it’s ridiculous. But of course we know very well what this is about.
This is about an active lobby which is operational in this country, which puts pressure on senior politicians and others not to criticize Israel in the slightest and the equation that is made which is absolutely outrageous is that a state- the policy of a state cannot be criticized because it’s tantamount to being anti-Jewish. It’s a preposterous equation, you know.
Press TV: What about the campaign against Jenny Thong herself, letter writing , smear tactics, these have been talked of, just in brief, how difficult is that to take pressure-wise and career-wise for politicians in the UK, do you think?
Karmi: Well, I think there is no doubt that people less tough and less well-supported than Jenny Tonge would have buckled under quite a long time ago, it is extremely unpleasant . Fortunately Jenny Tonge is a fighter.
Furthermore she has a tremendous following. She told me herself that she has had more letters of support this time than she has ever had in her career and that’s a very, very encouraging sign.
Press TV: Ghada Karmi, thank you very much for those comments.
I think that Israeli's like Netanyahoo are ensuring that Israel will be ultimately removed from the map. It took them over 2000 years to get a homeland, I doubt if they will hold on to it for anything but a fraction of 2000 years. They are proving they don't deserve to have a state
Sun Mar 11, 2012 7:25PM GMT
Interview with author and academic Ghada Karmi
Any body which breaks laws, international law all the time, which oppresses another people visibly and brutally and obviously cannot expect to continue to do that without any sort of repercussion. So in a sense she (British Baroness Jenny Tonge) encapsulated by saying, ‘Israel in its present form’, I think were the words, ‘can’t expect to last’. And why would one want it to last? For heaven’s sake, it’s not only a statement of fact but it’s actually a moral and sensible statement. Do you want a state that behaves like this to last? Does anybody want it to last?”
An entity such as Israel which continually and brutally oppresses Palestinians cannot expect to last, an analyst tells Press TV defending the recent comments of a British politician on the issue.
The comments come as Baroness Jenny Tonge has been forced to resign as a Liberal Democrat frontbencher in the House of Lords after saying she sees the Israeli regime’s end coming.
"It will not go on for ever; it will not go on for ever. Israel will lose support and then they will reap what they have sown," Tonge was filmed as saying during a student panel address at Middlesex University in February.
"Beware Israel… One day, the United States of America will get sick of giving £70 billion a year to Israel to support what I call America's aircraft carrier in the Middle East - that is Israel. One day, the American people are going to say to the Israel lobby in the USA: enough is enough," She added.
Following her remarks, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg apparently gave Tonge an ultimatum to apologize or step down, but she refused to make an apology and resigned.
Press TV has conducted an interview with author and academic Ghada Karmi to further discuss the issue.
The following is a transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Welcome Ghada to remember Palestine. That was the third time in fact that Jenny Tonge, Baroness Thong was censored, told off by her party leaders for comments she has made, having herself been a visitor to Palestine and seen the human rights abuses by Israel.
What does this say about the state of British politics? That the statement about the situation in another country can’t be spoken about freely?
Karmi: Yeah, actually more to the point I was speaking on the same platform as Jenny Tonge at the meeting that caused this apparent alleged offence and I can absolutely attest that what she said was not only perfectly reasonable, the sort of thing that most people are saying.
You know, very much in the context of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, Israel, everybody recognizes is oppressive, it’s disapproved of, so that wasn’t new.
But the thing that really worries me about the story is the aspect of it which I would call the Americanization of British politics because the concept of actually defending a foreign state, which is what Israel is- it’s a foreign state.
Defending a foreign state and in the defense of that state punishing a domestic politician and in Jenny Tonge’s case a member of Nick Clegg’s party to reprimand her and to punish her that number of times, why? Because she may have caused offence to the supporters of a foreign state Israel- is very worrying.
It’s the sort of thing we know happens all the time in the United States, so much so that you know the American political process is polarized by the Zionist lobby. Well, do we want that here in this country?
Press TV: Israeli supporters in the UK would say that Jenny Tonge was calling for the end of Israel as they know it and that statement beyond her remit, what do you say to that?
Karmi: She said that if Israel; continues in this sort of way, then it is not likely to last which is a statement of fact.
Press TV: In what way?
Karmi: Well, any state, any organization, any body which breaks laws, international law all the time, which oppresses another people visibly and brutally and obviously cannot expect to continue to do that without any sort of repercussion.
So in a sense she encapsulated by saying, ‘Israel in its present form’, I think were the words, ‘can’t expect to last’. And why would one want it to last? For heaven’s sake, it’s not only a statement of fact but it’s actually a moral and sensible statement.
Do you want a state that behaves like this to last? Does anybody want it to last?
Press TV: What does this say of the situation with a resignation being forced by a party leader, in this case a deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. What does it say about some of the side stepping of the issue of Israel’s behavior by party leaders particularly in Britain?
Because certainly we’ve had labor leaders Tony Blair giving speeches about the rights of Palestinians to secure a stable life and a good future and then on the other hand making pro-Israeli statements about Israelis and their security and being forth-right about that?
Karmi: The problem is that the liberal Democratic Party has its own record, its supports the rights of Palestinians to self-determination, to a free life, to be free from repression.
All that is on the record, further more actually one has to be fair the record of Lib Dem grassroots members and members of Parliament has been very good on Palestine. The issue that seems to happen, the whole thing unravels when Israel is attacked in some way.
Now this is a nonsense- you can’t support the people who are being oppressed by Israel at the same time as not criticizing the oppressor, Israel- it’s ridiculous. But of course we know very well what this is about.
This is about an active lobby which is operational in this country, which puts pressure on senior politicians and others not to criticize Israel in the slightest and the equation that is made which is absolutely outrageous is that a state- the policy of a state cannot be criticized because it’s tantamount to being anti-Jewish. It’s a preposterous equation, you know.
Press TV: What about the campaign against Jenny Thong herself, letter writing , smear tactics, these have been talked of, just in brief, how difficult is that to take pressure-wise and career-wise for politicians in the UK, do you think?
Karmi: Well, I think there is no doubt that people less tough and less well-supported than Jenny Tonge would have buckled under quite a long time ago, it is extremely unpleasant . Fortunately Jenny Tonge is a fighter.
Furthermore she has a tremendous following. She told me herself that she has had more letters of support this time than she has ever had in her career and that’s a very, very encouraging sign.
Press TV: Ghada Karmi, thank you very much for those comments.
I think that Israeli's like Netanyahoo are ensuring that Israel will be ultimately removed from the map. It took them over 2000 years to get a homeland, I doubt if they will hold on to it for anything but a fraction of 2000 years. They are proving they don't deserve to have a state
