Monday, July 01, 2024

ARREST HIM. DON'T FÊTE HIM.

by Rob Okun    
If Benjamin Netannotajew addresses a disjointed  
session of Congress on July 24 will it be
a day that will live in infamy?
 
You actually have the gall to ask that question!?
Of course it would be.
 
Imagine “Arrest him. Don’t fête him protest signs popping up across
the country while organizers fill busses from 30 states with patriots
headed to DC to say no way will a wanted war criminal speak in
the People’s house
 
Liberals opposed to the prime sinister will sip wine at fundraisers in Takoma Park
twisting themselves
                                         into impossible-to-achieve yoga positions from
two-state downward dog solution to low down dirty dog final solution
 
“If Israel doesn’t qualify as a true democracy anymore, do we still
have to send them weapons—no strings attached?”
You actually have the gall to ask that question!?
 Yes. We “have” to send them the weapons. If we don’t 
all heaven might break loose—
beginning with an end to the slaughter of Israel’s semitic cousins
 
In this heatwave fever dream, the growing movement of next gen jews
will lead a multigenerational march for peace where it will be permissible 
to use the following words and phrases:
 
38,000…mostly women and children…likely thousands more under the rubble…
humanitarian aid convoys blocked—again…West Bank “settlers” sadistically gone wild…authorities turn a blind eye…they’re committing war crimes… permanent cease fire
 
Note: If possible, however, not to ruffle the feathers of Israeli censors, avoid using 
the words: Palestine… Palestinians… unprecedented number of murdered journalists…
bombed hospitals and schools…starvation…malnutrition…unsafe drinking water…and, 
of course—genocide…
Oh—when discussing the recent daring rescue of four Israeli hostages, absolutely avoid mention of 274 Palestinians killed and 700 wounded. (It is permissible to use the phrase “collateral damage.”)
 
How the hell, you’d be right to ask, has the unlawful firm of Biden, Blinken & Austin
continued to arm this country, ruled by a madman, for so long?
You actually have the gall to ask that question!?
 
There are now—and always have been—Jews who have wept over and still 
weep over the dashed dreams of a 1948 communal Israel-Palestine populated 
by two peoples living side-by-side in a world 
where no one ever heard the word nakba—or spoke
about forced displacement
Is the world ready now—after a full term pregnancy's length of war—
to invigorate that vision...take it from aspiration to realization?
Yaweh and Allah, I hope so.


Rob Okun, editor emeritus of the three-decades old, profeminist magazine Voice Male and editor of the anthology Voice Male: The Untold Story of the Profeminist Men’s Movement, has worked in activist journalism since the 1970s. His commentaries appear in numerous publications and on digital platforms including The Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Ms., and Common Dreams. He is syndicated by Peace Voice.