Comments on: Former U.S. Congresswoman, Nobel Laureate Imprisoned by Israel

By: Warren

Warren — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:47:00 +0000

I just fished out the Jascha Heifetz Double Concertos disc I mentioned. Erick Friedman is the other violin on the Bach Concerto for Two Violins, William Primrose is the viola playing alongside Heifetz’s violin in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, and Gregor Piatogorsky is the cello in the Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello. These recordings that make up the disc date from the latter ’50′s, early ’60′s and I always go back to them. Pure beauty, the combination of Bach, Mozart and Brahms is nice because you really hear the musical progression, the complexity and tension in Brahms is particularly pleasing and striking after the virtuosic beauty of the Mozart. And that Bach Double Concerto, the second movement always kills me, there’s that tingling down the spine moment that the greatest music affords us. Transcendence. The Sublime.

By: Warren

Warren — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:39:45 +0000

Violinist—hypocrisy is certainly something to be vigilant about. Thanks for reminding us of this. One of my very favorite CD’s that I own is Jascha Heifetz playing the Double Concertos of Bach, Mozart and Brahms (it’s on the old RCA Victor label). The music on this disc is one of the purest expressions of the artistic sublime that I know of, and Heifetz truly sings, his warm tone is like shimmering, tinkling gold. He was unique.

By: Violinist

Violinist — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:42:54 +0000

Warren-on the contrary, any assumptions being made are by yourself, not I. I don’t know how much experience you have overseas, but I have lived outside of the USA for about a decade. I can tell you that when someone accuses someone of something that is going on in his own backyard-this is called hypocrisy, in any culture. I understand that Israel is the focus of this forum, however it seems that it is criticism that is one-way and at times unchecked!
PS-Heifetz was truly a master!

By: Warren

Warren — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:39:47 +0000

Violinist,

You seem to hold the assumption that those of us criticizing this flagrant violation of international law, Israel’s kidnapping of the aid ship to Gaza (which pales in moral significance compared to the horrors committed by Israel in Gaza some months ago), are just A-Okay with America’s illegal prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Our detention of people for god knows what without due process, habeus corpus, completely outside the orbit of any meaningful legal structure whatsoever, is an OUTRAGE. It is a violation of basic human rights and against international law, the Geneva Conventions and so on. I’m sure that most all of the critics of Israel on this blog are incredibly critical of U.S. foreign policy generally. You starting to get it? This blog has a focus on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and commenters tend to focus specifically on that conflict and respond to the particular content of Richard’s posts. The little secret here is one can be critical of one’s own country AND other countries as well. This isn’t rocket science, here. And it’s not a zero sum game. It’s interesting that you think that the frequenters of this blog wouldn’t care about Guantanamo Bay or notice the illegality and human rights abuses there; I suggest that this says more about you than it does about anyone else.

P.S.–I love the violin. Favorite violinists: Menuhin and Heifetz. Currently in love with the violinist Julia Fischer.

By: Violinist

Violinist — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:43:54 +0000

USA is holding people in Guantanamo Bay without trial because it is in their interests. Is that not a violation of human rights? Why shouldn’t Israel be allowed to act in its own interests, especially when it has been in a state of war with Gaza for some time now?

By: Mary Hughes-Thompson

Mary Hughes-Thompson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:19:38 +0000

They won’t cave in to Israel’s demands they sign a statement in Hebrew (supposedly) admitting they violated Israel’s immigration laws by entering the state illegally, and agreeing to deportation. If they refuse to sign and agree to deportation, then Israel routinely holds them for 72 hours and then deports them forcibly.

And for sheerstupidity (or perhas mendacity) of our State Department, here’s an interesting exchange:
————-

QUESTION: Eric Connors from Press TV.. Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and members of the Free Gaza Movement were intercepted by the Israeli Army when they were on a humanitarian mission over there. What’s being done about that? Are they on their way home?
Will they be deported? What’s the next step there, and will their supplies ever get to where they’re going?

IAN KELLY (State Dept)
On the last question, I don’t know the answer actually. I think I have to refer you to the Government of Israel. We can confirm that the Israeli Navy did arrest those on board this – this ship which is known as Spirit. We can’t comment on any of the individuals or the number of individual American citizens on board because of Privacy Act Concerns.

————-

Imagine our state dept referring questions about the the two American women reporters to “the Government of North Korea” or about the imprisoned reporter in Iran to “The Government of Iran.”
c

By: LD

LD — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:38:54 +0000

I agree, very concise and effective reply, Fiddler.

By: Megat S. Merican

Megat S. Merican — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:28:30 +0000

Fiddler,

I was pondering on a reply to Violinist but your wonderful post basically ended that concern for me.