24 thoughts on “Enlisting Bruce Springsteen to Validate Apartheid Israel – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Now you’re savaging Springsteen fans? How sad.

    The fact that she flew to Zurich to see a Springsteen concert, with no chance of a meeting, ‘The Boss’, is proof enough that she simply loves his music, and naturally, would like to have Springsteen perform in Israel so she can see him perform again.
    Amd further proof that this woman is merely an adoring fan, is the fact that she has no political connections, save the ones you’ve strained to contrived.

    What a shame it is that we can’t all be as passionate about music as Amy Kalman.

    1. @ Lotta: I’m only savaging one particular Springsteen fan who has an ulterior ideological motive which she conceals rather expertly. I’m a Springsteen fan & certainly not savaging myself or any other fans who love his music without having a nationalist ideological agenda as Kalman does.

      She has numerous ideological convictions which I outlined in my post. She is no innocent as you make her out to be. As for Kalman’s “passion.” It’s for Israeli nationalism and legitiimizing militarism & Occupation–all values Springsteen abhors.

      1. Ms Kalman conceals her ulterior, ideological motives so expertly, that only Richard Silverstein can ferret them out.
        Or not.

        And speaking of contrivances, “dust goggles, multi-purpose Leatherman tools, mobile phone chargers, water packs, head mounted flashlights..”, are not ‘military gear’.
        I know this because we own multi-purpose Leatherman tools, water packs and mobile phone chargers, which we use when we go camping ‘beyond the black stump’.

        1. @ Lotta: So you’re claiming that a fundraising campaign for the IDF 7th Armored Brigade is not meant to advance it’s military mission? But rather to provide R&R when the boys are back home soaking in a hot tub or going on a family camping trip?

          You are done in this thread. Do NOT comment further here.

    1. It is, while not perfect, certainly more so than most armies in the west, your snark and incredulousness notwithstanding. And I say that as an IDF veteran and an Israeli citizen who believes that Israel should leave Gaza and the West Bank in its entirety, and grant full sufferage to its Arab citizens along with the attendant responsibilities, such as military service.

        1. Insofar as that has been possible, taking into account the constrictions of ideology and political intrigue (deals made with the religious, etc), yes, I do believe it represents a credible cross-section of the population, transcending race, but more importantly, economic strata. I will concede however, that this is in a large part inherent in a conscript army, and would likely be the case in any army with such a system.

          1. No, other conscript armies may be a cross section of the population, but not the IDF! It is not a people’s army, but the army of only part of the people. And there is a good reason for that, which you may find it hard to acknowledge.
            The Palestinian Israelis are officially exempt from service because every sane person understands you cannot expect service from a people that was victimized by the army they are supposed to serve in. Even if they personally were not expelled at Israel’s creation, family and neighbors certainly were, and some 274,000 of them, or 1 in 4 (!) Palestinians in Israel are ‘present absentees’ who have been robbed of their possessions, even when residing within Israel’s borders. (And this is a conservative estimate.)
            So how can you or anybody claim the IDF represents a ‘credible cross section of the population’ when only about 3,000 (mostly Druze) of Israel’s 1.3 million Palestinian citizens serve? (And even if they do, they are excluded from the elite combat units.)

          2. As, I said, within the constricts of ideology and political intrigue. I of course have the advantage of having actually experienced it, despite your doubts as to my veracity, whereas you’re a dilettante armed with a supposition and an Internet connection. I believe this conversation is over. Good day to you. Richard, my apologies. I will not be commenting further.

      1. @ Shoded Yam: Are you mad? Israel’s army is “more perfect” than most armies in the west? Howso? It may’ve killed fewer civilians than the U.S. military, but that’s only because it operates on a slightly smaller scale. If the IDF has killed 40,000 Palestinians since 1948 & we extrapolate that number with the U.S. population (compared to Israel’s) that’s a huge number of dead. Though the U.S. has killed millions in Vietnam, Iraq & elsewhere, the IDF would be right up there on a per capita basis.

        1. We’re talking apples and oranges here. I was addressing the question of the IDF as a “citizen army”, I will leave the issue of perfection or lack thereof to others.

          1. @ Shoded Yam: IF you were confining your comment only to that aspect of the IDF, that wasn’t clear to me. Besides, it isn’t a citizens’ army when it excludes or exempts Israeli Palestinians and Israeli ultra-Orthodox. Only about 50% of eligible individuals end up serving.

  2. @Richard: “So you have to look a bit harder to understand the real, pervasive injustice. Nevertheless, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that Israel is as apartheid a country as South Africa ever was. ”

    So, do you ever stop to think why other intelligent and educated (and most Americans at least as indicated by polls) people DON’T come to the same conclusion as you? Are they all brainwashed by the same dark forces that make Americans “trained to see Muslims and Arabs as violent, uncivilized, homophobic and misogynist”, in your words? Do you even entertain the idea that maybe you (and BDS) are simply wrong?

    Gideon Levy (and I am not used to quoting him) recently wrote an editorial in Haaretz basically admitting that Bibi has won. In the battlefield of ideas, your sort of progressive liberalism is simply losing. The US president most sympathetic to the Palestinians is leaving office; Arab countries have mostly given up on the Palestinians. The Palestinians are as divided and weak as ever. Israel has become stronger economically, militarily and diplomatically as ever, notwithstanding the noisy shrying of the BDS crowd. I don’t know where this leaves Israel in the future– I honestly want the occupation to end.

    1. What a hoot. If Israel is doing so splendidly than why is the European and American Israel lobbies in such a hysteria attacking BDS? They have been so hysterical they are trying to define proPalestian activism in the US as a form of antisemitism. They are attacking academic freedom on US campuses in their efforts to thwart the boycott of Israel.

    2. Those poor Palestinians in such disarray. If they would only cooperate with Israel, the problems would end. First and foremost, they must recognize Israel (which they have done), then as a Jewish state (and accept that it was right and good that they should move out of their homes so that immigrants could move in!. Following this, they can pack up whatever culture and things they have left that has not yet been “appropriated” for the state or converted to a “closed military zone” and commit themselves to a refugee camp, hopefully outside of mandate Palestine, just as Israel wants. Cooperating with Israel will end the violence and solve the 2S/1S problem. Silly people, in such disarray that they ask for outside help (BDS). This just means that Israelis, overburdened already with other peoples property, will have to take the time and energy to lock them all up until they come to their senses. BDS will never win regardless of Civil Rights in US, Montgomery boycott, Gandhi’s passive resistance or myriad other peaceful protests…

        1. Thumb up for what? collection of libel and inaccuracies?

          This sort of propaganda is exactly why some mistake anti-Zionism with antisemitism

          1. @ Batumi:

            exactly why some mistake anti-Zionism with antisemitism

            That is a violation of the comment rules. Consider yourself warned. Read the rules & respect them or your time here will be exceedingly short.

    3. @ Yehuda:

      do you ever stop to think why other intelligent and educated (and most Americans at least as indicated by polls) people DON’T come to the same conclusion as you?

      I know far more about the views of these people than you imagine. I read their claims regularly & rebut them regularly. I know what they think. I know why they think it. I know what is wrong with their ideas & thinking & point it out regularly.

      As for my being wrong, I’ve been thinking intensively about these issues going back to 1967. I’ve had plenty of time to refine my views & adapt them as circumstances change. IF anything, I’ve moved farther to the left as a result over time, rather than to the right.

      Gideon Levy would never claim that Bibi “won” anything. He might claim that BIbi was victorious, but never that he is right. You dont’ appear to understand the distinction.

      As for “losing,” it is Israel which is losing. Losing everywhere that counts. Your country is led by a war monger & war criminal. Your citizens appear content with it. But the world isn’t & there will be a reckoning which will hurt you & your citizens profoundly. You will experience pain like you’ve never experienced. take a look at Serbia after it lost Kosovo. That’s what’s coming.

      The only Arab countries which gave up on Palesitnians are dictatorships like Egypt, the Gulf States & Saudis. There are many, many other Arab & Muslims states which have not.

      As for “weak,” Israel’s position is weaker than ever. FOrces are mounting outside Israel which grow ever stronger by the day. Israel is not strong morally. Moral bankruptcy will trump every other strength you list including military & economic.

      I honestly want the occupation to end.

      You are either shameful liar or hopelessly deluded. Occupation will not end until you face & accept what is necessary to make it end. Until you do (and you don’t) it will not end. WHich makes you a fool.

      1. Since I’m not a troll I won’t continue to recycle the same arguments. I made an argument, you responded, fine. You’re predicting disaster and I’m not. I’m glad that you were gifted with the powers of prophecy, to tell me I’m deluded. .

  3. So she has money and most people don’t. Why does it worth talking about? She is a lost case anyway.

    Why is Springsteen coming out clean? He is the one who cast a shade on all his fans

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