Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Abuse of Language

The Zionist movement (from so-called liberals like Amos Oz to Israeli leaders of all stripes) debase language by regular and routine dehumanizing of the Palestinian people. For decades, they can't use the word Palestinian without attaching the word "terrorist" and "terrorism". We need to put this propaganda rhetoric on its head. I have lived long enough in this country to see enough Arabs getting nervous when asked whether they recognize Israel, and how they describes Israeli crimes. We need to be categorical: of course, we don't recognize Israel, and we shall never recognize Israeli mass violence on the Palestinian people (which is referred to as "the creation of Israel" or its "war of independence" in this country). And whenever we use the word "Israeli" we need to use the word "terrorist": we need to do to the enemy rhetorically what it has done to the Palestinian victims of Israeli terrorism.