4A
EDITORIAL AND OPINION/tTOge Cl^arlotte $ost
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Cljarlotte
The Voice of the Black Community
1531 Camden Rood Charlotte, N.C. 28203
Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher
Robert L. Johnson co-publisher/general manager
Herbert L White editor in chief
OPINION
Disproportionate
response to
Hezbollah
Israel’s overreaction repeats
errors that led to global war
By Rabbi Daniel Lapin
SPECIAL ro THE POST
Two weeks ago Israd attacked Gaza after the kidnap^jing of
one of her soldiers. Greece called the Israeli military action a dis
proportionate response. After Hezbollah forces in Lebanon kid
napped two more Israeli soldiers, the Jewish state attacked
Lebanon. The European Union warned that Israel’s dispropor
tionate response can only lead to a worsening of the crisis.
Prance’s foreign minister condemned Israel’s attacks on
Lebanon as “a disproportionate act of war.” Russia criticized
Israel’s “disproportionate use of force” against Lebanon and
Gaza. ’
Early in the summer of 1914 an obscure Emopean aristocrat,
Archduke Ferdinand was shot in Sar^evo. Within a few weeks
En^and declared wai* on Germany and millions died in muddy
troches. That was a disproportionate response.
On September 1, 1939 Hitler declared war on Poland because,
he claimed, some Poles attacked a minor German radio station
on the bolder. That was a disproportionate response too. Two
days later, England declared war on Germany That was also a
disproportionate response.
There are three reasons why those who call any nation’s
response to anything “disproportionate” are not being statesmen
they are jtist being siUy
The first reason is lhat no one person or group is in a position
to determine another’s priorities. Most sane westerners did not
denounce the Moslem reaction of rampage and murder to the
now-famous Danish cartoons, as disproportionate. It would have
been a meaningless indictment. Obviously to millions of
Moslems, massacres and pillage were precisely the right
response to Danish humor. We show who we are by what we
react to and how we do the reacting.
The point about someone who pulls a gun on the driver who
cut in fixint of him is not that his reaction was disproportionate.
The point is that in doing so, he reveals something important
about who he really is.
Different cultures do behave differently Public school teachers
have told me of their pity for those children raised in refined
families who become traumatized by the callous brutality and
terrifying violence they encoimter for the first time in some of
their new school mates.
The second reason that usir^ the term “disproportionate” is
siUy is that most of the major and earth shattering events ofhis-
tory seem to be disproportionate responses to apparently trivial
incidents. Only a fool thinks that the American War of
Independence was laimched by a tea tax or a shot fired on a vil
lage green in Lexington. Only a fool thinks that the War
Between the States was launched by Confederate fire on a fort
in Charleston Harbor.
Of course we all realize that those seemingly trivial incidents
did not really tri^er great upheavals all on Iheir own. They
mi^t have been the proverbial straw that pvrshed things one
step too far. The little incident is maely the small visible part
of the iceberg. Only a fool would say that World War 11 was
• England’s disproportionate response to Hitler.
Finally the third reason why it is sihy to label as dispropor
tionate any response is that whenever someone provoke anoth
er person, he nearly always considers the punitive response he
earns to be disproportionate. It is just another way of sayir^,
“Had I known this is how you’d react, I wovildn’t have done what
I did in the first place.”
It is always our choice whether or not to aggravate and goad
other people. Once we do so it is too late to complain about the
response we provoked. It is a good idea for parents trying to
train cMldten not to hit one another to punish whichev^ child
touched the other first. Parents should never allow themselves
to be trapped into a debate about how hard Johnny hit Tbmmy
and whether that first aggression justified Ibmmy’s dispropor
tionate response. “But I only tapped him” said Johnny “and he
pimched me.” The rule of wise parenting is this; Johnny can reg
ulate only his own behavior. If he starts up with Tbmmy even
only a tap, anything could happen.
And let us not forget that different cultures view the value of
a sin^e human fife quite differently Jews and Christians dmv-
ing their values fiom a Bible which stresses “Choose life” regard
every hvunan fife as sacred. There are obviously other cultures
in the world that see thit^ quite differently
Many of our own United States Special Forces teams maintain
a code of honor about never abandoning a brother on the battle
field and not leaving one of their own to fall into the hands of the
enemy Coming fix>m the same Biblical tradition, Israel sees
things in pretty much the same way
The fourteenth chapter of Genesis describes one of the Bible’s
early wars. One army did something really stupid They cap
tured Abraham’s nephew. Lot, and held him. Upon hearing of
this, Abraham, who had been minding his own business, imme
diately launched an attack. He inflicted a crushir^ defeat u^n
ihat army He wiped them out, recovered his nephew, and seized
all the possessions of his antagonists. How sUly it would be to
term Abraham’s response disproportionate. How equally silly
are those who call Israel’s response in these dangerous times,
(^proportionate.
^ RABBI DANIEL LAPIN is president OF Toward Tradition, a rabbinic
scholar, author and national public speaker. His radio show broadcasts
Hve over the Internet on KSFO San Francisco (w\\r,vksfocotn} each
Sunday l-4pm PST.
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TARGET
NAACP
American voting rights hall of shame
After defeating several
amendments that would
have neutered legislation to
renew key sections of the
Voting Rights Act set to
expire next year, the U.S.
House of Representatives
finally passed the Fannie Lou
Hamer, Rosa Parks, and
Coretta Scott King Voting
Rights Act Reauthoiization
and Amendments Act last
week by a vote of390-33.
No Democrat voted against
the bill and
Republicans
' approved it by
: a margin of
; 192-33. The
j biU now moves
j to the Senate,
where it is
expected to eas
ily win
approval before
the August recess.
We should never forget the
33 members of the Hall of
Shame; Jo Bonner and Tbiry
Everett of Alabama; Trent
Franks and John B. Shadegg
of Arizona; WaUy Herger,
John T. Doolittle, Edward R.
Royce, Gary G. Miller, Dana
Rohrabacher, John
Campbell, aU of California;
Joel Hefty and Thomas G.
Ibncredo of Colorado; Tbm
Price, John Linder, Lynn A.
Westmoreland, Charhe
Norwood, Nathan Deal and
Phil Gingrey all of Georgia;
Dan Burton of Indiana,
Iowa’s Steve King, Richard
H. Baker of Louisiana,
Roscoe G. Barlett of
Marjiand, New Jersey’s Scott
Garrett; Virginia Foxx and
Patrick T. McHenry of North
Carolina; South Carolma’s J.
Gresham Barrett, John J.
Duncan Jr. fixm Tbnnessee
and six from Tbxas; Sam
Johnson, Jeb Hensarling, Joe
Barton, K. Michael Conaway,
Mac Thomberry and Ron
Paul.
Not votii^ were Jiftia
Carson, a Congressional
Black Caucus member fix>m
Indiana; Jo Ann Davis of
\drginia, Lane Evans of
Illinois, Missouri’s Sam
Graves, Michael McNulty
fixm New York, Annie M.
Northup fiom Kentucky, Pete
Sessions of Texas, Louise
McIntosh Slaughter of New
York and Todd Tiahrt of
Kansas.
That any member of
Congress would vote against
such important legislation
would be bad enou^. But I
have even less respect for the
hypocrites who voted for crip
pling amendments to the leg
islation and after those
efforts failed, voted for the
final measure so that they
could save face.
In an effort to gut the
Voting Ei^its measure, four
amendments were offered in
the House.
Amendment 4, proposed by
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-
Ga.), would have the
Attorney G^eral make an
annual determination of
whether certain jurisdictions
must meet the Section 5 pre-
dearance requirement of the
Voting Ri^ts Act as well as
shift the burden of proving
whether a community has
stopped discriminating finm
the jurisdiction to the Justice
Department. Amendment 8,
sponsored by another
Republican from Geoigia,
Charhe Norwood, would lose
turnout figures fi'om the
three previous presidential
elections rather than past
record of discrimination to
determine which states are
covaed imder the Act. Based
on figures fi'om the 1996,
2000 and 2004 elections, it
would essentially repeal
Section 5 of the Voting Rights
Act.
Amendment 7, sponsored
by Republican
Representatives Steve King
of Iowa, Candice MQIct fixan
Michigan, Ginny Brown-
Waite of Florida and Spencer
Bachus of Alabama, would
repeal Section 203 of the
Voting Rights Act that pro
vides language assistance to
voters who have difficulty
speaking English. And Rep.
Louie Gohmert (R-Tfexas) pro
posed a reauthorization peri
od of 10 years rather than 25.
A band of Southern legisla
tors almost derailed the bill,
by claiming that their region
was being treated unfairly
However, Congressional
hearings showed Black vot
ers were the real victims.
Southern members of
Congress who supported both
the Westmoreland and
Norwood amendments before
voting for the final version of
the voting rights extension
were: Robert B. Aderholt of
Alabama; Florida’s Ginny
Brown-Waite, Cliff Steams,
Ric Keller, Adam Putnam,
Connie Mack and Dave
Wddon; Jack Kingston finm
Geoigia; Bobby Jindal and
Rodney Alexander fi-om
Louisiana; Mississippi’s
Ro^er F. Wicker, Charles
Pickming and Gene Thjior;
Walter Jones, Harold Coble,
Sue Wilkins Myrick and
Charles Taylor, all of North
Carolina; Henry E. Brown
and Joe Wilson of South
Carolina; Tfexas’ Louie
Gohmert, Tbd Poe, Ralph
Hall, John Abney Culb^on,
Kevin Brady, Michael T.
McCaul, Kay Grar^er, Randy
Neugebauer, Lamar S.
Smith, Henry Bonilla and
Kenny Marchant and three
Congressmen finm \firginia,
Virgil H. Goode Jr., Bob
Goodlatte and Eric Canter.
SevCTi Southern supporters
of the final bill voted for the
Westmoreland amendment,
but not the one offered by
Norwood. They were; Mike
Roberts and Spencer Bachus
of Alabama, Michale Bftirakis
and C.W. BiU Young of
Florida, Louisiana’s Jim
McCrery WiWiam L. Jenkins
of Tbnnessee and John R.
Carter finm Tfecas.
(For a complete list of how
every Congressperson voted
on each amendment and the
final bftl, go to my blog: cur-
ryiiigfavor.blogspot.com).
Three co-sponsors of the
amendment to repeal the lan
guage assistance provision of
the Voting Rights Act -
Candice S. Miller of
Michigan, Ginny Brown-
Waite of florida and fencer
Bachus of Alabama - voted
for the final measure after
their effort to kftl that section
of the legislation was easily
defeated.
Evidently, lawmakers
expected us to be satisfied
with their final vote and not
be aware of their disingenu
ous behavior. But they
guessed wrong. And now that
we are aware of their efforts
to dilute our political power,
we should do what the old
lady in church tells us to do
after reading the Simday
annoimcements: govern
yourselves accordin^y
GEORGE E. CURRY is editor-
in-chief of the National
Newspaper Publishers
Association News Service and
BlackPressUSA.com.
www.georgecurry.com.
Terrorism’ goes on in the Middle East
I must apologize for wiitir^
so soon again on the situation
in Palestine.
It has been impossible for
me to sit back and watch the
scales of carnage displayed
every ni^t on the news as
the IsraeUs continue their
offensive against the
Palestinians in
Gaza, and now
in southern
Lebanon.
Yet, what
jumps out at
me in watch
ing the news
and reading
about the situ-
ation is the bla
tant hypocrisy' within the
U.S.A. and much of Europe
when it comes to the treat
ment of Israel vs. Palestine.
Consider for a moment that if
a Palestinian militant carries
out a suidde attack against
Israeli civilians, this is con
demned - as it should be - for
being an act of terrorism. At
the same time, when we
watch Israeli jets attack a
bridge or a school, allegedly
in retaliation for a
Palestinian military action,
this is not condemned as ter
rorism.
Were the Palestinians to
daim that they we-'e “retail-
Israel must cease campaign of
aggression against Palestinians in
order to limit escalation of fighting
ating” against the Israeli
occupation, would that be
good enoi^h to justify attack
ing d'vilians? This is not a
rhetorical question because
this is predsdy what has
been said at times.
In fact, those Palestinians
who have engaged in suidde
bombings have claimed that
in view of the fact that the
Israelis have repeatedly
ignored United Naticais’ reso
lutions calling for withdrawal
finm the Occupied
Tbrritories, the overwhelm
ing military superiority of the
Israehs, and the level of
armament among Israeli
dvilians, that there are no
military targets. How can the
Israelis respond to such argu
ments whoi they seem to
have a casual, if not cavalier
attitude toward attacking
Palestinian dvihan targets?
There is a provocative ques
tion that has circulated that
asks whether an apology
would be accepted if a
Palestinian militant blew up
a bus with Israeli dvilians
and the militant’s group
daimed that the target was
the bus and that unfortunate
ly the dvilians got in the way
Yet, as preposterous as this
may seem, the Israeli actions
are not that diffaent. When
they allegedly target
Palestinian leaders for assas
sinations and dvilians are
killed, there is goierally an
apology - the tragic casual
ties of war, we are told. Yet,
this continues to happen, and
now the ante has been upped
through the attacks on dvil-
ian targets such as power
plants, bridges and schools in
Gaza, and in Lebanon, the
Beirut International Airport
among other targets.
There is a word for the
actions being carried out by
the Israeli govorrment and it
is the notion of “collective
punishment.” The Israeli gov
ernment has thrown a wide
net and dedded that power
stations, airports, schools,
etc., are all military targets
and, as the U.S. mainstream
media so diplomatically
claims, are points of pressure
that the Isradis are exertii^
on the Palestinians (and now
on the Lebanese) in ordo' to
get them to act Reasonably’
Points of pressure?
Years after atrodties have
been cemmitted, the people of
the world generally look at
one another, shake their
heads and ask “...why were
we silent? How could we have
let that happoi?”
We have an opportunity to
preempt such questions by
action today The Israelis
must (^ase their military
measures and commit them
selves to withdrawal finm the
Oexupaed Tferritories through
peaceful negotiation. Rather
than being a co-conspirator in
the destruction of the
Palestinian people, the U.S.
govemmoit must assert sup
port for the United Nations’
resolutions on Israeli with
drawal.
Such resolutions cannot
exist to be used at the discre-
tictn of the great powo's or
those 'with greater military
strength.
BllB FLETCHER, is a long
time labor and international
activist and writer. He is the
imtnediate past president of
TransAfrica Forum. He can be
reached at
paperq54@hotmailcom.