Promoting Palestine by Slandering MLK ...

I first saw this op-ed on Mondoweiss, but it was originally published by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Under the headline "King’s words live in Palestinian city," the article tries to argue that the Palestinians have taken on the mantle of Martin Luther King Jr. I don't think I can imagine a more fitting way to slander the man who was perhaps the greatest American to ever live.

While the writer focuses mostly on the weekly demonstrations in Bil'in and Ni'lin, she gives away her true perspective at the end of the piece:

More civil society actions to highlight Palestinian dispossession are being planned, probably the most spectacular of which will be the next flotilla planned to take place a few months from now. Ordinary civilians from the U.S. will embark on “The Audacity of Hope,” a U.S.-flagged boat, to sail the Mediterranean and bring the world’s attention to the Israeli siege of Gaza. The Israelis have threatened snipers and attack dogs against unarmed people but ultimately, the worldwide effort to end this siege will succeed. That is because this action is in the spirit of the great civil rights movement 50 years ago and demonstrates the power of ordinary people to withstand whatever armies have in mind for them.

This is unbelievable. It takes a truly mendacious individual to compare the situation in Gaza today to that which existed in the southern U.S. 50 years ago. I think we should just take a minute here and compare the rhetoric of the leadership of the two communities.

First, Dr. King:

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. (source) 

And now let's look at Hamas, the leadership of Gaza:

(The economic crisis is the result of) "bad administrative and financial management and a bad banking system put into place and controlled by the Jewish lobby."

(The Jewish lobby) "controls the U.S. elections and defines the foreign policy of any new administration in a manner that allows it to retain control of the American government and economy."

- (Hamas Spokesman Fawzi Barhum, October 7, 2008; as reported by AFP and other news agencies)

"...the Jewish faith does not wish for peace nor stability, since it is a faith that is based on murder: 'I kill, therefore I am'... Israel is based only on blood and murder in order to exist, and it will disappear, with Allah's will, through blood and Shahids [martyrs]."

- (Dr. Yussuf Al-Sharafi, Hamas representative, April 12, 2007; as reported by Palestinian Media Watch, April 23, 2007)

"This is Islam, that was ahead of its time with regards to human rights in the treatment of prisoners, but our nation was tested by the cancerous lump, that is the Jews, in the heart of the Arab nation... Be certain that America is on its way to utter destruction, America is wallowing [in blood] today in Iraq and Afghanistan, America is defeated and Israel is defeated, and was defeated in Lebanon and Palestine... Make us victorious over the community of infidels... Allah, take the Jews and their allies, Allah, take the Americans and their allies... Allah, annihilate them completely and do not leave anyone of them."

- (Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Bahar, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, April 20, 2007; as reported by Palestinian Media Watch, April 23, 2007) (source)

Yes, clearly it's exactly the same thing.