Last night I appeared on ABC TV News24’s The Drum (video here) discussing the last Presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
The real challenge was counting how many times Israel was loved/praised/embraced/kissed during the 90 minute discussion (clue: 65432 times). I argued that it’s remarkable how little it is acknowledged that one nation, Israel, requires constant attention without any criticism. The Palestinians were essentially invisible but the “threat” from Iran was paramount. On Afghanistan, Iraq and drones, both men had very similar policies. It’s quite possible, however, that a Romney presidency will be more extreme because of the Bush era neo-cons around him, loving the smell of burning Muslim flesh in the morning. An outsider would regard both men as living in a parallel universe.
The guest was Avner Gvaryahu from Israeli group Breaking the Silence. It was fascinating hearing him talk about the reality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the daily abuse of Palestinians. He’s here discussing a new book, Our Harsh Logic, a devastating portrait of Zionist criminality in the West Bank and Gaza.