Max on the Middle East again

It appears that I may have missed the bigger picture.

I always read news on websites that are anti-war. The one-sided stories began appearing immediately after Israel started their offensive in Gaza. Well, that is not quite true – there had been anti-Israel stories before. In fact, there are always anti-Israel stories. But then with the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, some of the views expressed have been so extremely anti-Israel that I have actually been shocked.

I am a regular reader of Strike the Root, which I would describe as a high-quality and hardcore libertarian site. One of the regular features is a reader poll. I had never been offended by anything on the site, until their poll that read as follows:

Do you think Neocons, Zionists and conservative Christians want the war in the Middle East to continue? (19-23 July 2006)

That offended me. To me the question showed a lack of understanding of what Zionists and Zionism are. To me that question was anti-semitic.

But I have continued to read all of my usual sites that are anti-war, as well as mainstream and other alternative press. And I have continued to take in as much as I can, to think for myself and to try to figure things out. Reports that “President” Bush did not want an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon made me realise that something was rotten.

“What the fuck?” I thought to myself over and over. People are being killed on all sides. Lebanon is being bombed back into its recent dark ages. Why would any rational person want to put off a cease-fire?

Why did the poll writer for Strike the Root group Zionists together with neo-cons and conservative Christians anyway?

Neo-cons are the occupiers of the White House, Project for the New American Century - sick, greedy, power-hungry war-mongers who don’t spare so much as a thought for anyone but themselves.

Conservative Christians are seemingly waiting for the Rapture, and for some reason they need all hell to break loose in the Middle East.

Both groups support Israel in their own twisted ways for their own twisted reasons. Neo-cons want to use Israel for their own purposes, just as they use the American government and the American military for their own purposes. Conservative Christians need the Jews to be in Israel in order to bring about Armageddon and their salvation party in their Christian heaven. Apparently, sometimes the two groups overlap.

Where do Zionists come into the equation? Did the poll writer mean the Israeli government? Is the Israeli government actually co-operating with people whose aims are world domination and Armageddon? What is really going on? What is the bigger picture? I, for one, do not pretend to know.

And finally, a message for Strike the Root:
Choose your words more carefully. You should learn what a Zionist is before you throw the word around. Thank you.

http://www.strike-the-root.com/