Israel: State of Peace or Violence? Interview with Lenni Brenner 2/4

Interview with special guest Lenni Brenner. Brenner is an author of several books regarding Israel, and we walk about the current Palestinian conflict in Gaza with Israel. We also talk about Israels apartheid policies that mirrored South Africa and the Jim Crow South.

Lenni Brenner now lives in New York City. See an article about his political activities in UC Berkeley in the 1960s Lenni Brenner was born into an Orthodox Jewish family. He became an atheist at 12, and a Marxist at 15, in 1952. His involvement with the Black civil rights movement began on his first day in the organized left, when he met James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality, later the organizer of the "freedom rides" of the early 60s. He was active in the mid 50s with Bayard Rustin, later the organizer of Martin Luther King's 1963 "I had a dream" March on Washington. He was arrested 4 times during civil rights sit-ins in the San Francisco Bay Area, and again during the Berkeley Free Speech Movement at the University of California in 1964. While in jail for his activities on the campus, he spent 4 days in intense discussion with Huey Newton, later the founder of the Black Panther Party. Subsequently he worked with Kathy Cleaver. More recently, in the 90s, he and Panther leader Bobby Seale defended their activities during the 60s on Morton Downey's TV show. He was an anti-war activist from the 1st days of the Vietnam war, speaking frequently at rallies in the Bay Area. In 1963 he organized the Committee for Narcotic Reform in Berkeley. In 1968 he co-founded the National Association for Irish Justice, the American affiliate of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. In the 90s he and Kwame Ture (aka Stokely Carmichael), the legendary "Black Power" leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, co-founded the Committee against Zionism and Racism. They also published The Anti-War Activist. He is presently organizing the Coalition for Narcotic Law Reform. Mr. Brenner is the author of 4 books, Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, The Iron Wall: Zionist Revisionism from Jabotinsky to Shamir, Jews in America Today, and The Lesser Evil: The Democratic Party. His books have been favorably reviewed in 10 languages by prominent publications, including the London Times, The London Review of Books, Moscow's Izvestia and the Jerusalem Post. He has written over 100 articles for many publications, including the Amsterdam News, the Anderson Valley Advertizer, the Atlanta Constitution, CounterPunch, the Jewish Guardian, the Nation, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Middle East Policy, Middle East International, the Journal of Palestine Studies, the New Statesman of London, Al-Fajr in Jerusalem and the United Irishman in Dublin. Brenner has an amusing response to the Zionist smear which is used against all Jewish critics of Zionism. At the "Jews against Zionism" forum in London on 18 June 2003, he said: "Those who call me a self-hating Jew should talk to my girlfriends. They all tell me that I am in love with myself."

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[OdinsHenchman]

Which Israel should Hamas recognize? Israel has not yet stated what its international borders are. Should Hamas recognize the Israel of 1948? The Israel of 1967? The Israel of 2009 with its apartheid wall, settlements, and second class Arab citizens and with East Jerusalem annexed?

[SixtiesFan90]

@darrellmellissa: Israel is ILLEGALLY occupying that land. Just like Nazi Germany did with Czechoslovakia and Austria in the late '30s.

[123backinyerface]

If we are talking about "fair and square" then so be it.

Then give the Palestinians, AHA64A Apache Choppers, F-16 + F-15's Fighter/bombers, State of the art AA missiles, Ground launched guided missiles, full use of Satellites, and charge them the standard discount prices that the US give Israel.

The "AID" that Israel gets from the US are these weapons and money,

The "AID" that Palestinians get from the US are medical supplies and food, now does that make sense?

[darrellmellissa]

Yes of course I would recognize there right of conguest.

[darrellmellissa]

They tryed once and lost. If they try agin of course if then they won

then to the victor go the spoils.

[OdinsHenchman]

Oh really, well in that case should the Arabs attack Israel and win that land back fairly and squarely than you would of course accept that? You would also using your own definition accept that all surviving jews be herded into walled ghettos and denied basic services and human rights? Good, in that case we will use your philosophy should the jews attack Iran and be pushed into the sea by all it's neighbours with whom it has made enemies by it's own doing. I imagine you will now suggest?

[darrellmellissa]

they could start by Recognizing, That all the land Isreal ocupies was won fair and sguare defending there state aginst unprovoked aggresion.. Saying Isreal has the right to exsist. And last but not least they want to be a good neighbor.