This is about former Secy of State Hillary Clinton.
A woman I voted for enthusiastically in 2016. A woman who I supported enthusiastically in 2008. As you may have inferred from that framework, I am not enthused by her recent remarks.
Speaking at a right wing Jewish conference, she had a few things to day.
Speaking of students she taught and engaged with at Columbia University, she said “it was very difficult” to discuss the issue “because they did not know history.”
“They had very little context. And what they were being told on social media was not just one-sided, it was pure propaganda,” Clinton said, later adding that many are watching “short form videos, some of them totally made up.”
“It’s not just the usual suspects. It is a lot of young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history, and don’t understand.”
Totally made up eh ! One sided as well. And they did not know the history, do they ?
I do have a memory; and I do recall other people responding to totally made up, one-side propaganda. Actually not even one-sided.. factually incorrect and made-up propaganda.
From Newsweek (the original link is in the Atlantic), she had this to say one week after October 7. The article states her opposition to a “cease fire” (presumably she is not opposed to one now, after 70,000 dead):
That is why I am convinced Hamas must go. On October 7, these terrorists killed babies, raped women, and kidnapped innocent civilians. They continue to hold more than 200 hostages. They have proved again and again that they will not abide by ceasefires, will sabotage any efforts to forge a lasting peace, and will never stop attacking Israel.
There is a lot to unpack in these claims.
First, let us take up the claim of kidnapped innocent civilians. This is clearly factually true. Hamas did kidnap civilians, with an obvious goal of holding them for ransom. It is also factually misleading, as in it is… there is that dreaded word...“one-sided”.
Israel also regularly kidnaps civilians, tortures them, and holds them for ransom… including after they have died. As of today, Israel holds 676 dead Palestinians, including 60 children and 9 women. In September 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that military commanders could temporarily withhold Palestinian bodies killed by Israeli occupation forces for potential use as “bargaining chips” in future negotiations. At least 98 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since October 2023. Israeli ministers even proudly proclaim that they have developed “starvation rations” for their Palestinian prisoners. I bring this up to note that none of this is secret information that former Secy of State Clinton does not have access to.
The only context (to borrow her word) to this claim of kidnapped civilians is that Hamas appears to have taken better care of the kidnapped Israeli civilians than Israel appears to take care of kidnapped Palestinian civilians.
Next, let us take up the issue of raped women. I am just assuming this is true… that is because I believe that no act of large scale violence is ever free of sexual violence. However, it is interesting to note that by October 15 (when Secy of State Clinton wrote her piece), there were no credible reports of rapes (indeed, there is nothing even today, in the public domain, although Israeli authorities claim to have the evidence that they have not released publicly). But again, I am assuming that this allegation is true. But it is also factually misleading, as in….there is that dreaded word again… “one-sided”. There are very credible reports (by Israeli human rights groups) of Israeli soldiers indulging in sexual violence as well (including some on camera).
The authors conclude that the testimonies “account for severe abuse at every stage, including: The use of batons; pouring of boiling water, causing severe burns; Dog attacks on detainees; Use of a ‘Disco Room’ employing intense sensory manipulation with painfully loud music; Rape with objects.”
According to the report, Israel Prison Service facilities also employed policies of starvation and systematic abuse, including “punching, kicking, ramming with batons, painful shackling, dog attacks, threatening of and urinating on detainees as well as acts of sexual violence and rape with objects.”
To me, this is almost a given. I grew up hearing whispered stories of women being raped during the India-Pakistan partition violence of 1947. Given a large group of men power over a civilian population (even if for a short while, as on October 7), and sexual violence follows. The lesson from that should be that no group of men should ever hold that type of terrorizing power over a civilian population. But should I make of Secy Clinton’s apparently one-sided (there is that dreaded word again) sexual violence by Hamas on Oct 7. Has she ever responded to those reports of sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners. I have looked, and have not found anything.
And next, there is the Hamas “killed babies”. This claim happens to be factually untrue. It is likely a reference to the claim that Hamas beheaded 40 babies. It is factually untrue because a total of one baby was killed on Oct 7 (i.e., it cannot be a plural). Clinton’s article was written the same week that President Biden was repeatedly referencing the fact that Hamas beheaded those 40 babies.
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On October 11, 2023, during a roundtable with Jewish community leaders, Biden said: “I never really thought that I would see … have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.”
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On October 18, 2023, while in Israel, in a speech he said: “Children slaughtered. Babies slaughtered … Rape, beheadings, bodies burned alive.”
- On November 15, 2023, he again referenced beheadings, saying Hamas had carried out atrocities including “cutting babies’ heads off.”
It is to her credit that she has not ever publicly claimed that Hamas beheaded those babies (or baked them in ovens...another variant of that claim). But she does appear to be referring to President Biden’s claim, including that he had seen pictures of (Hamas) terrorists beheading children.
And for the record, there are now confirmed reports that those initial claims of 40 beheaded babies, or 40 beheaded children, or babies baked in the oven…. they were all false. As in “totally made up” (another one of those awful phrases that Secy Clinton used). To my knowledge, Secy Clinton has not ever publicly reproached President Biden for making up this evidence (“totally made up”) of terrorists beheading children.
And finally, what can one made of her claim that the “students do not know history”. What is there to know? First, no amount of context, or historical footnoting will ever justify the type of violence Israel has been unleashing on a civilian population since….well… forever. To quote Ta-Nehisi Coates:
“Personally, I hate the idea of a state based entirely on religious or ethnic identity. I am of the mind that discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion is never acceptable. There is nothing in this world that will make separate and unequal okay, and there’s nothing—-and I’ll use this word—-that makes apartheid okay.”
Anyone who considers this question of “separate and unequal”… anyone, but specially an American with a fairly recent history of separate and unequal… and lands on “here are 10 reasons why killing civilians to support this system is justified”….
Well, all I can say is that I hope God grants mercy on their soul.
It is clearly not the young student protestors (“the usual suspects”), or “the young Jewish Americans” who don’t know the history, and don’t understand.
