A Leigh Sales Pitch for Israel 1

On Thursday night, the 7.30 Report's Leigh Sales interviewed Gideon Raff, perpetrator of the Israeli television series, Prisoners of War (screened on SBS in 2013).*

What can I say? It was basically a Sales pitch - for Israel.

I'm going to devote two posts to it. For the first, I merely wish to vent on the following gobsmacker by Raff, which, need I say, went completely unremarked by Sales:

"I found that the term prisoners of war actually applies to all of [the Israeli prisoner's family], and maybe even to all of us as a country in Israel."

Oh, FFS... and your jailers are?

So fanatical Israeli colons steal someone else's land, destroy their homes, drive most of them out into permanent exile, and occupy, murder, imprison and torture the rest on a daily basis... and Raff's telling us it's his mob who are doing it tough...?!

Just imagine someone out there trying to get the ABC or SBS to screen a television series on imprisoned Palestinians. (Yes, I know it's a tautology.):

Palestinians, you say? We'd love too, but...

Well, let's say that somewhere out there, in some parallel world, on some parallel ABC or SBS, something called Palestinian Prisoners of Israeli Terrorism & Apartheid - there are around 6,000 at the moment - actually gets a run, one of its prisoners could perhaps be someone like... Rasmea Odeh.**

Never heard of her?

OK, here's a new poem about her by the greatest activist singer-songwriter of our time, David Rovics.*** Says it all really:

Rasmea was born in Palestine a year before she had to flee
Her family left their home at gunpoint - since then she's been a refugee
She lived a hard life in the camps, her dad had to move away
Try to support his family from way out in Michigan, USA
When Rasmea was first arrested, not much older than a kid
There had been a bombing, and the next thing the authorities did
Was round up the whole neighborhood - 500 women, children and men
They tortured Rasmea - they only stopped when
They extracted their confession - she did what she had to do
Having no idea when her ordeal would be through
After 10 years in a dungeon, in the land of stolen fates
She was sent to Jordan, from where she moved to the United States
Rasmea made a life here helping refugees like her
Adapting to their new lives and the people they once were
Until her home was raided because she once checked the wrong box
For not mentioning the confession produced by the electro-shocks
Again Rasmea was arrested - once again stripped of citizenship
Some drink deeply of their freedom - some only get a little sip
The fact that she was tortured was not considered of import
Only Israeli military evidence was recognized by the American court
Now they say they will deport her from the city on the lake
They say that 20 years ago she made a technical mistake
They say Rasmea is a terrorist, but I'd say it would seem
Rasmea Odeh is the victim of a terrorist regime

Coming up: A Leigh Sales Pitch for Israel 2

[*See my 21/1/13 post 'Prisoners of War': Those Bloody Arabs Again!;**Visit justice4rasmea.org & the Free Rasmea Now FB page; ***See my 20/6/12 post Holy Land 5.]