To: sea_urchin who wrote (15490 ) 6/10/2007 1:40:52 PM From: Crimson Ghost Respond to of 22250 CHILDREN OF KEY ZIONISTS BREAK WITH THE PAST RICHARD SILVERSTEIN, TUKUN OLAN - You know things are deeply disturbed in Israel when you see the children of not one, not two, not three, but four right-wing Zionist political pioneers turn against their fathers' political legacy. It is not really news that Yigal Arens, son of former Likud defense minister, Moshe Arens, is a devoted opponent of the Israeli Occupation. His critics have accused him of once being what they derisively call a "Matzpenist" which is the equivalent of calling someone a "dirty Bolshie" here in the States. He may or may not have been a Matzpen member. To me, Matzpen in its day served a similar role to the SDS here during the 1960s. . . . Dana Olmert, Ehud's daughter [attended] a rally during the Lebanon war in which Dan Halutz was charged with war crimes. That must've caused some discussion at the family dinner table. . . His daughter really has to cross some political distance from there to publicly denouncing the Israeli chief of staff. For the past several years, Jewish and Palestinian peace activists have demonstrated every Friday in the village of Bilin, which hugs the Separation Wall. And every week, the Border Police manage in their thuggish manner to beat up and injure peaceful protesters. Maariv reports this week that one of the regular Israeli protesters for the past two and a half years is another scion of Zion; the grandson of one of the leading lights of the right-wing nationalist movement, Menachem Begin. Aminadav Begin, according to the right-wing tabloid, is an anti-war anarchist who doesn't believe in nations or borders. Imagine how such a story will play in a nation for whom Menachem Begin is a god of right-wing Zionism. . . Finally, Avrum Burg has written a new book, Defeating Hitler (not yet available in English), which promises to be a bombshell because it savagely critiques both contemporary Israel and the entire Zionist enterprise. Burg himself, former Knesset speaker, former Shimon Peres protege, former Israel Agency director, has left Israel and taken French citizenship. He has abandoned a family legacy of Zionist commitment. His father, Yosef Burg, served for decades as party chair of the National Religious Party. The elder Burg was a German Jew who fled Germany for Palestine. He always stood for a right-wing religious political agenda, but was principled in doing so.richardsilverstein.com