No Zionist cause is too extreme and violent for mainstream support in America. Generic pro-Israel fundraisers are one thing, but support for illegal Israeli settlers on the occupied West Bank is a testament to just how fanatical pro-Israel American culture is. And support for the Hebron settlers in particularly makes the whole event such a sad statement about American life and the dehumanization of Palestinians while romanticizing violent, terrorizing settlers.

I have written about the 400 illegal Israel settlers in Hebron before hand. Here is a recap:

Hebron is a city hollow to both Muslims and Jews, and it is located in the inner West Bank. Thus it is an island of 400 Jews in a sea of over 140,000 Arabs disconnected from any large illegal settlement blocks. Hebron stands on its own as an isolated small settlement surrounded by thousands of Israeli troops dedicated to protecting the settlers. In reality, the soldiers should not be worrying about protecting the heavily-armed illegal settlers but the defenseless Palestinians whom often come under attacks and even murders at the hands of the settlers.

This small group of settlers makes life a daily hell for Palestinians. Besides the constant attacks at the hands of these terrorists, there is also the checkpoints and road blocks that Palestinians must face at the hands of the occupying Israeli military.

The Israeli military has recently decided to actually open up a road in the Jabbar neighborhood for Palestinian use after nine years of prohibition. The settlers are opposed to this. Why? Not because of security concerns. There is no way a Palestinian could possibly get pass security on the road or elsewhere given that there are thousands of Israeli occupation troops in Hebron alone to be able to harm settlers. And, further, even if a Palestinian manage to walk into their illegal neighbor he would have a most a knife will they have M-16s. So that isn’t it. The simply reason the illegal settlers oppose this is that they are unequivocally opposed to any rights secured for the Palestinians. The illegal settlers believe that the Palestinians have absolutely no right to live on the land and they should be rounded up and thrown into Jordan or the sea.

Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, a PLC member, inspects graves damaged by Israeli Jewish settlers in a cemetery in the West Bank city of Hebron. (Mamoun Wazwaz, Maan Images)

On Saturday night, settlers smashed the windows and slashed the tries over around 30 Palestinian vehicles. They also threw rocks at Palestinians, many of whom were injured and needed to be taken to a hospital. Settlers even shot at Palestinians, though none were injured this time.

Israeli settlers often shut down Palestinian water pipes and deny them water for days before the Israeli authorities turn them back on. Many Palestinians have been beaten up by these settlers and Palestinian olive tree fields are often destroyed by these settlers. Of all the fanatics, the Hebron settlers are most extreme.

But all of this does not bother American sensibilities in a nation where the fanatical, hateful and terrorist settlers are portrayed as pioneers no different from American Puritans. The NY Mets agree, and believe in the settlers so much that they want to actually fundraise for the Hebron settlers so they have more resources to attack and kill Palestinians:

New York, NY, November 4, 2009 – Eleven organizations from the US, Palestine and Israel have called on baseball’s New York Mets to cancel a November 21st dinner at the Caesars Club at Citi Field for the Brooklyn-based Hebron Fund. The dinner is a fundraiser for Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank City of Hebron. In a letter sent to the Mets on November 3rd, the groups said, “The New York Mets will be facilitating activities that directly violate international law and the Obama administration’s call for a freeze in settlement construction, and that actively promote racial discrimination, and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes in Hebron.” Seven hundred Israeli settlers, living amidst 150,000 Palestinians in Hebron, are expanding their hold on the historic old city by driving out the Palestinian residents.

The groups added that “It would be a tragic irony for an event funding Israeli settlers’ violent actions and discriminatory policies against Palestinians to be held at Caesars Club which, according to the Mets, “sits directly on top of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda,” which was named “in honor of Jackie Robinson, the… great American who broke baseball’s color barrier.” The Mets and Major League Baseball promote Robinson’s legacy, including Robinson’s value of “Justice: Treating all people fairly, no matter who they are.” Mets owner Fred Wilpon has explained in the past that, as a 16 year-old, meeting Jackie Robinson was an experience that never left him. “As a kid, a nothing, he treated me with all of that dignity that he treated everyone else in his life.”

On the Hebron Fund webpage, clicking on the symbol which says “Give to Hebron” leads to a donations page on the website for the Jewish Community of Hebron which says, among other things, “keep Hebron Jewish for the Jewish people.” In a report on Hebron, the Israeli human rights organizations B’Tselem and ACRI have labeled the demands of Hebron’s settlers as “racist.” Hebron settlement leader Moshe Levinger, praised in a Hebron Fund dinner video, has been quoted saying,“The Arabs know to behave like good boys around us.” Hebron Fund Executive Director Yossi Baumol also made very derogatory comments about Arabs in a 2007 interview.

I am used to stating This Is Zionism whenever I note an Israeli outrage, well: This Is America. I do not care much for baseball - America’s boringest sport - but I am glad that the Yankees won the World Series this year. Stupid Mets if they sponsor such an event. And stupid Zionists.