Human beings are flawed. Movements are flawed. Indymedia writers (who cannot be edited unfortunately) are most most definately flawed.

When my favorite website turned into a free posting for anti-Jewish hate groups, I became alarmed. Jews have led some of the most progressive movements in history. From the time of Moses, we have freed slaves, marched with MLK, fought for civil rights, and had a good deal of influence on progressive issues.

Some of us were Zionists, that is, we had a dream of a homeland where all these things we fought for would be guranteed to all of us, for once. But the idea of Zionism is very general, it can range from people who simply believe in what Israel stands for, to people who actively pursued this goal through violence, all the way to people who pursued this goal peacefully, and were met with violence.

The growing trend on Indymedia, as in the flawed and unresearched article on Syria posted today, is to use the word Zionist to denote some conspiracy group that controlls media, government, and apparently makes Arabs look worse than they are.

Well, we don't controll Amnesty International. In fact, it is from NGOs that data regarding Arab human rights malfeicance comes from. It is profoundly racist to lump all Jews together as a Zionists conspiracy, and it is innacurate. I can tell you, I have no controll over the media except what I write on this keyboard, and I believe in Israel as a state because I have seen flowers bloom in a desert where once only the camel poop bloomed.

Syria, what a lovely country, where Tienemen square is a peaceful sit in. Syria, where reports of honor killings come from women constantly and bombs are lobbied over the border regularly.

How dare someone blame Zionists for Syrias bad reputation. Have we forgotten how Syria supported Sadam who killed his own people 10,000 times more than any Arabs have ever died at the hands of Jews?

No- misrepresentations of Zionism and glorification of polite Arabs will not erase centuries of bad reputation for barbarism the Arabs have earned. Neither side of the conflict is innocent, but the Syrians earned their reputation on their own.

It's just too bad so many Idiots think they are experts. Perhaps they should check Amnesty's roster of violators first. Perhaps this woman should actually speak with some of the Jewish Arabs I work with and find out how they were forced out, not only to Israel, but right here in Los Angeles, a growing community remembers the way their Arab cousins treated them and is ready to tell you the truth.

This woman needs a reality check, maybe she should call Sally Field and ask her about the movie "Not without my Daughter, " so she can know how it really is for women in Arab countries.