Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumGideon Levy: Before the Israeli Right Rejoices Over Paris
Source: Haaretz
The Israeli right will say: We told you so. That is how the Palestinians are, that is how the Muslims are - bloodthirsty animals. The conclusion: There is no partner. This is of course a propagandist house of cards.
Just before the right in Israel begins to celebrate, we must tell them: There is no connection whatsoever between the child with a knife from Hebron and the French Muslim with a suicide bomb in Paris.
Just before the right in France and all of Europe starts to celebrate, we must tell them: Dont you dance on the blood as well. The nationalism, hatred of foreigners, racism, deportation of refugees, isolationism and the war against Islam your magic solutions will not solve anything. The rejoicing calls of we told you so from Israel and the European right are already being sounded loudly.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Marine Le Pen are once again those who are profiting the most from the terror. We must not fall into their trap.
The Israeli right will say: We told you so. That is how the Palestinians are, that is how the Arabs are, and that is how the Muslims are - bloodthirsty animals. The conclusion: There is no partner. We will forever live by our swords. Now Europe is experiencing what we have been experiencing for years. Now Europe will take steps toward a war on terror the same steps which it condemned when we took them. Now Europe may leave us alone; after all we have a common enemy. Lets see them labeling products now, lets see it condemning the settlements.
Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.686074
Note: Premium article. Use Google to access.
6chars
(3,967 posts)And if he can't see a link between terrorism and terrorism, he is blind.
King_David
(14,851 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)what this person is saying they're going to say? Talk about straw men. Me thinks writer is protesting too much to deflect from the reality there is a portion of those who worship Allah that have simply gone nuts.
shira
(30,109 posts)Can you imagine fighting for civil rights here without having even one African American friend?
http://mida.org.il/2015/08/22/catch-the-jew-tuvia-tenenbom-kills-em-softly/
The man's a hate-filled fraud.
Israeli
(4,159 posts)Michael Sfard Mar 19, 2015
Paranoia, according to The Encyclopedia Hebraica, is a functional psychosis characterized by delusions of grandeur and persecution, but without intellectual deterioration. In classic cases of paranoia, the delusions are organized into a coherent, internally consistent delusional system on which the patient is prepared to act.
The encyclopedia adds that sufferers from paranoia can display a variety of persecutory ideas: The patient claims he is being persecuted, or that a plot to trip him up is being woven, or that he is being followed.
Tuvia Tenenbom, an Israeli-American who calls himself a political playwright and a journalist, went on a journey to acquaint himself with the persecutors of the Jewish people in Israel. The result of his quest, in which he disguised himself as a non-Israeli, German journalist in order to induce the people he interviewed to say what they really think is his book Catch the Jew! (also published in Hebrew and German). In it he describes his meetings in the Holy Land (in both its sovereign and occupied parts) with Israelis, Palestinians and foreigners.
Tenenboms findings are bleak in the extreme. He discovered that a worldwide conspiracy among Europeans, Arabs and left-wing self-hating Jews is about to bring catastrophe on the Jewish peoples state. The clock is ticking. Caught between hatred from the outside and the inside, no state can survive for long, he writes in the epilogue.
Full disclosure: I am closely connected with many of the demons that are persecuting Tenenbom. Some of those who are revealed in the book as accomplices in the conspiracy against Israel and against Judaism were or are still my clients, some are my associates in legal and ideological battles, and some are my friends including close personal friends (such as the client who became a good friend, former air force pilot Yonatan Shapira).
Moreover, the worst of the miscreants in the plot against Israel, according to Tenenbom the Europeans (all of them, but the Germans especially) directly or indirectly fund many organizations that are clients of mine. So take what I say with caution. Like with anything I have done or wrote in my life, I am not objective worse, I make no pretense of being so.
But Tenenbom and his book do have objective pretensions. First, he purports to expose the true face (anti-Semitic, subversive, lying and in some cases Nazi, no less) of some of the activists and organizations that oppose the Israeli occupation. Second, the book purports to be part of a literary genre: the political journey. At its best, this genre is supposed to provide journalistic-literary-publicist documentation of a politically or socially riven country. The reader thus gets an in-depth report about prevailing views held by various population groups that are not given due expression in the traditional press, and unfamiliar angles on endlessly discussed issues, which for one reason or another are outside the publics field of vision.
Israeli examples of books like this are Amos Ozs In the Land of Israel (English edition, 1983) and David Grossmans The Yellow Wind (English edition, 1987). Both books sprang from series of articles their authors published in the press, which were based on encounters, mostly with regular people, rather than with public figures or leaders, in Israel and the occupied territories in the course of several months. Both authors gave their interlocutors wide latitude, but did not spare readers their own opinions and analyses.
Sleeping with Arabs
Catch the Jew! is a parody of this literary genre. Dont misunderstand me: Tenenbom did not set out to write a parody. He purports to offer readers a political journey that reflects a political reality and generates political insights. In his semi-fictional guise, he met with members of organizations such as BTselem, an Israeli group that monitors human rights in the occupied territories, Rabbis for Human Rights, Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross, as well as with politicians, intellectuals and journalists, activists and just plain folk.
In essence, his book seeks to persuade readers that what he heard from his interlocutors shows that left-wing Jewish Israelis, and particularly Israeli human-rights organizations, which are funded by anti-Semitic Europeans and by Jew-hating Palestinians, who are also funded by the anti-Semitic Europeans, create a world of fabrications that aims to make Israel universally hated. And they are succeeding in their aim.
Grounding such a vicious accusation which is a version of a set of allegations copyrighted by such right-wing groups as NGO Monitor and Im Tirtzu, which for years have been conducting a campaign of delegtimization against segments of Israels civil society involves serious work. Its proponents have to meet at least three requirements: present weighty evidence that this is the agenda of the people they have met, show that these people represent a broad phenomenon, and build a stable, logical structure to draw conclusions from their documentation.
Failing on three counts
To begin with, some of his interviewees are so grotesque that beyond the fact that its hard to see how they can represent a large public, one begins to suspect that they dont really exist. A case in point is his report about a left-wing scholar he met in a Georgian restaurant in Tel Aviv. She told him that she loves Arabs so much that she slept with a Palestinian for years. Seriously. This is what he writes. Tenenbom adds that a left-wing intellectual who was sitting with them was delighted with this information. He told the woman he was happy to hear it and now he knows shes all right.
Now, lets say that the scholar and the intellectual really exist. What in the world could one learn from their bizarre remarks? Tenenboms method is to heighten curiosities and use them as representative phenomena, in this case those of the Tel Aviv left.
On another occasion, a left-wing professor again, Tenenbom doesnt divulge her identity fails a short quiz he gives her about Judaism. He concludes immediately that todays left-wing professors, in contrast to those of a previous generation, personified by the late professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz, are ignorant and superficial. Even in the case of Tenenboms great (and only) success a vague comment by a Palestinian field researcher of BTselem to the effect that he doesnt believe that the Germans killed Jews its hard to say that it represents anything. But that doesnt stop Tenenbom from turning his amplifier up to full volume and asserting that BTselem consists of Jews who devote their lives to helping people who hate them.
Burning Jew-hatred
Even worse is what Tenenbom does in cases where his interlocutors dont deliver the goods and make inane comments. He simply implants the anti-Semitism for them. Of an International Red Cross employee who didnt say a word about Jews, he writes that although he doesnt know the person, the tenor of his speech shows that he really dislikes Jews. His observation about a Jerusalem couple who were hurt by Palestinians but continue to support peace is that they are model self-haters and paragons of Arab lovers.
With no explanation, Tenenbom claims that members of Doctors Without Borders whom he met while they were taking testimony from Bedouin in the Jordan Rift Valley were inventing diseases and blaming Israel for their spread. Annoyed by IRC officials who were doing humanitarian work with 1948 refugees, he declares, without an iota of proof, that they are warming their chairs in their offices while dreaming of a country empty of Jews.
The accusations fly thick and fast: anti-Semitism (most Europeans), anti-Israeliness (human rights organizations), self-hatred (almost every activist he meets) and pathological lying (mainly Palestinians). Tenenbom may have intended to be persecuted, but in practice he embarked on a persecution campaign of his own. His major fallacy is also the primary transgression of his colleagues in the segment of the Israeli right that persecutes its critics: deliberate and far from naïve confusion between criticism of Israels policy and hatred of Israel and of Jews.
Thus, for example, the refusenik pilot Yonatan Shapira offers an unvarnished critique of Israeli policy in his conversation with Tenenbom, and agrees with him that there are other countries that commit crimes and should be fought against. Nevertheless, this chapter is titled, A Jewish pilot with a mission: Catch the Jews!
When an Israeli guest in an Eilat hotel tells Tenenbom that the Israelis are behaving barbarically, the chapter heading is Jews are barbarians. And when Rabbi Arik Ascherman, from Rabbis for Human Rights, is critical of rights abuses against the Palestinians who are under Israeli occupation hes added ingloriously to the tribe of self-haters.
Tenenbom does not find even one opponent of the occupation who is not anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli or doesnt loathe himself and his nation.
And here is the third fallacy: the deep logic that underlies the theory of Catch the Jew! Sorrow for the infringement of Palestinians rights, opposition to the occupation and criticism of Israeli policy all are testimony to burning Jew-hatred.
As I read, I became increasingly aware that this groundless inference may well stem from self-projection. Perhaps for Tenenbom and others, all political opposition is translated into hatred of the rival. This is the case with many of those who do battle against the human rights organizations in Israel. They are out not only to vanquish members of that community politically and prevent them from bringing about the changes the activists work for: They also want to prevent them from getting financing, to reduce their right of expression, to incriminate some of their activity and in general to make them disappear from the public map.
Catch the Jew! adopts this logic. It is not a documentation project, it is a creation project. And Tenenbom created Israels persecutors in his image, in Tenenboms image, did he create them.
Michael Sfard, an attorney, specializes in human rights law. He is a legal adviser to some of the organizations and people mentioned in the book.
Source: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/books/.premium-1.647882
shira
(30,109 posts)It's why he hasn't been sued by the Israel hating psychotics.
King_David
(14,851 posts)So now nobody has to pay Haaretz to read it....
I don't think that should be done here...IMHO
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)Response to leftynyc (Reply #2)
Post removed
King_David
(14,851 posts)That's quite the accusation - you just made against a fellow DUr - prove it or delete your post please.....
Israeli
(4,159 posts)King_David
(14,851 posts)Israeli
(4,159 posts)King_David
(14,851 posts)King_David
(14,851 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)with the links and still didn't see one elected official in there. If you're trying to convince me that some right wing journalists are assholes, you're too late for that as we have them here in the US also. That doesn't mean they represent anything near a majority so if you want to tag an entire country with that bullshit, knock yourself out. I'm sure I could find just as many who blame Israel for what happened in Paris starting with that worm who is one of the heads of the free gaza movement. Would you like me to tag all pro-P people with THAT bullshit? Little Green Footballs made that very easy as they posted a twitter feed that was FILLED with those who think this was a false flag done by Israel.
Israeli
(4,159 posts)" tag an entire country with that bullshit " .........why should I ???
Gideon Levy was refering to the Right wing as was I , and if you think that our Right wing consist of only right wing journalists then you are more foolish than I thought previously .
Yes - I must be foolish if I think that tagging an entire country because of what some right wingers have to say is nothing but completely dishonest bullshit. Just like I must be foolish for thinking that someone voted in with 23% of a vote is certainly not speaking for the majority of citizens. See how that works? I mean, heaven forbid people stop blasting Israel for engaging in self defense for 5 freeking minutes while they clean up the blood and dead bodies that Israel has to deal with on a near daily basis. We wouldn't want that to happen.
shira
(30,109 posts)read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.686074
Oh, really?
Then why the rejection of every 2 state proposal since 1937? If it's all about that?
Levy is not just a moron but an asshole.
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)I had similar thoughts even before I read the OP. I'm genuinely concerned that the European right-wingers will capitalize on the Paris terrorist attacks like they do in Israel. I know that racism in Europe is on the rise, but we're far from the situation in Israel. It's also pretty clear to me, that the terror in France has different causes than the terror in Israel, and they have different solutions.
I put up the OP because it reflects what I'm thinking, and I guess me and Levy both suffer from the same deficiencies.
Israeli
(4,159 posts)He is Left ....that is why all the hoo-ha from the posts above yours Little Tich.
" I put up the OP because it reflects what I'm thinking, and I guess me and Levy both suffer from the same deficiencies. "
You are not alone .
shira
(30,109 posts)If they want their land and country, liberation from occupation, self-determination and freedom then Camp David 2000 and Olmert's offer in 2008 would have given them precisely that.
Fact is, the Palestinians didn't even come back with a counter-proposal.
They actually went to war with Israel immediately following those offers. So Gideon Levy is a liar as that's not what Palestinians want; otherwise they'd have it already. And here it is:
shira
(30,109 posts)Israel is nearly 20% Muslim.
Imagine Europe coming anywhere close to that. France has 7-8% now and it's just getting worse. The rightwing in Europe would freak the fuck out at 20%....
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)Fortunately, Le Pen isn't in a government, but Netanyahu and his crypto-fascist friends are. Israel has the most racist government of any western country, Hungary included. All of Israels ministers are horrible people and they're all thorougly racist.
I have a serious problem with racists, and I think they shouldn't be allowed to rule a country.
shira
(30,109 posts)Last edited Wed Nov 18, 2015, 08:08 AM - Edit history (2)
....& incitement to murder Jews while claiming Netanyahu's stupid remarks about a Mufti Nazi are far more offensive & racist.
Your LaPen statement is ridiculous.
Three-fourths of Bedouin Israeli village vote Likud:
http://www.haaretz.com/.premium-1.648222
Shocked? Gee, how is that possible?
Poll: 75% of Israeli Arabs support Jewish, democratic constitution
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-75-of-israeli-arabs-support-jewish-democratic-constitution-1.219373
Surprised? That's like Blacks in S.Africa supporting the Apartheid state.
Polling shows Palestinians admire Israeli form of government over any other on the planet
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/02/international/middleeast/02LETT.html?pagewanted=1
Even more ridiculous, isn't it? Hmm...
Palestinians prefer Israeli occupation/rule over PA/Hamas
http://www.democraticunderground.com/113411071#post9
You have no idea what you're talking about.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Oh, it's not a political connection, or a religious one.
It's a connection of despair, or anger at exploitation and oppression. A lashing out at those whose comfortable, wealthy lives are financed on the suffering of the poor and the oppressed by those who don't recognize 'civilian' or 'military' as important distinctions when the 'civilians' vote those who control the military into power, vote those who continue to help corporations exploit the third world into power.
shira
(30,109 posts)Those who don't believe Jews have any right to their own land, hate Jews by dehumanizing them as apes and pigs, want them dead or expelled altogether (like in the Hamas covenant) including children and old ladies....
You believe they act out of despair and oppression? Hamas are victims lashing out?
And those they influence to stab little kids and old ladies - they're victims? If so, which other victims worldwide do this?