Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumIsrael responding to boycott waves like Saddam Husseim or Khamanei
No Waze, no stents, no drip irrigation, no cyber-security: These, says Bennett, are the 10 plagues Israel will bring on the world if it even dares to boycott it.By Zvi Bar'el
The world, Naftali Bennett says, cannot exist without Israel. Look, if today you pressed the button, and you stopped using Israeli products, you wouldnt wake up in the morning because the chip in your cell phone doesnt work, because its made in Israel, he told the Saban Forum in Washington earlier this month. You wouldnt get to work because you dont have Waze. You might have a heart attack because the stent in your heart doesnt work. The vegetables you eat would be lousy because youre not getting [the] Netafim [drip irrigation system]. Your account would be hacked, and I could go on and on.
These, Bennett says, are the 10 plagues that Israel will bring on the world if it even dares to boycott it. He said these things in response to a question from Haim Saban about whether he, Bennett, was prepared for Europe to sever its ties with Israel in response to his plan to annex 60 percent of the West Bank. Well, Bennett is ready, and how. All thats left for a frightened Europe to do is hope that the minister doesnt carry out his secret plan to disable the world.
At first, Bennetts remarks sent national pride soaring. But when you think about it a little more, you understand that Israel, according to him, is no more than a sophisticated factory for consumer products. Neither its culture nor its semi-democracy, nor even the fact that its a haven for Jews are the grounds for its existence, or the basis for calculating its global market value. By his lights, the chip and the stent define the Jewish state.
Thus, even according to Bennett, Israel has no advantage over the Indian or Chinese programmer who will successfully reproduce Israeli products, or, God forbid, come up with something of his own. If this is the case, not only must the grounds for Israels existence meet the tests of the market, its very lifespan is conditioned on the industriousness of its competitors.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.632211
Israeli
(4,132 posts)Its true these boycotts are not being felt in every Israeli home. They are very far from the sanctions imposed on Saddams Iraq or those being imposed on Iran. But the image they create indeed affects every citizen. Israeli tourists have not encountered admiring looks recently because they come from the land of chips and stents.
The encouraging thing is that Israel is beginning to respond to the wave of boycotts just like Saddam Hussein or Irans Ali Khamenei. Saddam was certain the world was wrong, and Khamenei is careful to demonstrate Irans technological abilities as proof of its superiority. Now Bennett has brought Israel into this group of elite countries. And please note that if Iraq could survive a dozen years of sanctions and if Iran hasnt collapsed after some 35 years of sanctions, Israel, the home of the Lord of Hosts, will surely be able to hold out even if forced to swallow all its chips itself.
Bennett is not some nut case. He is the messiah of more than 350,000 eligible voters, and tens of thousands more who couldnt yet vote in the last election. He has the potential to be a senior minister in the next government, if not prime minister. Israeli citizens should start inquiring of their friends in Iran and Iraq about how to safely survive a regime thats certain the sun shines out of its rear end.
Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.632211
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)grossproffit
(5,591 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)And a good many would be disgusted by the inaccurate use of the term.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)And a good many would appear to be morally bankrupt... if we follow your opinion alone.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)bemildred
(90,061 posts)BRUSSELS Israel suffered back-to-back diplomatic setbacks in Europe on Wednesday as Palestinians headed to the United Nations to try to set a two-year deadline for an Israeli withdrawal.
In Geneva, the international community delivered a stinging rebuke to Israel's settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, saying the practice violates Israel's responsibilities as an occupying power.
The declaration adopted by the conference of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the rules of war and military occupation, emphasized a prohibition on colonizing occupied land and insisted that international humanitarian law be obeyed in areas affected by the conflict between Israel and Palestinians. It called for "all serious violations" to be investigated and those responsible for breaches to be brought to justice.
"This is a signal and we can hope that words count," said Swiss ambassador Paul Fivat, who chaired the one-day meeting. The U.S. and Israel did not take part.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/12/17/world/middleeast/ap-ml-israel-palestinians.html?_r=0
MisterP
(23,730 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Well if he wants to threaten the West then the West should tell him to put up or shut up.
We all know that the Chinese can pick up the production in a week. Too bad that fool doesn't seem to know that.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)have competitive products made elsewhere but if he really wishes to go that route ..........