By Max Blumenthal
On June 5, when several hundred Israelis marched from Tel Aviv's Yitzhak Rabin Square to the Israeli Defense Ministry to protest the anniversary of the Six Day War, I was able to meet some of the country's most vociferous cheerleaders of Barack Obama. In complete contrast to the characters who appeared in my video report, "Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem," those I interviewed at the demonstration (organized by the Israeli left-wing party Hadash) were invigorated by Obama's speech in Cairo, and excited by the prospect of an American president who would pressure Israel into making meaningful concessions towards peace. As one demonstrator remarked to me, "[Obama] must save us from ourselves."
Whether the two-state solution Obama proposes is possible is another story. Israelis view Obama's policies towards Israel with extreme negativity, and consider him biased towards the Palestinians, though they simultaneously believe Benjamin "Yahoo" Netanyahu should bend to Washington's will.
"You see how few we are," said a demonstrator holding a sign reading "Obama, Yes-U-Can." "This is about all the Israelis who really oppose the Occupation -- it's very small. Most of the Israelis don't care about the Occupation and what goes on in the Occupied Territories and about the suffering of the Palestinians. I think it must come from the -- the pressure must come from the outside... From here, there's not enough."
This video report is the sequel to my hotly debated, heavily trafficked "Feeling the Hate." Many bloggers who focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict urged me to make a video that showed the "other side" of Israel, the culturally progressive element that believes in peace and international cooperation. Well, here they are. There are very, very few of them, they are marginalized, even persecuted, and in desperate need of American support. I will send this video to all the bloggers who linked to my last one and continue to obsess over it (Jeffrey Goldberg is apparently so short on new ideas he has posted a collection of incoherent comments from 50 Cent's link to the video). Will they post it? Unlike Obama, I'm not hopeful.
"If you were drunk, would your opinion be the same". He doesn't like criticism?
RE: Israelis to Obama – "Save Us From Ourselves!" SEE: “Obama Breeds Climate of Hate Against Jews”, By Rabbi Dr. Morton H. Pomerantz, 06/10/09 (EXCERPT) Our new president did not tell a virulent anti-Semite to travel to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington to kill Jews, but he is most certainly creating a climate of hate against us. It is no coincidence that we are witnessing this level of hatred toward Jews as President Barack Obama positions America against the Jewish state. Just days ago Obama traveled to Cairo, Egypt. It was his second trip in a short time to visit Muslim countries. He sent a clear message by not visiting Israel. But this was code. In Cairo, Obama said things that pose a grave danger to Jews in Israel, in America and everywhere… ENTIRE ‘SCREED*’ – http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_holocaust_... *SCREED – h/t Prof. Dershowitz:
Look who's talking!
This is a fine book-end to the drunken bigots. With maturity, sobriety, and liberal, universal values, we hear the antidote to youthful, drunken, ethnocentrism. For me, the highlight is the 85 year old, white haired gentlemen who states that American and Israeli goals are the same, echoing part of the Neocon mantra, but then he states true, blue, liberal universal values, which many American and at least a few Israelis hold in common. I like his certainty that he will see the fulfillment of these values in the Middle East in his lifetime. He expresses a fine hope that can be our beacon as events develop. Also, the headline, the woman's comment that Obama must save Israel from itself. Much has been made of the Cairo speech in terms of its messages to Israel and the American Jews, but I still believe its prime purpose was to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim World. It was a winner in the Lebanon elections, and we will see tomorrow how Iran reconsiders its future, in light of the new American message. On a personal note, I saw my one Neocon friend recently, someone who is both mature and highly accomplished. and he expressed a growing rage at Obama that was far closer to the sentiments of Max's first video than I would have thought possible, so that is one data point validating that the drunken student video expresses a much larger sentiment, likely communicated to these youngsters around the breakfast table, with newspapers part of what is being ingested and discussed. God help us, one and all. This is almost like an intervention by friends to force, through tough love, an acknowledgement that a valued friend, family member, colleague, needs help, needs to turn his life around by making substantial changes. Tough love, Obama, that's what is needed.
ha said the mime with his body in rhyme so this is the world of words and flapping his wings he started to sing and took off for the world of birds
You go Max. Jeffrey Goldberg's sideways attacks on you are cheap and tawdry and utterly predictable.
Avnery made a good point: George W. Bush encouraged dysfunctional Jewish nationale behavior, which has led to tragedy. Those featured in the video made a good point: Jewish nationales need strict lines drawn to curtail their own dysfunctional behavior, to "save us from ourselves." This can be done wrathfully, per the Jewish bible, or this can be done peacfully, per the Christian bible. This can be done wrathfully, per socialism, or this can be done peacefully, per libertarianism.
israel ( and those who identify closely and subjectively) don't like criticism.. that much is obvious…
Thanks Max for a real coverage of the situation. Go on, man.
All the Israeli loyalist here need to start working for Obama's policy on Israel and against Israel's "friends" in congress. Congress is assisting Israel in it's suicide.
I've already posted your new video. Thanks a lot!!!!
Such intelligent informed comments by these interviewees. It's going to be interesting to see how the rabid-right over here reacts to this. And Benjamin Yahoo is forever marked as a redneck, which as a USA-born, he will understand better than his adopted countrymen.
He has a right to answer it, doesn't he?
Two complete pages of comments are still missing, as they have been for three days: "Obama to Israel: 'We are going to change the world. Please, don't interfere'" and "Settlers seek to avenge Obama pressure by going after Palestinians."
sure alot of good people in the world, why aren't we ruling? Why is it always thugs?
Wonderful stuff again, Samizdat Max Headroom-Blumenthal, bringing the unvarnished truth to America's hood-winked, information-poor populace with the immediacy of the newfangled shoot-and-post technology. The two vids together are an eloquent prophylactic against any tendency to lump all Jews together as 'the Jews this' or 'the Jews that', which both antisemites and Zionists are guilty of. Good Jews and bad Jews in all their glory, just the same as everyone else, except that the bad ones at this juncture in history threaten the future for all of us. Happily, they seem to be shrinking in number just as the good'uns increase.
MonoLies describes their friends in Tel Aviv, Hadash, as an "Israeli left-wing party ". Very misleading. Hadash is the Israeli-Arab Communist Party. Check out Wiki. Not surprisingly, Hadash wants a FOREIGN power (Obama's USA) to FORCE the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED Israeli government to take an Arabist/Islamist position. "Save us from ourselves" is much more appropriate for MondoLies itself.
What on earth are you driving at Witty? The response was, yes–only (delivered in) stronger language. Another Israeli, a woman, said Israel needs Obama to use a big stick on it. I couldn't agree more.
If Phil Weiss censors this FACT it's because he's scared to show the truth about racism among Arabs. Here's an Arab wishing for another Holocaust on Jews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUqwBsRuB8E&NR...
Thanks, Max. I would like to believe that anti-Occupation Israelis are greater in number than it would appear. It stands to reason that, having witnessed the brutality of the IDF, they would be afraid to make themselves known.
these are the sane israeli. there should be more of them. they are a small minority right now. if israel were a normal country the sane people would outnumber the land crazies. israel is going through a period of mass delusion just as we did here during the bush boy years. bush boy ended wrecking the country. the land crazies will do the same to israel.
It was an informative piece, in the summary of the 180 degree turn from Israel's original spirit.
He tries to lead the interview in the direction he desires. Very amateurish. Really poorly done. It's not surprising that he "works" for Mondoweiss. How does Blumenthal make a living? Probably rich Zionist parents. The demonstration was a complete failure. It was Avnery and his usual group of failed communists.
@Doppler " For me, the highlight is the 85 year old, white haired gentlemen who states that American and Israeli goals are the same, echoing part of the Neocon mantra, but then he states true, blue, liberal universal values, which many American and at least a few Israelis hold in common. I like his certainty that he will see the fulfillment of these values in the Middle East in his lifetime" That was Uri Avnery, the one thedhimmi dismisses above as "Avnery and his usual group of failed communists". I can't help but wonder how much blood thedhimmi has shed for the State of Israel. Rest assured that Avnery fought to found the State of Israel, shed his blood, and lived to see it become the monster that it is today. He saw the hatred growing and decided to fight against it – not because he sees Israel as a hateful pariah, but because he sees that the only way for the State of Israel to have a future is for it to live side by side with a viable Palestine. PM
Obama is doing more to unite Israelis than anyone has done in the last 30 years. The US has been unable to force a goverment on Haiti, so he is in no position to force Israel to enganger its vital interests, no matter how much of a "savior" he and the "progresssive Jews around him think he is.
Max that is a great piece of work Reasonable Israeli's important to see and hear I though that the one fellow who had the sign that said Obama "yes you cansummarized it best " you seen how few we are…the Israeli's who really oppose the occupation. Most Israeli's do not care about the occupation or the lives of the Palestinians". The older Israeli woman who said she had come to Israel I believe (52 years ago) was also really clear and concise Obama needs to use a "big stick" and I am Israeli she said "kick us in the butts" that Israeli man who said he was 85 was also clear and also hot…hot. Hope I can maintain a vitality like that as I age. Refreshing Max stay out on the streets. Interview some of "most Israeli's do not care" Can you get into a Palestinian camp and do some interviewing. Keep it up
Love the hate Ed. Christianity is such a loving religion, ha ha
Bravo to Max and Joseph, this really is a stellar piece. It expresses so many of the best elements of Israeli society, elements we so easily forget in our discourse: Israeli Jews speaking eloquently and passionately of the importance of Palestinian human rights, the illegality of the occupation, and the necessity for a Palestinian state. The video also shows the duality in progressive Israeli thought pertaining to how the changes must come about. One woman insists that "[Obama] can't do it [alone], it's up to Israelis", while another demonstrator opines the "pressure must come from outside", placing the onus on the international community because he believes not enough Israelis care about the Palestinian plight. Uri Avnery's words were particularly inspiring, as always, and I hope to see a Palestinian state in his lifetime as well, though I would personally prefer one state for all peoples. I fear, as I'm sure many of us do, that this piece won't get nearly as much coverage as "Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem". As such, I think for all of us who saw hope in this latest Blumenthal/Dana production, we should take it upon ourselves to individually distribute this video as widely as possible, in every circle we can. The more people in the West that know there are intelligent, progressive Israelis that are serious when they talk of wanting peace and cooperation with the Palestinians, and the more that know there is an element of support within Israel for a two-state solution, the more faith there will be in the Obama administration's efforts, and consequently, the more community and political action from people that would not otherwise have gotten involved. Circulation of this video can only help.
What's the "truth" about racism amongst Arabs, you half-wit? Did ANYONE here say Arabs cannot be racist? Every group has racism, but the reason people are making a big deal of JEWS being racist is because we BARELY EVER SEE IT REPORTED ON. The point is reconciling the fact that yes, these things like racism and ethnocentrism exist with all groups – but not all groups are treated equally. Furthermore, within the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, studies show it's the Israeli Jews who are FAR more racist. And it's another to be racist when you're the master (Israeli Jews) and then racist when you're the slave (Palestinians). So racism exists but it does not arise arbitrarily and it is not of one same nature. Racism must be understood. It's only Zionists who want to dumb down the debate and who promote un-intellectualism amongst their dissenters. So a retard like yourself does not refer to studies (which I posted, as reported in YNet/Haaretz/JPost/etc.) but one single YouTube video. And your implication is not that Arabs CAN be racist or that racism exists in the Arab world but rather that ALL ARABS are racist. No one is going to take a fascist like you seriously.
About your posts? Absolutely.
Goldberg was in the IDF. What do you expect?
If you think this site is actually a site of lies, i.e, "MondoLies," then why don't you just go away? You won't be missed.
You call them "pals," and worry about Arab racism. Irony is not dead!
Read "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine." "Israel's original spirit" is a mythological creature like a unicorn.
I think the small number of marchers is not an indication of low support for peace. Thousands gather at Rabin Square for peace rallies, especially the one in memory of Yitzhak Rabin. In this case, Hadash, a communist party regarded by most Israelis as radically leftist, was the march's organizer, which might have kept many peaceniks away.
Hmmm…..Israelis calling for a cutoff of U.S. aid? For sanctions? We can help! http://www.endtheoccupation.org
Jake, 'communist' and 'left-wing' are not especially different in their literal meanings. You are probably such a right-winger that you think 'left-wing' should refer to something between Kadima & Meretz, and everything further left than that should be given some hate-filled, special label, like 'red fascism'..
the hypocrisy of these characters is quite unparalleled. I wonder how many of them realise that it is only because their like-minded compatriots own the mass media, that their hypocrisy is able to remain so widespread and unchallenged. For instance, today all three English-language Israeil online papers have long articles about how ultra-orthodox rioting has forced the Sabbath closure of a much needed public car-park in Jerusalem. If this happened in Cairo, Damascus, Amman, Riyadh, Baghdad, or Tehran, the Jewish press would be shouting it across the world.
We have to save ourselves before we save Zionists, whom we should be removing from the ME instead of helping in any way, shape or form: From Bureaucratic to Epistemic Islamophobia.
Richard, you should read this. These kids clearly represent a larger trend. Due to their age they are not really interested in it. So they may well utter it the gist more precisely than it shows in the more polite society. Another good article from Daniel Luban http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/09/ameri... GAFFNEY: America's first Muslim president? http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/09/ameri... This is not to say, necessarily, that Mr. Obama actually is a Muslim any more than Mr. Clinton actually is black. After his five months in office, and most especially after his just-concluded visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, however, a stunning conclusion seems increasingly plausible: The man now happy to have his Islamic-rooted middle name featured prominently has engaged in the most consequential bait-and-switch since Adolf Hitler duped Neville Chamberlain over Czechoslovakia at Munich.
Yes, Hadash is communist and the pigeon disagrees with communism, but Hadash has Jews and Arabs working together. This is to its credit. Maybe we can learn something from them.
No one should force israel to change its government. But no one should force the US government to squander its citizens' tax money on it.
Max such a great video clip keep it up. Important to hear many sides The one fellow hit the nail on the head "how few we are, this is about all of the Israeli's who really oppose the occupation (the people at the march), most Israeli's do not care about the occupation, about the suffering of the Palestinians" "the pressure must come from the outside" " he hs to take a big stick and kick Israeli's in the butt"" said one of the women. The older gent who said he was 85 wants to see things change for the better in his lifetime. I hope I look that good when I am 85. Hell that guy looked hot Keep it up Max so important
sorry had not seen that my message had all ready gotten on earlier. Sorry
Certainly there is a trend. Look who won the parliamentary elections in January. That is a social trend. And the selected Jewish partiers are wannabes. They don't want to be fully Jewish, just Jewish enough to boast in a closed room.
Unless it was experienced. Its easy to erase history by calling it myth 60 years later.
I would just love if Max spent more time respectfully inquiring into people's thinking, rather than caricaturing good guy/bad guy. He did interview some people that had something to say. More power to him. Interviewing the planted cute girl that ridiculed the "political scientist" in the previous film was cheap. It struck as an understandable drunk party comment.
Well, Richard, you better get used to it. Benjamin Yahoo has all the ingredients necessary for a running gag. I agree with the girl on that one, and besides she looks better than the unintentionally comical one, that offered us deep insights in many ways.
Max Blumenthal (at least I think it is Max) is doing the lord's work over there, recording the opinions of average Israelis (and visiting American Zionists). But the lad is a terrible interviewer. Witty is right. He asks leading questions. He doesn't maintain eye contact with his interviewee. Instead he's looking behind them, at the camera, or simply nodding like a fool. There are millions of video journalists reporting from Israel. Why doesn't he watch how they do it? That all said, I'm awfully glad he's doing what he's doing.
I commented on this earlier but it didn't get posted for some reason…
How come I am not able to access the above website posted by ThorsProvoni?.
I kind of like his style, and it isn't at all offensive like many of the conservative interviewers on so-called balanced news stations like Fox…LOL!
The most important points in the video were made by Gideon Spiro, the somewhat balding man in the black vest who called for practical measures to be taken against Israel, not just words. Spiro has long been one of Israel's most serious internal critics. Considered a "war hero" there, having jumped behind Egyptian lines at Mitla under Sharon in 1973, by 1982 he was involved with the Israeli Committee in Defense of Bir Zeit and then was one of the founding members of Yesh G'vul, (There is a border/there is a limit, in Hebrew), the reservist refusenik group that formed the day that Israel invaded Lebanon. More recently, he led the defense committee for Mordechai Vanunu. I interviewed him in 1983 and again in 2004 and he was still going strong while many of the Israeli left–which was never large–have given up and emigrated abroad. Back in 1983, he was one of the few Israelis who criticized Israel's arms sales to South Africa and fascist regimes in Latin America. I remember him saying that Israelis had lost the right to talk about the holocaust because they had not learned its lessons. Twenty-five years later we can say Amen to that!
[Sorry, I forgot to run the macro to fix the hyperlink.] We have to save ourselves before we save Zionists, whom we should be removing from the ME instead of helping in any way, shape or form: From Bureaucratic to Epistemic Islamophobia.
Jake in Jerusalem said a few days ago that he was not going to post on this site anymore. He lied.
Max is usually a great interviewer with a unique deadpan style that is hilarious. I love him.
What a dishonest entry. Max goes out and finds some drunks to make Israelis look bad. To show "the other side" he then goes to the Israeli Communist Party which basically says "Yes! Israel is awful!" "The other side," Max, would have been to talk to, say, some non-inebriated residents who vote Likud and may or may not support Obama. There are plenty of Israelis who can give you a very good explanation as to why they support their country and why they have concerns about Obama. Or those who actually like Obama, but still think Israel has to defend itself. Or those who voted for opposition parties, but are still committed Zionists. Or those who may not be particularly ideological or even that informed, but just know they don't want some drugged out idiot with a bomb strapped to his chest entering their country. What makes Max's entries all the more appalling is that he pretends he is "just reporting" what he happens to come by, as if he was a neutral journalist really trying to find the truth. This is poorly done gotcha journalism at its worst, wrapped in false modesty. Shame on Max. Not for criticizing Israel, but for being so dishonest.
George Mitchell has appointed four deputies, all known for their open sympathy for the Palestinians and their hostility to the Netanyahu government. They are Mara Rudman, of the George Soros-financed Center for American Progress; Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton, who is now building a Fatah army in Jordan which he recently reportedly acknowledged will turn its US-financed guns on Israel within a few short years if Israel refuses to establish a Jew-free Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria; Fred Hoff, one of the greatest champions of a US-Syrian rapprochement and of an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights; and David Hale, the architect of the current US policy of rebuilding the Hizbullah-infested Lebanese army. Hale will be permanently stationed in Jerusalem in a large office suite that will house Mitchell's operation. Back in 2008, when Obama's National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones served as then-secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's special adviser on Israeli-Palestinian security issues, he authored a report calling for the US to assess what Israel's "real" security interests in Judea and Samaria are and to limit US support to Israel to filling those necessarily minimal interests. Jones's report, which rejected all Israeli claims in Judea and Samaria and underplayed the strategic significance of Palestinian rejection of Israel's right to exist, was viewed as deeply hostile toward Israel, and the Olmert government prevailed on the Bush administration to set it aside. (Caroline Glick, JPost, Jun 12 2009) The proposals to be outlined in Netanyahu's speech on Sunday will not be enough to satisfy the Obama administration, a senior US official was quoted as saying on Friday. The official said Netanyahu told US envoy George Mitchell this week what he planned to say in the speech and that it was "not adequate" to satisfy Washington, which is pushing for an immediate resumption of talks on Palestinian statehood.The official was quoted on Friday by participants at a meeting this week of the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators. (Reuters via Haaretz, Jun 12 2009
I remember noticing when Max went to the Christian Zionist convention that he has a useful air of gormlessness, which encourages his interviewees not to take him very seriously, and therefore to be more frank than they would be if they were put on their guard. I think Max's receding chin helps here.
"Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton, who is now building a Fatah army in Jordan…" Fatah are arch-collaborators, and this army is being built to quell opposition to Fatah, and resistance against occupation, not to fight Israel. " David Hale, the architect of the current US policy of rebuilding the Hizbullah-infested Lebanese army." Hezbullah-infested? Well, THAT just about says it all, doesn't it? And these guys are supposed to be pro-Palestinian?! I don't think so, Rowan.
There has been no 180 degree turn. Israel was created by ethnic cleansing, and its racism and brutality toward the non-Jewish indigenous peoples of Palestine, and the people of all the lands they have invaded and occupied, began well before statehood and has never stopped. The only thing that has really changed has been Israel's ability to conceal its true nature from the world. Communication technology has changed, not the nature of Zionism and Israel.
Yup.
PS You don't even have to read Pappe's book. Read Benny Morris's books. The facts are all there. The only thing Benny fails to do is draw the obviously correct conclusions from the facts he himself exposed.
"[Obama's Cairo speech]was a winner in the Lebanon elections, and we will see tomorrow how Iran reconsiders its future, in light of the new American message." I just love this assumption that somehow it was Obama who won the Lebanese election – as if it was all set to go another way until Obama spoke and changed the entire structure of Lebanese society and politics. It is so typically American self-congratulatory, so self-centered and narcissistic – it's all about MEEEEEEEE. I doubt that anyone who as a clue about the very labyrinthine, fluid – and deeply corrupt – Lebanese politics believes that Obama's speech was behind the results. Oh, and I would not be quite so confident about the nature of the winning coalition. It includes Salafi elements who are, if not bin Ladenites, certainly not pro-American. And ditto the Iranian election. Whatever happens, I would suggest that you attribute it to Obama's speech. Believe it or not, the Iranians have their own interests, not pleasing America, uppermost in their minds.
Israel was always the monster it is today, it's just that it took people like Uri Avnery too long to see Israel for what it was all along.
Bennie's thesis is that the conflict was between two communities each under a great deal of independant stress. He concludes that the Zionist effort was necessary for the community to survive, given at the time Jewish refugees from the holocaust were denied entry into most countries in Europe, US, Canada, etc, except in very token numbers, and had to go somewhere, with the prospect of safety in community. "An irrisistable force confronting and immovable object". In political/human terms, there is no such thing as either. We are commonly frail, more accurately humble. Suggesting that reconciliation is the order of the day, beginning with persuading each population that reconciliation is in both's best interest. The urging of Palestinian militancy AND the urging of Zionist expansion are both the opposite of that necessary recognition (the humanity of the other). If dissent is presented as critique of the institutions, policies, behaviors of each, then they will help. If they habitually and selectively demonize the other, they will harm. To the extent that political dissent is solely critical, solely a description of what is wrong with the target of dissent, it is perceived as an attack, which has the effect of firming the opponent against the dissent. If dissent is stated assertively but constructively, it becomes undeniable and to the extent that there is a path to a confident alternative approach, it will be taken. The skillful dissenters, the sincere advocates for change in the world, do those two efforts. They respectfully criticize, and they create acceptable options. Those that generally only criticize without any confident path, cause explosions more than change. Phil vacilates in his approach. Sometimes he respectfully critiques and articulates hopeful and viable alternative and strategy. Other times he merely complains. What do you do?
That is a revision to history. That you only read Pappe on the subject, is a contributor to your selective interpretation of the events at the time. You sound like a person who in a domestic dispute, sides with the "victim" even when the "victim" may exert as much or more harm than the "perpetrator". When, to actually improve the situation, reconciliation, even if only to the extent of agreeing not to harass each other, is the order of the day.
It does. But its an old one. Heads of state have forgotten his name.
Good that he's still working. Its a tragedy that that is your suggestion of the most effective and important interviewee.
I agree except for the use of the term "communist" to describe the demonstration. The plant was a give-away. If he believes that the truth tells the story, then probe deeply and intelligently. The danger in that approach is that the reasoning of thoughtful Zionists might actually seem reasonable, and/or contain common flaws in intellectual math to what dissenters hopefully acknowledge in their/our process.
Great to see the notable J Blankfort still here!
well, you know, Caroline. She's a professional propagandist. That's what they (we) do for a living.
Fox is no balance news station.
Benny's thesis is not upheld by Benny's documentation.
Interesting assumption, Richard Witty. You don't know who I am, you have no clue about my history of involvement, what I have read or what my studies or experience of this conflict are, or the size or contents of my personal library, and yet you assume I have only read Pappe on the subject.
You don't believe that the two societies were under a great deal of independant stress?
Its true, its only an assumption. Who have you read? How do you "know" that Israel was not motivated by other ideals than expropriation?
"Mondoweiss" is just too irresistible for him.
RE: "Max's receding chin helps here" MY COMMENT: I think perhaps that it makes him seem less aggressive / threatening (from the little I know of non-verbal communication). He has a bit of an altar boyish appearance / manner that belies his quick, keen, perceptive mind. He can actually be pretty assertive / aggressive but his 'victims' do not perceive it until they have already made fools of themselves. It's as though they think he's just a young lad making home movies with big dreams of becoming the next Steven Spielberg. They don't want to 'burst his bubble' or 'hurt his feelings' and who knows; this might just be their big chance to be "part of history". "Yeah girl, I was in one of his videos before he became famous."
Hmm, Max, few and far between? Haaretz just released a poll that showed 64% of Israelis support a 2 state solution. Speak to the Israeli mother of a 17 year old. You think shes not concerned her son might be headed into west bank patrols in a year? The occupation is ignored by most israelis? Please. I know you've spent a grand total of what, 2 months there, but you have no understanding whatsoever of the israeli people.