Wow, Benjamin Netanyahu is really on a roll. First, his dad spills the beans on his true intentions for the peace process, then he gets quoted calling Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod "self-hating Jews," and now this from Reuters:
Hosting the German foreign minister this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used an especially tainted term to condemn the Palestinian demand that Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank be removed.
"Judea and Samaria cannot be Judenrein," a Netanyahu confidant quoted him as telling Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Asked how Germany's top diplomat responded to hearing the Nazi Holocaust term for areas "cleansed of Jews," the confidant said, "What could he do? He basically just nodded."
Protocol might have indicated that a representative of the country that carried out the World War Two genocide, and which has since made much effort to atone, be spared such invocations.
But these are not normal times for the right-wing Netanyahu coalition.
Um, so who are the Nazis here? The Palestinians who want the West Bank as part of their state (which Jews are welcome to stay in with equal rights)? Or the international community who might be pressing Israel to leave the occupied territories?
While it would be nice to consider this an unfortunate slip of the tongue, Reuters reports that it's actually the Netanyahu government's new communications strategy! The report adds that "some diplomats have quietly questioned the propriety of applying such comparisons," while "German officials made no comment on the terminology." Israeli hasbara isn't what it used to be.
This impulse to personally attack policy critics – self-hating Jews, Anti-Semites, Bigots! – is devoid of intellectual honesty or integrity. It is an effort to pre-empt discussion by drawing a line in the sand – you are either with us, or you are some kinda despicable human, or sub-human being. I'm sick of "quiet questioning of the propriety." How about loud rejection of Anti-Intellectualism and Anti-Reason-based debate. This is America and Israel we are talking about. Politics and diplomacy needs to be based on intelligence, wisdom, integrity and accountability. Those who try to achieve ideological or economic goals by preempting reasoned discourse should be rejected out of hand as subversive to American government and values. And Israel needs to decide if it wants to be a Jewish State, or a Western Democracy with a strong Jewish culture. As far as I am concerned, history has already spoken with respect to which of these options can be viable in the long run.
Israel — pre-eminent gangster state: "Moida? What's moida? I'm a simple business man."
If this indeed becomes a new Israeli policy, it will have far-reaching implications, especially in light of S. Con. Res. 11, a bill reported in March from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the Senate. Here's the full text. Combine that with the Cyberbullying bill, and no journalist speaking out against Netanyahu's "Judenrein" talk is safe…
The guy's a complete plonker. One time in London (before his election), he compared Hamas' Qassams to the German V2s (on London). That didn't go down too well either…
So it's ok to demolish Palestinian homes and kick them off their land. Refuse the right of return, but when ILLEGAL ETHNO-RELIGIOUS COLONIES are dismantled it's an ethnic cleansing and Nazi act. Disgusting. Israel is a stain.
He certainly seems to be swinging his weight around and pushing boundaries — and I've notice he seems pretty confident he's going get away with it as well.
Bibi’s Holocaust mongering is, of course, a severe case of displacement and projection. He, like many Israelis, knows how much Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians owes to the fate of the Jews during World War II. Comparisons are legion and have been going on since the Naqba. For example, stunned by the cruelty of Israeli soldiers towards Arab villagers in late 1948, Yosef Nahmani compared the soldiers to Nazis: “In Safsaf, after . . . the inhabitants raised the white flag, they assembled the men and women separately, bound the hands of fifty or sixty villagers, shot and killed them and buried them in a single pit. They also raped several of the village women. Near the thicket, he [Friedman?] saw several dead women, among them a woman clutching her dead child. In Ilabun and Faradia, they greeted the soldiers with white flags . . . and then . . . [the soldiers] opened fire and after thirty people had been killed they started moving the rest on foot . . . [towards] Lebanon. In Salha, which raised the white flag, there was a real massacre. They killed men and women, about 60–70. Where did they learn cruel conduct such as that of the Nazis [?] . . . One officer told me that the most eager were those who had come from the [Nazi] camps . . . Is there no more humane way than sending these inhabitants away by such means and then looting their property [?].” (Nahmani, qtd. in Idith Zertal, *Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood*). As Marc LeVine wrote following the recent Israeli war on Gaza, “Within days of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, critics of the war, on blogs and in the mainstream media, began to compare the situation of Palestinians in Gaza to that of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Second World War. . . . The Gaza-Warsaw comparisons have not just been made, predictably, by Hamas leaders such as Mahmoud al-Zahar. They have also been made by Arabs and Muslims around the world, by anti-war movements in Europe and the US, on the opinion pages of major US newspapers, by Richard Falk, the UN Human Rights Rapporteur, by Jewish members of the British parliament, and even by some American Jewish and Israeli critics of the war. Images from Gaza have been juxtaposed next to images from the Warsaw Ghetto, with the aim of demonstrating the similarities between the two” (Aljazeera online, February 02, 2009). Sarah Roy’s article of 2003 in *Index on Censorship* is a comparison of the Palestinian situation with the Warsaw ghetto, in which she avoids comparing them directly by asking a lot of obvious questions, the obvious answers to which are left up to the reader: "Within the Jewish community it has always been considered a form of heresy to compare Israeli actions or policies with those of the Nazis, and certainly one must be very careful in doing so. But what does it mean when Israeli soldiers paint identification numbers on Palestinian arms; when young Palestinian men and boys of a certain age are told through Israeli loudspeakers to gather in the town square; when Israeli soldiers openly admit to shooting Palestinian children for sport; when some of the Palestinian dead must be buried in mass graves while the bodies of others are left in city streets and camp alleyways because the army will not allow proper burial; when certain Israeli officials and Jewish intellectuals publicly call for the destruction of Palestinian villages in retaliation for suicide bombings, or for the transfer of the Palestinian population out of the West Bank and Gaza; when 46 per cent of the Israeli public favours such transfers and when transfer or expulsion becomes a legitimate part of popular discourse; when government officials speak of the 'cleansing of the refugee camps', and when a leading Israeli intellectual calls for hermetic separation between Israelis and Palestinians in the form of a Berlin Wall, caring not whether the Palestinians on the other side of the wall may starve to death as a result?" That such analogies are still tabu seems silly — especially since Avrum Burg's latest book in which he compares contemporary Israel to the Weimar Republic. It's not a great job of comparison — one could find many more points of comparison than Burg does — but it's nevertheless out there and hard to dismiss.
I wrote a comment response but it has to be approved by the "site admins" before it will appear. I never know why this happens; my comments never subsequently appear, though they are well within the blog's guidelines for comments. On the other hand, most of my comments do appear without such happening. Is there any rhyme or reason to Typepad's activity regarding comments?
If only some diplomat were brave enough to point out the Nazi parallel to Bibi's mentality towards the West Bank; Lebensraum.
Nope… doesn't seem to a reason. Same thing happens to me. I've been lucky for the past week or so and haven't had any of my messages left hanging for moderation, or going off into ether. Did you have alot of links — I try not to use more than 2. Also, sometimes my posts are deemed to too long by the software where I have to split them up, and then other times there seems limit. Weird. I like the firedoglake board software — you can also edit there :-)
there seems no limit.
Sometimes there's an issue with specific characters in the links. I once tried to post a comment literally 17 times until I realized that the problem was in one of the anchor tags I was writing, the href link had a special character (I don't remember exactly what it is) that the IntenseDebate software seemed to have a problem with. Once I took that particular link out, I was able to submit the comment.
It's as if Israel has a whole group of PR people whose job it is to think of new reasons to delay peace and whenever they get an idea (no matter how good or bad) it gets passed on to every Hasbara agent in the world for them to regurgitate over and over again until people realise how stupid the argument is. It's a cycle I've noticed all too often – sometimes I hear it from Bibi first or sometimes I hear a new delaying tactic from the likes of Jakey etc.
The Palestinians want and deserve decolonisation and any use of the expression Judenrein to try to support that colonial enterprise – and indeed its quite common enough – marks the speaker as a real bigot, a true arab-hater.
how about focusing the substance instead of Bibi's choice of words? he is correct: Gaza is in fact currently Jew free. The only Jew in Gaza is Gilad Shalit, but Hamas is still shooting rockets.
I don't think it is a question of the Germans not being brave enough to answer back, they are simply too smart to. They know this Jewish mentality…give them rope and they'll hang themselves.
It is actually a relevant question, in 1948-9 West Bank Jews were rendered homeless and apatride by the Jordanian victory, and Israel became both their new home and state of citizenship. Given the 1929 ethnic cleansing of Hebron, and the failure of any Palestinian law to address issues of citizenship other than the PLO Charter's offer of citizenship to pre-Balfour Palestinian Jews, it is reasonable to assume that they will not remain as Palestinian citizens, but rather in settlements annexed to Israel through border revisions. This will not please 242 absolutists, but since you people don't want there to be an Israel anyway, big ddeal.
Equal rights. Yeah, it will be equally illegal for Muslims and Jews to practice a religion other than Islam… Everyone, whether Muslim or Jewish will have the right to murder Jews. Equal rights.
1948-49 westbank jews?.Please tell us name of communities,numbers,Other than "Hebron".
The sky is falling! It's raining bagels!
I have the same problem. A couple of times the comment had to be aproved and I never found out if they were posted; I don't use foul language so I don't think I triggered anything. Another time my comment was deemed too long even though it was just about ten sentences; I tried editing it numerous times but I don't think it ever posted. I don't know how to include links, so I think it just seems to be random.
Zionists are as brazen as Nazis.
that's right. No Israel.Nada. Not in the Arab world. Persians live in Iran. Russians live in Russia, Japanese live in Japan or else they all live somewhere else legally. European Jews don't belong in the Arab world unless they are there legally by Arab law. They should live and work peaceably, pay Arab governement the appropiate taxes like everyone else, follow the same rules and whatever else immigrants do legally and peaceably in their host country. If they don't like it they should not go there or leave to somewhere else that suits them and follow that host country's rules. This is the civilized way. That's what Zionists need to learn, how to be civilized in their host country. Or go find another home except that no one else will like them either if they don't follow the rules of the land they are in. Zionists really must learn to stop behaving like donkeys.
You don't know what you're talking about Thom. And anyway, the Christians, Jews, Muslims and everyone else there before the foreign invasion don't care that you don't know what you're talking about.
PlanetMichelle. Population – one moron.
And no matter how many pound Strahl's impotent WASP head, no knowledge enters.
I think that it is a valid point. Why should any arab state be Judenrein? Jews should have the right to build and live in the Land of Israel no matter whom the sovereign is
Dagon, There was Gush Etzion, There was Kfar Darom, Hebron as you mentioned. West Bank is really a misnomer a more applicable name would be Judea and Samaria especially for that time period as the Term West Bank only came into use far later in the century
So it's ok to destroy Jewish homes in Gaza? Kick Jews off their land? Refuse their right of return?
Decolonization? Use the term Judenrein it's more apropos
Germans know the Jewish mentality? Last time I checked Germans had plenty of their own ropes to hang Jews. In any event they have to right to demand Judenrein again
The question is not whether "Judea and Samaria" will be Judenrein, but whether Naziyahoo will succeed in making them Arabrein.
Nor does israel have the right to demand Arabrein. Again. And again.
Samaritans practice in Nablus and there are still Christians in the West Bank despite Israel's annexation wall and continuous invasions. You ought to stop spewing filthy ignorance.
The Israeli assaults after 9/11 were very brazen and got progressively more brazen. By 2008 they didn't even bother to wipe the blood off their mouths for the cameras! With the previous blue collar Republican audience they didn't have to and were made to feel proud of themselves. The Republican audience cheered them on. Takes us back to the statements by Mike Levy about the "flaunting." I call that the GW Bush effect where the neocons were running America (up front) and nothing was hidden because they were in power. For Israeli leaders it's as though they can't go back to putting on the old dog and pony show for a new white collar American audiance . Which is good! Let them show their true faces for a more educated and civilized audiance.
He doesn't just hate Arabs….he hates all of us outside that elite Irgun Ashkenazim circle.
There are Jews in Gaza: reporters, medics, members of NGOs, members of IDF on regular incursions, one or two converts to Islam. I think what you mean is that there are there are no settlers.
Poles should have a right to build and anywhere they want. I want Manhattan: a nice settlement in the Park. (or do you mean it should be Polenrein??) I claim right to build and live in Madagascar as well. Could someone tell their border police please? Last time I checked they were not impressed, they prefer Madagascar to be Polenrein. Racist Anti-Poletizm!
Netanyahu is desparate. To resort to such comments on Axelrod and Emanuel are to take pot-shots at the majority of American Jewish sentiment. They UNDERSTAND Israel's security needs. Israel's genuine security needs are incorporated into Obama's foreign policy very intently. But, his policy does NOT facilitate Netanyahu's incremental expansion aims. Those should be contested. They are extra-legal, and as such a weak basis of control.
And no-one there illegally
Again the anti-Semite card. Thom over here thinks the US State Department is anti-Semitic too and is all too happy to see Israel destroyed. He also thinks the UNSC deliberately picks on Israel – I think he's an ungrateful so and so, especially seeing as the US has saved its ass so many times.
Yes, they do have the right to live in Israel. They don't have a right to live in Palestine, well, not as Israelis anyway.
"Judenrein": I find it obscene that the descendants of a people that were persecuted, dispossessed, ghettoized and murdered by a nationalistic, expansionist and racially-driven movement would use their former persecutors' racial terminology in an attempt to justify their own actions in subjugating another people. It not only belittles the horror of their ancestors' terrible holocaust, but invites, possibly correct, comparisons between their own present-day actions and those of their former persecutors. Do not become what you most despise …
Does this mean it is open season on Nazi analogies and metaphors to describe the Isr-Pal conflict? I hope not!
Shafiq, I am a catholic and I do not have a "right" to live in Israel. I may be given a visa for a short or long stay . I cannot arrive and take somebody's plot of land and claim it my own.
Most of Israel's current population was born in Israel, and even amongst those who were not, the majority were born in Arab countries, so your term "European Jews" is meaningless. As is the rest of your post.
Their numbers are ever dwindling, because which non-Muslim would want to live in a state whose law is the Sharia? Sorry, I forgot that only Muslims were allowed to have Muslim states. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Pal... "Islam is the official religion in Palestine. The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation."
There are also very few Christians. It's apparently because they're treated so well by their Muslim brethren: "You have to be very careful and very wise. From time to time we receive different kinds of threats. Our library is the only public Christian library in Gaza and it has been set on fire twice in the past. " http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4514822.st...
Actually, if you bother speaking to a Palestinian Christian, they'll tell you that it's because the Israelis have made it impossible for them to live there
38% of Israelis are from Europe or the US originally, them making up the biggest ethnic group.
http://www.zogby.com/search/readnews.cfm?ID=1224 10) In Bethlehem 78% of Christians said they were leaving because of the Israeli occupation while only 3.2% said it was the rise in Islamic movements. 12.5% attributed it to both.
How are Russian and American Jews the same "ethnic group"? Because they are all Jewish? In that case 78% of Israelis are Israeli Jews, the largest single ethnic group.
Because both are Ashkenazi Jews