Look at the unity on display at the state-sponsored gay pride events in Tel Aviv: “Leftist” Zehava Galon (Leftist except Palestine; she is head of the ethnic-supremacist Meretz party) with fascist Minister of Culture, Miri Regev– who proudly has her photos taken with members of the Neo-Nazi Kahane movement.
For liberal supporters of Israel, Meretz is considered to be the alternative to “bad old” Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu. However, Meretz sit on the board of the Jewish National Fund, which is responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Bedouins in the Negev and numerous other racist actions. The party is structurally racist just like all other Zionist parties.
Moreover, even when it comes to the occupation in Gaza and in the West Bank, Meretz leaders such as Galon settle for empty slogans, rather than supporting direct action, soldiers who refuse and international sanctions.
Does Bernie Sanders pal around with Donald Trump? Jeremy Corbyn with the English Defence League (EDL)? Sahra Wagenknecht with Pegida?
A version of this post first appeared on Ofer Neiman’s Facebook page.
Thanks Ofer.
It must be kinda flattering (to someone) that Israel has its own little informal variant of the US Aspen Institute where notionally polar political opposites pillow talk and then slink back home to collaborate on how to collectively screw the uninvited.
“…nonpartisan venue…” http://www.aspeninstitute.org
Hypothetical hashtag: #democracyinaction (both senses)
:P
I gather that GayPride is “celebrated” by political elites to garner votes (as here) and also to wash Israel pink. It’s all politics.
But the odd-bedfellows aspect? Well, I suppose, we’re all Israelis, here, and Israel hasbara is washing pink this week, so we’re all in this together.
And the neo-Nazis (or Kahanists)? They love Gays too? What a wonderful country !
But not all GayPride participants are good-docile-little-Israelis: as 972 tells us
http://972mag.com/ahead-of-tel-aviv-pride-queer-activists-bring-the-occupation-home/119781/
“In the run up to Friday’s Tel Aviv Pride festivities, Israeli LGBTQ activists hung banners and spray-painted anti-occupation graffiti across the city. The signs, which read “Occupation: Israeli Pride” and “You cannot pinkwash the occupation” were hung from bridges at the main entrances to the city. Meanwhile activists graffitied slogans such as “You can’t pink wash occupation” in both Hebrew and English in dozens of locations.”
I guess gravity brought Zehava Galon her back to her zionist roots. But she didn’t have to do the photo op with Miri ‘cancer in the israeli body’ Regev did she? She looks medicated in this photo. This mus be her punishment for what she did last week when she looked a bit more animated during a protest of the right wing gov’t in Tel Aviv, made her speech and introduced Odeh Ayman.
http://static1.972mag.com/wp-content/uploads//2016/05/YI018826.jpg