Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: Arabs Believe Israel Just Attacked Egypt [View all]Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)holden said nothing factual that I was unaware of(other than the violin thing...is Bibi actually a musician?).
I'm aware that Israel has had, historically, a more egalitarian culture than the U.S.(although that egalitarianism has receded badly since 1977). What does that have to do with how Israel treats Palestinians or how Palestinians react to Israeli policies? The West Bank Occupation has nothing to do with egalitarianism, and Palestinians don't resist Israeli authority because Israeli society was at one time more egalitarian than the U.S. I admire the egalitarian ideals of Labor Zionism...and the kibbutzim remain some of my political heroes...but the ideals Israel held IN THE PAST have nothing at all to do with what we're talking about here.
Nobody in the Netanyahu government could be considered a man or woman of the people. They are upper-class types and privatization freaks. They are not working-class. They are developing the same elite mentality that the career political class develops in every country in the world. Why pretend otherwise? Nobody in that government gives a damn anymore when their intransigence gets Israelis killed. Bibi's arrogant demands for a missile strike on Iran, an action he knows would likely lead to horrific physical blowback on rank-and-file Israeli citizens, is proof of this. You have to see these guys for what they are, pelsar...and what they are are cynical political careerists like politicians in all other countries. They have no claim to greater purity or humanity than any other elected officials anywhere else. And I strongly suspect they don't care how many of your fellow soldiers they send to an early grave. Wise up and see them for what they are.
And from what I've seen, the Israelis who still hold to egalitarian values are the ones who are the most vehemently opposed to the Occupation and the settlements(unlike the kibbutz, there are no egalitarian values in the West Bank settlements whatsoever...they are like bland Southern California suburbs from the pictures I've seen of them and most settlers would, again from what I've seen, vote Republican and be Chamber of Commerce types if they lived in the states.) It's deeply inconsistent to call yourself egalitarian and, at the same time, defend the idea of keeping another country under perpetual military occupation. And you know it. You KNOW the Occupation is anti-egalitarian.
btw...you spelled "disappointing" wrong.