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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe BEST way to fight antisemitism is to stand up to Netanyahu.
At one point, it appeared to most people of good will and decent intent that the best way to fight the scourge of antisemitism was to give unquestioning, unconditional support to the State of Israel in general and, in particular, whatever the Israeli government of the day claimed that it had to do in the name of what it called "security"...and to provide whatever assistance, particularly military assistance, that state claimed to need.
It has now become clear that support and military aid provided to ANY Israeli government involving the Likud Party and the coalition partners of Likud which take positions to Likud's right actually increases antisemitism and puts both the Jewish population of Israel AND of the Diaspora into imminent physical danger.
Binyamin Netanyahu has demonstrated, by his actions, that he does not want Jews to live in safety outside of Israel and that he does not wish Israel itself to ever make peace with its neighbors. All that Netanyahu and his cabinet do seems clearly designed to create nothing but rage towards Israel among the surrounding countries and hatred not only of Israeli actions but of Israel itself and of Jews as a group(despite the fact that Jewish people outside of Israel are neither responsible for the actions of Netanyahu's government nor united in support of those actions). While the vast, indeed the overwhelming majority of those who oppose the bombing of Gaza are passionate opponents of antisemitism, Netanyahu's actions have created many opportunities for those who hate Jews to take advantage of the situation and spread their poison much farther than they could have otherwise. And this is exactly what Netanyahu wanted.
In this, he is acting as the true heir of the reprehensible political tradition from which he sprang-Revisionist Zionism, the hate-based, hopelessness-based, reactionary strain of the Zionist movement which holds that antisemitism can never be brought to an end, that a Jewish state can never live in peace with the Arabs, that the Palestinians must all be driven away from their land, and that every Jewish person in the world should move to Israel-which would make the rest of the world voluntarily Judenrein and give the antisemites exactly what the want.
This is not only a hopeless vision for the Palestinians, it is also a hopeless vision for both the Jewish population of Israel but for all of those in the Diaspora...it means giving up forever on the rest of the world, it means being trapped in a tiny and likely permanently right-wing and ultra-religious(in solely the joyless, bigoted and repressive sense)state, it means nothing but despair under the desert sun.
We can't let Israelis, Palestinians, Diaspora Jews or the rest of the planet be doomed to Netanyahu's life-hating vision of the future.
The way to defeat antisemitism is not through unquestioning support of ANY state, but to the creation of an uncompromising global campaign for human liberation and against ALL forms of hatred and bigotry, as well as all forms of exploitation and inequality.
In the mean time, we should suspend all further military aid to Israel(or any other Middle Eastern country)as long as the anti-peace, anti-justice and anti-hope Netanyahu government(or any parties currently within it)remains in power. To do otherwise is to work for permanent war in the region.
Hate can never be defeated in a world that remains unjust, or by a state that sees injustice as security.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)I had some pithy things to say, but I erased them because I would have just garnered another hidden post. All I can say is that this situation is messed up.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)Generating an "existential threat" is the most powerful tool in the right wing play book. Netanyahu and the other right wingers have a massive propaganda reach to convince people worldwide that Israel wants peace but it cannot find peace because the other side wants to destroy Israel and "kill every Jew". The right will trot out pipsqueak organizations like Hamas as proof.
Once people have that falsehood instilled in their heads, any action Israel takes is viewed through the lens of a desperate fight for existence. That corrupts the minds to accept and even promote any sort of outrage that ordinarily they would condemn.
The right wing uses the power this gives them to further squeeze the Palestinians. When the Palestinians finally have had enough, some segment the Palestinian population takes violent action. The Israeli right then uses that as further proof of the Palestinians dreadful intentions. More fear, no peace, and more settlements--the Israeli right wing Stairway to Heaven.
JI7
(89,172 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)I didn't claim he invented it.
JI7
(89,172 posts)blacks.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)JI7
(89,172 posts)or some other thing which has nothing to do with that individual case.
as if any of those things they list makes it ok for some black teen to be killed in florida.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)What I am saying is that, in the name of his ideology, and of maintaining support for his political parties and its allies, Netanyahu is endangering the people he purports to defend. That he cares more about "winning" and about making sure the Palestinians never get their freedom than he does about ending the war and getting a peaceful future for the country he governs.
And it's that it's also clear that Netanyahu cares nothing about ending antisemitism...that, in fact, he NEEDS antisemitism to get worse, in order to silence dissent at home and end debate here.
You can't seriously quarrel with those conclusions.
JI7
(89,172 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Netanyahu doesn't, however. He wants there to be more of them.
JI7
(89,172 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Which doesn't mean it's ok that Arabs and Muslims were attacked, any more than what Netanyahu does makes attacks on Jews ok.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)What I said is that he's glad that it exists and hopes that his actions make it worse, because Netanyahu needs antisemitism to get worse to silence dissent and further his agenda.
It has nothing to do with Netanyahu's ethnicity, culture, or religion...it's about ideology and political survival.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)JI7
(89,172 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)It is likely that AQ's actions have caused it to get worse, and it is likely that AQ wanted that to happen...because AQ would never have had any support in a world where Muslims felt they weren't under siege.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Because disparaging Netanyahu makes you a hater.
Warpy
(110,900 posts)that the Usual Suspects have probably already alerted on it.
I wish they'd read it and think about it. People outraged by slaughter in a disproportionate war want to hit back and the local Jewish population, many of them non Zionist, bears the brunt of it.
This is what we're seeing around the world. It has to be laid at the feet of the present Israeli government.
JI7
(89,172 posts)it as an excuse to be more open about it.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)There's nothing wrong, though, in saying that Netanyahu isn't displeased to see the attacks occur, since they serve his essentially anti-Jewish agenda.
Netanyahu wants every Jewish person in the Diaspora to live in constant fear.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)believe that to criticize Netanyahu is to criticize every single Jew in the world.
They forget that yes, even Netanyahu, PM of Israel, can be an unbearable asshole.
Your Jewish friends and neighbors? They are the same kind people they always were, they aren't Netanyahu level unbearable assholes.
Just Netanyahu.
Unbearable asshole.
Boom Sound 416
(4,185 posts)But what do you think of his poll numbers?
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Boom Sound 416
(4,185 posts)Or what?
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Like with Reagan in the Eighties or Dubbikins for a couple of years after 9/11.
Boom Sound 416
(4,185 posts)He's very obviously waging a multi front campaign.
Citizens either are either with him or against him.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)Given that 49% of a purported sample of Israel's population would like to infect Obama with the Ebola virus, mutual antipathy between the two likely doesn't do his poll numbers any harm.
So I guess it is black and white, although probably not in the sense that you meant it.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Popularity in opinion polls doesn't really mean anything.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Is an unbearable asshole.
That's what the polls show.
Boom Sound 416
(4,185 posts)But not in Isreal.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)any less of an unbearable asshole.
It just means that some people accept unbearable assholes.
Boom Sound 416
(4,185 posts)Couple more than that it seems
Aerows
(39,961 posts)I don't even care anymore.
I can't post on DU without getting a hide because I am absolutely disgusted with the actions the Israeli government is taking in Gaza.
Go ahead and cheer.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Popularity doesn't make right.
4now
(1,596 posts)Thank you for posting this.
I like this line:
"Hate can never be defeated in a world that remains unjust, or by a state that sees injustice as security."
2banon
(7,321 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)jaysunb
(11,856 posts)jaysunb
(11,856 posts)The following letter is a cross post of a cross post at DK.http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/04/1318998/-Gaza-Is-Transforming-American-Jews-Words-from-an-Overflowing-Inboxhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/04/1318998/-Gaza-Is-Transforming-American-Jews-Words-from-an-Overflowing-Inbox
I was amazed to see the model displayed that brought Americans the color coded alert system that made Tom Ridge a household name and turned Americans into fearful people suddenly afraid of their neighbors they'd know forever.
Letter from Tel Aviv
Many Israelis, including very young children, incessantly consume updates on strikes and interceptions through the red color app. The app with the red icon on their smartphones is decorated with a sound radiation sign resembling the nuclear danger logo. Authorities, institutions, employers, all heighten security procedures, producing signs, road signs and flyers with instructions on buildings safe spaces. Municipalities put on giant billboards with patriotic slogans, one more offensively patriotic than the other. We received a leaflet to parents from the kids summer camp advising us on how to maintain emotional safe spaces for our children. On TV mainly men talk: brain-dead, repetitive, militaristic tactic-talk. The blogger Idan Landau once aptly called this tsunami of public appearances at times of war zman hagvarim - "the time of men." At the same time, the witch hunt of dissenters has reached epidemic proportions, targeting many, and women especially, who dare speak their minds against the war. Orna Banai, Gila Almagor, Shira Gefen are famous celebrities who were vilified for speaking out; a Palestinian psychologist working for the Lod municipality and many like her got fired for what they posted on facebook.
The Open House LGBT organization in Jerusalem came under attack after Elinor Sidi, its director, took a stance against the war. In academia, university presidents published statements warning that they monitor staff and students expressions on social media and will resort to sanctions if they express too extreme opinions. This blunt assault is what happens publicly. In private, we know from our friends, many who are politically colored as unpatriotic or anti-Zionist pay a great personal price. Candidates for jobs are asked to write letters renouncing their political opinions. University presidents intervene personally to block controversial appointments. Ron Shoval, former leader of Im Tirtzu organizations called to put to use the boycott law, from its sinful inception no more than a dead letter law, to preemptively prosecute and jail human rights defenders. The idea is to prevent human rights organizations from reporting to an international investigation like the Goldstone commission after operation Cast Lead. This witch hunt did not begin yesterday, but the war made things much worse. We encounter both this white fascism running through the main echelons of Israeli society, and the street fascism, those small but well organized gangs of the extreme right who mobilize to beat and intimidate anti-war protestors when they take to the street. In the cultural war raging here it is the Mizrahi face of the extreme right chanting death to Arab on the street that grabs all the attention. Haaretz is covering this Mizrahi extreme right extensively. Indeed, it is perceived by lefties especially as menacing, as the sewage flooding civilized Israel. But, the white fascism of university presidents or Im Tirtzu is far worse, far more dangerous. One Ron Shoval is more effective in crushing dissent than a thousand street gangs. Those are the people who really hold the key to a complete breakdown of the façade of Israeli democracy.
We attempted to describe the regime of manufactured fear and psychological support for the war, penetrating all aspects of life in all directions. For the vast majority of the country this fear is disproportionate to the actual threat. We described also a climate of threat of violence and violence directed against any form of dissent. In an atmosphere of pending emergency dissent is forbidden and any government action addressing the collective paranoia from the threat of Hamas is seen in a positive light. Needless to say, the government does nothing to curb the climate of violence against dissenters. Instead it incites it with reckless disregard to its potentially disastrous consequences. We do not fear to go and demonstrate, we are still able to do that with reasonable safety, but staying safe on the street is a slightly more complicated task than calculating where the nearest building entrance is in case of a siren alarm. This regime of collective fear and collective mobilization in support of the war is so intense, that our war vacation is starting to feel like we took the wrong flight and landed in North Korea.
http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/letter-from-tel-aviv-hilla-dayan-and-pw-zuidhof
Uncle Joe
(58,107 posts)Thanks for the thread, Ken Burch.
TheKentuckian
(24,934 posts)we'd likely not even have the word today.
What you think about Netanyahu maybe true as the day is long but your leading premise is nonsense and won't approach fixed no matter what he does or doesn't do, he is providing breathing room for them to come out of their holes under cover of more righteous fury some of which seems unusually hot wrath considering what goes on in the world. How many did we kill today a world away? Who knows. How many Gazas in the past decade or two for us? Hundred? Thousands? How many more with our economic war? How many more in the drug war hugely driven and demanded by us?
NOT.IN.MY.NAME!!! Right? 100% understandable but it feels like a special hasty white hot fury springs up here that takes a different tone and passion level for the death and mayhem levels from other actors even if they are much greater.
DanTex
(20,709 posts)I mean, Israel has killed about 100x as many innocent civilians as Hamas in this latest flare up. If you are insinuating that anyone who gets upset that Israel just murdered a thousand or so innocent Palestinian civilians is motivated by latent anti-Semitism, what does that say about the people who get upset about the fact that Hamas killed, what, three innocent Israelis?
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Give me an example of a coalition whose election would cause you to lift this proposed suspension of aid.