Meanwhile in Palestine

[Rostere]

As many of you might already know, the Israeli elections had an interesting outcome. Many moderate voters fled from Likud-Beitenu, a party created by the merge of conservative Likud and ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, to the newly- formed centrist Yesh Latid (they were probably scared by the merged party's nationalist turn).

 

Only a month ago it looked as if the right would gain a significant majority, something which has now decreased to one seat. The leader of Yesh Latid, a former journalist, has made contradictory statements (he is now a politician, after all) but it's clear he wants a diplomatic effort towards a Palestinian state and (which is one of his primary election focuses) a removal of the privileges for ultra-orthodox Jews (which seems bizarre for an outsider, but they are exempt from draft and get other economic privileges). The ultra-orthodox parties have historically been kingmakers in Israeli elections because of their position between the left and right on economic issues in general, which explains in part why these privileges exist in the first place. Ultra- orthodox Jews are by far the largest growing part of the Israeli community, with about four times as high nativity as Israeli Jews or Palestinians IIRC.

 

Here's an article from The Economist on the elections

 

Here's an article from The Huffington Post about Yesh Latid (Abbas has actually invited all the Israeli parties for talks, but we already know that Netanyahu would rather expand the settlements than negotiate. Since the right is going to be in power, Yesh Latid is the only party whose opinion might matter)

 

The results are as follows (shamelessly copied from elsewhere on the Internet):

 

Right: Likud-Beitenu, 31; Habayit Hayehudi, 12 = 43
Centre: Yesh Atid, 19; Hatnu'a, 6; Kadima, 2 = 27
Left: Avoda, 15; Meretz, 6 = 21
Ultra-orthodox religious parties: Shas, 11; Yahadut ha-Torah, 7 = 18
Arab parties: Raam-Taal, 4; Hadas, 4; Balad, 3 = 11

 

I think it's kind of sad that Israeli Palestinians largely don't vote. If they all voted they would have about 24 seats total. But because many Palestinians feel that the entire Knesset is against them to start with, they don't bother to vote. There's an article online I can't seem to find at the moment about an Israeli volunteer organization which had contacted Palestinians in the occupied West Bank living under Israeli control (but with no right to vote) in order to donate their votes. The example in the article was an Palestinian who wanted his Israeli contact to hand in a blank vote as a protest against his current situation.

 

BTW, here's a

, which features famous nationalist Israeli politicians singing Israel's national anthem to an Arab tune. The talk in the start is about how they've remade the national anthem so that it can be sung by Palestinians as well, a joke about a suggested law which would require Palestinian Israelis to sing the national anthem and swear fealty to "the Jewish state of Israel". The voice in the end is saying basically "Are you laughing now? Reality is not as funny". (The cartoon was banned for "defacing the national anthem" or something like that)

 

EDIT: No, wait, the cartoon was first banned by the Central Elections Committee, and then un-banned by the Supreme Court after it had spread on the Internet, together with an extreme-right ad with the tag line "no to an Arab state, no to a state of [African] infiltrators."

Edited January 27, 2013 by Rostere

[Oerwinde]

I read about the Israelis donating their votes to west bank Palestinians and shook my head when one asked them to boycott the election. Not voting isn't a statement, its silencing your voice.

[JFSOCC]

I think it's kind of sad that Israeli Palestinians largely don't vote.

Most Palestinians living in Israel don't have the right to vote.

[Rostere]

The story about the black Israeli Jews who were given contraceptives without their consent I wrote about earlier has surfaced again when a journalist made interviews with a group of women who stated they didn't know the drug they had received was a contraceptive, or that they were coerced into taking the drug (they were told they could not immigrate to Israel if they didn't take contraceptives): http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-gave-birth-control-to-ethiopian-jews-without-their-consent-8468800.html

[Malcador]

"Last year, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who also holds the health portfolio, warned that illegal immigrants from Africa “threaten
our existence as a Jewish and democratic state”."

 

Well, if true, that's a pretty amazing thing to state openly, heh.

[Tsuga C]

"Last year, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who also holds the health portfolio, warned that illegal immigrants from Africa “threaten

our existence as a Jewish and democratic state”."

 

Well, if true, that's a pretty amazing thing to state openly, heh.

Bibi is known for saying what he means and meaning what he says.  If they decide to purge the illegal aliens from their country, I say more power to Israel.

[Oerwinde]

The Bab al-Shams situation was interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bab_al-Shams

Looks like there are several other similar villages popping up as well.

 

Looks bad when Israeli settlers do it illegally and they get military protection and supplied with utilities, yet when the Palestinians do it legally they are forcefully evicted.

[Rostere]

The Bab al-Shams situation was interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bab_al-Shams

 

Looks like there are several other similar villages popping up as well.

 

Looks bad when Israeli settlers do it illegally and they get military protection and supplied with utilities, yet when the Palestinians do it legally they are forcefully evicted.

 

Now this is a lesson in doublespeak: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/01/2013131101929493601.html

 

When a UN inquiry says that Israeli settlement of occupied land must cease immidiately, Israel boycotts the decision by not showing up, becoming the first country ever to do so in the UN.

 

The practice of land grabbing/ ethnic cleansing/ transfer of civilian population is clearly and without a shadow of a doubt forbidden by international law, and the settlements are also illegal in Israel. Now how could the Israelis possibly be so upset, and how could their GOVERNMENT announce the construction of additional settlements?

 

Sometimes I'm baffled the UN hasn't thought of sending peacekeeping troops to the West Bank to protect the rights of the people living there.

[Malcador]

What countries would send troops for that kind of mission ?  Arab states ?

[Rostere]

What countries would send troops for that kind of mission ?  Arab states ?

 

Hopefully not, that would mean chaos.

 

Actually, there's not a chance in hell that it would happen, with the US position on Israel being what it is. But I think the hypocrisy is obvious.

[Agiel]

 

The Bab al-Shams situation was interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bab_al-Shams

 

Looks like there are several other similar villages popping up as well.

 

Looks bad when Israeli settlers do it illegally and they get military protection and supplied with utilities, yet when the Palestinians do it legally they are forcefully evicted.

 

Now this is a lesson in doublespeak: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/01/2013131101929493601.html

 

When a UN inquiry says that Israeli settlement of occupied land must cease immidiately, Israel boycotts the decision by not showing up, becoming the first country ever to do so in the UN.

 

The practice of land grabbing/ ethnic cleansing/ transfer of civilian population is clearly and without a shadow of a doubt forbidden by international law, and the settlements are also illegal in Israel. Now how could the Israelis possibly be so upset, and how could their GOVERNMENT announce the construction of additional settlements?

 

Sometimes I'm baffled the UN hasn't thought of sending peacekeeping troops to the West Bank to protect the rights of the people living there.

Mostly due to the fact that the US does not hesitate to use its veto power to block something that sounds that "belligerent." No doubt due to the machinations of AIPAC and other Israeli lobbyists, and the American news media suppressing a lot of "anti-Israeli" news and bending American public opinion such that any opinion that criticises Israel for illegal settlements or disproportionate use of force is tantamount to "anti-semitism."

[Rostere]

On the importance that Israeli Palestinians go to vote: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/30/why-arab-parties-are-excluded-from-israeli-coalitions.html

 

 

Finally, Israel’s Arab citizens, if empowered to play a greater role in Israel’s government, could be a bridge between Palestinians beyond the green line and Israeli Jews. The reason, as James Zogby revealed in a fascinating poll released last October, is that on issue after issue, Israeli Arabs are more supportive of the two state solution than both their Palestinian cousins outside Israel proper and their Jewish fellow citizens inside Israel itself. According to Zogby, only 35 percent of Israeli Jews and 33 percent of West Bank and Gazan Palestinians back the parameters for a two state deal unveiled by Bill Clinton in December 2000. (Among Palestinians living in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon, the numbers are even lower). But among Israeli Arabs, the Clinton parameters enjoy 57 percent support. Only 28 percent of Israeli Jews and 15 percent of West Bank and Gazan Palestinians support dividing Jerusalem so that its Jewish neighborhoods remain part of Israel and its Palestinian ones became part of a Palestinian state. But 68 percent of Israeli Arabs back such a division.

 

It’s no coincidence that between 1992 and 1995, Yitzhak Rabin, the one Israeli prime minister who forged an alliance with the Arab parties (even though they never officially joined his government), doubled spending on education for Israeli Arabs, ended the discrepancy between the amount the government paid Jewish and Arab families per child, introduced affirmative action to boost the number of Arab citizens in Israel’s civil service and built dozens of health clinics in Arab Israeli communities. And by Rabin’s final year in office, according to the University of Haifa’s Sammy Smooha, the percentage of Israeli Arabs who rejected Israel’s “right to exist” had hit an all-time low.

 

The peace process could really use a centrist Israeli Palestinian party.

[Malcador]

 

What countries would send troops for that kind of mission ?  Arab states ?

 

Hopefully not, that would mean chaos.

 

Actually, there's not a chance in hell that it would happen, with the US position on Israel being what it is. But I think the hypocrisy is obvious.

 

Would be chaos in any case, as the IDF would probably go on about its business and call the UN forces' bluff.

[Walsingham]

Absolutely nothing is going to change in Israel/Palestine in my lifetime. Which now I type it sounds like some kind of threat, rather than an analysis.

[Malcador]

In that case, we just have to move your end date up a tad.  For peace!

[Hurlshort]

The key to peace lies dormant in the body of Wals!  Upon his death, rays of lights will blast out and engulf Palestine in sunshine and butterflies!

[Orogun01]

Nobody better try to make peace with the middle east, cuz I like Wals more than I like Arabs.
 

No offense, Arabs. 

[Rostere]

So apparently SNL made a sketch about the Chuck Hagel hearings (which focused almost exclusively on Israel), which was withdrawn from screening in the last minute.

 

Here's the sketch:

 

As for footage of the actual hearings, you can find it everywhere on YouTube.

 

What do you Americans think? Is it OK to make jokes about the US' relationship with Israel? From what I gather from what Hagel has been going through lately, it seems like not criticizing Israeli policies is a very sore top issue for many politicians.

[Malcador]

They really fell apart with the donkey bestiality bit.

[Rostere]

They really fell apart with the donkey bestiality bit.

I didn't think it was particularly funny myself, actually. (On the other hand, I think you could make a great sketch about that situation)

 

I also watched the Super Bowl sketch which wasn't very funny either. Maybe SNL just isn't a show for me...

[NOK222]

SNL sucks these days. 

 

I was talking to fellow service members, and even they're calling Israel out on their bull****

[Malcador]

I didn't think it was particularly funny myself, actually. (On the other hand, I think you could make a great sketch about that situation)

 

I also watched the Super Bowl sketch which wasn't very funny either. Maybe SNL just isn't a show for me...

Maybe they didn't air that sketch due to it being unfunny, but then again the bar is low so.

[Agiel]

SNL sucks these days. 

 

I was talking to fellow service members, and even they're calling Israel out on their bull****

 

I have a family friend who used to be a trainer for Merkava tank crews before she moved to the US. Some days when my parents were too busy, they could sometimes count on her to pick me up from school. One day she was driving her son and I home when some news came on the radio about the Gaza pullout (it was 2005) and she asked me how I felt about it. Now I grew up in a family that was quite critical of Israel's policies (my grandmother lived during the Japanese occupation of China, so she sympathised with the Palestinians), but my parents also raised me with enough sense to be sensitive. 

 

So in response, I gave the usual hamfisted answer: "Well, I think it's kind of sad they the settlers have to leave their homes." Her answer to that surprised me: "Well they have to leave. That land doesn't belong to Israel." 

 

These days, I take comfort that lot of Israelis are as likely to criticise the policies of their government as the rest of the western world, and that there are people doing good work for "Breaking the Silence" and B'tselem.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Agiel

[NOK222]

 

SNL sucks these days. 

 

I was talking to fellow service members, and even they're calling Israel out on their bull****

 

I have a family friend who used to be a trainer for Merkava tank crews before she moved to the US. Some days when my parents were too busy, they could sometimes count on her to pick me up from school. One day she was driving her son and I home when some news came on the radio about the Gaza pullout (it was 2005) and she asked me how I felt about it. Now I grew up in a family that was quite critical of Israel's policies (my grandmother lived during the Japanese occupation of China, so she sympathised with the Palestinians), but my parents also raised me with enough sense to be sensitive. 

 

So in response, I gave the usual hamfisted answer: "Well, I think it's kind of sad they the settlers have to leave their homes." Her answer to that surprised me: "Well they have to leave. That land doesn't belong to Israel." 

 

These days, I take comfort that lot of Israelis are as likely to criticise the policies of their government as the rest of the western world, and that there are people doing good work for "Breaking the Silence" and B'tselem.

Pretty witty response of that woman, I like it.

[Rostere]

These days, I take comfort that lot of Israelis are as likely to criticise the policies of their government as the rest of the western world, and that there are people doing good work for "Breaking the Silence" and B'tselem.

 

Agreed, those two organizations are probably (among) the most important working for peace currently.

 

You all might have read the latest news from Israel, about an Australian- Israeli who allegedly committed suicide in a high- security prison in Israel (where he was held under a false name), a suicide which was later censored from Israeli media due to orders from the Mossad. Read a thorough analysis here and here - or just search for "Prisoner X" on the internet.

 

Turns out he was an agent of the Mossad (which reveals why it was so important not to disclose his name, since other spies might fall in danger). From what I've read about him in the links above it seems likely he was just a clumsy, tad zealous Joe Average who made a mess as a spy, which in turn led to his persecution and suicide, and not that he was murdered as some articles seem to suggest. The real question is what "serious crimes" he was suspected of. What do you think this is connected to?