London comes up with cute painted bookbenches. Not that anything is likely to save this formerly beautiful city but still it’s nice somebody’s trying.
“People, and especially men, hate being alone with their thoughts so much that they’d rather be in pain. In a study published in Science Thursday on the ability of people to let their minds “wander” — that is, for them to sit and do nothing but think — researchers found that about a quarter of women and two-thirds of men chose electric shocks over their own company.” This is a great test for psychological test. Try just sitting and staring into space for 15 minutes. If that becomes intolerable, it’s time to start taking care of your mental health. And it isn’t surprising that more men have serious mental health problems. They are socialized not to take care of their health and just soldier on in spite of the pain.
“I assume many of the guys in New Hampshire were influenced by Ayn Rand. Weirdly, while Rand appeared to appreciate building and creating (e.g., The Fountainhead), she didn’t appear to appreciate civilization or notice that creativity and building have no value or purpose outside of civilization.” Maybe it would make sense to read Rand before babbling aimlessly. There wasn’t a greater lover of civilization than Rand.
Have you heard of the rolling coal fetish? It’s totally bizarre.
Fat is not the opposite of athletic.
A judge ridicules the idiot proponents of a ban on gay marriage.
“Putin is an expert at stringing the Europeans along, and it looks like they are content to let him.” Very true.
“I never liked the term progressive. I never liked that people thought they would avoid being demonized if they ran from the word liberal.” I don’t like the word “Liberal” not because I fear that some unidentified forces will ‘demonize” me but because I’m not entirely comfortable with the word “liberty” unless it is specified what it is that we are aiming to free ourselves from. At least, the word ‘progressive’ has a very clear meaning.
“But the Hobby Lobby decision now puts government in the position of deciding what’s a “true” religion, and what are “reasonable” religious beliefs. If Hobby Lobby, for example, refused to hire African-American people because the Bible says they are Satan’s people, or are destined to be slaves (both can be inferred from the text), the Court would not have allowed this. That is, the government’s laws would be applied based on the CONTENT of the religious belief.” And this is reason #965 why the Hobby Lobby decision sucks dick.
Corporate Gay Pride. This is kind of disturbing.
A fascinating long post on how budget airlines try to save money.
Anarchism is based on a joke. Color me unsurprised.
A great analysis of Douthat’s suggestions on how to fight campus rape.
In Spanish. The leading Spanish newspaper decides to offer a platform for the neo-Nazi Limonov to spout his disgusting anti-Ukrainian garbage. Spain, what’s up with you? You are not France, you can’t afford to flirt with fascism once again. Haven’t you had enough?
Empire State Pride. Beautiful!
“A layman writing under the pseudonym of “Steve Goddard” accused the US government of fabricating temperature data. Sadly it quickly went viral. Fortunately in this case some conservatives are criticizing their own when they make outlandish statements, something rarely seen in US political debates — where truth is purely tribal.” This is a great point, about the truth being very tribal in our politics.
“Russia has ended its claim to a right to protect Russians in the Ukraine. Putin has supported the cease-fire.” Even Putin stopped claiming that there were any Russians in Ukraine in need of protection back in March. Not a single Russian persecuted or discriminated against in Ukraine has surfaced. (Although persecuted and discriminated Russians surface in Russia every day.) Yet the Putin-loving idiot Ian Welsh persist in the face of complete lack of evidence. But hey, when did facts stop this weirdo from spouting idiotically?
“There is a strange irony, of course, in the fact that the two regions that are the most Tea Party-centric are also the regions that rely the most on government support.” Exactly. read the entire post, folks, it’s very good.
Clarissa's Blog 
Alas Clarissa using terms such as “cute” and “trying” in the context of London suggests a lack of knowledge on your part.
I think http://zyalt.livejournal.com/1110754.html (Russian) and http://spitalfieldslife.com/ (English) act as counterweights to your dismissive comment 🙂
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Also this photo-blog: http://alondoninheritance.com/ then and now!
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Beautiful photoblog, thank you!
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Wow, I missed the part about calling London a “formerly beautiful city.” Granted I haven’t visited London since 2005, but I thought it was gorgeous then, and it can’t have gone downhill that fast. My son and his wife were there this spring, and they loved it.
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Compared to what it was like 20 years ago, London presents a sorry sight. It has become a wannabe New York. It’s dirty and smelly. I was heartbroken when I saw what London has become.
It was the most beautiful city in the world. But now it’s all gone.
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“London comes up with cute painted bookbenches. Not that anything is likely to save this formerly beautiful city but still it’s nice somebody’s trying.”
Been on a walk up Charing Cross Road lately?
The infamous 84 Charing Cross is a patisserie, and has been for some time.
Murder One is gone baby gone, the love has gone awaaaay …
Foyle’s and Blackwell’s on Charing Cross both appeared to have signs stating that they were moving somewhere else, at least when I popped ’round a few weeks ago.
Sure, a couple of the dusty old booksellers are still there along with that one autre-hip art books shop, but Charing Cross is almost not worth the trouble anymore.
At least the Waterstone’s in Piccadilly is still grand … for now.
“I went to the circus, Piccadilly Circus, it was very strange …”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRkpT2oQ-3c
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“There wasn’t a greater lover of civilization than Rand.” Sorry, no. Rand may have appreciated the fruits of civilization — architecture, the arts, etc. — but civilization itself, by definition, is a means for people to organize themselves collectively and live inter-dependently with one another . Everything Rand wrote was anti-civilization. She was like someone who loved food but hated agriculture.
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First, your definition of civilization is strange. Second, all Rand ever wrote about was how society should organize to preserve civilization. Have you read Atlas Shrugged? It’s all about civilization being destroyed because society is organized based on faulty principles. She offers a picture of a model society that is based on the “correct” principles. You can dislike her idea of a perfect society but it’s impossible to deny that this idea is very well-developed in her work.
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Rand was what I’d call an isolationalist civilizationist. She recognized there are two ways that you can effectively be independent and shut people you don’t like out of your life.
Off the grid (Galt’s gulch or whatever it was called)
In the middle of a highly functional civilization run by the rule of law (NYC).
She herself wasn’t cut out for the first so she went all out for the second.
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There is no civilization without the possibility to shut out the people you don’t like. 🙂
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I don’t see how “progressive” is any more specific than “liberal”. The stated goal is progress, but progress towards what? Almost anybody believes society should have to change from what it is now. The truth is ideological labels will always have to be vague, which is one reason why they’re rapidly becoming useless.
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Conservatives, by definition, want stagnation. Progressives, by definition, want not change for the sake of change, but movement forward. Of course, we don’t know where we will arrive, that’s the whole point. The terror of the unknown and clinging to the old certainties is a conservative thing.
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Simply horrible. Turns out Jews killed the 16-year-old:
Police have arrested six Jewish extremists in the brutal murder of Palestinian teen Muhammad Abu Khdeir, an Israeli security official said Sunday.
Although details of the arrest remain unknown, the official, who spoke under the condition of anonymity due to a gag order, confirmed the killing was likely nationalistically motivated.
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Major-development-in-kidnapping-murder-case-of-Arab-teen-in-Jerusalem-361639
Report: Autopsy finds murdered Palestinian teen was burned alive
…
Also Sunday, police revealed that Hussein Yousef Hussein Khalifa, 34, an Israeli Arab from A’ablin in the Galilee, was arrested for alleged involvement in the murder of 20-year-old Shelly Dadon earlier this year. Police suspect he was motivated by Palestinian nationalism.
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Autopsy-finds-murdered-Palestinian-teen-was-burned-alive-361571
Speaking after police announced that Jews were arrested for murder of Arab teen, Netanyahu says that Israel will punish the killers: “That is how we are different from our neighbors.”
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The real horror is that both sides are murdering kids. This is a symbolic gesture of murdering the future of the opponent.
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I recently had an interesting conversation with a friend. I was talking about a mutual friend who seems to want people around her 24/7 and commented that she seems to hate being alone with her own thoughts more than anything else. The first friend responded, “Well, no one likes being alone with their thoughts, but sometimes we don’t have any choice!”
Of course, I was frustrated with the person being discussed because I wanted to be alone with my thoughts more. It’s odd how people think their own experiences are universal.
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This isn’t self-promotion, but it’s something that happened to me I wanted to bring up to you. Somebody on Reddit said Russia was justified in invading Ukraine because otherwise they’d lose a vital seaport in Sevastopol. When I argued against them, they only said, “World politics are hard for you, aren’t they?”. Just pissed me off, and you’re the only person I know who’d understand enough about Ukraine to sympathise with me.
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What a jerk! I feel your pain, my friend! By the way, that person’s opinion shows complete ignorance of the situation. Thank you for standing up for the truth!
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Rand is one of the most pro-civilization writers that had ever existed.
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I don’t get what’s so disturbing about corporate gay pride. The road to acceptance in American life has run through commercialization ….. forever. Since I have no particular interest in changing that Burger King gay pride crowns seem pretty predictable.
It means the failure of the gay rights movement as a paradigm shifting revolutionary movement (along with the all the other failed paradigm shifting revolutionary movements) but that’s better for most gay people than a paradigm shifting revolution mgiht be.
Of course this does mean that some percentage of gay people will have to find something new to receive the disapproval they want from others.
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To me, the photos look pathetic. I still remember the time when Pride was about something different. I’m glad there is acceptance but could it have taken a different form?
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I have begun E. M. Forster’s Howards End, and so far enjoy it in a way I have not enjoyed a book for a long time. The two sisters are so likable, feel like my kind of people. Recommended, if you missed the book till now.
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http://www.vocativ.com/culture/society/dicks-pick-trucks-meme-rollin-coal/
This is fascinating to me.
“I run into a lot of people that really don’t like Obama at all,” an unnamed Wisconsin seller of smoke stack kits told Slate’s David Weigel, explaining some of the rationale behind the movement. “If he’s into the environment, if he’s into this or that, we’re not. I hear a lot of that. To get a single stack on my truck—that’s my way of giving them the finger. You want clean air and a tiny carbon footprint? Well, screw you.”
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One would think that they would at least try to attach some marginally less infantile rationale to these actions but they don’t even bother.
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“Daddy and Mommy can’t tell me what to put in my body!”
–guzzles 40 oz big gulps, smokes cigarettes, adds smoke stacks to the truck.
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““Daddy and Mommy can’t tell me what to put in my body!”
–guzzles 40 oz big gulps, smokes cigarettes, adds smoke stacks to the truck.”
– Exactly. Belated teenage rebellion looks very scary in adults.
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Ha, I didn’t see that you had already mentioned this phenomenon in your link encyclopedia.
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I was as stunned as you were. Poor clueless freaks.
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I read this article (in Russian) by Zabotinsky, and many things rang true to me.
РЕЧЬ К УЧИТЕЛЯМ
Что есть национальное воспитание?
http://jhist.org/zion/zion007_26.htm
How do you think Jews abroad (not in Israel) should talk with their children about Jewish-ness? How relevant are the problems he refers to?
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It disturbs me to see all of these stories of parents who don’t live their children. The scary hateful mommy of the crippled girl is just too much for me.
Children need parents who love them. And that love will make any conversation possible. The article you gave, however, is like a compendium of psychiatric disorders that have nothing to do with Jewishness or anything else.
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// It disturbs me to see all of these stories of parents who don’t live their children.
Live or love?
“a compendium of psychiatric disorders” – a new definition of Zabotinsky. 🙂
I do think that environment plays a role too. Zabotinsky describes extremely antisemitic and dangerous time for Jews. If one is afraid of pogroms, how one can be not afraid? Like ostrish hiding its head in a sand?
Also, I got the feeling of “очень жалкое и тяжелое представление об этом еврействе” after reading Sholom Aleihem in my childhood. The (in pre-WW2 meaning) ghetto world of Russian Jews he describes was horrible.
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“Also, I got the feeling of “очень жалкое и тяжелое представление об этом еврействе” after reading Sholom Aleihem in my childhood. The (in pre-WW2 meaning) ghetto world of Russian Jews he describes was horrible.”
– How interesting. 🙂 I perceived it as an amazing place where I really wanted to be. I now feel like conducting a survey and asking people how they felt about Sholom Aleihem’s writings. Didn’t you feel like Aleihem’s books were about fundamentally very happy people? I mean, they are obviously poor but they are playful and joyful in a way that, say, Jane Austen’s rich and non-marginalized characters cannot even imagine being.
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Wait, do you think he was lying and there weren’t many Jews of the kind he describes? If many did have those problems, why? Didn’t antisemitism play a role?
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And as for living parents, here is an example. My sister recently told her daughter that she’s Jewish. The kid’s reaction was to run and yell happily, “I’m Jewish! I’m Jewish!” She would have been as happy if she were told she’s Chinese, British or Moroccan. Because she’s a happy kid who knows the universe adores her. This feeling can only come from the adoring eyes if her parents.
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Btw, just a few minutes ago a siren sounded in my city. Ground operation in Gaza is possible too, and I am worried about our soldiers in this case. 😦
I remember once leaving a comment on your blog after hearing a siren for the first time, looks like it’ll become something usual in a way. “In a way” since Hamas understands that the minute they shoot at Tel-Aviv, the commercial center of the country, they’ll get huge response fast enough.
Rockets hammer Israel as IDF launches Operation Protective Edge
Sirens sound across southern Israel; nine treated for injuries, anxiety attacks; Iron Dome deployed throughout country; train schedules interrupted in south.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4539418,00.html
Israel cabinet votes to call up 40,000 reservists
Netanyahu tells IDF to ‘take glove off’ and prepare for long Gaza operation; Minister: Hamas ignored our ceasefire attempts.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4539542,00.html
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“Btw, just a few minutes ago a siren sounded in my city. Ground operation in Gaza is possible too, and I am worried about our soldiers in this case.”
– I’m very sorry to hear this. Please stay safe!!!
Is this recent flareup in hostilities a result of everything that happened since the killing of the 3 boys?
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// Is this recent flareup in hostilities a result of everything that happened since the killing of the 3 boys?
Seems like that.
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Very, very sad. We can only hope the hostilities subside soon.
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Sometimes life is ironic and funny. In one of “Israeli right to exist” discussions of the Feministe, a person used one of usual arguments:
i think the problem here is with the concept of a jewish state itself. there have been lots of other groups who have been persecuted throughout history, the kurds, the mayans, indigineous groups scattered about in latin america and africa and australia and russia, but that doesn’t mean they deserve a state of their own.
Today on TV I see:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday evening that Israel supports the establishment of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq, where autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan is located today.
🙂
Btw, Ukrainians could be included in the 1st quote in ” indigineous groups scattered about in … russia,”
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// Btw, Ukrainians could be included in the 1st quote in ” indigineous groups scattered about in … russia,”
I mean, included from the pov of the American who said those words.
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Or Russians could be listed as indigenous groups scattered in Ukraine. The idea that Ukrainians in Russia “deserve” (what a bizarre word in this context!) a state is as weird as the idea that Russians in Ukraine do.
A nation-state is one thing but an ethnic state is a completely different thing and a losing proposition for obvious reasons. Nation-states are not formed on the basis of ethnicity and that is precisely the reason why they manage to survive. A nation-state arose and became the only existing form of state precisely because it has the capacity to survive. An ethnic state has such deep-seated flaws in its very constitution that it is doomed.
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Then who is included in a nation? I don’t think Jews have been really included, except in Israel, for instance.
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Citizens, of course. And I’m sure you are well-aware that Jewish citizens have all the same rights and obligations as all other citizens in Canada, US, Ukraine, Russia, Australia, etc.
Of course, every nation needs an “internal Other” (as well as an external Other) to define itself. But in the countries I listed that internal Other is SO not the Jews.
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Somebody else in that old Feministe discussion was against Israel since
your stance is an explicit rejection of the validity of multi-ethnic liberal democracy. Since most minorities are safe ‘on the whim’ of majorities, you are asserting that they need a seperate homeland to flee to if they become oppressed. This is not, strictly speaking, practical.
Imo, till Kurds, Sunni, Shia, whatever … have their own nation states, the bloodshed in the Middle East will continue, as it does in Syria now.
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Nation states never stopped bloodshed. To the contrary, they were created to wage war on a massive scale and that’s what they’ve Been doing since coming into existence.
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Last comment:
Roma … their situation has had many parallels with the Jewish situation, right up to the devastation inflicted by the Shoah. However, they’re not, in general, pursuing an extra-national solution to their problems. They’re trying to integrate. … this is where I object to your portrayal of the foundation of Israel as it was carried out as a legitimate response
“In the last five years in Hungary, the establishment of vigilante groups and hate crimes against Roma and other minority groups has characterized a climate of increasing social and economic exclusion,” according to the report, from the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.
A 2011 survey finds many Hungarians share anti-Roma sentiments with 60 percent believing that criminality was in “gypsy” blood. The same poll found 40 percent believed it was OK to have bars and clubs where Roma were not allowed in.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/03/09/287342069/increased-hostility-against-jews-and-roma-in-hungary
In wiki I read about Roma children in Hungary:
The separation of Romani children into segregated schools and classes is also a problem, and has been on the rise over the past 15 years. […] Romani children are also frequently placed in segregated classes even within “mixed” schools.
Many other Romani children are sent to classes for pupils with learning disabilities. The percentage of Romani children in special schools rose from about 25% in 1975 to 42% in 1992, with a 1997 survey showing little change – whereas a National Institute for Public Education report says that “most experts agree that a good number of Roma children attending special schools are not even slightly mentally disabled”.
That’s for people who think Europian modern nation states ensure good treatment of minorities, and the latter have nothing to worry about. That Jews can trust others’ states to protect them in the long run.
Just have been thinking about the issue and wanted to share.
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Found this:
Читаю Амоса Оза “Повесть о любви и тьме”.
Мне всегда интересно понять страну, в которой я живу, понять почему так, а не этак, откуда взялись все эти особенности ментальности. Эта книга очень помогает понять почему и за что люди могут любить Израиль, хотя это совсем непросто.
АМОС ОЗ. ВПЕЧАТЛЕНИЯ ПО ХОДУ.
http://tatale.livejournal.com/78463.html
And this:
Умберто Эко
«Вечный фашизм» — доклад Умберто Эко на симпозиуме, проводившемся итальянским и французским отделениями Колумбийского университета (Нью-Йорк) 25 апреля 1995 г., в юбилей освобождения Европы.
http://no-acropol.info/urfashizm.htm
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in Умберто Эко «Вечный фашизм» liked points 13-14. Other things read before (at least, more often).
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Haven’t read this author, but wanted to share:
“My Name Is Asher Lev”, “The Chosen,” etc. by Chaim Potok
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7385.Chaim_Potok
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Last comment: only now noticed that Умберто Эко’s article is on site dedicated to
Организация «Новый Акрополь» (НА) была основана в Аргентине в 1957 году … В настоящее время отделения «Нового Акрополя» существуют более чем в 40 странах … В настоящее время российское отделение НА является одним из самых больших в мире. …
Never heard about it. Looks like insignificant in comparison to other orgs in Russia anyway.
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Was curious to read this post “Missionary Tourism” (with comments) about young evangelicals in third world countries:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2014/07/missionary-tourism.html#disqus_thread
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I have many students who up on such trips. I think it’s great because they get to travel, see the world. Any attempt at actual “missionary” work in today’s world of ubiquitous television and Internet is silly. Everybody who wants to know has already found the information. But if kids want to see the world, that’s always good.
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// I think it’s great because they get to travel, see the world.
Sometimes, not. From the comments:
“We got to one Baptist church and they had missionaries back from South East Asia. They talked about how great it was that their converts – mostly teenagers and young adults, as far as I could tell from their photos – were really close to one another, because a lot of them got completely cut off from their families when they converted.
And we were sitting there in shock, that when you realise your actions are getting people ostracised from their families and social support you don’t STOP.”
Another person describes:
“This entire video was them more or less bragging about how these people had never seen movies before, so when they showed them their Jesus movie, they really thought it was happening, like this was a documentary. I was nearly in tears over how they had taken advantage of these people, and taken advantage of their trust. They were so proud of it! ”
Probably “today’s world of ubiquitous television and Internet” hasn’t arrived to all places yet. 😦
Btw, in Israel Christian missionary propaganda is forbidden by law, similar to some Arab countries.
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Yes, drama-mongers crop up whenever anything is discussed. You say it’s Thursday, and immediately somebody erupts in a speech how it’s the last Thursday we will see because the end of the world is near.
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Uri’s new column, in which he describes the four murders in the beginning of it all:
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1405008861/
Of course, I disagree with many things he writes. For instance, London Jews and British people aren’t at war nowadays, so comparing the hypothetical reaction of the Queen to Netanyahu’s isn’t correct.
“Can anyone even imagine a present-day European or American crowd shouting “Death to the Jews?”” — Actually, yes. I read f.e. about Germans (iirc, their university students!) shouting that at pro-Palestinian demonstration. (Read it in the preface to Avnery’s book). Imagine what would be if it had been their land and about them, not far-away Palestinians.
“lynch mobs gathered in many places in Jerusalem to hunt Arab workers and rough them up” — and on another very Left blog I read today that Arabs (personal acquaintances) themselves acknowledged the attempts of Israeli police to stop extremists from both sides.
A probably new to you piece of information about Jewish murderers of the boy: “unofficial reports say that they belong to the Orthodox community”
“to my mind the public reaction is even worse. Because there isn’t any.” — I don’t think people in any country would behave otherwise and truly care more, when their children would be murdered. Most Israelis are glad the Jewish criminals have been caught. And “Everything was done to minimize the “incident”, prevent its publication abroad” is expected, when the (propaganda) war with Palestinians is going on.
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Do you know who started firing rockets first this time around?
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“Danny Danon, deputy Minister of Defense: “If a Russian boy had been kidnapped, Putin would have flattened village after village!”
– Idiot. Chechen terrorists kidnapped and murdered entire schools full of kids and Putin is still keeping them in the style of princes. When terrorists kidnapped a whole theater with people, Putin killed half of those people. And is now courting the murderers and giving them enormous payoffs. It’s all very well-known information. How one can manage not to know it is a mystery.
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I usually like Uri but not this time around.
“The next day the group returned, caught Muhammad Abu-Khdeir, a cheerful 16-year old boy with an engaging smile, poured gasoline in his mouth and burned him to death.”
– And had he been gloomy, his murder would have been less of a tragedy? I understand he is trying to humanize the victim, but this sounds like some people deserve murder and torture less than others, or something.
“A Palestinian boy was abducted and burned alive. No racist crime in Israel ever came close to it.”
– This is simply confusing. He the proceeds to talk about the 3 murdered Jewish boys. Is that crime somehow less bad, or something? I don’t get this at all. Kids died. It’s all horrible. They are kids, they are innocent, they should not have been killed. Why can’t even the most reasonable, intelligent people discuss it in a way that doesn’t include an evaluation of which killing is “worse”?
“Sirens sound in Jerusalem and in towns north of Tel-Aviv. The missiles aimed at Israeli population centers have successfully (up to now) been intercepted by counter-missiles.”
– I’m still not seeing which side started throwing rockets first.
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// It’s all very well-known information. How one can manage not to know it is a mystery.
Putin presents himself as “a strong leader”, and Danon decided to use this image for own purposes. He may know what you said, but not Israeli public.
// Do you know who started firing rockets first this time around?
Seems to be Hamas from this site (the beginning is at the article’s end):
LIVE UPDATES: Operation Protective Edge, day 1
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.603677
I read that, unlike in previous operations when Israel chose to begin with aggressive attacks, here it has been “led” by Hamas.
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“Putin presents himself as “a strong leader”, and Danon decided to use this image for own purposes. He may know what you said, but not Israeli public.”
– I know, I know. But I can’t keep silent.
I hope you are safe!
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// “A Palestinian boy was abducted and burned alive. No racist crime in Israel ever came close to it.”
– This is simply confusing. He the proceeds to talk about the 3 murdered Jewish boys. Is that crime somehow less bad, or something?
He said “in Israel,” it’s a code for “done by Israeli Jews,” as far as I understand (since Israeli Arab citizens killed enough Jews too, it’s not only about Palestinians w/o Israeli citizenship).
// – I’m still not seeing which side started throwing rockets first.
Is it truly important? As long as there is war, another cycle of violence will come. Only a matter of time. I don’t see how “being the 1st” gives anybody high moral ground here.
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I don’t know, a bit later he proceeds to say, “This is Israel”, so I read sitar as referring to the territory not just Jews.
I personally think it does matter. If Ukrainians had crossed the border with Russia and filed a single shot, you’d hear nothing but passionate pro-Russian rants from me. The aggressor deserves to lose not just an eye for an eye but both eyes , all teeth and all extremities. Of course, I’m an outsider here and the feelings of people who are actually in danger matter more.
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// The aggressor deserves to lose…
Many say that Jews are the 1st aggressors in the Middle East by coming and creating a country. Zabotinsky f.e. was honest enough to write about Arabs being hurt, which some other Zionists tried not to think about. Obviously, I don’t want to lose any eyes now.
After certain point, in any long conflict everybody is an aggressor.
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I applaud you for your tolerance and your capacity to see things this way. I have to confess that if I were there right now, I would not be able to find it in myself to do that. I wish I were a better person but what’s the point of being dishonest on my own blog, you know?
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// I hope you are safe!
Thank you. I am only worried it all may lead to a groud operation, despite nobody wanting it.
Other news — btw, what can Israel do in those cases? Not wage war, letting the rockets continue? Bomb with the (honest) chiefest concern being the pictures in International press?
Hamas has instructed Gaza residents to ignore text messages and phone calls urging them to evacuate buildings, in an apparent effort to grow its supply of “human shields.” The calls and messages are sent by Israeli military officials in order to give civilians time to evacuate the area, and are communicated before the IDF targets a house terrorists were using as cover for firing missiles at Israel or for other military purposes.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182741#.U78EtJR_tPk
Hamas tells Gazans to ignore IDF’s call to leave border area
Israel warns 100,000 Palestinians of impending military action, but Gaza leadership tells them to stay put
…
The IDF sent out similar warnings during operations Pillar of Defense and Cast Lead, as well as during the 2006 Lebanon War, generally ahead of an airstrike of a particular area.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-tells-gazans-to-ignore-idfs-call-to-leave-border-area/
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“I am only worried it all may lead to a groud operation, despite nobody wanting it.”
– God, I hope not. One would wish that the murders of the children would lead to both sides taking some time to think, ponder, evaluate. Not just make things even worse.
“Other news — btw, what can Israel do in those cases? Not wage war, letting the rockets continue?”
– I’m not a good person to ask because I’m all into “Кто с мечом придёт, тот от меча и погибнет.” Which is why I never wanted a career in diplomacy or politics.
“Hamas tells Gazans to ignore IDF’s call to leave border area
Israel warns 100,000 Palestinians of impending military action, but Gaza leadership tells them to stay put”
– My heart goes out to the Palestinians because they are today among the Earth’s most tragic, hopeless outcasts. And the worst part is that rich countries could have easily given them all asylum. But no, they are needed right where they are. Horrible.
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// I applaud you for your tolerance
Honestly, I don’t deserve any applause. Just today I heard on TV criticism against our government for not attacking Hamas before. Instead, Hamas had plenty of time to collect numerous long-range rockets, which it’s now shooting at us. Had we attacked before to destroy those weapons, we would’ve been aggressors, according to your logic, instead of Hamas now.
I don’t agree with this logic. As long as both sides understand we’re still at war, periods of piece and periods of aggression are a question of military tactics.
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There have to be ways to destroy rockets or prevent them from being built that do not include bombing civilian populations. And even if I knew that Russia is preparing troops to invade Ukraine, I would never ever be in favor of bombing Russian villages in the hope of destroying the troops preventatively. I’m just trying to explain this in terms that are clearer to me.
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To clarify, I can’t justify preventative killing. But in return for aggression, I can.
Of course, we are just discussing this intellectually. I’m happy I will never have to make such decisions.
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To destroy rockets , one must bomb the place where they are. Or, bomb them in the other country on their way to Gaza as Israel did in Syria previously. You talk about the reality of Russian villages vs army bases away from civilian population. It is not so in Gaza, one of the most densely populated places on the planet. To prevent rockets from being built would be pretty much impossible. Do not see why I should wait till Hamas starts shooting, instead of destroying the rockets while they are still on the ground and stored together.
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Also, as for not attacking first, look at Six-Day War and at Operation Focus in it on wiki. Imo, if somebody is clearly preparing to attack you and peaceful solution isn’t in sight, attacking first is the right thing to do. Btw, because of Israeli size, during wars Israeli army’s goal was to move the fighting as fast into enemy territory as possible. Not waiting till somebody crosses your borders helps with that. I don’t talk about rockets exchanges with Hamas here, but real armies of our neighbors.
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The problem with this approach is how easy it is to make a mistake. The US attacked Iraq preventatively. Did you see what Iraq has become as a result?
This is the problem with any preventative violence.
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After Uri, here is a Right wing take on the situation, seems to be a thinking person:
Op-Ed: Land Invasion: Beware the Trap Laid by Hamas
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15303#.U7_eU5R_tPk
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Forgot to mention:
Arutz Sheva reports that a Swedish man was beaten with iron pipes and chased through the streets of Malmö, the third largest city in the country, for hanging an Israeli flag out of his window.
http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/07/10/anti-semitism-on-the-rise-in-sweden/
“as Mr. Valls hinted, there is a problem among some Muslim immigrants. Their motivation is little studied and thus little understood” – isn’t it hilarious in a sad way?
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Another view:
Operation Protective Edge may look like its predecessors–Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 and Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012–in that it is a response to Palestinian terrorism launched from Gaza against Israeli civilians. The previous two rounds of the conflict ended with Hamas still in power in the Gaza Strip, weakened but able to re-arm over time and to project a strategic threat. There are five reasons, however, this time may be different.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15298#.U7_i0pR_tPk
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I think you will Love this article about Ukraine:
Blurred Lines Between War and Peace
Ukraine, Russia, and the West all have their own reasons for not calling the ongoing conflict a war, just as they all have different views of what would constitute an acceptable peace.
http://www.the-american-interest.com/shevtsova/2014/07/11/blurred-lines-between-war-and-peace/
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“There are five reasons, however, this time may be different.”
Yeah, killing civilians will *really* work out this time. You go, girl!
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Is it a lie that Hamas is telling civilians not to evacuate? I saw this idea touted on Fox News last night and that made me think there’s something fishy about it.
It’s hard to figure out what’s going on at such a dstance and when there is so much propaganda.
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http://forward.com/articles/201764/how-politics-and-lies-triggered-an-unintended-war/?p=all
Lovely.
The government had known almost from the beginning that the boys were dead. It maintained the fiction that it hoped to find them alive as a pretext to dismantle Hamas’ West Bank operations.
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In my opinion, Netanyahu is a dangerous sociopath. However, no government on Earth would have stopped the search and declared the kids dead until bodies were found.
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// The government had known almost from the beginning that the boys were dead.
It almost doesn’t matter in Israel (from pov of negotiations) with our national approach of “returning the boys home.”
From wiki: “Over 400 Palestinian and 30 Lebanese prisoners, including Hezbollah leaders ash-Sheikh Abdal-Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, as well as the remains of 59 Lebanese killed by Israel, were exchanged in 2004 for the bodies of three IDF soldiers”
“Gilad Shalit, … was released in exchange for 1027 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.”
Till the last moment Israeli citizens didn’t know whether Shalit would be returned alive or not. Still, the government was under enormous pressure to release even the terrorists with “blood on their hands.” One of them has already killed again:
Palestinian released in Shalit swap charged in murder of Israeli police officer
Two Hamas operatives are suspected of opening fire on Baruch Mizrahi, who was killed while traveling with his family on the eve of the Passover holiday.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.600585
Btw, it doesn’t matter whether the kidnapped is a soldier or not. I was already beginning to hear Israeli Jews discussing future negotiations over the three teens. Why do you think Palestinians were so happy and launched social media campaign titled “three Shalit’s” ? Dead or alive, they weren’t planning to reveal it till the exchange itself and were hoping to get as many as possible released, among them people who would continue killing us.
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Everybody who is glad that the 4 kids are dead is a vile freakazoid. And not a “moral idiot” as one of the linked pieces suggests. These are kids, what have they done to anybody?
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Of course, Israelis would do the exchange for dead bodies. It’s one of the legacies of the Holocaust and has to be respected.
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http://972mag.com/how-netanyahu-provoked-this-war-with-gaza/93200/
Man, the killing of the Israeli teenagers was the best thing that could ever happen to Netanyahu.
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Don’t like this article. “Moral idiocy” is way too mild a term for people who were cheering the kidnappings. The whole paragraph sounded like excuses for the murder of children.
It’s undeniable that Netanyahu is obsessive and pathologically so, however.
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// Man, the killing of the Israeli teenagers was the best thing that could ever happen to Netanyahu.
It’s partly right. As I read on one Hebrew site, Hamas’s terrorism usually helps Israeli government and hurts Palestinians most of all. Want to advise them to stop?
Btw, if we’re in the ongoing war with Hamas, why should Israel always let Hamas lead and never begin any operation itself? Seems like a horrible military strategy to me: always attacked when an enemy chooses so, not retaliating since killing zero civilians is impossible, etc. No country is expected to behave so. Ever. Only Jews are internationally blamed, both by Left and Right, if they fail to be holier than the Pope.
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The people who are against these preemptive strikes were just as opposed to US’s preemptive strikes on Iraq and Afghanistan. And the explanation of an on-going war on terror was the same in the US.
So I wouldn’t see this as an exclusive position on Israel. For some people – including me – preemptive aggression is unacceptable. As I said, I would denounce any preemptive aggression against Russia.
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From comments:
“This article claims that had Israel looked for it’s kidnapped kids NICELY, Hamas would not have attacked? The murder of Muhammed Khdeir is barely related, apparently. It’s been two days and already we are seeing revisionism. First of all, the kidnappers were Hamas terrorists who were released in exchange for Gilad Shalit. That they should turn around and kidnap again for the purpose of releasing more prisoners explains the aggression with which Israel looked for it’s kidnapped kids. It was to make a strong point that would stop the cycle of kidnapping. “
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Seriously??? It’s the same people who were released in exchange for Shalit? That guy must be causing a lot of resentment.
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// Of course, Israelis would do the exchange for dead bodies. It’s one of the legacies of the Holocaust and has to be respected.
In a situation when one is sure the kidnapped are dead, I am 100% against exchanging them for alive and dangerous terrorists. The people they proceed to kill deserve to live and have to be respected too! As an atheist, I don’t think dead bodies need something (Jewish burial), and view lives of future victims as worth more than relief of relatives who get to see the body.
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The Holocaust was a collective trauma. And still is. It isn’t just about the relatives. It is something that is needed collectively.
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It isn’t a reasonable thing, it doesn’t happen on the level of logic. Nobody in the world can understand that just like nobody can understand the Ukrainian legacy of thr Holodomor. It just has to be accepted.
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// The people who are against these preemptive strikes were just as opposed to US’s preemptive strikes on Iraq and Afghanistan. And the explanation of an on-going war on terror was the same in the US.
First of all, Hamas started to shoot first this time.
Second, now it’s my time to say (what you usually do) that not everything is like in USA, and foreigners =/= Americans. The situations are very different. USA hasn’t been in bloody war with Iraq and Afghanistan for decades before the strikes, no war of nationalisms over soil.
If you define “preemptive strikes” as “threatening / destroying peace” , it hasn’t happened here anyway, even had Israel “begun” it. There is no peace, only quiet times between cycles of violence. Wait too long and Hamas will have enough rockets to create massive damage, despite Iron Dome. How is that the best tactic in a war?
USA *began* wars in those countries, we are *already* in one and have been there since Israel’s creation.
And the stated goal of the operation (I heard it today by Netanyahu) is to return quiet to our towns, and prolong time before the new cycle of violence. Not “destroy Hamas” or whatever not realistic.
For instance, article from 2008 (read recently in Hebrew about it, but in English found that):
Between 75 percent and 94 percent of Sderot children aged 4-18 exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress, says Natal, the Israel Center for Victims of Terror and War.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/study-most-sderot-kids-exhibit-post-traumatic-stress-symptoms-1.237438
We must protect our citizens and achieve at least what Netanyahu talked about. It is important, even if in some periods (unlike now) rockets fall “only” on Sderot and not on Tel-Aviv.
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You are the one who said that other countries are not judged on preemptive strikes like Israel does. So I proceeded to respond to that. And the US had just suffered the most lethal terrorist attack in the history of the planet before invading Iraq, which is also not something to sneeze at.
The moment the principle that it’s OK to inflict violence on somebody who might do violence to you, the entire concept of human society goes to hell in a basket. We move from the area of reason to the area of personal or collective neuroses.
Israel has never said, “We are now officially declaring war on Palestine.” Instead, what is happening is called a peace process and negotiations. It can’t be a war when convenient and not a war when not convenient.
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Rockets have been falling for a while. Who has become protected and peaceful as a result?
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// Rockets have been falling for a while. Who has become protected and peaceful as a result?
Usually, Hamas starts shooting. Israel gives warnings (as it did this time), which are ignored. Then Israel responds (operation), and if the response is significant enough from Hamas’s pov, there will be a period of quiet. If not significant, new Hamas rockets start falling almost immediately, as I have already seen before.
Since peaceful Palestinian state seems far away, if ever, the best what can be done is buying a new period of quiet. This is the view of most Israelis.
// The moment the principle that it’s OK to inflict violence on somebody who might do violence to you … We move from the area of reason
Not “might,” but “every reasonable sign points out at preparations for violence entering their final stage.”
// It can’t be a war when convenient and not a war when not convenient.
Tell that to Hamas. 😦
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Poor Israel, forced to kill children, forced to keep an entire population inside an open-air prison because of their crime of not being jewish, forced to steal water, forced to bomb hospitals and schools, forced to bulldoze homes.
Won’t anyone think of Israel? 😦
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http://withendemanndom.blogspot.fr/2014/07/slavoj-zizek-philosophaster-and_9.html
Zizek accused of plagiarism.
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Wow. Why did he even need it when he’s got so much to say on his own?
Now my question as to how he manages to read this much has been answered: he only reads reviews. 😦
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\\ In my opinion, Netanyahu is a dangerous sociopath.
Why? He seems normal to me, especially in comparison to Bennett (more settlements! Palestinian state – never! Instead, lets take all the land now and give them citizenship … eventually) and Liebermann (lets try the role of Jewish Zhirinovsky with “honest” announcements and the role of “not PC” minister of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Also, Russian elections were honest!).
On Left, I don’t see anybody suitable for role of Prime Minister. Yair Lapid’s party got votes only since people wanted “something new, not political, only social”. Israeli Labor Party hasn’t won elections in ages, and I don’t know people there, except former (female) leader (not Prime Minister material) who was replaced in 2013.
Netanyahu is Right wing, but the country leans to Right and, at least, in theory he is for two states, which is significant in itself. He seems moderate Right, not like some people here… Actually, when I read comments on Israeli news sites, he is often accused of indecisiveness and even cowardness because of not attacking Gaza enough now and continuing to supply its electricity.
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Yes, if we start doing comparisons then it’s easy to find a worse guy. My husband drives me nuts with this strategy because his favorite argument is always, “But at least s/he isn’t as bad as Hitler.” And that shuts down all discussion because it isn’t like anybody can say anything to that. I have now started saying things like, “Hitler was horrible but it’s still wrong of the neighbor to leave the trash can lying in the middle of the road.”
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I am not talking about Hitler. Why do you abhor “my N” so much? 🙂 Seriously.
You have previously said that Palestinian state now wouldn’t bring any peace, instead hurting us more than before. What would “non-sociopathic” leader do?
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Man, if Netanyahu is “your N” that’s kind of sad. I’m sure you can meet an N who’ll be more deserving of you. 🙂 🙂 And hopefully younger and better-looking. 🙂
I’ve seen him speak a few times and he looks unhinged, shifty. His seems very obsessed with Iran, in a way that doesn’t look reasonable. I have a feeling his speeches are not really influenced by actual events. Whatever happens, he’ll be saying the same things. But it’s not like I follow him all day long on the news, so maybe I just saw some especially unfortunate moments of his activities.
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// Seriously??? It’s the same people who were released in exchange for Shalit?
Sorry, it was his and then my mistake. I checked it on Hebrew sites and both of them have been arrested and released before, w/o connection to Shalit. However, the rest of the comment about kidnappings for “the purpose of releasing more prisoners” is still relevant.
From an article:
The two, Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Eisha, are well-known Hamas terrorists operating in the Hevron area. Security forces are in pursuit of the two, the army said.
Kawasmeh, 29, was first arrested in 2004 for security violations, and since then has been arrested at least four more times. In an interrogation in 2010, he admitted working on behalf of Hamas in the Hevron area. He has participated in Hamas training camps and has helped the terror group to recruit new members.
Abu-Eisha, 33, was first arrested in 2005, and remained imprisoned until 2006. He was released, only to be arrested again in 2007. His brother was killed while conducting a terror attack in 2005 against an IDF patrol. His father has also been arrested numerous times for security offenses.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182207#.U8BKt5R_tPk
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And the killers of the fourth boy? Did they have no criminal antecedents?
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So far, I can find only this because of the gag order:
Where did Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s murderers come from? The lost children of Israel
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.603592
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However, one comment says:
“Perhaps all you say is true, but the video of the 2 suspects that came out yesterday clearly shows them to be secular, not haredi. As a matter of fact, they looked just like the Israelis who had marched through Israel crying “Death to Arabs”, totally secular with just a handful of haredi following at the end.”
At this point, I can’t find more info. Have to wait. While the article about Haredi teens is important, it may talk about not connected to this murder problem.
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Do you read Noam Sheizaf? http://972mag.com/why-i-object-to-this-military-campaign-even-as-missiles-fall-on-my-city/93246/
What do you think?
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I actually meant this article: http://972mag.com/they-left-us-no-choice-on-military-escalation-and-its-israeli-rationalization/93183/
The other one is no good.
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(The article is in Hebrew and I couldn’t find English translation.) In Morocco, Rabbi of Casablanca’s Jewish community was attacked by an Arab youth “as a revenge for Israeli current operation”, according to Arab’s words. Rabbi was (very hard) hit in ribs and in the face. When he was blood covered, with broken nose and badly damaged ribs, and begged for help, people around refused to do so. At least, Casablanca’s police is searching for him and even arrested a shop owner, who was during the attack and did nothing. Since the beginning of the operation, Morocco’s Jews are feeling unsafe: both synagogues and Jewish businesses are attacked by Muslims.
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David Grossman is a writer. His works include “See Under: Love,” “To the End of the Land” and “Falling Out of Time.”
On hope and despair in the Middle East
In memory of Ron Pundak, an architect of the Oslo Accords and the Geneva Initiative.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-peace-conference/1.601993
VS
Poll: Palestinians overwhelmingly reject two-state solution, want Palestine ‘from river to sea’ However, clear majority also opposes violence to achieve goals, favors Abbas over Haniyeh.
By more than a 2-1 margin, Palestinians oppose the two-state solution, favoring instead the goal of a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea,” according to a recent poll by the centrist Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The full text is available for subscribers & registered users.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.601938
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Liked this:
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not stem from economic or class-related reasons either and it is not driven by them. It is not a conflict over natural resources or production means or defense budgets, and not even over a standard of living. It is not led by corporations and it is not inflamed by financial interest groups. It is sustained because of strong national and religious sentiments like no other.
…
The benefits of peace are much higher than the benefits of war. So if the economic consideration were the decisive one, peace would have prevailed in our region a long time ago.
It isn’t prevailing because the fear of the radicals paralyses those seeking a compromise, penetrating their considerations. They tremble: What will “the street” say? What will we read in Facebook statuses? Thousands of talkbackers will surely accuse us of selling the national and religious ideal for economic interests, selling the homeland.
Violent talkbackers should have been handled a long time ago; if the poison isn’t stopped, it spreads. Extremism will not be defeated by ignoring it, being afraid of it or cursing it, but only by openly confronting it. Only by fighting it in a way which will unite the moderate majority. This isn’t a matter for the police, it’s a matter for the regime we want to live in.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4541197,00.html
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Since the birth of the nation-state all wars are presented as informed by “profound national feelings.”
Now that that’s dying out, it’s probable that all wars will be presented as guaranteeing security from terrorism.
Justifications and narratives change but one constant remains throughout history: war.
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\\ Since the birth of the nation-state all wars are presented as informed by “profound national feelings.”
Haven’t you yourself said Marxist explanation of history is wrong and that Israel / Palestinian conflict is national, driven by defining one’s own and Other’s society?
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Yes, and they have all been like that since the XVIIIth century. That’s why nationalism was invented: to make it easier to involve more people in conflicts. And it worked.
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