Well said, Ben, as usual. But even those with short attention spans will be enlightened by this award-winning short film featuring an even shorter actor who makes short shrift of an escalating conflict: https://www.filminquiry.com/the-present-2020-review/ (Stream it on Netflix and elsewhere).
Keep cutting through that fog. I can’t imagine how dispiriting it must be to constantly try but we really do need voices like yours. I am one person of course but I appreciate it. The humanism you bring to the conversation is important and often forgotten.
Wow: “In the *name* of security, anything is permitted.” First time I realized how the occupation has nothing to do with security, and believing it does is willful ignorance. (Of course there also are those who defend it because God is on their side, but I would argue that in this case willful ignorance is worse than fanatical belief.) 3 hours of essential viewing. As a Jew, I’m nauseous.
If you lived in Israel during the Intifada that followed the Oslo Accords you would understand how much security interests Israel has the in the West Bank.
The second intifada which amounted to the murder of thousands of innocent Israeli civilians, and included horrific attacks on Jews living in Chevron such as a Palestinian sniper shooting a baby dead, was only stopped once Israel took a hard line such as reoccupying areas that were previously off limits.
This is for anyone that reads your post Menachem, I am sure you will close your eyes and mind and just dismiss all the "anti-Semitic" facts I have provided:
"In the first three months of the intifada, the number of Israeli casualties was low, at which time the IDF proudly cited the large number of Palestinian casualties as evidence of the military victory and the correctness of the policy of massive use of force."
"It turns out that during the first few days of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, soldiers in the territories fired 1,300,000 bullets"
"When the intifada began, chief of staff Mofaz bragged that the IDF, which had predicted the outbreak of violence in the territories, declared the year 2000 as "the year of preparedness," and when the violence did indeed break out, that the army was ready for it. But this was not a preparedness for alleviating the violence, but rather for escalating the conflict."
"By the end of 2005, over 1,000 Israelis died from terrorism and in military operations, while over 3,000 Palestinians civilians and militants were killed, mostly at the hands of Israeli forces."
"The causes of the second intifada were complex: Anger over a stagnating peace process, leadership and generational rivalries within the Palestinian movement, a hope by some Palestinian leaders that limited bloodshed would lead to political concessions from Israel, and a harsh initial response by the Israelis all led violence to surge in 2000."
"The continuing Israeli occupation, even after the Oslo agreements, was the underlying cause of the second intifada."
"In one version, Sharon, then the leader of the Israeli opposition, started the intifada by going on an intentionally provocative visit to the Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa Mosque) on 28 September 2000."
Israel laid down the underlying cause by continuing the occupation, ignited the first spark by sharon's visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque and then escalated it with it's harsh response (as they always do).
As I mentioned in my reply, its not intended for you, you keep inflating the same questionable incidents to justify the systematic state sponsored bombing of highly populated residential areas, you repeat the unverified story of one baby that was harmed to justify the jet bombing of babies and innocent unarmed civilians, happening on live TV, while the world is watching.
Re-read ben's articles, then reflect on your comments, if you don't see whats wrong, then you're whats wrong, as you're probably a Zionist.
And btw there is no comparison between a sharpshooter aiming their gun at the head of an 11 month old baby and a military doing their utmost to avoid civilian casualties while targeting terrorists using the civilians as human shields
You are right, If this sharpshooting incident happened, then there is no comparison between one person committing a crime, and state sponsored war crimes, its much worse when the whole government is pulling the trigger, when the army's strategy is to escalate the violence, when it's systematic.
"questionable" "unverified", this attitude of excusing such atrocities is why there will never be peace.
And it wasn't only one or two incidents, the Israel psyche is permanently scarred by the unending terror of those years which only stopped actually once Sharon reentered the West Bank, built the wall, and began assassinating the leaders. This is why the country shifted right.
The violence from Gaza as well is a repeating lesson to the Israelis of the dangers of concession.
Yes Palestinians suffer a lot and that's a terrible tragedy, but this conflict has no resolution unfortunately. There will never be peace as long as there is a Jewish state.
I am questioning you, and the Israeli psyche, Israelis have no issue inflicting horror on unarmed civilians, occupying lands, imprisoning populations, expecting their wounded victims to "behave" as they wish, this is insanity.
The Zionist state is the issue, its not meant to last, they will reap what they sow.
"Permanently scarred" psyches are incapable of adequately processing information cognitively for the well-being of individuals or groups. Beware of numerous psychopathologies preventing responsible human behavior.
Yet another tendentious video by Thilo Jung , a German green leftist who managed to interview Max Blumenthal, Omar Barghouti of BDS fame , Martin LeJeune who is a Erdogan gimp and who converted to Islam in Berlin no less and other anti Israel players.
Jung also managed to interview the discredited antisemitism scholar Wolfgang Benz in Berlin, where they both agreed that antisemitism isn’t a problem . Benz organized a Berlin conference with an Iranian front org about „islamophobia“ don’t You know.
Well said, Ben, as usual. But even those with short attention spans will be enlightened by this award-winning short film featuring an even shorter actor who makes short shrift of an escalating conflict: https://www.filminquiry.com/the-present-2020-review/ (Stream it on Netflix and elsewhere).
Thank you
Keep cutting through that fog. I can’t imagine how dispiriting it must be to constantly try but we really do need voices like yours. I am one person of course but I appreciate it. The humanism you bring to the conversation is important and often forgotten.
Wow: “In the *name* of security, anything is permitted.” First time I realized how the occupation has nothing to do with security, and believing it does is willful ignorance. (Of course there also are those who defend it because God is on their side, but I would argue that in this case willful ignorance is worse than fanatical belief.) 3 hours of essential viewing. As a Jew, I’m nauseous.
If you lived in Israel during the Intifada that followed the Oslo Accords you would understand how much security interests Israel has the in the West Bank.
The second intifada which amounted to the murder of thousands of innocent Israeli civilians, and included horrific attacks on Jews living in Chevron such as a Palestinian sniper shooting a baby dead, was only stopped once Israel took a hard line such as reoccupying areas that were previously off limits.
This is for anyone that reads your post Menachem, I am sure you will close your eyes and mind and just dismiss all the "anti-Semitic" facts I have provided:
"In the first three months of the intifada, the number of Israeli casualties was low, at which time the IDF proudly cited the large number of Palestinian casualties as evidence of the military victory and the correctness of the policy of massive use of force."
"It turns out that during the first few days of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, soldiers in the territories fired 1,300,000 bullets"
"When the intifada began, chief of staff Mofaz bragged that the IDF, which had predicted the outbreak of violence in the territories, declared the year 2000 as "the year of preparedness," and when the violence did indeed break out, that the army was ready for it. But this was not a preparedness for alleviating the violence, but rather for escalating the conflict."
https://www.haaretz.com/1.4744778
Another source here:
"By the end of 2005, over 1,000 Israelis died from terrorism and in military operations, while over 3,000 Palestinians civilians and militants were killed, mostly at the hands of Israeli forces."
"The causes of the second intifada were complex: Anger over a stagnating peace process, leadership and generational rivalries within the Palestinian movement, a hope by some Palestinian leaders that limited bloodshed would lead to political concessions from Israel, and a harsh initial response by the Israelis all led violence to surge in 2000."
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/09/12/the-oslo-accords-at-25-the-second-intifada-at-18/
And here:
"The continuing Israeli occupation, even after the Oslo agreements, was the underlying cause of the second intifada."
"In one version, Sharon, then the leader of the Israeli opposition, started the intifada by going on an intentionally provocative visit to the Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa Mosque) on 28 September 2000."
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/220/378
To sum up the second intifada:
Israel laid down the underlying cause by continuing the occupation, ignited the first spark by sharon's visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque and then escalated it with it's harsh response (as they always do).
I don't think it's anti Semitic, but everything you posted is heavily naarativizing the Intifada to excuse Palestinian terrorism.
There is no excuse in the world to blow up city buses and sharpshoot babies dead. Sorry.
As I mentioned in my reply, its not intended for you, you keep inflating the same questionable incidents to justify the systematic state sponsored bombing of highly populated residential areas, you repeat the unverified story of one baby that was harmed to justify the jet bombing of babies and innocent unarmed civilians, happening on live TV, while the world is watching.
Re-read ben's articles, then reflect on your comments, if you don't see whats wrong, then you're whats wrong, as you're probably a Zionist.
And btw there is no comparison between a sharpshooter aiming their gun at the head of an 11 month old baby and a military doing their utmost to avoid civilian casualties while targeting terrorists using the civilians as human shields
You are right, If this sharpshooting incident happened, then there is no comparison between one person committing a crime, and state sponsored war crimes, its much worse when the whole government is pulling the trigger, when the army's strategy is to escalate the violence, when it's systematic.
"questionable" "unverified", this attitude of excusing such atrocities is why there will never be peace.
And it wasn't only one or two incidents, the Israel psyche is permanently scarred by the unending terror of those years which only stopped actually once Sharon reentered the West Bank, built the wall, and began assassinating the leaders. This is why the country shifted right.
The violence from Gaza as well is a repeating lesson to the Israelis of the dangers of concession.
Yes Palestinians suffer a lot and that's a terrible tragedy, but this conflict has no resolution unfortunately. There will never be peace as long as there is a Jewish state.
I am questioning you, and the Israeli psyche, Israelis have no issue inflicting horror on unarmed civilians, occupying lands, imprisoning populations, expecting their wounded victims to "behave" as they wish, this is insanity.
The Zionist state is the issue, its not meant to last, they will reap what they sow.
"Permanently scarred" psyches are incapable of adequately processing information cognitively for the well-being of individuals or groups. Beware of numerous psychopathologies preventing responsible human behavior.
I would recommend that people watch Occupation 101, available on YouTube https://youtu.be/C56QcWOGSKk
Yet another tendentious video by Thilo Jung , a German green leftist who managed to interview Max Blumenthal, Omar Barghouti of BDS fame , Martin LeJeune who is a Erdogan gimp and who converted to Islam in Berlin no less and other anti Israel players.
Jung also managed to interview the discredited antisemitism scholar Wolfgang Benz in Berlin, where they both agreed that antisemitism isn’t a problem . Benz organized a Berlin conference with an Iranian front org about „islamophobia“ don’t You know.
Like your substack, Jung does not age well.