In my opinion, based upon long and close familiarity with some of them, these furthest left Israeli loonies are smug snotty arrogant pricks. Not because they wish for peace with the Palestinians, and look forward to the day the Palestinians live in dignity and peace in their own state: I agree fully with those sentiments, as do most Israelis. Nor for their assumption that if only the Israelis would grant it, this would all come to pass: this merely tells me these folks aren't paying attention to reality, and that's not particularly unusual. My problem with them is that their political narcissism is so extreme, they've convinced themselves the rest of us must be cruel callous ignorant dolts, while they alone are enlightened and caring - watch Blumenthal's video and you'll see this clearly. As a result, they are profoundly undemocratic, and quite oblivious to the complexity of reality and disdainful towards the attempts of their countrymen to find a decent balance in a complex world.
I suppose you could sum this up in two words: they're silly.
Blumenthal likes them, obviously; they're his kindred spirits. The funniest part of his post is this sentence:
There are very, very few of them, they are marginalized, even persecuted, and in
desperate need of American support.
The film was made in the very center of Tel Aviv, in front of City Hall. Watch it, and you'll see how his very own film disproves his interpretation of it.
Then you have Philip Weiss (the Weiss of Mondoweiss) who has been traveling a lot to Gaza recently, reporting on how nice the Gazans are and how nasty the Israelis. This recent post is a collection of snapshots made on the streets of Gaza showing the ubiquitous posters celebrating the local shahids. You don't need to know Arabic to look closely at the posters and see who's in most of them: military-aged young men, many armed, who have been killed in the war with Israel to which they were so committed and of which their society is so proud. To which Weiss comments:
My response to these portraits was wholly aesthetic, and not moral. I don't know
what any of these men and boys did, though some of them evidently died in the
January slaughter.
Do you get the whiff of otherworldliness?
1 comment:
the mondoweiss people are on a mission.
missionaries usually are narrow minded in the way that they see the aims of there missions as the ultimate truth.
argument and reason will not affect that.
it is hopeless.
if these kind of people tell me, that israel should talk with hamas, i just ask them:
"about what? about the way they eliminate israel? or about the date?"
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