Many Israelis find “educational” value in horrifying attacks, as long as they happen to others
Following the terrorist attack in Norway, before the Israeli media had to reluctantly admit it was actually carried out by a Norwegian neo-Nazi (and yesterday 7th Eye, a news watchdog, noted the media, aside from Haaretz, kept its readers in the dark about the killers’ pro-Israeli agenda), the comment section on the internet sites was filled not with expressions of horror and sadness, but with virulent attacks on Muslims and Islam, and a strange and awful sort of glee. Even when it turned out that the killer was, in fact, Anders Breivik, many of the readers commenting on Israeli websites (see sample here) justified his act.
It is not, in fact, at all surprising that a neo-Nazi would support Israel. The extreme European right loves Israel, often describing it – as did Breivik (and, for that matter, founder of Zionism Theodore Herzl) – as a bastion of the West in the lands of Islam. Under Liberman, the Foreign Ministry has began making contacts with extreme right wing parties; the latest example being the meeting between an Israeli deputy minister, Ayoub Qara, and representatives of the Austrian Freedom Party (Hebrew), formerly led by Jorg Haider. While Haider was alive, his party was described as a “Neo-Nazi” party by Israeli officials. Well, turns out lepers can’t be choosers, and Israel needs every friend it can get. I mean, Israel was South Africa’s best friend during Apartheid; we’re used to that.
But where did the glee come from? It is not new. During the shock following the 9/11 attacks, a strong undercurrent of glee showed up. Four Israelis were actually arrested in New York for dancing in front of the burning towers. They spent quite some time in detention before being kicked out of the US.
Much of it stems from the feeling that “now, after a terrorist attack, they will understand how we live, and we’ll see how they’ll deal with it; let’s see them preach to us after suffering a suicide attack.” This sort of sentiment is not at all limited to right-wingers: Doron Rosenbloom, generally a sharp leftist satirist, wrote one of his poorest columns (Hebrew) based on this fantasy of attacks on London and Paris. Three years later, following the 7/7 attacks in London, Ha’aretz republished the column (Hebrew).
Of course, the attacks on London did not end up as Israelis hoped: The Londoners have a long history of resisting terror, from the Fenian “underground dynamiters” of the late 19th century to The Troubles of Northern Ireland. Blair’s government did not react to the attacks as the Israelis expected. No hysterics. No moaning and chest-beating in front of the cameras. Quiet, dignity and a stiff upper lip. Nor did Blair’s government respond as an Israeli government might, presumably by bombing Islamabad.
This glee is not reserved for gentiles (it is never present when a Jewish target is attacked abroad); it often appears after a terrorist on Tel Aviv, of which there were many. It is often expressed after a rocket attack on Sderot or an attack on a settlement in the wish for an attack on Tel Aviv, or on a leftist demonstration. Rather than opposing all terrorist attacks, they accept some of them – as long as they have an “educational” value. Strangely enough, this is quite similar to what the terrorists are trying to do: To educate a hostile public about their grievances by violence.
The support of Breivik’s act after his identity was discovered, even though most of his victims were children, follows the same pattern: Israeli commentators support his ideology, and, having adopted him – who is merely an armed and ruthless version of Glenn Beck – they tend to forgive him for this minor indiscretion. The fact that many people could identify with a mass murderer of children spotlights another problem, one rarely mentioned: The de-humanizing effects of Jewish Orthodox education, which most Israeli Jews receive in one form or another. Being taught from an early age that you belong to a master race, and that other people are inherently inferior, that their lives aren’t worth as much as yours, will take its mark.
July 26, 2011
12:27 pm
@ Sylvia
We know that ‘the Jews of Malmö” is a very frequent Hasbara-point of right-wing Zionists and Islamophobes who are mostly the same.
It was by the way one of your ideological ‘brothers’ who in a debate on Malmö introduced me to ‘Fjordman”, the Norwigian blogger that Behring Breivik himself claimed was his onw pen name in the net. It’s not clear whether he actually IS Fjordman or only inspired by him. But those are the kind of people who write on the internet about Malmö You’re in fine company, aren’t you ?
I’m sorry it’s not for me to prove that antisemitism is a minor problem in Norway, but for you to prove the contrary. Why don’t you ask Leonid Levin who actually lived there ?
@ Carrie
Why don’t you give us a link to one of ‘the poll after poll’ so we can study the seriousness of the poll, the pollster, the SPONSOR of the poll, and the methodology used for polling.
A few lines on wikipedia is hardly enough, and a story of a man whose son was beaten up on his way home from school is of course tragic, but not a poll.
July 26, 2011
12:32 pm
I didn’t think you would.
July 26, 2011
1:07 pm
Norway is not anti-semtic. We have nothing against jews. They are in no way discriminated. Talk to any norwegian jews and you’ll get the same response.
It is the state of Israel we disagree with. Not the existance of the state, but it’s policy towards Palestine.
This is a far cry from anti-semitism.
BTW, we frequently disagree with the US too.
July 26, 2011
6:30 pm
wow…gurvitz is a troofer
hey yossi…care to post any proof about the dancing israelis?
July 27, 2011
5:35 am
Janitors who are experts in Zionism, Irish people telling us we’re not a nation, just a faith, Norwegians who base their summer camps on boycotting Israel and break the blockade games and activities…maybe these people should worry about their own issues?
July 27, 2011
5:42 am
Jkikerbo,
So the Norwegian broadcasting report was filled w lies?
July 27, 2011
7:15 am
@Yossi
I’m getting the sense that our extreme disagreement has to do, in large part, with our different perspectives about who your audience is. From where you’re sitting, Israeli Orthodoxy has a lot of power over the state and society as a whole. And since you belong to the secular side of a religiously polarized body politic, you feel a strong desire to push back against regressive forces in Israeli society (which I agree with). BUT, this is an English blog read by, as far as I can tell, a lot of people who do not live in Israel. How do expect this audience to do anything about your problem? Boycott Israel until…what? The religious stop getting public welfare? Israel outlaws fundamentalist Judaism? From where I’m sitting (the most Jewish part of America), what you’re writing seems much more likely to inflame and gratify antisemites. There are a lot of very nice kippah-wearing folk here, many of whom have very progressive political views. There is religious pluralism here. As someone who grew up in a relatively anti-semitic part of the country, I know that the smallest morsels of antisemitic thought can reverberate for generations. I’ve experience antisemitic insults based on stereotypes that haven’t existed in the popular mind for decades. If you do a really honest assessment of the impact of this kind of writing, in English, on the internet, I think you’d realize that you’re not really influencing Israeli society against the orthodox hegemon, you’re influencing the non-Israeli public against the Jews they happen to live nearby, who are much easier to harm than some medieval rabbi 8,000 miles away.
July 27, 2011
8:03 am
Comment deleted for ad hominem attack.
July 27, 2011
8:28 am
Comment deleted for ad hominem attacks. Consider this to be your final warning.
July 27, 2011
10:20 am
@ Carrie
What Norwegian Broadcasting report ? We are still waiting.
Are you talking about the few lines that you picked up on wikipedia or did you actually see the report ? So you understand Norgegian !
I went throught some of the articles linked in the wikipedia entry and found this particularly interesting. As you apparently understand Norwegian, I encourage you to listen to Kaare Willoch, the former Prime Minister of Norway or at least read the article:
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article2867223.ece
If Norway had a more pro-Israeli stance, we wouldn’t have heard about the ‘antisemitism’ there, would we ? Funny, how there’a a concordance. I wonder whether Greece is ‘antisemitic’ after the Flytilla-operation there ?
July 27, 2011
10:25 am
According to the EU police, Europol, there were 1770 terror attacks in Europe between 2006 and 2009. Only six of these, or 0,34 percent had any connection to Muslims or Islam, while 265 times more attacks, 1.596 (equals 90.2 percent) terror attacks were committed by right wing extremists. These statistics speaks pretty much for themselves, but if it needs to be spelled out: the right wing is still the biggest threat to democracy, minorities, openness, security etc etc in Europe. As it has been for the last century.
July 27, 2011
5:43 pm
Sara,
Those numbers are incorrect. According to the report right wing extremists committed 6 attacks and Separatists committed 1590. Is there any reason you lumped them together when they are not lumped together in the report? In any case, this report is not on attempted terror attacks, only successful attacks. Furthermore, I don’t see anyone here claiming that only Muslims commit terror attacks so your post is sort of OT anyway.
For the record, according to the same EU police/Europol report left wing terror attacks numbered 144, so of course way higher than Islamic or Right wing attacks combined, which is not at all surprising when you think about it.
July 28, 2011
2:52 pm
Comment deleted for ad hominem attacks.
July 28, 2011
5:57 pm
This has nothing to do with Islam, Bosko.
Try and keep on topic…
July 28, 2011
9:15 pm
@Dregen Jelenkovich – “This has nothing to do with Islam, Bosko.
Try and keep on topic…”
Really? Then read Yossi Gurvtz’s last paragraph. I took this from there and substituted the word Jewish with Muslim.
July 28, 2011
9:20 pm
Comment deleted for ad hominem attack. Further comments will also be deleted.
July 29, 2011
3:04 am
Norwegian teenagers use the word Jew as an insult:
“While much attention in Norway has been focused on the threat of Muslim extremism, the threat from the far right was generally considered to have abated.
Kohn noted that anti-Semitism in the country remains a serious problem. A recent study of 7,000 Norwegian teens showed that more than half of youth of all backgrounds, whether Christian or Muslim, use the word “Jew” as an expletive.
Anecdotally, Kohn said, “one-third of the Jewish kids in our schools have experienced harassment … but not from one specific group.”"
http://972mag.com/israelis%E2%80%99-perverse-support-of-terrorism/
I also doubt that “israeli right wingers have the same philosophy” as the murderer Breivik.
For one thing Breivik wanted to resurrection the Knights Templar which was a brutal antisemitic organization.
If you are going to demonize Israelis, do try and get the facts right.
Most Israelis were aghast at the massacre of children.
July 30, 2011
1:16 pm
Mr. Gurvitz,
Thank-you for your ethical efforts, zionist/”Jews” and all their various enablers need this as much as the rest of us need some maintenance of the truth that, like any subset of the species we have our good folks as (un)well our shits. But, those of us fighting what Israel Shahak called “..the Nazification of Judaism.” (in 1974 !!)are really up against it. So long as the money is as obscenely plentiful as iot is, persons, like those above will refuse to think like the human beings they imagine themselves alone being.
Please keep on.