Israeli newspapers were filled this weekend with articles about how the government will respond to the recent “price tag” attacks by settlers that have gone beyond targeting Palestinians and Israeli leftwing activists, to targeting IDF soldiers and bases. In a Likud party meeting, speaking about the recent attacks, Prime Minister Netanyahu assured that such acts were not be tolerated. (According to reports, 30% of IDF forces in West Bank are now devoted entirely to dealing with “price tag” attacks). Netanyahu said in one breath that “the law is the law” and that hurting IDF soldiers is of the same severity whether it is an attack on the Ephraim Brigade or the fence in the Palestinian village of Bil’in.
Netanyahu in effect equated the physical assaults on IDF soldiers and acts of arson committed by settlers with the unarmed demonstrations that have been going on for over 6 years in the Palestinian village of Bil’in. Residents there have been protesting the fence that was built on the village’s land – the route of which was already deemed illegal in 2007 by the Supreme Court, which said it must be rerouted. The IDF and government only began to do so in part last year.
The prime minister’s Cabinet Secretary, Zvi Hauser, reiterated Netanyahu’s equation of settler violence and nonviolent anti-occupation demonstrations when he told Israel’s Channel 2 News over the weekend that there are “anarchists from the left and from the right,” and that Israel must draw a red line for these groups. He said the government will use an “iron fist” to fight the “radicals” and “anarchists” who are “criminals” that are “defaming” the country.
In a move aimed at vilifying leftwing activists, the prime minister’s Cabinet Secretary managed to not only take the spotlight off of the “price tag” attacks and mitigate their severity, but also to absolve the government of any accountability or responsibility for everything that is going on in the territory under its control.
I don’t think I need to add anything to this report – it speaks for itself.
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J.
The options to start using administrative detention and the military court option – it doesn’t take being very cynical to predict who that’s going to start impacting more.
dannecker
Israeli-American native of New York City…what does that mean?
AYLA
It means her Israeli parent(s) raised her in NYC and then she moved (back) to Israel, @Dannecker. What’s it to ya?
Henry Weinstein
‘Dannecker’… what does that mean?
Any profile, About Me somewhere, darling?
.
How despicable it is to sneer at Mairav ‘s profile staying hidden in the dark.
Ed Frias
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4163430,00.html
Palestinian prisoners transported to Allenby, Atarot and Kerem Shalom border crossings as second phase of Shalit deal begins; relatives waiting for inmates at Beitunia checkpoint hurl firebombs, stones at security forces
12.18.11
Ed Frias
Where is Meretz calling for live fire?
Ooooops, we only do that for Jews.
Henry Weinstein
Where’s the beef in your comments, Ed Frias? Is there a single word relevant to the topic? Where’s your point on “PM equates ‘price tag’ attacks with anti-occupation protests”?
.
Do you think Palestinian teenagers believe in Santa Bibi?
>http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/second-stage-of-shalit-swap-complete-as-550-palestinian-prisoners-released-1.402168
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/picture/2011/dec/17/west-bank-protest-israel-tear-gas
Henry Weinstein
“Your comment is awaiting initial confirmation”…
Freedom of speech, my ass.
Censure militaire, sans doute à cause du titre de l’article, que je cite.
Ou alors, mais alors c’est n’importe quoi, la question sur le Père Noël.
So you see Ed Frias, Big Brother Loves You.
Woody
“Native” means “place of birth”, Dannecker.
Ed Frias
Henry Weinstein, to funny Weinstein quoting from the Guardian.
Read this about the Guardian’s coverage of Israel.
http://cifwatch.com
Henry Weinstein
So what, Ed Frias?
You’re still out of topic, funny too.
You want to debate on UFO?
Not my cuo of tea.
Henry Weinstein
Errata: cup of tea
Of course!
AYLA
I’ve been ignoring Ed Frias ever since his “occupation of what” comment on Aziz’s DOAH thread. Please join me. He’s outed himself as being someone who comments on the i/p conflict all over the place. He’s one of those.
*
My Israeli-born friends here seem to think this is all business and usual; par for the course–maybe a little worse with Bibi but things only get a little worse and a little better; nothing worth our attention. I have no idea who I would be if I’d been born here; even as a fiction writer, who can easily empathize with just about anyone, I won’t write a character from an Israeli’s point of view because I know I can’t do it well. I’m writing from an Ethiopian character’s point of view; I’m a pretty brave writer, but I know my limits. And that *is* me empathizing; I cannot imagine what it’s like to be born here, and I am not judging. However, I think they’re wrong. The changes over the past few years, and the past year especially (from J14 to everything Mairav is reporting here) are grave and different. And I actually think they may be good. Sooner or later, when things reach a critical tipping point, they tip. Which way? Up to us. Here. Now.
Philos
It seems that the government is reading “How to topple the Weimar Republic for dummies” by Goering. Attack the Left, attack the Left and attack the Left. Keep on doing this until all the laws are authoritarian and there is only Bibi (maybe Liberman) and their band of viscious White Shirts.
Piotr Berman
About smear in Guardian:
the gist of the story is that a person X petitioned Israeli authorities on issue A and was denied, and that look very bad.
However, Israeli embassy denies that the petition was denied and claims that “approval was never in question”. As the detractors of Guardians note, there is no proof of denial. However, if you need a permit, the denial can have a form of omission rather than commission. Embassy did not claim that there was no petition, and did not produce a copy of an approval (presumably, with a date), only that “it was not in question”. I did not even see any cite of a statement in what timeframe the approval would be granted (late approval being a bureaucratic trick since the time of Ur).
So the link given by Ed Frias may illustrate an anatomy of a smear against The Guardian.