Israel's Finance Minister and former Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has resigned from the Israel Cabinet in protest at the proposed Gaza withdrawal. He will not be missed. Simply put, his rejectionist policies have always been about classing Palestinians as "terrorists". His record speaks for itself.
On September 12, 2001, Netanyahu was asked how the previous day’s terror attacks in New York and Washington would affect relations between Israel and the United States. "It's very good," he said. "Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy." The attack, Netanyahu argued, would "strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we've experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive haemorrhaging of terror."
The convenient comparison between Israel and America may suit the political mood of the day, but it's a specious one. A man who kills Israelis in Tel Aviv is not driven by the same ideology as an individual who commits terror attacks in London. Labelling them all as "terrorists" absolves governments of any responsibility whatsoever for the acts themselves.
On September 12, 2001, Netanyahu was asked how the previous day’s terror attacks in New York and Washington would affect relations between Israel and the United States. "It's very good," he said. "Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy." The attack, Netanyahu argued, would "strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we've experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive haemorrhaging of terror."
The convenient comparison between Israel and America may suit the political mood of the day, but it's a specious one. A man who kills Israelis in Tel Aviv is not driven by the same ideology as an individual who commits terror attacks in London. Labelling them all as "terrorists" absolves governments of any responsibility whatsoever for the acts themselves.
3 Comments:
A man who kills Israelis in Tel Aviv is not driven by the same ideology as an individual who commits terror attacks in London.
How do their ideologies differ?
Far too complex to explain here, but nationalist struggles and anger at Western hegemony do not make similiar ideologies. Besides, to suggest, as Israel did post 9/11, that its struggle was the same as many other Western countries, ignores one major factor. The Israeli occupation is a major source of despair and anger, and nobody should forget it. It can make people do mad, crazy things.
Far too complex to explain here, but nationalist struggles and anger at Western hegemony do not make similiar ideologies.
Are you saying that one's a nationalist struggle and the other is anger at Western hegemony, or that just because the two attacks had both nationalist struggle and anger at Western hegemony (in your opinion) doesn't mean that the attacks are similar to each other?
The Israeli occupation is a major source of despair and anger, and nobody should forget it. It can make people do mad, crazy things.
But America has also occupied places, or done the equivalent in the eyes of the terrorists, such as US troops in Saudi Arabia (the origin of 15 of the 19 terrrorists) or governments viewed as being supported by the USA.
Does "despair" lead terrorist groups to not want pre-1967 borders but the destruction of the Israeli state?
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