Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Bibi talk: ‘New York Review of Books’ trivializes Israeli fascism

"Donald Trump May Not Be a Fascist, But He is Leading Us Merrily Down That Path "

.. in the Republican debate today the question of how much a supporter of Israel candidates were came up .. Rubio and Cruz both attacked Trump for saying he would attempt to work as a relatively
impartial negotiator in hopes of bringing about a peaceful solution to the conflict there .. Cruz, i think it was went further than Rubio by saying Trump's position was actually an "anti-Israel" stance ..

US Politics Philip Weiss on April 3, 2015 37 Comments


Shulman

The latest New York Review of Books includes this excellent piece on Netanyahu’s victory ..
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/apr/23/bibi-hidden-consequences-his-victory/ ..
by David Shulman in which the word fascist appears twice. Shulman writes that the election shows that

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the Israeli electorate is still dominated by hypernationalist, in some cases proto-fascist, figures.
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Later:

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As Zvi Barel has cogently written in Haaretz, “Netanyahu has succeeded in overturning the principle that the state
exists for the sake of its citizens and putting in its place the Fascist belief that the citizens exist for the state.”
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The New York Review of Books sells this piece to its readers with two headlines that call Netanyahu “Bibi.” The cover line is here:


Cover line for David Shulman piece in latest NYRB

And the actual piece is titled: Bibi: The Hidden Consequences of His Victory ..
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/apr/23/bibi-hidden-consequences-his-victory/ .

But guess what: Shulman never calls Netanyahu Bibi in the piece. He uses his actual name, Benjamin Netanyahu. Just what you’d expect from a serious voice on the conflict (Shulman is a Ta’ayush activist and a Sanskrit scholar.) Why would you ever call a leader of proto-fascists “Bibi”? Do Palestinians call Netanyahu “Bibi”– the man who complained that Arabs were voting in “droves”?

James North first explained what the diminutive does for Netanhayu
.. http://mondoweiss.net/2012/10/stop-calling-him-bibi .. on our site three years ago:

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When they call him Bibi, it gives the impression that this is a goofy guy who holds up a Wile E Coyote picture of a bomb at the U.N.; he seems a little bit of a bumbler; he seems the equivalent in the political sphere of those two thieves who were foiled by Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone — bad but inept and goofy.

Instead of a liar who presides over a nuclear powered colonial state that people are killed for opposing, where thousands are imprisoned and many of them, according to international human rights agencies, are tortured, and where the death of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old innocent young woman, was recently whitewashed.
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Why call him Bibi? Because a good number of your older Jewish readers feel affection for him; and the editors of the publication are themselves unable to see him as altogether other than harmless. They should get over this. By the way, David Corn, Howard Fineman and Chris Matthews are also guilty of Bibi talk..

P.S. Shulman’s piece is also remarkable for its quiet call for one vote for all persons between the river and the sea and its announcement of the inevitability of mass violence. On violence:

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It seems ridiculous to have to write this, but in case anyone has any doubt: there is no way a privileged collective can sit forever on top of a disenfranchised, systematically victimized minority of millions. We can expect mass violent protests of one sort or another (maybe, with luck, some large-scale nonviolent protest as well). Sooner or later, the territories will probably explode, and the Palestinian Authority may be washed away. At that point Netanyahu will complain loudly that you can never trust the Arabs.
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Here is the idealistic statement about the political future:

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Perhaps hope lies in a vision of all the territory west of the Jordan River as somehow more than one state but less than two, under conditions of true equality. Already there are groups within what is left of the Israeli left that are thinking creatively, and practically, along these lines. One thing is certain. The demand to fully enfranchise the Palestinians now suffering under Israeli rule will eventually prove irresistible.
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http://mondoweiss.net/2015/04/trivializes-israeli-fascism/

See also:

It’s too late for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=119715629

FOREIGN POLICY Treason: Leaked Wiretaps Reveals Netanyahu Bribed Republicans To Sabotage Obama’s Iran Peace Deal
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=119544343

The Fearful and the Frustrated
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=119227239

Shimon Peres doubts Israel can win Permanent war or Survive Annexation of West Bank
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=118223699

Germany Shuts Down Netanyahu’s Stupidity: Hitler, Not Palestine, Responsible For Holocaust
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=117892514

Israel is uncomfortable (cough) with this report from the UN. They feel that they are not really involved in this.
Only Hamas is of course... ;) ___ UN accuses Israel and Hamas of possible war crimes during 2014 Gaza conflict

Commission appointed by UN human rights council says those responsible for suspected
violations of international law must be brought to justice

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem
22 June 2015 16.28 BST


A donkey pulls a cart among bombed buildings in Gaza City. Many homes are yet to be demolished
or rebuilt nearly a year after the conflict. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=114805998