"Israeli minister attacks Kerry over boycott warnings"

"At a Munich security forum on Saturday, Kerry touched a nerve in Israel by pointing to "an increasing de-legitimisation" campaign building up against it internationally and "talk of boycotts" if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict did not end. "Are we all going to be better with all of that?" asked Kerry, who is seeking a framework deal soon that will set a path toward a final accord on peace and Palestinian statehood. Steinitz seized on the top U.S. diplomat's remarks as a threat against Israel that would only encourage the Palestinians to harden their positions in the six-month-old negotiations, which have shown few signs of progress. "The things ... Kerry said are hurtful, they are unfair and they are intolerable," Steinitz told reporters."  Reuters

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"They are intolerable."  Ah!  I see.  At last!  Kerry is now unmasked as an anti-Semite.  Bibi has said something similar.

Seriously, Kerry comprehends, however belatedly that Israel is isolating itself by virtue of its continued negotiating trickery as a strategy, its heavy handed occupation of Palestinian lands and its snarling hatred of the non-Jewish world.

Kerry is undoubtedly correct in his statements regarding Israel's destiny as heritor of the worldwide attitude towards South Africa in the "bad old days."

Can Israel turn itself around and actually seek comity on the basis of equality with the Palestinians? I doubt it.  The hyper-nationalist attitude of revisionist Zionism is now so deeply imbedded in the Israeli electorate that the die is cast.  pl      

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/02/palestinians-israel-usa-idUSL5N0L70AS20140202

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/world/middleeast/netanyahu-criticizes-kerry-over-boycott-remarks.html?action=click&contentCollection=World&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article

Comments

[Anna-Marina]

And now this rage of the establishment that affects the freedom of speech at the very heart of western civilization:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-move-to-muzzle-dieudonne-mbala-mbala-the-bete-noire-of-the-french-establishment/5366249

The Israeli-firsters are lunatics that would tear apart, with tribal viciousness, the invaluable principles that support western democracies. So sad, so tragic. Truly, "There ain't no business like shoah business."

[YT]

"East Asian atheists"

Nice one, Monsieur...

[Poul]

Babak Makkinejad:

I have long wondered when the Israeli religious nationalists will copy the BJP's demolition of the Babri Mosque (Ayodhya) in 1992. Once the mosques are gone how long will Muslim belief and sentiment last...

[Medicine Man]

JohnH -- I worry about how far they might go. The lunatic fringe in Israel becomes ever more mainstream and the type of fear they are carrying around could justify almost any overreach.

[confusedponderer]

Anna-Marina,
of course they overdo it, but they are so partisan to be blind to that, or so haughty to be indifferent.

All they want is the power to bludgeon their opponents with the full power of the law where smearing them as antisemites, harassing them with lawsuits or pushing them out doesn't work or suffice. It is to them just another arrow in the quiver.

Erosion of freedom of speech? Why, not for them! They wouldn't dream of doing anything so vile as to criticise Israel! They appear to me to be that mindless.

I think the urge to criminalise dissent with Israel betrays a truth about them: They don't just have a different opinion than the BDS crowd - they have seen the light, and to them the BDS crownd are criminals. There is only black and white.

I see a point in criminalising hate speech, but criticising Israel over the settlements and calling for a boycott isn't any different than doing the same with South Africa over Apartheid. Nobody in his right mind would have come up with that being hate speech.

It is clear from that, that to them a different standard applies for all things involving Israel.

Any criticism is beyond the pale, and the only acceptable position is complete deference.

You see that attitude at work when some Israeli pol tells the World that only they, and they alone, understand the Middle East, and that thus, we should defer to their judgement, or when Bibi harangues foreign leaders, again.

I think it also reflects a persistent and delusional sense of perpetual persecution.

There you have the strongest military power in the region - and her partisans in Isreael and abroad speak every day as if the enemy hordes stood at the gates of Jerusalem, ready to push them into the sea.

The result is a violent bellicosity, and an underlying sense of self pity for having to do all these unpleasant things. To them Gaza was a tragedy, because Israeli soldiers had to kill, and, as the legend goes, they wept afterwards.

There is no second thought for whom they killed. That is not the problem, and if one asks the hardcore, they'd probably say it was not enough.

Here's a thought: Maybe the Izzis are just what they do and not what they tell themselves and everybody else? People are as they do?

[Babak Makkinejad]

No they won't; would Italy sell the "True Cross" to Muslims - had she have it?

[Babak Makkinejad]

Do you know the total figure of EU aide to Israel: cash, credit, weapons, and other subsidies?

Can you supply a break-down for each country?

And how much of the ostensible aide to Palestinians is really subsidy for Israel as the goods are supplied by Israeli firms?

[Thomas]

Confusedponderer,

John Glubb has the best epithet for them, clever and unwise.

[Matthew]

GCP: And what should the Arabs do? If you say "make the Palestinians citizens," then you are asking the surrounding states to reward the Israelis for perpetrating the ethnic cleasning. BTW, the Arab states have done a lot. They permitted Palestinians to live there. Contrast with how Israel treats refugees.

Antoher example: My wife's Palestinian family were allowed to have Jordanian passports even though they were not Jordanian citizens.

You don't solve a refugee problem by blaming the people who accept the refugees. You solve it by punishing the ethnic cleansers.

[Anna-Marina]

A response to a growing threat to a baseline:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/opinion/friedman-the-third-intifada.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=1

In contrast, here is a pontification of Mr. Klein, a sponsor of the Anti-Israel Boycott Bill: “I will not allow the enemies of Israel or the Jewish people to gain an inch in New York.” What a cynical fool...
http://forward.com/articles/191932/new-york-senate-passes-anti-israel-boycott-bill/

[confusedponderer]

As I said, not a cynic, just a mindless man who holds Israel über alles.

The people promoting a boycott against Israel because of Israeli policies engage in free speech.

Given the fact that even people as offensive as the Phelps family are routinely being tolerated in the US, I have a hard time seeing how the BDS people are so much more offensive that their conduct must be reigned in.

I also fail to see how a call for a boycott of Israel for her policies by her critics is any less protected free speech than the usual exuberant jubilation for everything Israel by the Israel firsters.

So Mr. Klein happens to strongly dislike the content of the BDS crowd's free speech? So what. Tough luck. But sadly, the man is a legislator.

For folks like Mr. Klein's, with Israel being sacrosanct, exceptions and adjustments must be made to the civil liberties of those people who do not share his views.

More, they must be punished, silenced.

This particular bill is one of the 'Defund X' bills so popular with the US right.

The clear intent is to either destroy the body that did something that he dislikes, or to compel that body to expel the people that he dislikes (i.e. destroy their carers) - or have the body face dire financial straits.

This is not about a difference in opinion but a game of scorch and burn. Kr. Klein and his folk are in for the kill.

[Barry]

"To the likes of Bibi, kicking the can down the road while improving their own position - be it by creating 'facts on the ground' or by expanding their already existing military superiority, is proven strategy."

It's worked well - they've incorporated many areas so deeply into Israel by settlements that they'll be almost impossible to give up. And the effects on domestic Israeli politics are desired - as far as I can see, this has helped move things to the right.

[Alba Etie]

All
The MSM is reporting that AIPAC is standing down regarding the Iranian nuclear deal . Senator Menedez is pulling the new Iranian sanctions bill he recently introduced. It may be misplaced optimism on my part again - but I really believe we see the contours of the Realist within the administration steering These United States away from R2P/neocon misadventures overseas -particularly with the Persians . We shall see.

[Anna-Marina]

A very large gorilla in a room:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/chase-madar/washington%E2%80%99s-military-aid-to-israel-fake-peace-process-real-war-process