Thursday, 19 May 2016

Commentary

– Those memes are all over social media. One I saw that was trying to portray Israel as murderous showed photos of an Arab woman who was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers on International Women’s Day. The text described Israeli soldiers as loving nothing more than killing Arabs with reckless abandon. A little research showed that the propagandists conveniently left out a very important fact: She was a knife‐wielding terrorist who stabbed Israeli soldiers with the intent to kill them. Soldiers defending themselves against terrorists doesn’t make Israel a “murderous” state. (00:20)

– And Israel is not at all a “State based on a religious affiliation.” It is based on Jewish peoplehood. We are a people of Near Eastern origin, and the Land of Israel is our ancestral homeland. (00:23)

– Yes, it does. The British Mandate for Palestine set up two states: one for the Palestinian Arabs and one for the Palestinian Jews. When the mandate expired in 1948, the Jews declared the State of Israel, and the Arabs refused an independent state and instead went to war with Israel. (00:27)

– 😂 😃 (00:43)

– I’ll be voting for whoever wins the Democratic Party primary election. (00:48)

– Clinton is very pro‐Israel; only Sanders (the Jewish candidate, ironically) said things about Israel with which I disagree, but at least he’s not anti‐Zionist. (00:52)

– The regressive leftists are anti‐Zionist and anti‐Israel, which Sanders is not (although it’s true that many regressives support him). I haven’t heard about Clinton being pro‐Ḥamas; that would mean she’s pro‐terrorism. (00:57)

– It’s true that many leftists and regressives are supporting Islamists and have turned their backs on liberal values like free speech. However, the right‐wingers are against women’s rights, against gays and against immigrants. It’s really a terrifying time. (01:08)