Israel is egging the boycott movement on

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://972mag.com/israel-is-egging-the-boycott-movement-on/112074/

The consequences she is threatening, however, are nothing short of laughable. Any country that labels West Bank settlement products will lose its influence in the peace process, according to Hotovely’s plan, which one can safely assume came directly from the desk of her boss, Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Such an attitude illustrates the bunker mentality afflicting the entire Israeli government — and most of the opposition, for that matter. The more pressure levied against Israel to end the occupation, only one symptom of which is the settlements, the more Israel raises its middle fingers to the world.

But the world, and in this case, the EU, is losing patience with sexagenarian Israel’s teenage attitude. France is just waiting to set a deadline for ending the occupation in the UN Security Council, and the EU has far more punitive measures ready and waiting for decision-makers to sign off on.

More significantly, the pressure coming from regular citizens and civil society groups to end the occupation is growing rapidly and constantly. The BDS movement is moving fast on boycotts and divestment, sometimes of settlement companies and sometimes of everything and anything Israeli. If the Israeli government’s refusal to even consider ending the occupation continues for much longer, the S in BDS might just become a real thing.

The apartheid state is running out of time, and while its keyboard acolytes fervently call BDS and its supporters anti-zionists, anti-semites and anti-anything else that their narrow imaginations can fathom the noose is tightening on the illegal colonizer and destroyer of the Palestinian people.

[4now]

1. "bunker mentality" is an apt description of the Israeli government

and many of their supporters.

[King_David]

2. OTT much ? Both your and the OP post , which absolutely nobody takes seriously anymore ....

LOL

The apartheid state is running out of time, and while its keyboard acolytes fervently call BDS and its supporters anti-zionists, anti-semites and anti-anything else that their narrow imaginations can fathom the noose is tightening on the illegal colonizer and destroyer of the Palestinian people



blah blah blah blah yadah yada yadah.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

4. Tell us all again, dave, how you applauded the GOP-controlled LGBTQ-hating Tennessee legislature

for passing a bill designed to stiffle BDS. Please.

And you believe that anybody but a few shoepegs take you seriously?

[King_David]

6. Please cease with your personal attacks and obsession with me being Gay

That's the reason I never answer you ever.

STOP with your obsession with me being Gay !!!!

Immediately

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

7. It's not a personal attack, dave.

Last edited Mon Sep 28, 2015, 02:20 PM - Edit history (1)

It is disingenuous to applaud the GOP for anything when they target the LGBTQ community.

I can understand that some forget the details at times, but any Democrat of good conscience should stay away from applauding anything that those guys stand for.

Wouldn't you agree?

The issue has never been about your sexual orientation, and you know that.

I would be embarrassed to try and use that to attempt to stifle debate here.


On edit: Now if you want to discuss the OP instead of creating this pretence of an imagined insult I would welcome that.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

8. You see dave, I find your outburst disingenuous since

it appears, IMHO, that you believe that you alone are allowed to pass judgement on others, but when your own dubious history is presented you play the victim card.

It just doesn't make you believeable.

[geek tragedy]

10. Israel's government has declared that it will never withdraw from the West Bank.

They are committed to apartheid, in their own words.

This is really approaching the point where reasonable minds cannot disagree on this.

Supporting Israel is a rightwing cause.

[King_David]

11. Bernie Sanders supports Israel

Obama says he's a supporter of Israel - is he right wing too? Hillary Clinton ?

Mondoweiss agrees with you as well and Mondoweiss praises Anne Coulter too and she's pretty right wing .

David Duke definately does not support Israel and he's right wing.

Where do you get this from?

[geek tragedy]

12. the Democratic party's history of supporting Israel is a lagging indicator.

It's based on the past, not the future.

Republican support of Israel is based on the future.

Israel's future is unavoidably that of an explicit apartheid state. They're bragging about it now.

It was Republicans who supported the Afrikaaners, and eventually it will be only Republicans and rightwing Democrats who support Israel.

There are also, of course, some Democrats who are liberal on every issue except Israel, where they turn into rightwingers.

[King_David]

13. I don't agree with your analysis

It seems to be what you would wish was happening but not really happening...

There are other fringe Parties standing at the moment such as the Green Party.

[geek tragedy]

14. 90% of the Democratic party in both the House and Senate voted against Israel

on the one issue Israelis agree on and place the most importance on--the Iranian nuke deal.

The Israel Lobby and Israel had NEVER lost that much Democratic support on a Congressional vote. EVER.

The two other times they lost (AWACS, loan guarantees), it was due to Republicans voting against them.

Why did they lose the Democrats this time? Because Israel is now aligned--morally, philosophically, ideologically, politically--with the Republicans on the big picture.

The teams are in the process of switching over.

Obama is probably the last of his kind--the American President who's genuinely worried about Israel's future and wants to help it as a friend and encourage it to save itself.

What you'll get from here on out are Presidents who support Israel because it's politically expedient (Jeb!, Hillary, etc), until it isn't, who won't bother trying to persuade Israel that it's putting its own future at stake, because they really don't care about Israel itself, only its usefulness as a piece on the chessboard.

[King_David]

15. That's just wishful thinking ...

And nothing to do with reality.

Bernie Sanders who will be the first Jewish president is a strong supporter of Israel as is Hillary Clinton.

Your analysis is not grounded in reality but it's what you want to see happen but never will....

[geek tragedy]

16. Bernie isn't as strong a supporter

He boycotted Netanyahu's speech here, and has expressed personal dislike for Netanyahu.

[King_David]

17. Netanyahu is not Israel

He wishes more people would conflate the two as the Republicans try to do , and it seems your making the exact same mistake.

Bernie is a very strong supporter of Israel.

Hillary Clinton too and if Biden enters the race he would be the strongest supporter of Israel....

Any Democratic Candidate hold extremist anti Israel views ?
Any Democratic Party candidate have views on Israel similar to yours?

I didn't think so....

[geek tragedy]

18. There is no better representative of Israel. A majority of Israelis vote for him or for

someone even more extreme and racist.

Ehud Barak, for one, agrees with me that Israel is heading towards official apartheid status.

"As long as in this territory west of the Jordan River there is only one political entity called Israel, it is going to be either non-Jewish or non-democratic," former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said in 2010 when he was defense minister. "If this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/29/politics/kerry-apartheid-controversy/index.html

Israel's:

Prime Minister
Foreign Ministry director
UN Ambassador
designated ambassador to Brazil

have all affirmatively stated that what Barak is talking about is what is going to happen. All have either rejected a Palestinian state or have vowed that Israel will occupy the West Bank forever.

Do you think Bernie Sanders is going to support an apartheid state?

Because that is Israel's intermediate destiny, before it disappears and is replaced with a binational, majority Muslim state.

[oberliner]

21. Bernie Sanders supports Israel, but not Netanyahu

Just like many people around the world supported the US during the 2000's but were no fans of George W Bush.

[geek tragedy]

24. Netanyahu makes for a convenient scapegoat for liberals who support Israel.

There's no Obama waiting in the wings in Israel. The demographic trends in that country are making it more rightwing, not less.

At some point people will have to admit that Netanyahu gets re-elected because of, and not despite of, his handling of world affairs and the Palestinians.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

19. " Netanyahu is not Israel" Au contraire...

Bibi Netanbooboo is the epitome of Israel since a majority of Israelis have voted for Likrud and the Right Wing nutty circus that makes up this coalition of bigots gone wild.

He leads the nut squad. He is Israel.


Bernie is a not a supporter of Netanbooboo.

Hillary Clinton is in lock step with Booboo. Biden? He's not in the race.


Any Democratic Candidate hold extremist anti Israel views ?

How about realistic views?

[oberliner]

20. "The United States will stand by our long-standing friendship and support for the nation of Israel."

That's a quote from Bernie Sanders.

Here are the first three paragraphs of the Bernie Sanders statement on why he skipped Netanyahu's speech to Congress (including the quote in my subject line). The rest of the statement can be found at the link.

WASHINGTON, March 3 – In a statement after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today renewed his support for diplomatic efforts by the United States and other world powers to negotiate an agreement to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

“More than a decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us thousands of lives and trillions in treasure and made a difficult situation even worse. Those experiences should reinforce our resolve to make every diplomatic effort to avoid another rush to war,” Sanders said.

“It goes without saying that Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. It goes without saying that the United States will stand by our long-standing friendship and support for the nation of Israel. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Netanyahu did not offer any serious alternatives to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-sanders-statement-on-prime-minister-netanyahus-speech-to-congress

Sanders explicitly proves the point that Netanyahu is not Israel and that one can support Israel and not support Netanyahu.

[geek tragedy]

23. So long as it's plausible to argue that Netanyahu does not represent Israel, sure.

But, how many elections does this guy need to win before people stop pretending there's a great liberal hope around the corner in Israel?

Bernie is a politician who called Hugo Chavez a "Communist dictator." He knows he has multiple audiences.

[oberliner]

26. Bernie Sanders says what he means and means what he says

Don't try to create Bernie Sanders into something he isn't by imposing your own personal views onto him.

He doesn't view Israel the way you do and apparently he doesn't view Hugo Chavez the way you do either.

If you still want to support him, that's great. But don't just dismiss what he says as him "being a politician" because that's never been what Bernie Sanders is all about. He presents the same arguments to every audience, supportive or hostile.

[geek tragedy]

27. Hugo Chavez was not a "Communist dictator." That description is objectively false.

I'm cool with it--it's not like defending the honor of Hugo Chavez is going to earn him any votes.

Bernie Sanders has won multiple elections on a statewide basis. That means he's a politician, and they all play this game to one degree or the other.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

28. Things change, ober.

[Israeli]

3. There is no occupation silly........

....... ......

Israel Will Never Hand Over Parts of the West Bank, Says Deputy FM Hotovely

Deputy foreign minister also says EU labeling of produce from the West Bank would be tantamount to a boycott of Israel.

Handing over parts of the West Bank to the Palestinians is not "even on the list of options we’re offering the Palestinians,” Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said in an interview on Sunday.

While professing to support the creation of a Palestinian state in principle, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never said evacuating the West Bank was an option, Hotovely averred. The interview with her was published on the Times of Israel.

In the absence of a permanent foreign minister – the post is held by Netanyahu – Hotovely functions as Israel's top diplomat.

 Hotovely also said that any European country that introduces the labelling of settlement products will be regarded as supporting a boycott of Israel and will remove itself from playing a significant role in the Middle East conflict. She described labelling as a "red line" for Israel and threatened to downgrade Israel's economic ties with countries that implement it.

The European Parliament passed a motion earlier this month supporting the labelling of products from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. The EU Commission is expected to decide on the issue next month.

Hotovely added that Israel had mapped the European capitals which Israel believed could be persuaded not to implement EU labelling guidelines and would be embarking on a diplomatic campaign to lobby them.

“Europe is Israel’s number one trade partner," she said. “They, too, have something to lose.”

“Our concern is that once you put a label on Judea and Samaria, you put a label on Israel,” she said, referring to the West Bank. “We see it as a boycott of Israel for all intents and purposes. We view it as a slippery slope. It’s simply a sweeping disqualification of Israel.”

Haaretz

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.677760

To all intents and purposes ' Judea and Samaria ' is now officially Israel ....bye bye Israel Proper ....we are all one and the same dont you know ....no point in the labelling of settlement products ....you see where this is going ???

[geek tragedy]

9. which reveals the deeply dishonest game the hasbarists play

when they claim that Israel wants a two-state solution, that the US must support Israel to get a two-state solution, because it's the Palestinians' fault negotiations have failed.

Israel's government has repeatedly and explicitly repudiated the two-state solution.

The Israelis have effectively told the Palestinians "apartheid now, apartheid tomorrow, apartheid forever."

No honest person can blame the Palestinians when the Israelis have already declared their commitment to eternal apartheid.

[oberliner]

22. Except Israel did propose a two-state solution and the Palestinians rejected it

It's fine for you to say that the Israeli proposal wasn't good or fair, but it's not reasonable to say that Israel hasn't made such offers.

[geek tragedy]

25. That was 16 years ago, and that Israeli proposal would never have been approved by the Knesset

had the Palestinians accepted.

The physical reality is that Israel is never going to withdraw the IDF from the West Bank. The Israelis believe they have solved the 'Palestinian problem,' and that it needs to be managed, not resolved.

Look at your fellow pro-Israel commenters in this forum--there's no serious critique of where that country is going, or what the implications are of permanent Israeli military rule in the West Bank without granting the Palestinians the right to vote. Just excuses, excuses, excuses, excuses as to why Israel has to continue doing what it's doing, and how what it's doing is all the Palestinians' or the Iranians' fault.

[Israeli]

5. Just a reminder of where Tzipi Hotovely was ...

not that long ago ......

Tzipi Hotovely, who was appointed as Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister when Netanyahu decided to keep this portfolio in his own hands, came up with a different approach to Israel’s position in the international arena.

Upon taking office she convened the senior diplomats charged with representing Israel around the world, and urged them to play down the argument that Israel needs the territories it occupied in 1967 for security reasons.

Instead, they should say loud and clear that the land belongs to the Jews since God Himself promised it to them. Hotoveli provided the diplomats with a quote from the great commentator Rashi (Rabbi Shalomo Yitzchaki). Already in his lifetime in Medieval France – so explained the new Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs - Rashi foresaw that one day the Jews would need to justify their rule over the Promised Land.

When faced with moral arguments by the Palestinians, who complain that their land was stolen from them and that they live under oppressive occupation, representatives of the State of Israel should simply cite the clinching counter-argument provided by Rashi – simply, that at the very moment of the Creation of the World, God already designated this land for the exclusive use of the Jews and them only.

Reportedly, the veteran Israeli diplomats were not really enthusiastic about the new PR line offered by their new boss. For his part, Prime Minister Netanyahu quickly appointed his loyal Dore Gold as Director General of the Foreign Ministry. Gold is considered a political hawk, not favorable to the Palestinians, but religious arguments in politics are not his forte.

Source: http://adam-keller2.blogspot.co.il/search?q=An+international+roller+coaster