All logic is defied when the Israeli Police issued a permit to the right-wing racists to hold an Israeli flag raising demonstration in Umm al-Fahm, an Arab village in Israel. Surely, the whole demonstration was to illustrate a show of strength and to prove that they have a right to raise the Israeli flag in every corner of Israel irrespective of the nature of the population living there. The relationship between Jewish and Arab citizens in Israel is tense and it is not prudent or wise for Jewish citizens to flex muscles in order to incite the Arab citizens of Israel to violence. What is the purpose?
The right wing under the two racist pseudo-religious fascists, Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben Gvir, are provocateurs in the tradition of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane's Kach Party. This party was banned for its racist ideology.
The double standards that Israel seems to be practicing when it comes to dealing with the fascist right wing are blatant. On the one hand, permits are granted to right wing racists to hold demonstrations against the Arab citizens, and on the other hand, Palestinian Cultural Festivals are banned because of incitement considerations. If both right wing anti-Arab demonstrations as well as the Palestinian Cultural Festival were banned then there would be a sense of balance. Unfortunately this was not the case.
The Israel establishment always justifies their actions against the Arab minority in Israel as "security considerations". If these considerations were genuine, there should never have been permits issued to the right wing hoodlums to incite the Arab community to violence. It meant recruiting 2500 policemen to keep the peace so that these hoodlums could carry out their provocation within the law. The whole exercise was not justified.
It is amazing but not surprising that Ehud Barak has agreed to join Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Coalition. One would expect that Labor would join the opposition in the Knesset. The enticement of Netanyahu to Barak could not be refused and Labour under Barak decided to forego the few principles that remain in that party, virtually foregoing the two-state solution to the conflict.
Once again Labor shelved its ideology for gaining a few cabinet posts in the Knesset. This is the beginning of the demise of the Labor Party. It will be part of a right wing coalition that maintains the occupation, and encourages Israeli settlements within the West Bank. The Labor Party has compromised on its ideals. Those members who were opposed to the Likud-Labor deal have fallen into line and accepted the deal as a fait accomplait. Labor will be sitting on the same side as Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Foreign Minister-designate. Need more be said about that apart from the fact that those who voted Labor feel betrayed? How can Barak claim that this is the will of Labor supporters? When the election results were known, Labor lost heavily. Barak stated the following day that the voters wanted Labor in the opposition. He rapidly changed his mind after Likud caught him in their net and made him an offer he could not refuse even at the expense of betraying his supporters. Labor has lost its soul and its identity. It is no more accountable to its supporters and is destined to the political dustbin of history despite its glorious past in the establishment of the State of Israel.
The peace movement in Israel has been neutralized. Labor that was part of this movement has other interests in mind - certainly not coexistence with the Palestinians as priority. This means that those who believe in peace will have to find other ways to reach that goal. The government of Israel now believes in peace with occupation and no compromise. Labor is part of this as well.
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They Have Even Been Doing It To Themselves, by Lambcut.
Lambcut left Lebanon a few days before the Israeli incursion in 2006 but stayed in daily telephone contact with friends there. One day, not long after the Israelis had packed up their Uzis and gone home, Lambcut got a call to say that folks were pinned down in their homes, with bombs exploding all around. Fearing a second incursion, further inquiries were made. It turned out a remarkably heavy hail storm was exploding some of the millions of cluster bombs scattered there. Guess it saved UN unexploded ordinance boys a job.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2007/11/2008525123059987481.html
Notwithstanding white phosphorous and cluster bombs, this article -“Israeli military in anthrax row” http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/03/200932793747355713.html regarding Israel’s anthrax experiments on its own soldiers, reminded Lambcut of a Spitting Image skit that followed the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The skit went something like this:
President Reagan is sitting alone in the Oval Office. He answers his phone. He says, “Oh my God! Did we do it”? There is a pause that infers a negative answer. Then, “Did the British do it?” Again a negative answer. “Did the French do it?” He hangs up looking bewildered.
Then he says, “Oh my God! They did it to themselves!”.
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