Reading about the latest range of war traumas today, from the killing of Oxfam-affiliate water engineers by IDF, to the destruction of olive trees & a woman harvesting them by WB settlers, to many dozens lately slaughtered in the north...
It is painful to know this will only end when the extremists win.
So many *here*, as there, do not a flying F about the lives shattered.
They're just not *people* to those who think fulfillment of violent prophecy is the best solution for all.
Atheist note, though:
History will show this awful work to have been done by *secular* folk too.
There are some extreme Jewish traditions involved - messianics in N's far-right coalition government - & they're bolstered by a mass of US Christian Evangelicals who've been supporting this conflict for decades...
But Netanyahu is secular, & belongs to a movement that leverages Torah solely for territorial ambitions, with none of the grace of faith involved.
It is a sick, brutal thing to witness.
@MLClark that US support’s dark underbelly has Armageddon in its greasy folds; setting the scene for Jesus to return. For those true believers Israel at war is a necessary precursor, part of the “tribulation”. Then they go to heaven at a group rate. Suffice to say I’m wary of politicians who want the world to end in their lifetime.
And there are so many such politicians!
I think we need to elect more dogs and cats for mayor again. And a human 35 is 7 in dog years, right - for presidential nominees?
@MLClark no offense to cats and dogs, I think something more like a political version of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, but the selected must serve in office to be scapegoats for the citizens.
In all seriousness though, among Canadian conservatives that's often how party members view their candidates.
I routinely hear defences of politicians that run: "Well that person could be in private industry right now, making a fortune on oil/pharmaceuticals; the very fact that he's generously chosen to run for election instead is such a financial sacrifice, I simply *have* to believe his intentions are good!"
Conversely, liberals are just bums who couldn't get work elsewhere. 🤷🏻♂️
@MLClark the quiet part not spoken aloud being the benefits that person will get in speaking fees, book publishing deals, book sales engineered by “think tanks”, real estate sales, let alone direct bribes or paid no-show positions once out of office. Such sacrifices.
Exactamundo. 👌🏻
@MLClark @LiseL Yes! Throughout history, we've had groups associated with EVERY religion become violent oppressors.
Some Israelis (IDF) are now perpetrators of human rights violations and war crimes Many Jews around the world do not support these human rights violations.
Claiming that anyone who opposes the IDF's war crimes is an "antisemite" is a fascist ploy.
Devout Jewish groups in Israel have also been standing up to messianic extremists and their secular counterparts.
From the outset of this war, there's been footage in Israel of police battering and otherwise harassing orthodox Jewish persons for speaking against this war.
You get to weird places as a society when a secular warmonger tells a person praying for peace Hitler should've taken their lot.
But that's because we're all human, & every group contains multitudes.
@MLClark And he was arraigned for corruption before he started this escalation, amiright? He and his one war cabinet buddy want this war. The rest of Israel, not.
It's a little more complicated than that.
Netanyahu is definitely corrupt and has worked for decades to fend off a two-state solution. His right-wing Likud Party has always been big on reclaiming certain regions.
His latest far-right coalition ties him to messianic extremists responsible for immense settler violence in the West Bank.
And his domestic policies, attacking the judiciary & censoring media, have further fostered violent beliefs. Israeli polls are ugly right now. 1/2
Many of conscience left the country after the war started. Many others stay & protest. But right-wing politicians like N feed on hate, anger & the war machine to stay in power.
As a result, there's a deep psychological wound that'll take decades to heal. It currently has children cheering for the destruction of the ethnic other: never a healthy sign.
But it is not intrinsic. It's derangement from too much right-wing leadership & war rhetoric. People can & do come back from it. 2/2
@MLClark That explains a lot. I thank you for taking the time to write that out for me.
@MLClark Extremism of any kind is not a good thing. However I do agree that people can learn from the past and grow from their experiences.
One final thought:
Folks here were boggling the other day at how immigrants to the US couldn't see the GOP for what it is.
But many in the West, often out of a "polite antisemitism" that fails to differentiate between Jewish cultural & Israeli political spectrums, have been living in cognitive dissonance: quick to identify & condemn far-right extremism on their home turf, while credulously supporting far-right extremism (*supported* by the GOP!) in another country.
So. That's how it happens.