Levied Troop wrote:Bronshtein wrote: I'm still going to shout every time someone casually says Israel is responsible for everything bad in the region though
I don't recall anyone saying that, certainly not in a way that might lead you to start shouting.
And I think, I hope, I acknowledged that earlier when I said from memory 'no harm, no foul' in relation to your post. I do see an enormous volume of casual acceptance on the web, and in other more theoretically well adjusted spaces, of the idea that any problems in the Middle East are of Israel's making. If you don't know what I am talking about, well I am glad. But I see academics boycotting Israeli Universities, calling for bans on Israeli academics attending British, European and American Campuses, I hear otherwise sensible people saying that there would not have been a Twin Towers attack, or a Kenyan and Tanzanian US Embassy bombing or a USS Cole bombing etc etc if it weren't for Israel's existence or treatment of Palestinians, or whatever the accusation is at the moment. So sorry if it seemed I was pointing at you (or Duff)but I was referring to a bigger problem.
I did use the practice of political assassination as the extreme end of illegal behaviour of elected officials and referenced Israel. Entirely because that was the latest example in the press at the time. Israel does engage in political assassination, there's a long line of evidence that it does but more importantly, the Israeli government and armed services say that they do.
Actually the Israeli Government normally remains entirely silent on these matters. Occasionally someone purporting to be Mossad or Shin Bet or some sort of Special Forces within the IDF claim to have done X, Y or Z. But I don't recall many official acknowledgments. (Yes you can infer it and no I am not trying to pretend Israel doesn't sometimes kill terrorist leaders. But when is killing the leaders of a terrorist 'army' as they like to style themselves 'political'?).
You might want to defend the practice of political assassination, especially given some of the targets, but I don't think it is tenable to deny that Israel engages in it. Nor is it anti-semitic to point out that Israel engages in it.
Sometimes, criticism is prompted by disappointment, not hate.
I am actually quite unsure of how I feel about killing terrorist leaders. I am generally in favour of capture and trial and no death penalty. However when you see someone organising murder walking around being lauded in International Capitals and feted in Gulf Hotels it is difficult to suppress a smile of satisfaction when now and again the most egregious examples meet a sticky end.
Just saying it happens is not anti-Semitic. If someone picks it out as the only example every time I just like to point out some examples of the other countries who do similar things - Bin Laden, drone strikes in Pakistan, Algerian Islamists being deported from the UK to be tortured and killed in North Africa in the 90s.
Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:23 pm
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