Reply #36: No, I'm not, Shakti...

[Violet_Crumble]

The kind of hateful rhetoric we're discussing here is widespread throughout the Palestinian and mideastern Muslim leadership in general. In Israel, as in America, it is generally relegated to a fringe movement. Your examples of support doesn't necessarily mean much.

And unfortunately it's also far too widespread in Israel. I don't know or particularly care which level is worse, as it's all equally disgusting. It's not a fringe thing when the Chief Rabbi of Israel is supporting a lunatic like that, nor when MK's support it. If it just politics to support such people, then there's something really sick about politics. We had a kind of similar situation here where Pauline Hanson was elected to the Senate and made a maiden speech that was really bigoted against Asians and immigrants. She'd thrown her support behind the Liberal government, and while I don't have much good to say about the former Howard government, even the Howard government not only distanced themselves from her, but came out and strongly opposed what she'd said. I could say that was just politics, as Asian countries she was attacking are some of our major trading partners, but I think in that case it was done because what she said was so extreme that no sane person could have stood by in support of her.

I know that you, unlike some others, have been consistent in stating yr revulsion of such things in Israel, and I suspect that yr of the same mind as me in believing that extremism on both sides isn't endemic within either Israeli or Palestinian societies, and that it needs to be opposed by everyone who wants to see a peacceful end to the conflict.

For example... this whole stink was raised because the police detained him. When was the last Palestinian leader to get detained and questioned for inciting violence?

I honestly don't know. I do know a few years back the PA rounded up a bunch of folk that were inciting or committing violence, but then Israel went and bombed the crap out of the prisons in the West Bank anyway, making it a bit difficult to detain anyone...

The police detained Lior for how long? Wasn't it a few hours or less? Wasn't there threats of bloodshed if he wasn't released?

Really? Louisiana actually elected David Duke to the US Senate!

I've seen lots of references to David Duke at DU, but only took notice when he did a massive copyright infringement of an article a friend of mine wrote for the Guardian and my friend told me that after he'd asked Duke with no success to remove it from his site, the Guardian sent Duke one of those legal cease and desist threats. I looked into him then, mainly because of my friend's horror that Duke would put his article on his site, and found out he was a former KKK Grand Wizard. I hadn't realised he had been elected to the US Senate, which is appalling and means the people in Lousiana who voted for him are really incredibly stupid people, or just plain ugly. Maybe they're ugly AND stupid.

Yes, I'm aware of the habit of many Republican politicians to hold and express some extremely bigoted views, and while I think Obama's turning out to be a bit of a fizzer, at least the current US administration doesn't hold or support such views, I have seen similar views expressed in the big forums here, one in particular who said that she'd NEVER go out with a Muslim and embarked on some pretty nasty reasons why. No, please don't quote Bachmann. I'm quite happy to be in a bit of a vague ignorance when it comes to her, because what I've seen of her is so insane and ugly.

You posted politicians voicing their disapproval of an arrest, not support of his views.

No, I'm pretty sure I posted something from the Chief Rabbi talking about how he was an important Rabbi. If I'm horrified by what someone does, I wouldn't be jumping in there and going on about how important he is while kicking up a stink about how they dared to arrest him. I'd be stepping back from that one...

Additionally, very few examples of Jewish terrorism against Palestinians occur in relation to the opposite.

How do you come to that conclusion? What do you define as terrorism? Isn't attacking Palestinian civilians considered to be terrorism? If so, there's endless examples of extremist settlers doing it in the West Bank....