THE DARKER PART OF THE INTERNET

It should go without saying that I love my friends, even the twisted dysfunctional trolls who support Bibi Netanyahu. This wouldn't even come up, save for the fact that over on Facebook, I seem to have gotten into trouble with some of them because I rightly considered Bibi's speechy-weechy last week nothing more than self-serving egomania by a psychopath desperate for re-election, fortuitously combined with the seditious tendencies of a bunch of newly-elected weasels representing the Know Nothing Party.

Saying so, it turns out, was heresy.


Yesterday Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Arabs who are disloyal to Israel should have their heads chopped off.

[SOURCE: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/17398-lieberman-behead-arabs-who-arent-loyal-to-israel.]

As over-the-top bonkers as that statement is, it fades into insignificance compared to the comment string underneath the article on Middle East Monitor that quotes the respected dysfunctionary, who more-or-less heads Israel Beiteinu.

Israel as a subject attracts shit-flies.
From within as well as without.
Justifiably so.


“Generally, it is very typical for Israel Beiteinu to radicalize their statements in a bid to gain votes; the educated voter knows that these kind of things are a transparent attempt to garner popular support.”

---Ron Gilran, vice-president of The Levantine Group (a consultancy in Tel Aviv)


If you thought our Republicans were batshit, try the Israeli rightwing.
More stark raving mad is hard to find.

MICHA BEN ARI
A few years ago, MOK (Member of Knesset) Michael Ben Ari proudly had himself photographed ripping up the New Testament and throwing the shreds in the garbage. Ben Ari, representing the National Union Party (Ha Ihud Ha Leumim), is a follower of Meir Kahane.

In Ben Ari's defense, it wasn't an election year (in Israel), and consequently there was no need to keep American rightwing Christian sentiments in mind. Not that he would anyhow. The insane underbelly of Israel's strongest ally is only important to the Republican Party, and can be counted on to have no memory and no mind in any case.
No need to pander.


I mention all this to point out that one can be pro-Israel without admiring everything about the country, her people, and the gorillas that represent them. Not all the poo that comes out of this baby's arse is golden, some of it is dross.

The statement that we have to support Israel because it's the only democracy in the Middle East is complete nonsense, however. It is the only democracy in that neck of the woods whose voters, on the whole, are reasonably well educated, literate, and multi-facetted in their opinions.

[Excepting, as always, the Hareidim.]

It is also the only country in that neck of the woods to have reasonable people and a diversity of all the things that define civilization. That is to say, a place where there is a great likelihood that those may be found.

[Excepting, as always, the Hareidim.]

And, perhaps crucially, it is the only country in the Mediterranean region where one can travel safely. Not even Greece and Italy can claim that.


There's a lively free press there.
And strident "differences".
That's important.


There are a multitude of other reasons to be pro-Israel, too many to mention here, but if there is one thing to remember, it is that being pro-Israel is rational and reasonable, despite being critical of flaws and blots on the Israeli escutcheon like Netanyahu, Lieberman, and Ben Ari.

I probably shan't mention that on Facebook, though.
Too many damned Republicans there.
Tea-weasels.




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