Wednesday, May 09, 2018

A Primer on Israeli politics

From comrade Eyal:
"Naftali Bennet, from the "Jewish Home" party, (the one with all those west-bank settlers, also known jokingly as The Jewish Brotherhood) is Israel's minister of Education. Naturally, he has strengthened the trend of instilling religious nationalism and has weakened scientific and secular pedagogic content in favor of putting as much as possible in a religious context.

This morning he was speaking to the National Council of Youth and (K12) Students, and made the following statement: 
If I had to summarize the policy of the Israeli Government Security Establishment in the present age, in four words, they would be: 'He who rises to kill you - arise earlier to kill him'. We are stronger and more determined than Iran.
Truly a marvelous inspiration for the impressionable minds of Israeli children.
For those who aren't very familiar with Israeli politics, let's remind ourselves of the other role models for kids set by members of Knesset (parliament) from the Jewish Home in the current term:
  • Ayelet Shaked: Minister of Justice, famous for calling Palestinian children "little snakes" suggesting they should be killed off early. No less famous for trying to pass (further) anti-democratic legislation, including a law to prevent base-law/constitutional oversight or parliamentary legislation, to enable the government plan to deport African asylum seekers.
  • Uri Ariel: A prominent west-bank settler, retired army Major, and former head of the council of west-bank settlers (Yesha council). Among other things, known for utilizing his cabinet position to leak Israeli military troop movement information to settler activists so that they may evade the troops in some of the few times the military was dispatched to remove settlement outposts.
  • Eli Ben-Dahan: Settler in the Joulan (occupied from Syria) and later in Beit-El in the west bank. Known for his view of the Palestinians being "like animals, they are not human" and for defending the deadly shooting of Palestinian demonstrators who throw stones.
  • Nissan Slomyanski: Senior dirty trickster of the Knesset (Parliament) Finance Committee - known for managing to funnel large amounts of funds through obscure budget correction measures to the settlements and other religious-nationalist causes, with governments mostly looking the other way. He had to suspend himself from chairmanship of another Knesset Committee after his sexual harassment of women in "The Jewish Home" surfaced. 
  • Yinon Magal: Another sexual harasser. A former news-anchor on state TV, then editor of the Netanyahu-skewed Walla news, Magal resigned shortly after the beginning of his Knesset term, after it was brought to light he had harassed female employees at Walla. Earlier in life, Magal took part in the abduction of Abd Al-Karim Obeid of Lebanon.
  • Moti Yogev: A west-bank settler, former commander of the "Sayeret Matkal" special forces unit and retired IDF Colonel. Yogev is famous for expressing his wish to raise "the shuffel of a D-9 tractor" on the Israeli Supreme Court building and destroy it, for rulings not favorable enough to his view. 
  • Betzal'el Smotrich: Party provocateur extraordinaire. The youngest of the bunch and a self-avowed "proud homophobe", he is known for naming the LGBT pride martch as a "beast parade". Some other pearls of his wisdeom include stating that real-estate developers should not be required to sell homes to Arabs; supporting maternity ward segregation between Hebrews/Jews and Arabs; suggesting that the "price tag" attacks against Palestinians must not be considered a form of terrorism; and opining that Palestinian teen Ahd Tamimi "should have gotten a bullet, at least to he kneecap" for slapping a soldier who invaded her yard shortly after her cousin had been shot in the head.
  • Shulamit "Shuli" Mu'alem: Petitioned the Israeli President to pardon El'or Azariah, the soldier caught on camera executing a wounded and defenseless Palestinian who had been immobilized after attacking Israeli occupation troops. Also famous for legal "normalization" of west bank settlements, supporting a death sentence for those convicted of terrorist acts, and of withholding food and medicine from Gaza.
And that's the lot of them."