People like you should be tried and executed for ignorance

You are a perfect foil for me. Any reasonable person who reads my blog will, if they don’t already, understand how absolutely certifiably nuts the Israel-Firsters are. Not to mention that you express your hibat Zion by calling for the death of yr fellow Jews. You should be ashamed–but of course you have none. You’re a shande fahr di Yiden.

And if we were executing people for ignorance you’d be the first to go. But I don’t believe in executing anyone for anything, so you’d be spared in my world. Only rightists like you want yr opponents executed. That’s what bugged me so much about Yoni’s lunatic comment.

As for Occupation, you’re completely at sea on how this is defined under international law, which is what governs Israel’s behavior. Occupation is not just having troops control territory by being physically in it. Occupation also can be when a foreign force controls territory merely by preventing access into or outside the territory. Since Israel controls all access pts. it is essentially controlling Gazan territory, hence under international law it occupies Gaza. Period.

I repeat Zvika Fogel is a decorated IDF officer. He was promoted to his rank by other IDF officers. Neither you nor Yoni approach his level of rank, experience or knowledge. Thank God, no one in Israel has chosen either of you to be a general. You’d f(&k things up even worse than they are now.

We need Yoni to stay as far away fr. politics as possible & you too. The two of you will only bring increased bloodshed for both sides.

“Experience is secondary.”

Indeed, that’s what the Republicans are trying to peddle regaridng Sarah Palin. The argument won’t fly.

Regarding Yoni, he seems to have logorrhea & has a keyboard obsession so after asking him politely to stop commenting in this thread, I had to restrict his privileges to comment here. So he hasn’t been here but not fr. lack of trying. This post was about his hatred of Arabs. But the comment thread has long since stopped being about his hatred. Yet he kept commenting endlessly so I had to invoke one of my comment rules dealing with rightists who suffer from logorrhea.

You’ve been on this planet twice as long so you should know better

Oh, but I do. I do. Far better than the likes of you & Yoni.

You sure are talented at looking for loopholes and attacking them instead of ceding that a person has a good point. The downside is that you suck at reading between the lines. That’s one reason this thread is so long and convoluted.

“As an occupying power Israel is responsible not just w. providing law & order but w. providing all the necessities of life in the occupied territory.”

Uh, Gaza is not “occupied”. We pulled out three years ago, thousands of Israelis lost their homes and we’ve been bombarded with missiles ever since. Where have you been?

“I wasn’t nominating Fogel to run the country. But he has a damn sight more experience dealing with Palestinians than good ol’ Yoni does.”

I’ll spell it out this time. Experience is no panacea. Fogel does not necessarily trump good ol’ Yoni when it comes to understanding the Palestinians. Again, terrible political decisions have been made by retired generals (read: like Fogel). That’s because they just don’t get the enemy’s agenda. There was nothing wrong with Yoni calling Fogel’s understanding of Palestinian nationalism “naïve”. It’s a charitable description.

“You want Yoni to run Israel???!!! Surely you jest?”

I meant, and you know it, we need someone LIKE Yoni, i.e. with a head on their shoulders, first and foremost, at the helm of this country. Again, experience is secondary.

“He’s not even a citizen as far as I know.”

Wrong again. Yoni is an Israeli citizen and has done his stint with the IDF, contrary to an earlier comment of yours which he didn’t bother to refute. You’ve made “assumptions” like these too many times to count.

“And what does him being half my age have to do w. the price of pita? ”

A lot. You’ve been on this planet twice as long so you should know better. If that makes me guilty of ageism, so be it.

“I do not want a single commenter to hijack a comment thread.”

Hijack? That’s very funny. Have you forgotten that you DEDICATED this post to Yoni, and have consistently and viciously attacked his character?? I see he has wisely stepped out and given up trying to deal with you as if you were a rational person. I’m doing the same.

One last comment. People like you should be tried and executed for ignorance. We’re on different continents, so I wouldn’t bother with the FBI or NYPD. You could try Interpol though.

although many Israeli generals have proven to be geniuses on the battlefield, that does not make them capable of governing, as history has repeatedly shown

That’s not what Yoni was talking about. He was claiming that he knew better than Zvika Fogel about the nature of Palestinian nationalism. I wasn’t nominating Fogel to run the country. But he has a damn sight more experience dealing with Palestinians than good ol’ Yoni does.

I for one would rather entrust this responsibility to an obviously brilliant, well-informed and grounded person such as Yoni, who according to my calculations in half your age.

You want Yoni to run Israel???!!! Surely you jest? He’s not even a citizen as far as I know. And what does him being half my age have to do w. the price of pita? Isn’t that a bit of ageism creeping into such an otherwise erudite analysis on yr part?

The point is you have not admitted once to being wrong (or perhaps just misguided) so many times, such as Judaism’s holiest site being the Temple Mount and not the Kotel. Such a major error calls into question all of your “facts” and underscores that you are not qualified to host a site like this.

By the way, although many Israeli generals have proven to be geniuses on the battlefield, that does not make them capable of governing, as history has repeatedly shown. I for one would rather entrust this responsibility to an obviously brilliant, well-informed and grounded person such as Yoni, who according to my calculations in half your age.

You can talk till you’re blue in the face about the history of the Temple Mount. I appreciate it’s historic & spiritual significance. But in a contemporary political context, it’s simply not going to move me or most Jews as it would you, your fellow Orthodox and nationalist extremists. Jews want peace much more than they want Ariel Sharon stalking the Temple Mount.

He certainly provides a different interpretation about the run-up to the Intifada

Not just a “different interpretation.” One that entirely contradicts yr fictional narrative which isn’t based on anything other than Israeli rightist propaganada.

nowhere does he say that Israel “provoked” it,

Not true. Read it again. He says explicitly that actions by the IDF were deliberate & knowing provocations which the army had to know would bring a violent response by the Palestinians. He says the IDF was willing to take that risk because of its own frustrations.

he seems to have a very naive understanding of the aims of Palestinian nationalism

I do so love it when observers like Yoni call experienced Israeli generals “naïve” and “ignorant.” Uh, Yoni, wake up fella. It’s the height of chutzpah. Or do you really wish to place your credentials next to Fogel’s & ask us to judge who has greater credibility?

Fogel is simply wrong

Now, you’ve gone too far. What rank did you leave the IDF with? What degrees do you have in the study of Arab nationalism or the I-P conflict? Fogel is damn sight more credible than you any day of the week. You really embarrass yrself & yr cause.

Judaism as a rule doesn’t worship specific places, buildings, etc. like some religions do. Our religion & values are within us & not as much infused into physical objects.

Interesting that Sharon had never chosen to visit the Mount before & never did afterward. You’d think if it was that central to Sharon’s Jewish identity that he would’ve done it more often.

Would you pls. list for me the actual physical “violence” that has been perpetrated by alleged “self-hating Jews” on anyone?