Last week, Israel invaded Syrian sovereignty in a targeted assassination of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general, a senior Hezbollah commander and the son of Imad Mugniyeh (see Al Manar video footage above), the latter earlier murdered by a Mossad bomb. Even worse, it is now lying about the nature of the attack in order to deflect blame and pre-emptively blame Iran and Hezbollah for any retaliatory action they may take against Israel. The IDF is claiming it didn’t know such high level targets were in the convoy attacked:
“We did not expect the outcome in terms of the stature of those killed – certainly not the Iranian general,” the source said. “We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence.”
“We got the alert, we spotted the vehicle, identified it was an enemy vehicle and took the shot. We saw this as a limited tactical operation.”
Hawkish Israeli columnist Ben Caspit, writing in the Al Monitor’s Israel Pulse, waxes enthusiastic in this repulsive apologia, claiming the IDF didn’t know until a day after the attack that it had “hit the jackpot.” Imagine a terror attack that assassinates the IDF chief of staff and an Iranian journalist writes the IRG “hit the jackpot.” Most of the world would find this disgusting. But when Al Monitor publishes this garbage it merits no opprobrium.
These claims are ludicrous on their face. A UN observer unit noted drones overflying the Syrian position before the attack. Then an Israeli helicopter gunship violated Syrian territory in launching the attack.
Anyone who’s aware of Israeli tactics in such circumstances knows that it doesn’t attack low-value targets inside Syria. Why go on a fishing expedition when so much is at stake in violating Syrian sovereignty? It only attacks when there is a critical target whose elimination means a great deal to Israeli counter-terror goals. Or when a prime minister needs boost in the polls or faces re-election.
In this case, assassination of an Iranian general, Hezbollah commander and Imad Mugniyeh’s son were of supreme value (this was the second such Israeli murder of an IRG general). In short, Israel knew precisely who was in the convoy and murdered them in cold blood. An Israeli intelligence source (not involved in the attack) told me he doesn’t believe the IDF claim:
Such killings – in Gaza, let alone in Syria – aren’t executed unless Israeli intelligence knows positively who is in the car or the house.
Further, Hezbollah and Iran will take their revenge in some form in future. And when they do, neither I nor anyone in the world should protest. Nor should anyone in the world listen to Israel’s claims of Islamist “terrorism.” Targeted killings, as I and may other analysts have noted, fail on every count. They do nothing to lessen the threat against Israel. In fact, they exacerbate it. The thirst for revenge only increases. The only ones who truly suffer will be the Israeli victims of the retaliatory attack. Bibi obviously believes the short-term political gains of this targeted murder outweigh the blowback he will have to face.
In fact, there are already reports from an Israeli resident on the northern border (h/t Dena Shunra) that a militant cell crossed the Lebanese border and planted an IED on the Israeli side. The Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan nearest the Lebanese-Syrian frontiers has been closed to hikers and civilian traffic in expectation of a possible resistance attack. Also, the U.S. embassy has warned U.S. citizens not to travel within 1.5-miles of the northern borders. I should note that such Israeli-manufactured terror hysteria plays right into the political hands of security hawks like Bibi.
Yossi Gurvitz has produced a great deal of the documentary evidence exposing the IDF lies. I’ll add some evidence of my own in the course of this post. Gurvitz’s post notes the long history of IDF mendacity in using allegations of Arab terror to justify Israeli attacks going all the way back to 1956. In every case, he affirms the critical role played by the media in amplifying the lies advanced by the State.
Haaretz (Jackie Khouri), Yediot Achronot (Yoav Zitun) and Maariv (Asaf Gibor) each published unsupported allegations originating in the same anonymous “western intelligence source” making virtually identical claims that Jihad Mugniyeh, age 20, was a senior Hezbollah commander organizing major terror attacks against Israel. Once these three publications ran the account, that enabled the NY Times (Isabel Kershner) to dutifully fall into line as a foreign enabler of IDF mendacity:
Citing unnamed Western intelligence sources, two Israeli news outlets, Haaretz and Ynet, said the younger Mr. Mughniyeh headed a militant network that had already operated against Israel in the Golan Heights and that Mr. Mughniyeh was planning attacks aimed at killing Israeli soldiers and civilians.
Gurvitz notes the use, in all of the Hebrew accounts, of the same Hebrew idiom, “bullet in the barrel,” used in standard IDF military lingo. In this case, it was meant to describe Mugniyeh as a terrorist ready to perpetrate an attack on Israel. Such phrasing in the reports couldn’t possibly come from a “western intelligence source.” Such a source wouldn’t even know such a phrase, let alone use it. That means the source was from the IDF intelligence branch, Aman.
The Israeli blogger also says that if the IDF lies in trying to cover up the fact that it is the source of the report, then we must treat the actual substance of the report, that a 20 year-old was a Hezbollah terror mastermind who was worthy of execution, with profound skepticism.
Gurvitz also asserts that the IDF advances such lies especially when it’s trying to cover up particular weaknesses that might be exposed. In this case, one special weakness is the issue of timing. In fact, Gen. (res.) Yoav Galant noted that the timing of the attack is political (he similarly affirmed that the assassination of Ahmed Jabari was politically timed to benefit Netanyahu). When you say “politics” there can only be one meaning: elections. Bibi, who always runs scared that challengers to his right like Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman will outdo him, needs a security success to burnish his credentials. From now till election day he can point, like a gunslinger in the Old West, to these three major notches in his gun.
The IDF understands that skeptical Israeli journalists and voters will point to the cynicism of Bibi’s use of Arab corpses to bolster his security image with the electorate. So it circulates a load of crap about terror plans and murdered or endangered Israeli soldiers. One of the credulous sources I mentioned above even called Jihad Mugniyeh, “the Hezbollah Prince.” If you inflate the importance of your target, you turn him into a menace deserving of murder.
Further, Bibi knows the west is close to a deal with Iran concerning its nuclear program. If this happens between now and the Israeli election it will make him look weak since he vehemently opposed any such deal. What better way to counteract this than by provoking Iran by killing one of its senior military leaders. And if Iran is stupid enough to mount its own terror attack in response? Then this too would play into Bibi’s hands, allowing him to paint Iran as a violent terror state.
In fact, Israel is the terror state. Its lawless savagery against frontline states like Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine paints it as the prime benefactor from terrorism and its prime perpetrator.
Returning to the deliberate obfuscation involved in use of the term “western intelligence sources,” Aman has used the same false terminology in the website it created to unmask Hezbollah operatives, Stop910:
We are an association of western intelligence organizations established to fight the threat of terror.
Aman is no more an association of western intelligence organizations than I am the King of Siam.
Senior Israeli security correspondent Yossi Melman has also weighed in on this subject. He too is highly skeptical of Israeli official claims, about which he says:
[They don’t] ring true. Keep in mind that disinformation is a major part of the shadow wars — the spy-versus-spy, bomber-versus-bomber, assassin-versus-assassin battles that have gone on for years.
…Why would Israel’s military now hint…that killing those senior men was just a coincidence? First, Israel’s intelligence agencies don’t want their enemies to know precisely how much Israel knows…Israelis listen in to practically all cellphone conversations and intercept text messages.
Does it make sense that Israel — using a rocket-firing helicopter, according to the first leak, but now U.N. observers say they saw Israeli drone aircraft cross into Syrian airspace before the strike — would strike two jeeps, just because they were within a few miles of the Golan Heights armistice line?
We think…Israel struck the convoy, because of information that senior Hezbollah men were in it. The presence of the Iranians may not have been known, but it was always a real possibility.
The leak to Reuters is probably aimed at making a tense situation a lot less volatile — to soothe some of the anger. The suggestion is made of an intelligence mistake by the Israelis, hinting that they did not intend to kill a senior Iranian — and therefore Iran shouldn’t overreact.
A former Israeli military intelligence chief, retired General Amos Yadlin (who this week became the official pick for Defense Minister by the Labor Party-led coalition called “The Zionist List”), was asked if he would order the airstrike in the knowledge there was an Iranian general in the vehicles.
“We don’t check the identity cards or passports of people who are engaged in terrorism attacks on Israel,” Yadlin replied.
But a smart espionage community like Israel’s does, in fact, try to be entirely aware of whom it is striking — and what the consequences could be.
A lingering question is whether the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, may have ordered the airstrike in the belief that it would boost his reelection campaign. Israelis will be voting in mid-March.
The Israeli government strongly denies that; and there is the reality that the blowback — retaliation by Hezbollah, Iran, or both — could be so disruptive and damaging that Israeli voters will not be happy about the airstrike.
I highly doubt Melman is right about that. Unless Hezbollah and Iran succeed in launching a devastating terror attack along the lines of the U.S. Marine barracks attack against an Israeli target; or perhaps a massive rocket barrage that killed scores of Israelis, the electorate will just chalk it up to “the Arabs hate us and what do you expect from this lot?” Then they will dutifully traipse to the polls and vote Likud as the only Party they trust to keep them safe and take it to the Arab “enemy.” And so the cycle of Middle East pathology continues.
A side note: in Melman’s account above he displays the logo image of Aman, thus directing us to the source of the fraudulent story.
Last week, Hizbullah general secretary Hasan Nasrallah gave a long interview to Al Mayadeen tv in which he claimed that Hizbullah is now much more capable than they were in 2006. Netanyahu knows that Nasrallah is not stupid: he (Nasrallah) knows that not responding to Israel in kind would severely undermine Hizbullah’s credibility. So, do expect a severe response! Already residents in Northern Galilee are “shaking in their boots”, guest houses in the North are reporting low bookings and the US has ordered its citizens “to stay away”.
Whether the outcome of this episode will benefit Netanyahu electorally, I do not know.
IMO the question to be asked is why was there an Iranian general in such close proximity to the Israeli border?
After all the Iranians are sworn enemies of Israel and share no borders or anything close to a border and have at numerous time called for the obliteration of the ‘zionist cancer’.
I would have thought you might have mentioned the stabbings today in TA, one among the 20?, to randomly stab a woman in the back on the street.
Things are so obvious there is nothing more to say.
@ ronan: No, it doesn’t work that way. No country gets to determine which foreigners are allowed in particular regions of other countries. And certainly a country doesn’t get the right to murder foreigners because they get too close to your own border. That, once again, is an example of psychopathology.
This statement is a lie. No Iranian has ever said this. If you advance any further opinions passing for facts which are equally mendacious you will either lose your comment privileges or have them restricted.
Let me disabuse you of the notion that I write this blog for your edification or at your direction or even at your suggestion. So, what that means is I write the blog. You get to comment. You don’t get to tell me what I should write or what you want me to write.
“have at numerous time called for the obliteration of the ‘zionist cancer’.”
here are two of tens if not hundreds of references:
[ncri-logo.jpg]
IRAN NEWS – LATEST UPDATES AND BREAKING NEWS FROM IRAN | اخبار ايران
NCRI Statements [arrow.png] Terrorism & Fundamentalism [arrow.png] Iran: Our ideal is to destroy White House and obliterate Zionism, Basij commander says
Iran: Our ideal is to destroy White House and obliterate Zionism, Basij commander says Wednesday, 07 January 2015 21:37
“Our ideal is to destroy the White House and to obliterate Zionism,” Basij Commander IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naghdi has said.
===================================================================================================
GlobalSecurtiy.org
“In December 2000, Ayatollah Khamenei said that “Iran’s stance has always been clear on this ugly phenomenon [Israel]. We have repeatedly said that this cancerous tumor of a state should be removed from the region.” In February 2001, Khamenei stated that, “It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region.” In spring 2001 Khamenei referred to the Israeli government in the following way: “the Zionist regime, as the symbol of bloodthirstiness [and] barbarianism,” and to its leaders as “wild beasts.”
My interpretation it’s a defensive statement from where evil deeds are ordered: overthrow of Mossadeq [1953] and the CIA/Mossad support for the SAVAK under the puppet regime of Pahlavi until 1979. Didn’t US military intelligence direct the gas attacks at Iranian forces by Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-Iran War.
When a state acts like a bully, do expect some sort of backlash. Western states are so surprised when foreign policy of military acts of agression cause blowback. Expecting an European ‘Patriot Act’ sooner rather than later. Leaders worthy of an Oscar nomination for their play-acting: Hollande, Cameron and Obama: “JeSuisCharlie” and standing shoulder to shoulder.
Sources carrying statement by Mohammad Naghdi: Clarion Project, the Blaze, etc.
Original source: Fars news agensy:
“Blessed are the pioneers and Companion Martyrs of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense of divine miracles but today’s young people have not seen, and the pioneers [veterans] should lead.
… stating that goal us not to destroy centrifuges but the White House and the elimination of Zionism …”
@ ronan: You apparently know Farsi? And can show us the original quotations and your accurate translation? Statements by Iranian leaders are notoriously & deliberately mistranslated as all the rest of us know because they read my own posts on this phenomenona which link to Iranian and other sources learned in Farsi who’ve documented the issue. So no, no Iranian leader ever said Israel should be “erased from the map of the region.” That is a mistranslation.
As for the claim that the Ayatollah said Israel was a cancerous tumor, I can’t document that this is a correct translation of whatever he did say. But in no way, even in the translation you muster, does he say that Iran will remove the tumor. As for calling other nations names, if you think Israeli leaders aren’t saying the same or worse about Iran you’re a fool. But Israel is doing far worse, it’s actually invading Iranian territory to murder Iranian citizens and destroy Iranian installations. Not even Iran is doing anything so aggressive and blatantly illegal.
Richard, do you actually believes what you are saying?
He might not say Israel but Zionism (and you are a liberal one) but here is a quotation from Iranian PressTV website
“Days of Zionists numbered” (I believe they do know Farsi) “The Zionist regime and Zionists are a cancerous tumour. Even if one cell is left in one inch of (Palestinian) land, in the future this story (of Israel’s existence) will repeat,”.
@ Ariel: And you believe there is a single Israeli minister who doesn’t believe Iran is a cancer? C’mon. What’s cancer for the goose is cancer for the gander. No? Am I supposed to be shocked because Iranians believe about Israel what Israelis believe about Iran? You’ve got to try harder than this to come up with anti-Iran hasbara.
RIGHT ON Richard Silverstein, you hit the nail right on the head. Ronan must be from the camp which translates the Farsi News every which way they want. Ronan works for ministry of misinformation. 😉
Going by the reports of the mass media, Israel threatens attacking Iran very often indeed.
Richard – you asked for a quotation and I brought you one. Will you say pressTV isn’t credible about Iran? It’s like arguing Israel Hayom isn’t credible about Bibi.
@ Ariel: Actually, PressTV is not credible on any subject including its own country. So no, I don’t trust anything they say nor do I use it as a source. Iranian media have themselves reprinted false accounts of similar statements by accepting foreign accounts rather than their own native ones.
Using PressTV is a little like using the National Enquirer as an expert on UFOs and Little Green Men serving in Congress.
@Ronan
“close proximity to the Israeli border” ? I thought Israel had no established borders. Do you mean the area near the illegally annexed Golan Heights?
It is only thanks to massive disinformation and obfuscation campaigns that Israel can kill Iranians at will (remember the nuclear scientists?) and then cry “terror” when it is hit in return (and almost never in equal measure).
I more often don’t agree with JC, in this article he offers background and specifics of geographical area where the terror strike from IAF took place, Mazari’ al-Amal in Syria’s Quneitra Province.
○ Israel’s Syria Strike: Is it trying to Help al-Qaeda vs. Hizbullah & Iran?
○ Khamenei Bids Farewell Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Martyr Commander Hajj Imad
Hezbollah, Crowds Bid Farewell to Martyr Jihad Imad Mughniyeh
Kuwaiti MP Congratulates S. Nasrallah on Martyrdom of 6 Hezbollah Fighters
Iraqi VP Maliki Condoles with S. Nasrallah: Martyrdom of Hezbollah Fighters “Great Pride”
Posted in my diary – John Boehner A Traitor Inviting Bibi to Congress [to speak about Iranian terror!].
Brussels Fears European Exodus of Jews
Timmermans is fluent in foreign languages, for content it’s empty rhetoric. The EU can’t grasp the issue of immigration, will it tackle emigration now also? What about the challenges of EU policy towards the Arab uprising, Syria, Iraq and the Ukraine. More problems to solve than solutions within reach. Well done Frans [Dutch, MH17].
○ EU official: ‘Huge challenge’ to reassure Jews
Iraqi Shiites, Fuming over Slow US Fight against ISIL, threaten to Revoke Agreement
Turkey still not on board to fight IS, join US alliance
Turkey declares vanishing truck to Syria ‘state secret’
Illegal borders or not, occupation or not, wanton killing or not, it still begs the question why this particular convoy was where it was and who exactly was there.
This is not a tourist attraction, and why would jihad maughnieh be associating with an Iranian General if he is a nobody and of little significance?
The convoy was either deliberate provocation or reconnaissance specially whilst the Syrian civil war is raging and security concerns run high for Israel as an immediate neighbour.
And wasn’t the convoy ‘invading Syrian sovreignty’ did Assad invite them to tour there? Or did they just feel at home to enter Syria at will?
And yes, if an Israeli federal was shot by Iranians near the Iranian border it would be equally embarrassing to have been found there so far from home.
@ Shmuel: So let me see: when Israel invites foreign militaries like the US Joint Chief of Staff or Canadian army chief to visit and he tours installations on the border with Gaza, Lebanon or Syria, your argument is it’s OK for Syrian, Lebanese or Gazans to target the Gen. and kill him because they wonder what mischievous purpose he might have in doing so? Because if you say that this hypothetical is cool with you, then I’m OK with murdering Iranian generals.
And if you argue no reasonable person could possibly think such foreign generals would have malicious intentions against Syria, Lebanon or Gaza, I’ll just put on the laugh track right now. Because you & I both know that the U.S. and Canadian militaries are up to their eyeballs in every military incursion Israel. When they assassinate such figures they use U.S. technology to do so. The U.S. is as eager to know what and how these operations go down as any Israeli general or spook. So let me know when you change your mind and you’re willing to stop being a hypocrite. Because then I’ll change my tune as well. Till then…
Shmuel: “Illegal borders or not, occupation or not, wanton killing or not, it still begs the question why this particular convoy was where it was and who exactly was there.”
The “rebels” are contesting the Syrian Army for control of Quneitra Province. The Syrian Army doesn’t have the forces to contest that province, since they are deployed to defend Damascus.
Ergo, Hezbollah offered to step in and help out, and that’s why those dudes were there: they were inspecting the battlefield.
Shmeul: “The convoy was either deliberate provocation or reconnaissance specially whilst the Syrian civil war is raging and security concerns run high for Israel as an immediate neighbour.”
Oh, fer’ crying out loud. You already accept that there is a Syrian Civil War, and the only other bit of information you need to know is that both Hezbollah and Iran are providing military assistance to Assad.
So, yeah, it was a reconnaissance. You know, of a battlefield. Inside Syria. Which is having a civil war.
Shmuel: “And wasn’t the convoy ‘invading Syrian sovreignty’ did Assad invite them to tour there?”
Yes, he did. Quneitra Province is ridden with rebel forces, and Assad doesn’t have the forces to take them on. He. Invited. Hezbollah. To. Help. Him.
Sheesh. It’s ASSAD’s country, not Netanyahu’s. Assad decides who can be there, and why, and when, and Netanyahu has no right – none whatsoever – to shoot at anyone who Assad has invited into his country.
*general, not federal, of course
@Shmuel
A reason for curiosity does not equate with a reason for killing.
small point – i think you might be missing some of the leaked israeli denials. They arent saying this wasnt a targeted killing. they are simply saying they wanted to target {what they thought of as} senior Hizbollah operatives {which would have been a big deal in and of itself} and ended up discovering that some of the people with him were the iranian general and his men.
This works much better with the hebre text of the denial – not covering up an attack, which as you noted is odd considering the witnesses to the drones nd helicopters, simply trying to sell it as botched targeting {which in IDF’s case it has a history ofanyway}
@ Sh: You’re mistaken. At least in English the IDF is saying these guys were small potatoes. That they were on their way to execute a terror operation and the IDF killed them. They’re not saying they were ‘senior operatives.’ I’d like you to quote the Hebrew that supports your claim. And even if it’s true, it just means the IDF is releasing different versions of the story to domestic and foreign audiences. Another sure sign of hocus-pocus.
Israel knew that some Axis bigwigs were visiting a remote Syrian government fire base and assassinated them.
That is all any of us know.
The question that should be asked is this. Were these bigwigs on a routine visit to show support to the troops, or did they have another, greater plan in mind?
“Thought policing” is so much part of a fascist, totalitarian state. 🙁
○ Getting Acquaint
○ 1984
This must be part of the (im)morals equivalent between Israel, US and the ilks of Stalinism.
Like the presumption they were on their way to commit an act of “terror” Under this presumption (this mind reading), Israel can target and excuse any killing. Anyone anywhere could be imbued with “terrorist” intentions. This IS psychopathology.
Israel is off the edge and into the abyss and there is no redeeming that regime. It is a political disaster that is making committed enemies the world over. It must go, these military totalitarians must go. And this can only be done from the outside now.
“Further, Hezbollah and Iran will take their revenge in some form in future. And when they do, neither I nor anyone in the world should protest” .
You do no distinguish between soldiers and civilians so the Hezbollah.
Every Israeli adult was in the IDF and every Israeli kid will be one day which makes them a legitimate target. In case the victim was/will be a refusnik (or Haredi), s/he will be considered קורבנות שלום or Victims of Peace
(I hope it is clear I’m being cynic)
@ Ariel: The notion that Israeli victims are “victims of peace” is delusional at best. They are victims of a failed rejectionist policy by their leaders and State. They are of course victims of Palestinian terror/resistance as well. But the only reason they are victims at all is because there are 20 times more such Palestinians victims created by the Israeli state.
I hope it’s clear I’m NOT being cynical.
@ Gilead: Nor does Israel distinguish between soldier & civilian. 80% of Gazan dead were civilians. So why should the other side?
Correction of book title:
The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam: Religion, Political Order, and Societal Change in Shi’ite Iran from the Beginning to 1890
○ Book review
I would assume Israel claims to not know the iranian general was there is to cover some intelligence assest who have the idf the info. Moreover i would not be surprised if there was an idf general in Iraq close to the iranian border was killed. To be honest why would iran have such a high level asset so close to enemy territory? Is al quds planning some ‘event’ with hizbollah? Richard what are your opinions on the Argentine government murdering the lead prosecutor in the synagogue bombing investigation so they could get cheep oil from iran?
@ben: Since you have your conspiracy theory worked out so conveniently, I don’t think you need my help in embellishing it any further.
This is late in the thread, but this piece by Uri Avnery today on the strike in Syrian territory is so awesome and real that I just could not resist posting the link:
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1422014990/
The article starts out with:
>>>Galant’s Gallant Act
24/01/15
THERE USED to be a joke about a sadist and a masochist.
“Hit me! Beat me! Kick me!” the masochist pleads with the sadist.
The sadist smiles a cruel smile and slowly answers: “No!”
THAT, MORE or less, reflects the situation on our northern border at this moment.<<
Read the article to understand why Avnery starts out with this "joke."
The piece is about the recent strike and how this connects with the history in Israel of military actions in close proximity to elections and how any/all reasons for this provocative missile strike have all the earmarks of Bibi. And any questions of Hezbollah responses are related to the introductory "joke."
Avnery and Silverstein are my go-to experts on anything relating to Israel. Thanks to both of you!!
To be mentioned in the same sentence with Uri Avnery is truly an honor.
You mean Helmut Osterman not such an Israeli same as “Uri Avnery’, no?
What is that supposed to mean? Are you saying Uri Avneri is a fake Jew? A German? A crypto-Nazi perhaps?
FYI, practically all Israelis’s have adopted such fancy, fake Hebrew names, disguising their rejected European roots. It is silly, but it was popular at the time.
What is your own true family name, Ronan?
You are awfully annoyed at anything Israeli. My name is actually a fairly common European name which I have seen no reason to change. But tell me yours and I will tell you mine.
“FYI, practically all Israeli’s have adopted such fancy, fake Hebrew names, disguising their rejected European roots.”
That is quite a claim esp when it is not true. And if they are Hebrew why does it make them fake? And you certainly do not seem to know much about Israel as the Ashkenazim certainly prefer not to be identified with the ‘Sephardic’ element.
The famous poet Zach, who has received prizes for his poetry, has stated openly that the Ashkenazim have come from the paramount of civilization i.e. Western or Europe while the Sepharadim are primitive. He is a ‘yekke’ as is Helmut and a good deal of the lefties e.g. Oppenheimer in שלום עכשיו.
A quote from Wiki:
“In July 2010 Zach was interviewed on Israel’ Channel 10 and accused Sephardic Jews from Muslim countries of being inferior to Jews from Europe; “The idea of taking people who have nothing in common arose. The one lot comes from the highest culture there is — Western European culture — and the other lot comes from the caves.”[11] The racist comments resulted in a petition to remove his work from the educational curriculum and remove him from any academic positions.”
Don’t forget the ‘haute couture’ gave birth to the nazis.
So I assume that you chose that haute couture to your Judaism if you are Jewish.
@ ronan: READ THE COMMENT RULES! If I’d wanted a discussion about Natan Zach I’d have written a post about him. I didn’t. So writing comments about him is OFF-TOPIC. Take this warning seriously.
My point is that not having a Hebrew name does not make anyone less Jewish. So why bring up Uri Avneri’s former name?
I know he still thinks is was a good idea for people who migrated to Israel to change their name, but many others think differently, or have had had second thoughts.
You ‘famous poet Zach’ s views about non-Ashkenazi Jews have NOTHING to do with the views of some one like Uri Averi. I suggest you go to his website and read some of what he writes.
” My name is actually a fairly common European name which I have seen no reason to change. But tell me yours and I will tell you mine.”
You are right there, but most of the rest of what you write eludes me.
My intention might have been illusive but the point I was trying to get across specifically with the German/yekke mentality is their attitude of superiority towards other Jews, a known fact.
By this I also meant that the great diversity of mentalities existing in Israel makes for a very difficult task of homogenization. In the US for example the 2 & 3rd + generations have a commonality excluding occasionally the orthodox communities which separate themselves more.
@ ronan: Israeli monoculture is a very severe problem. But this is not something that excuses the phenomenon, as you present it. Israeli society makes no allowance for diversity. It penalizes Mizrahim for not being Ashkenazi. It excludes Palestinians entirely for not being Jewish. There’s also the secular-Orthodox divide as well with little or no tolerance for each other. The fact that the country has allowed religion to dominate the public sphere is part of this problem.
But trying to make some obscure point based on Natan Zach’s racist attitudes toward Mizrahim is off topic.
Ronan —
“…the great diversity of mentalities existing in Israel makes for a very difficult task of homogenization. ” Compared to the US, “homogenization” should be a piece of cake. Interesting that, in making the comparison and your example, you are only interested in Jewish “homogenization” not the larger mix in a better democracy and the challenge of diverse opinions and cultures.