Critics are accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using "genocidal" language in a dramatic speech on Israel's war with Hamas in which he invoked the name of an ancient enemy of the Israelites from the Bible[…]
Last week, Netanyahu raised some eyebrows when he claimed the mission to defeat Hamas would go towards helping "realize the prophecy of Isaiah"
6 comments
Because of course it is… As if having genocidal Hamas nutjobs(*) on one side wasn’t bad enough, now Netanyahu has to get genocidal too… Who am I even supposed to root for anymore!?
(*)With their leader outright claming his goal is to fully exterminate Israel and everything associated with it, no matter how much of his own cannon fodder devoted martyrs he has to throw at it…
An exemple of the use of Amalek has been posted here
Else, I can post the following quote about genocidal rhetoric using the trope of Amalek.
The story of the Amalekites has been used to justify genocide throughout the ages. According to Pennsylvania State University Professor Philip Jenkins, a contributing editor for the American Conservative, the Puritans used this passage when they wanted to get rid of the Native American tribes. Catholics used it against Protestants, Protestants against Catholics. "In Rwanda in 1994, Hutu preachers invoked King Saul's memory to justify the total slaughter of their Tutsi neighbors," writes Jenkins in his 2011 book, Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses (HarperCollins).
Yep: the battle of Gaza promises to be apocalyptic, and the leaked plans about deporting the entire population of Gaza in the Sinai are worrying.
@Timjer #180187
(*)With their leader outright claming his goal is to fully exterminate Israel and everything associated with it, no matter how much of his own cannon fodder devoted martyrs he has to throw at it…
Let’s not forget how he promised more October 7th or when he flatly told that the safety of the civilian population of Gaza was the UN’s duty, not Hamas’s.
@Timjer #180187
At this point, no one, they’re both equally bad now… I don’t know, maybe it’s be best if both states were dissolved and replaced with an entirely new state instead, one that has equal rights for both Palestinians and Israelis but the likelihood of that happening is the same as pigs magically growing wings and flying…
@Peacemonger373 #180200 @Sasha #180233
That’s it, that’s really truly it. The constant brinkmanship is the exact and only reason their respective peoples put up with them. They both attack civilians, paint targets on their own civilians banking on escalating counterattacks, then play for pity on the international stage. The most sickening thing is though I think both sides are equally aware that if they ever did get enough support to go all in on the war of extermination they so openly threaten the absence of an outside danger leaves nothing to put on the other end of the scale to counter the flagrant despotism of Hamas or the shockingly fascistic attitude Netanyahu exemplifies regularly attempting to manufacture civil unrest in his own country. (Apart from occassionally reigning in homophobia.) Makes a mockery of the “Never Forget” maxim on the regular.
But people put up with it because they think if they keep their head down until the danger blows over they can just wash their hands of the people they’re neglecting to hold accountable on the flawed logic it increases their own odds for survival and weighs lighter on their conscience to nod silently and comply without voicing support or dissent. Dissent tends to make your neighbourhood the next one Hamas launches their rockets from knowing the counterattack will wipe out that dissenting voice and give the civilian casualities they leverage. Or the site of a new homeless center in Israel, over the graves of local minority groups immediately antagonized further and demanded to accept exile for their belligerence to their neighbours. Except, that minority was actually the local majority who never agreed to such an act and indeed were not really considered to have any legal rights to recognize because “neighbours” really means “betters” in that case. Again, spitting on what “Never Forget” is supposed to remind people not to do.
But even though an actual military victory is against their interests they need to keep rattling sabers to keep their population scared enough to keep putting up with this bullshit even as it leaves bodies in the streets.
I thought Netanyahu lost his position BTW, and recently too. Why’s he the one who seems to be calling the shots again?
@Passerby #180265
I fully agree with your assessment, which is what makes this whole conflict so utterly frustrating. Netanyahu was ousted, I think two or so years back, but then the left-moderate-right coalition against him fell apart very quickly and he promised the far right a lot of power so that they would enter a coalition with him (probably so that he can restructure the law further so that he will not have to face the corruption and other criminal charges against him). Unfortunately he was successful, and now there are openly fundi-fascist elements in power. There were multiple protests by Israelis against Netanyahus current government and his attempts to consolidate his power and restructure law and order similarly to Orban’s and PIS attempt in their respective countries before the Hamas attack.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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