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Thursday, June 06, 2024

A sub-population of Israelis, "ultranationalists," who are the most hateful toward Arabs demonstrated their anti-Arab animus via a provocative "annual march;" (effectively also saying Fuck You to Biden's peace efforts - it being done in East Jerusalem).

Besides noting the event, there is a lesson nationally about editorial decision-making.

The full item is an AP release: https://hosted.ap.org/thetimes-tribune/article/1b54d6df460f681a550833888bc55581/israeli-nationalists-march-jerusalem-far-right-minister

That link does say "far-right-minister" with AP mentioning Ben-Gvir six or seven times, AND with AP on first mention linking here: https://apnews.com/article/israel-jerusalem-palestinians-al-aqsa-extremism-d0a2c4e0ff0b7bf443ef4dd8750282ec

That linked-over AP item states in part:

Ben-Gvir has used his influence to push forward pet projects and encourage Netanyahu to press ahead with the war in Gaza against widespread calls to reach a cease-fire deal that would bring home hostages.

The stunning rise of Ben-Gvir, 48, is the culmination of years of efforts by the media-savvy lawmaker to gain legitimacy. But it also reflects a rightward shift in the Israeli electorate that brought his religious, ultranationalist ideology into the mainstream and diminished hopes for Palestinian independence.

Note, yet another link-over to further AP Ben-Gvir related coverage from before the most recent Israeli election, opening:

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir calls his Arab colleagues “terrorists.” He wants to deport his political opponents, and in his youth, his views were so extreme that the army banned him from compulsory military service.

Yet today, the populist lawmaker who was once relegated to the margins of Israeli politics is surging ahead in the polls ahead of November elections. He has received the blessing of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is poised to emerge as a major force that could propel the onetime premier back to power.

Ben-Gvir’s stunning rise is the culmination of years of efforts by the media-savvy lawmaker to gain legitimacy. But it also reflects a rightward shift in the Israeli electorate that has brought his religious, ultranationalist ideology into the mainstream and all but extinguished hopes for Palestinian independence.

“Over the last year I’ve been on a mission to save Israel,” Ben-Gvir recently told reporters. “Millions of citizens are waiting for a real right-wing government. The time has come to give them one.”

Ben-Gvir, 46, has been a fixture of Israel’s extreme right for more than two decades, gaining notoriety in his youth as a disciple of the late radical rabbi, Meir Kahane. He first became a national figure when he famously broke a hood ornament off then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s car in 1995.

“We got to his car, and we’ll get to him too,” he said, just weeks before Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist opposed to his peace efforts with the Palestinians.

Kahane’s violent anti-Arab ideology -- which included calls to ban Jewish-Arab intermarriage and for the mass expulsion of Palestinians -- was considered so repugnant that Israel banned him from parliament and the U.S. listed his party as a terrorist group. Kahane himself was assassinated by an Arab assailant in New York in 1990.

So, coverage of the march differs among outlets. LATimes and LasVegasTimes each edit out most Ben-Gvir content, mentioning him only once, without any link over to informative text about the man and his rise in Israeli matters.

Strib, unfortunately paywalled, carries the full current item, but without any linkover.

Readers are urged to read the AP links, true objective reporting about the current event and the present orientation of Israel's government, in contrast to Rabin's commitment to a two state outcome. 

The truncated west coast versions give no real flavor whatsoever to the provocative nature of this march, at this time of death and starvation imposed on Gaza. Strib's decision to edit out links is fair coverage. It says, "Stay on our page, don't wander." That's in their economic interest, and not bias against a full report.

Last, Strib and AP, but not the west coast truncations, in closing note:

Commenting on the march, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said ''our people will not rest until the occupation is gone and an independent Palestinian state is established, with Jerusalem as its capital.''

The march was taking place as tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza are high. The war began with Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel responded with a massive offensive that has killed over 36,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, displaced most of the territory's population and caused widespread destruction.

The United States has thrown its weight behind a phased cease-fire and hostage release outlined by President Joe Biden last week. But Israel says it won't end the war without destroying Hamas, while the militant group is demanding a lasting cease-fire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.

That is the part of things showing this march was not only a Fuck You to Palestinian Arabs, but also a Fuck YOu to Joe Biden. 

Ben-Gvir has had Netanyahu's positioning his heading the police from the outset of this coalition government, and Netanyahu appears to offer no words about Ben-Gvir's extremism, as if approving without comment. Hence, derivatively, a Netanyahu Fuck You to Biden, while weapon flows continue, U.S. to Israel.

Presuming Biden and DoS are sincere in two state aims, this situation is a mess, which Biden in no way deserves from the Israelis his administration is arming. Arming them especially now while they devastate Gaza, and while they remain on an annual four billion dollar annual armament dole of U.S. taxpayer money. They are acting like real shits toward our nation. And should stop. The rest of the world, the U.S. included, owes the powerless of the world the imposition of the two state solution upon the Israelis regardless of how they think about it. The South Africans' efforts in the ICC against Israel's current government are spot-on and helpful.

U.S. veto usage in the Security Council whenever Israel is the issue, in light of present actualities, should be curbed. BDS efforts proved effective as part of breaking down South African apartheid, and could put strong economic pressure upon Israel to in part help break down its apartheid. If that is possible.

All of that being Crabgrass opinion, where opinions clearly differ. Ron Latz, the main Minnesota legislature individual behind Minnesota's present anti-BDS two statutes, for example, feels quite differently.

_______________UPDATE________________

For clarification, there is no indication Biden's administration is fundamentally against the current Israeli goal of elimination of Hamas, the disagreement being over means and not the end aim. Israeli death and starvation of civilians as a war tactic is at issue. Inhumane means likely will lessen IDF death and injury, but that alone fails to justify wholesale killing of civilians. Still happening.

The Biden administration is clear on continuation of a two state goal, which Israel promised to advance prior to Rabin's being shot by an ultranationalist hot-head, which was unfortunate, but not the fault of all Israelis. The allowance of Hamas to succeed in its incursion killing over a thousand Israelis and taking hostages, whatever its causes and basis, draws a focus upon the unusual historical relationship and past perceptions between Netanyahu and Hamas.

Today, Hamas, per Netanyahu rhetoric, are personas non grata. Whatever yesterday may have entailed. Some, surely, regard Netanyahu as trustworthy. He has been Israel's longest serving Prime Minister. Off and on. And he seems presently direct in his will to destroy Hamas, now, and direct in his dismissal of the two state solution. Whether the man can survive new elections will say much about majority opinion in Israel, under current events. A new coalition might arise, and prove better.

FURTHER: The latest war report of carnage, MSN carrying an AP feed. A UNRWA school alleged to be occupied in part by Hamas operatives was struck by two missiles. It appears this was not a ground strike, although that is not totally clear. Civilian deaths are reported.