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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Commentary Home page  back Print  Send To friend Netanyahu`s show in Congress: conservative, racist and oppressive By: Ravit Hecht Haaretz 3 March 2015 Hebrew original: http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/.premium-1.2580385 (Intro: For several years now Netanyahu has been on tour with the schmaltz circus with which he intends to perpetuate his rule. Even though the interests are transparent, those present in the hall applauded with programmed fervour, which proved that his words had no meaning except as display.) These lines are liable to end up being translated into an act of betrayal. Collaboration with effective and contemptible propaganda that blinds the naïve and misleads them with cynical falsehood. Active participation in a well- staged show that the supreme stage-director Binyamin Netanyahu put on this evening (Tuesday, 3 March 2015) in the American Congress, in which nearly everyone – politicians seeking to replace him who were asked to respond to the “speech”, journalists and commentators who have to separate the strands of that mushy reheated pasta again and again, and most important of all, the citizens of Israel, huddling fearfully in their homes with the blade of a certain Holocaust hanging over their heads. And now to the list of victims must be added members of the American Democratic Administration, which for the past six years has never ceased to be astounded by the brazen, loutish and belligerent arrogance of the Republican- Israeli right-wing axis between Washington and Jerusalem. For several years now Netanyahu has been touring with the schmaltz circus with which he intends to perpetuate his rule. Along with Sara, bursting with pride, and Elie Wiesel, whom he brought with him as a rag-doll from the Holocaust, and of course his patron and Republican godfather Sheldon Adelson – Netanyahu successfully imposed an agenda that is all hot air: there is no agreement with Iran, the United States supports Israel wholeheartedly even though since 1967 it has been acting like a regional bully (and of the worst kind, that constantly whines that he is the victim), and if a bad agreement with Iran is in the pipeline, then Netanyahu and his constituency, the Israeli citizenry, have no one to complain to but the prime minister himself, who failed to accomplish the not particularly difficult mission of getting a defensive umbrella from Israel’s great friend that willingly hands out vetoes on its behalf like a doting mother who writes fake sick-notes for her brat on demand. And despite this amazing transparency, even though the interests are crystal- clear: the Republican tycoon who fights the Democratic Administration by means of his disciplined soldier in Israel, who is also part of a couple that fell in love with the trappings of force and power – the whole world sits and watches the show like a flock of stupid and hypnotized sheep. The audience applauded every ten seconds and got up on their feet with programmed fervour, which only proves that Netanyahu’s words had no meaning except as display. The political correspondent for Channel 2, Udi Segal, tweeted at the beginning of the speech that Mrs. Miriam Adelson’s purse fell from its place in the gallery onto the heads of the legislators on the Congress floor. Is there any better example to describe the farce that took place yesterday? We must not reconcile ourselves to this show. This kind of speech should not be watched. Cynical manipulation of the victim cannot take place without cooperation, even if it is passive. We must stop praising Netanyahu’s fluency, his wonderful English, his bass voice that plants Islamophobic pills in the Holocaust stew, words which, if said against Jews, would cause Anti-Defamation League chief Abe Foxman to move heaven and earth (from the automatic conflation of Iran and ISIS, which are fighting each other, to the Persian bazaar where merchants rip you off). It was no coincidence that there were hardly any Black legislators in the hall. No need to honour that conservative, White, racist and oppressive with any pluralistic affirmation. Instead, we should be talking about the pointless wars that happen here every year and a half and pointlessly take the lives of thousands of people, in Israel and the Territories. We should be talking about Israel’s crimes against international law, which deprive millions of people of human rights, which most of the Jewish public in Israel cannot even imagine any more. We should be talking about the freedoms that are being eroded and the inherent growing dangers, not only to minorities, as we have always recognized, but also to leftists, human-rights activists, liberals and everyone else who does not toe the government line. We should be talking about those things, which are the legacy of the Netanyahu government, and not about the blue tie and the achievements that are non- existent – including regarding the Iranian nuclear issue. Translated from Hebrew by George Malent. gm Links to the latest articles in this section Is there still a chance to break the cycle of revenge and bloodshed? Israelis Against Apartheid Statement Following ICJ Hearing Three weeks into the Gaza War - a somber and sober assessment, with some historical perspectives