No Longer David:*The State of Israel As Goliath

[SherriMunnerlyn]

No Longer David:*The State of Israel As Goliath

No Longer David: The State of Israel As Goliath - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East Eldar for Al-Monitor Israel Pulse*Posted on*September 25.

"Whenever you speak with an American Jew about Israel, you always end up at the same point. The conversation starts with Israel, but rarely ends there. It almost always ends with “them.” So begins “The American Jewish Cocoon,” a lengthy article by Peter Beinart published Sept. 4 in*The New York Review of Books.*“Them,” of course, refers to the Palestinians...

Against this backdrop, the new book by the American Jewish journalist and blogger*Max Blumenthal*is particularly noteworthy.*Goliath*is being published by Nation Books.* Unlike most Jews — American or Israeli — Blumenthal chose to leave his comfort zone, go into disputed territory and examine the burning questions for himself. In fact, Blumenthal’s greatest strength and interest is in events on the ground and the people who live there, far from the “peace process” and diplomatic salons.Goliath*is a portrait of a modern-day Sodom, a society that years ago stopped being “David of the beautiful eyes” and is determined to sustain an image of being weak and victimized. Blumenthal points to the manipulative use made by Israelis of the memory of the*Holocaust*in order to shape a collective consciousness, strengthen the society's inner cohesion and shut itself off from a world perceived as threatening and malevolent.He focuses on a period starting in December 2008, when Israel launched the attack on Gaza code-named Operation Cast Lead. He describes events that took place in Israel and Palestine during the term of the previous Benjamin Netanyahu government [2009–2012]. Blumenthal dives into the depths of Israeli society of recent years, describing the prevailing atmosphere and the individuals who shaped it. He tells of Israeli youths who take part in the demolition of a Bedouin village as part of a “summer camp” rife with nationalism and hatred, of the arrest of anti-war protesters in the name of “preserving the public peace” (Orwell couldn’t have phrased it better) and about permanent, discriminatory ethnic division and separation.The local media is portrayed as a central collaborator in this construction of a false consciousness by presenting the pronouncements of the army spokesman as irrefutable fact and absolute truth, without demanding proof of the information being provided. Blumenthal also does not spare those who are not part of the ruling right-wing coalition. His accusatory finger points toward the Israeli peace camp, which, in the first days of any military operation, tends to line up behind the government Blumenthal provides the example of*Chaim Oron,*the previous leader of the left-wing Meretz party, in the initial stages of Operation Cast Lead.Blumenthal’s depressing if somewhat radicalized narrative does make room for some righteous people of Sodom. They are personified in the young activists on the margins of Israeli society, and even rejected by it, and members of the Palestinian popular councils. Despite the draconian measures used against them, they adhere to*nonviolent opposition to the Israeli occupation. The figure of the “prophet,” as professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz is described, hovers above them, and a chapter is devoted to him and to his dark prophecy way back in 1967 regarding the direction being taken by Israeli society, which Blumenthal chronicles.The book’s stated audience is the American public. In the foreword, Blumenthal writes that he wishes to show them “what they’re paying for, the facts as they are today, in a way that is not dressed up and laundered...

The final scene in the book takes place in a New York apartment, in the presence of young Israelis who have gone into voluntary exile after despairing of the struggle for social change in the society in which they grew up. These are young people hungry for life and justice, who sense that they have lost the battle and have therefore chosen to leave the field. This final chord amplifies, perhaps, the warning bells being rung by Blumenthal."




In the You Tube video, Blumenthal speaks of the Zionist colonial enterprise in Palestine being in its final phase. I agree.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

 

[Alfalfa]

The myth of "King David" is a made up story promulgated by the 5th century bc rabbinical culture in an effort to give israel a glorious and proud history that never existed.

Now david might have existed as a regional ruler over a rag tag band of loosly connected, goat and sheep herding city hovels who were feasting on the carcass of what once was Canaan, but outside the old testament (whihc was first put down in writing around 500bc..long after david's reign) there isn't one single historical or archaeological piece of evidence or proof that the glorious reign of david, or solomon for that matter, as described in the the OT, ever existed.

Chal it up to ancient hasbara.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

Blumenthal’s "Goliath" holds mirror to Israeli society

4 November 2013. "A specter is haunting Israel; it’s the specter of democracy. In*Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, the American journalist*Max Blumenthalholds up a mirror to Israeli society and reveals the specter of a failed democracy now hurtling toward fascism.In 73 chapters and 410 pages, Blumenthal documents the racism that pervades Israeli society and institutions and traces its origins to the Zionist movement’s settler-colonial project to create an ethnocratic state bent on excluding and dispossessing the indigenous Palestinian population. Others have done this before, but several things make Blumenthal’s book unique.Based on four years of research, much of it spent in Israel and the occupiedWest Bank,*Goliath*may be the most comprehensive survey yet of contemporary Israeli society and politics. At the same time its ability to link the past to the present shows a continuum of racism and authoritarianism throughout Israel’s history.Unlike some critiques that focus mainly, if not exclusively, on the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Blumenthal confronts the*Nakba— the forced displacement of Palestinians before Israel’s establishment in 1948 — to illustrateliberal Zionism’s*hypocrisy. He excoriates its embrace of the*two-state solution*as a means of preserving Jewish supremacy and avoiding the “demographic nightmare” of Palestinian babies.Moreover, Blumenthal provides a profile of Palestinian activists and legislators and an emerging anti-Zionist, Jewish Israeli left that is rarely, if ever, found in the mainstream corporate media.Meanwhile, he coins the phrase “military-media complex” to ridicule journalists who faithfully parrot the misinformation transmitted by the Israeli army in an attempt to portray Palestinian resistance as terrorism. This phenomenon was particularly evident in the Israeli media’s coverage of the*Mavi Marmara*massacre."

Blumenthal's "Goliath" holds mirror to Israeli society | The Electronic Intifada

 

[Hossfly]

No Longer David:*The State of Israel As Goliath

No Longer David: The State of Israel As Goliath - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East Eldar for Al-Monitor Israel Pulse*Posted on*September 25.

"Whenever you speak with an American Jew about Israel, you always end up at the same point. The conversation starts with Israel, but rarely ends there. It almost always ends with “them.” So begins “The American Jewish Cocoon,” a lengthy article by Peter Beinart published Sept. 4 in*The New York Review of Books.*“Them,” of course, refers to the Palestinians...

Against this backdrop, the new book by the American Jewish journalist and blogger*Max Blumenthal*is particularly noteworthy.*Goliath*is being published by Nation Books.* Unlike most Jews — American or Israeli — Blumenthal chose to leave his comfort zone, go into disputed territory and examine the burning questions for himself. In fact, Blumenthal’s greatest strength and interest is in events on the ground and the people who live there, far from the “peace process” and diplomatic salons.Goliath*is a portrait of a modern-day Sodom, a society that years ago stopped being “David of the beautiful eyes” and is determined to sustain an image of being weak and victimized. Blumenthal points to the manipulative use made by Israelis of the memory of the*Holocaust*in order to shape a collective consciousness, strengthen the society's inner cohesion and shut itself off from a world perceived as threatening and malevolent.He focuses on a period starting in December 2008, when Israel launched the attack on Gaza code-named Operation Cast Lead. He describes events that took place in Israel and Palestine during the term of the previous Benjamin Netanyahu government [2009–2012]. Blumenthal dives into the depths of Israeli society of recent years, describing the prevailing atmosphere and the individuals who shaped it. He tells of Israeli youths who take part in the demolition of a Bedouin village as part of a “summer camp” rife with nationalism and hatred, of the arrest of anti-war protesters in the name of “preserving the public peace” (Orwell couldn’t have phrased it better) and about permanent, discriminatory ethnic division and separation.The local media is portrayed as a central collaborator in this construction of a false consciousness by presenting the pronouncements of the army spokesman as irrefutable fact and absolute truth, without demanding proof of the information being provided. Blumenthal also does not spare those who are not part of the ruling right-wing coalition. His accusatory finger points toward the Israeli peace camp, which, in the first days of any military operation, tends to line up behind the government Blumenthal provides the example of*Chaim Oron,*the previous leader of the left-wing Meretz party, in the initial stages of Operation Cast Lead.Blumenthal’s depressing if somewhat radicalized narrative does make room for some righteous people of Sodom. They are personified in the young activists on the margins of Israeli society, and even rejected by it, and members of the Palestinian popular councils. Despite the draconian measures used against them, they adhere to*nonviolent opposition to the Israeli occupation. The figure of the “prophet,” as professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz is described, hovers above them, and a chapter is devoted to him and to his dark prophecy way back in 1967 regarding the direction being taken by Israeli society, which Blumenthal chronicles.The book’s stated audience is the American public. In the foreword, Blumenthal writes that he wishes to show them “what they’re paying for, the facts as they are today, in a way that is not dressed up and laundered...

The final scene in the book takes place in a New York apartment, in the presence of young Israelis who have gone into voluntary exile after despairing of the struggle for social change in the society in which they grew up. These are young people hungry for life and justice, who sense that they have lost the battle and have therefore chosen to leave the field. This final chord amplifies, perhaps, the warning bells being rung by Blumenthal."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfQxw-0E-NA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

In the You Tube video, Blumenthal speaks of the Zionist colonial enterprise in Palestine being in its final phase. I agree.

"Hamas Book Of The Month Club"

Max Blumenthal’s Book Gives Islamists a Pass | The New York Observer

 

[P F Tinmore]

Two great videos.

Both well worth watching.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

Two great videos.

Both well worth watching.

The book is available for purchase on Kindle on Amazon for $12.99 presently. I cannot wait to read it. Just have to charge my Kindle first.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

Israel is a ‘corpse’ — Hedges on Blumenthal’s ‘Goliath’

"Yesterday Max Blumenthal’s new book on Israel,Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, got the emphatic endorsement of two influential journalists, Chris Hedges and Andrew Sullivan.First, here’s Hedgesat Truthdig, hammer and tongs in an inspiring Old Testament manner: Zionism is a racist ideology, Israel is poisoned by the psychosis of war, and liberal American Jews deny this so as to fetishize the myth and themselves, but Blumenthal reveals the truth, Israel is a corpse.Israel has been poisoned by the psychosis of permanent war. It has been morally bankrupted by the sanctification of victimhood, which it uses to justify an occupation that rivals the brutality and racism of apartheid South Africa. Its democracy—which was always exclusively for Jews—has been hijacked by extremists who are pushing the country toward fascism. Many of Israel’s most enlightened and educated citizens—1 million of them—have left the country. Its most courageous human rights campaigners, intellectuals and journalists—Israeli and Palestinian—are subject to constant state surveillance, arbitrary arrests and government-run smear campaigns. Its educational system, starting in primary school, has become an indoctrination machine for the military…And yet, the hard truths about Israel remain largely unspoken. Liberal supporters of Israel decry its excesses. They wring their hands over the tragic necessity of airstrikes on Gaza or Lebanon or the demolition of Palestinian homes....*

And here is*Andrew Sullivan, much more engaged by the swordplay between Blumenthal and Eric Alterman, and saying that Alterman committed a lazy hatchet job. But Sullivan lands where it matters, on Blumenthal’s*excellent encounter with David Grossman, and all that demonstrated about the flaccidity of Zionist idealsne reason to pick [Goliath] up is the lazy hatchet job performed on it by one of the more egregiously nasty writers in America, Eric Alterman. Alterman’s critique can be read*here, titled “The ‘I Hate Israel’ Handbook”, and*here. I urge you to read both…. The reason I urge you to read it all is because it’s essential background for*Blumenthal’s response.*It’s always a joy to see a smear artist exposed, trick by trick, con by con – and Max is relentless. To wit....


Chris Hedges cover's Blumenthal's Goliath

 

[Jos]

Israel has been poisoned by the psychosis of permanent war. It has been morally bankrupted by the sanctification of victimhood, which it uses to justify an occupation that rivals the brutality and racism of apartheid South Africa. Its democracy -- which was always exclusively for Jews -- has been hijacked by extremists who are pushing the country toward fascism. Many of Israel's most enlightened and educated citizens -- 1 million of them -- have left the country. Its most courageous human rights campaigners, intellectuals and journalists -- Israeli and Palestinian -- are subject to constant state surveillance, arbitrary arrests and government-run smear campaigns. Its educational system, starting in primary school, has become an indoctrination machine for the military. And the greed and corruption of its venal political and economic elite have created vast income disparities, a mirror of the decay within America's democracy.

And yet, the hard truths about Israel remain largely unspoken. Liberal supporters of Israel decry its excesses. They wring their hands over the tragic necessity of airstrikes on Gaza or Lebanon or the demolition of Palestinian homes. They assure us that they respect human rights and want peace. But they react in inchoate fury when the reality of Israel is held up before them. This reality implodes the myth of the Jewish state. It exposes the cynicism of a state whose real goal is, and always has been, the transfer, forced immigration or utter subjugation and impoverishment of Palestinians inside Israel and the occupied territories.

Reality shatters the fiction of a peace process. Reality lays bear the fact that Israel routinely has used deadly force against unarmed civilians, including children, to steal half the land on the West Bank and crowd forcibly displaced Palestinians into squalid, militarized ghettos while turning their land and homes over to Jewish settlers. Reality exposes the new racial laws adopted by Israel as those once advocated by the fanatic racist Meir Kahane. Reality unveils the Saharonim detention camp in the Negev Desert, the largest detention center in the world. Reality mocks the lie of open, democratic debate, including in the country's parliament, the Knesset, where racist diatribes and physical threats, often enshrined into law, are used to silence and criminalize the few who attempt to promote a civil society. Liberal Jewish critics inside and outside Israel, however, desperately need the myth, not only to fetishize Israel but also to fetishize themselves. Strike at the myth and you unleash a savage vitriol, which in its fury exposes the self-adulation and latent racism that lie at the core of modern Zionism.

OpEdNews - Article: Imploding the Myth of Israel

 

[Hossfly]

Israel has been poisoned by the psychosis of permanent war. It has been morally bankrupted by the sanctification of victimhood, which it uses to justify an occupation that rivals the brutality and racism of apartheid South Africa. Its democracy -- which was always exclusively for Jews -- has been hijacked by extremists who are pushing the country toward fascism. Many of Israel's most enlightened and educated citizens -- 1 million of them -- have left the country. Its most courageous human rights campaigners, intellectuals and journalists -- Israeli and Palestinian -- are subject to constant state surveillance, arbitrary arrests and government-run smear campaigns. Its educational system, starting in primary school, has become an indoctrination machine for the military. And the greed and corruption of its venal political and economic elite have created vast income disparities, a mirror of the decay within America's democracy.

And yet, the hard truths about Israel remain largely unspoken. Liberal supporters of Israel decry its excesses. They wring their hands over the tragic necessity of airstrikes on Gaza or Lebanon or the demolition of Palestinian homes. They assure us that they respect human rights and want peace. But they react in inchoate fury when the reality of Israel is held up before them. This reality implodes the myth of the Jewish state. It exposes the cynicism of a state whose real goal is, and always has been, the transfer, forced immigration or utter subjugation and impoverishment of Palestinians inside Israel and the occupied territories.

Reality shatters the fiction of a peace process. Reality lays bear the fact that Israel routinely has used deadly force against unarmed civilians, including children, to steal half the land on the West Bank and crowd forcibly displaced Palestinians into squalid, militarized ghettos while turning their land and homes over to Jewish settlers. Reality exposes the new racial laws adopted by Israel as those once advocated by the fanatic racist Meir Kahane. Reality unveils the Saharonim detention camp in the Negev Desert, the largest detention center in the world. Reality mocks the lie of open, democratic debate, including in the country's parliament, the Knesset, where racist diatribes and physical threats, often enshrined into law, are used to silence and criminalize the few who attempt to promote a civil society. Liberal Jewish critics inside and outside Israel, however, desperately need the myth, not only to fetishize Israel but also to fetishize themselves. Strike at the myth and you unleash a savage vitriol, which in its fury exposes the self-adulation and latent racism that lie at the core of modern Zionism.

OpEdNews - Article: Imploding the Myth of Israel

Here we have Chris Hedges again, who is not a friend of Israel the same way Yousef Mohammed isn't. I guess Yoursel Mohammed and Hedges don't like seeing articles like this............. (As an aside. I wonder if Yousef Mohammed can tell us about Hedges being booed by college students when he attempted to give his speech about something or other.)

Heritage Site is Jewish, Not Just Palestinian « Commentary Magazine

 

[Mojo2]

I stand with Israel and I don't want them to bow down to their Islamist opponents.

They are our farthest outpost in the Islamist's war to conquer the World for Allah.

If the USA was easier to target WE'D be fighting the war the Israelis are fighting.

They are like the canary in the mine. Their health and well being reflects on and relates directly to our own.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

 

[Sunni Man]

I stand with Israel and I don't want them to bow down to their Islamist opponents.

They are our farthest outpost in the Islamist's war to conquer the World for Allah.

If the USA was easier to target WE'D be fighting the war the Israelis are fighting.

They are like the canary in the mine. Their health and well being reflects on and relates directly to our own.

Quite the fantasy you got going there nitwit. ..

 

[Kondor3]

"...Hamas Book Of The Month Club"...

Now THAT was a funny line...

 

[Kondor3]

"...They are like the canary in the mine..."

There is some truth in this...

At least to the extent wherein Israel acts as a Tripwire and Early Warning System for The West.

 

[Mojo2]

I stand with Israel and I don't want them to bow down to their Islamist opponents.

They are our farthest outpost in the Islamist's war to conquer the World for Allah.

If the USA was easier to target WE'D be fighting the war the Israelis are fighting.

They are like the canary in the mine. Their health and well being reflects on and relates directly to our own.

Quite the fantasy you got going there nitwit. ..

It's NEWS to you because you've been kept ignorant.

Easier for a nice lad like yourself to continue posting as an innocent and win favor for Islam amongst independent readers.

You are a tool.

And you serve their purposes.

Check my assertions if you don't believe them.

 

[Lipush]

I stand with Israel and I don't want them to bow down to their Islamist opponents.

They are our farthest outpost in the Islamist's war to conquer the World for Allah.

If the USA was easier to target WE'D be fighting the war the Israelis are fighting.

They are like the canary in the mine. Their health and well being reflects on and relates directly to our own.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

I stand with Israel and I don't want them to bow down to their Islamist opponents.

They are our farthest outpost in the Islamist's war to conquer the World for Allah.

If the USA was easier to target WE'D be fighting the war the Israelis are fighting.

They are like the canary in the mine. Their health and well being reflects on and relates directly to our own.

Quite the fantasy you got going there nitwit. ..

It's NEWS to you because you've been kept ignorant.

Easier for a nice lad like yourself to continue posting as an innocent and win favor for Islam amongst independent readers.

You are a tool.

And you serve their purposes.

Check my assertions if you don't believe them.

Why would anyone heed the assertions of Muslim haters like you?

A special place in hell reserved especially for you haters.

I choose to stand with God and raise my voice against Injustice and Hate.

 

[SherriMunnerlyn]

"...Hamas Book Of The Month Club"...

Now THAT was a funny line...

Anything goes to try to silence Truth for Zionists.

 

[Mojo2]

Quite the fantasy you got going there nitwit. ..

It's NEWS to you because you've been kept ignorant.

Easier for a nice lad like yourself to continue posting as an innocent and win favor for Islam amongst independent readers.

You are a tool.

And you serve their purposes.

Check my assertions if you don't believe them.

Why would anyone heed the assertions of Muslim haters like you?

A special place in hell reserved especially for you haters.

I choose to stand with God and raise my voice against Injustice and Hate.

You think we are like you???

We are not.

You are born and then taught that non-Muslims and Jews are bad before you can even think for yourselves. Therefore, you are a hater without reason.

And you think we are like you in that respect.

We aren't.

Non-Muslims, Americans, Jews and others who aren't Muslims are not taught to 'hate' anyone at all, (and that includes Muslims), for no reason.

So, when you accuse me or anyone here or on any other website of 'hating' Muslims, you reveal your own path of indoctrination to the world of everlasting Islamist hatred where you hate for no good reason.

The fact is most of the people you call Muslim haters didn't come to oppose your cause or goals or efforts until we learned who you are and what you do and why you do it.

And if the KKK gets rightfully slammed for it's bigotry and hatred and violence due to a person's skin color or their Jewishness why shouldn't you also be criticized even worse than we slam the KKK?

You are killing Jews every day just for being Jews.

So, you go and find someone who is more the stereotypical dhimmi to peddle your hypocritical faux outrage to.

We've got our fill of bigots in America already,

Find somewhere else to go to practice your Muslim racial hatred.