Netanyahu's call for a European exodus masks Zionist failure

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/17009-netanyahus-call-for-a-european-exodus-masks-zionist-failure

Aside from the election being his motivation, Netanyahu knows that there is a brain drain from Israel which is ringing alarm bells in Tel Aviv. The country's higher education system is said to be deteriorating and well-educated Israelis are fleeing overseas, according to a 2013 report published by the Taub Centre for Social Policy Studies. This intellectual exodus of Jewish talent is troubling Netanyahu and the rest of the Knesset because it means that the Zionist dream is faltering. Perhaps the Israeli leadership is also worried that, in stark contrast, global calls for the Palestinians to be availed of their right of return to their homeland are growing with each new generation.

Could this be the real reason behind Netanyahu's latest call for Jews to quit Europe? If so, it was a desperate attempt to shore up the Zionist project, but it has back-fired badly. His scare-mongering provoked Copenhagen's Chief Rabbi, Jair Melchior, to express his dismay about the Israeli prime minister's motives. "If the way we deal with terror is to run somewhere else," said Rabbi Melchior, "we should all run to a deserted island... Terror is not a reason to move to Israel."

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls slammed the Israeli leader's call for a European exodus; he urged all 475,000 French Jews to stay put. He also questioned the timing of Netanyahu's announcement just a month before seeking re-election to the Israeli parliament.

"Being in the middle of an election campaign doesn't mean you authorise yourself to make just any type of statement," said Valls. He pulled no punches in his criticism. "The place for French Jews is France." His words were backed-up immediately by President Francois Hollande.

Netanyahu, Israel's own George Bush, is a failure.

[gordianot]

1. For some reason this sounds to me like a money making scheme.

What happens to your assets moving is not cheap?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. Perhaps the assets will find heir way to a nice illeggal West Bank colony?

[JDPriestly]

3. Nonsense! The anti-Jewish attitudes that have been hidden since WWII and the Holocaust

are just now coming to the surface.

Israel remains the safe harbor for the Jewish people. That's why Netanyahu is reminding the Jews of the world that they still have a homeland to go to when the homes they realize they aren't safe where they are.

[Israeli]

4. Nonsense back at you JDPriestly ...

that is the dream , now digest the reality :

European Jews moving to Israel are trading anti-Semitism for racism

French and Danish immigrants will find that Israel swallows its immigrants, but it doesn't digest them.

By Zvi Bar'el

Dusty old plans stored at the Immigrant Absorption Ministry and the Jewish Agency and its affiliates are being revived. Everyone is ready to welcome the big wave of immigrants expected to move to Israel following the terrorist attacks in France and Denmark. No country in Europe is safe for Jews anymore, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, not forgetting of course to remind these future refugees that the continent remains “that same old Europe.”

Actually, not only the Jews of Europe aren't safe. The Jews of Israel have a hard time being convinced that their haven can face up to the threats in the region that Netanyahu warns them of daily. But let's assume that thousands of Jews do decide to abandon their businesses, studies, homes and livelihoods and board rescue flights to Ben-Gurion International Airport. What will they find here?

They'll see right-wing videos portraying the Israeli left as Nazi collaborators out to destroy the country. They'll learn how fortunate they are not to have come here as refugees from Eritrea or Sudan, or even as Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia.

Jews who have suffered European anti-Semitism will trade it in for Israeli racism. They'll discover they've become citizens of an occupying country, the occupation that has contributed to that same anti-Semitism that made them pack their bags in the first place.

And here are two other facts that European Jews should be aware of. Israel's murder rate is 1.8 per 100,000 people, while in France it’s 1 per 100,000 and in Denmark 0.8. Last year, 27 people were killed in terror attacks here. In France and Denmark not a single person was.

The situation in Europe could worsen, but in Israel the risk that the situation could worsen is far greater. If European Jews come to Israel immediately, they can vote in the March 17 election and support the person who promised them a safe haven and invited them to immigrate, or more accurately ordered them to.

True, quickly enough they'll discover that their safety isn't subject to the whims of the Islamic State or Al-Qaida, and they won’t suffer murderous manifestations of anti-Semitism. But to be real Israelis, they'll have to adapt to the Israeli depression and the constant fear of war or mass destruction — or both.

Of course, Jews from Europe can respond to all this with the question: “If things are so bad in Israel, why do you Israelis stay?” The answer is implied in the question: We are Israelis. Our identity is dictated to us. Hebrew isn't only our language, it's our culture. Our solidarity is limited to ourselves; our collective memory as Israelis isn't shared.

That is, there are Palestinians in Israel, but they're the enemy at the moment. The anger that some of us feel isn't directed at the country but rather at the country’s leaders, the ones who distort the national identity and dip it in racist-religious acid. We're proudly surviving with the help of the saying “We survived Pharaoh and we’ll survive this.” Survival rather than quality of life is the linchpin of our identity.

You, the Jews of Europe, were taught to demand quality of life. In Israel, anyone seeking quality of life like that in Berlin is considered a traitor. And please don’t confuse Israeliness with Jewishness. Israelis don’t go crazy for foreigners even if they're Jewish. Just ask the Russians. About 150,000 of the immigrants from the former Soviet Union have left.

And ask the Ethiopians, the Bukharans and the Kurds, who decades after arriving are still identified by where they came from. Of course, you're entitled to immigrate, and of course you'll receive a warm welcome at the airport. But remember that Israel hastily swallows its immigrants. It doesn't digest them.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.642945

[shira]

5. OP's Yvonne Ridley is yet another Jew hating BDS'er who is pro-Hamas

Yvonne Ridley: Says Zionists should be “hunted down”; “loathes” Israel; supports Hamas…
http://leftfootforward.org/2012/11/yvonne-ridley-respect-rotherham-hamas/

[MisterP]

7. having barely half the planet's Jews is actually a huge blow to Likud's whole worldview

to them Israel IS Hebrewdom (not a word): it's not just their torchbearer, not just a model, not just a refuge, but the collective body of all Jews--all Jews, after all, are "Israelis," some just haven't signed the form yet! so this attitude runs into the very open fact that the other half of Jews are very blatantly not Israelis--that if you list Jews by city every other one is like LA or London; Israel is unique but it's also still just a country--protests in the streets, bad wages, ethnic tensions, cynicism over politics, heavy discrimination against the Beta Israel and the Mizrachi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negation_of_the_Diaspora

even Abraham was from Iraq

[shira]

8. More from OP's pro-Hamas, racist neo-nazi BDS activist Yvonne Ridley...

http://leftfootforward.org/2012/11/yvonne-ridley-respect-rotherham-hamas/

Ridley said: "Respect" is a Zionist-free party… if there was any Zionism in the Respect Party they would be hunted down and kicked out.

“The Zionists have tentacles everywhere. We’ve seen with the disgraceful behaviour from the BBC that this interference goes right to the very top of the media, into the very heart of our homes.”

Galloway names Ridley as a Hamas donor, 2009:

“I, now, here, on behalf of myself, my sister Yvonne Ridley, and the two Respect councillors – Muhammad Ishtiaq and Naim Khan – are giving three cars and 25,000 pounds in cash to prime minister Ismail Haniya.”

Ridley herself confirming she personally donated money to Hamas in a deliberate violation of sanctions law:

“I brought cash and I am happy to say I have given that cash to George Galloway and we have both given that money to the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, which has broken UN sanctions. If they want to charge us, if they want to arrest us, bring it on.”

“During our brief time in Gaza, I did have the privilege to join a few of us together to meet Ismail Haniyeh… If I could use my Palestinian citizenship, it would be to vote Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas back in again in Gaza. Victory to intifada 3! Victory to Hamas!“

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

9. Perhaps they don't like what zionism has become, shira.

If Zionism = Netanyahu,

If Zionism = smooching with the GOP,

If Zionism = illegal Israeli colonies,

If Zionism = destroying Palestinian olive groves,

If Zionism = stealing Palestinian lands,

If Zionism = killing hundreds of innocent Palestinian children...


Then I am against Zionism.

[shira]

10. Nope. Ridley & her ilk are just Jew-hating Hamas supporters.

Keep posting from these vile shitbags.

You're making the case about BDS easy for me.

Everyone has a right to know what kind of neo-nazis are running this warmongering hate movement.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

11. Have they ever said they hate Jews, shira?

You should really get in control of your phantoms.

[shira]

12. Supporting Hamas' fascist terror attacks on Jews....

....is the most extreme form of Jew hatred.


Yvonne Ridley is a proud, unapologetic supporter of Hamas. You think that's progressive?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

13. And you can post where she supported "Hamas' fascist terror attacks on Jews..."

Right?

Go for it.

[shira]

14. Post #8 shows her support for Hamas. Your argument is asinine.....

It's like wanting proof that a Jew hating supporter of Nazis actually supports fascist Nazis murdering Jews.

Hmm.

I guess we need to ask ourselves whether there are good neo-Nazi skinheads out there who don't hate Jews, just as there are good supporters of Hamas who don't hate Jews...



You're really, really bad at this.

But keep digging.

Please.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

15. So you have no proof that she supported "Hamas' fascist terror attacks on Jews..." ...?

So that's about right I take it.



That's a hasbara fail, shira.

[shira]

16. It's in post #8 for everyone to see. Your views are becoming more unhinged....

....by the day.

Tell me, is Yvonne Ridley a good representative for BDS in your opinion?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

17. No, actually it is not in post #8. So Fail again.

[shira]

19. Is a Zio hater & Hamas supporter like Ridley a good role model for BDS?

I ask because now you apparently have no problem with outright Hamas supporters & haters of Zionists (like Ridley) speaking for the Palestinian cause. You not only posted her column, but you're defending her.

So yes or no, is Ridley a good role model for BDS in your opinion?

Don't run from the question. Be proud and stand by your convictions!

Or fold as you usually do, ashamed & embarrassed to make your views clearly known.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

20. I won't allow your attempts at moving goal posts today.

And you can post where she supported "Hamas' fascist terror attacks on Jews..."

Well?

[Israeli]

18. The Israeli version of your post KDO .....

Confessions of an anti-Zionist

Watching all the self-proclaimed Zionists denouncing their rivals as anti-Zionists, I think I prefer the company of the latter.

By B.Michael

If Bibi is Zionist, I am anti-Zionist.

If Naftali Bennett is Zionist, I’m a pious anti-Zionist.

If Avigdor Lieberman is Zionist, I’m a worried anti-Zionist.

If Miri Regev is Zionist, I’m a nauseated anti-Zionist.

If Faina Kirshenbaum is Zionist, I’m an impoverished anti-Zionist.

If Eli Yishai is Zionist, I’m a trembling anti-Zionist.

If Yariv Levin, Zeev Elkin, Danny Danon and Tzipi Hotovely are Zionists, I’m an amused anti-Zionist.

If Ofir Akunis is Zionist, I’m an anti-Zionist who’s rolling on the floor with laughter.

If Yuval Steinitz is Zionist, I’m an agnostic anti-Zionist.

If Yair Lapid says he’s Zionist, I’m not sure he understands the meaning of the word.

If Gilad Erdan is Zionist, I’m a bored anti-Zionist.

If (Shabbetai) Zvi Yehuda Kook is Zionist, I’m an anti-Zionist who’s extremely allergic to false messiahs and false prophets.

If Orit Strock is Zionist, I’m a frightened anti-Zionist.

If Yinon Magal is Zionist, I am first and foremost a journalist, and only afterward an anti-Zionist.

If persecuting minorities is Zionist, I’m an anti-Zionist who knows where he comes from.

If apartheid and racism are Zionist, I’m an anti-Zionist who knows where all this leads.

If stealing lands is Zionist, I’m an anti-Zionist who hasn’t forgotten his origins.

If oppressing, abusing, suppressing and riding roughshod over both the stranger and your own people is Zionist, I’m an anti-Zionist who has thoroughly studied the annals of his people.

If killing thousands of innocents is Zionist, I’m an anti-Zionist who doesn’t know where to hide his shame.

And if all of the above are what constitute Zionism, I’m a proud and shamefaced anti-Zionist.

A minor computation

And on a completely different issue: With my own ears, I heard Benjamin Netanyahu describe himself as representing “the entire Jewish people.” It seems his right to this title was calculated by the same accountant who determined that Netanyahu and his wife owe the state only 4,000 shekels (about $1,000) for their bottle deposits.

Here is a slightly more accurate accounting: Bibi is of course entitled to claim that he represents all the errant souls who voted for him in the 2013 election. No less, but also no more. They number 885,163 people.

Worldwide, there are some 14 million Jews. A quick computation will therefore show that Netanyahu brilliantly represents a solid 6.35 percent of “the entire Jewish people.”

Does all this teach us that Bibi is just a braggart with a big mouth? Heaven forbid! It merely teaches us that the other 93.65 percent of “the entire Jewish people” – those who didn’t vote for him – are just radical anti-Zionist leftists who have forgotten what it is to be Jews. And therefore, they aren’t worthy of being counted, or of getting prizes.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.642840

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

21. TY