Interesting to see what happens here:
Several Israeli Jewish suspects were arrested Sunday in connection with the killing of a Palestinian teen, Israeli police said.
“Investigation continuing, strong indication a nationalistic incident, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld tweeted about the death of Mohammed Abu Khedair.
Rosenfeld told CNN that those arrested were Israeli Jews.
Rosenfeld also tweeted Sunday that police have arrested a “taxi driver from the north who admitted killing the girl Sheli Dadon in Migdal Haemek recently. Background nationalistic.” The 19-year-old Jewish girl was killed last month. The suspect is an Arab resident of the Galilee, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Mohammed Abu Khedair’s death came after the bodies of three Israeli Jewish teens were found in the West Bank. Israeli and Palestinian officials quickly suspected it was a revenge killing and condemned any such actions.
‘If they sentence them and demolish their houses and give them life sentences, it might satisfy me a little,” Suha Abu Khedair said.
In the Times, Netanyahu is quoted as saying the following:
After paying a condolence call to the family of one of the Israeli teenagers in the community of Nof Ayalon, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Mr. Netanyahu stood before the television cameras outside the house and sent his condolences to the Abu Khdeir family. “We do not differentiate between terrorists, and we will respond to all of them,” he said.
How will the extremist right in Israel handle that statement?
Barry
“How will the extremist right in Israel handle that statement?”
The dumber ones will howl with outrage; the smarter ones will know that it’s a lie.
Thomas F
We’ll all wait with bated breath for the reputable Palestinian justice system to reciprocate in pursuing the killers of the Jewish teens . . .
JPL
@Barry: That’s what I was going to say.
@Thomas F: Hopefully if someone knows the culprits, they will turn them over but I assumed that it would be the Israel military and police investigating.
aimai
@Thomas F: Whatever–two crimes don’t make a righteous action. The Israelis owe it to themselves and the world to find and punish the murderers of that Palestinian teen. Whatever anyone else does is their business but it doesn’t change the morality of what Israel has to do. Or the shame that it should feel if it fails to do it.
John (MCCARTHY) Cole
@Thomas F: Not gonna cross my fingers on that one.
Mnemosyne
@Thomas F:
But, yes, more blood and more revenge is what’s needed, amirite? More blood and more revenge will totally fix everything.
LT
That’s the most decent utterance from an Israeli official I’ve heard in a long time.
chopper
I see what you did there. Nice.
chopper
@Mnemosyne:
I like how they destroyed the homes of suspects. better hope those dudes did it. Wait what am I saying, the public won’t care if they didn’t.
Southern Beale
God when will we stop killing people over this shit?
Snarki, child of Loki
“We do not differentiate between terrorists, and we will respond to all of them,”
…”with mass reprisal, in the case of Palestinian terrorists, and a quiet pat on the back and ‘attaboy’ to Jewish terrorists” Bibi might have added under his breath.
dedc79
@Snarki, child of Loki:
Did you even read the post? They’ve made six arrests. Let’s see what happens.
Violet
Oh, no! What’s Tom Friedman going to do now?
some guy
one would have to ask Netanyahu’s Cabinet for an honest answer to that. Naftali Bennett would be a good place to start, or maybe Minister of Housing and ConstructionUri Yehuda Ariel, or how about good old Avigdor Lieberman. Not like it will be hard for Bibi to find and ask the extremist right how that will handle his latest statement.
Mike in NC
America’s Military-Industrial-Congressional complex will happily sell Israel dozens of drones to blow people and shit up.
JPL
The local news, ABC Atlanta, just said that Tariq Abu Khdeir was not an innocent bystander but an instigator who tossed molotov cocktails. They stopped short of saying he deserved the beating. Next thing we’ll find out that both his relatives in FL and family in Palestine have granite.
I hate this liberal media.
Heliopause
“We do not differentiate between terrorists, and we will respond to all of them,”
Except that in one case you launched immediate air strikes, searched thousands of homes and arrested hundreds of people, and in the other you appear to be following something like civilized due process. Aside from that, you don’t differentiate.
dmsilev
@Violet: Does Uber have a presence in the Middle East?
Violet
@dmsilev: I think he’d prefer Lyft’s Pink Mustache of Understanding.
SuperHrefna
@Heliopause: And they won’t be destroying the family homes, either. At least they haven’t Rachel Corrie’d the deceased boy’s American cousin that they imprisioned and beat but I absolutely don’t trust them not to. I used to think I understood US/Israel relations, at least a little, but after they murdered poor Rachel Corrie and blackened her name I realized that this is absolutely beyond my ken.
some guy
@Heliopause:
what’s a little mass incarceration between friends?
WaterGirl
@JPL: OT, but not really since it relates to your comment about the media. Fucking CNN (FCNN for short) has filed a lawsuit against the county that the Bergdahl’s live in.
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2007152662
Why doesn’t CNN investigate something that actually matters instead of hounding these people?
beltane
@JPL: Once again, I made the mistake of listening to NPR in the car. As cynical as I am about NPR these days, I was still absolutely stunned by the one-sidedness of the coverage of this series of incidents. Maybe I/P is the only political issue where NPR drops their “both sides do it” habit. Why aren’t Americans allowed to at least hear both sides and then come to whatever conclusion they want?
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Southern Beale:
Well, they are going to keep killing each other for a long time to come. I don’t believe either side is really ready for peace. A better question is when is our government going to finally throw its hands up and walk away? U.S. dollars are only enabling the bloodshed.
SuperHrefna
And here is Billy Bragg singing The Lonesome Death of Rachel Corrie, because it just seems appropriate for this thread: http://youtu.be/WME495PWWJE
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
They’re asking for information on something that happened when Bowe Bergdahl was THIRTEEN YEARS OLD.
Fuckers. I want CNN to sue the state, except that I only figured out that CNN was demanding information on a juvenile case by doing some math. The local paper didn’t bother to point that aspect out.
JPL
@beltane: During the previous Bush administration and the early Obama administration, news medias were attacked for covering the atrocities occurring on the right. I could give examples but the best one might have to do with Sarah Palin. They are cowards. Right now I am furious that the local news implied the teen deserved the beating.
also ted turner must be so proud of what has become of his station.
WaterGirl
@beltane: So which side is NPR reporting on related to I/P issues?
some guy
@WaterGirl:
when was the last time you listened to NPR? seriously.
Thlayli
@SuperHrefna:
Oh yes, poor little innocent Rachel Corrie.
You play chicken with a bulldozer, shit happens.
WaterGirl
@JPL: I nearly wrote the same thing earlier, except my thought was that Ted Turner would be rolling over in his grave, only he’s not dead so I wasn’t exactly sure how to say it.
WaterGirl
@some guy: I gave up on NPR several years ago when they started with the “both sides do it” bullshit.
Leah
It’s so difficult to talk about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, especially to fellow Americans, because so many of them have a lop-sided view in which Israel and it’s people and government are the victims, and the Palestinians are the obstinate non-partners in finding a peaceful settlement that would finally give the Palestinians a country of their own.
That perception is quite false; it’s actually the Israels who for decades now have been the faithless partner who continues to annex more and more land on which to build more and more settlements. It isn’t all Israelis, in fact those Israeli’s who believe in a genuine two state solution in which Israel will have to give back land, since there is no possible current borders which could be used to create a genuine contiguous Palestinian state, are far more critical of Israel than almost anything one hears in American conversations about the conflict. I would exempt from that appraisal many of the comment threads on the subject here at Balloon Juice
As it happens, there’s an example of what I mean that responds to this terrible incidence of the three dead Israeli teens, and the revenge killing of the Palestinian youngster. JJ Goldberg, who blogs for the Jewish Forward, has a fascinating article about a statement made on Facebook by Yuval Diskin. who served as director of Israel’s Shin Bet security service from 2005 to 2011.
What Diskin has to say is quite astonishing, if you haven’t had access to Israeli dissenters to the policies of decades of various Israeli governments. I highly recommend taking a look at it.
I’d also like to recommend a documentary available on Netflix: ” The Gatekeepers” interviews retired former Directors of Shin Bet, who, like Yuval Disken, have found their voices once relieved of carrying out Israeli government policy.
My apologies if my clickable link doesn’t work; it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.
JPL
@Thlayli: Murder is not justified no matter which side you are on.
Police brutality is unacceptable also.
Violet
@beltane:
Because the job of the news is to tell you what they think and what to think. Not provide information and allow you to think for yourself.
mark
WTF! Is the website called DineshJuice? Have you notice how 3 ads are up at once plus newsmax right on top. Tried to get rid of that lying (“I’m divorced”) felons face but it is not possible.
Is there a comprable blog without all this shit? or much better can I block it?
JPL
@Leah: That was an excellent comment.
beltane
@WaterGirl: From what I’ve heard on NPR recently, they may as well be an official arm of the Netanyahu government. Coverage of I/P issues in the country is almost as weird as Russia Today’s coverage of Ukraine. It hasn’t always been this bad, but there now seems to be some kind of unwritten rule forbidding any reporting that even deviates slightly from the official Israeli government line.
Not Adding Much to the Community
@Thlayli: Hey, look, it’s someone I can say “go fuck yourself, you reprehensible cumstain” to without any feelings of remorse.
Not Adding Much to the Community
@mark: Have you noticed there’s a browser plug in called AdBlock and I don’t see -any- advertisements on this page?
WaterGirl
@mark: I block all the ads on this and every other website I visit. I felt like I had no choice because there was some alligator (?) or something constantly jumping at me on Balloon Juice and I couldn’t deal with it. I also have trouble with flickering lights, etc. So glad I did!
I use AdBlock for Safari, but ad blocking programs are available for pretty much every browser.
R. Porrofatto
Even more predictable, “How will the extremist right in the U.S. handle that statement?”
We know Ben Shapiro’s first reaction to the death of the Palestinian teen was to blame Arabs and to call any blaming of Jews “blood libel.” Pamela Geller said the exact same thing, and that it was most likely a family “honor killing”. But then Shapiro has written about the “radical evil” of the entire Palestinian Arab population who is “rotten to the core,” and anyone familiar with the Geller spew knows that a more hateful Gorgon would be hard to find.
I’m guessing they’ll use Netanyahu’s statement to show how much more morally superior Israel is to whatever vile epithet-du-jour they’re using for the Palestinian people. Of course, they would never for a nanosecond agree that the killers of the Palestinian boy were terrorists at all, no less ones to be “differentiated”.
WaterGirl
@beltane: That makes me sick. I have done a 180 in the past several years, going from seeing Israel as the victim to realizing that Israel is the aggressor who has no interest in peace with Palestinians.
What Israel is doing makes no sense to me, because the road they are on does not allow for any future for Israel that is in line with democracy.
The Thin Black Duke
@WaterGirl: And more to the point, this barbaric system isn’t sustainable in the long term. What happens to Israel if the United States can’t afford to send money there anymore? In a world of diminishing resources, this isn’t an unreasonable assumption.
beltane
@WaterGirl:
Same with me. Ironically, it was pro-Israel propaganda forwarded to me by Jewish relatives ( I am half Jewish) that forced me to reevaluate my positions on the subject.
Violet
@The Thin Black Duke: Ha ha. You’re funny. The United States will always send money to Israel. We’ll have collapsing infrastructure and starving and sick citizens but money will go to Israel.
Villago Delenda Est
@R. Porrofatto: Yup, Nietzsche was on to something with that fighting the monster stuff.
These guys are like Julius Streicher from the Bizzaro universe.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Thin Black Duke: This is essentially the point that the former Shin Bet chief was making, one that Bibi and his cast of idiots don’t want to face.
PIGL
@Thlayli: you’re despicable.
JohnK
@mark: You can use Googles Chrome with an add on named AdBlock that will block adds and allow you to choose page elements to block. I’ve customized most of the sites i visit to remove the adds and the logo bullshit crap at the top of the page that forces you to scroll down to see the content of interest. Newsmax is long gone.
SuperHrefna
@Thlayli: Spoken like a true psychopath.
Thlayli
@Not Adding Much to the Community:
Whatever works for you, dude. Glad to help.
Thlayli
@PIGL:
Piss off.
Thlayli
@SuperHrefna:
Whatever.
Aaron
Im sick of people using Palestinian actions to justify Israeli over reaction. 3 Israelis murdered? Tragic. Israel bombs the crap out of what little government the Palestinians have for revenge- and what is the death toll? 50? 100?? Revenge is not justice. One sides bad acts do not justify your bad acts.
Oh look, Israel just announced another major settlement in the west bank. It will go along with a new series of security roads for Israelis only and lots of check points that will further subdivide the west bank into even tinier bantustans.
A Humble Lurker
@Thlayli: @Thlayli: @Thlayli:
Hey, you’re a douche on Balloon Juice, shit happens.
Thlayli
@A Humble Lurker:
I didn’t realize Rachel Corrie holds infallible-saint status on BJ. My apologies to everyone who was traumatized by the suggestion that she has some responsibility for what happened to her.
scav
To a sad extent, Israel is where Holy Rollers of many stripes can work up and justify an actual simplistic blood lust and feel Holy Holy Holy about it while not personally suffering any of the consequences.
Culture of Truth
How will the extremist right in Israel handle that statement?
Probably demand an increase in settlements, and get it.
WaterGirl
I am tired of seeing corruption everywhere.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Barry:
QFT.
J R in WV
@mark:
There is an app called AdBlock which keeps most of that crap from appearing on your browser. At least it does on Firefox, I dunno if it works on Internet Explorer, which I haven’t used in like 12 or 15 years.
I regret not funding B-J as much as others, but the ads from right-wing AHs can’t be abided.
ETA: I hate the actions of the Israeli government stealing land from Palestinian farmers!
Gator90
@Thlayli: No one is infallible, but Rachel Corrie put herself in harm’s way in an effort to prevent injustice, which is more than most people ever do. Your sneering contempt for the tragedy of her death speaks poorly of you.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@WaterGirl: That confusion assumes that the current Israeli government has any interest in democracy.
mark
Thanks ya’ll. Ad block is fab
WaterGirl
@mark: Success!
Corner Stone
This thread seems like a natural for an eemom comment.
Thoughtful David
@The Thin Black Duke:
This is something I’ve wondered for quite a while. The system there is clearly unstable. At some point, it’s going to shift. If all Israel has in the area is enemies–and they certainly have worked hard at making all of their neighbors into enemies that burn with red-hot hatred–they’re going to be in deep doo-doo. Israel needs to start thinking of the future. If you keep doing something over and over and getting the same result, maybe it’s time to think about doing something differently.
WaterGirl
@Thoughtful David: Israel is blinded by all the new settlements. Maybe they think that’s winning? Very short-sighted!
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Thoughtful David: The US will always ride to Israel’s rescue, even when the consequences are bad for the US. The Israeli government knows this. So they have zero incentive to make nice with anyone. And they know the US will never hold them accountable for their actions.
liberal
@WaterGirl:
Israel is not a democracy in the sense of equal rights for all under the law.
Sure, things are hardly perfect in the US, but…well, read Goliath.
liberal
@Corner Stone:
Yeah…a good one would be a rehash of her “Americans can’t criticize Israel because of what we did to the American Indians” idiocy.
I haven’t seen an eemom comment on BJ for a long time, though.
WaterGirl
@liberal: Actually, I saw a link from eemon here within the last week. So she’s not completely gone, maybe just mostly lurking?
Corner Stone
@liberal: Nah, she’s been spewing her special brand of genocidal hate here recently.
Not gone, but one hopes to be soon forgotten.
Chris
@Leah:
Yeah. Like I said in another thread: the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is the foreign policy version of the gun control debate. I don’t even try talking to people about that one anymore.
Yep, I’ve noticed that too. That’s what makes the American attitude towards the conflict so insane: it’s actually easier to find critics of Israeli policy in Israel than it is in America, where they basically don’t exist anymore.
Chris
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
Not “always,” but “alarmingly often,” and even when you have a president in the White House who seems to understand that always following Israel’s lead is bad news for America, there’s only so much he can do in the face of congressional and public opposition.
In a sense, the problem with Israel is the same one we have with Wall Street and the gun nuts: they keep pushing the boundaries further and further, and, seeing that there’s still no reaction from the U.S. government, they keep pushing. They’re going to continue that until they finally hit a brick wall, and I don’t see us putting one up in the near future.
Chris
@liberal:
… one might think the logical outcome of that analogy would be “U.S. actions towards American Indians and Israeli actions towards Palestinians are both wrong,” rather than “since no one has a blameless history no one should ever be criticized,” but there I go thinking again…