Israël nu officieel fascistische apartheidsstaat: natiestaat wet aangenomen………

Posted on July 20, 2018June 14, 2024 by Willem Wachtmeester

Israël is al jaren een fascistische apartheidsstaat (en nog een uiterst
gewelddadige ook), e.e.a. is nu vervat in wetgeving, met het
aannemen van een natiestaat wet…….

Het
was al zo dat Israëlische arabieren (lees: Palestijnen die in 1948 niet werden verjaagd van hun grond en/of uit hun huis) in veel steden en
dorpen niet welkom waren, met deze wet is deze apartheidsmaatregel in
feite geïnstitutionaliseerd……..

Ook
de officiële taal is vanaf nu Hebreeuws……. Voorts mogen
straks ook LGBT personen geweigerd worden in dorpen waar
uitspuitend zionistische (ofwel: fascistische) joden wonen…..

Er
werd gisteren internationaal veel gesproken over deze wetgeving en
lullig genoeg had niemand in de reguliere media het lef te zeggen waar het op staat: Israël
is nu officieel een fascistische apartheidsstaat….. Veel gedraai
rond de pispot, maar te laf om de mond open te trekken en deze
fascistische wetgeving keihard te veroordelen…….

Voorts
zal de Israëlische regering met deze wetgeving het stichten van joodse nederzettingen
(in illegaal bezet gebied op de West Bank) promoten en
steunen…….. En dan durven de westerse politici te zeggen dat men
geen commentaar wil leveren op Israël om de ‘vredesonderhandelingen’ niet te
frustreren……… ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

Op Radio1 was gisteren een vertegenwoordiger van Human Rights Watch (HRW) te horen, deze Jan Kooy* stelde in feite dat je nog niet kan spreken van apartheid in Israël en er zelfs nog sprake is van democratie…… ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! Wat een ongelofelijk slappe zak, als je niet van apartheid kan spreken in Israël, wanneer kan je daar dan wel over spreken????? (niet meer doneren aan deze waardeloze organisatie mensen!)

Beste bezoeker,
van onze politieke partijen moeten we het niet hebben, de meeste vertegenwoordigers daarvan zullen Israël zelfs
nog steunen als ze voor de Palestijnen concentratiekampen zouden inrichten……. Laten we daarom bewegingen als BDS** steunen en alle producten uit Israël boycotten en
producten waar de oorsprong niet op terug te vinden is, niet langer kopen!!

We
hebben intussen al te veel fascistische staten (beter: ‘nazi-staten’) gehad en lullig genoeg hebben we die nog steeds, tijd voor het Internationaal Strafhof (ICC) haar werk een
keer te doen en de leiders van Israël veroordeelt waarvoor ze
staan:

massamoorden
martelingen,
oorlogsmisdaden
het stelen van land
het vasthouden van volwassenen en kinderen, zonder een vorm van berechting (al stelt de rechtspraak in Israël niets voor…)
discriminatie van Palestijnen en Druzen
grootschender van mensen- en kinderrechten
het illegaal bezet houden van
land, het vernietigen van enorm veel onroerend goed, zelfs als het
betreffende pand bijvoorbeeld nog wordt bewoond
het collectief
straffen van Palestijnse families, als een wanhopige familielid bijvoorbeeld een Israëlische psychopathische soldaat aanvalt dan wel vermoord, een manier van straffen die NB door de SS werd
vervolmaakt tijdens WOII……..

Israel
Passes ‘Nation State’ Law Enshrining Jewish Supremacy

July
19, 2018 at 9:00 am

Written
by Middle
East Eye

(MEE) — Israel passed
a law on Thursday giving Jews supremacy over all non-Jewish Israeli
citizens, which critics and members of the state’s Palestinian
minority called racist, likening the legislation to apartheid.

The
“Nation State” law passed by a vote of 62-55 and two abstentions
in the 120-member parliament after months of political argument.
Following the vote Palestinian lawmakers shouted and tore up papers.

Parliament
Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein called on security to eject the
Palestinian MPs, who were led out crying “You are racist”.

“This
is a defining moment in the annals of Zionism and the history of the
state of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the
Knesset, Israel’s parliament, after the vote.

Hassan
Jabareen, general director of Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab
Minority Rights in Israel (LCAMRI) , said the law features key elements of
apartheid, which he said “is not only immoral but also absolutely
prohibited under international law”.

“The
new law constitutionally enshrines the identity of Israel as the
nation-state of the Jewish people only – despite the 1.5 million
Palestinian citizens of the state and residents of East Jerusalem and
the Golan Heights – and guarantees the exclusive ethnic-religious
character of Israel as Jewish,” he said.

“By
defining sovereignty and democratic self-rule as belonging solely to
the Jewish people – wherever they live around the world – Israel
has made discrimination a constitutional value and has professed its
commitment to favoring Jewish supremacy as the bedrock of its
institutions.”

Mazin
Qumsiyya, a writer and activist, told Middle East Eye that Israel was
moving down a dark path.

“Colonial
settler states like Israel move towards more and more extremism
before they arrive at one of the three known outcomes of colonialism:
the Algerian outcome (a two-tiered ethnic system), the Australian/USA
outcome (genocide of natives), or the rest of the world model
(coexistance in one pluralistic state),” he said.

“The
Nation State law is written mostly for self-validation by racists who
know the third outcome is inevitably arriving soon.”

Two
Tiers

Less
than 500 words long, the Nation State law accords exclusive “national
self-determination” rights – the right to decide Israel’s
national priorities, of both symbolic and practical importance – to
Jewish people, wherever they may live, in Israel or abroad, and
whether or not they even hold Israeli citizenship.

The
law does not, notably, say that Palestinian and other non-Jewish
citizens of Israel are entitled to equal treatment under the law.

The
law also gives Hebrew superior status over Arabic, making the former
the state’s only official language and demoting the latter to
merely a language with a “special status”.

In
effect, the Nation State law, which as a basic law holds
constitutional power, means Israel’s ethno-religious character
supersedes its democratic one.

The
bill has been criticised by Palestinian citizens of Israel, liberal
Jewish Israelis, Israel’s president and rights groups, some of whom
have said the law would amount to apartheid.

“Twenty
percent of the citizens will be discriminated against, by definition.
What is that if not apartheid? This is racist and unprecedented
legislation from a government that has lost all shame,” tweeted
Joint List party chair Ayman Odeh earlier in the week, anticipating
the law’s passage.

“This
is a mortal wound for Arab citizens [of Israel], and for democracy,
no less.”

Fellow
Joint List lawmaker, Aida Touma-Suleiman, slammed the bill, saying it
would “establish Jewish supremacy” and “wipe the word
‘equality’ from the political lexicon in the State of Israel.”

The
Palestinian members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, were
joined by Jewish liberal lawmakers and about 2,500 demonstrators
on Saturday night, in a march through the main streets of downtown
Tel Aviv to protest the bill.

Rights
groups say Israel has been discriminating against its non-Jewish
citizens ever since the state was founded in 1948, pointing to dozens
of Israeli laws that mandate preferential treatment to Jews.

However,
the law will have greater, more lasting impact as it enshrines a
two-tiered system of rights in a basic law.

Coalition
Concessions

While
Netanyahu’s government has ignored the protests of Palestinian
parliamentarians and left-leaning Zionist lawmakers, it altered the
law’s language in recent weeks in order to secure common ground
between the centre-right and far-right factions of the cabinet.

The
far-right religious bloc insisted on altering a clause committing the
government to “strengthen the affinity between the state and the
Jewish people,” ensuring that it would only apply to foreign Jews.
The religious parties feared that if, as in its original language,
the bill applied to Israeli Jews as well, it would legitimate liberal
streams of the Jewish religion, and weaken their own monopoly on
issues of synagogue and state.

The
centre-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition government worried
that, were the law to include language which could be easily
understood as enshrining racial discrimination into law, it could
further sour Israel’s relations with the world’s western
democracies, who are still its most important international allies
and largest trading partners.

One
clause in particluar, 7b, had attracted much concern from Israel’s
allies and even its presidnet, Reuven Rivlin.

Clause
7b would have allowed Jewish-only communities, and said the
“state can allow a community composed of people of the same faith
or nationality to maintain an exclusive community”.

Rivlin
condemned the clause, saying it would “allow any community to
establish residential communities that exclude Sephardic Jews,
Ultra-Orthodox people, Druze, LGBT people”.

Under
such pressure and encouraged by the centre right, 7b was removed,
with the article concerning Jewish settlement changed to: “The
state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value
and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and
consolidation” – mandating state support for Jewish-only
communities.

However,
MK Dov Khenin from the Joint List indicated that the new wording,
which was drafted by ultra-nationalist Naftali Bennet, is even worse
than the original.

“While
the earlier wording pretended to be neutral, stating that separate
communities were possible for each group, now the cat is out of the
bag and it’s stating explicitly that only Jewish communities will
get priority,” he said.

“This
is a model of undisguised racism, suited only to corrupt rulers who
have lost all shame.”

Prior
to the law’s passing, over 900 locales in Israel – approximately
three-quarters of all townships in the country – already forbade
non-Jews from living within their municipal borders.

Sanctioning
the state to diminish the property rights of Palestinian citizens of
Israel is seemingly backed by widespread popular support. An Israel
Democracy Institute poll published in
November found that two-thirds of Israeli Jews believe that the right
of Palestinian citizens of Israel to buy land in the country should
be curtailed, while a quarter of Israeli Jews said any such purchases
should be forbidden altogether.

In
recent weeks, a family of Palestinian citizens of Israel who
purchased a home in the northern city of Afula was protested by
hundreds of locals, including the former mayor, who told local
press,
“’the residents of Afula don’t want a mixed city, but rather a
Jewish city, and it’s their right. This is not racism.”

Adalah has panned the Nation-State law, saying it “discriminates against
the Arabs in the fields of citizenship, property and land, language
and culture, and justifies their inferiority in all spheres of life
by excluding them from the political community that constitutes the
sovereign in their homeland”.

“No
country in the world today is defined as a democratic state where the
constitutional identity is determined by ethnic affiliation that
overrides the principle of equal citizenship,” the group said in a
statement.

By MEE
staff / Republished
with permission / Middle
East Eye / Report
a typo

==================================

* Jan Kooy is senior press officer Europe voor HRW, zo weet je meteen waar je geld naartoe gaat, althans als je geld doneert aan deze organisatie……

** BDS: Boycot, Divestment, Sanctions, is een door Palestijnen geleide organisatie die zich inzet voor vrijheid, gerechtigheid en gelijkheid t.b.v. Palestijnen.

Zie ook:

‘Israël: gevangenschap voor slaan van militair en vrijspraak voor doelbewust levend verbranden van een Palestijnse baby…….‘ (zie ook de links in dat bericht)

‘Palestijnen: beelden van vernederingen die dit volk zich op dagelijkse basis moet laten welgevallen door Israëlische militairen‘

‘Ceremoniële beloning voor ‘heldhaftige’ Israëlische scherpschutters die ongewapende Palestijnse demonstranten vermoordden‘

‘TUI met reizen naar Israël: “Discover apartheid and the mass murders on Palestinians and smile….”‘

‘Israël blokkeert toegang tot dorp Ahed al-Tamimi……‘

Israël wil officieel een fascistische staat worden…….

Posted on July 18, 2018June 14, 2024 by Willem Wachtmeester

Als de psychopathische regering van
Israël haar zin krijgt, zal Israël discriminatie tegen de Palestijnen legaliseren, ofwel apartheid tot officieel beleid maken…….* Daarmee geeft deze regering
onder leiding van Palestijnenslachter Netanyahu, toe een fascistische
regering te zijn en maakt het van Israël officieel een fascistische apartheidsstaat……..

De hoogste tijd dat Nederland en alle
andere westerse landen die deze fascistische staat steunen, daar
eindelijk een eind aanmaken, alsof je godverdomme het nazi-Duitsland
van 1935 steunt in haar haat en vervolging tegen/van de joden……

Hoe is het mogelijk dat het Israëlische volk dat zo
is vervolgd, steeds meer de kenmerken overneemt van haar eerdere
massamoordenaars….???**

How
Israel Makes Apartheid Against Palestinians “Legal”

July
17, 2018 at 12:31 pm

Written
by Middle
East Eye

‘Jewish
nation state’ bill is only the latest attempt to legislate
discrimination against Palestinians.

(MEE) This
week, if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gets his way, the
Israeli government will formally pass into law the “Jewish nation
state” bill. The precise final text remained unclear at the time of
writing, with compromises
and amendments still
being discussed among coalition partners.

With
the Knesset’s summer recess on the horizon, and Netanyahu seemingly
determined to pass the law ahead of the break, the initiative has
risen to the top of the news agenda in Israel, with high-profile
interventions from opponents and supporters.

Last
Tuesday, President Reuven Rivlin warned in
a public letter of what he believes are the dangers inherent in the
law – especially an article designed to protect and promote the
existence of Jewish-only communities.

Lobbying
efforts

Meanwhile,
a number of Jewish American leaders have been strongly
urging Netanyahu
to reconsider, intensifying their lobbying efforts to prevent the
bill’s passage.

These
responses have, regrettably but predictably, been characterised by a
failure to understand or take sufficiently into account how Israel’s
status as a “Jewish state” has always been reflected in
legislation and practice, and, crucially, how this has impacted on
Palestinians since 1948.

Many
discriminatory laws are already
on the books,
and legal ways to create segregated communities in Israel already
exist. There is no
right to equality,
and Israel is not a
state of all its citizens.
The much-heralded Declaration of Independence is not a
constitutional law, and the Basic Law already privileges the
protection of a “Jewish state” over equality for non-Jewish
citizens.

As
a UN
special rapporteur put
it in 2012, Israeli authorities already pursue “a land development
model that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities.”
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has
similarly noted “the enactment of
a number of discriminatory laws on land issues which
disproportionately affect non-Jewish communities.”

Indeed,
the issue of Jewish-only communities, which has dominated recent
criticism over the proposed bill, is often debated without reference
to the fact that Israel already has hundreds of
such segregated communities, thanks to the role of “admission
committees.”

Traced
back to the Nakba

A
decade ago, Human
Rights Watch reported
on how these committees “are made up of government and community
representatives as well as a senior official in the Jewish Agency or
the Zionist Organisation, and have notoriously been used to exclude
Arabs from living in rural Jewish communities.”

Such
decades-old institutionalised discrimination, which can be traced all
the way back to the Nakba, makes a mockery of the claim by the Israel
Democracy Institute’s Mordechai
Kremnitzer that
the new law would somehow constitute “the end of Israel as a Jewish
and democratic state.”

The
new law does, however, represent an innovation, both legally and
politically, as analysed by
legal rights centre Adalah in a new position paper published on
Sunday; enjoying the status of a Basic Law, the Jewish nation state
bill would anchor racist practices in the constitution.

Coverage
by Western media has, on the whole, reproduced the
lacuna of the bill’s Israeli critics. Yet, the omission of the
experience of Palestinian citizens in this “Jewish and democratic”
state is compounded by an analysis that fails to look deeper into why
this legislation is being proposed at all.

The
“Jewish nation state” bill is not the product of a right-wing
tussle between Likud and Jewish Home, or Netanyahu and Naftali
Bennett. Rather, tracing the origins of this proposed legislation
reveals that it is, in essence, pushback against the efforts by
Palestinian citizens over the last two decades to affirm their
national identity and demand a state of all its citizens.

Doubling
down

Not
long after former Shin Bet head Avi Dichter began efforts to pass a
“Jewish nation state” bill in 2011, Israeli journalist Lahav
Harkov – now news editor of the Jerusalem Post – praised the
initiative by citing “campaigns to delegitimize Israel on the rise
both inside and outside the country.”

Thus,
the response from the Israeli political establishment to a mobilised
Palestinian citizenry demanding genuine equality has been to
double-down on discrimination, and to defiantly and ever-more
explicitly assert and legally protect the existence of a “Jewish
state.”

But
this is not without its advantages, as highlighted by the furore over
the new bill. For what the draft legislation threatens is not the
existence of a “democratic” Israel, but rather critics’ idea of
a “Jewish and democratic” state (or at least the plausibility of
maintaining this idea).

Through
its crudeness, the bill threatens Israel’s ability to continue
long-standing, institutionalised discrimination with no international
cost, a prospect flagged through the warnings of
Israel’s attorney general and Jewish American leader Rabbi
Rick Jacobs.

Demographic
war

“The
true face of Zionism in Israel,” wrote Orly
Noy in
+972 magazine last week, is “an inherent, perpetual demographic war
against its Palestinian citizens. If Israel seeks to be Jewish and
democratic, it needs to actively ensure a Jewish majority.”

The
“Jewish nation state” bill, whatever its final fate, is part of
this historic and ongoing demographic war – one that is testimony
to the activism of Palestinian citizens and an effort to stifle it.

As
Israel consolidates the de facto single state between the river and
the sea, this won’t be the last attempt to see the apartheid
reality on the ground further reflected in legislation.

By Ben
White / Republished
with permission / Middle
East Eye / Report
a typo

==============================

* In feite is discriminatie van Palestijnen en daarmee apartheid al staand beleid in Israël, e.e.a. blijkt onder andere uit gerechtelijke uitspraken, waar Israëlische Palestijnenmoordenaars worden vrijgesproken en bijvoorbeeld een Palestijns meisje van 17 jaar, Ahed al-Tamimi, voor godbetert het slaan van een zwaar bewapende Israëlische militair werd veroordeeld tot een fikse gevangenisstraf…….

** Het overnemen van misdadig gedrag door mensen die hier eerder het slachtoffer van waren, is een bekend psychologisch fenomeen……. Al moet daar onmiddellijk aan worden toegevoegd dat zionisme niets anders is dan een vorm van fascisme.

Griekse samenwerking met Israël………

Posted on February 12, 2018June 14, 2024 by Willem Wachtmeester

Nadat de enorme oplichter Tsipras en het overgrote deel in de top van zijn Syriza partij toegaf aan de eisen van de ‘trojka’, bestaande uit de Europese Commissie, de ECB* en het IMF en daarmee zijn land heeft verraden, werd Griekenland in feite onder curatele gesteld van de EU…… Griekse staatseigendommen staan voor 99 jaar onder het beheer van het Europees Stabiliteitsmechanisme (ESM), een niet democratisch gekozen EU orgaan dat naar goeddunken deze staatseigendommen kan verkopen……

Verkopen uit een failliete boedel leveren geen drol op, ook in dit geval, zo werden de havens en regionale vliegvelden voor een appel en ei verkocht aan buitenlandse investeerders…… De vliegvelden zijn voor een groot deel in handen van een Duitse miljardair en het Griekse telecom bedrijf is nu voor een groot deel in handen van Deutsche Telekom………

Volgens C.J. Polychroniou, een deskundige op politiek economisch gebied, ontbreekt er voor het ESM kantoor in Athene alleen nog een bord met ‘Te Koop Griekenland………’

Uit het volgende artikel van CounterPunch blijkt dat Griekenland toenadering heeft gezocht tot Israël…….. Blijkbaar is niets verrader en ‘socialist’ (ha! ha!) Tsipras heilig en gaat het hem en zijn ‘extreem linkse partij’ alleen nog om de macht, als hij daarvoor z’n moeder zou moeten verkopen, had hij dit al gedaan…… Op militair gebied gaan de beide landen samenwerken en er is zelfs al getraind met het Israëlische leger, waar meer trainingen gepland staan…….

Dit terwijl Syriza voorheen altijd kritisch was op Israël en partij koos voor de zwaar onderdrukte Palestijnse bevolking…….

Eén van de redenen voor de toenadering tussen de twee landen zijn de gasvelden voor de kust van de Gazastrook en Israël. Men wil een pijpleiding aanleggen van Israël richting Griekenland (prettige wedstrijd met alle aardbevingen…), voor export naar de rest van de EU. Zelfs een groot deel van de Griekse reguliere media hebben zich achter de samenwerking met Israël geschaard……. ‘Onafhankelijke journalistiek….’ ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

Intussen zijn de Grieken door PvdA opperhufter Dijsselbloem voor een groot deel aan de bedelstaf geraakt en zijn er zelfs kankerpatiënten die geen chemotherapie kunnen betalen en het maar moeten uitzoeken…… Situaties die bekend zijn uit de VS, waar je als je geen geld hebt, bent overgeleverd aan de hulp van kerkelijke organisaties of NGO’s, die deze mensen proberen te helpen…….

Niet vreemd dus dat de neonazi’s van de Gouden Dageraad steeds meer aanhang verwerven, zeker nadat de eerder als uiterst links bekend staande Syriza het gewone volk heeft verkocht aan de EU en het IMF……

Je kan dan ook gerust stellen, dat Griekenland een proeftuin is voor de rest van de toekomstige EU: geen soevereiniteit meer en doen wat de EU of haar vele ondemocratische organen je opdragen….. Reken maar niet dat er veel verzet is binnen de EU tegen de innige samenwerking van Griekenland met de zionistische (ofwel: fascistische) apartheidsstaat Israël, al zeker niet tegen de import van gas uit dit van de Palestijnen gestolen land……..

FEBRUARY
9, 2018

Foreign
Policy for Sale: Greece’s Dangerous Alliance with Israel

by RAMZY
BAROUD

For
a brief historical moment, Alexis Tsipras and his political party,
Syriza, ignited hope that Greece could resurrect a long-dormant
Leftist tide in Europe.

A
new Greece was being born out of the pangs of pain of economic
austerity, imposed by the European Union and its overpowering
economic institutions – a troika so ruthless, it cared little while
the Greek economy collapsed and millions of people experienced the
bitterness of poverty, unemployment and despair.

The
Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) came to power in January 2015
as a direct outcome of popular discontent with the EU. It was a time
where ordinary people took a stance to fend for whatever semblance of
sovereignty that was not wrestled away from them by politicians,
bankers and powerful bureaucratic institutions.

The
result, however, was quite disappointing. Tsipras, now a Prime
Minister, transformed his political discourse, and gradually adopted
one that that is more consistent with the very neoliberal policies
that pushed his country to its knees in the first place.

Syriza
sold out, not only politically and ideologically, but in an actual
physical sense as well.

In
exchange for bailout loans that Greece received from European banks
within the period 2010 to 2015 (estimated at $262 billion), the
country is being dismembered. Greece’s regional airports are now
operated by German companies and the country’s main
telecommunication firm has been privatized, with sizable shares of it
owned by Deutsche Telekom.

“The
only thing missing outside the office of Greece’s privatization
agency is a sign that reads: ‘A Nation for Sale’,” wrote Greek
political economist, C. J. Polychroniou.

Unsurprisingly,
economic subservience is often a prelude to political bondage as
well. Not only did Syriza betray the aspirations of the Greek people
who voted against austerity and bailouts, it also betrayed the
country’s long legacy of maintaining amicable relationships with
its neighbors.

Since
his arrival at the helm of Greek politics, Tsipras has moved his
country further into the Israeli camp, forging unwise regional
alliances aimed at exploiting new gas finds in the Mediterranean and
participating in multiple Israeli-led military drills.

While
Israel sees an opportunity to advance its political agenda in
Greece’s economic woes, the Greek government is playing along
without fully assessing the possible repercussions of engaging with a
country that is regionally viewed as a pariah, while internationally
becoming condemned for its military occupation and terrible human
rights record.

Israel
moved to pull Athens into its own camp in 2010, shortly after the
Turkish-Israeli spat over the ‘Mavi Marmara’ attack ensued.
Israeli commandos attacked the Turkish Gaza-bound boat, killing nine
Turkish nationals and injuring many more.

Although
Turkey and Israel have, since then, reached a diplomatic
understanding, Tel Aviv has moved forward to create alternative
allies among Balkan countries, exploiting historical conflicts
between some of these countries and Turkey.

Bilateral
agreements were signed, high diplomatic visits exchanged and military
exercises conducted in the name of deterring ‘international Jihad’
and fighting terrorism.

Greece
and Cyprus received greater Israeli attention since they, on the one
hand, were seen as political counterweight to Turkey and, on the
other, because of the great economic potential that they offered.

Just
one month after the ‘Mavi Marmara’ attack, the then Greek Prime
Minister, George Papandrous, visited Israel, followed by an official
visit by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Greece –
the first of its kind. That was the start of a love-affair that is
growing deeper.

The
main motivation behind the closeness in relations is the Leviathan
and Tamar gas fields, located in the territorial waters of several
countries, including Lebanon. If Israel continues with its plans to
extract gas from an energy source located off the coast of Lebanon,
it will increase the chances of yet another regional war.

When
Tsipras came to power on the shoulders of a populous political
movement, Palestinians too hoped that he would be different.

It
was not exactly wishful thinking, either. Syriza was openly critical
of Israel and had “vowed to cut military ties with Israel upon
coming to office,” wrote Patrick Strickland, reporting from Athens.
Instead the “ties have, nonetheless, been deepened.”

Indeed,
soon after taking power, the ‘radical left’-led Greek government
signed a major military agreement with Israel, the ‘status of
forces’ accord, followed by yet more military exercises.

All
of this was reinforced by a propaganda campaign in Israel hailing the
new alliance, coupled with a changing narrative in Greek media
regarding Israel and Palestine.

One
George N. Tzogopoulos has been particularity buoyant about the
Israel-Greek friendship. Writing a series of articles in various
media, including the rightwing Israeli newspaper, the Jerusalem Post,
Tzogopoulos suggests that, unlike the older generation of Greeks who
have sided with Palestinians in the past, the young generation is
likely to be pro-Israel.

“This
process (of converting Greeks to loving Israel) will take time, of
course, because it is principally related to school education,” he
wrote in Algemeiner. “But the change in coverage of Israel by Greek
journalists is a good omen.”

That
‘change of coverage’ was also notable in the recent official
visit by Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin, and his meeting with
Tsipras and other Greek officials.

In
the meetings, Rivlin complained of Palestinian obstinacy and refusal
to return to the ‘peace process’, thus causing a ‘serious
crisis.’

The
‘radical left’ leader said little to challenge Rivlin’s
falsehoods.

Greece
was not always this way, of course. Who could forget Andreas
Papandreou, the late Greek leader who gave the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) diplomatic status in 1981, and stood by
Palestinians despite American and Israeli threats?

It
is that generation that Tzogopoulos and his likes would like to be
gone forever, and replaced by morally-flexible leaders like Tsipras.

However,
signing off to join an Israel-led economic and military alliance in
an area replete with conflict, is a terribly irresponsible move, even
for politically inexperienced and opportunistic politicians.

For
Greece to be the “strong arm of imperialism in the region” – as
described by the leader of the Socialist Workers Revolutionary Party
in Greece – is “completely stupid” as it will, in the long run,
bring “catastrophic results for (the) Greek people.”

But
Tsipras seems incapable of looking that far ahead.

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