"#Netanyahu first came to power in the 1996 election that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli extremist opposed to the Oslo Accords."
Ensuing violence helped #Bibi overcome Peres' lead & win the May 29, 1996 election
Nat'l Security Minister #BenGvir was then a young settler extremist. 2 weeks before Rabin's assassination he stole a hood ornament from Rabin's car. "Just like we got to this emblem," he said, "we could get to Rabin."
“Yes, there are too many civilian casualties in #Gaza. And yes, we continue to urge the Israelis to be as careful and cautious as possible. But Israel is not trying to wipe the #Palestinian people off the map. Israel’s not trying to wipe Gaza off the map. Israel is trying to defend itself against a genocidal terrorist threat. If we’re going to start using the word—fine.
"Several of the sources...confirmed that the Israeli army has files on the vast majority of potential targets in Gaza — including homes — which stipulate the number of civilians who are likely to be killed in an attack on a particular target. This number is calculated & known in advance to the army’s intelligence units, who also know shortly before carrying out an attack roughly how many civilians are certain to be killed."
I’d be happy to see us refrain from using that nickname for this criminal tyrant. From one of many items on the topic:
“He was given the nickname ‘Bibi’ when he was a little boy, and throughout most of his life, both the Israeli public and those close to him have used it with fondness.”
It’s a common nickname for those named Benjamin. It also–for me—has a ring that’s close to ‘Il Duce’, giving it resonance with fascists.
@QasimRashid I suspect you already know that you shouldn’t conflate #bibi with Israel. I also suspect that you already know that the majority of Israelis and most Israel lovers hate him and want him removed. He is the Trump of that country. In addition, I suspect that you remember the demonstrations that went on for months and had to go on pause only because of the Hamas attack.
Why #Bibi is as monster as the #Hamas leadership.
On the Israeli side, Benjamin Netanyahu tried to stop the voices of the hostages’ families dominating the narrative of the war, largely out of concern it would slow the momentum of the military response to the 7 October attack and the overarching aim of smashing Hamas permanently. The ultimate political survivor, Netanyahu realised the families were a potential political threat. They, like much of Israel, hold him responsible for Israel’s failure to protect its people, and he has been wary of direct encounters with them.
When he finally agreed to meet selected representatives of just five families on 15 October, it caused a scandal. Once the meeting was under way, four other supposed hostage relatives materialised, previously unknown to the families’ organisation. One reportedly urged Netanyahu to “act coolly and decisively” and not to be deflected from the military campaign by the agony of the hostages and their loved ones. His intervention caused uproar in the room as the families claimed they had been ambushed by carefully-staged “politically convenient” theatre.
Netanyahu is a liability for Biden. Peace is impossible until he goes
The US president’s support for Israel’s PM is damaging America’s reputation abroad, hurting his own chances of re-election and prolonging the suffering in Gaza
It's so fucked up that Biden is holding US voters' safety & foreign policy hostage to the demands of a Machiavellian right-wing Trump ally like #Netanyahu, who actively wants Biden to lose in #2024, & the #GOP to win.
#Germany I really do not accept the attitude of its politics to side blind eyed with #Israel#Bibi government.
It starts to feel like 1935 again.
Just this time the targets are #muslins or #Jews that oppose #bibi.
If you care to stop the global rise of fascism, you would support the Israelis trying to get rid of #Bibi & break his fascist coalition; these folks. Whose beloved family members Bibi sacrificed to keep grip on power & to exploit the fog of war to push forward the settler coalition’s fascist plans for Israel—which Israelis have been fighting against.
“Families who lost loved ones in the Hamas attacks…can no longer stand the fact that this man is still prime minister.
The citizens of the US & our govt could be lending our support to these people’s calls for #Netanyahu to step down. But we are not.
#Bibi & his fascistic governing coalition of terrorist sympathizers (#BenGvir), racists (#Smotich), etc. lack the credibility to lead the fight against Hamas. The same corrupt strategies of Likud & RW settlers that led Bibi to back the growth of Hamas, are still a danger to Israel-Palestine amid this conflict, now.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel had offered fuel to Gaza's Al Shifa hospital, which suspended operations after running out of fuel, but that the militants had refused to receive it.
I don't know C. Hitchens (whoever he is), but his argument is plausible, although of course it cannot deal with the full depth of the historical chain of errors since the beginning of the last century.
The take with these Hasidic Jews is of course drastic and I think that the domestic political development of #Israel and #Bibi has strengthened these clerical fascist empowerment fanatics.
#Bibi is a hypocrite
He does not gives a shit about the hostages
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday again rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza until all of the more than 240 hostages captured by Hamas during its 7 October attack were returned.
“There will be no ceasefire without the return of our hostages, we say this to both our enemies and our friends. We will continue until we beat them,”
Netanyahu says Hamas refused Israeli fuel offer for Gaza's Shifa hospital (www.reuters.com)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel had offered fuel to Gaza's Al Shifa hospital, which suspended operations after running out of fuel, but that the militants had refused to receive it.