UAE-Israel accord named after Biblical Abraham
What would Abraham, who walked before God and was pure, think of the sham of a "peace agreement" b/w countries that weren't at war?
Normalizing relations b/w Israel & other countries is a good thing. The benefits, however, are overshadowed by the tremendous hyping, aided by uncritical reporting.
Benefits are also thrown into question by lack of transparency - Netanyahu reaching agreements w/out any consultation w/cabinet, which in Israel holds collective responsibility for executive actions. Made worse by Netanyahu's outright lying on F-35 issue.
In historical perspective, these agreements are far less significant than agreements w/Egypt & Jordan, and forever-uncompleted process w/Palestinians. May be less significant than normalization w/India and China were.
Put in proper perspective, sans hype, they do very little to soften Netanyahu's catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic and of the economy. Israelis who can't pay rent aren't going shopping in Dubai anytime soon.
Domestic failure & Netanyahu's approaching trial only partly explain hype, though. He wants to be on level of Begin & Rabin, who reached real peace accords.
Trump, of course, is eager for any achievement whatsoever.
In historical perspective, Israeli accords with UAE and Bahrain fit the old "peripheral strategy." In this case the peripheral allies are distant Arabic-speaking countries, rather than Muslim non-Arab countries - such as Iran pre-1979
US Sect of State Blinken saying that Israeli settlements in West Bank are "inconsistent with international law" is indeed important symbolically.
However, news items on this are mixing up the history of US policy on settlement illegality.
The Carter administration wasn't the first to label settlements illegal. That was US policy from 1967 onward. As seen in this cable of 8 April 1968 from the State Dept to the US embassy in Israel:
In 1976, the US ambassador to the UN, William Scranton, said in the Security Council that settlements violate IV Geneva and are illegal.
This @washingtonpost deep dive, like others, confirms Hamas deliberately provoked the invasion of Gaza, knowing that it was sacrificing countless Palestinian lives.
@washingtonpost The deaths of thousands in Gaza are as much part of Hamas's plan as the deaths of Israeli civilians on October 7.
The goal was to set off greater conflict, in the name of achieving Hamas's goal - both cruel and utterly without a chance of success - of destroying Israel.
@washingtonpost Hamas fought its way through the thin line of Israeli soldiers on the border in order to reach civilians - to kill, take hostages, and commit other atrocities.
Churchill's knowledge of Nazi mass murder in occupied Soviet territory came from Bletchley Park, where master codebreaker John Tiltman's team had cracked the cipher used by special German police units to report how many people they'd shot. (2) @calder_walton@spyhistory
Like this message from 18 July 1941, in which a Nazi police regiment reports that it had shot "1153 Jewish plunderers."
The reports were coldly bureaucratic.
אז @OferShelah אומר שלמפלגה חייבת להיות דרך. כלומר, מדיניות, תוכניות. אזי אני שואל, מה תוכניתו בעניין:
⦿ חידוש חתירה להסכם שתי מדינות
⦿ הפסקת מימון להתנחלויות והרחבתן
⦿ העלאת מסים על העשירים, כדי לממן -
⦿ כיתות קטנות, שכר נדיב למורים... @dahliasc@AnshelPfeffer@chaimlevinson
עוד שאלות ל- @OferShelah - מה אתה מציע על מנת
⦿ לרפא את מערכת הבריאות המורעבת
⦿ לאפשר לצעירים להשיג דיור
⦿ להחזיר מקומות עבודה בעקבות משבר הקורונה
⦿ להוזיל ולהרחיב תחבורה ציבורית במקום תלות ברכב פרטי...
ועוד שאלות ל- @OferShelah - מה אתה מציע על מנת
⦿ לסגור את הפערים העדתיים בהשכלה ובהכנסה שלמרות ההכחשות עוד קיימים
⦿ להבטיח שוויון מלא לאזרחים ערביים
⦿ לשנות את פני החינוך החרדי...
So @OferShelah says a party actually needs a program. Totally true. Therefore asking for his program on:
⦿ Achieving 2-state outcome
⦿ Settlements, & defunding them
⦿ Raising taxes on wealthy, to pay for -
⦿ Smaller classes, better-paid teachers...
More questions to @OferShelah - what do you propose to
⦿ Heal underfunded health system
⦿ Make it possible for young people to afford apartments
⦿ Restore jobs lost to pandemic
⦿ Make public transport affordable, efficient, replace cars...
And more questions to @OferShelah - what do you propose to
⦿ Deal with long-lasting effects of Ashkenazi-Mizrahi wealth & education gap
⦿ Ensure full equality for Arab citizens - incl place in govt for their representatives
⦿ Transform haredi education...