16th February 2020, 4:53 PM
I said Bernie's domestic policy is absolutist. That's why he gets nothing done, it's all my way or the highway with Bernie. As for foreign policy, it's clearly never been his focus, as is also true with Warren. "We should have less foreign wars" is all well and good, I certainly agree with things like opposing the Iraq War as I have done from day one, but having the most powerful nation in the world just ignore everyone else and their problems, some of which we could help with, ... just because ... isn't a very goo argument, I don't think.
As for Israel, I of course support Israel. I very much wish they'd stop electing Netanyahu, but they're certainly better than the other side... Bernie can get away with being a bit more equivocal than many because he's Jewish, but there is definitely a significant amount of antisemitism in the anti-Israel left. Of course, again the government of Israel doesn't help this one bit since Netanyahu is a horrible far-right extremist and their government has certainly committed some abuses, but anyone who thinks that the Palestinians are any better is fooling themselves; they aren't, they're almost certainly worse. They just have less power so they have no ability to follow through on their "right of return" nonsense, which in reality is code for "we want to ethnically cleanse all Jews out of this region and take our land back". Of course Netanyahu is encouraging the Israeli right who want to slowly take over the whole West Bank, pretty much, through settlement building, but even that's not quite as horrible as what the other side would do if they had Israel's power... but either way, it's an awful situation and both sides are pretty awful. Israel has a right to exist, however, and has a right to defend itself against attack. The Jews have a right to having a country -- I think it is very telling that the one and only Jewish country in the world gets so much hate; yeah, they do bad things, but not as bad as many other countries that get like a hundredth the amount of hate and negative attention! The explanation for that is, of course, antisemitism.
... I don't know what the solution in Israel/Palestine is, neither side wants peace currently. The only way to have peace is for both sides to actually be satisfied with the situation at least enough to stop fighting over it, but how could we get there? Neither side has much interest in that currently, Israel wants to keep slowly pushing forward with settlements, while the Palestinians want to keep fanning the flames of Western antisemitinism enough (by pointing out Israeli abuses, real or imagined) in their hopes of getting the world to forget that that they want to do to the Jews is a hundred times worse than what the Jews are doing to them. The only genocide there is the one that would be done to the Jews if the power situation is reversed; what Netanyahu and co. are doing (slow expansion of settlements, etc.) is quite possibly ethnic cleansing and is wrong, but it's not on THAT level.
I really, really hope that Netanyahu gets convicted (on the charges he is currently facing and sure looks guilty of) and finally loses an election again to somebody more moderate -- he has NO interest in peace, and the only way to get the peace process moving again at all is for him to finally leave office. It's no coincidence that the current lack-of-any-progress situation on peace in the Middle East started the moment he got back into office.
As for Israel, I of course support Israel. I very much wish they'd stop electing Netanyahu, but they're certainly better than the other side... Bernie can get away with being a bit more equivocal than many because he's Jewish, but there is definitely a significant amount of antisemitism in the anti-Israel left. Of course, again the government of Israel doesn't help this one bit since Netanyahu is a horrible far-right extremist and their government has certainly committed some abuses, but anyone who thinks that the Palestinians are any better is fooling themselves; they aren't, they're almost certainly worse. They just have less power so they have no ability to follow through on their "right of return" nonsense, which in reality is code for "we want to ethnically cleanse all Jews out of this region and take our land back". Of course Netanyahu is encouraging the Israeli right who want to slowly take over the whole West Bank, pretty much, through settlement building, but even that's not quite as horrible as what the other side would do if they had Israel's power... but either way, it's an awful situation and both sides are pretty awful. Israel has a right to exist, however, and has a right to defend itself against attack. The Jews have a right to having a country -- I think it is very telling that the one and only Jewish country in the world gets so much hate; yeah, they do bad things, but not as bad as many other countries that get like a hundredth the amount of hate and negative attention! The explanation for that is, of course, antisemitism.
... I don't know what the solution in Israel/Palestine is, neither side wants peace currently. The only way to have peace is for both sides to actually be satisfied with the situation at least enough to stop fighting over it, but how could we get there? Neither side has much interest in that currently, Israel wants to keep slowly pushing forward with settlements, while the Palestinians want to keep fanning the flames of Western antisemitinism enough (by pointing out Israeli abuses, real or imagined) in their hopes of getting the world to forget that that they want to do to the Jews is a hundred times worse than what the Jews are doing to them. The only genocide there is the one that would be done to the Jews if the power situation is reversed; what Netanyahu and co. are doing (slow expansion of settlements, etc.) is quite possibly ethnic cleansing and is wrong, but it's not on THAT level.
I really, really hope that Netanyahu gets convicted (on the charges he is currently facing and sure looks guilty of) and finally loses an election again to somebody more moderate -- he has NO interest in peace, and the only way to get the peace process moving again at all is for him to finally leave office. It's no coincidence that the current lack-of-any-progress situation on peace in the Middle East started the moment he got back into office.