Facing growing criticism on a myriad of fronts after his actions during the lead-up to last week’s vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a public apology for saying things that may have hurt the feelings of Israeli Arab citizens.
During the statement at question, made during Tuesday’s election itself, Netanyahu complained about the high voter turnout among Israel’s Arab minority, claiming “Arab voters are going en masse to the polls. Left-wing NGOs are bringing them on buses.” He went on to blame funding from foreign governments.
Netanyahu’s comment provoked a backlash, not just from the Arabs themselves, but from President Reuven Rivlin, who lashed him for having “humiliated 20 percent of Israeli citizens for the sake of his campaign.”
That, it seems, will be the enduring impact of Netanyahu’s behavior in the week leading up to the Tuesday vote, as he went dramatically off the reservation from the usual, admittedly broad field of rhetoric from the Israeli right, from pretense toward moderacy and support for peace, toward overt racism and opposition to peace as a general proposition.
While having won the election, Netanyahu now seems to be trying to get back to the old pretense-heavy status quo, both apologizing to the Arabs for the busing comments and trying to convince the US that his public disavowal of the two-state solution no longer applies. His success at this will likely be a defining part of his latest administration, while his success at ginning up votes with bellicosity will no doubt inform the campaigns of Israel’s right for decades to come.
This sheds some light unto their sick society. Whatever gets him elected is what the sickos want to hear.
Not to compare the two actions, but to illustrate something: it's also possible to stomp on someone and 'apologize' with the cop-out "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Always thought respectable apologies tended to omit the latter bit… I can, in addition, kick you in the balls and later say sorry, "I was so very hard on you"… . And a clever bully may 'apologize' in just such ways…
Otherwise I can't see the comment as so interesting apart from any dishonesty it represented; the focus on it is probably a back-door way to advertise 'we're a democracy, really we are,' while exploiting the usual look-how-hysterical-'the-lefties'-are about us.'
Quick searches: "Israeli population" turned up 8,296,000, "Palestinian population" — "4.019 million (2011) Palestinian National Authority". So, correct me if I'm wrong:
20% of potential voter-elligibles are 'Arab,' but over 30% of the actual population under Israeli control not only don't get to vote, they're subject to e.g. 'rules of engagement,' bigoted whims, kidnapping and torture, and collective punishment for the remarkably small amount of retaliation attributable to that. Yet it's a 'democracy.' An amazing having-it-both-ways scam.
Disregarding the words they use, the actual scam is what the USG has been doing to the American people by continually saying that the US and Israel are allies and BFF. I have never understood the blind allegiance of the USG to Israel despite the actions of the Israelis – from the way they treat the Palestinians as much as the way they treat the Americans. Just doesn't make sense…completely illogical.
Not sure it was so much a word game I was running…mighta been written crappy enough to seems so.
The relationship makes perfect sense ito 'who-whom' (contraction of a Leninism ~ politics is who-does-what-to-whom). Part of why the relationship could seem illogical, rather than as perfectly self-consistent like it is, is that the 'who' in that relationship is someone never-to-be seen as justly a 'whom.' It's still notionally a victim rather than a perp class, with the reality being nearly opposite… In nearly everyone there's a residual sympathy for that class of perp.
Only in Israel…..smdh.
This man needs to be facing the ICC court of law for being the illegitimate son of Hitlerism advocating for Hitler to return. He is tge modernized version and supported by AIPAC Adolph Hitlerism ideology, is just that he disguise himself presenting himself with a diffrent name.
Too late B!! You opened your mouth and the whole world got to know the real B!!!!
Nutty Yahoo's (apology) is about as (empty) as the chasm of real estate between his ears.
This man is a Zionist, racist, piece of garbage. His actions towards the people of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip speak louder than his words.
Even assuming that "Arabs were bussed in" the only question is whether or not they were legal, registered voters. If they were eligible to vote, it doesn't matter how they got to the voting sites- they could have walked or taken a hot-air balloon and they would still get to vote. That Israel claims it is a democracy is laughable if they are complaining that legal, registered voters were provided a way to easily access the democratic process and cast their votes.
But just as with the black citizens here in the US where the republicans/conservatives/fringe party doesn't want them to vote – and when they DO turn out to vote, the aforementioned wackos of course turn to the much favored "voting irregularities" ("bussed them in") – the Israelis don't want the Arabs to vote and when they do…it skews things up royally. Hard to tell who taught whom (Israelis vs Republicans) but with Dermer so close to Netanyahoo…
I agree, but what I fail to understand is why- when the R/C/F groups know that black voters (or whatever the opposition du jour happens to be) are going to be 'bussed in' why don't they fight fire with fire and 'bus' their own voters to the polls? As long as the individual voter is a legal, registered voter and is eligible to vote in that particular election I don't care how he gets there- and I'd much rather see a large voter turnout due to 'bussing' than a low turnout with everyone moaning about how they have no voice and didn't even vote. Short of buying votes (like in the good old days of American politics! ) getting out the vote, by whatever means, is good to go with me.
I'm not a republican operative and I don't play one on TV..but, it's fun to theorize. How about this…the R/C/F believe they are a majority and that the majority of the majority already vote so busing them in is unnecessary. Problem is they're NOT a majority, despite what they believe and are losing ground consistently. Besides, if they were to resort to "democratic dirty tricks" like busing in voters then they couldn't use that against them.
But really, this is about the fact that they don't want them to vote because they (Arabs in Israel or blacks in the US) tend to vote against the rightwing nutcases both countries usually put forward as candidates. That's why they don't want them to vote. And it's what is going to make both the republican party and the rightwingers in Israel irrelevant eventually. But that's just this old Curmudgeon's opinion…
Settler colony and apartheid state