Oct 11, 2023·edited Oct 11, 2023Liked by ettingermentum
to anyone wondering if deep state could still be a dog whistle, despite it coming from an israeli: israel's right wing has variants of antisemitism never before witnessed by man, like the member of likud who loudly declared that the holocaust was good because it killed ashkenazim jews, a statement that got him kicked out and then reinstated anyways:
In Biden’s televised remarks today, there was a moment where Kamala shot him a “here goes Joe” look, as he wandered from predictable “security service” Blinken bounds in his grandfatherly way, and related an anecdote from meeting Golda Meir, who told him that he could put on a brave face for their photo op because her people had “nowhere else to go”.
And the president on prompt did commit to resupplying the iron dome, and also managed to remind the world that the point of establishing the state of israel was the prevention of genocide, the creation of refuge.
I appreciate the perspective you’ve brought here so much; how american of me, I would’ve utterly missed the illuminating 🇻🇳 parallel. The relevant connection I’d heard from 1973 to this shift in the conflict is that the Yom Kippur war brought about the tragic demise of the 🇮🇱 labor party.
I could not agree more wholeheartedly how much this is a moment to unspool ourselves from the myth of neoliberal “stability”, and how it is incumbent upon us all to be aware of what history teaches us of the horrors of default outcomes.
The Labor Party's demise was a direct result of Ehud Barak's abysmal failures, not the Yom Kippur War. By offering a poison-pilled peace deal to the Palestinians that they could not possibly have accepted, he made it all too easy for Israelis to conclude that Palestinians simply did not want peace and would never accept coexistence. So they turned to Likud and never looked back.
As someone who follows you on Twitter, I was initially very dismissive of your comparisons between this attack and the Tet Offensive. I argued that this attack would only make Israelis more punitive and willing to pursue more brutal measures against Palestinians rather than making them more willing to abandon Netanyahu's policies or even outright abandon occupation and containment. After reading this, I believe I far better understand your point about this attack completely reshaping the Israeli public's psyche on security.
This is a really great article, and has really changed how I think about this attack. Unfortunately, your assessment at the end, that this is going to push Israel into even more brutality in a doubling down of their position, rather than a reevaluation of it, is correct. I have many deeply zionist family members, and they are insisting any coverage of the damage done by Israel in Gaza, any coverage of the casualties they are suffering is disgusting. They think that to cover the response in any terms other than total unquestioning support is to support the terrorists. It reminds me of how people talked after 9/11, any questioning of American actions was supporting terrorism, etc.
I hope that this will lead to a reassessment of the issue, but I think it will just lead cementing the idea in peoples head that any push for a Palestinian state will be viewed as an endorsement of the attacks by Hamas. I think all that will come from this is Israel slipping further and further into fascism and apartheid.
Which way Israeli man? Security State Technocrat Apartheid or Mouth Frothing Fascism.
Great article, very good to link it to Vietnam and the kind of blocked off realisation America never came to (because they didn't want to obviously) about exactly What Happened. Until you reckon with the brutality of what you did to the people you were policing it's impossible to ever really learn the lessons of your failure so no doubt the Israelis will blunder into this sort of thing again given enough time. I'm less hopeful that they won't just double down on the worst of their impulses going forward but maybe once we're clear of all this and the dust settles on the hysteria of it immediately happening they'll make some more sober calculation.
This is the best thing I've read about the attacks so far, and well worth a subscription. I was also thinking of this in terms of the status quo, but hadn't realised just how explicit the Israelis had been about the policy.
One interesting question – though it doesn't really matter after the fact – if Hamas really thought they would completely destroy the status quo, or if they thought this level of operational success was impossible and they expected to return home to the usual 'mowing the lawn' but with some bargaining chips. It may be that to some extent the balance has been toppled without anyone truly having intended to do so.
Oct 11, 2023·edited Oct 18, 2023Liked by ettingermentum
Israel has been a foreskin away from civil war for a year or more. This could unify the country - but it could also heighten the contradictions, brutally.
...those M16s that the government just gave to the settlers in the West Bank? Those aren't for killing Gazans. They're for killing other Jews, in case of civil war.
There just really isn't anyone. The Labor Party has four MKs. Amir Peretz might once have been the answer, but he's also the guy who invented the Iron Dome and he's out of politics now. Meretz is entirely out of the Knesset. The only other party left of center is explicitly communist, so not exactly Humphrey.
I guess you could make a case for Avigdor Lieberman? He heads a right-wing party that openly aligns itself with easily the most virulently bigoted member of the early Zionist movement, but the party also supports a two-state solution with territory swaps, and has generally been pretty hostile to religious Zionism.
Astounding how fast you got this out, tho from following your twitter it’s clear that you’ve been immersed in the news since the attacks. I only noticed this one typo: “Netanyahu’s strategy of low-cost, perpetual occupation was not a permanent security solution for ISRAELI” instead of “Israel” there. But excellent work as always, Et. I can only hope that our new based isolationist socially-right but economically-left GOP produces a house speaker who can end support for Israel, which I’m sure they’re trying to do given what they’ve said about Ukraine.
WOKE INTELLIGENCE
to anyone wondering if deep state could still be a dog whistle, despite it coming from an israeli: israel's right wing has variants of antisemitism never before witnessed by man, like the member of likud who loudly declared that the holocaust was good because it killed ashkenazim jews, a statement that got him kicked out and then reinstated anyways:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/likud-court-restores-member-who-said-6-million-more-ashkenazim-should-burn
so what i'm saying is, the subtext definitely still is "george soros has invaded our beautiful military"
Holy shit. Incredible innovation in the antisemitism space.
This is so well written and I'm so impressed you got this out so fast.
In Biden’s televised remarks today, there was a moment where Kamala shot him a “here goes Joe” look, as he wandered from predictable “security service” Blinken bounds in his grandfatherly way, and related an anecdote from meeting Golda Meir, who told him that he could put on a brave face for their photo op because her people had “nowhere else to go”.
And the president on prompt did commit to resupplying the iron dome, and also managed to remind the world that the point of establishing the state of israel was the prevention of genocide, the creation of refuge.
I appreciate the perspective you’ve brought here so much; how american of me, I would’ve utterly missed the illuminating 🇻🇳 parallel. The relevant connection I’d heard from 1973 to this shift in the conflict is that the Yom Kippur war brought about the tragic demise of the 🇮🇱 labor party.
I could not agree more wholeheartedly how much this is a moment to unspool ourselves from the myth of neoliberal “stability”, and how it is incumbent upon us all to be aware of what history teaches us of the horrors of default outcomes.
The Labor Party's demise was a direct result of Ehud Barak's abysmal failures, not the Yom Kippur War. By offering a poison-pilled peace deal to the Palestinians that they could not possibly have accepted, he made it all too easy for Israelis to conclude that Palestinians simply did not want peace and would never accept coexistence. So they turned to Likud and never looked back.
THEY THEM MOSSAD
As someone who follows you on Twitter, I was initially very dismissive of your comparisons between this attack and the Tet Offensive. I argued that this attack would only make Israelis more punitive and willing to pursue more brutal measures against Palestinians rather than making them more willing to abandon Netanyahu's policies or even outright abandon occupation and containment. After reading this, I believe I far better understand your point about this attack completely reshaping the Israeli public's psyche on security.
Congratulations and great job.
-state makes conditions in already unstable region worse
-state funds and provokes terrorist group from said region
-state has insane level of security state hubris built up over years
-terrorist group “secretly” plans guerrilla attack on state
-state doesn’t care because of hubris
-terrorist grouping attacks and kills unprecedented number of people
-state shocked
I don’t know, it’s at least a LITTLE like 9/11, at least for Americans who only know about America stuff
This is a really great article, and has really changed how I think about this attack. Unfortunately, your assessment at the end, that this is going to push Israel into even more brutality in a doubling down of their position, rather than a reevaluation of it, is correct. I have many deeply zionist family members, and they are insisting any coverage of the damage done by Israel in Gaza, any coverage of the casualties they are suffering is disgusting. They think that to cover the response in any terms other than total unquestioning support is to support the terrorists. It reminds me of how people talked after 9/11, any questioning of American actions was supporting terrorism, etc.
I hope that this will lead to a reassessment of the issue, but I think it will just lead cementing the idea in peoples head that any push for a Palestinian state will be viewed as an endorsement of the attacks by Hamas. I think all that will come from this is Israel slipping further and further into fascism and apartheid.
Which way Israeli man? Security State Technocrat Apartheid or Mouth Frothing Fascism.
Great article, very good to link it to Vietnam and the kind of blocked off realisation America never came to (because they didn't want to obviously) about exactly What Happened. Until you reckon with the brutality of what you did to the people you were policing it's impossible to ever really learn the lessons of your failure so no doubt the Israelis will blunder into this sort of thing again given enough time. I'm less hopeful that they won't just double down on the worst of their impulses going forward but maybe once we're clear of all this and the dust settles on the hysteria of it immediately happening they'll make some more sober calculation.
Thanks for writing this great work as always.
This is the best thing I've read about the attacks so far, and well worth a subscription. I was also thinking of this in terms of the status quo, but hadn't realised just how explicit the Israelis had been about the policy.
One interesting question – though it doesn't really matter after the fact – if Hamas really thought they would completely destroy the status quo, or if they thought this level of operational success was impossible and they expected to return home to the usual 'mowing the lawn' but with some bargaining chips. It may be that to some extent the balance has been toppled without anyone truly having intended to do so.
Israel has been a foreskin away from civil war for a year or more. This could unify the country - but it could also heighten the contradictions, brutally.
...those M16s that the government just gave to the settlers in the West Bank? Those aren't for killing Gazans. They're for killing other Jews, in case of civil war.
This of course begs the essential question: Who is Israel's Humphrey-analogue?
None because there is no left in Israel
OK but if you _had_ to pick someone.
There just really isn't anyone. The Labor Party has four MKs. Amir Peretz might once have been the answer, but he's also the guy who invented the Iron Dome and he's out of politics now. Meretz is entirely out of the Knesset. The only other party left of center is explicitly communist, so not exactly Humphrey.
I guess you could make a case for Avigdor Lieberman? He heads a right-wing party that openly aligns itself with easily the most virulently bigoted member of the early Zionist movement, but the party also supports a two-state solution with territory swaps, and has generally been pretty hostile to religious Zionism.
Fantastic and insightful article, more foreign policy analysis please!
Astounding how fast you got this out, tho from following your twitter it’s clear that you’ve been immersed in the news since the attacks. I only noticed this one typo: “Netanyahu’s strategy of low-cost, perpetual occupation was not a permanent security solution for ISRAELI” instead of “Israel” there. But excellent work as always, Et. I can only hope that our new based isolationist socially-right but economically-left GOP produces a house speaker who can end support for Israel, which I’m sure they’re trying to do given what they’ve said about Ukraine.
Banger. Really interesting historical comparison.
I like the Tet analogy. I’m afraid though that the Warsaw Uprising may also be apt if Israel decides to raze Gaza in retaliation