Netanyahu Confronts Ya’alon Over Call to IDF Officers to ‘Speak their Minds’

[bemildred]

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Sunday night got on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wrong side when he urged IDF leaders to speak their mind in public and not fear reprisal. At this point it appears that some reprisal may be coming Ya’alon’s way from the Prime Minister, who summoned him to what the Israeli media described as a “rebuke meeting” Monday morning. Neither side in the meeting has issued a statement yet, which suggests that the meeting may not have ended in a compromise.

Ya’alon spoke at an event in Tel Aviv Sunday night and referred to the public storm around the speech by Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Yair Golan, which in turn had alluded to the episode of the IDF soldier who shot a neutralized terrorist on the ground in Hebron last Purim day. Golan, speaking at a Holocaust Remembrance Day event, compared episodes such as the Hebron shooting to the events in 1930s Germany which later resulted in the European Holocaust. At the time, Netanyahu was critical of Golan, and demanded that he apologize, since it sounded as if he was saying the IDF was a proto-Nazi army. Golan came close to saying just that, as many on the right suggested, while the IDF denied any such allegation.

An examination of the speech text reveals that the overall subject of Golan’s message was the concept of “purity of the weapon,” meaning that he was indeed criticizing phenomena inside the IDF when he made the Nazi Germany comparison.

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/netanyahu-confronts-yaalon-over-call-to-idf-officers-to-speak-their-minds/2016/05/16/

[bemildred]

1. The Israel Defense Forces vs. the People of Israel

TEL AVIV — Israel’s army is a people’s army, and this is usually a time when we Israelis recognize that. On Wednesday, we solemnly mark Memorial Day. On Thursday, we joyously celebrate Independence Day. It’s a week when the country salutes the Israel Defense Forces, the institution that defends its fragile being, and the I.D.F. salutes the public, which sends its sons and daughters to mandatory service.

But this year hasn’t been typical. The I.D.F. is facing a barrage of criticism. The army, which historically enjoyed support across the Jewish Israeli spectrum, has become politicized. That this has happened is a failure of the I.D.F.’s leaders, a failure similar to losing in battle. Worse yet, the I.D.F. cannot win on the battlefield without the Israeli public’s trust.

The immediate reason for the outrage was a speech last week by the I.D.F.’s deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Yair Golan. In remarks on Holocaust Remembrance Day, General Golan said that he sees similarities between Nazi Germany of the 1930s and Israel today when it comes to “signs of intolerance and violence.”

Unsurprisingly, his speech was not well received. For one thing, Holocaust Remembrance Day is not the time for controversial political statements. Moreover, what he said is nonsense. Israel is guilty of many sins, but “abhorrent processes that took place in Europe,” as he put it, are not happening here. The general was repudiated by politicians, mocked on social media and called upon by pundits to resign. Probably taken aback by such an angry reaction, General Golan backtracked the next day, albeit unconvincingly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/opinion/the-israel-defense-forces-vs-the-people-of-israel.html?_r=0

[bemildred]

2. The IDF vs. the people of Israel, cont.

The IDF is Israel’s defense force. But last week, with a heavy heart, I wrote for the New York Times about how “the army, which historically enjoyed support across the Jewish Israeli spectrum, has become politicized.” Recent debates, I argued, turned the “most revered institution” into a “political football.” It is a problematic trend, even dangerous, and today I unhappily report that my article has changed nothing – articles rarely do. The trend continues, even accelerating, as the Prime Minister summoned his Defense Minister for “clarification” over a speech by the Minister, Moshe Yaalon, in which he defended the leadership of the military.

Yaalon urged the leaders of the IDF to “keep speaking their mind.” Prime Minister Netanyahu responded to Yaalon’s call with a chilliness usually reserved for political rivals, not for fellow Likud Ministers who serve under him and who pose no political threat to him. “The IDF's commanders freely speak their minds—in relevant forums and on topics under their purview,” a statement from the PM’s office said. “The IDF is the army of the people and should be kept out of political disputes." Netanyahu then asked Yaalon to see him in his office today.

My New York Times article explained with some detail the background to recent public debate over positions taken by the leadership of the IDF. There were statements concerning trigger-happy Israelis who kill Palestinian attackers even when the killing is not essential. There was the incident over the soldier in Hebron, who shot an attacker that was already wounded and seemed to pose no threat to the IDF force. Then, on Holocaust Memorial Day, there was the annoying speech by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the IDF, General Yair Golan, in which the General pointed to similarities between 2016 Israel and 1930s Germany. As I wrote last week, this speech “was not well received. For one thing, Holocaust Remembrance Day is not the time for controversial political statements. Moreover, what he said is nonsense. Israel is guilty of many sins, but ‘abhorrent processes that took place in Europe,’ as he put it, are not happening here. The general was repudiated by politicians, mocked on social media and called upon by pundits to resign.”

http://www.jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain/item/the_idf_vs._the_people_of_israel_cont

[Israeli]

3. Much much more behind all of this ....

.....than Shmuel Rosner is letting on about bemildred

see :.......

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134127356

and

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134126841

An examination of the speech text reveals that the overall subject of Golan’s message was the concept of “purity of the weapon,” meaning that he was indeed criticizing phenomena inside the IDF when he made the Nazi Germany comparison.

Right .................

This BTW is satire ..................( way over shira's head I see )

Why Would That General Compare Israel to 1930s Germany? Hmm...

What was going through that anti-Semite general’s head when he compared the Chosen People to 1930s Europe? A few pointers.

B. Michael May 15, 2016

With all the festivals and days of sadness behind us, we can now return to the nagging question: What on earth was going through that anti-Semite general’s head when he dared hint that we, the Chosen People, commit abominable acts like those perpetrated by the gentiles? Really, what's he talking about?

OK, let’s start with the small details known to everyone. Maybe he was talking about:

1. The rising number of calls proclaiming, “Death to the unchosen people!”

2. The demands not to employ the “unchosen” ones, buy from them or rent or sell apartments to them, and drive them from the Holy Land (all sanctified by the Rabbinate and other kosher rabbis, naturally).

3. The growing thuggishness that labels every “unchosen” person a legitimate target for insults, abuse, assaults, vilification and, if possible, manslaughter.

4. A soccer team that swears its ranks will include only those of pure blood and religion, and whose fans’ most popular chant is “Death to the unchosen ones.”

5. A society that produces pogrom-like actions and lynch mobs, church and mosque arsonists, and plenty of thugs and scoundrels.

6. Elected officials encouraging extrajudicial killings on our streets.

7. A lawmaker (and his wife) openly demanding racial segregation between the pure and impure in maternity wards.
In short, no big deal - just routine matters that no longer excite folk. Consequently, we have no choice but to expand the list and include some other items that may have escaped the collective memory...

8. Spiritual leaders who publish books that determine when it’s acceptable to kill gentiles and their children. These religious leaders still tend their flocks.

9. A movement that defends the purity of the people and its blood, and persecutes lecherous “unchosen” ones who dare consort with daughters of the Chosen Ones in order to defile them. On his Facebook page, the head of this holy movement calls for the mass murder of the “unchosen ones,” knowing no harm will befall him.

10. Tens, if not hundreds or thousands, of businesses boasting of their employees’ purity.

11. The chief Sephardi peddler of religion who declared, “Goyim were created solely to serve the Chosen People.” His noble predecessors determined that only Slavic nations were created in order to serve the then-master race. Our religious pastor surpasses them: he deemed all nations our servants.

12. The education and culture ministers, who work tirelessly to synchronize education, culture, the media and arts, so everyone speaks in unison about one people, one state, one Torah and one viewpoint.

13. The brilliant legal sophistry that prohibits the “unchosen” ones from purchasing state lands. Only the Chosen People may do so.

14. The hundreds of communities that meticulously ensure the purity of their chosen population. The “unchosen” may not enter their gates lest they cause contamination by their very presence. All of this is legal.

15. The Absentee Property Law, which regulates the assets of “absentees” even when the “absentees” are clearly present and living a stone’s throw away. Only the laws of Chosen People have clauses relating to “absent-present” persons whose presence doesn’t detract from their status as “absentees.”

16. The fact that the assets of the “chosen ones” remain theirs forever, even after thousands of years of abandonment that exceed any statute of limitations. In contrast, the assets of the “unchosen” – even when they’re still holding them – will be confiscated, stolen, expropriated and transferred to the Chosen People. Just as our magnanimous Lord in heaven decreed.

17. A society that controls millions of “inferior” people who lack civil and human rights, downtrodden by a mechanism called the “Civil Administration” and headed by a general.

18. A state that locks up a million and a half people in a gigantic enclosure, unsure whether to call it “Pale of Settlement” or the “Gaza Ghetto.”

19. A regime that imposes a grotesque legal system upon millions, which doesn’t require evidence and shows no truth, justice or compassion. However, the system does have a “court” – a contemptible theater whose main purpose is to give a “legal” and “authorized” appearance to a military dictatorship.

20. A justice minister who goes out of her way to crush the legal system, liberating the rulers at last from oppressive legal constraints.

21. A government that rules an occupied people, and sometimes its own subjects, according to emergency regulations that give it limitless authority “for security reasons.” (Damn, I wish I could remember where I’ve heard of this trick being used before.)

22. A state – unique among all the world’s democracies – in which there’s no legal way for a “chosen” person to marry an “unchosen” one.

23. A government that wholeheartedly believes in the Chosen People’s right to continue expanding eastward. This space extends from Mesopotamia to Nuweiba.

24. A state that insists it’s the “only democracy” in the Middle East, whereas it’s actually the only “military theocracy” in the entire world.

25. A state that proves pop psychology is occasionally accurate in its diagnosis: an abused child can indeed become an abusive adult.
And that’s pretty much it.

Is it because of these piffling details that Obersturmbannführer Golan remembered what he did? Odd. Very odd. There’s no comparison, clearly.


Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.719740

[6chars]

4. Get out while you can!

[King_David]

5. LOL

[Israeli]

7. Last laugh is on us KD ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134128625

[King_David]

9. I missed that post

[Israeli]

6. Yeah .....

.....you would love that 6chars.

Not a chance .

[bemildred]

8. You seem to have an argument between people who worry about how it looks,

and people who think it looks great.

Anyway, we've got Trump here.

But thanks for filing me in, I didn't know about the connection.

[Israeli]

12. Deeper than that bemildred.....

...have a read of this , its a much better perspective on things than Shmuel Rosner's.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/05/israel-yaalon-netanyahu-open-confrontation-idf-values.html

More than just bad blood separates them. It is an open, clear rupture, a deep chasm between worldviews, and it involves no small amount of personal animosity.

BTW I dont understand your comment about Trump .

[bemildred]

13. By Trump I mean we have the same problems here.

Divided, angry, full of self-pity, and self-righteousness. And lots of deceit and demagoguery.

[Israeli]

14. Ah.......I thought maybe you were referring to this ....

Why Israel’s Defense Minister Would Be a Perfect Leader for #NeverTrump

Fighting a risky battle against an ugly tide, Moshe Ya'alon is admired by Israeli leftists and liberals who despise his views on peace.

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.719926

Which BTW is a brilliant piece from Chemi Shalev .
If you cant read it let me know and I will post it all for you .

Looks like Bogie might just be the one that takes down Bibi ......sure as hell it wont be Bougie (
Isaac Herzog ).........yah gotta love our nick names for them now, been around forever but never been such fun to play with

[bemildred]

15. I can read it, thanks.

I had not realized it had gotten to this point, though I cannot say I am surprised at all.

I have mostly been paying attention to the US political meltdown, which I understand better.

[Israeli]

17. Talking about political meltdowns .....

....have you seen our latest polls .....

Polls: Zionist Union Crashes, Most Israelis Oppose a National Unity Government

Those polled were asked how they would vote had elections taken place today; Herzog's party loses 40 percent of its seats, Yesh Atid doubles in strength, and Likud loses four seats.

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.719944

Among Zionist Union voters, 60 percent opposed a unity government, while 36 percent supported it.

Bougie (Isaac Herzog)........has just committed political harakiri .

[bemildred]

16. The point I think is Trump is a wrecking ball when it comes to US Israel policy too.

He has called long-standing policies into question. And that is what they are fighing over, Neoliberals & Neocons vs Paleocons, Isolationists, and ethnic/racial purists.

We have funny misleading names too.

[Little Tich]

10. Jewish Press is a Kahanist rag.

Rabbi Kahane is Still Right
http://www.jewishpress.com/sections/books/book-reviews/rabbi-kahane-is-still-right/2016/01/26/

Rabbi Kahane Tells AIPAC Where To Go
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/rabbi-kahanes-tells-aipac-where-to-go/2016/03/23/

Rabbi Meir Kahane: A Man Who Never Gave Up
http://www.jewishpress.com/sections/books/book-reviews/rabbi-meir-kahane-a-man-who-never-gave-up/2015/12/31/

I disagree completely with everything in the Jewish Press by default, including this OP.

[bemildred]

18. I know. nt

[6chars]

11. In the US, are generals supposed to speak out on politics?

I think it is highly encouraged and that presidents would never criticize a general.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Truman's_relief_of_General_Douglas_MacArthur