Tuesday, 28 May 2024

ICC, ICJ and Left wing politics in Israel: for Israel-Gaza Nerds

Click above for the video 
Caroline Glick I’ve known for decades. She’s a respected commenter on Israel affairs.Yes, she’s on the conservative side. If you want the view from the Left there’s plenty: BBC, ABC, CNN…

Interesting on the issue of tussles over the Israeli Supreme Court which was the big thing before October 7th. 

And in the “insurrectionists” who were refusing to be IDF Reserves. 95% of Right wing Israelis believed the insurrections, the refusals to serve in the armed forces, led to October 7th. 70% of centrists believe the same. Even 51% of the Israeli Left believe the same. In sum 70% of the whole of Israeli society believe the same. 

That is, an important enabling reason for October 7th was all the anti-government anti-serving action through 2023. 

And yet, for all the hate on Netanyahu 80% of the country remains behind the actions to extirpate Hamas. With Bibi being the only guy that can get it done. Not the only guy that could stop the war.  Doing that need only to declare a “permanent ceasefire: aka surrender. You can always stop a war if you surrender. 

Now, it may well be that Hamas attacked to try to stop the rapprochement of Israel with Saudi Arabia. That was (or is plausibly) the strategic reason for October 7. But the immediate reason, the tactical reason, the specific reason why October 7th, may well have been precipitated by the extraordinary refusal of many Israelis, including ex Generals and ex intelligence officers to serve to protect the country. The Brothers in Arms they’re called. 

I remember being puzzled a while back when an ex head of the famous Mossad came out against continuing the war, effectively surrendering. Glick says it’s to align with the Biden administration’s line. To toe Joe’s line. I don’t know about that, but if not I’ve seen no other reason. 

Which is all part of the “be-nice-to-them-(yet again)-and-maybe-this-time-they’ll-be-nice-to-us” strategy. Who cares if we’ve offered a Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state for 80 years and been rebuffed at every turn. Let’s give it a whirl for another 80 years, why not? 

I’ve labelled this post Nerds” because Caroline’s talk is a bit detailed and repays careful attention.