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One of the world’s most famous public intellectuals, Bernard-Henri Lévy, committed Zionist, philo-Semite. Has met every Israeli PM. Talks to Jonathan Tobin.
Gets a lot of things right.
Like, it’s not enough to say “Israel has the right to self defence”. Every country has the right to self defence.
Israel has to have the right to Win.
The west must support Israel. The rights Israel is fighting for are the rights the west cares about (or, should care about and used to care about). The rights won over a long enlightenment.
Hamas and Hezbollah are medieval death cults and we much be clear about that. They embody none, zero, of western liberal progressive ideals.
Gets some things wrong.
Like — towards the end — his belief that “Palestinians” can “change their minds and Hearst” to learn to accept Jews in the Levant. He compares it to how Germans changed after the war. But the German never had the cradle to grave immersion in Jew-hatred supported by Allah, mosque to kindergarten, school to mosque.
And: says “who would have guessed, when Gaza was handed back to Palestinians in 2005, that we would have an October 7th?” Answer: Benjamin Netanyahu did! He had resigned from the Knesset when Ariel Sharon pushed ahead with the de-jewification of Gaza. Bibi “guessed”, Bibi knew it would be a disaster and a threat.
Bibi called it, the mistake of handing back Gaza. That’s who “would have guessed it”, professor.. Which is maybe why Lévy hates Bibi….
ADDED: Who would Bernard-Henri Lévy suggest take over from Bibi? Answer has he none. He just says something like “Well, Israel has always found a strong and visionary leader when the times demanded it”. Hope is not a strategy, professor!
I’m impressed by Jonathan Tobin. He’s well read and fair. A good interlocutor.
