Think tank: Israel faces global delegitimization campaign

[azurnoir]

Israel is facing a global campaign of delegitimization, according to a report by the Reut Institute, made available to the cabinet on Thursday. The Tel Aviv-based security and socioeconomic think tank called on ministers to treat the matter as a strategic threat.

Reut says the campaign is the work of a worldwide network of private individuals and organizations. They have no hierarchy or overall commander, but work together based on a joint ideology - portraying Israel as a pariah state and denying its right to exist.

The "delegitimizers" cooperate with organizations engaging in legitimate criticism of Israel's policy in the territories such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, blurring the line between legitimate censure and delegitimization. They also promote pro-Palestinian activities in Europe as "trendy," the report says.

The network's activists are not mostly Palestinian, Arab or Muslim. Many of them are European and North American left-wing activists. The Western left has changed its approach to Israel and now sees it as an occupation state, the report says. To those left-wing groups, if in the 1960s Israel was seen as a model for an egalitarian, socialist society, today it epitomizes Western evil.

The report says the intelligence service should monitor the organizations' activities and study their methods. The cabinet should also confront groups trying to delegitimize Israel but embrace those engaged in legitimate criticism.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1149274.html

[Hardrada]

1. Excellent! Too long a-comin' if you ask me.

The usual Israeli Lobbyists will post below.

[pelsar]

6. official israeli apologists here....

just checking in....

[Kurska]

2. This has been going one since day one, is anyone really surprised? n/t

[Jim Sagle]

3. Israel lobbyist checking in here. Israel RRRRRAWWWWWWWKSSS!!!!!!

:headbang:

[Kurska]

4. Man I wish I was getting payed for this.

I wonder what the going rate is, do I get payed by the hour or by the word?

[Jim Sagle]

5. I don't get paid a damn cent, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

:fistbump:

[Kurska]

8. Well they do say to never mix work and pleasure.

It would ruin the ENTIRE fun of banging my head into this wall.

[Violet_Crumble]

9. And what wall would that be? n/t

[Jim Sagle]

10. A 2000 year old wall of superstition, rumor, and lies, of course - a wall that should have long ago

crumbled.

[Violet_Crumble]

11. Are you Kurska's spokesman now?

Coz I was asking Kurska the question...

[Jim Sagle]

12. Not at all..if he has a different answer in mind, I'm sure he'll provide it.

;)

[Violet_Crumble]

13. Great, then don't answer questions I'm asking him about what he thinks...

You don't know what he thinks and if he happens to think the same way as you, then I've very badly misjudged him...

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kurska]

16. When two very determined sides debate it is very much head v wall, in reality more like wall v wall

I'm not going to pretend I'm the "reasonable one" and everyone else here is stubborn. I'm just as guilty of being stuck in my ways and rationalizing. Still I find I can have very meaningful conversations here, so I continue to come back.

[azurnoir]

17. Isn't that something like

irresistible force meeting immovable object? I suppose then the debate becomes which is which

[Kurska]

19. Lets just go with two immovable objects pushed up against each other. n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

18. Yeah, that's pretty much the way I feel about it as well...

I can be pretty unreasonable at times, and think most of us here have our moments, but it's the ones who think that those they disagree with are stupid and lacking in intelligence, and who think they don't do unreasonable and stubborn who are the ones who are so lacking in self-awareness that I find it kind of entertaining to have a snicker at their posts. There's people who think that way where I work (they're always the victim and everyone else is to blame when they make mistakes), but I kind of can't go round snickering at them, so here's a good substitute...

fwiw, it's the meaningful and informative discussions I'd had in this forum that helped me heaps when I studied Middle East politics at uni, so this forum can be pretty handy...

[Kurska]

20. Indeed, I find myself coming to this forum after big events involving Israel to get perspective.

I can get a very complete picture of what peoples are thinking, We tend to have atleast one of everything, which of course does include blind ideologues.

[pelsar]

21. we helped you graduate?......

good for us...so something was actually produced out of this forum as opposed to massive data flow going round in circles.

[Violet_Crumble]

22. I never finished the degree, but you guys helped me to a great mark for that unit...

I got some direct help from one or two people with an essay I had to write, and discussing things in this forum made it a bit easier to speak up in tutes and earn brownie points. I realised when I finished that unit that most people in this forum are 'self-taught' when it comes to their knowledge of the conflict, and many knew far more than many of the students in the tutes I went to did, so I guess it gave me an appreciation of the non-trollish participants in the forum...

Plus, the participation in the forum is worthwhile coz I've gotten to meet some really great people here, and some of them are people I even butted heads with when they first arrived at DU :)

[Jim Sagle]

23. I'll post to whomever I damn well please, Vi. Although in your case I often wonder why I bothered.

[Violet_Crumble]

24. Gosh, maybe coz yr not Kurska, who actually gave a thoughtful reply to the question I asked HIM, ...

Maybe if you try to answer questions I'm asking someone else without engaging in a torrent of abuse, yr posts won't get deleted :)

[MUAD_DIB]

7. Criticism of Israel is not denying its right to exist just as criticism of the

US war in Iraq does not deny its right to exist.

[Hardrada]

15. That is correct!