EU ELECTIONS

At this time when Putin from Russia and Steve Bannon from the USA are working to break Europe up – it is in all our interest to strengthen our still democratic and liberal European home. If you have a vote: GO and VOTE. We do not want to end up as a Putin Russia or a Trump USA.

Vote for a pro-European party: in the UK this is not easy, and the best bet is to vote for the Liberal Democrats. In Germany, there are more choices. So take your pick and VOTE.

A Question to Mrs Merkel

FRAU MERKEL: If you take a wine bottle from the supermarket shelf and notice that it was produced in a Jewish settlement in the Occupied Territories, would you buy it or put it back on the shelf?

My guess would be that Merkel would put the wine back and my second guess is that she will try not to have to say so loudly. If that is the case, then Mrs. Merkel and all other politicians who act similarly, are moral cowards. 

Can a journalist be found to ask that question?

Germany and its warped Relationship with the Jews

Nothing seems to have changed. Only the direction of its pathological warpedness. A recent decision of Germany’s parliament is a point in case: In its immense wisdom, the Bundestag decided to define BDS as antisemitic. BDS is a Palestinian civil society movement calling for unarmed actions, such as boycott, divestment and sanctions, to fight Israeli occupation.

BDS – perhaps deliberately – is an unclear entity, some believe that it calls for the State of Israel to cease to exist, others that it aims for a departure of Israel from those areas it conquered in 1967 and has been occupying since and in which it has settled more than 600,000 of its own (Jewish) citizens. I doubt not that there are many Arabs who would prefer for Israel not to exist – a wish that I do not share. I do, however, share the wish for Israel to get out of the occupied West Bank. One may not share the demand, but there is nothing antisemitic about the demand to penalise Israel for the occupation. Let a thousand Bundestags repeat the folly: it can also decide that the earth is flat or that it was created by God in six days, 5779 years ago.

Whatever BDS’ aim may be, they do not try to achieve it by with armed violence. Instead, they try to get Israel boycotted into submission. An effort which has up to now, not been very successful. The Israeli government, however, has been panicking about BDS and together with several Jewish lobby organisations is bullying whoever they can into delegitimizing BDS. The instrument used to vilify BDS is one frequently used by Israel to shut up critics: blaming the critics of Israel or its actions as anti-Semites. What has happened last week in Germany is a spectacular success of the Netanyahu regime. In an obscure joining of souls, Angela Merkel’s CDU has, together with its coalition partner, the SPD (social democrats), joined forces with the ultra-right-wing AfD, in handing this coup to Mr. Netanyahu.

Germany’s political class still operates with a need to show that they atone for the country’s past and in this case, the price is paid by the Palestinians: Germany is helping Israel to eradicate Palestinian civil society’s agitation for their cause.  

More than only Schadenfreude?

Everyone (I know) seems mighty pleased about the fact that Austrian FPÖ’s leader Strache was forced to resign, after a secret video showing his alleged entanglement in a serious corruption scandal, came to the light.

I do not share this feeling of satisfaction, beyond my natural shadenfreude, at the fall of a member of the mighty: let many others fall in his footsteps.

The real issue with Austria is not that one politician was found out to be corrupt. The real problem are the right-wing tendencies of its population – a phenomenon that can best be explained by Austria’s historical refusal to accept responsibility for its fascist and Nazi past. They always saw themselves as victims of Nazi Germany instead of accepting the truth, which is that they were part of the Nazi machine in ideology, in action and in fervour. As a result, there is a lot of the same still to be found in that country. FPÖ had 26% of the popular vote in the last general election and was evidently a natural bed-fellow of the country’s conservative party, Sebastian Kurz’s ÖVP (31%).

Now, the Chancellor has called for a snap election. Will we find that Austrians are longer attracted by racism, Islamophobia and populist rhetoric? I doubt that. There is, as yet, nothing to be happy about. Much work still needs doing.

DEPORT BANNON NOW

Having helped Trump in his election campaign, Steve Bannon is now doing his utmost to destabilise Europe. I do not know who finances his activities, but I do know that he should be stopped.

Except for France, which has historically taken great pleasure in granting political asylum to troublemakers, most European countries try not to let them enter. So, for example, a Palestinian woman, who fifty years ago, carried out a terrorist attack, sat in an Israeli jail and now lives in Jordan, had her German visa revoked recently and was not permitted to give a lecture in Berlin. Bannon is more dangerous to our future than an old former terrorist.

The extremist AfD party has now invited Steve Bannon to talk at their conference inside the Bundestag, the German parliament.  

The man is dangerous and should not be allowed to enter, let alone be politically active, Europe. One cannot rely on the likes of Poland and Hungary to deny him entry, but there is no reason why we should permit a foreigner, who is working to dismantle liberal democracy, to enter our countries. He is a foreign agent and should be treated as such.

We have seen what Trump is causing. We see the sad deterioration of Hungary and Poland. We see the dangerous mood in Italy. 

WRITE TO YOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AND DEMAND THAT THEY ACT NOW.

EU Elections – 23 May 2019 – VOTE!

In the face of Brexit and of the weakening of pro-European resolve in many other countries, it is vital that everyone takes part in the coming elections for the European parliament.

The elections are taking place on 23 May. Find out where you are registered and VOTE. It you wish, it is also possible to go for a postal ballot – in that case, you will need to register for a postal vote.

DON’T LET EXTREMISTS AND ARSONISTS DECIDE YOUR FUTURE.

VOTE FOR A PRO-EUROPEAN PARTY.

Benedict is Alive and Kicking

So, the former Pope, Benedict XVI, who retired in 2013, stating that he would devote his remaining life to penance and prayers, has now come out with the product of his first six years: a message to the world about those who are really to blame for sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

EUREKA, he has found the culprits. It is all because of the sexual revolution in the 1960s and those “homosexual cliques” among seminarians and priests. They openly watched sex films and more… Seminarians, he hastens to add, avoided reading his books: “My books were hidden away, like bad literature, and only read under the desk.” Had they only read his books instead.

How about all those bishops and cardinals, who actively hushed things up, hiding the information from the law enforcement agencies, terrorising the victims and their families and when they had no alternative, paying hush money, so the information does not come out? Who is responsible for that, hey? Grown-ups having consensual sex against the rules of the Catholic Church, or the Church apparatus that instructed bishops not to report molesting and raping priests to the police and the bishops who followed Vatican rules instead of the law of the land?

J’accuse, Benedict, is not what penance should be about. Go retract your essay, and try mea culpa  instead. By the way, in your spare time, you could read my book about the Church. It is no longer in print, but I am sure that you will find a copy.

Israel - 2019 Elections I

Corruption-ridden Netanyahu has three or more substantial court cases awaiting: for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. In his panic and hoping to evade jail, he called an early election with the idea that a substantial popular vote in his favour would take the Attorney-General off his back. As a backup, further to winning the elections, his deal with his coalition partners would include new legislation that would give him immunity while in office.

As one can imagine, there is nothing – really nothing – that Netanyahu would not agree to, in order to avoid prison. This is where Israel stands today.

Forget about a Jewish and democratic state, a slogan often to be heard in Israel. If that slogan was ever a dream, which it no longer is, it now is no longer even a slogan.

Israel – 2019 Elections II

The results in yesterday’s elections, while not a surprise, are a big disappointment. Not, of course, to the majority of the voters in Israel. They voted to keep the crook in power. And that is what they get.  – That is what we all get.

It is noteworthy that virtually all right-wing parties and all the religious parties in Israel have stated that they would support Netanyahu and not Benny Gantz, a former chief-of-staff, whose newly established party got the same number of votes (ca. 30% of the voters) as Netanyahu’s Likkud party. The clear message is that what attracts Israeli voters is not necessarily security but the wish to hold on to the Occupied Territories.

Benny Gantz established a new party, together with two other former chiefs-of-staff. Their message was as tough on security matters as Netanyahu’s. Their track records are the proof. Their main drive was to finally get rid of Israel’s corruption-ridden Bibi Netanyahu. Yet, Israel’s electorate would not have it.

Fifteen out of sixteen former chiefs-of-staff and heads of Mossad and Shabak (external and internal secret services) have made clear their view that Netanyahu is a liability to Israel’s security. Israelis do not seem to care.

We have to face it: More than half of Israel’s voters voted for the continued occupation of territories held since 1967 and for the settlement of the Occupied Territories with Jewish Israelis, whilst keeping a corrupt Prime Minister leading and promoting the vulgarisation of the Jewish State.   

Israel – 2019 Election III

Israel – as do her supporters – likes to remind us that it is “the only democracy in the Middle East”.

Virtually the whole spectrum of political parties in Israel have stated or implied that the two Arab parties running for parliament will not be considered by them as coalition partners. About 75 % of Israel’s population are Jews. Most of the rest are Arabs. Thus, in the “only democracy in the Middle East”, more than 20% of the population simply does not count: since they are not willing to leave, they are expected to shut up.

In the 2015 elections, Netanyahu warned his supporters that “Arabs are coming in droves” to vote, implying danger to his rule. In yesterday’s elections, Netanyahu’s party clandestinely and illegally installed cameras and recorders in all voting booths in Arab towns and villages.  

Many left-wing Israelis hope that sensible voting by the Arab population could bring about change. Most Arabs see no reason to support a predominantly right-wing system in which they are second class citizens. Yet, the fact is that most Arabs have a better chance for safe and comfortable lives in Israel than in any of the Arab countries. It could, therefore, also be in their own interest to strengthen the left-wing party of Israel. Sadly, this is not happening. A good start would be much higher voter participation among Israeli Arabs. An interesting alternative, which a small number of Israelis have chosen, is to vote for one of the Arab parties.