Anyone watched the Louis Theroux documentary

[Ninerina]

I knew that things were bad for the Palestinians but after watching the documentary I'm so disgusted by the 'settlers' the government of Israel and especially Daniella Weiss.
Palestinians are referred to as savages and camel riders by a rabbi!
Will we get a chorus of how Louis Theroux is anti- semitic now? The usual battle cry of the Israel supporters

No, anything doesn't become antisemitic these days, it's just become so common now that there's a lot of it to highlight

Justin Theroux should have watched some ASK Project videos.

It didn't include the link

Palestinians: Do you want more October 7th style attacks?

I think you mean Louis. 🙂

🤣🤣🤣 that was quite the typo 🫣

😊

To be clear I strongly oppose these ministers but you need to understand two things:

One is that Israel has a particularly unstable coalition government. Bibi chose to include a party that had previously not even been legally allowed to run. It was very controversial. This is a whole other story of how Bibi is willing to do anything to keep himself in power. Now, in my opinion, the support Ben-Gvir and his party get is still unacceptably high, but being a minister in the government doesn't mean quite what you think it does.

The second is that even within the settler community, there are individuals who are more and less extreme. Theroux always interviews the most outrageous examples of whichever group he is profiling. I don't mean that to insult Theroux, only that it gives some needed context.

What I said is I take their side (Israel) in this war.

You make the point that there has been conflict between Israel & Palestine going back many decades before this war which I know. I know there is an acrimonious history going back to the 1940s or even earlier. However, I'm not focussing on historic grievances but on this war. The two sides were in a truce at the time of the Hamas attack.

As I have said before, war forces people to take sides. I probably represent many people who like me, were not that engaged with the Israel-Palestine ongoing conflict before October 7th. However, the massacre of innocents on that date was enough to make me say: I stand with Israel. They were the ones being attacked on that occasion. Had the IDF murdered 2,000 young Palestinians at a music concert on the same date and unprovoked, I would say I stand with Palestine.

Now horrible things are happening in the name of war. I don't agree with all the things the IDF are doing. I don't agree with them stopping humanitarian aid getting into Gaza for example, or the attack on aid workers and attempt to cover it up. But there is no doubt that if Hamas were stronger militarily, they would be doing their best to murder as many Israeli citizens as they could. They demonstrated that on October 7th.

Thank you for stating that you are appalled by Hamas actions - not everyone on this board seems prepared even to say that simple thing, they are so focussed on blaming Israel for everything.

You can hardly call Smotrich a fringe politician when several news outlets have named him the most influential person in Israel. I don’t recall Galloway ever being named the most influential person in the UK. In 2017 the Guardian said ‘ he has transformed himself from a radical activist into a mainstream politician with extremist views ‘
which is exactly how I would describe him. You can’t come on here and say you can’t judge a country by one person when that one person has been named as the most influential person in the country and is a mainstream politician .

butthe fact is that these ministers have a huge influence which has now resulted in thousands of Palestinian children being killed . Many news outlets have called smotrich one of the most influential figures in Israel , he’s clearly stated that the aim is not getting the hostages back but to destroy Gaza .
smotrich is not on the fringes. He’s a mainstream politician with extremist views who has immense influence . The countries actions over the past 18 months represent his views .

Smotrich is the most influential man in Israel because he's said he'll collapse the government if they end the war in Gaza, and he's the finance minister. I don't think you can understate Bibi's desperation to keep his coalition intact. This government has stumbled along since 2022 because Israel had 5 elections from April 2019 to November 2022 and everyone was exhausted. The minute Bibi is ousted, he will be tried for corruption, for reasons that have nothing to do with the war.

The percentage of the vote that both Otzma Yehudit (Ben-Gvir's party) and Tzionut Datit (Smotrich) is worrying. However, that's still only 7 and 6 seats respectively. (Israel is pure proportional representation; you only vote for a party.)

By the way Smotrich lives in Kedumim, Daniella Weiss' settlement. Or moire accurately, he lives in an illegal house constructed outside the official boundaries of the settlement.

OFC I can. I’ll go further and say you can’t judge a whole country by their PM or president. Cultures, nations, political landscapes are complicated, and this Smotric chap is much less important.

Do you want me to share examples of Israelis who have murdered a small Palestinian child and then were recorded celebrating his death and other similar heinous crimes?

Some of the posts on this thread are unbelievable and really do prove what LT was showing in his documentary. It's not only the settlers - we see it on mumsnet by some supporters of Israel too.

Not even trying to hide that you think Israelis are better than Palestinians.

And I don't see many posters who claim to care about Palestinians and Israelis equally or claim that all extremism is wrong full stop- challenging it either.

Smotrich holds immense power due to his ability to collapse the government and trigger fresh elections. Israelis themselves who want a ceasefire/hostage deal have been complaining for months that Netanyahu is more interested in pandering to Ben Gvir and Smotrich to ensure his political survival over the interests of the hostages.

Is LT not Jewish?

No.

No. He’s half American, half Italian and, AIUI, not Jewish on either side.

No, no one is talking about people being better than others, show me where that's been said if so. It's just highlighting that Palestinians can be horrifically violent, it's not just Israeli settlers who are extremists

It depends who the news outlets are doesn't it. None if them are really that neutral. Take the BBC for example, isn't it accused of being too Israel? C4 News is accused of being too Gaza

Besides, he isn't even in the Israeli government anymore, is he?

Israeli finance minister Smotrich resigns from post as minister in government

I agree with all of this

Though I'd add that Hamas is also withholding aid. They killed more Palestinians yesterday who were trying to stop them. People (not you Twiglet, I mean in general) who criticise Israel for withholding aid but say nothing about Hamas doing the same show that their motivations aren't really about Palestinians.

Hamas haven't only been shooting Palestinians trying to stop them stealing aid but they've killed at least one aid worker too then lied about it

'CAIRO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Gunmen in the Gaza Strip shot and killed a Palestinian aid worker from a U.S. based charity, firing on her car in what officials from the Hamas-run government told her family was a case of mistaken identity.
The car in which Islam Hejazy, Gaza program manager at HEAL Palestine, was traveling was intercepted on Thursday in the area of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

Gunmen riding in three cars sprayed the vehicle with dozens of bullets, according to residents and the woman's family.

"She was the mother of two small children and a humanitarian with the highest ethics and professionalism," HEAL Palestine, posted on its Facebook page.' This is from Reuters

The Atlantic Council added this to their report of her murder

'Now, with much of its fighting force decimated and its military infrastructure in ruins, Hamas is turning to the same violent tactics it used in earlier years to tighten its grip on Gaza, including exerting its authority over international civil institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). After 2007, when Hamas became the de facto governing body in Gaza, the group systematically extorted and siphoned funds from charities and infiltrated the organizations’ personnel. Those who questioned these practices were met with threats of violence and intimidation, ensuring compliance and silencing dissent. These abusive practices enabled Hamas to quickly gain control over all aspects of social, political, and economic life in the territory. Additionally, placing its members within NGOs enabled Hamas to divert money to fund its military operations. This access also allowed the group to embed military posts within or beneath the organizations’ buildings. A notable example is Hamas’s infiltration of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which relied on US funding for nearly 30 percent of its annual budget. Following the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack, it was revealed that nine UNRWA staff members were Hamas operatives who participated in the operation, and a Hamas command center was discovered beneath UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City.'

At least the Israeli government can be voted out. Gazans are stuck with Hamas for now, they've not held elections in Gaza since 2006

His father is Italian-American and French Canadian-American. Not Jewish at all.