Quotable Words on the Disconnect

The disconnect that is

one of the most worrying developments in Western culture over the last decade: between a elite that controls much of the discussion in the public sphere (journalists, academics, talking heads, mainstream politicians) and who fear being called Islamophobes and racists more than they fear Islamist racists, and a population of people who, whenever they voice concern about the behavior of the Muslim neighbors, are told not to be Islamophobic racists.

Richard Landes

^

An Eliteful Insight

The insight of Martin Sherman:-

...So if the most dramatic political initiatives over the last two decades cannot be attributed to international pressure, or to the far-sighted wisdom of Israeli leaders, or the preferences of the Israeli electorate, what can it be ascribed to?

Trinity of influence

The answer is to be found more in Israel's sociological structure than its political mechanisms. More specifically, it lies in composition of its civil society elites who control the legal establishment, dominate the mainstream media, and hold the sway in academia (specifically in the social sciences and humanities faculties - where the politically-correct dominates.) These groups comprise an interactive trinity of influence that in effect dominates the socio-political process in Israel, sets the direction of the national agenda at the strategic level and imposes, with great effectiveness, its views on elected politicians and the general public.

Thus, for example, the legal elite can impede any assertive initiative that the elected polity may wish to implement. Similarly, the media elite can promote any concessionary initiative that the elected polity may be loath to implement. And when the stamp of professional approval is required for either, the amenable academic elite is ever-ready to provide it.

It requires little analytical acumen to identify that these were the mechanisms that generated most of the major political processes over the last two decades. Accordingly, the ability to understand the political realities in Israel is contingent on understanding the worldview and the cost-benefit analysis of these powerful and influential elites.

For them, the approval of peer groups abroad is far more important in determining their agenda than the approval of Israeli citizens at home. Invitations to deliver keynote speeches at high-profile conventions, sought-after appointments as visiting scholars at prestigious institutes, lucrative grants for research projects are far more forthcoming if one in identified as empathetic to the Palestinian narrative than as committed to the Zionist one...

Okay, So Who Really Is The 'Other'?

Nadav Shragai, in his home organ, the liberal Haaretz, asserts that the claimed media and elite bias directed against the right is real in The left marked them

...the extended process of delegitimizing the settlers - which leads to genuine hatred of them - is hitting a peak. The left wing and the media have now labeled the settlers, as a group, as the abhorred Other that people are allowed to smack around.

...Someone who beats up Palestinians and damages their property should sit in jail. But are the settlers as a whole - all 300,000 of them - responsible for that? Are the Druze, as a group, responsible for the few who attacked their Jewish neighbors in Peki'in? Are all Israeli Arabs responsible for the events of October 2000?

What does Talia Sasson, the champion of the rule of law when it comes to illegal outpost construction, have to say about the tens of thousands of illegal buildings constructed by Bedouin and Arabs...Why is the press interested in how much money Israeli taxpayers have to pay for security at right-wing rallies, while the cost of left-wing rallies is irrelevant?

Why is there extensive media coverage when police refrain from raiding an outpost due to fear of clashes with settlers, but not when police refrain from chasing Arabs who steal cars, cattle and agricultural equipment along the seam line between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods and in Judea and Samaria? Take, for instance, the many articles about the body of the Palestinian shepherd whom the Palestinians accused the settlers of murdering - and the silence that greeted the news from the police laboratory that there had been no murder at all, that a dud shell caused the shepherd's death. Are the facts relevant only when they hew to the line?...

...From the perspective of the left and the media, settlers have become the ultimate Other, mainly because of the ideological threat that they, religious Zionists and anyone who identifies with them poses to those who pride themselves on an absence of ideology...

If you will recall (here, as a P.S.), Avner de-Shalit, head of the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, had taken just the opposite view:

In the name of patriotism

...Of course, we must not get carried away into making collective accusations. The attempt to harm Prof. Sternhell was not carried out by "the right" or "the settlers." But even if a "small handful" or "extremists" are responsible for it, it serves as a sad example of the state of Israeli society on the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5769 and testifies to the prevailing atmosphere.

That is because it reflects a society that on the one hand is frighteningly violent, and on the other does not exhibit enough will to confront violence. These patterns of violence, which are taken from the repertoire of the criminal underworld, include phone threats, written threats, and in the end a physical attack or attempted assassination. They are directed against the ideological "other" - someone whose views not only differ from those of the violent group, but who is not "one of ours." In this atmosphere, a person who criticizes the country in general or the settlement enterprise in particular is certainly not a good Jew, so he is "other," not only in his opinions but also in terms of the group he is affiliated with. From here it is a short path to threats and physical attack...

Control of the Elites

In Israel, right-wing nationalist demonstrations, it is claimed by left-wing media, radical politicians, self-righteous human rights organizations and police, ipso facto, are anti-democratic and subversive, intended to undermine the legitimization of the authority of the state. Therefore, they are to be dealt with harshly and firmly, no matter what the level of activism is involved - from walking in the streets, to blocking roads, to confronting security officials and to attempting to enter a building or the like.

Of course, the above is a ridiculous situation in which the state, through its allied cultural elites, successfully portrays any demonstration against the insane policies of the government that are dangerous as either fascist or worse.

Now, take the recent G-8 demos.

Here's a CNN report that doesn't hide any of the reality of the violnce at the demo but, and here's the difference, no pointing an accusing finger that these are intended to overthrow the state:-

Organizers of anti-G8 demonstrations and the media on Sunday condemned violent clashes between police and a hardcore group of militants in the German port city of Rostock in which 1,000 people were injured.

A peaceful demonstration involving tens of thousands of diverse protesters was marred on Saturday by the worst street violence seen in Germany for years when hundreds of black-clad activists bombarded police with stones and torched three cars.

Police used water cannon to disperse the militants who left a trail of destruction in the harbor city, just days before Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts the Group of Eight (G8) leaders in the nearby resort of Heiligendamm for their annual meeting.

"This was inexcusable and that is the opinion of all the groups concerned," said Mani Stenner, a spokesman for the organizers of a week-long program of demonstrations in the port city. "We hope that this situation was an exception."

Police blamed the violence on some 2,000 militants known as the "black block." Some 430 police officers and 520 protesters were injured and police said 128 people were arrested in the clashes at the city's harbor.

The mass-circulation Bild am Sonntag newspaper declared the violence Germany's "G8 Shame!" and carried a large front-page picture of a balaclava-clad militant aiming a stone at police.

"Yesterday images were formed in our country that will damage our reputation across the world," wrote commentator Claus Strunz in a column for the newspaper.

"We have a lot of work to do to consider how we can prevent these violent events from happening again," Stenner said.

Aid groups and charities condemned the violence and distanced themselves from the militants. "There was no justification at all for these attacks," said Pedram Shahyar, a spokesman for the group Attac.

The violence followed weeks of tension between police and militants in Hamburg and Berlin after street riots prompted by a series of raids last month on premises used by left-wing groups.

Protesters are expected to try to block road access to the summit and stage demonstrations at a nearby airport. A 12 km (7.5 mile) security fence has been built around the resort itself to keep demonstrators and militants away from the summit.

Here's the BBC report:-

Protesters have clashed with police at a largely peaceful anti-globalisation rally in the German city of Rostock. Rocks, bottles and sticks have been hurled at riot police, who are using tear gas and batons charges to try to disperse the hundreds of rioters.

However, the violence only involves a small portion of the estimated 30,000 people police say had joined the rally.

They are protesting against next week's G8 summit of leading industrial nations in Heiligendamm, 25km (16 miles) away.

More than 160 groups of anti-globalisation activists, left-wing groups, students and anarchists had been taking part in the march.

Police say that at least 146 officers have been hurt in the fighting.

Masked protesters have broken up paving stones to use as projectiles and overturned and torched several vehicles, spreading a pall of black smoke over the area.

"The police were attacked massively from the violent protesters. They threw bottles, fire crackers, rocks and Molotov cocktails," police spokesman Frank Scheulen told the Associated Press.

Riot police have responded with tear gas and water cannon in an effort to drive them back.

I've never been at a rall with this much violence in Israel but the left spreads the fear.

A little bit of totalitarian thought control goes a long way.