No matter ho
w appalled you are by the actions of the Israeli state you can rely on one thing. As sure as the earth turns Major Avital Leibovich and Mark Regev pop up like buboes over every media outlet to explain how reasonable it all was.
Leibovich is the B team. Her English isn’t as fluent as you’d expect of someone doing a job with such a high profile. On the credit side she is refreshingly blunt. Her standard response is a variation on “we didn’t mean to kill those children yesterday but shit happens. Anyway it saved us the trouble of doing it to the little jihadi bastards in twenty years’ time”. She makes no effort to hide her racist contempt for Palestinians and given that she’s an officer in the Israeli state’s army there is no earthly reason why she should.
Regev’s approach is slightly different. In his telling the Israeli Defence Force are slightly clumsier versions of Mother Teresa who are just a bit accident prone with guns and bombs when they are anywhere near a Palestinian. Countless TVs and radios must have been smashed over the years as people have been obliged to listen to him explain how it’s perfectly possible to drop hundreds of tons of high explosives in built up areas and not mean any harm to the people who live there.
His ongoing defence of the siege of Gaza defies belief. He was to be heard on British radio yesterday explaining both that it’s perfectly possible to buy luxuries like Snickers and ketchup there and that it’s entirely reasonable to prevent homes from being rebuilt just in case some of the cement is used to make bombs. This is always accompanied by a description of the passionate commitment to Palestinian welfare the Israeli state demonstrates on a daily basis by allowing in just enough food and medicine to prevent mass starvation.
The other part of his narrative is that the Hamas regime poses an existential threat to the Israeli state. The plucky little IDF armed to the teeth only with state of the art weaponry from the United States is to be constantly vigilant against Hamas’ armoury constructed in garages using timers from washing machines. Yet every single time he’s allowed to get away with this farrago.
Originally I’d intended to make an exception to this site’s rules on personal abuse and express a few opinions on Regev. On reflection you just have to accept that there’s always going to be some sleazebag who willing to justify anything for money. The real problem seems to be that the first reflex of most media outlets is an overwhelming urge to let people like Regev and Leibovich explain how the latest atrocity was actually motivated by a desire to prevent further Palestinian suffering. No one from Gaza was given anything like the same airtime by broadcasters who preface every question with the assertion that they accept the Israeli state’s right to “self defence”. Even when its behaviour is at its most outrageous the Israeli state is always given special treatment.
Thanks to Richard for the video of yesterday’s demonstration in Manchester. For the record there was an impromptu protest outside Belfast city hall too which drew 3-400 people.
Liam redux 
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