Images of children acting the role of victims of the Nazis have won the settlers few friends in the rest of Israel.
A few weeks ago the traffic jams of Tel Aviv were a sea of orange ribbons, a symbol of support for the settlers, and it was impossible to drive through a major junction without settler children rushing to tie a ribbon to the car.
Israelis find it hard to believe it is the same children who are now screaming insults at police and soldiers in Gaza.
The settlers' use of images of the Holocaust, such as children leaving their homes with their hands up or wearing Star of David badges, has also surprised many who see no correlation between the actions of their government and the Nazis in World War II.
According to Alex Meitlis, 48, an architect, the use of Nazi imagery is indicative of the simplicity of the settlers' world view.
"It's not surprising that they invoke the Holocaust because for them that was the best time in Jewish history because everything was black and white. They think that everything is black and white now, that their cause is the only right one, when in reality things are much more complicated," he said.
Although opinion polls say that 60 percent of Israelis support the government's withdrawal, the settlers and their supporters have often had a greater impact.
Yoram Peri, a professor of politics at Tel Aviv University, said that according to opinion polls, Israelis were disengaging from the disengagement process.
"Only about a third of Israelis are watching the news or finding out about the disengagement on the Internet," he said. "They support the government but they are not involved emotionally, mentally or intellectually. Everyone is too busy going to the beach and enjoying their summer holiday."
The amount of tears shed on television has also tried the patience of many Israelis. Yael Gwurtz wrote in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth that there was a difference between the often quiet tears seen at a funeral and the cacophony of wailing that accompanies the departure from each house in Gush Katif.
"Instead of quiet tears that fall in silence, we have rivers of wailing -- the tears become transparent. Instead of a national and serious mission which is being put to the supreme test of wisdom and the restraint of the evacuators and the evacuees, disengagement seems gradually to be turning into a hybrid between a reality show and Yiddish theater [known for its melodrama]."
Even Amnon Dankner, the editor of the newspaper Ma'ariv, who claims to be a great friend of the settlers, said he was tired of the dramatization of their plight.
Indonesia was to sign an agreement to repatriate two British nationals, including a grandmother languishing on death row for drug-related crimes, an Indonesian government source said yesterday. “The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the transfer is agreed,” the source said, identifying Lindsay Sandiford and 35-year-old Shahab Shahabadi as the people being transferred. Sandiford, a grandmother, was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of trafficking drugs. Customs officers found cocaine worth an estimated US$2.14 million hidden in a false bottom in Sandiford’s suitcase when
CAUSE UNKNOWN: Weather and runway conditions were suitable for flight operations at the time of the accident, and no distress signal was sent, authorities said A cargo aircraft skidded off the runway into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport early yesterday, killing two ground crew in a patrol car, in one of the worst accidents in the airport’s 27-year history. The incident occurred at about 3:50am, when the plane is suspected to have lost control upon landing, veering off the runway and crashing through a fence, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said. The jet hit a security patrol car on the perimeter road outside the runway zone, which then fell into the water, it said in a statement. The four crew members on the plane, which
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner yesterday signed a coalition deal, paving the way for Sanae Takaichi to become the nation’s first female prime minister. The 11th-hour agreement with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) came just a day before the lower house was due to vote on Takaichi’s appointment as the fifth prime minister in as many years. If she wins, she will take office the same day. “I’m very much looking forward to working with you on efforts to make Japan’s economy stronger, and to reshape Japan as a country that can be responsible for future generations,”
SEVEN-MINUTE HEIST: The masked thieves stole nine pieces of 19th-century jewelry, including a crown, which they dropped and damaged as they made their escape The hunt was on yesterday for the band of thieves who stole eight priceless royal pieces of jewelry from the Louvre Museum in the heart of Paris in broad daylight. Officials said a team of 60 investigators was working on the theory that the raid was planned and executed by an organized crime group. The heist reignited a row over a lack of security in France’s museums, with French Minister of Justice yesterday admitting to security flaws in protecting the Louvre. “What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of
RSS