Israel's Image Problem

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Former United States’ Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright have recently expressed concern over Israel’s ‘image problem’. Netanyahu has claimed time and again that it is Hamas which targets innocent and not Israel. Albright too swears by the “moral authority of Israel” but is rather perturbed by its international image in the face of mounting civilian deaths in Gaza. We have compiled a series of pro-Israel statements made by politicians, intellectuals and religious leaders in the last few weeks to assess if this is indeed an ‘image problem’. We leave it up to you to decide.

Benjamin Netanyahu leads from the front with this enlightening statement- “All civilian casualties are unintended by us but actually intended by Hamas. They want to pile up as many civilian dead as they can because somebody said, and I mean, it’s gruesome, but they use telegenically-dead Palestinians for their cause. They want– the more dead the better.”

Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Danish journalist, Allan Sørensen, posted a chilling photo on his Twitter account which he called "Sderot cinema". In the photo, Israelis can be seen bringing chairs to a hilltop in Sderot [southern Israel] to watch the latest from Gaza. Sørensen wrote- "Clapping when blasts are heard…Some described it as best reality show in town. Others said it is better than the world cup. ”

Photo courtesy: Allan Sørensen

On 26th July, the 19th day of Israel’s massacres in Gaza, Israelis in Tel Aviv cheered the genocide in Gaza. They chanted- “There’s no school tomorrow, there’s no children left there [in Gaza]! Oleh.”

Video courtesy: Hamakom

Another video clip shows Israeli students singing “Hatikva,” the Jewish supremacist national anthem of Israel. Towards the end of the video they can be heard chanting “mavet la’aravim,” Hebrew for “Death to the Arabs.”

Video courtesy: Nimrod Bardoogo

Dr. Mordechai Kedar of Bar-Ilan University made some profound statements on ways to deal with Palestinian "terrorists", on an Israel Radio program. He said- “The only thing that can deter terrorists, like those who kidnapped the children and killed them, is the knowledge that their sister or their mother will be raped.”

Photo courtesy: The Guardian

Moshe Feiglin, Deputy Speaker of Knesset (parliament) laid down concrete steps in his statement 'My Outline for a Solution in Gaza'. Under the heading of 'Ultimatum' he said- "One warning from the Prime Minister of Israel to the enemy population, in which he announces that Israel is about to attack military targets in their area and urges those who are not involved and do not wish to be harmed to leave immediately. Sinai is not far from Gaza and they can leave. This will be the limit of Israel’s humanitarian efforts." He openly advocated a "total siege on Gaza" adding that "Gaza is part of our Land and we will remain there forever. It will become part of sovereign Israel and will be populated by Jews.”

Photo courtesy: Aljazeera

Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, President of the New York Board of Rabbis labelled everyone who voted for Hamas as a combatant when he said- "When you are part of an election process that asks for a terrorist organization which proclaims in word and indeed that their primary objective is to destroy their neighboring country and not to build schools or commerce or jobs, you are complicit and you are not a civilian casualty."

Photo courtesy: Sabbah.biz

Ayelet Shaked, Israeli Politician had this to say about Palestinian “terrorists”- “They are all our enemies and their blood should be on our hands. This also applies to the mothers of the dead terrorists." On Palestinian mothers giving birth to “snakes” she said- "They have to die and their houses should be demolished so that they cannot bear any more terrorists.”

Photo courtesy: Abc.net.au

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