#david ben-gurion

[hero-israel]

Are these fake Ben Gurion quotes? I don't know anything about this stuff

"politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves…… The land, the villages, the mountains, the roads are in their hands. The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country, while we are still outside."

“If I was an Arab leader, I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it’s true, but that was two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their faullt? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?”

One might be fake. Neither of them is important.

The first was Ben-Gurion summarizing the Arab perspective of Zionists and Israel, and doing a good job of it. If the head of Planned Parenthood said "From the viewpoint of clinic bombers we are mass murdering babies," that is not a confession of mass murdering babies.

The second is sourced to Nahum Goldmann, a lifelong rival of Ben-Gurion who only published it 30 years after it was allegedly said and 5 years after Ben-Gurion died. Contemporary scholars have pointed out that it more matches what Goldmann himself said. Ben-Gurion would have absolutely known of the link between Nazis/Hitler and Arab leaders like Haj Amin Al-Husseini and Fawzi al-Qaukji. And of course, many Arab leaders have already accepted Israel regardless.

The most important quote in this conflict is from Azzam Pasha, all else is commentary.

(note: as usual, Wikipedia links are to pre-Oct.7 edits)

[lunamarish]

Chi non crede nei miracoli non è realista.

David Ben-Gurion

[disruptiveempathy]

The Israeli units entered [Ramla] city on 14 [July, 1948] and immediately began a search-and-arrest operation in which they rounded up 3000 people who they transferred to a prison camp nearby, and on the same day they started looting the city. The commander on the spot was Yitzhak Rabin. He recalled how Ben-Gurion had first called him in to his office to discuss the fate of both Lydd and Ramla: ‘Yigal Alon asked: what is to be done with the population [in Lydd and Ramla]? Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture that said: “Drive them out!”’ The people of both cities were forced to march, without food and water, to the West Bank, many of them dying from thirst and hunger on the way. As only a few hundred were allowed to stay in both towns, and given that people from nearby villages had fled there for refuge, Rabin estimated that a total of 50,000 people had been ‘transferred’ in this inhuman way.

—Ilan Pappé, from The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

[nando161mando]

The foundation of Israel is tied up with David Ben-Gurion, its first prime minister. Through examining his life, one sees how from the beginning, the creation of Israel was incompatible with democracy and how Israel was always doomed to become an oppressor state that systematically persecutes Arabs.

[heplev]

Die Ballade von Golda Meir und David Ben-Gurion

Sie war „nur ein Mädel aus Milwaukee“, als er bereits der berühmte „Ben-Gurion“ war. Er war ihr ganzes öffentliches Leben und die politischen Karrieren hindurch ein paar Schritte voraus. Dennoch bildete sich zwischen Golda Meir und David Ben-Gurion eine zarte und bedeutsame Freundschaft, die infolge eines hässlichen politischen Skandals plötzlich endete. Nach Jahren der Distanziertheit, gegen…

[eretzyisrael]

by Martin Kramer

The text may help to explain a remark made by Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion to the Israeli cabinet, after he’d met with Oppenheimer at the latter’s request. Ben-Gurion said he “had the impression that some sort of Jewish spark lit up the man.”

That impression may have originated in Oppenheimer’s speech. Ben-Gurion certainly heard it. The prime minister delivered the keynote at the same dedication, and sat with Oppenheimer in the front row. Oppenheimer, in his own speech, made several references to Ben-Gurion’s remarks. (When Oppenheimer said “It is not only the Prime Minister of Israel who has his difficulties,” he was referring to Ben-Gurion’s admission that he didn’t understand much about physics.)

What’s the source for Oppenheimer’s text? Oppenheimer spoke from notes, but he didn’t have a copy of the speech as he delivered it. “I gave my notes on the ceremonial talk to your press officer,” he wrote to Meyer Weisgal, his host, “and have no record at all of what I said.” At Oppenheimer’s request, the Weizmann Institute sent him a tape with the extract of his speech, secured from the Voice of Israel, which had broadcast the proceedings. The following text is a transcription of the delivered speech, from Oppenheimer’s papers. While the Jerusalem Post reported a few portions of his remarks the day after he spoke, the speech is published here in full for the first time.

I’ve appended an extract from another speech that Oppenheimer gave for the Weizmann Institute on December 2, 1958, at its annual fundraiser at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. There Oppenheimer reflected on his visit to Israel the previous May. It complements the Rehovot speech.

Some of the persons mentioned by Oppenheimer in the two speeches:

Niels Bohr, Danish physicist and 1922 Nobel laureate. Although baptized a Lutheran, his mother came from a distinguished Jewish family, so he fled Denmark during the Nazi occupation. He later assisted Oppenheimer in the Manhattan Project. Bohr had already lent his prestige to the Weizmann Institute during an earlier visit in 1953, and he also spoke at the 1958 dedication, for which the Institute commissioned his bust.

Meyer Weisgal, Zionist author and fundraiser, and confidant of the late Chaim Weizmann. At this time, he was chairman of the executive council of the Weizmann Institute. He would become the person in Israel closest to Oppenheimer.

Benjamin Bloch, physicist by training, administrator of the Weizmann Institute, and a friend of Bohr and Oppenheimer. (Felix Bloch, the Swiss-American physicist and 1952 Nobel laureate, also attended the 1958 dedication, but Oppenheimer’s reference to “Dr. Bloch” clearly refers to Benjamin.)

Abba Eban, Israeli statesman. In late 1958, he was at the end of his service as Israeli ambassador to the United States and chief delegate to the United Nations, and had been named the next president of the Weizmann Institute.

Ernest (later Lord) Rutherford, New Zealand-British physicist and 1908 Nobel laureate, a friend to Chaim Weizmann in Manchester.

[jacobwren]

“Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader, I would never make terms with Israel. We have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel but 2000 years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: We have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?” - David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first PM

[alanshemper]

The Israeli government hosted a reception in the early years of the Jewish state for Rozka Korczak, a survivor of the Vilna Ghetto who organized partisan units in the forests to fight the Germans. Korczak, according to Katz’s account, was one of the first partisans in the nascent Jewish state to speak about her experiences and her heroism in the Shoah.

At the reception, she told her story in Yiddish.

David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding father, became visibly upset as the survivor told her tale. Eventually and abruptly, he stormed out of the reception, claiming – in Hebrew – “the language grates on my ears.”

[girlactionfigure]

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

[nando161mando]

[proudzionist]

Source : humans of Judaism on Instagram.

[gregor-samsung]

" Un pensiero o idea di trasferimento [del popolo palestinese risale] ai primi tempi del movimento sionista, come mostrerebbe un'annotazione del diario di Theodor Herzl: «Dobbiamo espropriare con delicatezza. […] Cercheremo di indurre la popolazione in miseria ad attraversare il confine procurandole un'occupazione nei paesi di transito; negandogliela, però, nel nostro. […] Il processo di espropriazione e di sgombero dei poveri deve avvenire con discrezione e circospezione.»¹ A distanza di quarant'anni, Ben-Gurion ribadiva il concetto: «Il trasferimento di popolazione è già avvenuto nella valle di Jezreel, nella piana del Sharon e in altri luoghi. Siete a conoscenza del lavoro del Fondo nazionale ebraico in proposito. Ora occorre realizzare un trasferimento di ben altre dimensioni.»² Durante la guerra del 1948, Ben-Gurion mise in pratica le sue raccomandazioni. In una campagna nota come "Operazione Hiram" fu realizzato un trasferimento indiscriminato di popolazione dalla Galilea. Durante questa campagna, ha scritto Morris, le forze armate sioniste eseguirono "un numero insolitamente elevato di esecuzioni di popolazione civile contro muri o nei pressi di un pozzo con notevole metodicità". Molto scrupolosamente, Morris cita ventiquattro episodi di terrorismo o di massacro, di cui i più efferati ebbero luogo a Saliha (78 uccisi), Lod (250), Dawayima (centinaia) e, ovviamente, nel già citato villaggio di Deir Yassin. Alcuni di questi massacri furono probabilmente perpetrati per ragioni tattiche: a Dawayima, nei pressi di Hebron, per esempio, "una colonna entrò nel villaggio sparando all'impazzata e uccise qualsiasi cosa si muovesse". Altri massacri rispondevano, invece, all'intento strategico di terrorizzare la popolazione affinché fuggisse. Questi massacri non furono certo tenuti nascosti dalla popolazione palestinese. Dopotutto, come ebbe a dire una volta Lenin, l'intento del terrorismo è terrorizzare. (Morris, ricordiamo per inciso, ha giustificato i sionisti richiamandosi alla logica del ben noto aforisma di Lenin: "Per fare la frittata occorre rompere le uova").

Secondo un testimone oculare di Deir Yassin: «Deir Yassin era un villaggio che fu attaccato dagli israeliani, o dai sionisti, il 9 aprile 1948. […] Incontrerà delle persone che le diranno: "Questo è quello che successe a Deir Yassin", perché loro erano là. Ho incontrato una donna che mi ha detto che le portarono suo figlio e le dissero di prenderlo in grembo e poi lo uccisero. Usavano coltelli, baionette. Un macello; non un combattimento. Non c'era nessuno da combattere. Erano prevalentemente donne e bambini. Molte, moltissime persone furono massacrate in quel villaggio. Questo massacro terrorizzò l'intera Palestina. Tutti parlavano del massacro di Deir Yassin.» Complessivamente, furono cancellati oltre cinquecento villaggi palestinesi. La maggior parte dei palestinesi che fuggì fini in Cisgiordania, nella striscia di Gaza, nei paesi arabi limitrofi. Quelli con un certo grado di istruzione, con specializzazioni o disponibilità economica cercarono di rifarsi una vita meglio che poterono, talvolta in luoghi lontani come il Golfo persico, l'Europa, le Americhe. Quelli che non furono altrettanto fortunati finirono nei campi profughi, organizzati, inizialmente, dallo United Nations Releif for Palestine (Unrp). "

¹ B. MORRIS, Revisiting the Palestinian Exodus of 1948, in E. L. ROGAN e A. SHLAIM (a cura di), The War of Palestine, Rewriting the History of 1948, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001, p. 41 [trad. it. La guerra per la Palestina: riscrivere la storia del 1948, Il Ponte, Bologna, 2004]. ² Ibidem, p. 43.

---------

James L. Gelvin, Il conflitto israelo-palestinese. Cent'anni di guerra, traduzione di Piero Arlorio, Einaudi (collana Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi n° 357), 2007¹; pp. 179-181.

[Edizione originale: The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Cambridge University Press, 2005]

[fordreviews]

📽️ Operation Finale (2018)

This movie was so interesting! It was extremely detailed and easy to follow. It wasn’t super action-packed, although there was some action; but it kept my interest the whole time. The fact that it’s based on a true story just makes it even better, especially since I learned some things I never knew about Israel after World War II. I would definitely recommend this movie especially if you’re someone who is interested in history.

Sex/nudity: 2/10 (kissing, woman briefly seen in a bra)

Language: 4/10 (one f word and several other curse words)

Violence: 7/10 (gory violence vividly described but not seen, other violence including torture seen on screen)

Overall rating: 7/10

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Haroon Siddique and Lorenzo Tondo at The Guardian:

The UN’s top court has ordered Israel to halt its assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah in a ruling that will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country. The president of the international court of justice, Nawaf Salam, said the humanitarian situation in Rafah had deteriorated further and was now classified as “disastrous”, meaning the ICJ’s previously issued provisional measures were insufficient. He said the court had voted by a majority of 13 votes to two that “Israel shall, in conformity with its obligations under the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, and in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by civilians in Rafah governorate … immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah governorate which may inflict on the Palestinian group in��Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

The order by the ICJ is not enforceable, and Israeli ministers indicated that they would not comply with it. Israeli forces stepped up military strikes on Gaza, bombing targets in Rafah, even as the ICJ delivered its decision, residents and medics said. Friday’s ruling by the ICJ is the court’s third – and by far the most significant – intervention in the conflict and comes four days after the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, a separate court also based in The Hague, said he was seeking arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant. The ruling will increase pressure on the UK and the US, which criticised the ICC warrants request, to bring their influence to bear on Israel.

However, after speaking on the phone with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, Israel’s war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, a political rival of Netanyahu, said Israel was “obligated to continue fighting to return its hostages and ensure the safety of its citizens, at any time and place – including in Rafah. We will continue to act according to international law in Rafah and wherever we operate, and make an effort to avoid harming the civilian population. Not because of The Hague tribunal, but first of all because of who we are.” In a statement, Netanyahu’s office rejected South Africa’s accusation of genocide as “false, outrageous and disgusting”, adding: “Israel has not and will not carry out a military campaign in the Rafah area that creates living conditions that could lead to the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part.” Israel’s far-right national security minister. Itamar Ben-Gvir, accused the court of being “antisemitic” and, quoting Israel’s first PM, David Ben-Gurion, said on X: “Our future is not dependent on what the gentiles will say but rather what the Jews will do!”

The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel must stop its invasion of Rafah. Israel Apartheid State’s leaders, however, have said that they won’t comply with the ICJ’s orders to halt the attacks on the Gazan city of Rafah.

[girlactionfigure]

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Ben Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel, not president.