1 yr. ago • 100%

Netanyahu declares holy war against Gaza, citing the Bible

www.middleeastmonitor.com Netanyahu declares holy war against Gaza, citing the Bible – Middle East Monitor

Even though Netanyahu is Jewish, he knows using (and in this case abusing) the Christian bible is a good way to keep support going among US evangelicals and the new Speaker of the House.

34 comments

Even though Netanyahu is Jewish, he knows using (and in this case abusing) the Christian bible

He's citing the Hebrew Bible.

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- There's truly no shortage of uninformed takes on the Isreal Palestine situation.
  
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  "no one said people were smart" - unknown
  
  🙃
  
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- Not only is he citing the Hebrew Bible, it SAYS IN THE LINK THAT HE POSTED THAT HE'S CITING THE HEBREW BIBLE.
  
  Seriously, kids these days, it's like nobody goes to Vacation Bible School anymore
  
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Be aware that Middle East Monitor is rated "Factual reporting: Mixed" and strongly biased as it sometime use poor sources and use loaded words.

La Croix published an alaysis of this Isaiah Prophecy quote (french). They found it's a poor and/or convoluted reference, and that article do not mention "Holy War" so this expression is most likely editorializing from the Middle East Monitor.

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- It's really just a video of Netanyahu saying the words himself. It's not interpreted or analysed by the website. Don't see how that can be very biased.
  
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  I watched it a second time to be sure. While the voiceover doesn't say "Holy War" he does cite religion and sounds like religious radicals dog-whistle.
  
  There's good reasons to be critical of Netanyahu government, but I'd still suggest seeking better sources.
  
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- It may indeed be, I'm not familiar with Middle East Monitor, but Media Bias/Fact Check are themselves rather infamously biased towards the American right wing. For example, they list the New York Times as nearly as left-biased as their scale goes, despite that the Times has largely taken the Republican party line on a number of issues, such as queer rights (their deceptive coverage of trans rights has been a large part of the current moral panic, and has led to multiple open lettersof protest). The Times was even instrumental in elevating Trump to the presidency with their incredibly dubious decision to give Comey's procedural memo front page placement and a misleading headline mere days before the election --- a choice that Nate Silver has said was possibly deciding on the election. The Guardian is also listed as left-center despite even more extreme transphobic editorial decisions than even the Times.
  
  Similarly, they list MSNBC as far-left, despite them having Republican-led shows and frequent Republican guests. I'll definitely agree there's some degree to which they're on the left, but it's pretty minor all told. The idea that they're far left is just ridiculous, and one that only makes sense from the perspective of America's right-wing culture.
  
  At the same time, they list Wall Street Journal as mostly credible, something that just isn't a serious take on media credibility.
  
  (Edited to add: a lot of this comes down to the very strong bias in American media towards the "both sides" idea that if two sources disagree, the truth must be in the middle. That bias is especially clear in discussions of climate change, but it's also prevalent in discussions of other political issues more generally.)
  
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  As usual, our Overton window is all that matters to people in the states. There's some active debate about how much longer centralized media control in all legacy formats will mean the level of control the phrase implies, but until that shifts, Overton is staying put.
  
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  Nah, news organizations aren't internet echo chamber.
  
  I mean, if they write dozens of opinions a day, news organizations labeled center-left or even left-leaning have to go to the other side sometimes. If not, they're just propaganda machines.
  
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Ah! Nothing like millennia old scriptures to convince people that a genocide is necessary!

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OP, do you know where the books of Moses in the old testament come from?

Exactly, it's a copy of the Jewish Torah which Netanyahu quoted.

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The Old Testament is full of rules and commandments that, taken completely out of context and applied literally, would lead any modern society to collapse. In the west we thought we knew better than bronze age nomadic tribes of the Middle East, after the scientific and industrial revolutions, but in the end we keep going back to the Bible for directions. Fundamentalist christians are no exception. We should review the way we think about ourselves as "progressed" and civilized societies.

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- It’s pretty awful in context.
  
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  And was meant to be taken literally.
  
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Imagine no religion.

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Cool so I guess ww3 will be a jihad. Cool cool.

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- Uh, they'll get fuckin rocked like every time since the fall of the Ottomans.
  
  One of the reasons all the Islamic fundie types get hard for a new Caliphate is there simply isn't a Muslim nation that can defend itself against Western aggression, except possibly Turkey, and guess who they're allied with?
  
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Biblical Jews do seem to love murdering children.

He's just keeping the tradition alive.

Psalms 137:9:

Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

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- Your comment could be easily taken as antisemitic. Our only rule at Beehaw is to be(e) nice. Please, keep this in mind for the future. BTW, you are using that Psalm outside of its historical context and does not apply to modern religious Jews.
  
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Lol this is a propaganda outlet

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- It's Netanyahu speaking directly in a video. Not being interpreted or analysed by the outlet.
  
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  Then it must be easy to find a reliable source
  
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If he pulls out some old testament shit he's good to go. The Israelites were told to destroy Jericho completely in the story I remember. Just change the name to Gaza and it works out great for him.

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- Funnily enough (not funny actually, considering the war crimes and all), the Old Testament says that the Jews/Isrealites will never get rid of other people living in the area due to not driving them out in their original conquest.
  
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  I do love a good irony. Only atheists actually read religious texts though.
  
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- I was having a weird one today so I read through the book of Amos. It’s shockingly similar to the current situation.
  
  Amos prophesied that Gaza would be destroyed, even genocided, as a reaction to crimes that included kidnapping entire communities. But that’s just an intro to a prophecy that Israel would be violently and mercilessly destroyed in response to a long list of their own crimes.
  
  I’m not saying that Amos predicted the current situation, just that it’s sad how little we’ve improved in 2500 years.
  
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  Prophecies require explicit parameters. Anything else is ad-hoc and you can fit nearly anything to be a prophecy after the fact.
  
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Can anybody translate the video?

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- There's a voiceover.
  
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  The poster before has a point. The translation in the video is pretty damning, but there is no real way to know if the translation is truthful if all you have is that video and not the ability to understand the original.
  
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  They're asking for a translation.
  
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Sounds like he's culturally appropriating American behaviour.

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He can't be held responsible for his failure to protect his people if they are in a constant state of war. How long before mideast instability drags us all back?

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