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47 Comments
Farhad2000says...Joseph Dana, one of the co-creators of the video above, has written the following to explain why he and Max Blumenthal made the video, and what he thinks it shows:
It’s about entitlement, stupid.
Max and I went on to the streets of Jerusalem at ten o’clock on a Wednesday to ascertain the feelings of the young population about Obama’s upcoming speech in Cairo. As is often the case, the streets of central Jerusalem were not filled with native Israelis but American Jews. Doubtlessly anyone who has visited Jerusalem has encountered the droves of American Jewish kids that are sent to Israel to study for a period of time from Teaneck or Westchester. We asked people a simple question, “What do you think of Obama and Israel?” Most of the people that we talked to were dual American Israeli citizens. The answers in this video reflect the education and worrisome perspectives that many American Jews harbor towards Israeli politics. The sense of entitlement that the American Jewish community has when it comes to Israeli policy is on full raw display in the words of these young adults.
Based on our interviews these people were from high socio economic backgrounds and had developed thoughts about current Israeli politics. The question is why more journalists are not covering this story. All you have to do is walk the streets of Jerusalem and you will find dozens of people that harbor the same beliefs. As a resident of Jerusalem, I can say that the people represented in this video are not members of a fringe group or simply drunk college kids. These people reflect the sentiments shared by many people in this country and this city. These people and their families are the core of the opposition to meaningful peace between Israel and her neighbors. This is what Obama is up against.
sepatownsays..."I'm a political science major so...."
supersaiyan93says...>> ^sepatown:
"I'm a political science major so...."
".......would you like fries with that?"
jdbatessays...This seemed very disturbing to me, One thing I was curious about the kid that listed a number, so i went to the jewish virtual library, I found this-
In May 1944, numbers in the "A" series and the "B" series were first issued to Jewish prisoners, beginning with the men on May 13th and the women on May 16th. The "A" series was to be completed with 20,000; however an error led to the women being numbered to 25,378 before the "B" series was begun. The intention was to work through the entire alphabet with 20,000 numbers being issued in each letter series. In each series, men and women had their own separate numerical series, ostensibly beginning with 1.
I don't want to diminish his grandmother's horrific experience, so I'am sure he was just drunk and got the number wrong. The racist comments were also very suprising!
EDDsays...*promote
siftbotsays...Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Thursday, June 4th, 2009 8:59pm PDT - promote requested by EDD.
charliemsays...Whoze benjamin Yahoo !?/ !One ?
*facepalm*
vairetubesays...you can tell from the thumbnail.. people are gonna drop some science.
vaporlocksays...scary, spoiled rotten.
demon_ixsays...>> ^jdbates:
This seemed very disturbing to me, One thing I was curious about the kid that listed a number, so i went to the jewish virtual library, I found this-
In May 1944, numbers in the "A" series and the "B" series were first issued to Jewish prisoners, beginning with the men on May 13th and the women on May 16th. The "A" series was to be completed with 20,000; however an error led to the women being numbered to 25,378 before the "B" series was begun. The intention was to work through the entire alphabet with 20,000 numbers being issued in each letter series. In each series, men and women had their own separate numerical series, ostensibly beginning with 1.
I don't want to diminish his grandmother's horrific experience, so I'am sure he was just drunk and got the number wrong. The racist comments were also very suprising!
I honestly don't know how to respond to that. You think you know his family history better than him simply because you read a short text online? That number obviously means a great deal to him, so please, stop the "I caught you with a technical error" trolling.
Edit - Let me battle your internet-fact with my own:
"Approximately 90,000 female prisoners were identified with a series of numbers created for female prisoners in March 1942 until May 1944. Each new series of numbers introduced at Auschwitz began with “1.” Some Jewish prisoners (but not all) had a triangle tattooed beneath their serial number."
From http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007056 by Googleing the phrase "auschwitz numbering"
demon_ixsays...This video is sadly accurate, even though most of the people interviewed are American Jews, and not simply Israelis, but those sentiments are pretty common across the Israeli right-wing nutheads.
The population of Jerusalem consists mostly of more orthodox and devout Jews than the rest of the country. I guarantee that you would get a very different video if you did the same thing in Tel-Aviv, or Haifa (Where I live) bars.
The guys interviewed here are our equivalent of the American Religious-Right, with all their own Limbaugh/Beck/O'Rilley propaganda and opinions.
While not excusing their behavior or agreeing with any of the brilliant pearls of wisdom coming from their mouths (Who's Benjamin Yahoo indeed), I would just like to point out that you guys have plenty of those people in the US. They just call themselves hardcore republicans.
braindonutsays...^ No, I think they call themselves drunk, dumbass frat boys. We saw them on Borat...
I don't think anyone needs to make excuses for a bunch of drunk, belligerent asshats. You'd be amazed the kind of bullshit that comes out of a young, aggressive, testosterone soaked, alcohol infused, male mouth. And clearly, that girl was just an idiot with a few too many drinks, too. We have plenty of those in the American south and tons sprinkled throughout our universities.
I don't think this video is a fair representation of anything.
Which is a shame. I'd love to see random interviews with real Israelis on the topic of Obama's speech.
ponceleonsays...I'm jewish by birth and embarrassed to be one.
Truckchasesays...Wow; Maybe it's because I'm on xbox live too much, but does it seem that this generation of youth is just outright racist? (not just Israel, but everywhere)
demon_ixsays...>> ^Truckchase:
Wow; Maybe it's because I'm on xbox live too much, but does it seem that this generation of youth is just outright racist? (not just Israel, but everywhere)
If you really believe that, why not take a camera to a Jerry Springer show, and conclude that the entire population of the US consists of angry rednecks who sleep with each others' sisters and then start fighting over it?
Kestrelsays...*nsfw
siftbotsays...Invocations (nsfw) cannot be called by Kestrel because Kestrel is not privileged - sorry.
ponceleonsays...*nsfw
siftbotsays...This video has been flagged as being Not Suitable For Work - declared nsfw by ponceleon.
ponceleonsays...Actually, I'm gonna *waronterror this one too
siftbotsays...Adding video to channels (Waronterror) - requested by ponceleon.
gwiz665says...Israel - Our Vaterland!
gwiz665says...Are you saying they're not!?
>> ^demon_ix:
>> ^Truckchase:
Wow; Maybe it's because I'm on xbox live too much, but does it seem that this generation of youth is just outright racist? (not just Israel, but everywhere)
If you really believe that, why not take a camera to a Jerry Springer show, and conclude that the entire population of the US consists of angry rednecks who sleep with each others' sisters and then start fighting over it?
demon_ixsays...More like hoping.
>> ^gwiz665:
Are you saying they're not!?
rottenseedsays...WOOOOOO SPRING BREAK ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
longdesays...I could not watch past the first minutes. This really sets my blood boiling. There should be no dual citizenships of any kind in the US.
dystopianfuturetodaysays...We should seriously consider cutting off their allowance.
quantumushroomsays...Israeli Jews have better Tyrant Detectors than American lefties.
And c'mon, we all know if this gang of rowdy frats was criticizing Bush in the same exact manner, the left would be cheering.
rottenseedsays...>> ^quantumushroom:
Israeli Jews have better Tyrant Detectors than American lefties.
And c'mon, we all know if this gang of rowdy frats was criticizing Bush in the same exact manner, the left would be cheering.
In the UK they're called "Chavs". Here, I call them "bro's" or "broseph". They're always named Travis or Trevor or Jered or something like that. Point is, we all have them, and nobody will ever admit to agreeing with them.
rougysays...>> ^quantumushroom:
Israeli Jews have better Tyrant Detectors than American lefties.
And c'mon, we all know if this gang of rowdy frats was criticizing Bush in the same exact manner, the left would be cheering.
That's something you'll never understand.
It's not about left and right.
It's about right and wrong.
vaporlocksays...>> ^quantumushroom:
Israeli Jews have better Tyrant Detectors than American lefties.
Eight years of the Bush regime walking on the constitution and now the political 'right' is getting good at detecting tyrants? Seriously, break with your RUSH indoctrination Quantum. I work with a guy that spouts the exact same Rush quotes. Hopefully your IQ is higher than his.
spikersays...Their parents must be so proud.
Yehoshuasays...So they collected a montage of thoughtless, violently aggressive responses from drunk Jewish boys (and one girl). This shows that not every Jewish youth is a wise or caring person. It doesn't say anything of substance about Israeli Jews or American Jews as people, their political views, or what they think of Obama.
I view this video as a lazy attempt to paint Jews as racists and extremists. Why didn't they go out on the street and talk to some adults? Or someone who was actually sober? No one should be shocked that filming groups of drunken boys yields filthy language and posturing.
I'm a 20-something educated Jew, who has been to Israel twice, and I thought Obama's comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were meritorious. The Palestinians get a state, if they give up violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Israel must allow for a Palestinian economy to function, stop official support of "settling", relocate or arrange exchanges for existing settlements, and prevent the creation of new settlements.
Palestinian violence creates enough support for those on the political right in Israel so that they can continue to dominate the government and maintain the status quo. Until and unless the Palestinians find a leader like MLK or Gandhi, who embraces nonviolence and unites the majority of Palestinians under that banner, I doubt that the status quo will shift in any significant way.
dagsays...Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)
^Well said Yehoshua. I too feel this is extreme cherrypicking- wandering the streets looking for drunk teenagers to say vile things in little snippets. You could do this in any major US city and get similar results.
The moral of this is that drunk teens and twenty-somethings can be ugly dumbshits when drunk - and sometimes when sober. Age smooths out those bumps though thankfully when the raging hormones slacken.
The creators of this video have a serios agenda to promote. This video has been carved like a bar of soap with a hot knife.
vairetubesays...fighting with fire but forgetting what lit the flame. *meditates*
dystopianfuturetodaysays...Yehoshua, you seem to pawn all responsibility off on the Palestinians, just as many Palestinians would pawn off all responsibility on you. Violence begets violence, and there is no reason to believe that Israeli violence has any more of a positive effect on Palestinian leadership than the reverse.
Are Israeli hearts and minds that unwinable?
Why does the Ghandi or MLK have to be Palestinian?
Shouldn't a strong, rational, influential voice for peace be just as welcome on either side of this aged blood feud?
dystopianfuturetodaysays...backup fail
dystopianfuturetodaysays...backup fail
dystopianfuturetodaysays...yay!
siftbotsays...Added alternate embed code for this video - backup requested by dystopianfuturetoday.
dystopianfuturetodaysays...*dead
siftbotsays...Automatically replaced video embed code with backup #387 (supplied by member dystopianfuturetoday) - video declared dead by member dystopianfuturetoday.
siftbotsays...Tags for this video have been changed from 'israel, palestine, zionism, racism, american, jews, muslim, arabs, barack obama' to 'israel, palestine, zionism, racism, american, jew, muslim, arab, barack obama, blumenthal' - edited by dystopianfuturetoday
dystopianfuturetodaysays...*quality
siftbotsays...Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by dystopianfuturetoday.
gharksays...Racism... check
Agenda pushing.....check
Quality? not so much
dystopianfuturetodaysays...>> ^ghark:
Racism... check
Agenda pushing.....check
Quality? not so much
So much quality.
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