By now you may have seen the story of how the flotilla activists were beaten with truncheons in the airport when they returned to Spain. The beatings were so rough I’ll bet they wished they were back in Israel where they were only subject to getting down on the floor and having to see Mr. Ben-Gvir wave the Israeli flag. The brutality!
I’ve searched for reporting on the beatings they endured at the hands of the Spaniards, yet the usual media chorus are all MIA. I also haven’t read about any governmental denunciations. I will keep looking. Israel is getting the last laugh as it demands answers from Spain on their “brutal treatment“ of the flotilla activists.
If someone were writing a parody aimed at media and governmental hypocrisy they couldn’t do any better than this.
Poor Eli, those mean Jews! Hey Eli, what happened after the Spanish flotilla members got the shit kicked out of them in a Spanish airport by the Spanish government?
Jews are looking like passive wimps compared to your comrades.
I don't approve of Ben Gvir's actions, but approve even less of the flotilla and the Israel hating grifters and trolls on those boats. The only folk who believe the rape and torture nonsense are the folks who would believe such crap Ben Gvir or no Ben Gvir. If that is the worst treatment the flotilla folk receive, they should consider themselves lucky.
I just watched the video. I am not seeing actual brutality. Of course it will be twisted because everything about Israel is twisted in the western media. There’s a strong desire to see Jews in the worst possible light. That’s a whole subject in itself.
The flotilla people will now come up with incredible stories of brutality, which will readily be believed because of all the other fake stories which were believed. This is a drop in the bucket. I personally won’t be apologizing to anyone for Ben-Gvir’s behavior.
I’m not going to reply to your lengthy comment. I don’t have the time. I do want to answer your point however on US aid to Israel because this is a point that is often made by people who seek to impugn Israel, and it is misleading. The US stations troops in and supplies aid to many countries and that’s quite expensive, much more costly than the aid supplied to Israel. Here’s a list of annual costs by country for troops stationed in them. This does not include foreign aid.
Approx. U.S. Troops
Estimated Annual Cost to Maintain Presence
Japan
~53,000 ~$25–35 billion
Germany
~36,000 ~$15–20 billion
South Korea
~24,000 ~$10–15 billion
Italy
~12,000 ~$4–6 billion
United Kingdom
~10,000 ~$3–5 billion
Kuwait
~13,500 ~$4–7 billion
Qatar
~8,000 ~$2–4 billion
Bahrain
~9,000 ~$2–4 billion
Spain
~3,500 ~$1–2 billion
Turkey
~1,500 ~$500 million–$1 billion
Poland
~10,000 rotational ~$3–6 billion
Syria
~900 hundreds of millions
Iraq
~2,500 ~$1–3 billion
Total costs are estimated to be between 150 billion and $250 billion annually when personnel, logistics, naval forces, and operations are included. 
And as you likely know, the aid from the US to Israel goes right back to US companies from whom the Israelis buy defensive weapons. Not to mention essential intelligence that Israel supplies the US and other countries.
I looked at your profile, Dan. You are one of the many progressives with ideas about Israel. I see you “like” people who spread lies about Jews. Maybe in your defense you don’t know they are lies. Maybe you actually mean well. I do know that if people in Israel who make policy followed your advice, Israel would soon cease to exist. Maybe that wouldn’t trouble you very much.
all you have to do is go to Gemini and ask the question Dan.
here’s the question I posed to Gemini:
As a percentage of population, how much does israel receive an annual Foreign aid relative to other countries based on their respective populations?
after you go to Gemini and get your answer., Go to the table at the bottom that shows an annual spending and cost per capita
Israel receives between $340-$500 per capita.
“Palestine” including the West Bank and Gaza receives $660 per capita. whereas Palestinian relief is truly a handout- USA to Israel is primarily military related and encompasses many joint venture projects. But Ed already explain that to you.
Compared to other strategic allies that are protected by America throughout the world, , including Europe and the Middle East, American subsidies to protect their strategic interest in the Middle East is quite insignificant in context.
I’m a Republican but haven’t joined the pathetic MAGA cult. I’m married to a lovely Arab-American woman and I have long business associations in the Middle East, including with Israelis. I hav lived years in the region and been there hundreds of times (what’s your personal face to face experience look like?) I’ve also been affiliated with American non-profits working on relief efforts for refugees in the region, including those who have been displaced from Palestine.
Americans must have an intense interest in Israel because ALL U.S. taxpayers pay for the endless charitable funding of Israel, which has made it our vassal state. The percentage of total American foreign assistance going to Israel is so disproportionate that it receives 800 times more than it would if its aid was based on its trivial share of the global population. Imagine a nation of 10 million out of a world population of 8300 million getting by far the most such aid of any country.
There are other places where human rights abuses are as bad or worse than in Israel, obviously, but Americans aren’t funding them.
We should give thanks for the NY Times Kristof piece. The gross abuse of indigenous Gentiles held hostage, without being charged with anything or due process, in nightmarish military prisons is known without a doubt.
You make the mistake of conflating Israelis with Jews. Citizens of Israel are Israelis and only 77% of them are Jewish. Jews in general are located many places, especially here in the U.S. Jews in the U.S. aren’t Israelis. They are infinitely less Israeli than Israelis who are Gentiles. The Jews who are fellows in our American mosaic are Americans.
You open yourself to accusations of committing the blood libel of implying that our fellow Americans have split loyalty.
Calling the hate crimes committed daily by Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, etc and their fanatical terrorist squatter supporters a stunt is roughly akin to calling other gross hate crimes around the world mere stunts. What’s next? Rationalizing what Himmler and Goebbels did as mere stunts too?
As you plot the way forward, never forget a few concrete things. There will never be a two state solution with a fully sovereign Palestine. Israel is fully committed to absorbing 100% of the land from the river to the sea, all of which it now governs, into a single country. Neither the Jews nor the indigenous Gentiles are leaving. Jews are already a minority in the land from the river to the sea and this minority will be pronounced by 2040. The U.S. will never tolerate an undemocratic country where the minority abusively dominates the majority (reference South Africa and the Sullivan Principles).
You also might want to brush up on the Symington and Glenn Amendments, U.S. law, as relates to foreign assistance restrictions placed on countries that refuse to sign on to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Agreement and that introduce nuclear weapons to a region. Hint: Iran isn’t the country in play here.
I do believe in professionalism; don’t get me wrong, but I won’t be exercised by this little display of BenGvir’s. I haven’t heard any apologies from European countries for their funding of the Palestine Authority while it continues its pay for slay policy and all the hostile NGO’s they support.
I don’t see these flotilla people traveling to China to break through to the reeducation camps where 1 million Muslims are being held, just as they did nothing for the Tibetan children taken from their homes into mainland China boarding schools to try to force them to forget the Tibetan language.
There are lots of other places I could name, yet they choose to come to embattled little Israel.
Will Ben-Gvir’s stunt hurt Israel? Probably it’s a drop in the bucket. They already believe the dog rape story. The world has way too much baggage over their treatment of the Jews. As someone once said, they’ll never forgive us for the Holocaust.
I don’t think anyone claims the Ben Gvir video itself was physical brutality. He didn’t beat anyone on camera. It was sadistic bullying. It was not how professional border guards or corrections officers behave. And as OP points out, especially in combination with abuses documented within Israel, it becomes impossible to deny even worse allegations on the grounds “We just wouldn’t do that.”
If someone claimed that canine rape was happening in the peaceful, rehabilitation-centered Norwegian prison system, it would indeed be laughed at as completely out of character. Israel doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.
By now you may have seen the story of how the flotilla activists were beaten with truncheons in the airport when they returned to Spain. The beatings were so rough I’ll bet they wished they were back in Israel where they were only subject to getting down on the floor and having to see Mr. Ben-Gvir wave the Israeli flag. The brutality!
I’ve searched for reporting on the beatings they endured at the hands of the Spaniards, yet the usual media chorus are all MIA. I also haven’t read about any governmental denunciations. I will keep looking. Israel is getting the last laugh as it demands answers from Spain on their “brutal treatment“ of the flotilla activists.
If someone were writing a parody aimed at media and governmental hypocrisy they couldn’t do any better than this.
Viva Israel!
Poor Eli, those mean Jews! Hey Eli, what happened after the Spanish flotilla members got the shit kicked out of them in a Spanish airport by the Spanish government?
Jews are looking like passive wimps compared to your comrades.
Bingo. You could not possibly be more on the mark, Eli.
Reputational self destruction on display by Israel.
I don't approve of Ben Gvir's actions, but approve even less of the flotilla and the Israel hating grifters and trolls on those boats. The only folk who believe the rape and torture nonsense are the folks who would believe such crap Ben Gvir or no Ben Gvir. If that is the worst treatment the flotilla folk receive, they should consider themselves lucky.
He doesn't care. It will do anything for a few thousand votes.
I just watched the video. I am not seeing actual brutality. Of course it will be twisted because everything about Israel is twisted in the western media. There’s a strong desire to see Jews in the worst possible light. That’s a whole subject in itself.
The flotilla people will now come up with incredible stories of brutality, which will readily be believed because of all the other fake stories which were believed. This is a drop in the bucket. I personally won’t be apologizing to anyone for Ben-Gvir’s behavior.
I’m not going to reply to your lengthy comment. I don’t have the time. I do want to answer your point however on US aid to Israel because this is a point that is often made by people who seek to impugn Israel, and it is misleading. The US stations troops in and supplies aid to many countries and that’s quite expensive, much more costly than the aid supplied to Israel. Here’s a list of annual costs by country for troops stationed in them. This does not include foreign aid.
Approx. U.S. Troops
Estimated Annual Cost to Maintain Presence
Japan
~53,000 ~$25–35 billion
Germany
~36,000 ~$15–20 billion
South Korea
~24,000 ~$10–15 billion
Italy
~12,000 ~$4–6 billion
United Kingdom
~10,000 ~$3–5 billion
Kuwait
~13,500 ~$4–7 billion
Qatar
~8,000 ~$2–4 billion
Bahrain
~9,000 ~$2–4 billion
Spain
~3,500 ~$1–2 billion
Turkey
~1,500 ~$500 million–$1 billion
Poland
~10,000 rotational ~$3–6 billion
Syria
~900 hundreds of millions
Iraq
~2,500 ~$1–3 billion
Total costs are estimated to be between 150 billion and $250 billion annually when personnel, logistics, naval forces, and operations are included. 
And as you likely know, the aid from the US to Israel goes right back to US companies from whom the Israelis buy defensive weapons. Not to mention essential intelligence that Israel supplies the US and other countries.
Sad to be you then, Ed.
I looked at your profile, Dan. You are one of the many progressives with ideas about Israel. I see you “like” people who spread lies about Jews. Maybe in your defense you don’t know they are lies. Maybe you actually mean well. I do know that if people in Israel who make policy followed your advice, Israel would soon cease to exist. Maybe that wouldn’t trouble you very much.
all you have to do is go to Gemini and ask the question Dan.
here’s the question I posed to Gemini:
As a percentage of population, how much does israel receive an annual Foreign aid relative to other countries based on their respective populations?
after you go to Gemini and get your answer., Go to the table at the bottom that shows an annual spending and cost per capita
Israel receives between $340-$500 per capita.
“Palestine” including the West Bank and Gaza receives $660 per capita. whereas Palestinian relief is truly a handout- USA to Israel is primarily military related and encompasses many joint venture projects. But Ed already explain that to you.
Compared to other strategic allies that are protected by America throughout the world, , including Europe and the Middle East, American subsidies to protect their strategic interest in the Middle East is quite insignificant in context.
I’m a Republican but haven’t joined the pathetic MAGA cult. I’m married to a lovely Arab-American woman and I have long business associations in the Middle East, including with Israelis. I hav lived years in the region and been there hundreds of times (what’s your personal face to face experience look like?) I’ve also been affiliated with American non-profits working on relief efforts for refugees in the region, including those who have been displaced from Palestine.
Americans must have an intense interest in Israel because ALL U.S. taxpayers pay for the endless charitable funding of Israel, which has made it our vassal state. The percentage of total American foreign assistance going to Israel is so disproportionate that it receives 800 times more than it would if its aid was based on its trivial share of the global population. Imagine a nation of 10 million out of a world population of 8300 million getting by far the most such aid of any country.
There are other places where human rights abuses are as bad or worse than in Israel, obviously, but Americans aren’t funding them.
We should give thanks for the NY Times Kristof piece. The gross abuse of indigenous Gentiles held hostage, without being charged with anything or due process, in nightmarish military prisons is known without a doubt.
You make the mistake of conflating Israelis with Jews. Citizens of Israel are Israelis and only 77% of them are Jewish. Jews in general are located many places, especially here in the U.S. Jews in the U.S. aren’t Israelis. They are infinitely less Israeli than Israelis who are Gentiles. The Jews who are fellows in our American mosaic are Americans.
You open yourself to accusations of committing the blood libel of implying that our fellow Americans have split loyalty.
Calling the hate crimes committed daily by Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, etc and their fanatical terrorist squatter supporters a stunt is roughly akin to calling other gross hate crimes around the world mere stunts. What’s next? Rationalizing what Himmler and Goebbels did as mere stunts too?
As you plot the way forward, never forget a few concrete things. There will never be a two state solution with a fully sovereign Palestine. Israel is fully committed to absorbing 100% of the land from the river to the sea, all of which it now governs, into a single country. Neither the Jews nor the indigenous Gentiles are leaving. Jews are already a minority in the land from the river to the sea and this minority will be pronounced by 2040. The U.S. will never tolerate an undemocratic country where the minority abusively dominates the majority (reference South Africa and the Sullivan Principles).
You also might want to brush up on the Symington and Glenn Amendments, U.S. law, as relates to foreign assistance restrictions placed on countries that refuse to sign on to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Agreement and that introduce nuclear weapons to a region. Hint: Iran isn’t the country in play here.
Hey Dan, do you know which group of people receive almost twice as much funding per capita than Israel?
I’ll bet you do.
Please tell us and document it.
I do believe in professionalism; don’t get me wrong, but I won’t be exercised by this little display of BenGvir’s. I haven’t heard any apologies from European countries for their funding of the Palestine Authority while it continues its pay for slay policy and all the hostile NGO’s they support.
I don’t see these flotilla people traveling to China to break through to the reeducation camps where 1 million Muslims are being held, just as they did nothing for the Tibetan children taken from their homes into mainland China boarding schools to try to force them to forget the Tibetan language.
There are lots of other places I could name, yet they choose to come to embattled little Israel.
Will Ben-Gvir’s stunt hurt Israel? Probably it’s a drop in the bucket. They already believe the dog rape story. The world has way too much baggage over their treatment of the Jews. As someone once said, they’ll never forgive us for the Holocaust.
I don’t think anyone claims the Ben Gvir video itself was physical brutality. He didn’t beat anyone on camera. It was sadistic bullying. It was not how professional border guards or corrections officers behave. And as OP points out, especially in combination with abuses documented within Israel, it becomes impossible to deny even worse allegations on the grounds “We just wouldn’t do that.”
If someone claimed that canine rape was happening in the peaceful, rehabilitation-centered Norwegian prison system, it would indeed be laughed at as completely out of character. Israel doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.