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Apr 17, 2012
Enough of the Hypocrisy (video)
Enough of the Hypocrisy
I am not going to criticize Lieutenant General Shalom Eisner for the vicious hit on the Danish pro-Palestinian activist that was caught on film and went viral. I am not going to criticize him because the video clip is just a moment in time. Sure, it caught Eisner hitting the Danish activist, but it does not show anything else, whatever had preceded the hit.
I also am not going to defend Eisner. I don't know that what he did was justified. The hit looks vicious, and while he claims the activist had been violent before the hit, we don't see that or know that definitely.
Eisner is innocent until proven guilty, so in that regard I will let the process take its course without commenting on that.
What I will comment on is the hypocrisy of the attack on Eisner. None of these people who claim to care so much about human rights say "boo" when the police and soldiers are sent in to beat right wing activists. Take a look at this video, which expresses that sentiment, which has been created in the wake of the Eisner incident. From what I read, Eisner himself has advanced his military standing on the backs of settlers and right wing activists, beating, lying in court to keep them in detention, etc.
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I am not going to criticize Lieutenant General Shalom Eisner for the vicious hit on the Danish pro-Palestinian activist that was caught on film and went viral. I am not going to criticize him because the video clip is just a moment in time. Sure, it caught Eisner hitting the Danish activist, but it does not show anything else, whatever had preceded the hit.
I also am not going to defend Eisner. I don't know that what he did was justified. The hit looks vicious, and while he claims the activist had been violent before the hit, we don't see that or know that definitely.
Eisner is innocent until proven guilty, so in that regard I will let the process take its course without commenting on that.
What I will comment on is the hypocrisy of the attack on Eisner. None of these people who claim to care so much about human rights say "boo" when the police and soldiers are sent in to beat right wing activists. Take a look at this video, which expresses that sentiment, which has been created in the wake of the Eisner incident. From what I read, Eisner himself has advanced his military standing on the backs of settlers and right wing activists, beating, lying in court to keep them in detention, etc.
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Sounds like it might also be time for Eisner to think about which (political) side he is on.
ReplyDeleteRafi - That last sentence seems to come out of the blue. How about a clarification?
ReplyDeleteso you give him the benefit of the doubt and due process when it comes to beating left wing protestors but not when it comes to settlers? No settlers ever create a situation where they need/justify a beating and/or detention?
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that while some of these cops and Mishmar Hagvul guys are thugs (they get paid nothing and come from very questionable demographic groups - seriously, how many people do you know who are cops or have relatives who are?) but after a few hours of trying to move some fairly violent people from a hitnachalut that the government decided to abandon, on land not annexed by the State), it's not hard to see how they might use excessive force with those people. Under the circumstances, these should not be career-ending offenses.
ReplyDeleteMany of the captions in the video are inaccurate, to say the least. For example, the 'child' was not thrown off a house. The teenager or adult was transferred to the hands of 3 or 4 cops waiting for him etc.
anon - just that he has a history of inappropriate behavior (which, more often than not , he gets praised for rather than criticized) and people who consider themselves right wing should not necessarily jump on the bandwagon defending him as they should not consider him their friend.
ReplyDeleteway - I am not condemning him for anything. he is involved in a situation right now and due process will take its course. the video looks bad, but there are claims that there was 2 hours of lead-up background that was not captured on the video (including this Danish fellow acting violently enough to break one of Eisner's fingers).
ReplyDeleteI didnt do anything about previous right wing protests with Eisner. i wasnt aware of his background until I read in Haaretz and Ynet, and now today in israel Hayom and Yediot that he has been involved in the past in cover ups and other violent incidents (both against right and left I think). I dont know the details of those incidents, just pointing out that there is more to Eisner than this one incident.
"some of these cops and Mishmar Hagvul guys are thugs (they get paid nothing and come from very questionable demographic groups..."
ReplyDeleteI'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt that you don't realize how sickeningly racist you sound.
Eisner is not mishmar hagvul. he is a commissioned officer with a high position and was supposedly about to be appointed as a supervising trainer for officers. As a matter of fact, the reason the IDF was understaffed at this protest was because mishmar hagvul had been delayed while on their way to join working this protest.
ReplyDeleteThe Mishmar HaGvul/cop reference was aimed at that video clip, NOT Eisner. I know nothing about Eisner. My point was that Eisner needs to be held to a much higher standard than those low-level cops and that it's not reasonable to expect the same from the cops. The same can be said about that video clip that everyone's (correctly) saying about the Eisner clip - it shows only one side of the picture.
ReplyDeleteThe reference to demographic groups was definitely not understood by The Way the way (sorry) it was intended by me. The fact is that these people are often very uneducated and some come from neighborhoods where there's a fine line between criminals and non-criminals, irrespective of their racial profile. I was in the army with some of these people and was shocked to find out that they became policemen.
Where did you read that Eisner has a history of doing this kind of stuff?
ReplyDelete(Strange that a combat officer of his rank would be assigned this kind of duty.)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletejust a couple quick links without searching too much..
ReplyDeletehttp://news.walla.co.il/?w=/551/2525383
http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/1.1609498
http://news.nana10.co.il/Common/GeneralModules/Ticker/PopUp.asp?ServiceID=126&ArticleID=890625&Inews=0
http://amirmizroch.com/tag/shalom-eisner/
ReplyDeleteI think the author here is right, that he was the wrong man in the wrong place.
there's a fine line between criminals and non-criminals
ReplyDeleteThere's an old joke in many parts of Israel -
How do you tell the difference between the police and criminals? By the uniform!
:-)