From a friend.
Netanyahu really is a monster.
I’ve lately been immersed in a project to comb through and collate Benjamin (aka Ben Nitay in the 1970s) Netanyahu’s statements and positions on terrorism over the years. He deviates little from blaming everyone else for violence whilst absolving Israel, even during the Irgun et al reign of terror.
Last night he came out and said what he’s avoided spelling out for decades, and boasted that he was “proud” of blocking a Palestinian state: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/pm-im-proud-i-blocked-a-palestinian-state-looking-at-gaza-everyone-sees-what-would-have-happened/.
I’ve thrown a few things together here.
The 1986 Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Terrorism: Viewed from Abroad interview I found particularly valuable and is worth watching in full. Netanyahu denied that any civilians were in the King David Hotel [43:20] during the 1946 bombing that killed 91 people. In fact, as Bruce Hoffman noted in his 2020 paper, 33% of the hotel was full of guests; see The bombing of The King David Hotel, July 1946.
Of note is the discussion (beginning at 46:15) Firing Line’s moderator, Michael Kinsley, prompts: Is a CIA or other nations’ assassination squad a better option for targeting terrorists rather than bombing villages knowing that innocent children would also be killed?
Buckley states there is no such thing as a ‘surgical strike’ thus hit squads may be better; Claude de Kemoularia (ex-French Ambassador to the United Nations) argues that Reagan would ‘never’ send the CIA anywhere to assassinate a target (hindsight of history being a marvellous thing); Netanyahu, at the time promoting his book on terrorism, argues that innocent civilians should not be considered because terrorists always use them as human shields. (Netanyahu’s own definition of terrorism was the “systematic and deliberate attack, the murder, maiming, and menacing of innocent civilians for political goals.” [5:30 at the 1988 video])
Netanyahu (as Ben Nitay) was asked (in the 1978 video below, first question), “Is the issue of self-determination the core of the conflict in the Middle East” and he replied, “Not at all”. He also said, “If a truth is substituted by a lie and if the lie is allowed to spread unchallenged, it becomes the truth.” (1988, below.)
If you’re curious on some others over time, Netanyahu’s greatest world terrorists for Israel to ‘take out’ are either:
1978 (10 min clip): Ben Nitay | Boston TV Debate Show The Advocate — the PLO
1982 (at 3:49-4:22 mins): Netanyahu on Pat Robertson's 700 Club — the USSR, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Cuba
1986 (worth watching in full): Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Terrorism: Viewed from Abroad — the USSR, Libya, Syria, the PLO
1986 (same interview but at 5:37, Netanyahu’s definition of terrorism): https://youtu.be/TEzi0SMCu5A?feature=shared&t=327
1988 (from 40:00-46:15 mins): AIPAC Conference on US Defense Policy and Israel — Iran and Saudi Arabia
2002 (5 min clip): Netanyahu's Expert Testimony on Iraq in 2002 — Iran and Iraq
It certainly appears Israel, especially under the life-long PM Netanyahu, has convinced the entirety of the West as to its colonisation goal, terrorism the perpetual cudgel. He did admit it vis a vis the United States in 2001 after all: Leaked 2001 Video of Netanyahu on Manipulating the West
We all know resistance would have been the same had the Zionists been Christian or Hindu or atheist. The excuse is hollow. Netanyahu has never intended, not for a moment, to permit [sic] a Palestinian state. Seems the Western world’s collective intelligence and government analysts have all failed to spot when Netanyahu has told us the first time, that it is always about taking land and occupation ‘because everyone else is a terrorist out to get Israel’.