Before Israelis Lecture Spain, They Should Look in the Mirror
A retired Israeli general's attack on Spain over immigration and Gaza reflects a deeper national affliction: the conviction that Israel can preach morality while refusing to confront its own reality
Amir Avivi is Israel's Capt. B.H. Liddell Hart, the 20th-century British military historian and theorist. Avivi is the founder of Habit'honistim (the Israel Defense and Security Forum), a reservist brigadier general in combat engineering and an inarticulate television commentator whose reputation, like that of many of his fellow officers, rises in the news studios with each new war. But Avivi's range far exceeds that of the IDF's artillery shells. A strategist of his level can't limit himself to developments in Gaza and Lebanon. He has a global perspective and much to teach the ignorant world, particularly benighted Europe.
Listen up: Avivi watched videos of Moroccan migrants crossing into Spanish territory, and he has a message for that faltering country. Spaniards, heed the advice of Avivi the expert: first in Spanish, from his years in Latin America as the son of diplomat Pinchas Avivi, so that even those primitives in Madrid can understand. Afterward, in Hebrew, Avivi explains to Spain that it's a "garbage country."
Did you get that? An Israeli is telling Spain that it's a garbage country. A general in the world's No. 1 pariah state, whose prime minister is a wanted man, a state that stands accused of crimes against humanity and whose purportedly democratic regime threatens to implode, is preaching morality to one of Europe's most magnificent countries, one with a tremendous heritage and a present that is also not too shabby. The mirrors in Avivi's house shattered, he hasn't been able to see himself in them for a long time. There's no self-awareness; that was lost long ago, as well any sense of shame.
On his Facebook page, Avivi writes: "Amigos, We're seeing the beginning of the end of Spain. Spain is a country in decadence ... a Third World country. … Europe is being taken over, simply taken over from every direction. Everywhere in which there's a woke progressive government, the country is simply becoming a garbage country. Borders are being breached, uncontrolled immigration, poverty, an economy being destroyed. ... That's the sorry future of the continent and it's also very bad news for the Jews living there, and at this time, it's simply right for them to get up and come to Israel."
A visionary speech from a resident of the tony town of Caesarea. If Avivi wasn't reflecting the sentiments of so many Israelis, it would be laughable, but Aviv was speaking the most Israeli jargon there is. That's how generals speak, as do demobilized soldiers on their arrogant, ultranationalist post-army trips abroad. Bro, we're the very best, dissing the entire world and preaching morality to it. It's a lack of self-awareness of megalomaniacal provincialism in one pathological episode and presented in a single video clip.
It has it all. He disparages Spain, of course, for daring to lead the campaign against the genocide in Gaza. A country whose charismatic prime minister speaks about international law and morality in the Israeli context is liable to have a run-in with Aviv and with us all. So, you Spaniards. We'll show you and your garbage country. After the national revenge of Israelis' support for Argentina in the World Cup final against Spain, here's a doomsday weapon: Avivi. And along the way, there's the chance to sow fear over Muslim migrants and to speak out against progressive thinking.
So what if you have the Prado in Madrid? We have the Armored Corps Memorial at Latrun. You have Antoni Gaudi and we have Tel Aviv's Atarim Square. You have Real Madrid, we have Beitar Jerusalem. So what if you have Federico Garcia Lorca and Pablo Picasso?
There's also an opportunity here to call upon the Jews of Europe to emigrate from there, immediately. Leave that sinking continent and come to a place whose future is a bed of roses, a country of promise that is secure, a robust democracy that seeks peace and prosperity. Your future is here, our Jewish brothers, in a country without boundaries, that doesn't know whether the next war will erupt this week or rather next week, that abuses millions of non-Jewish subjects, with one of the world's worst and cruelest regimes in its backyard and that commits war crimes as a hobby, as another IDF general said. Dear Jews, come to a country that destroys children. It'll be much better for you here. Listen to what Avivi has to say.