Every gadget with a battery is a bomb?

Although something like 25% of Israelis say they would now leave Israel if they could.

Wouldn’t you? I’d want to leave Ukraine if I lived there.

This thread is starting to turn into what the Gaza thread has been warned not to turn into…

I’m not defending Netanyahu. God forbid, he’s an evil ****. But he doesn’t have overwhelming public support. I don’t know enough about Israeli domestic politics to know why he’s been in power so much, but it’s certainly not due to universal support. I thought this slide was interesting, other recent polls suggest between 66 to 76% of Israelis want him out of politics.

This is Schrödinger’s Democracy. Israelis get to choose their leader (hooray!!) but they’re not responsible for the leader they choose.

I wander if that bastion of liberal democracy Iran, sold the same exploding chips to the Russians in their recent delivery.

Despite Flyingox’s claims, based on walking around, that everything is hunky dory

You can misrepresent me all you want, I couldn’t care less. Although for clarity what I actually said was that Israeli society was not about to collapse, as you have repeatedly claimed. They’re at war with neighbours to the north, south and east; of course things aren’t “hunky dory”.

My point in posting here is to clarify for those who have given up on the Gaza thread that you are far from the Subject Matter Expert on Israeli society that the tone, content and frequency of your posting suggests you think you are. I’m giving a first hand account of how life in Israel is at the moment, based on being probably the only STWer who is here on any kind of regular, recurring basis: it’s carrying on as normal, way more normal than should be expected given the circumstances, society isn’t teetering on the edge, and all Israelis aren’t the bloodthirsty imperialist Arab-haters that some posters here would have us believe. I’ve got no agenda in trying to make it appear as something it’s not. I have a nice life in Scotland and if Israel really were the ultra-right wing fascist klepto-kakistocracy that some of you claim then there are plenty of easier, safer ways of making a living and I wouldn’t have been coming here for the last 5 years.

This is Schrödinger’s Democracy. Israelis get to choose their leader (hooray!!) but they’re not responsible for the leader they choose.

It’s proportional representation in Israel, as 10 seconds of googling would tell you. The Israeli public have as much say in who their prime minister is as the British public does.

Israelis get to choose their leader (hooray!!) but they’re not responsible for the leader they choose.

You must realise surely that this is how a lot of (most?) democracies work? For example this year only approx 20% of eligible voters actually voted for Labour and yet we have a Labour government. If you discount those who couldn’t be bothered to vote then it’s still only approx 33% i.e. not nearly a majority of the population.

You must realise surely that this is how a lot of (most?) democracies work?

Stand by for some more epic mental gymnastics in response

I have a nice life in Scotland and if Israel really were the ultra-right wing fascist klepto-kakistocracy that some of you claim then there are plenty of easier, safer ways of making a living and I wouldn’t have been coming here for the last 5 years.

Of course. Let me guess – you’re not Arab. Then I can imagine you have a nice life. I had relatives who lived in apartheid S Africa. They had a nice life too.

Although for clarity what I actually said was that Israeli society was not about to collapse.

And just for clarity it is the former IDF ombudsman who is claiming that Israel is likely to collapse within a year, not me**. I suspect that he has lived in Israel a lot longer than you and cares far more about it than you with your “nice life in Scotland.”

I can also provide plenty of other sources who also claim that Israeli society is collapsing btw, including respected Israeli historian Ilan Pappe.

Btw all this Israel is collapsing debate kicked off when I challenged the claim that Israel has the solution to the Palestinian problem all carefully planned.

Do you want to move the discussion on and discuss how the exploding pagers are part of a carefully thought out Israeli plan? Do you believe that the Israeli government has the slightest clue about what to do next when their plan to defeat Hamas and return the prisoners has so comprehensively failed?

Edit : ** For me that sounds like a serious exaggeration but I am not in a position to challenge it. IMO all the signs are that Israel is slowly collapsing but certainly not at that speed 

And just for clarity it is the former IDF ombudsman who is claiming that Israel is likely to collapse within a year, not me*

The problem you’ve got here is your own words, provided without supporting statements, are there for everyone to see in this thread, just one page back.

Israeli society is falling apart and it looks as if the game’s up for the zionist experiment. Attack Iran and Hezbollah and things will deteriorate rapidly, and this is the gamble…… would the United States allow Israel to collapse with all the consequences of how much it would strengthen those in the region who don’t care about vital US interests, such as Iran?

At this point I think it’s just about you getting the last word, purely for the sake of arguing. I’ll save you the trouble this time – my guess is this time you would have given us a deep dive into semantics which eventually comes round to you never having said in your own words the exact phrase “Israel society is about to collapse” and so you’re right and I’m wrong.

Let me guess – you’re not Arab.

No I’m not, but a lot of the guys I work with are and they live a happy, rewarding life in Israel as productive members of society. What’s your point?

Stand by for some more epic mental gymnastics in response

I’m afraid I can’t compete with the contortions required to claim that Israel’s longest serving PM somehow doesn’t represent public opinion. Simone Biles would be proud!

The problem you’ve got here is your own words, provided without supporting statements

Well thank you for reading my posts so diligently, as I can see you have from the extensive quotes of mine. It is a shame though that you choose to deliberately and falsely claim that I haven’t provided any supporting statements that Israeli society is collapsing – I provided a very long and detailed quote from Haatetz which supports the claim in-depth.

I could provide more with quotes from Israeli historian Ilan Pappe and perhaps also Miko Peled, whose grandfather signed Israel’s Declaration of Independence and who is ex-iDF Special Forces himself, but that would simply derail the thread further from the issue of exploding pagers.

At this point I think it’s just about you getting the last word, purely for the sake of arguing.

So let’s do it different and instead let you have the last word on whether Israel is stable and secure. I tried to move the discussion back onto the topic of this thread which is about exploding pagers. Do you think Israel was responsible for this and how do you think it fits in with their plans concerning Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran?

Do think they even have a plan, or do you believe they are making it up as they go along? Their previous plan to defeat Hamas has clearly failed, what’s the next step and how do exploding pagers fit in?