We've already noted that the angry rent protests Tel Aviv [2] hold the potential for an historic and truly threatening (to the power structure) convergence of the global econo-protests (most advanced in Greece and Spain), the Arab Spring, and the Palestinian struggle. But we've also noted how, if the movement fails to explicitly solidarize with the Palestinians, it can be derailed by the lure of fascistic pseudo-solutions. Here, alas, is evidence for this latter tendency. Ha'aretz [3] reports Aug. 3 that a group of far-right West Bank settler activists who call themselves the "Hilltop Youth [4]" have established their own camp within the Tel Aviv tent town.
We are told they are wearing shirts with slogans such as "Tel Aviv is Jewish" and "Jews, let us be victorious." Meir Butler, one of their leaders, told Ha'aretz, "We can came here to say 'yes' to the social protests, but to also say that there is a solution." The solution, he said, "is to build in Judea and Samaria."
When they held a march, the chanted slogan was "No to bringing down the government, yes to solving the crisis."
This is practically a textbook case of classical fascism—assuming a bogus populist stance that actually channels anger away from the appropriate targets (the rulers), in favor of a program of what the Nazis called lebensraum [5]—seeking "living room" for the "master race" (in this case, substitute "chosen people") on lands in the east, where an inferior people can be pushed out of the way by military means.
Before you call Godwin's Law [6] on us, please explain the flaws in our analogy.
We'll be waiting.
See our last posts on Israel/Palestine [7], the global econo-protests [2] and the Arab Spring [8]
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