Perhaps. But, it is a lot easier to judge how bad the Netanyahu government is if you focus solely on the actions and rhetoric of that government.

Sounds an awful lot like USA.

you're not wrong [bashi], Gaza absolutely is obliterated. it's just not right to attribute that fact, nor the humanitarian crisis that resulted from it, nor the responsibility for fixing it, solely at the feet of the entire nation of Israel.

To be clear, I was attributing those facts specifically to the IDF and to the Israeli government and most definitely NOT to the entire nation of Israel.

you're not wrong [bashi], Gaza absolutely is obliterated. it's just not right to attribute that fact, nor the humanitarian crisis that resulted from it, nor the responsibility for fixing it, solely at the feet of the entire nation of Israel.

To be clear, I was attributing those facts specifically to the IDF and to the Israeli government and most definitely NOT to the entire nation of Israel.

is that really a rhetorical road we want to travel? if so, we could just as easily say that enough Palestinians voted for Hamas and continued to support them after 10/7/23 that they collectively earned whatever suffering they get. i don't agree with that at all, but it follows the same line of reasoning.

the bit about "dangerous, relentlessly cultivated sense of exceptionalism, victimhood, and divine authority," has been in circulation in one form or another since 1897, and used to demonize every Zionist attempt at self-defense since then, regardless of whether or to what extent it might have been justified.

JL

How much of the world is blaming America rather than the Trump administration for all this chaos? Not too different than Israel. Enough voted for the parties that make up the coalition that allowed Bibi to form a government...but it's hard to tell when someone blames a "country", are they referring to it's entirety or specifically the government.

The Israel-Hamas war’s devastating toll, by the numbers

Gaza sounds pretty obliterated to me. How is the first one wrong?

fify
JL

The IDF have obliterated Gaza and the Israeli regime has done far too little to mitigate against human suffering there. Is this one of those "common progressive misunderstandings" you speak of?

I have seen the situation summarized as follows: Israel proves every day that it is a savage country driven by a dangerous, relentlessly cultivated sense of exceptionalism, victimhood, and divine authority.

It's hard for anyone who has closely followed events in Israel and in the Palestinian territories for any length of time to argue against that assessment.

“We can imagine that there’s anti-abortion legislators in states who are looking to this case and may try to replicate what South Carolina has done,” said Amy Friedrich-Karnik, director of federal policy at the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.'
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/5-things-to-know-after-the-supreme-court-said-states-can-block-planned-parenthoods-medicaid-funding

* 'Closed hospitals' = very effective

More like these, please.

Ms Bracy Davis won 42% of the vote, while her brother came last out of the four candidates with just 12%.

The siblings' mother had seemingly taken a side in the family rivalry - Lavon Wright Bracy was serving as her daughter's campaign manager, according to her Instagram profile.'
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8n6163qxo

How is it, he asked, that the world can trust that a Lake-run Voice of America will tell the truth when she continues to lie about Arizona’s elections?

“The American people cannot believe a word you say,” Stanton said.

“You ran for governor in Arizona in 2022. You lost, fair and square. Instead of conceding, you embarrassed yourself and our state by lying again and again for years, blaming everything under the sun for your loss except for your own toxic politics. You lie about that election to this very day.”

He then went through her litany of conspiracy claims, none of which held up in court.'
https://eu.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2025/06/25/kari-lake-greg-stanton-voice-america-hearing/84356963007/

It is surprising to me that the press duly reports the anti-Islamic attacks by prominent politicians, celebrities, and talking heads, but fail to ask the obvious question, "Would this comment be acceptable if you had said 'Jew'?

Too freaking depressing to comment intelligently, at least from my perspective. As you say, "... we felt the need to make it the lead story this week, even if we couldn't add much clarity to the process."

I guess the one thing that actually stuck, as I read this, was the offhand note that for every 20 job openings in the manufacturing sector, there is 1 qualified applicant in the U.S.right now - according to the hiring bosses. Hmm. That would seem to suggest that America's manufacturing sector is about to shut down for lack of a qualified labor force. Which I kind of doubt, I have to admit - surely when the ratio was only 4-to-1, or 10-to-1, the factory owners would have started a major campaign to liberalize immigration laws to try to get the workers they needed. But now it's 20-to-1, and ... crickets, national labor policy wise.