I hadn’t seen that .
It’s a joke. The words lost and found are not referring to a game of hide and seek. They are packed with meaning. Lost, as in probably dead. But we haven’t given up all hope. Found, as in against all the odds, she has been returned to us. The words are fine.
Israel is committing (likely, as these things should be tried properly) many war crimes, and getting into semantics about the statement of the Irish PM, which was fine, misses the point by an order of magnitude.
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I’d reply and say, ‘Sorry, can’t make it, but I’m sure you could better use the time worrying about shit that actually matters.’
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People should tell the Israel govt to fuck off. Criticism about their war crimes doesn’t count as anti semitism
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Particularly awkward that it really does sound like Varadkar was making a New Testament reference
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That isn’t actually the Israeli complaint here.
This is textbook anti-Semitism.
What Varadkar has said isn’t.
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Oh ok. Yeah , but they can still fuck right off.
Deflect. Distract. Distort.
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That must be hard to prove, as the words lost and found are commonplace.
Still, even if Israel objects to a possible NT reference, they don’t have power over how other world leaders describe the events that are unfolding.
To my mind, if Israel is objecting to a NT reference they should be schooled on their own religion, as they are missing the mark there. Let’s do the eye for an eye thing. 1400 Israelis dead. How about limiting the response to 1400 Palestinians dead, as in, an eye for an eye? And then vengeance is satisfied and we draw a line under it.
Brutal, but massively preferable to the disproportionate response we have seen.
My take is Israel is pissed off with how the wider world is viewing its actions. Most nations - fair minded democracies, with free speech part of the fabric - are appalled at Israel’s response. Israel probably wants to chip away at that by trying to make an example of someone, but Ireland should give them short shrift and tell them the comments of the Taeosich are not worthy of censure, and they will not send their ambassador.
If Israel wishes to ratchet up the thing with Ireland, it will not have right on its side, and will be seen as increasingly ridiculous.
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I don’t think they are objecting to a NT reference, I think they just missed it. Their offence is based on the idea that the individual was somehow lost, and there was no agency involved - Israel is angry that Varadkar was avoiding stating that Hamas had her.
It is hard to prove that it is, but when I read it I immediately thought of Luke 15 and assumed that that was what Varadkar was evoking - perhaps not even intentionally.
Is there anything historic between Israel and Ireland? Israel also reacted to the comment by the Irish President early in the conflict.
The Israeli perception is that Ireland has always been unfriendly to Jews, even before the creation of Israel. It is a little more complicated than that, but there are various incidents that mean Israel has never trusted Ireland. That feeling has become mutual, certainly.
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A four-year-old Israeli-American girl who was kidnapped by Hamas during the 7 October attacks in southern Israel has been released today.
Avigail Idan was just three at the time she was taken hostage from her home, where her parents were attacked and killed by Hamas gunmen. Avigail escaped from the house during the attacks.
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Deflection because we have called them out on the atrocities they commit
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Israel continues to completely lose the plot. Dressing down ambassadors from countries left and right for perceived slights while it commits genocide. Even the Nazis weren’t this touchy.
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I don’t think they are doing themselves any favours trying to lecture a head of state on how he expresses joy and relief at the liberation and return to safety of a citizen, no.
Unfortunately, diplomatic staff are hearing that after Tuesday, there is likely to be a significant escalation.
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A who’s who of Palestinian political organizations and individuals. Just a cursory review will show that most of the key non-Fatah (even some allies of Fatah) leaders are either in jail or inactive.
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