Israel vs Sweden: Hotobelli Earns her Votes!

Tzipi Hotoveli

Flash 90

Swedish Foreign Minister
Margot Wallstrom
REUTERS/Claudio Bresciani/
TT News Agency

I've been a bit disappointed in Likud's Tzippi Hotoveli of late, since her strong Right views seemed to have been dulled the longer she is in the Knesset and now the cabinet, but now with her on target condemnation of the Swedish Foreign Minister, Margot Wallstrom, I'm happy with her performance as Deputy Foreign Minister.

Israel summoned the Swedish ambassador on Wednesday to convey what it described as its "rage" at a call by Stockholm's top diplomat for an investigation to determine whether Israeli forces were guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom's remarks on Tuesday were the latest in a series of statements to stoke Israeli resentment that has simmered since the Scandinavian country recognized Palestinian statehood last year.
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said in a statement that it called in Swedish Ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser to reprimand him over what it deemed "another statement by her (Wallstrom) that attests to her biased and even hostile attitude to Israel". (Reuters)

Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said Wallstrom would not be welcome to visit Israel. His comments served as a clarification to remarks made earlier in the day by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely who said Israel was closing its door to visits from Swedish officials in the wake of Wallstrom’s words.
Speaking during a tour of Samaria with cadets in the Foreign Ministry diplomatic training course, Hotovely said “Israel was sending in the clearest manner possible a very sharp message to Sweden saying that it is backing terrorism and giving a tail wind to Islamic State to act throughout Europe.” (Jerusalem Post)

Hotovelli's popularity was originally due to the fact that she had seemed an uncompromising patriot supporting Jewish Life in all of the Land of Israel and sensitive to the international antisemitism which has never really waned. Recently she seemed to be playing the more moderate role, too much like Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who has stated that he thinks that a Prime Minister should be a Centrist and not on the Right.

A Palestinian hits an Israeli motorist in the West Bank city of Hebron October 20, 2015. 
Photographer © Mussa Qawasma / Reuters

Sweden, Pro-Gaza = Enemy of Israel

Sweden is now a full member in the infamous list of enemies of Israel having launched a pro-Gaza terror flotilla, like Turkey's, to defy Israel's security blockade.

A Swedish flotilla of anti-Israel activists has left its home country and is en route to Gaza with the goal of breaking the Israeli naval blockade around the coastal territory, Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Monday.
The Swedish flotilla is expected to disembark in a number of additional countries before it reaches the Gaza Strip in an effort to assemble other activists from across Europe.
According to the report, several activist organizations are supporting the flotilla, including FreeGaza, which works to delegitimize Israel in the international community.  (Algemeiner)

No doubt we all remember that the so-called humanitarian sic aid on that Turkish flotilla.

Published on Jun 4, 2010From the IDFDesk.
The opening footage of the video shows knives, rods, wrenches, gas masks, bulletproof vests, and binoculars found on the ship and gathered at the Port of Ashdod. IDF soldiers then reenact how rioters prepared weaponry by using electric saws to remove metal poles from the stairs and other parts of the ship in order to attack the soldiers. The closing seconds of the film come from actual footage found on the Marmara showing the demonstrators preparing the weaponry.
It should also be mentioned that the "aid" which is sitting in 20 trucks, has still not been accepted for entry to Gaza, by Hamas.
Maybe the only aid that Hamas wanted is the weaponry, including the yellow wrist slingshots, which are illegal in all of Australia and many states, since they can kill. These slingshots can penitrate a human skull.
Metal bars, as shown here are the basic part of almost every weapon that shoots,ie., guns, rifles, pipe bombs, etc.

They had it filled with weapons to attack and murder Jews.

Remember that any friend and ally of our enemy is our enemy, too!

A Short Real Life "Gentlemen's Agreement"

One of the greatest in film classics is the incomparable "Gentlemen's Agreement" starring  Gregory Peck. The gist of the movie is the experiences a non-Jew has pretending his is Jewish.

Philip Schuyler Green (Gregory Peck) is a widowed journalist who has just moved to New York City with his son Tommy (Dean Stockwell) and mother (Anne Revere). Green meets with magazine publisher John Minify (Albert Dekker), who asks Green, a gentile, to write an article on antisemitism ("some people don't like other people just because they're Jews"). He's not very enthusiastic at first, but after initially struggling with how to approach the topic in a fresh way, Green is inspired to adopt a Jewish identity ("Phil Greenberg") and writes about his first-hand experiences. Green and Minify agree to keep it secret that Phil is not Jewish; since he and his family are new to New York, it should be easy to hide.

Just recently a non-Jewish man in Sweden tried the same thing for just a few hours.  All he did was to wear a kippah, Jewish head covering.  He didn't invent a false Jewish identity like the movie character.  All he did was to walk around the city with a kippah.

After a discomfiting few hours walking the streets, becoming the object of stares and insults, Reilly concluded: “As an Irish person abroad I’ve never felt remotely threatened but wearing the kippah for a few hours was enough to instill feelings of fear. Even when I didn't feel afraid I was made to feel different and unwelcome.”

This was a very different approach from the movie's Jewish identity.  In a way it's more frightening.  Patrick Reilly became a magnet for antisemitic abuse without even having to open his mouth to say anything or ask for something.  The people of Malmo, Sweden made it clear that anything or anyone who could be perceived as Jewish weren't welcome.

The movie's Gregory Peck character was offered acceptance if he would only drop his Jewish identity, which couldn't be perceived superficially.  If he hadn't offered the admittance of that Jewish identity, nobody would have guessed it. No doubt, especially in 1947 when the film was made, wearing a kippah in almost all areas of the United States would have caused antisemitic reactions.  Those were the days when Torah Observant Jews wore "caps" and hats outdoors if anything.  It was only in the 1960's when one began to see kippot  in Jewish neighborhoods.  Black pride had an effect also on Jewish pride.

Periodically I see articles recommending that Jewish men not wear kippot in various places in the world. These are called "safety/security" recommendations.  When we were in London on shlichut during the middle 1970's most of the Torah Observant men wore caps and hats in public, even in the large Jewish neighborhoods.  Only the Israelis and the young Zionists we taught made a point of walking around with a kippah.  My husband got himself a "cap" for his trip to the USSR, because he was on a discreet mission and had instructions not to be recognizably Jewish.

What is the situation where you are or have been recently?  Please share and comment, thanks.