Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Amnesty International Scum Bags

Frank Johansson, head of Amnesty International in Finland, has written that Israel is a scum state, and when asked has stood by what he wrote and refused to retract it. When asked further if there are other scum states in the world he was unable to offer any, though he did say that some Russian officials are scummy. Russia, just to note, is next to Finland and has a history of, how to put it, regrettable relations with Finland, so Johanssen isn't really looking that far away, unlike, say, Israel.

Meanwhile, at the international headquarters of AI, in London, a spokesperson quibbled:
Flood said that Johansson used the phrase “creep state” to describe Israel, rather than “scum,” as the initial English translation of the Finnish word found. Native Finnish speakers from Tundra Tabloids said the Finnish term used by Johansson to denigrate Israel is a “highly derogatory term,” and is frequently translated as “scum,” “scum bag” or “douche bag.”
Asked if he was an antisemite Johanssen said that of course he isn't, and cited his admiration of the Israeli organization Breaking the Silence as proof.

The founder of Breaking the Silence, Yehuda Shaul, is a neighbor of mine, and I happen to know that he doesn't say what Johanssen admires him so for saying, but that's a matter I'll have to discuss with Shaul. He makes statements in internal Israeli discussions which flatly aren't what international critics of Israel say he's saying, but he lets their comments stand because he doesn't care about the external discussion, only the internal Israeli one. I suppose this makes him marginally better than, say, Didi Remez and the Coteret gang, but only marginally.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Somehow I think the Iranians should be awarded a real high ranking international price for having popularized that mistranslation canard.

First poor Ahmadinejad gets maligned for not having said that he wants to wipe Israel of the map and now they are after Amnesty International.

Whom will they, whoever they are, slander next?
-----
How come that "Breaking the Silence" has become so familiar to me if they are only interested in the internal Israeli discourse?
-----
As to Coteret I have a regular look whenever they have something new but never make it past the first sentence. It is just so reminiscent of 1968ers incoherent stuff.

But this week for the first time it has been really worthwhile because the foto Didi has up of that Im Tirzu Chairman Ronen Shoval gladdens my heart.

That accusation that Im Tirzu has joined the BDS-sers has quite some comic appeal to me. One of my "darlings" out there has as his favourite rebuke the claim that "guilt by association" is forbidden, except of course when he does it himself. Maybe that's where Didi learns his stuff or maybe he is the master and they are the students?

Silke

Sérgio said...

Another pathetic european that is unable to find any decent meaning in his life and tries to fill his moral void with the oldest hatred available. F*** him!

Anonymous said...

OT
Michael Totten has a very interesting article with Jonathan Spyer
http://pajamasmedia.com/michaeltotten/

After reading Spyer's articles for the GLORIA Center http://www.gloria-center.org/ it's great to have some personal observations, especially as he's now been to Lebanon both as an Israeli soldier and visited as a civilian on a second passport.
T34zakat

Anonymous said...

Haaretz' Gideon Levy has been hosted by Amnesty in London, here is the report
- don't miss it - my favourite sentence is this (it is hilarious and incredibly sad at the same time)

Levy’s main complaint is that he feels so alone in Israel.
http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/gideon-levy-packs-them-in-at-amnesty/#comment-2955

Silke

Anonymous said...

Silke,

according to the reverence Mr. Levy gets by antizionist leftists in Germany(and Europe?), you wouldn't expect him to say something like this. Thanks for the link. Next time I'll come across one of his fans, I' ll mention this. ;-)

Regards, André

Anonymous said...

André
maybe they give him in their effort to cure his aloneness such a good hugging fest after that that one or two ribs get a crack ;-)

Silke