The following text is roaming around the Internet like an Internet worm. Worth reading:
Even those who aren’t particularly sympathetic to Bibi Netanyahu [that includes this blogger, Lord knows] could get a good measure of satisfaction from his interview with the British Television this morning.
I guess it can be attributed to his days studying history at Harvard.
The interviewer asked him: “How come so many more Lebanese have been killed in this conflict than Israelis?” (A nasty question if there ever was one!)
Natanyahu: “Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction?”
Interviewer: (Falling into the trap) “Why not?”
Netanyahu: “Because in World War II more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined, but there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the war was caused by Germany’s aggression. And in response to the German blitz on London, the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden, burning to death more German civilians than the number of people killed in Hiroshima. Moreover, I could remind you that in 1944, when the R.A.F. tried to bomb the Gestapo Headquarters in Copenhagen, some of the bombs missed their target and fell on a Danish children’s hospital, killing 83 little children. Perhaps you have another question?”
The above quotation requires no comments. I would add, though, that the number of Lebanese civilians killed, exactly as the number of Palestinians killed, is highly questionable. After all, every Arab killed by IDF, no matter what he was doing at the time he was killed and how much arms and ammunition he was carrying, automatically becomes a “civilian” in MSM reports…
Cross-posted on SimplyJews
Update: Thanks to David, a blogger from London, here is a recording of another interview Bibi has done with BBC earlier. It appears that he already used the same theme, which does not made it less valid, of course.
Comparing death counts is a fairly pointless exercise. It’s a practice normally used by people trying to make a point that doesn’t have an otherwise rational thought process.
If you fight a war, you either win or you lose, there isn’t an asterisk placed next to the outcome based on a body count.
I realy wonder what the interviewer was thinking.
So is the number of people allegedly killed during the Dresden raid. It seems that East German propaganda inflated the original 25.000 to 125.000, to make the West look bad.
“Comparing death counts is a fairly pointless exercise.”
I agree with both commenters. And Bibi was not the one to start in this direction.
The real point is that perhaps it is time that Israel had a pro-Israel government.
And not some “middle of the road” Kadima wishy-washy attempt to placate the un-placatable (is that a word? But you know what I mean).
The Arab world, and, increasingly, the wider Muslim world, does not accept that there should be a Jewish state in the Middle East.
It will take unity, and strength of purpose, to defend Israel against this existential threat.
Beef cattle don’t negotiate with the slaughterhouse; Israel should not negotiate with those who only wish her to cease to exist.
Netanyahu can almost certainly do a better job than Olmert has done with his Clintonian triangulation.
Ralf made the point I was going to, namely that the Dresden casualties were inflated by Communist propaganda after the war. And by the way, in “Slaughterhouse Five,” which I have seen assigned to secondary students, Vonnegut uses David Irving as his source for information about the bombing.
All I have to say is Yawp for Bibi.
Love him or hate him, it can’t be denied that Bibi is just about the best advocate Israel has. When it comes to dealing with the foreign press, he’s simply excellent.
I also like what he says about Iran’s criminally insane president- that how, 70 years ago, there was another “madman” that everyone discounted- and look what happened.
“Internet worm” is about right. Although the point is valid, the details probably aren’t.
I’m pretty sure that the “interview … this morning” referred to in this email (which has already been around for a while) was some time back at the end of July. Bibi gave a number of interviews back then, including to the BBC (which you link) and Sky News, in which he made this point about Copenhagen — but not in quite these words.
Also, as Imshin pointed out at the time, the “hospital” that Bibi referred to was actually a school.
FWIW.
To hear the best-ever Bibi interview, where he reduces an arrogant BBC interviewer to whining, go to http://blog.honestreporting.ca/my_weblog/2006/08/bibi_on_bbc.html