10 Ways Israel Is Just Like Saudi Arabia

[Scootaloo]

14. I just wanted to see someone make an effort for rebuttal

Instead of "MUUUU, A PERSON I DISLIKE, SO IT'S ALL WRONG, MUUUUU"

Intellectual rigor, guys.

1) She does not argue that htey are treated equally bad in both nations. Only that both nations mistreat thir minority populations.

2) As I've shown often enough, Israel has never been invaded. It has fought off nations attempting to reclaim territory that it occupies, but Israel's borders have not been crossed by an invading force.

3) Again, she is not saying Saudi Arabia's Islamic govenrment and Israel's Jewish chauvinism are identical. She's saying that the respective religions have a active, government-sponsored hand in things that fuck people over.

4) In the sense that both are exporting methods of violent rtepression? Yes. Did you read hte article, and what it says? You seem to be working really hard to be ignorant of its contents.

5) True, though she brings up a salient point - both Israel and Saudi Arabia are putting hteir all in to scuttle any thaw between the US and Iran. More Saidi Arabia on that score, and I'm of mind that ISrael's interest in Iran comes mostly from their under0the-table hand-holding with hte saudis.

6) First off, el-Sisi seized power in a violent coup. When the military barges into the legislature, seixes hte president, murders thousands of Cairenes, rapes protestors, jails journalists, and tortures the political opposition in secret prision while a general appoints himself president, that's called a violent coup. And yes, ISrael did give their moral support to el-Sisi. The only "BS" in her claim is the notion that Egypt's collusion with Isrel to fuck Gaza is a new thing under el-Sisi. Mubarak did it too, and so did Morsi. Funny thing, those treaty obligations. You.. .do know that Gaza's borders are part of the Egypt-Israel treaty, right? Maybe not, you don't know that a military junta seizing power from an elected govenremtn and murdering its opposition is a coup...

7) Medea actually sources hte claim of Israel aiding wounded al-Nusra fighters. Also there's the plain reality that any action against Damascus directly strengthens the next most powerful force - which happens to be al-Nusra. and Israel has a habit of running operations against Syrian forces and movements in Syria. So.. there is direct aid, and there is indirect aid. You can note that it makes no sense for Israel to help nutbag wahhabists next door... but then I'd have to point out that Israel funded and armed Hamas back in the day, in the hopes of knocking over the PLO. Israel's got a track record, basically.

8) She - again - does not say that imprisonment and beheading are the same. That's you, and the game YOU'Re playing, Oberliner. She's illustrating that both nations see children as "fair targets" of their oppression.

9) Actually, no, not every country has a lobby group in the US. Most seem to feel that diplomatic ties are functional enough, and hardly have the sort of money and desperate interest in what Americans think of them as Saudi Arabia and Israel do. Possibly because unlike Israel and Saudi Arabia, most other nations are not completely and utterly dependent on American largess to function or even exist. Those other nations which have lobby groups are certainly nowhere near as successful and influential as these two nations, either, so bringing them up is sort of like Dubya's "you forgot poland!" line. No, it's just not relevant to the topic.

10) Yup.

So, it seems that all your complaints... are things you want her to have said, that she didn't actually say. Primarily in the sense of equating things that she never actually equated/ Drawing parallels is not saying "THESE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME," only that they have similar qualities. More stems from your own lack of understanding of what's going on - you don't know what a coup is, you're studiously unaware of Israeli involvement in Syria, and you somehow have the notion that AIPAC and the Albanian-American Civic League are on equal footing.

I think her conclusion is pretty spot-on:

Some say it is good for Israel and Saudi Arabia to bury the hatchet and find common ground. But peace in the Middle East will not be furthered by Israeli-Saudi collaboration. Israel has to make peace with the Palestinians; Saudi Arabia has to come to terms with Iran. Otherwise, Saudi-Israeli collusion will only be a fatal embrace that causes more heartbreak for the region.