Haaretz
17 August '11
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/leading-labor-party-candidate-i-don-t-see-israeli-settlements-as-a-crime-1.379200
(If anyone may have doubted, even for a moment, Shelly Yachimovich proves once again that she runs her own show, and states her mind. Y.)
Shelly Yachimovich claims settlement building was completely consensual move; says it was Labor Party that founded the settlement enterprise in the territories.
Prospective Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich has defended her party's role in the establishment of the settlements, saying, "I certainly do not see the settlement project as a sin and a crime." In an interview to be published in Haaretz Magazine Friday, MK Yachimovich added, "In its time, it was a completely consensual move. And it was the Labor Party that founded the settlement enterprise in the territories. That is a fact. A historical fact."
The interview took place against the backdrop of her candidacy to head the Labor Party and the proliferation of tent protest camps across the country, with Yachimovich addressing the settlement issue, her public image and the long-term prospects for her party.
What do you make of the fact that the settlers joined the protest? Do you welcome them, does it make you happy?
"Yes, unequivocally. One of the most significant points of strength of this protest is that you don't see the conventional political posters. There is a new language, a unifying language, a uniting language."
But if the billions that were invested in the settlements had been invested inside the Green Line, maybe we wouldn't need the tents.
"I am familiar with that well-known equation: that if there were no settlements there would be a welfare state within Israel's borders. I am familiar with the worldview that maintains that if we cut the defense budget in half there will be money for education. It's a worldview with no connection to reality."
When it was pointed out that it is part of current public discourse to suggest that less funding for West Bank settlements and defense would mean more money for social service needs, Yachimovich said: "I reject it; it is simply not factually correct, even though it is now perceived as axiomatic. A school that is located in a settlement and has X number of students would be located inside the Green Line and have the same number of children at the same cost. I don't say that the settlements themselves did not cost more money. But even if the defense budget were cut in half, and even if the settlement costs were cut in half, the economic ideology that led us to them would not seek to divert the newly available funds to the service of the state.
""Both [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and [former Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert constantly spoke about thinning out the public service. Netanyahu said that the education system is a fat cow that doesn't give milk. When you consider that there is a fat man and a fat cow that doesn't give milk, you don't transfer budgets to them, period, because you think they should be thin or privatized. That is a Thatcherite approach which has nothing to do with the political right or left. What is happening now is so potent that it is shaking off the old discourse that shackles us to the same dogmas and the same rhetoric, but is finally connecting to the truth. Until now that truth has been kept hidden."
Would you buy products from the settlements, such as olive oil from Har Bracha? "Yes. I am not in favor of boycotts."
(Full article)
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I wouldn't trust Shelly Yackitoomuch as far as I could spit, she is a deep down dyed in the wool Peace Now Leftist and Communist. All she is doing now is trying to make herself out as a moderate among the radical Left believing that this will attract voters who know that being too Leftist is electoral poison. I recall far too well her hosting a radio program on Israel government radio called It's All Talk, and her really viciously negative views on the settlements, religious Jews, the Jewish religion, and even Israel as an oppressive capitalist colonial entity. As just on example of her bias, back when Ehud Barak was Prime Minister, she was one of the biggest proponents of the abandonment of the South Lebanese Army and the overnight pullout of the IDF from the South Lebanon Security Zone. This of course meant the massacre of thousands of Christian and Druse Lebanese supporters of Israel, and the ultimate abandonment of South Lebanon to the Hizballa.
ReplyDeleteIn case you don't know this, Hizballa has waged war against Israel, kidnapped Israeli soldiers and murdered Israeli civilians, and to this day still threatens Northern Israel and even Central Israel with rocket, missile, and terrorist attacks.
Shelly Yackitoomuch is a clear and present danger to Israeli security, the Israeli economy, and Israeli territorial integrity.
Don't let this evil woman's soft words and seeming moderation fool you. She's just lying to get you to trust her!