• Home

On the Contrary

Don Radlauer's rants and musings

Disgusting Quote of the Day

February 1, 2006 by Don Radlauer 7 Comments

Knesset Member Arieh Eldad (of the National Union party) spoke to Army Radio while being treated for a broken arm he sustained fighting against Israeli forces working to demolish nine houses in the illegal outpost of Amona, north of Jerusalem. Israel Insider (hardly a left-wing news source – I can’t imagine they would be trying to make Eldad look bad) quotes him as saying:

“They are relating to human beings here like they wouldn’t relate to Arabs.”  [The italics are mine.]

It’s possible, of course, that somebody mistranslated Eldad’s remark; if so, I’d like to see his original Hebrew. But if this is really an accurate translation of what he said, it’s utterly reprehensible, even for someone who just got his arm broken. People who think like that – even if they’re normally able to repress their true feelings and pretend to be civilized – have no business being in politics, here or anywhere else.

Addendum: It turns out that Israel Insider got the quote right. According to Israel’s Army Radio website (link is in Hebrew), Eldad said the following:

“Mityachasim kan l’b’nei adam c’mo shelo hityachasu l’aravim.”

“B’nei adam” translates literally as “descendents of Adam”, and is the Hebrew equivalent of “human beings”. While translating idioms is always somewhat dicey, I’ve checked with several people whose Hebrew is much better than mine, and all of them agree that the implications of the remark in Hebrew are about the same as in English.

(This post can also be found at the Guns and Butter Blog.)

Categories: Eldad, Amona, Settlements, Outposts, Evacuation.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About Don Radlauer

Comments

  1. Jameel @ The Muqata says

    February 1, 2006 at 18:54

    Don – see? I agree with you. Guess we can’t be that far apart…

    Reply
  2. Don Radlauer says

    February 1, 2006 at 20:54

    Of course we aren’t – I wouldn’t link to anyone who I thought would consider Eldad’s remark acceptable. You’re wonderful. Love ya. (air kiss) Don’t change.

    Reply
  3. westbankmama says

    February 2, 2006 at 07:55

    Don – I agree with you about Eldad’s remark. Will this be the only post on what happened yesterday, or do you have other thoughts on the matter?

    Reply
  4. tafka PP says

    February 2, 2006 at 16:27

    I was going to post on exactly this point: I won’t bother now!

    Well said. Sigh.

    Reply
  5. Eyal says

    February 5, 2006 at 12:31

    While I’m relunctant to give any defense of Eldad, I should note that bnei adam can idiomatically refer to people in a certain context or group, rather than “humans” in general.

    Of course, even if he was using it this way, the rest of the remark are still highly objectionable….

    Reply
  6. Don Radlauer says

    February 5, 2006 at 15:33

    Dear Anonymous –

    1) I don’t really welcome anonymous comments. While I can’t force you to identify yourself, I really don’t feel that I should be obligated to debate someone who won’t give me at least a pseudonym!

    2) If you want me to pay any attention to your first comment, please translate it. If you’re going to insult me, at least do so in a convenient form!

    3) I never said that Eldad’s remark was the only thing wrong at Amona. I haven’t yet written a more substantive post on the subject because I didn’t feel I had anything sufficiently original or interesting to say. I actually do plan to write a post touching on Amona in the very near future; but I can’t promise that you’ll like it.

    4) Writing in all-caps does not increase your impact.

    5) This is not a forum in which you have any “First Amendment” rights; this is my website, and I have every right to delete your comments if I find them objectionable, although I greatly prefer not to have to do so. If you have anything to say, please do so without insults or abuse; if you insist on being rude, I will delete your comments and you’ll have simply wasted your time here.

    Reply
  7. Don Radlauer says

    February 5, 2006 at 21:19

    As you’ll have noticed, I deleted three comments by “Anonymous”. I really dislike doing this; ideally, the comments section should be a place for open and vigorous discussion, and the blog owner should have a fairly light touch. On the other hand, I’m enough of a grizzled veteran of Internet communities to recognize a troll when I see one; and I’m well aware that the only way to get rid of trolls is to delete their crap rather than debate it.

    Apologies to all for your having had to read this guy’s garbage.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Don Radlauer

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+

Recent Posts

  • Don’t Blame the Third-Party Voters This Time!
  • The Sub-Prime Crisis: My response to a response to a response
  • Olmert triumphs in poll – humiliating What’s His Name the Minister for Something or Other
  • Living in denial
  • A Hedgehog’s Hasbara

Recent Comments

  • pokezzz on Don’t Blame the Third-Party Voters This Time!
  • Yan Gulko on Don’t Blame the Third-Party Voters This Time!
  • popamex.com on Don’t Blame the Third-Party Voters This Time!
  • Jiya on A Hedgehog’s Hasbara
  • Elder of Ziyon on The Sub-Prime Crisis: My response to a response to a response

Archives

  • November 2016
  • September 2008
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005

Categories

  • Political analysis
  • Uncategorized

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in