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Jonathan Ofir, an Israeli living in Denmark who is a frequent contributor to MondoWeiss, joins us to talk about Israel, Netanyahu’s skill at propaganda, Obama’s history and Trump’s future relations with Israel.Ofir is a professional classical musician and conductor who served in the Israeli Defense Force. You can find his MondoWeiss articles here. My thanks to listener, subscriber and activist Ian Berman for referring me to Ofir.
We open with some biographical information on Ofir, and his perspectives on Israel, the Netanyahu government, apartheid and democracy vs. theocracy.
We discuss the recent truck-ramming on January 8 in Jerusalem, which was immediately labeled and Islamic State terrorist attack, despite no evidence. We compare it to the Mavi Marmara attack and the kidnapped Israeli boys whose abduction was used to justify the attack on Gaza.
We also talk about the recent abstention by the US in the UN Security Council vote that criticized illegal settlements, Trump’s laughable claim that he is “neutral” on Israel and Hillary Clinton’s response, and Trump’s appointment of David Gardner, his bankruptcy lawyer, as ambassador to Israel.
There’s much more in this wide-ranging conversation.