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[eBook] Free - An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defense Force Made a Nation (Save £25) @ Verso

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A history of the Israel Defence Forces that argues that Israel is a nation formed by its army.

The Israeli army, officially named the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), was established in 1948 by David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, who believed that “the whole nation is the army.” In his mind, the IDF was to be an army like no other. It was the instrument that might transform a diverse population into a new people. Since the foundation of Israel, therefore, the IDF has been the largest, richest and most influential institution in Israel’s Jewish society and is the nursery of its social, economic and political ruling class.

In this fascinating history, Bresheeth-Zabner charts the evolution of the IDF from the Nakba to wars in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and the continued assaults upon Gaza, and shows that the state of Israel has been formed out of its wars. He also gives an account of his own experiences as a young conscript during the 1967 war. He argues that the army is embedded in all aspects of daily life and identity. And that we should not merely see it as a fighting force enjoying an international reputation, but as the central ideological, political and financial institution of Israeli society. As a consequence, we have to reconsider our assumptions on what any kind of peace might look like.

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    • Then the USA, Australia etc belonged to the indigenous and they should have it back with the way you are summing things up. God gave it to them??? WTF???

      • -1

        Yes. Australia = Palestine!

        • It is for the indigenous here

          • -1

            @zemphism: Sure. So the indigenous population has the right to claim everything that was built over hundreds of years and if not returned they can justifiably attack any Australian conquerer with knives, rifles and rockets. Right??

            • -1

              @freshofftheplane: You sir are a retard, plain and simple.
              You are looking at the symptom of the problem instead of addressing what the illness is.

              Symptom = Rockets fired as they have lost all venues to self-determination.

              Illness = Apartheid sanctioned Israeli government treating them as 3rd class citizens in their own land. Committing cultural genocide and expelling the Palestinians out of their houses believing that land was given to them by god 3000 years ago.
              Going by the zionist logic the indigenous here in Australia should be able to claim their land back just like the zionists are doing with the same logic.

              When all forms of negotiation have failed sometimes the only answer is to fight back, and this is why Hamas is firing those rockets.

              You are making out that they just started firing for no reason whatsoever. The Israeli government stormed the Al Aqsa mosque and attacked the praying worshipers which triggered the rocket attacks.

              Get educated before you start commenting about things you have absolutely no knowledge about.

              • -1

                @zemphism: Your comment clearly shows you support terrorism. As opposed to me, you have no idea what living through that actually is. Do you really believe that killing innocent lives on both sides will resolve anything?

                Why are the Palestinians led by a terror organisation?
                Why are they spending all of their international funding on weapons and war machinery?

                There's a famous quote of former Israeli PM Golda Meir - "Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us". I concur.

                • @freshofftheplane: More than 212 people, including 61 children, have died in Gaza, and 10, including two children, in Israel. Israel says most of those killed in Gaza are militants and that any civilian deaths are unintentional.

                  Clearly, Hamas could say that the 2 children killed in Israel were "unintentional"

                  Israel is a terrorist state that needs to be neutralized.

                  Listen to what I'm saying Israel needs to be neutralized, not the jews, the racist, fascist state that calls itself Israel.

                  We have seen many, many, many posts and videos about how it is to be Palestinian under the Israeli occupation so don't be calling me a terrorist sympathizer when it is clear that you are the one that gives no value to Palestinian life and holds the zionists on a pedestal.

  • +5

    Free Australia!

  • +4

    its not Israel the country driving this but Netanyahu, who has done more harm to Israel than anyone in its history.

    'The escalating conflict between Israel and Gaza has put efforts to form a coalition government that excludes Israel’s longest-serving prime minister on the back burner.

    Until violence erupted this week, Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be on the verge of losing his position at the helm of Israeli politics after 12 years as prime minister.' Guardian - bit like Thatcher and the belgrano etc.

    Netanyahu has deliberately kept his place by promoting hate, and used far right zionists to cause conflict for his own personal gain.

    • +5

      Direct quote from the book:

      During a toxic election campaign likely to be his last, Netanyahu pulled no punches— he felt that the best way to win was to voice his real beliefs, rather than tone them down— he knows his public and played a major role in navigating them into the racist, extreme-right corner they now occupy. In the last election on September 17, 2019, more generals were elected to the Knesset than ever before, most of them ex-chiefs-of-general-staff. There is no clearer indication of the direction the Israeli polity is taking. Israel is preparing for more wars and more bloodshed.

      • +2

        misleading….

        According to the Central Election Commission, the prime minister's right-wing Likud party won 24.2% of the vote. ……Mr Netanyahu's political allies, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties Shas and United Torah Judaism……

        In a surprise development, an Arab party which is projected to get four seats could hold the balance of power…..

        this is what caused this massive flareup Netanyahu's battle for survival because when he loses control he goes to jail for his abject corruption.

        like most pollies killing people for their own personal reasons is completely ok these days…no different here…

  • +2

    Honestly can't believe anyone can support Israel after doing their due diligence and reading up on what's going on over there.

  • Surprised at this threads existence.

  • Thanks for the deal OP. Definitely gonna pick this up. It's good to read critiques of Israel from a Jewish perspective, and helps fight against the insidious rhetoric that if you're against Israel murdering people and forcefully dispossessing them, you're anti-Semitic.

  • +2

    Disgusting history. The US armed and taught them well. Poor Arab countries never get a chance to progress.

    • -2

      almost completely untrue….

  • Generation of vipers

    • +1

      Ironic coming from the council of vipers

  • +1

    So OzB is full of anti-semitic haters and communist Chinese party lovers, nothing new here! I fully support Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas attacks. Why shouldn't they defend themselves?

    • @Flykiwiguy: Flykiwiguy on 08/03/2021 - 01:21 new
      -43 votes

      No it doesn't - and why buy Chinese spy phones? They try and destroy this country, send em home I say

      Flykiwiguy on 02/03/2021 - 09:41
      -14 votes

      China apologist here, how's the Labor camps treating you? Oh wait, you love china so you'll do whatever for them

      Flykiwiguy on 03/01/2021 - 01:18
      -15 votes

      Give my data to China, I wanna be tortured in a labour camp woohoo

      yawn….

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