Netanyahu hits back at Spain's Sánchez with Allied bombing example
Netanyahu responds to Spain's Pedro Sánchez and the Belgian prime minister by invoking the Allied bombing of Germany. The debate then turned to US aid to…
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Netanyahu hits back at Spain's Sánchez with Allied bombing example
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to criticism from Spain's Pedro Sánchez and the Belgian prime minister with an argument that has set the debate alight: «I don't know how history would have turned out if there had been demonstrations and protests in the West against the Allies over German civilian casualties. I know history would have been very different». The remark, posted by the Israeli prime minister's official account, was read by some participants in the debate as a justification of the Allied bombing of Dresden and other German cities during the Second World War. And as a warning: they could do it, you can't.
The Hitler wildcard and the Western double standard
The comparison is no accident. Netanyahu likens Hamas to Nancy Germany and Western critics to those who opposed the Allied bombings. The problem, some voices point out, is that the same standard is not applied to other cases. «NATO bombed Milosevic for killing 8,000-10,000 civilians», one participant recalls, while Israel enjoys a free pass that lets it do what cost others a trial in The Hague. The figure, repeated throughout the debate, serves to underline the asymmetry: some are put on trial, others are strategic allies.
Netanyahu's response came after Sánchez and the Belgian prime minister declined to attribute «all the responsibility» to Hamas for the crimes against humanity. The Israeli prime minister called it an insufficient condemnation. In Spain, the reaction was swift: from «Good old Netanyahu» to «he's going to burn out the Hitler wildcard from overuse», to those who saw in the tweet an aggressive justification of Dresden. The discussion quickly turned to Spain's role in the Middle East and its supposed subservience to the United States.
How much money does Israel receive from the United States?
One of the most widely circulated figures in the debate is US foreign aid. According to the numbers cited, Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid: as of February 2022, Washington had provided Israel with 150 billion dollars in bilateral assistance (not adjusted for inflation). The figure has been used to argue that the relationship is not one between equal allies, but one of vassalage. «An ally that has never contributed a single soldier in any of its wars», reads one comment in the debate.
The counterargument also has legs: the United States also sends money to Palestine, and the EU does the same. And some argue that it suits Washington for Israel to hold its position in the Middle East as a focal point for the region's Muslim countries. The exchange of blows between the two positions has been one of the thread's main axes, with neither side giving any ground.
Sánchez's role and Spain's historical position
Pedro Sánchez has been the focus of much of the criticism. «On the international stage he is nobody and nobody pays him any attention», argues one of the most repeated comments. Others go further and accuse him of betraying Spain's historical position in the Middle East, in contrast to what peine with the Sahara. The summit with Netanyahu, according to these voices, would have been a public humiliation for a leader who presents himself as a credible interlocutor.
The debate also drifted into migration and the supposed Jewish influence on Spanish politics. Some comments argue that «Jews control nothing» and that it is internal political dynamics that explain migration decisions. Others, however, point out that it is striking that, with only 45,000 Jews in Spain, one of them holds the number three position in the PP (Spain's main conservative party). The discussion, in any case, has moved between geopolitics and conspiracy theory with little rigor.
The context: Kosovo, Milosevic and ethnic cleansing
The comparison with the Balkans has come up again and again. Some argue that «there was never ethnic cleansing in Kosovo» and that it was police operations against terrorists, while others maintain that Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The debate over what constitutes ethnic cleansing and what does not has become a semantic battlefield. Civilian casualty figures in each case have been used as arguments in both directions.
The exchange has left an uncomfortable conclusion: the international community applies different criteria depending on who is doing the bombing. Some are tried in The Hague; others receive 150 billion dollars in aid. The question hanging over the debate is not whether Israel has the right to defend itself, but whether that right includes what Netanyahu has just justified with the example of Dresden.
How far does the right to self-defense go when the bombing of entire cities is invoked as a legitimate precedent?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to criticism from Spain's Pedro Sánchez and the Belgian prime minister with an argument that has set the debate alight: «I don't know how history would have turned out if there had been demonstrations and protests in the West against the Allies over German civilian casualties. I know history would have been very different». The remark, posted by the Israeli prime minister's official account, was read by some participants in the debate as a justification of the Allied bombing of Dresden and other German cities during the Second World War. And as a warning: they could do it, you can't.
The Hitler wildcard and the Western double standard
The comparison is no accident. Netanyahu likens Hamas to Nancy Germany and Western critics to those who opposed the Allied bombings. The problem, some voices point out, is that the same standard is not applied to other cases. «NATO bombed Milosevic for killing 8,000-10,000 civilians», one participant recalls, while Israel enjoys a free pass that lets it do what cost others a trial in The Hague. The figure, repeated throughout the debate, serves to underline the asymmetry: some are put on trial, others are strategic allies.
Netanyahu's response came after Sánchez and the Belgian prime minister declined to attribute «all the responsibility» to Hamas for the crimes against humanity. The Israeli prime minister called it an insufficient condemnation. In Spain, the reaction was swift: from «Good old Netanyahu» to «he's going to burn out the Hitler wildcard from overuse», to those who saw in the tweet an aggressive justification of Dresden. The discussion quickly turned to Spain's role in the Middle East and its supposed subservience to the United States.
How much money does Israel receive from the United States?
One of the most widely circulated figures in the debate is US foreign aid. According to the numbers cited, Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid: as of February 2022, Washington had provided Israel with 150 billion dollars in bilateral assistance (not adjusted for inflation). The figure has been used to argue that the relationship is not one between equal allies, but one of vassalage. «An ally that has never contributed a single soldier in any of its wars», reads one comment in the debate.
The counterargument also has legs: the United States also sends money to Palestine, and the EU does the same. And some argue that it suits Washington for Israel to hold its position in the Middle East as a focal point for the region's Muslim countries. The exchange of blows between the two positions has been one of the thread's main axes, with neither side giving any ground.
Sánchez's role and Spain's historical position
Pedro Sánchez has been the focus of much of the criticism. «On the international stage he is nobody and nobody pays him any attention», argues one of the most repeated comments. Others go further and accuse him of betraying Spain's historical position in the Middle East, in contrast to what peine with the Sahara. The summit with Netanyahu, according to these voices, would have been a public humiliation for a leader who presents himself as a credible interlocutor.
The debate also drifted into migration and the supposed Jewish influence on Spanish politics. Some comments argue that «Jews control nothing» and that it is internal political dynamics that explain migration decisions. Others, however, point out that it is striking that, with only 45,000 Jews in Spain, one of them holds the number three position in the PP (Spain's main conservative party). The discussion, in any case, has moved between geopolitics and conspiracy theory with little rigor.
The context: Kosovo, Milosevic and ethnic cleansing
The comparison with the Balkans has come up again and again. Some argue that «there was never ethnic cleansing in Kosovo» and that it was police operations against terrorists, while others maintain that Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The debate over what constitutes ethnic cleansing and what does not has become a semantic battlefield. Civilian casualty figures in each case have been used as arguments in both directions.
The exchange has left an uncomfortable conclusion: the international community applies different criteria depending on who is doing the bombing. Some are tried in The Hague; others receive 150 billion dollars in aid. The question hanging over the debate is not whether Israel has the right to defend itself, but whether that right includes what Netanyahu has just justified with the example of Dresden.
How far does the right to self-defense go when the bombing of entire cities is invoked as a legitimate precedent?
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (99 replies).
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