Turning points?

Seth Freedman continues his leftward lurch over at Comment if free. Fascinating stuff going on there. Linda Grant proudly announced that she had introduced two young zionist settlers to Georgina Henry because she thought their point of view would be worth an airing. I wonder what she thinks of Seth now he saying things like this:

I passionately love my religion, and just as fervently defend its teachings to the hilt when it comes to how to treat our fellow man. That Zionism has come along, hijacked Jewish doctrines, and twisted them to form part of an all-out supremacist movement is not something I can swallow if I want to stay loyal to the true values of Judaism. Unfortunately, by demanding that the world sees Zionism as a philosophy essentially based on Jewish principles, Zionists have managed to unforgivably drag the religion's name through the mud for over 60 years.

Or even better, this:

I asked Jihad to elaborate on how he could be "like us". His answer was simple, and - he said - representative of the views of the majority of Palestine's millions of refugees. "We want to go home", he said flatly. "There is no other way [that will suffice]. A two-state solution will not bring peace - the fight will go on."

Ok he's quoting a Palestinian but he's quoting with approval.

Incidentally Seth Freedman's Cif piece now had 705 comments and comments are still open.
Equally remarkable is the latest post from Mira Vogel on the Engage site:

In Israel's simple proportional representation system, far right religious groups who favour settling Jews outside Israel's borders can muster a lot of influence. This may be part of the reason the Israeli National Parks Authority gave the settler group El'Ad (meaning 'eternal God') so much control over archeological excavations in the village of Silwan, the site of Jerusalem's old City of David. The residents are reporting that the work - to clear tunnels dug by King Herod - is wrecking their foundations. El'Ad doesn't seem to care - its business is to discover evidence of an Israelite past in the area, which its members believe will give them claim to the land. They run a biased visitors centre at the dig which ghosts out the Arab history of the area. In 2004 El'Ad's director Doron Spielman set out his stall:

"The goal of our organisation is to increase the presence of Jews in the neighbourhood as much as possible ... We've been dreaming of coming back to biblical Jerusalem for 3,000 years. This is the fulfilment of our dreams. We cannot trust that if this is an Arab neighbourhood, Jews will be safe to walk around here."

This is clearly insane. The archeology itself is of great importance and interest, but to ruin neighbourhoods, cast aspersion on the claims of the residents of Silwan and paint them as terrorists is disgusting.

There's more information at the From Shiloah to Silwan site, along with a petition to retrieve the dig from the control of El'Ad.

HT Yish.

This is an awakening. The judaisation of this or that area of occupied Palestine justified by reference to racial mythology maybe insane to Ms Vogel but zionists call it zionism. I think the shekel is starting to drop with one Engagenik.