6/15/20 Ali Abunimah on the Threat to Israel Posed by Black Lives Matter - a podcast by Scott Horton

Ali Abunimah discusses the odd relationship between U.S. policing and the Israeli government. He describes the way higher-ups at many American police departments are sent on all-expenses paid trips by the Israel lobby, where they learn counter-terrorism tactics from the Israeli military. This is framed as a way to keep U.S. cops on the cutting edge, but really has the effect of making them view their communities as insurgents that need to be suppressed. No wonder, then, that police in America have such problems with the people they are supposed to serve. On the other side, says Abunimah, the Israeli government is concerned that the Black Lives Matter movement could be dangerous for their interests, since it might help Americans to understand the plight of the Palestinians in Israel, who live under the threat of violence without repercussion from their occupiers.

Discussed on the show:



“Israel lobby sees Black Lives Matter as major strategic threat” (Electronic Intifada)

“‘He’s Disabled,’ the Caregiver Screamed. ‘I’m With Her,’ Eyad Cried. The Cop Opened Fire Anyway” (Israel News | Haaretz.com)

Deadly Exchange

“Navigating Intersectional Landscapes” (The Reut Group)



Ali Abunimah is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine. Follow him on Twitter @AliAbunimah.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.







The following is an automatically generated transcript.

Show TranscriptScott Horton 0:10

All right, shall welcome at Scott Horton show. I am the director of the libertarian Institute editorial director of antiwar.com, author of the book fool's errand, time to end the war in Afghanistan. And I've recorded more than 5000 interviews going back to 2003, all of which are available at Scotthorton.org. You can also sign up to the podcast feed full archive is also available youtube.com/ScottHortonshow. All right, you guys introducing Ali Abunimah, from electronic Intifada net and author of the battle for justice in Palestine, and one country a bold proposal to end the Israeli Palestinian impasse and why as a bunch of important articles here to talk about But we'll start here with Israel lobby sees Black Lives Matter as a major strategic threat. Welcome back to the show. Ali, how are you doing?



Ali Abunimah 1:11

It's good to be back. Thank you for having me.



Scott Horton 1:14

Very happy to have you here. So how ironical that just this morning an email friend sent me a copy of this study that you also linked to in here, I guess, just from last year, reflecting a real concern on the part of the Israel lobby, that all this black lives matter stuff is going to essentially wash over into the Israel lobby or Israel Palestine debate, essentially. And that if there's this whole new push for civil rights for blacks in America, that maybe people will start equating blacks in America, with Palestinians in Palestine and the way that they're being treated And obviously, you know, essentially Jim Crow or worse type conditions there. And so what can they do about that? It has nothing to do, of course, with solving the problems of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, just focusing, of course, on how to spin it. But the larger reality that they're afraid of, is one thing, and then their fear of it is another. So I guess, you know, recent developments have obviously, you know, kick those same sentiments into higher gear here. So, what have you found?



Ali Abunimah 2:38

Well, that's exactly right.

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