Israeli bulldozers demolish most of a West Bank hamlet, displacing dozens of Palestinians

[Beastly Boy]

34. Just because you seem to be genuinely interested in my opinion,

I will give you somewhat serious answers (as serious as the DU format allows for). They will necessarily be short and incomplete but genuine to the extent possible..

A far more in-depth knowledge of Israel's internal political dynamics than I can provide is required to answer your question more seriously. My contact with the immensely diverse and ever-changing political landscape in Israel is superficial at best, and even on this level it will require volumes to succinctly communicate my views. For lack of an alternative, we will have to take this disclaimer as a point of departure for everything I say, and my replies, just like your questions, will be sorely lacking in context. That's the best I can do.

To me, there is clear distinction between Israel and Netanyahu. It is the post I replied to that makes this distinction arbitrary and nebulous, if not entirely non-existent at times. Furthermore, I see a clear distinction between Netanyahu and members of his cabinet, Netanyahu and the Judiciary branch, his cabinet and the Judiciary, Netanyahu and Israelis, Jews and Israelis, Netanyahu and IDF, etc. Without elaborating, you can still see why the overly simplistic rigidly judgemental stereotyping that lacks any nuance or specificity pisses me off so much.

No, the same does not apply to other countries, because geopolitical, cultural and historical differences between them are so varied that one standard cannot possibly apply to all. In the most general of terms, there is always a distinction between the rulers and the ruled, but there is so little in common from one country to the other that there is no way to generalize how those differences manifest themselves.

I believe the above will partially explain why I disagree with you on Netanyahu and his government: I believe that his government is way to the right of Netanyahu, and that he is beholden to his right wing for his political survival. For a number of reasons, too many to address in full, the radical right wingers got him by the balls, to speak figuratively. A more detailed explanation how and why it happened has to do with how governments in Israel are formed, but that's a topic way beyond my ability to address briefly.

As far as individual DUers, I would rather not go into how my opinions of them were formed. I have my reasons.