Get some perspective

Richard Silverstein has an interesting, by which I mean exasperating, story, about rightwing hack organization Im Tirtzu's latest posterboy, Amir Benayoun. Benayoun spends the whole song bemoaning the "hate" and betrayal of the IDF by the Israeli left. I mostly want to focus on Benayoun's ridiculous lyrics, but I do think it's interesting that Silverstein notes that Benayoun was not allowed to serve in the army due to his criminal record. Apparently Benayoun's particular brand of patriotism consists of being a criminal thug, going BT, then pretending to be holier than thou while accusing his ideological opponents of hating the state. Good to know.

Here's the translation to Benayoun's song. Translation by Silverstein & some friends (could be wrong, I don't know. Other versions here and here.):

I am Your Brother

I preserve your identity
I protect your children
I put my life on the line for you
and you spit in my face

After they failed to kill me from the outside
you come and kill me from inside
I haven’t seen my mother in a month
neither my son nor my house nor my wife

I always charge forward
with my back to you
[but] you sharpen the knife
more than anything, this thought burns my soul
and you, how come you still don’t understand

I am your brother,
you are an enemy
you hate me
I love [you]
when I weep you laugh behind my back
you are killing me
why, you are my brother

I am the future
you are the past
and the present is broken between us
I go hungry for you
you gorge yourself and over-imbibe [reference to Deuteronomy 21 in which Israelite is stoned to death for such 'sins']
when my throat is dry you drink liquor
my lips are always sealed for your safety
but you deliver me to the foreigner [meaning gentiles--reference to Goldstone, NIF, Anat Kamm]

I am your brother, you act like an enemy
Why? You’re my brother

[Narrator intones prayer: He who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
May He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Forces
Who stand guard over our land and the cities of our God
From Lebanon to the desert of Egypt
And from the Great Sea [Mediterranean] unto the approach of the Aravah
On the land, in the air, and on the sea

For it is the Lord your God who goes with you
To battle your enemies for you to save you
Now let us say: Amen

Honestly, about the only good thing you can say about this tripe is that it's so hyperbolic and one-sided that you have to hope it doesn't convince too many people who don't already subscribe to its views. But here are some interesting ironies I found:

1- Who in Israel relies on the army to "preserve its identity?" Hint: not the Left.

2- "You spit in my face." Watch the news. At the very least we can agree that spitting in soldiers' faces appears to be a bipartisan activity. (Gush Katif?)

3- "You sharpen the knife." Really? Let's take a census and figure out which political demographics have the guns.

4- "I am your brother/You are an enemy/You hate me/[but] I love"

No denying there are Israelis who hate the IDF. But the really scary rhetoric about demolishing the state and going after "traitors" ain't coming from lefties.

5- "When I weep you laugh."

Who was cheering Sharon's coma?

6- "You gorge yourself, etc..." My memory's gone again... remind me, which Israelis get paid government subsidies to live in large houses they otherwise could never afford? Ah yes, all those liberals.

Get over yourself, Amir. You can bitch about the left all you like. But the real ones "killing you-- and the army-- aren't the left-wingers. The sooner you realize this, the better off you'll be.