Israeli Didi Remez writes at his essential blog Coteret:
Sima Kadmon is senior political commentator at Yediot, second in stature only to Nahum Barnea. She devotes much of her Friday (February 5 2010) column to a methodical deconstruction of the motivation and methodology behind the Im Tirzu anti-NIF smear campaign. Kadmon adds… domestic… depth to Nahum Barnea’s exposé of the role mainstream Jewish-American leaders played in putting the brakes on the Knesset’s… participation… in the… campaign.
Note how the column concludes with a quote from Meretz Chairman MK Chaim (Jumes) Oron, who was the first politician from the Israeli left to take a public stand on this issue:
“The transition from a democratic to a fascist society does not happen in a single move, Oron said upon emerging from the plenum hall.… It is done in several steps – some of which may go unnoticed, some of which we may share, and others may be initiated or not opposed by the government.… In the end, the society finds itself in a totally different place, and then everyone starts asking how it happened.
“I have a feeling, he said, that we are already on this slippery slope, and even more so over the past few weeks.… The powers that can stop this process have weakened.… This is a very critical moment, he said.… I hope it would make those who weep over the left’s defeat shake off their mourning mood and realize this is war.… This is a struggle for the future and shape of this country.”