The entire column is written from Ha'aretz' viewpoint, even saying in a tongue-in-cheek fashion:
So, if Obama loves hummus it must mean he loves us Israelis too! Israelis, self-acclaimed hummus connoisseurs, prefer their hummus with fresh pita bread, but even they have learned to accept the American usage of hummus as a dip for veggies.Enter Ali Abumineh, famous Israel-hater and blogger at Electronic Intifada. Apparently, the very mention of Obama together with hummus in an utterly vacuous Haaretz article is enough to make him foam at the mouth:
Notice how Israelis are positioned as the “connoisseurs” and arbiters of how hummus should and should not be correctly consumed.
There is absolutely no mention of the Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian or other indigenous Arab origins of these foods in the interview, where hummus, its key ingredient tahini, and the flat bread Palestinians typically eat with them are easily subsumed into “Jewish foods” used to celebrate Zionist occasions...
Is this 2000 year old olive press "Palestinian"? |
Keep in mind that the chef didn't say a word about how these foods were Israeli. Only the Ha'aretz writer did.
Abuminah links back to this equally ridiculous posting where he claims that these foods are "Palestinian" - they aren't - and that Israelis are stealing olive oil cultivation from Palestinian Arabs as well, even though Jews were cultivating olive oil in that exact spot way thousands of years before any "Palestinians" existed.
To wrap it all up, Abuninah tweeted his magnum opus about a stupid Haaretz columnist saying that White House hummus is somehow Israeli this way:
Yes - Israeli pride in their Middle Eastern food is a war crime!
The mystery isn't that Israel-haters are this stupendously idiotic. The mystery is why so many people in the real world seem to regard them as anything less than stupendously idiotic.