The Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD) are extremely angry with Borut Pahor – the only president in the party’s history to have led it to victory in the elections. Mainly because he is much more popular than the party, which has been wandering in the wilderness without him for years and is sinking into the embrace of the Left party (Levica), which it wants to compete with on the extreme left. And now, they would like to expel Pahor from the party.
After Borut Pahor’s recent interview with Jože Možina on the show Intervju (Interview), he was even accused of “denying” the (phantom) genocide in Gaza and asked to resign. And not only by some fringe extremists like Marko Koprivc and Jernej Štromajer, who represent the extreme fringes of the party, but also by the more moderate Jani Prednik.
One of the party’s vice-presidents, MP Meira Hot, from the Primorska region, wrote the following:
“To the gentlemen who deny the genocide in Gaza, I suggest you re-read the definition of genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and try to connect it to the current situation. Can you do that? Article II – the Definition of genocide:
‘In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.’”
The moderate part of the SD party also got upset
This is, of course, the typical rhetoric of the far left, which, in tacit collaboration with Hamas, accuses Israel of genocide, even though it is clear that the only culprits for all the suffering in Gaza are the terrorists hiding behind civilians.
MP Hot is a representative of the extreme part of the party, however, the criticism of Pahor was also supported by Jani Prednik, who – together with Matjaž Han – represents the more moderate, pragmatic part of the party. Apparently – at least as far as terrorist Palestine is concerned – they are all extremists without any capacity to understand the complexity of the situation in Gaza.
What has Pahor upset them with?
On Sunday, Pahor appeared on RTV Slovenia, where he gave an interview to Jože Možina. He said that he would not consider what is happening in Gaza to be genocide. He expanded on his thought as follows: “So, we are all appalled by the disproportionality of the measures that the Israeli government is taking to deal with Hamas. However, we forget that Hamas is still holding innocent Israeli hostages … And it is still unwilling to release innocent victims. This, of course, is why the Palestinian people in Gaza are paying a terrible and disproportionate price. Absolutely. I condemn this behaviour.”
So, for a leftist, this seems like a pretty balanced opinion. He feels that Israel’s actions are excessive, but at the same time, he dares to accuse Hamas of wrongdoings, too, which is a sacred cow that is not mentioned in left-wing political circles in the West and especially in Slovenia.
But that was not all. Pahor also had some bold words to say against the current coalition for its harmful measures, and he expressed doubt about whether he would ever again give his vote to any of the coalition parties that he regularly voted for before. You can see more in tomorrow’s summary of the conversation on Nova24TV.
Pahor angers the left because he is the only one who skipped over the influence of Kučan
Of course, it is important to remember that Gaza is just an excuse. Nor is it just the SD party – Pahor is being attacked by almost the entire left, and at every possible opportunity. Namely, he was attacked for his excessive use of social networks, but on the other hand, they are silent when Prime Minister Robert Golob does it much more blatantly, opportunistically and slimily. Even the Speaker of the National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, has not missed the opportunity to show her far-left motives. In response to the opinion of the leftist passionate fighter Rudi Bregar, who called Pahor a red hawk who “has finally confirmed his transformation from a communist into a conservative cavalier of empty form who would congratulate a murderer on his neatly tied shoelaces”, she wrote: “How incredibly well written! And how true! And how right! Yes, Mr Borut Pahor, with you, history is being written without a backbone. But I believe that when you look in the mirror, you like yourself very much. Unfortunately, history will not judge us by our beauty. It is insignificant and fleeting. You, too, will realise that.”
So why do the leftists harbour such antipathy towards Pahor? It is not about Gaza. It is not about the Palestinians. It is not about Pahor’s appearance on social media. Pahor’s original sin is political. Pahor is being attacked because he has so far been the only leftist who has dared to stand up to the Kučan faction and even destroy Kučan’s candidate, Danilo Türk, with his humanness. And perhaps he will succeed against another candidate, too – Nataša Pirc Musar. Only two consecutive mandates are forbidden. He can seek a third term as the President of the Republic after a four-year break.
I. K.
