Tonight has been the most violent bombardment of Gaza so far, notably concentrated on precisely the areas into which Israel ordered the population to evacuate. I find it almost impossible to believe that this genocide is under way with the active support of almost all western governments.
I want to look at two questions – what will happen internationally, and what is happening in western societies.
Israel plainly is on the course of further escalation and intends to kill many thousands more Palestinians. More than 2,000 Palestinian children alone have now been killed by Israeli aerial attack in the last fortnight.
Gaza has no defence from bombs and missiles, and there is no military reason why Israel cannot keep this up for months and simply rely upon aerial massacre. We are perhaps within a week of thirst, starvation and disease killing even more people per day than bombardment.
The population of Gaza are simply defenceless. Only international intervention can stop Israel from doing whatever it wishes, and those countries which have influence with Israel are actively abetting and encouraging the genocide.
The question is, what is Israel’s aim? Do they intend to reduce the Gaza Strip still further, annexing half or more of it? Will starvation and horror enable the international community to force Egypt to accept the expulsion of the population of Gaza into the Sinai Desert as a “humanitarian” move?
That appears to be the end game: expulsion of population and territorial expansion into Gaza. That would require a ground invasion, but probably not until after even more intense aerial bombardment to eliminate all resistance. This territorial ambition of course accords with the violent expansion of illegal settlement in the West Bank which is currently under way, with the world paying almost no attention. It is very hard indeed to comprehend the passivity of Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas at the moment.
Netanyahu’s political stock within Israel is so low, that the only way he can recover is by making a major step towards the complete genocide of the Palestinian people and the achievement of Greater Israel. Netanyahu now knows that there is no violence against Palestinians so extreme that the western political elite will not support it under the mantra of “Israel’s right to self-defence”.
I do not see any salvation for Gaza coming from Hezbollah. If Hezbollah were to employ their vaunted missile strike capabilities, the moment to do it would be now when the Israeli armour is drawn up in massive parks outside Gaza, a perfect target even for longer range missiles of limited accuracy. Once dispersed into Gaza the armour would be far harder for Hezbollah to hit at range.
Hezbollah is even better equipped now to fight a defensive war in Lebanon than it was when it defeated the Israeli advance in 2006. But it is not configured or equipped to fight an aggressive ground war into Israel, which would be a disaster. It also has to worry about hostile militias in its rear. If Hezbollah can provoke an Israeli incursion into Southern Lebanon, that would enable it to inflict substantial casualties, but Israel is not going to do that in a way that detracts from its capabilities in Gaza.
Iran has greatly improved its diplomatic position in the last year. The Chinese-brokered lessening of hostility with Saudi Arabia has potential to revolutionise Middle Eastern politics, and the benefits of this will not lightly be laid aside by Tehran. Iran had also made real progress with the Biden administration in overcoming the blind hostility of the Trump years.
Iran has no desire to throw away these gains. That is why it seems to me extremely improbable that Iran had endorsed the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Iran is now restraining Hezbollah. But there are limits to the patience of Iran. The extraordinary truth is that Iran is probably the only state under discussion here with a genuine humanitarian concern for the lives of Palestinians. If the genocide unfolds as horribly as I anticipate, Iran can be pushed too far.
That said, I offer just a cautionary footnote that Saudi Arabia is not, under MBS, quite the reliable US/Israeli puppet it has historically been. I do not have much time for MBS, as you know, but his high opinion of the importance of the Al Saud and their leadership role among arabs, makes him a different proposition to his predecessor.
Saudi Arabia has leverage. The Biden administration has gone all in on regional domination, sending two aircraft carrier groups into a situation which should it escalate, could send oil prices to highest-ever levels, with Russia blocked from the market. Biden is risking a huge gas price hike in an election year.
Biden’s calculation, or that of his security services, is that nobody can or will intervene to save the Palestinians. They judge the genocide as containable. That is an extraordinary gamble.
There has been an extraordinary amount of vitriol aimed at Qatar by pro-Israel commentators, for hosting the Hamas office and leadership. This is extraordinarily ignorant.
Qatar hosts Hamas, just as Qatar hosted the Taliban Information Office, at the direct request of the United States. It provides a means of dialogue between the United States and Hamas (exactly as it did with the Taliban) both at deniable level, and through third parties, including of course the government of Qatar. Thus when Blinken arrived in Qatar one day and the Iranian foreign minister the next, these were in fact “proximity talks” involving Hamas.
How do I know? Well, at Julian’s request, I visited Qatar about five years ago to discuss whether Julian, and Wikileaks, might potentially relocate to Qatar, which Julian had described as “the new Switzerland” in terms of being a neutral diplomatic venue.
It was explained to me by the Qataris, at a very senior level, that Qatar hosted the Taliban Information Office and Hamas because the United States government had asked them to do so. Qatar hosted a major US military base and depended on US support against a Saudi takeover. If I could generate a request from then President Trump for Qatar to host Wikileaks, then they would do so. Otherwise, no.
So I know what I am talking about.
One tiny but good result of this brokering in Qatar was the release of two American national hostages. British diplomats have told me that discussions in Qatar have so far held back the Israeli ground offensive, but I am not convinced that Israel really wished to do this yet. They are having sadistic fun shooting children in a barrel.
Qatar has also been the origin of deals allowing in a tiny amount of aid to Gaza, but this is so small as to be almost irrelevant. It is performative humanitarianism by the West.
I have frequently praised China for the fact that their economic dominance has been unaccompanied by any aggressive desire for world hegemony, but this also has its downside. China sees no benefit in assisting the Palestinians in practice. Hopeful reports of China sending warships refer simply to pre-planned exercises, largely in the Gulf. That China is carrying out such joint exercises with Gulf states is indeed part of a long term increasing of influence, but is not relevant to the immediate reality.
Russia of course has its hands full in Ukraine. It is allowing its Syrian bases to be used as a conduit following increased Israeli bombing of Syrian airports, but there is not a great deal more that it can do. Erdoğan is genuinely furious at what is happening in Gaza, but Turkey is struggling to find any way to apply pressure, barring linkage to Ukraine shipping issues (which Erdoğan is considering).
That is a very rough and ready tour d’horizon, but the net effect is that I see no current hope for averting the atrocity which is unfolding before our horrified eyes.
Most of our eyes are indeed horrified. The gap between the western political and media elites and their people on this issue is simply enormous. Western leaders have not only failed to restrain Israel, they have almost unanimously egged Netanyahu on, with the continued repetition of the phrase “Israel’s right to self-defence” as justification for the mass bombing, removal and starvation of an entire civilian population.
The western leadership glee in vetoing every attempt at a ceasefire resolution at the UN is astonishing.
Massive demonstrations have been taking place across Europe against this unspeakable massacre, and the knee-jerk reaction of politicians at their isolation from public opinion has been to try to make such shows of dissent illegal. In the UK people have been arrested for displaying Palestinian flags. In Germany pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been entirely banned. Something similar has been attempted in France, with predictable failure.
I have myself attended pro-Palestinian demonstrations in three different countries, and the most striking thing on each occasion was the strong support of passers-by, and the number of people spontaneously coming out to join the demo as it passed.
A wave of racism has been unleashed in the UK and elsewhere. I am astonished by the Islamophobia and racial hatred released online, with no apparent comeback. UK Ministers claim to be alarmed at the “terrorist sympathies” of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, yet it is perfectly legal to call for Palestinians to be exterminated, to compare them to different types of animal and vermin, and suggest they should be driven into the sea. That does not horrify ministers at all.
I am personally now subject to a police investigation for “terrorism” merely for suggesting that the Palestinians too have a right to self-defence and may offer armed resistance to genocide – a right they enjoy beyond doubt in international law. Remember, Israel has formally declared war. Is it the position in British law that the only belief it is legal to hold and express, is that in this war the Palestinians must simply line up quietly to be killed?
The step change in western authoritarianism is likely to be met by blowback.
After 20 years, we had finally come through the vicious cycle of the “War on Terror”, where terrorism, repression and institutionalised Islamophobia all boosted each other across the western world. Outrage at the appalling genocide in Gaza is very likely to result in isolated incidences of, also appalling, Islamist-inspired violence in Western countries, including the UK, particularly because of the UK’s military support of Israel.
That consequential terrorism in itself will be cited by the political elite as justifying their stance. And so the vicious cycle will restart. This will of course be welcome to the agents of the security state, whose power, budgets and prestige will be boosted. Once again we have to be on the lookout for radicalisation and real terrorism, but also for agent-provocateur-led terrorism and for false flag terrorism.
If we descend back into that nightmare again, the direct cause will be elite support for the genocide of the Palestinian people and the Islamophobic narrative. The major cause of terrorism here is Israel, the terrorist apartheid state.
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The core issue here which rarely gets explicitly mentioned is the Jewish supremacism at the heart of Zionism.
It is from this core supremacism that the racism flows, the disproportionality of killing, the valuation of life on one side and the non-valuation of life on the other, the ethnic cleansing, the jaw dropping double standards and hypocrisy, rules for them but not for us… it goes on and on and all roads lead back to the Jewish supremacism at the heart of Zionism.
It is time to call for what it is.
And what we should all realize is that in their eyes we are Palestinians to some degree and shade. We are just not in their immediate way right now like the Palestinians are. They are dangerous psychotic lunatics lost in a supremacist ideology.
Indeed, the racism is at the core of things, a good video summary that should be spread everywhere is this video:
Israel is a Racist, Supremacist State
While Israel works hard to play the victim, it’s actually a racist, Jewish supremacist state that’s been trying to ethnically cleanse Palestine for decades.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JzGzyaUnz0
Israel is built on a racist settler colonialism and still is to this day, it is an obsolete ideology that should have been tossed to the dustbin of history like any other western colonial idea long time ago.
@Mac, if I recall correctly, in Judaism: a Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2014) author Norman Solomon rather avoids directly the question of which denominations he mentions (Reform, Orthodox, Conservative or Reconstructionist) are more or less racist, but apparently only Reconstructionist Judaism recognises female equality, although Conservatives eventually voted on ordination of women in 1983. In the USA, the Orthodox seem aligned to the Republican party. The racisms of German National Socialism, British and other European imperialisms, Imperial Japan and USA (and so on) are rightly called out, but religious racism seems somehow to escape the same public scrutiny, legal sanction and ethical condemnation, even if much older. Why?
“The racisms of German National Socialism, British and other European imperialisms, Imperial Japan and USA (and so on) are rightly called out, but religious racism seems somehow to escape the same public scrutiny, legal sanction and ethical condemnation, even if much older. Why?”
I don’t know if it amounts to an answer, but what leaps out at me is the contradictory phrase “religious racism”. Perhaps it means prejudice against certain people both on grounds of their religion and their (perceived) race.
But it’s a confused term. Almost as confused as the word “Jew”, which can mean so many different things. A race, a religion, a culture, your mother’s race/religion/culture, or perhaps just being an Israeli citizen. It’s very hard (as no doubt intended) to sort out one’s feelings toward people who are so vague and protean. Evidently one can be a Jew and an Israeli citizen without having any Jewish genes and while being an atheist. What’s left, other than a cold-blooded decision to join the winning side?
Hear hear!
One wonders how many Palestinians Israel is allowed to slaughter before the political/media class in the West think and say it’s enough? It’s macabre mathematics. Israel lost, supposedly, 1,500, so I imagine the figure is going to be somewhere between fifteen and twenty thousand Palestinians.
my figures suggest 500 on the israel side at the moment so
10 thousand on the other teams side. this time according to historical ritual.
You can analyse this situation every which way but one thing for sure no good whatsoever will ensue from Israel and their backers’ actions.
The damage is done. 2.3 million people have been terrorised in an exercise in mass mutilation. Nothing, absolutely nothing is gained by such action.
The Nazis tried to eradicate the Jews. They did not succeed, and Israel will not succeed trying to eradicate the Palestinians. The Nazis destroyed Germany. Netanyahu will destroy Israel.
Like the Nazi death camps the Israeli siege and the cutting of gas, electricity, water food and medicine whilst bombing the trapped Palestinian population is no different from what was done in the 1930s.
These atrocities are crimes against humanity, and Israel and its supporters – despite their apparent power – will not win. The Germans did not win and no one wins with behaviours like this.
And so we must all live in the hope that things do not escalate. The world has sufficient weaponry to make WW2 look like a picnic.
Joseph Stalin asked how many divisions the Pope had. An interesting question in today’s world. The Palestinians have none, but others do.
The American colonisers succeeded in reducing the Native Americans to a demoralised remnant. Australia has enjoyed a similar success with its aboriginals. Netanyahu’s calculation may be that he can kill or expel enough Palestinians to achieve the same result. He badly needs a big win of that sort to restore his popularity in Israel, so that he can be feted as a statesman by the west and retire to Florida with his fortune & reputation more or less intact. Given the impoverished status of the Palestinians, no-one seems likely to succeed in holding him to account for genocide.
There is of course a possibility that the disastrous military response on October 7th was not entirely accidental. Israel’s provocations over the past year or two have intensified to the point where some kind of rebellion was inevitable. The attack by Hamas may have been more terrible and costly than Netanyahu expected, but if the desired outcome was to allow him to expel the majority of the Palestinians and annexe both Gaza and the West Bank he would no doubt find 1,400 Israeli deaths a price worth paying,
According to Haaretz there were 300 Israeli deaths not 1,400. And they were mostly soldiers and police. The foundation story that Netanyahu and the West have used to “justify” this Gaza genocide was just one more big lie.
They are reporting 1,300 October 19. Was the tally you saw provisional?
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-19/ty-article-magazine/israels-dead-the-names-of-those-killed-in-hamas-massacres-and-the-israel-hamas-war/0000018b-325c-d450-a3af-7b5cf0210000
That’s just under 800 names and includes a lot of military, when the impression has always been given that the figure is for civilian casualties. Where are the other 500?
there may well have been 1,400 deaths in israel. I wonder how many were caught in cross-fire?
The ones caught in the crossfire are part of the 800.
No surprises there though, the Israelis are the biggest liars on the planet.
I am afraid everyone in power just wants Gaza dealt with. And no one cares too much about a little ethnocide (genocide is probably too strong a term: Israel doesn’t want to eradicate the Palestinians – which is in the definition of genocide – just to displace them) in practice (see Serbska Kraina), as opposed to declarations. I am afraid this is it for Palestinians in Gaza.
It is indeed genocide by the legal definition. Eliminating the Palestinian people is the aim.
“Eliminating the Palestinian people is the aim.”
This is objectively difficult to prove. If we take the pure case of Jews or Gipsies in the Third Reich, there was clearly stated intent. In this case, intent is hard to find evidence of, especially given the fact that a bunch of Palestinians live n Israel.
no it isn’t if they move the palestinians from their homes to the Sinai desert, that is genocide.
No, this is ethnic cleansing. A crime, but a different one. Be cautious with throwing such allegations around, you devalue the term by doing so.
You are wrong, Pooh. There are plenty of statements from Israeli official sources about eliminating the Palestinian people.
But there is no government policy to that end. Words are cheap.
And Palestinian lives are even cheaper, even without a “government policy”.
“a bunch of Palestinians live n Israel.” Actually, a bunch of jews live in Palestine in an area they call Israel.
Israel is an internationally recognized state and member of the UN. Your opinion who lives on whose land is not relevant.
This a discussion on a comment board on a website Vinnie the Pooh, in case you have forgotten, every opinion is relevant. If Stevie Boy’s words are not relevant, by the same token neither are yours.
Have you got any arguments to justify Israel’s “shooting children in a barrel”?
“This is objectively difficult to prove.”
Not at all. If the Israeli government was simply trying to rid Palestine of Palestinians, it wouldn’t be blocking the exits from Gaza.
Again, genocide requires intent – it’s in the definition.
Well, there’s none so blind as them that don’t want to see. No point in reminding this particular wise monkey about the various Israeli politicians and functionaries who have expressed precisely the intent you say is lacking.
Yes, it makes sense that governments resent and fear the spectacle of a non-government body using violence to attain its ends.
Massacring civilians by the ten thousand is their job!
Over the last few decades the combined West has been ‘on a roll’ destroying country after country and killing millions in the process. In Iraq alone… half a Holocaust. Now, we’ve become so used to mass-destruction and mass-slaughter, that we barely raise an eyebrow when Israel brags about carrying out virtual genocide in Gaza.
This is how far we’ve come, how degenerate our political/media leaders really are. Heaven knows we did terrible, horrible, things in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya; but the systematic destruction and killing in Gaza, somehow seems worse and more disgusting.
It’s not a war, because one side, Israel, has modern, sophisticated and very powerful military machine, whilst Hamas is a lightly armed militia, with no airforce, navy, armoured brigades, helicopters and no nukes. There is no equality of arms and no real comparison to Israel.
https://twitter.com/Tmason117/status/1716143635853410355?s=20
An Israel soldier notes that the response time for an Israeli helicopter to assist in such an emergency would have been 5 minutes, (not 7-8 hours); the idea that the Israeli surveillance and military intelligence would have been taken in by guys in trucks and hang gliders was laughable. But it’s tricked Americans out of more billions, shows the wests real concern about human rights and genocides (Holocaust excepted, of course) and has brought the world closer to catastrophe…..
Lots of good insight here Craig, amongst the horror and hopelessness we all feel. I do wonder if the militarist elites have seriously over-reached here – when Iraq was invaded on obviously dishonest pretexts, there was “matter of opinion” plausible deniability, and enough support from UK broadsheet-reading pro-war liberals. But in this case, there seems to be a much increased gap between ordinary people and the coded bloodlust from the talking heads and the media commentariat.
So the UK political elite is building a pressure cooker environment for ordinary people in the West, but expecting it not to explode. The authorities won’t be ignorant of how their aggression will be received, nor how unlikely it is that ordinary anger can be trivially contained by violent policing. At some point I hope their automatic support for Israel would be subject to a policy change in the US, even if only for self-interest – at present the stock of bloodthirsty right-wing politicians is going below zero, when we didn’t think it could drop any further.
If you get a moment, do please do a post on how your funds are doing, and what you are using them for. I appreciate you’re fight on several fronts, but I suspect that if you can show how funds turn into action (ECHR case, Assange, McDonald’s email research, etc) then people might be more willing to donate.
This advert is shocking.
The Zionists seek to dehumanise the oppressed Palestinians, the politicians in the West and the media that supports this dehumanising of the Palestinian people needs to be boycotted.
“The new Israeli advertising campaign for its genocidal war on Gaza explicitly seeks to dehumanise Palestinians and their supporters”
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1716478139398779313#m
‘Beheaded babies’ update:
The IDF claims it has photographic evidence of an unborn baby having been cut out of its dead mother’s womb and beheaded, but can’t show it due to TwitterX’s guidelines:
https://nitter.net/IDF/status/1716462311370633484
Now I’m no expert on new media engagement, but why doesn’t it publish it on its own website then?
In fairness, in its press conference today, it did show footage of plenty of atrocities committed against unarmed civilians during the Hamas/PIJ attacks two weeks ago – but no beheaded babies, as far as I can make out. (I also have no idea why Maj. Gen. Michael Edelstein feels the need to carry an M4 carbine in a press conference – like the Taliban’s mad Uncle Khalil Haqqani. Surely he can’t be that paranoid?)
https://nitter.net/dpatrikarakos/status/1716450830356721842
This repulsive woman called for the Zionists to “finish them off”.
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1716461404230750364#m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley
This is the national security minister of Israel – Itamar Ben Gvir
Israel’s far-right kingmaker joins memorial for racist rabbi
https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-religion-jerusalem-israel-d1500820cd52562638506cc59843b789
Israel appoints far-right politician with a history of inciting racism as national security minister
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/26/1139266678/israel-appoints-far-right-politician-with-a-history-of-inciting-racism-as-nation
Or late this summer he claimed that jews should have more rights than palestinians
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-ben-gvir-racist-comments-no-different-israels-founders
No wonder Netanyahu took him in in his government: Netanyahu: ‘Arab voters are heading to the polling stations in droves’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/17/binyamin-netanyahu-israel-arab-election
Time and time again the far-right government of Israel spew racism, still an alleged left-wing-liberal-social-democratic Labour have no qualms about defending the very same regime.
Yanis Yakofaris urges people to sign a petition (linked to in the article) calling for the warmonger to go :
https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2023/10/22/sign-here-diem25s-petition-time-for-europes-greatest-liability-mrs-ursula-von-der-leyen-to-go/
It doesn’t actually demand that only EU citizens sign it, so even Brexiteers (those with any sense of decency and humanity, anyway) should be able to get behind this one.
Trouble is, most of the MEPs are just like her.
Pretty clear from when we (UK) were members that Europeans don’t take the parliament elections seriously enough. If she’s claiming powers beyond her remit, they probably should. Though, if Europeans elected lots of people like Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, the elites would cry foul, claiming Russia somehow manipulated everyone.
Centrists are fair-weather friends of democracy.
“The only sane position is to call for an end to the killing, for humanitarian aid and for a ceasefire. Seeing leaders reject peace – the very thing the European Union was built to foster and protect – shatters trust”
Above is a quote from an article in The Irish Times today.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2023/10/23/ursula-von-der-leyens-solo-run-on-israel-has-damaged-the-eu-particularly-among-the-young/
“Why did Ursula von der Leyen think it appropriate to fly to Israel and stand shoulder to shoulder with politicians who are saying the most appalling things about Palestinians? Von der Leyen does not have a remit to unilaterally represent the European Union on foreign policy. That is something that is decided by the leaders of the EU’s 27 countries. It is not her mandate. Von der Leyen is the president of the European Commission. She is not the king of Europe.”
The article delves into how Von Der Leyen is trashing the European Union’s reputation.
That attack on von der Leyen by Una Mulally is utterly damning, published as it is in the leading newspaper in what is probably the EU’s most supportive member state. The writer pulls no punches: “This war – which is actually a horrific terrorist attack met with untethered, murderous and vengeful state-sanctioned slaughter….”
Hats off to The Irish Times for publishing a piece thst would not have seen the light of day in the cowardly MSM of the UK or USA.
” Von der Leyen is the president of the European Commission. She is not the king of Europe.”
Didn’t the memo reach Ireland? She is the Fuehrerin. Her every word is law.
I wonder if Erdogan’s move today to have the Turkish Parliament vote about letting my country Sweden into NATO has anything to do with the situation in Israel and Gaza. If “Turkey is struggling to find any way to apply pressure”, this could be a way of strengthening its hand vis-à-vis the western community.
You don’t get to be an MP in the UK without being wholly owned.
Been so for a long time.
Wise words from Mr Kennard.
“Going forward we must be braver.
First, we need to talk about Zionism, the ethnoreligious supremacist ideology that is root cause of the horrors in Palestine.
Second, we need to talk about the Israel lobby, the root cause of our govt’s unflinching support for this genocide”
https://nitter.net/kennardmatt/status/1716507179786584427#m
Third we need to talk about Jeffrey Epstein and the global kompromat paedo blackmail operation, glaringly operated by Israel and no doubt with the complete slavish consent of our leaders in the West. Gosh I wonder why…
Even the shia-muslims in Iraq are too afraid to finally kick the americans out when they have great reason. What are they afraid of?
Pentagon chief speaks with Iraq’s prime minister
Austin welcomed al-Sudani’s “commitment to protect US forces who are in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government”, the Pentagon said in a statement.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/22/israel-hamas-war-gazas-al-quds-hospital-faces-threat-of-israeli-bombing
In the endless hypocrisy/comparisons, is it not interesting by the way that when defenseless people in Gaza stay and try to protect their land, they are labeled some religious fanatics that actually want to die. This is the argument we hear all the time, people are drying in Gaza because this is what the moooslems want.
But when forced conscripts in Ukraine are fighting – oh they are so brave, showing so much gusto and heroism fighting for their land against the occupier! Sigh.
And many apparently see this hypocrisy, but they need to raise their voice to say such thing publicly and not only in private meetings:
EU leaders accused of ‘hypocrisy’ at peace summit – FT
The bloc’s representatives were reportedly slammed for treating Israel differently to Russia
https://swentr.site/news/585586-cairo-peace-summit-eu-hypocrisy/
The Iraqi PM is only appointed with the approval of the Americans, a representative of the embassy present in the room during the selection. But there have been a good number of attacks on US installations, by militia members. Classic case of popular hostility and government inaction. The consequence here as elsewhere is potential destabilisation of the government, the danger everywhere in the Arab/Muslim world.
“Even the shia-muslims in Iraq are too afraid to finally kick the americans out when they have great reason. What are they afraid of?”
The wealthy and powerful are afraid of having their “subsidies” cut off and losing their retirement plans.
Everyone else is afraid of a visit from the B-52s.
https://cencio4.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/if-you-dont-come-to-democracy.jpg
Would he have been suspended if he shouted free Ukraine? I doubt it.
The dis-united kingdom is quickly becoming a more fascist like entity.
“Tube driver who led ‘free Palestine’ chant on London Underground train suspended, TfL says”
https://nitter.net/SkyNews/status/1716505249635004835#m
I was pleased to hear that a good number of the public joined in the chant.
The Zionist occupying force in Palestine is killing in the West Bank as well.
https://imemc.org/article/its-not-just-gaza-israel-is-also-killing-scores-in-the-west-bank/
Jeremy Corbyn makes a valid point, what kind of people wouldn’t push for a ceasefire, before the next GE comes around a list of those MPs who supported the genocide should be published online so that decent folk will know in advance who NOT to vote for.
“With every passing minute, another human being in Gaza is killed.
Why did the Prime Minister instruct our representatives at the UN not to support a ceasefire?”
https://nitter.net/jeremycorbyn/status/1716516731730977105#m
What kind of people wouldn’t push for the right of the people of the only Jewish country on the planet to defend themselvesf?
tdf
Israel isn’t defending itself against terrorists now, this is way beyond that excuse.
Terrorists are typically identified, watched via surveillance drone(s) or human int. sources, and when isolated targeted with precision air strikes. Which Israel has done in the past, albeit in ways that don’t always limit bystander casualties.
What’s happening now is the systematic destruction of Northern Gaza, with a callous disregard for human life. And the ultimate aim is to take more land under the guise of defending itself.
Israel has some of the best surveillance apparatus on the planet. They record / decrypt Syrian armed forces’ encrypted chatter. So border fence tech-limited Hamas wouldn’t be a match.
Goose
What you say is indisputable. This site has its share of conspiracy theorists, and some of comment does have the whiff of anti-semitism to it, but we have the worst possible Israeli government, being publicly supported by almost all Western governments, taking their vengeance on people who have been victims of oppression for decades and who have no effective means of protecting themselves.
Ian, your comment has more than a whiff of key establishment smear tactics of the past decade or so.
What is so special about the “only Jewish country on the planet” that they have the right to defend themselves whilst others don’t?
About time I say, will Sunak and his Zionist buddies ignore this man’s request? I think they will.
“The Archbishop of Canterbury has just called for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire and an end to Israeli bombing of civilians. This may be seen as a severe reprimand from the leader of the national church to Rishi Sunak.”
https://nitter.net/OborneTweets/status/1716078224629694618#m
Why should Sunak care? he’s not a Christian. For that matter, why should he care about the Palestinians? As far as Hinduism goes, they and all the other non-Hindus in the world are somewhere below the Untouchables.
“Why should Sunak care? he’s not a Christian”.
Nor is anyone who counts in the West. Their actions are incompatible with Christianity or any other decent religion.
“I am personally now subject to a police investigation for “terrorism” merely for suggesting that the Palestinians too have a right to self-defence and may offer armed resistance to genocide – a right they enjoy beyond doubt in international law.”
That’s not what you claimed on your Twitter account.
As a supporter of butchering, starving and dehydrating thousands of children you should pipe down.
I believe that you do know what you are talking about. That is why I follow your website. You provide information and context that helps me better understand this, at times, grim world we inhabit.
Craig Murray
I heard a voice so soft and kind
A hand reached out to hold and bind
Behold the brave who dare to speak
To defend the hurt and the weak
Time to rise and look around
They captured us without a sound
This voice that speaks to me and you
About a bloody corporate coup
Will you stand with me tonight?
In what might be our finale plight
The voice so soft and kind replies
Oh yes, oh yes we will arise
Jack, “Even the shia-muslims in Iraq are too afraid to finally kick the americans out when they have great reason. What are they afraid of?”
What they are afraid of is when the US set up an Iraqi fund after the Iraqi war, all the receipts for the sales of oil and gas [which is the Iraqi people’s money] the US made sure all those funds nearly 100 billion dollars was deposited in the US Federal reserve. Several years ago [during Trump’s Presidency] The Iraqi government asked the US troops to leave and tried to do deals with the Chinese government i.e. Electrify the whole of Baghdad and other oil deals. Trump threatened the Iraqis and said the monthly allowances paid by the US to pay for the general running of Iraq would be withheld. Those threats apply today.
I picked up a well researched book in my local second hand bookshop by the US historian Alan R. Taylor (sadly now deceased) titled The Prelude to Israel. It is about 120 pages in clear English including footnotes and was first published in 1959. Curiously given the vast reach and scope of the internet there is very little reference to him or his work online. As I am not a historian could I ask the more educated contributors to the comments section if his research has been de-bunked ?
Great Post Craig Thank you.. I had no Idea about the Qatar dealings..
Last night I watched a bit of George Galloway talking about your being detained at Glasgow airport. Shocking.
Imagine if after a year and a half at Actual war – Kiev looked like Gaza –
https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/weekly-briefing-israels-vengeance-spreads-fear-in-washington/?
Can I just point out that Biden DIDN’T say that he had seen pictures of beheaded children, but said that he had seen pictures ‘of terrorists beheading children’, which of course implies that the ‘terrorists’ filmed themselves doing it (in the first place), and then posted it/them on social media or somewhere-or-other (in the second place). And the ‘retraction’ – ludicrous as it was – didn’t retract THAT particular element of what he said anyway, and I expect there are tens of millions of people who didn’t get to hear about the retraction.
So I just did a search on the Sun’s website and Daily Mail’s website and Daily Express’s website re >biden beheading retraction< and it doesn't look as if any of them covered the retraction.
And I think we can be pretty certain that Biden and Co planned it all that way – ie to say what he said, and then to later make the retraction.
NB No criticism intended, but even the Electronic Intifada missed the specifics, and headlined their retraction article 'Biden lied about seeing photos of beheaded Israeli children'.
There is a tension (contradiction) between what two USAmerican/NATO allies want, which is the writing of an indictable offence of state terrorism into international law. Israel will be against this, but Ukraine is currently in favour, as are some other states.
Describing New, Emerging Threats, Speakers Deliberate over Concluding Convention on International Terrorism, as Legal Committee Begins Seventy-Eighth Session (2023-10-02)
Reports that “a full scale Israeli ground offensive against the West Bank and Gaza has just begun” involving tanks and “thousands of ground troops.”
@AussieCossack https://t.me/AussieCossack/10326,
reposted on https://t.me/TheRealPolitick/2163 and https://t.me/Slavyangrad/70090
Eyes now shift to Hezbollah and Iran, both of whom said they would respond to a ground invasion of Gaza. And now it seems it is not just Gaza that is being invaded, but also the West Bank.
More and more like 1914.
Nothing about such a ground offensive in today’s media. I guess it was a false alarm.
Israel has been terrorising the Palestinians for years. Read Amnesty International. Israel and occupied Palestine Territories 2022
If Netanyahu succeeds in his stated aim of destroying Hamas, he’ll only be destroying that which he built up as a means of dividing Palestinians. Haaretz has reported him as telling his cabinet colleagues that dividing power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is ideal for preventing progress on two-states. When Abbas stopped funding Hamas, Netanyahu made sure it continued, albeit indirectly.
That’s the bit western politicians are leaving out. Hamas was a part of Netanyahu’s ‘divide & conquer’ grand strategy.
No doubt you’re right about that being the bit western politicians are leaving out, but I just happened to catch the last minute or so of Unspun World with John Simpson a few nights ago, and much to my surprise that’s exactly what he said to finish the program.
Anyway, could this be a death sentence for the rest of the hostages. Netanyahu obviously couldn’t care less. And thousands more!
It CAN’T be happening because there’s absolutely nothing about it on Al Jazeera. Or BBC News 24.
Just came across the following from a week ago which I completely missed:
‘6,000 prisoners must be freed in exchange for hostages in Gaza, says Hamas official’
A Hamas official has demanded 6,000 Palestinian men and women detained in Israel’s jails be released in exchange for hostages in Gaza.
The Israeli military said on Monday that 199 captives were being held in the besieged territory – a higher figure than previously estimated.
Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’ diaspora office, said the hostages include high-ranking officers from the Israeli Defence Forces’ Gaza Division, which is responsible for patrolling around the Gaza Strip.
It comes as another Hamas official told Sky News he “does not know” how many hostages are still alive.
Dr Basem Naim, Hamas’s head of political and international relations, told Sky News: “I have no idea because it is impossible under this heavy bombardment – the communications are totally cut.”
He also said the ruling Palestinian militant group in Gaza was ready to release civilian hostages when “aggression against our people is stopped”.
“At the time the aggression stops, we are ready to release the civilian hostages,” he said.
https://news.sky.com/story/impossible-to-know-how-many-israeli-hostages-are-still-alive-says-hamas-official-12985674
Apparently quite a few hostages have already been killed by Israeli bombardment.
You say “I am personally now subject to a police investigation for “terrorism” merely for suggesting that the Palestinians too have a right to self-defence”
Why am I not surprised?
It’s just a few days ago that the thought occurred to me that the UK has become so authoritarian that if I were there (I’m not) it would be a matter of shame to go to my grave without having been arrested at least once. Of course, not for anything that a reasonable person would regard as reprehensible.
But you have already done your turn – the legal aspects of which I have written about at length elsewhere.
Best of luck
This is the type of resistance Hezbollah, Syria, Iran should focus on rather than just throw infeffective rockets to the middle of nowhere.
1983 Beirut barracks bombings -The attack killed 307 people: 241 U.S. and 58 French military personnel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombings
All these US military bases in the middle east are sitting ducks.
In other news Hamas slam the inaction by the arab states:
Haniyeh: No security for occupying criminals, until our people enjoy security, freedom
He severely criticized the leaders of the Arab and Islamic countries for their inaction in the face of Israel’s crimes, saying, “How much blood and massacres is needed in order for you to become angry and take a historical stand in the face of the carnage of children, women and the elderly in Gaza?”
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/10/24/713306/Palestine-Israel-Hamas-Haniyeh-Gaza-war
And the western leaders keep flocking to Israel just like some photo-op PR stunt for the genocidal regime…unbelivable.
Macron expresses solidarity with Israel
The French president said “what happened will never be forgotten”, in reference to Hamas’s assault on Israel on October 7.
“I am here to express our solidarity,” he said during a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/23/israel-hamas-war-live-hundreds-killed-israeli-strikes-gaza
It is so disgusting…
Al jazeera report that another of 140 palestinians killed past hours.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/23/israel-hamas-war-live-hundreds-killed-israeli-strikes-gaza
Jack.
Quite a few dual nationals among those taken hostage, which is somewhat surprising given the random nature of those taken. They include French Israelis. This dual citizenship problem is a huge scandal, it props up occupation and discriminatory practices. British, US; French, German etc.. go serve in the IDF, doing god knows what to Palestinians: killings, rifle beatings…with no issues as many native Israelis and senior people within the IDF view Palestinians as subhuman scum.
Then these dual nationals come home to their birth countries as if nothing happened. Compare this to Muslims who fight abroad eg. against Assad, they’re classed as terrorists & stripped of citizenship.
Israel is clearly losing a whole younger western generation who see these contradictions and western govt hypocrisy, this is happening despite Israel’s pinkwashing efforts, also known as rainbow-washing.
If the left want to harden their positions in response to Israel’s excessive bombing, move to full right of return for ALL displaced Palestinians.