There have been decades of photos of dead Palestinian women and children, and kids being beaten, humilated and imprisoned by Israeli soldiers. The historic killing rate in this “conflict” has been fairly consistent at about 40:1.
None of this ever caused more than a raised eyebrow and a mild tut-tut from the western “liberal” Establishment. I can’t recall camera crews ever pursuing any zionist politicians down the street demanding that they use the word “condemn” of the latest Israeli atrocity.
The paroxysm of hatred in the political and media class, unleashed by a single day of the boot being on the other foot is instructive. It is particularly instructive in their near complete unanimity – what percentage of the discussion on broadcast TV or radio have you heard this last 48 hours given over to Palestinian or pro-Palestinian voices?
Yet it is very plain from social media that the public is by no means as unanimous in their support of Israel as are the political and media class.
But then the public are not bought and paid for.
Asymmetric warfare tends to be vile. Oppressed and colonised peoples don’t have the luxury of lining up soldiers in neatly pressed uniforms and polished boots, to face off against the opposing army in an equality of arms.
A colonised and oppressed people tends, given the chance, to mirror the atrocities perpetrated on them by their oppressor.
This of course feeds in, always, to the propaganda of the Imperialist. A paroxysm of resistance by the oppressed always ends up portrayed by the Imperialist as evidence of the bestiality of the colonised people and in itself justifying the “civilising mission” of the coloniser.
Thus the “Indian Mutiny” became a Victorian tale of rape and murder of British women and of the Black Hole of Calcutta. Thus the Mau Mau were evil butchers, and the IRA were terrorists, which is the modern term of art for those resisting evil and foreign rule.
The Israeli Ambassador to the UN yesterday described the Hamas fighters as “animal like”. This of course is not true. They are people, but people who have been crazed by unbearable levels of injustice and oppression.
I am extremely sorry for all those who die, as in all wars. I am sorry even for the deaths of individual Israeli soldiers, and more so for all the innocents who died and are now dying.
But I will not condemn Hamas.
For this I do not even need to delve into the backstory of Hamas’ initial sponsoring by Israel to split Fatah. They have grown well past that. I do not condemn Hamas because the resistance of the Palestinian people is a reflex response to their slow genocide.
Yes it is an inchoate and violent response. Of course I wish it did not have innocent victims.
The people I do condemn are the political class internationally who, with one voice, put out statements supporting “Israel’s right to self-defence”. A right they grant to the oppressor but deny to the oppressed.
Those are the people who need to be condemned.
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An insightful conversation with Daniel Levy on the BBC. You can be sure he won’t be invited again. At least the interviewer is not trying to interrupt him, which is refreshing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1LdYV6YX0ks
“Can you really keep a straight face when you say that?”, Levy asks the presenter.
The BBC has already deleted the video from its online platform. Available only on youtube.
The Daniel Levy interview must have been one of those AI generated ones. Totally absent any record of it on the BBC website. Quite extraordinary.
The Jerusalem post reports:
Health Minister Moshe Arbel issued a directive to the public health system in Israel to refuse to treat captured terrorists on Wednesday afternoon.
https://m.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-767787
I understand they themselves decide who is a terrorist?
And yet, they were actively treating ISIS wounded by special arrangement, a convention that those with a functioning memory will recall led to the downfall, albeit temporary, or our own Pretty Awful as she drew attention to the deal when she went off piste.
Both sides in this dispute are going to try and outdo each other in terms of righteous fury, and the suspending of any restraint. Hopefully it will lead after a while to the public subjecting both parties to a more critical light. Sadly, and given the example of the media coverage of the Ukraine of late, that may take some time.
I would suggest however that the latest stories of baby mutilation may be a sign that the public reaction, or at least worrying elements of the same, have created some unease in the halls of governance here in the UK? Most intriguing was the revelation that Badenoch has memo’d Chief Constables about the possibility of charging those displaying Palestinian flags under the terrorism laws. Clearly some of our directors have got the wind up.
Honesty and rational discussion doesn’t stand a chance in the UK, particularly when, apparently, No. 10 Downing Street is flying the Israeli flag – a sure sign of a successful coup by enemy forces.
Re. the disgusting lies about Dead Babies:
https://thegrayzone.com/2023/10/11/beheaded-israeli-babies-settler-wipe-out-palestinian/
Those things have become much harder to decide. For Hamas to run around killing civilians more or less at random is a war crime, we are told. (Although there is legally no war, and cannot be within the borders of Israel and Gaza, where all matters are administered by the Israeli government).
But for an air force pilot (Israeli, British, French, German, US…) to fly over and drop bombs or fire rockets that kill far more civilians – that’s fine. Those nations could hardly admit otherwise without admitting the guilt of, for instance, the British-US mass bombing of Germany and Japan during WW2, which was deliberately intended to kill tens or hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Let’s not forget that since 1945 Western armed forces have murdered literally millions of civilians in Korea, South-East Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria… and on and on and on. Well over 10 million, in fact, which is far more than the biggest estimates for the Holocaust.
It’s been said that the suicide bomber is the poor man’s air force, and with justice – to which I would add that the suicide bomber shows far more courage and belief in the rightness of his cause than the paid professional who flies over and drops his bombs.
Similarly with the question of who is a “terrorist”. Most acts of war are terrorism: they apply pain and fear in the hope that the victims will stop resisting and submit. War is simply terrorism on a vast scale. As Voltaire remarked, “It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers to the sound of trumpets”. (It’s more jet engines nowadays than trumpets, but the principle is the same).
Perhaps the Hamas fighters are “terrorists” because they do not wear a proper uniform? That’s a tangled issue too. Maybe the jet pilots wear uniform; maybe not. Who could tell? Looking at videos of the fighting in Ukraine (of which we have seen all to much) what strikes one is how scruffy the soldiers look. Perhaps they are in uniform, but they don’t look very smart. Steel helmets have been replaced by woolly caps.
As for the killing of “innocent civilians” – well maybe, maybe not. Is a military jet pilot a legitimate target when he is sprawled by a swimming pool, drink in hand, clad only in bathing trunks? If not, why not? Is a military reservist a legitimate target when she is dressed to kill at a nightclub? If not, why not? According to reports, Hamas shot a number of Israeli soldiers lying in bed. It sounds horrible, but from a military point of view it is just efficient. Maybe Conan Doyle’s Sir Nigel, back in the 14th century, would have awoken them with a cup of mulled wine, bidden them dress and put on armour, and then jousted with them on scrupulously fair terms. But he would still have done his level best to kill them.
Israel has driven the Palestinians off their land and stolen their property. It has confined them by force to small, poor areas, and often kills them if they try to escape. If you treat a dog that way for a while, it will be dangerous when it escapes. People should be treated better than dogs, but if you treat them worse they can be more dangerous. The blame for all this killing lies squarely on the shoulders of those who created the conditions for it: those who proclaimed and maintain the state of Israel, and the governments of other nations who encouraged, aided and abetted them
Don’t blame the victims when they resort to the only methods that have ever worked in the past.
Well said Tom. I often think ‘what would I do in a similar situation?’, ‘could I be so “brave”?’.
Re. “According to reports, Hamas shot a number of Israeli soldiers lying in bed. It sounds horrible”
However, juxtapose this horrible event with this very similar case:
https://www.declassifieduk.org/whitehalls-cover-up-of-sas-killings-in-afghanistan/
Enemies are enemies, and in war or similar “conflicts” enemies must be killed. Otherwise they kill you, and/or your comrades and civilians.
For decades we have been hearing how practically all Israelis are either in the armed forces or the reserves or the special forces or the intelligence services…
If a soldier out of uniform, relaxing, is a legal target – which he is – then how about reservists? National Guard? All potentially armed and dangerous. From what I have been told, almost every Swiss citizen is a trained reservist. Even if in pyjamas or a bikini, doesn’t that make them eligible targets? In time of war, of course. But while killing at least 10 million foreigners since 1945, the USA and the UK have not declared war once!
So does that mean every single one of those dead people was killed “illegally”? It’s our own governments that have quite deliberately confused the laws and rules until there can be no certainty about anything. Then their tame media tell everyone what they must and must not believe.
” It’s our own governments that have quite deliberately confused the laws and rules until there can be no certainty about anything. ”
It’s fairly simple: when we are doing it, it’s legal, when our enemies are doing it, it’s illegal. Rules are always made to suit the people making them.
Yes, Bayard. And our enemies, of course, are anyone we designate as such. For example anyone who might be able to defend themselves against us is “an existential threat”.
” And our enemies, of course, are anyone we designate as such. ”
To be precise, if “we” are the people, our enemies are those that our masters designate for us. It is most important that the people can’t be left to choose their enemies: they might realise that they are not so very far away after all.
Of course of course Mr Zelensky supports what Israel is doing and even want to make a tour there, all to get some attention for himself.
Scoop: Zelensky asks to visit Israel in show of solidarity
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/11/zelensky-israel-hamas-war-gaza-visit-netanyahu
What a psychopath: not only that he give support to Israel but that he cannot stand that no one talks about Ukraine as much anymore and crave the limelight through the most cynical way.
May also be domestic politicking. He knows many Ukrainians view the Israeli government as a profound ideological ally.
https://twitter.com/Trollstoy88/status/1711132543561380151
Ukraine has one of Europe’s largest Jewish populations and 500,000 Ukrainians are said to live in Israel. Israel has provided a lot of support to Ukraine since the invasion short of supplying actual weapons.
Its more likely that Israel has provided as little support for Ukraine as it could get away with ? It might be the case that whilst Jewish people in the Ukraine and Israel share a religion, their cultural outlook is very different ? All the more so when it comes to the likes of Blinken and Nuland.
It would also be worth looking up the former head of Shin Bet’s publicly expressed views on Zelensky. Some record of his speech may yet exist outside of the memory hole. 🙂
5 hundred thousand, as many as that? Sounds like a lot of people somehow survived the Holocaust.
Reza.
The Zionists have a long sordid history of courting the far right.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-long-supported-europe-anti-semitic-extremists/285906/
Indeed they are intensely relaxed to say the least about genuine antisemites.
Well of course, there’s nothing better suited to getting money out of rich ladies in Finchley, Hendon, and Bushey, than the ghost of Moustache Man? And the field is very crowded these days with the plethora of newish orgs competing with the more conservative Board of Deputies.
When have the zionists not ever been the actual far right ? They were killing Jews in the 1940s FFS.
The Stern Gang (Lehi) founded by Avraham Stern saw a future Jewish State being modelled upon the example of Fascist Italy. And it is said that they were willing for an alliance with Nazi Germany if it would help their aims. Probably the same crowd that Adolf Eichmann wanted to do a deal with during his late 30’s trip to the Holy Land, before being booted out by the British.
Princess of the Garden issuing moral clarity…”cutting off men, women, children of water, electricity and heating with winter coming – these are acts of pure terror”.
Ursula von der Leyen 19.10.2022
https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1582630271287021570
Clearly this doesn’t apply when it’s Israel.
What is worse is that no journalist or politician is pointing out this hypocrisy that goes on right in front of us. It is like these unelected people ruling europe are untouchable, they are like dictators – or in van der Leyen’s case a Führer, they reject interviews, no journalist can even get physically close to approach her with critical questions.
The only person in the european parliament with courage seems to be MEP Clare Daly.
In response to van Der Leyen’s brazen support for Israel, Daly responded:
Who do you think you are? You’re unelected, and have no authority to determine EU foreign policy, which is set by @EUCouncil
. Europe does NOT “stand with Israel.” We stand for peace. You do not speak for us. If you’ve nothing constructive to say, and you clearly don’t, shut up.
https://twitter.com/ClareDalyMEP/status/1710973422937710902?s=20
https://swentr.site/news/584663-israel-warmongering-us-brussels/
Netanyahu may be grinning ear to ear at the opportunity for wreak genocidal destruction, but I’d wager that behind the scenes western diplomats and leaders are quietly cautioning Israel not to do something they’ll regret.
The US knows many of its allies in the region, maintaining effective dictatorships, with huge public antipathy for Israel, are very vulnerable indeed. Jordan, for example, has had no choice but to allow huge protests in support of Palestine. Egypt could see strife with el-Sisi toppled like Anwar Sadat. MBS knows a vast majority of Saudis will be appalled if anything resembling a genocidal campaign takes place in Gaza.
The EU will also lose all right to criticise Russia’s use of force again civilian infrastructure if they are seen to support a genocidal campaign being waged by Israel. It’ll also weaken Iran’s reformist opposition voices, as Iranian public opinion hardens against Israel. Turkey – a similar situation. Sometimes less is more.
There’s also the terrorism aspect in Europe to be concerned about, disproportionate, excessive Israeli action will likely act as a shot in the arm to every western Jihadist.
Netanyahu may be grinning ear to ear at the opportunity to wreak genocidal destruction.* typo
She is unfailingly courageous. But you have to be just to speak incontrovertible truths in that environment. It has become a revolutionary act in Brussels. Unfortunately there are no Clare Dalys or Mick Wallaces at all in Westminster.
I think Galloway when an MP was the closest we’ve had. Of course, there was also Tony Benn and Corbyn, more polite versions, but Galloway wasn’t afraid of offending.
The UK establishment are so myopic in wanting snuff out such voices, which act as a democratic relief valve for many communities’ frustrations at the one-sided nature of the coverage.
I don’t know how Israel have managed to wrap so many western politicians around their fingers; get resistance movements proscribed etc.. Remember the same people who described the ANC as terrorists later attended Mandela’s funeral, as if it never happened. So we all know the hypocrisy they’re capable of.
They even had the audacity to erect a statue of Mandela in Parliament Square, implying he embodied their values!
“What is worse is that no journalist or politician is pointing out this hypocrisy that goes on right in front of us”.
Money talks, in one way or another. Who knew? I am shocked – shocked!
“The story about babies at Kfar Aza is a LIE.
“Has any politician in a NATO country dared to mention this yet? Or is absolutely every legislator in every such country toeing the line?”
One last time, in the hope that it sticks. (Repetition is known to assist learning). Then I promise to desist.
“It often happens that, if a lie be believed only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no further occasion for it”.
– Jonathan Swift, “The Examiner”, 1715.
Zionist loving POTUS Biden saying at a press conference that he thought he’d never see the day when babies were beheaded in Israel, Biden claims he saw pictures of the beheadings.
A few moment later and; “A White House spokesperson has confirmed that Joe Biden has, in fact, NOT seen pictures of beheaded babies, as he implied during his speech.”
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1712351020590731589#m
Meanwhile Popstar Justin Bieber posts the words “Praying for Israel” over a picture of what looks like a flattened Gaza.
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1712177174554280354#m
English tv this morning, some sort of tv show allowed ex-Zionist sniper Yuri Geller to rant and rave, in a link to him standing on a roof in occupied (Ahuzat Bayit) now Tel Aviv, where the ex-sniper called for the utter destruction of Hamas.
Appalling, that the main spreader of disinformation in this case is the President of the US himself.
I guess when you have an agenda, verification takes a backseat to pushing propaganda.
Journalists be like:
– we were able to destroy 10% of cancer cells in the tail of a laboratory rat
– Scientist defeated cancer!
– I didn’t cure cancer, but I progressed in research and became closer to defeating cancer in the future
– Scientist travels through time!
– oh, fuck you
– Scientist raped journalist!
Despite the popular media and politicians’ views, there is no such thing as ‘rules of engagement’ war or battle.
Wars cannot be pleasantly defined – ‘All is fair (or unfair) in war, and history tells us that.
The idea of a polite conflict has never troubled the US, the Israelis, or the UK.
I’m sure that ‘atrocities’ were committed by the UK and the US in the 2nd World War – it was do or die.
We certainly know what the Germans did, because they lost.
We know what the US did in Iraq and other countries – as they won.
The only reason for all these catchphrases in the West is to justify atrocities of their own (past and present). And as usual
the media will present these vicious battles/invasions as Lovely Democracy v Barbarians.
That way the uninformed consumers of the Western output can make sense of it only emotionally and not politically.
There is no doubt that after 75-plus years post-war, and the years that preceded those years, are ultimately down to the US and their acolytes, as cynically they have done very little to promote peace and everything to create war at home and abroad.
Class war in the West and crossing off their things-to-do list those nations who are “Ag’in us”.
For the intrepid reporters stood in the safety of Jerusalem, the world is not for the US or Israel. In fact they have and are opting out of the Old World and opting into the BRICS coalition.
The world has changed tremendously and all this is a result of the changes.
China and Russia are still the main targets, and the US and its followers will do all that they can to stop the BRICs.
Israel and Palestine are only two of the many pots being stirred in this aim – Ukraine-Russia is another.
I have just heard the most important explanation of the Palestine situation this century – perhaps ever. I strongly recommend that everyone listens to Alastair Crooke talking with Alexander Mercouris and Glenn Diesen on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IKCo3MVW1o&t=2100s
The very first 15-20 minutes contain the key information. Note that Mr Crooke, who knows about these things, confirms that 800 or so Israelis did burst into the Al-Aqsa mosque last week. He suggests that this was the event that precipitated the Hamas breakout, which no doubt had been prepared for years. The fact that the operation was entitled “Al-Aqsa Storm” or “Al-Aqsa Flood” supports that interpretation.
If Mr Crooke is right, Israel may soon succeed in uniting every Muslim in the world against it – an astonishing feat. Palestinians and Saudis, Iranians and Pakistanis, Indonesians and Syrians, Egyptians and Tunisians, Hamas and Hezbollah and even ISIS. And presumably Mr Kadirov and his friends.
“If Mr Crooke is right, Israel may soon succeed in uniting every Muslim in the world against it”
Not just Muslims… I’m sure many people from other faiths will be appalled to see Gaza razed to the ground and the population just left to rot, starve or bleed to death.
@Tom – observing that there was a provocation at Al Aqsa last week isn’t news.
I’d urge you to read up about the excavations at that site. The Israeli cabinet has been holding weekly cabinet meetings in tunnels there. That sounds like a crazy assertion…until you realise it’s true.
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2023/5/22/whats-driving-israeli-excavations-under-al-aqsa-mosque
Tomorrow is Friday. It won’t surprise me if the Zionists stage a much bigger provocation at afternoon prayer time tomorrow, but we shall see.
It’s certainly unlikely they will allow the usual 150,000 Muslims to attend prayers at Al-Aqsa. If they allow only older men in, that won’t be the first time, but given that they’re screaming the line that Palestinians Chop Up Babiest, don’t be surprised if they go further. It’s all about hatred – hatred that dehumanises a whole people, which as we know can tend towards genocide.
They’d love to “cleanse” East Jerusalem and the West Bank as well as Gaza. The pattern of accommodation construction and also the course of the Wall suggest that they’re going to give it a go in Jerusalem. The pnly question is when.
“@Tom – observing that there was a provocation at Al Aqsa last week isn’t news”.
True, but since then I have seen spirited and apparently positive statements that it never happened. Unfortunately I did not take note of the source(s). I think it may have been an American fellow – one of the retired colonels maybe. While those guys are quite reliable about war and weapons, and maybe somewhat about Russia, they probably don’t know much first-hand about Israel.
Might have been UK Column, which I have followed regularly since the Covid fraud began in early 2020. One of their presenters had been in Israel, and gave what seemed a remarkably one-sided account yesterday. It may have been he who asserted that there had been no incursion at Al-Aqsa Mosque. (I wrote to ask when we would get his corresponding report from Gaza – knowing of course that he had not gone there, and probably never will).
As disinformation (and innocent misinformation) becomes ubiquitous, we increasingly have to deal with the situation of sources who may be expert and even somewhat reliable in some spheres, but unfortunately uninformed and biased in others. Ideally one would never rely on official or mainstream media sources for anything, but that’s not always possible.
Correction: the Israeli cabinet has met at least once in a tunnel under Al Aqsa, which they did earlier this year in a provocation. I’m not sure how many times they’ve met there – possibly “only” once.
Bernard at Moonofalabama covered this story:
“More than 800 Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday morning under the protection of Israeli forces.
Rabbis, heads of settlement associations, and far-right university lecturers were among 832 people who forced their way into the religious site compound, a source in the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem told The New Arab’s Arabic sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
Israeli forces imposed severe restrictions on Muslim worshippers entering Al-Aqsa and those under 60 were prevented from accessing the site.
It comes during the Jewish religious holiday of Sukkot, which started on 29 September and ends on Friday. The holiday has seen thousands of Israeli extremists storm the Al-Aqsa compound, with almost 1,500 entering the site on Monday.
etc.”
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/10/palestine-strikes-back.html#more
In the past decades on the indie platform ZNet there was a lot to be read about Palestine/Israel.
I went back to look up the old articles by Stephen Shalom who always wrote knowingly about Palestine/Israel.
Shalom today is among those supporting arms deliveries to Ukraine and neglecting any legitimacy to RU claims.
But the info on Palestine that he gave in the past still stands.
Its important to go back so one will see that nothing has changed for Palestinians. It in fact has only become worse.
This e.g. is from 2002:
“The Crisis in Palestine”
Stephen Shalom, April 2nd 2002
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-crisis-in-palestine-by-stephen1-shalom-1/
a few excerpts:
“(…)
Some Palestinians have turned to terrorism as their answer. Targeting civilians is immoral and it is likely to be extremely counter-productive as well. But it is not hard to understand the rage that motivates the suicide bombers. As Carl W. Ford, Jr., the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, testified this past February 6:
“Many who join groups that practice terrorism face a life of joblessness and poverty. Often living under oppressive governments with little prospect of a better life, young people — especially those whose exposure to education has made them even more frustrated and embittered — are prone to seek a way out, perhaps by attempting to migrate, perhaps by joining a movement that promises change through violence, perhaps by immersing themselves in religion. When unemployment hovers around 40% and nearly 45% of the population is under the age of 15 (as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip), people find it difficult to wait for a brighter future.”
And this quote may understate the Palestinian unemployment rate; the Palestinian Authority puts it at 51 percent (see PECDAR, People Under Siege: Palestinian Economic Losses September 2000 September 2001, available at http://www.pecdar.org/).
(…)
The New York Times’s Thomas L. Friedman declares that it is a “huge lie” to consider desperation a motive for the suicide bombings (March 31, 2002). Friedman argues that in fact the Palestinians could have had their state without any need for the current Intifada because in July 2000 Clinton offered the Palestinians a peace plan that would have ended the occupation, but Arafat turned it down. This has been an argument long-promoted by Friedman, impervious to the counter-evidence presented by a member of Clinton’s negotiating team, Robert Malley (see Robert Malley and Hussein Agha, “Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors,” New York Review of Books, August 9, 2001).
(…)
Malley first notes the context: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak came to Camp David in July 2000 having reneged on various agreements with the Palestinians and having substantially increased the number of Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories during his year in office. Palestinians were understandably wary of Israeli peace offers, given that after six years of Oslo “there were more Israeli settlements, less freedom of movement, and worse economic conditions.” Then at Camp David Barak offered — but never in writing and never in detail; in fact, says, Malley, “strictly speaking, there never was an Israeli offer”
(…)
Yossi Beilin, Barak’s Justice Minister, summarizes what ensued: “instead of accepting the successful talks that had taken place between Israel and the Palestinians … as a way toward a final settlement, Ariel Sharon decided, after being elected prime minister, to terminate the peace process” (New York Times, March 30, 2002).
(…)
Sharon then ordered the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud (…) Hanoud’s case is interesting (…) despite Israeli claims that Arafat refused to arrest terrorists, or else arrested them only to release them shortly thereafter, Hanoud had been in a Palestinian jail. He was not released. Instead, in August 2001, an Israeli F-16 tried to assassinate him in the jail. The building was destroyed, 11 police officers killed, and Hanoud escaped.
(…)
A final argument against withdrawal is that Palestinians just view this as the first step to eliminating Israel entirely. Hamas objects not just to the occupation but to the very existence of Israel. But the Hamas position is a distinctly minority sentiment among Palestinians, who are a largely secular community that has endorsed a two-state settlement. To be sure, Hamas has been growing in strength. In its early days Hamas was promoted by Israeli officials to weaken the PLO (see the Richard Sale, “Israel gave major aid to Hamas,” UPI, Feb. 24, 2001), but most of its growth has been a result of the inability of the Palestinian Authority to deliver a better life for Palestinians. If there were a truly independent Palestinian state, one can assume that Hamas would find far fewer volunteers for its suicide squads. It must be acknowledged, though, that the longer the mutual terror continues, the harder it will be to achieve long term peace.
(…)”.
And since there are still even “more Israeli settlements, less freedom of movement, and worse economic conditions.”
btw, not sure how much it´s known in Britian that Ariel Sharon was a graduate of Sandhurst Royal Military Academy
At Sandhurst, Ariel Sharon wrote a paper on the command of German armoured divisions during WW2, knowledge he later applied during the Yom Kippur war. The paper itself hasn’t been found.
One comparison that needs to be drawn is between Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto.
In 2003, Israeli general Shaul Mofaz said Israeli commanders should apply the same tactics against Jenin on the West Bank that the Germans applied against the Warsaw Ghetto.
Source: https://electronicintifada.net/content/israelis-trained-us-troops-jenin-style-urban-warfare/4493
But that was in 2003. Now we’re in 2023. This time the BBC got down on its knees and begged for forgiveness for broadcasting a comparison made with Warsaw by Palestinian interviewee Refaat Alareer. (The Board of Deputies complained.)
Source: https://inews.co.uk/news/world/israel-gaza-conflict-bbc-news-wrong-comparis-hamas-warsaw-ghetto-uprising-2674452
great info about the BBC, thx!
* * *
A core issue is: settler colonialism
Following comment is extremely important as to understand why our Western public is so outraged – they do not know the everyday realities of Palestinians. The things happening on those 365 days when Palestine is NOT on the front page. but people are nonethless harassed, killed, expelled.
“Corporate Media Outlets Are Obscuring Settler Colonialism in Their Gaza Coverage – It is impossible to accurately grasp the current situation without discussing the concept of settler colonialism.”
By John Collins
October 11, 2023
https://truthout.org/articles/corporate-media-outlets-are-obscuring-settler-colonialism-in-their-gaza-coverage/
“The “shared values” that are often trumpeted as the core of this alliance include the commitment to maintaining colonized populations in a permanent state of fear and subservience while making sure that land and resources are monopolized for the benefit of settler populations.
It would also become clear that Israeli communities in the news, such as the development town of Sderot, only exist because of organized efforts to drive Palestinians from the land and, in many cases, erase their communities from the map. This helps explain why, from the perspective of the colonized, the distinction between settlers and Natives is much more salient than the distinction routinely made in media narratives between soldiers and civilians.
Finally, including settler colonialism in the coverage would reveal that what is called “terrorism” (including real and unjustifiable war crimes) is in reality part of an ongoing colonial dynamic. Decolonization is violent because colonization is violent. Consequently, the elimination of violence would require the dismantling of colonial systems, including the systems of occupation, apartheid and colonial-militarism that currently prevail in Palestine.”
“As philosopher Slavoj Žižek pointed out in his famous 2001 response to the 9/11 attacks, such populations are on a permanent “holiday from history” that insulates them from the daily realities of those on the receiving end of imperial and colonial brutality. “
@AG – Did you see the case of the BBC reporting of a verbal confrontation in 2021 between Jewish and Muslim youth on London’s Oxford Street?
https://www.thejc.com/news/news/damning-new-evidence-undermines-bbc%27s-oxford-street-racist-slur-claim-5QMDcvQg2mg3yAXxTJIzif
“the Board of Deputies commissioned digital experts DigFind and D3 Forensics, who used audio technology to slow down and clean up the recording so that each syllable of the phrase in dispute could be heard.
Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann, Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages as the University of Adelaide inSouth Australia, one of the most senior experts in his field, then studied the tape.
The Professor, who is fluent in 13 languages, including Hebrew, and is a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary, established that the “slur” was actually a Hebrew phrase, “Tikrah lemishu,ze dachuf” meaning: “Call someone, it is urgent.”
[…]
“I hypothesise that the BBC … misheard ‘mishu’ as ‘Muslim’ and perhaps even the preceding ‘tikrah’ as ‘dirty’.””
Prime minister Boris Johnson took the side of the Jewish youth after this event, but clearly that was not enough for the Board of Deputies, because the BBC had reported there were nasty words from both sides.
There is a question as to what has happened since in the careers of the BBC people who had responsibility for the original script and greenlighting it.
Thomas
thx for pointing it out.
This would be worthy of a Monty Python sketch from 1970.
“Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann, Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages as the University of Adelaide inSouth Australia, one of the most senior experts in his field, then studied the tape.
The Professor, who is fluent in 13 languages, including Hebrew, and is a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary, established that the “slur” was actually a Hebrew phrase, “Tikrah lemishu,ze dachuf” meaning: “Call someone, it is urgent.”
And then in the envisioned Monty Python sketch the whole forensics team would be over the question of some drunkard yelling something like “go to hell Gunners”, which everyone would understand, except the professors and BBC reporters.
This.is.fun.
Alistair Crooke’s highly cogent description of the process leading to the current situation includes the legal changes to create a Jewish Apartheid state, the proposed restructuring of the Supreme Court to serve its interests, the dominance of ultra right Jews in the Israeli government and Netanyahu’s pandering to them to save his own skin from the corruption charges hanging over him, the continuous resettlements, the Al Aqsa mosque destruction and temple replacement plan.
Surely the logical outcome of this is the goal of a complete annexation of Palestinian land, another Nakba and repopulation by Israel, which is already being mooted with Netanyahu’s flight to Egypt plan for the Palestinians.
The Hamas incursion could be opportunistic in its timing, though clearly well planned, but given previous Israeli support of Hama as a counterbalance against Fatah and the difficulties in believing that Israeli intelligence and security was caught on the hop, it is not too far fetched to think this is another “bring them” on provocation to move to the next big stage of Zionist colonial expansion.
Then we would have not two but three religious dictatorships in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia (Wahabi), Iran (Shia), and Israel (Judaic). The upside might be a rapprochement between Sunni and Shia in the face of Jewish fundamentalism, and perhaps greater tolerance towards religious minorities such as Christians and Alawites.
There’s nothing Jewish about zionism….
Antony Blinken says the US will always have Israel’s back, right or wrong. But how can he be so sure, as this precludes the possibility of an Arabist US President, or someone with Palestinian ancestry shifting the US’s stance towards neutrality. Just claiming foreign policy positions will never change is fundamentally antidemocratic and gives a green light to Netanyahu’s worst impulses & excesses..
What he’s saying is Zionists will always have senior roles in the State Dept and have the ear of the President in advisory roles. They’ll control the media too. For this is the only way to ensure the one-sided approach that the world hates so much, in perpetuity.
As US Major-General Carl Schurz said about 150 years ago, “Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when wrong to be put right”.
G. K. Chesterton put it rather more strongly: “‘My country, right or wrong,’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober.'”
I don’t think either of them would ever have contemplated saying, “Someone else’s country, right or wrong”. But then they lived in the old days of the reality-based community and morals.
Wow the israelis are a certain type of humans it seems,
Israeli minister says no electricity, fuel or humanitarian aid into Gaza until Hamas releases all captives.
Officials in Gaza say the collapse of the health system has “truly begun” amid Israel’s heavy bombardment and “complete blockade”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/11/israel-hamas-war-live-gaza-faces-growing-humanitarian-catastrophe
As I said before, Gaza have a population where 40-50% are below the age of 18 which are now going to suffer because of the genocidial maniacs in Israel. This is nothing but sadism.
Israel ‘launches air attacks on Syrian airports’ – the Telegraph reports today… Not the first time either, Israel infringing their sovereign airspace is a regular occurrence for sanction hit Syria and Lebanon.
Under this is a report in which they quote Blinken saying Israel has “the right to defend itself”, which western leaders have all echoed. But suppose Syria or Lebanon were to lob a few missiles back in Israel’s direction. We’d be subjected to the same leaders bleating about another ‘unprovoked’ attack on Israel. The western capacity for hypocrisy is off the scale when it comes to the spoilt child of the Middle East.
“In the past year alone, Israeli attacks on Syria have killed at least 44 people and injured more than 50”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/10/israeli-attacks-on-syria-in-the-past-year-a-timeline
And Al-Jazeera is strongly pro-Israel and pro-NATO. I have seen statements by Israeli ministers claiming hundreds or even thousands of strikes on Syria over the years. The Syrians and their allies owe Israel a lot of powerful blows.
Le monde diplomatique in its April 2022 issue cited various NGOs on Syria.
e.g.
“In July 2021, for example, the coalition said it had conducted 34,984 “airstrikes” in Iraq and Syria since August 2014 – the word ‘bombing’ was systematically replaced with the term ‘airstrike’.”
the NGO AIRWARS.ORG
“estimates that coalition bombing in Iraq and Syria has killed between 8192 and 13,243 civilians (as of March 22, 2022); the number of children killed ranges from 1724 to 2364, according to Airwars.
(…)
If incidents not confirmed by evidence or witness testimony are also taken into account, the NGO counts as many as 19,177 to 29,752 victims. If the upper figure is used, this is 20 times what the international alliance officially admits.”
Together the two military interventions, NATO + RU/Syria were accountable for 75,000 airstrikes (“aerial bombardments” instead?) in Syria and Iraq.
These led to 20,000-55,000 civilian deaths in Syria and Iraq.
None of this was ever reported in the major press.
And no government in Europe ever complained about this.
It never happened.
if anyone has contact with charities?
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry called for humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to be delivered to El-Arish airport on the Sinai Peninsula, and from there through the Rafah border crossing. The first plane arrived from Jordan.
Ministry’s website http://www.mfa.gov.eg I have no access, so if someone could find the announcement there?
Syrian media report that Israel targets ambulances, 15 are out of service and medical staff injured.
https://alwatan.sy/archives/364432
easy to translate text in Arabic via Google Translate, or, if you use Google Chrome browser just right-click and choose ‘translate’
IDF won’t allow them in according to our news in the UK.
Tatyana, there are some reports, maybe BS(?) that President Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov is determined to deploy troops from Akhmat Special Forces for a security mission to help Palestine : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8X0ym786ZE
Goose, I don’t trust “retellers”, I prefer to know from the original source.
This is what Kadyrov said:
“I appeal to the international community so that at least once they unanimously make a fair decision regarding the situation in Palestine.
I appeal to the leaders of Muslim countries – create a coalition and call on those whom you call friends, Europe and the entire West, so that they do not bomb civilians under the pretext of destroying militants.
We support Palestine. And we are against this war, which, unlike other conflicts, can develop into something bigger (worse).
I myself have been to Israel. And our peaceful delegation experienced attempts at overt provocation.
Therefore, I call for a stop to both the war and any form of escalation of the situation. If necessary, our units are ready to act as peacekeeping forces to restore order and counter any troublemakers.”
Kadyrov runs a Telegram channel
https://t.me/RKadyrov_95/3985
I thought it seemed a bit silly. There’s literally no easy route into Gaza, and especially not for fighters from outside.
Though it does illustrate the future problems Israel is storing up for itself, by seemingly antagonising the whole Muslim world. The US won’t be able to intervene to save them when Turkey, Iran and KSA all attain credible nuclear strike capability in the next 10-15 years. In fact Israel would probably lose now if all surrounding countries attacked simultaneously unless they resorted to nuclear weapons. Sooner or later they are going to have to make peace with the Palestinians or they’ll face existential danger.
Jonathan Cook who has been consistent in his support of the Palestinian people, writes a piece that correctly damns Hamas and Israeli atrocities in a proper and rounded way.
“…Palestinian fighters carried out a brutal attack at the weekend on Israeli settlements on the edge of the Gaza Strip. But this attack did not emerge from nowhere, or without warning. It was not “unprovoked”, as Israel would like us to believe…”
https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2023/10/11/the-blood-of-gaza-is-on-the-wests-hands-as-much-as-israels/
I hope he encourages some here to take the blinkers off.
Hamas is estimated to be a force of 30-40,000 in Gaza. They would need a larger number to support their activities. But that means there is a huge majority in Gaza who will have no interest with Hamas…_
There are no “settlements” they are settler-colonies, i.e. concealed military outposts[2] in occupied villages filled with War Criminals [1]
“This gave the Palestinian Resistance fighters the time leverage to penetrate deep inside Israel, attacking colonies around Gaza, most of which are concealed military outposts, before going after proper military posts, including the Beit Hanoon border crossing (called Erez by Israel), the Zikim military base and the Gaza military division headquarters at Reim.” [2]
[1] “Acts of enforced population transfer have been declared illegal several times since the Inter-Allied Resolution on German War Crimes (1942). The strongest and most recent condemnation is found in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (2002), which clearly defines deportation, forcible transfer of population and implantation of settlers as war crimes.” https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=18069&lang=en
[2] https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231012-lessons-from-resistance-history-far-and-near-hamas-and-the-unthinkable/
Jonathan Cook is not your ally. He is not damning Hamas there at all. JC is one of the last people who would ever submit to someone demanding that he condemn Hamas resistence. No genuine supporter of Palestine would at the best of times, least of all now when all the worst weasels are demanding that they do.
“Israel has named 220 soldiers who were killed in the fighting around the Gaza Strip since last Saturday. Israeli Channel 12 broadcast the names.
Special Forces and senior army officers were among those killed in the fighting during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood led by the armed wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades.
The channel said that a large number of army casualties were inside the Gaza Division command centre in the Eshkol caucus. Dozens of bodies were found belonging to soldiers from the Golani Brigade, as well as others from the Commando Brigade and Special Forces.
The number, it was pointed out, is likely to rise. It is estimated that more than 500 members of the Israel Defence Forces were killed in the operation.” https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231012-israel-names-220-soldiers-killed-in-operation-al-aqsa-flood/
So the Zionist State Terrorist group has admitted the ‘Babies and Rape claims’ were lies [https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231012-white-house-retracts-statements-accusing-the-qassam-brigades-of-killing-children/] – Apartheid as a Crime against humanity – is being enforced by the dead terrorists.
Legitimate targets?
You’d think Biden would’ve taken a hint from the words of his old boss when repeating stories fed by Netanyahu.
Remember the live mic incident:
“I can’t stand him. He’s a liar,” Sarkozy said of Netanyahu.
Obama replied, “You’re tired of him; what about me? I have to deal with him every day.”
Obama and Sarkozy complained of someone else’s lying? Now I’ve heard it all.
My impression is, the goal of the Deep State now is to drag Iran into the conflict to have an excuse for some action against Iran, sort of Soleimani 2.0. They can’t seriously use 2 aircraft carrier groups against guys with AKs.
After the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Biden administration is in desperate need of some quick success before the 2024 elections begin, and Iran is the most attractive target. They can’t plan a full scale war against a country with 90 million population, just some sort of punishing bombing raid.
“They can’t seriously use 2 aircraft carrier groups against guys with AKs”.
A serious underestimation of Hezbollah, and even Hamas. Don’t forget the heaps of US heavy weapons that have somehow reached Gaza through Ukraine (and perhaps by other routes). Anti-tank rockets, SAMs, etc. And now they have a few Israeli tanks, if they want them.
Hezbollah has anti-ship cruise missiles, a salvo of which might seriously damage or even sink a carrier. The Americans must be mad to move their big white elephants so close to a hostile shore. Their lack of a sense of danger rivals General Custer’s.
As for Iran – no US surface ship can come within 1,500 km of Iran without risking destruction. The country is bristling with everything from ICBMs to drones. Don’t forget January 2020, after the murder of General Soleimani, when Iran struck several US military bases in Iraq with scores of missiles, reputedly causing serious injury to hundreds of US soldiers. The USA did not dare to strike back in any way. They didn’t even lodge a diplomatic protest, but pretended the attacks never happened. Every NATO base within 1,500 or 2,000 km of Iran is a virtual hostage.
I meant Hamas since Hezbollah is not involved so far. I guess, we’ll hear the usual “highly likely” stuff and see some kind of ‘Colin Powell shaking a tube with white powder’ performance.
True. Still, those carrier battle groups are hardly intended to threaten Hamas only – as you pointed out. Presumably they are meant to have a chilling effect on all the Muslims in the region.
The Pentagon should take care that no one has a dampening effect on their pretty ships.
In March 2019, Netanyahu told a meeting of his Likud party’s Knesset members that:
“anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas. This is part of our strategy—to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/international-media-are-assessing-situation-israel-responds-aggressively-hamas-terror
But now the same sociopath seek to pose himself as a victim to Hamas.
EU is acting more and more aggressively, whether it is on the sideline of the battlefield or regarding free speech,
Latest EU hysteria is against so called “bots” from alleged Hamas: Oh so horrible! Sigh. And no proof whatsoever as usual.
EU official gives Zuckerberg 24 hours to address ‘disinformation’ concerns
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton has warned Meta about the alleged spread of fake news at the threat of fines
https://swentr.site/news/584754-eu-warned-meta-disinformation-content/
What on earth are they worried about, Israel/Palestine is not even in the EU?! Are they worried that an occupied people are able to use social media to show their oppression, plight?
More and more the EU leaders remind of the Soviet leaders in the final days that were also out of touch with their elitist views watching society from distance.
Where is Reporters without borders (RWB) regarding this EU censorship, pretending nothing is happening as usual but after all RWB is funded by the same EU along with NED, USAID and the usual nasties.
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Reporters_Without_Borders
Sorry for spamming,
Twitter came out and claimed to be against violence and removing tweets by pro-palestinian accounts, meanwhile IDF and all sorts of israeli/pro-israeli accounts share violent videos that show actual warcrimes are of course left to be spread. Musk is a joke.
CEO of X (formerly Twitter) responds to EU ‘disinfo’ threats
“There is no place on X for terrorist organization or violent extremist groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real time, including proactive efforts,” Yaccarino wrote.
https://swentr.site/news/584768-yaccarino-responds-eu-disinfo-israel/
I assume Lowkey’s account going to be deleted very soon.
“What on earth are they worried about, Israel/Palestine is not even in the EU?”
They must be in Europe, they compete in the Eurovision Song Contest.
;-P
Israel played in UEFA since 1996.
😎 😎 😎
My thought exactly!
LOL. managed to cheat their way to victory too, if what I’ve read is true.
on similar “light” note:
Apparently some German phone companies make phone calls between Germany and Israel free of charge for the month of October.
Maybe if Trump wins the election they will do the same for transatlantic calls? That would be nice. And offer evacuation flights of of JFK Airport.
Re Tom Welsh @ 11:42 today:
“I have just heard the most important explanation of the Palestine situation this century – perhaps ever.”
Yes, I agree, Crooke was excellent yesterday and has followed up with Judge Napolitano today.
Brian Berletic, otoh, speaking with Angelo Giuliano yesterday, makes a strong argument for the case that, as a construct of Israel and the West, Hamas is acting from a western playbook and is providing Israel with the context to seek to clear as many Palestinians as possible, if not all, from the Gaza Strip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btg91hY3Xww
I’m not well enough informed to distinguish between the views of Crooke and Berletic but I think both could be right.
Very interestingly, in his discussion with Napoitano today and in line with his comments yesterday about the differences between the Mizrahi and the Ashkenazi Jews he went on to comment that the Israeli military were/are in the process of preparing a coup to remove the extremists from the Israeli government. For reasons best known to himself Napolitano chose not to engage with him on that incendiary comment.
Watch from 10:50 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mN9u0p23fo
There is no level the murderous Zionist will not stoop to, to get you to support them.
“Israel is paying YouTube to place adverts like this before videos aimed at children”
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1712446982403342616#m
I wonder how many Palestinian babies have been blown to pieces by Israeli bombs and missiles over the decades, and how many have been maimed and lost one or more limbs. Hundreds and hundreds no doubt.
Palestinian babies are made of a special material so they are indestructible.
Israeli scientists so far have been unable to duplicate that fabric for their own babies, yet.
p.s. You should read more quality press
The Zionist occupying force in Palestine is now arming already violent Zionist settlers, I fully expect these settlers to roam about armed to the teeth exacting revenge on any poor oppressed Palestinian who is unfortunate enough to cross paths with them.
“National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announced on Tuesday that his ministry is purchasing 10,000 rifles to arm civilian security teams, specifically those in towns close to Israel’s borders around the country, as well as mixed Jewish-Arab cities and West Bank settlements.
The minister, who heads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said 4,000 assault rifles had already been acquired from an Israeli manufacturer and will be distributed immediately.
Helmets and bulletproof vests have also been acquired and will be distributed along with the assault rifles.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ben-gvir-says-10000-assault-rifles-purchased-for-civilian-security-teams/amp/
Victoria Derbyshire asks Labour’s Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry if Israel cutting off power and supplies to Gaza is in line with international law. Thornberry replies with that Israel has a right to defend itself.
Why would anyone vote for a Labour party that thinks its okay to do this to two million people, one million of them children. Sir Kid Starver is of the same frame of mind as well.
https://nitter.net/BBCNewsnight/status/1712401412120879271#m
in case of an Israeli offensive and major war we will see if the UN Security Council will meet and if a resolution will be able to be brought in and then who will veto it.
The double standard with which savagery is now justified and demanded in fact aligns with the well established colonial and post-colonial practice of our Western societies and their elites.
Was Labour in GB more progressive on this issue in the past? Like 1950s to 1990s?
I guess so…
Thanks for this, AG. I’ll keep an eye on the UN.
“in case of an Israeli offensive and major war we will see if the UN Security Council will meet and if a resolution will be able to be brought in and then who will veto it”.
Not Russia.
Not China.
I believe there are already UN resolutions against Israel, just as there are UN resolutions against the UK in regard to the Chagos Islands – they just ignore them, so fairly pointless.
And since the UN is heavily funded by the corrupt, they are in turn corrupt and pointless.
of course.
But one has to “keep an eye on it”, as Tatyana says, in order to keep them all accountable.
I mean it’s like kindergarten: If any of us says “xyz killed 100 people” and we present evidence, nobody cares.
If we say instead: “UN says xyz killed 100 people” and we present the exact same evidence with a UN stamp on it – wow, we are suddenly taken seriously. (I have gone through this in discussions a thousand times. It’s sickening.)
This is the ridiculous nature of our elite culture.
That’s the only reason why NYT and WaPo still have any relevance for discourse, because they have these fake credentials of trustworthiness which you need to take part in the arena and influence things a little bit.
“I believe there are already UN resolutions against Israel…”
Here is a list – many of them completely ignored at the time and ever since. The UN is like a valve – it only enforces judgments against certain states.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Nations_resolutions_concerning_Israel#:~:text=Resolution%20313%3A%20(28%20February%201972,331%3A%20(20%20April%201973)
thx for doing the work.
Thats a very handy list.
Eveyone should have a look at it, especially the 2nd half with those by the Security Council
Article 23 of Geneva Convention IV (1949) says:
Each High Contracting Party shall allow the free passage of all consignments of medical and hospital stores and objects necessary for
religious worship intended only for civilians of another High Contracting Party, even if the latter is its adversary. It shall likewise permit the free passage of all consignments of essential foodstuffs, clothing and tonics intended for children under fifteen, expectant mothers and maternity cases.
“Each High Contracting Party shall allow …”
Ah, that was their mistake. They failed to provide for Low Contracting Parties.
Some of them very low indeed.
Gaza a slave revolt?
In his latest entry Norman Finkelstein draws parallels between the emancipation movement by Nat Turner, freeing slaves and killing whites, with the current situation.
“THE SLAVE REVOLT IN GAZA, and Bernie Sanders”
https://normanfinkelstein.substack.com/p/the-slave-revolt-in-gaza-and-bernie
Which naturally begs the question where do both resemble and where do Gaza and US slavery in 1831 do not.
May be this too will be discussed in Finkelstein´s entry.
I assume an analysis of the legal foundations and rules of Israel towards non-Jews (Apartheid), the economic realities and minutes on the ground (which I personally do not know well) would be absolutely necessary in order to make these points viable as arguments in public discourse.
In Germany e.g. its almost impossible to draw a comparison between South Africa and Israel (to the disadvantage of the latter, something Noam Chomky already did in the 1990s, so it not a new insight) simply because the public is not informed. And I well assume, just like with Russia, most of this is unknown by our respected correspondents either who still earn a ton of money for their work of not informing us properly.
“Scores of White innocents were deliberately killed. Nonetheless, the Nat Turner Rebellion now occupies an honored place in American history.
Turner’s rebellion provoked mass genocidal hysteria among Whites. To gain one’s moral bearings at this fraught moment, it repays to peruse the statement issued by the great Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison right after the revolt (N.F. quoting Garrison from 1831):
What we have so long predicted,—at the peril of being stigmatized as an alarmist and declaimer,—has commenced its fulfilment. The first step of the earthquake, which is ultimately to shake down the fabric of oppression, leaving not one stone upon another, has been made. The first drops of blood, which are but the prelude to a deluge from the gathering clouds, have fallen. The first flash of lightning, which is to smite and consume, has been felt. The first wailings of bereavement, which is to clothe the earth in sackcloth, have broken up our ears.
(…)
Ye patriotic hypocrites! ye panegyrists of Frenchmen, Greeks, and Poles! ye fustian declaimers for liberty! ye valiant sticklers for equal rights among yourselves! ye haters of aristocracy! ye assailants of monarchies! ye republican nullifiers! ye treasonable disunionists! Be dumb! Cast no reproach upon the conduct of the slaves, but let your lips and cheeks wear the blisters of condemnation! – (quote end)
It is to be noted that, whereas he stated that the “excesses of the slaves” could not be justified and he was “horror-struck at the late tidings,” William Lloyd Garrison did not condemn the slave revolt.”
link to Garrison´s 1831 speech btw
https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=358
Very good, but I thought the rebellion by the inmates at Auschwitz in 1944 would be an even better analogy. (The instigators of that rebellion were Russian POWs, btw, but don’t tell anyone, because we’re not supposed to admire the Russians for anything anymore. Not until we’ve always been at war against Oceana again, anyway.)
glenn_nl
Perhaps the wrong name, a planned escape involving Russian PoW was in Sobibor, Poland. Actually, they all were in Poland.
There was also the escape of Jewish captives from Treblinka, Poland.
In Auschwitz, Poland, the uprising was organized by the Sonderkommando; those people who were involved in the burning realized that they too would be destroyed and decided to flee.
Another riot was in Chelmno, Poland, where a group of Jewish prisoners were forced to exhume and destroy evidence during the liquidation of the camp.
Actually, Tatyana, Sobibor (can’t get that accent over the last ‘o’) was a death camp. No inmates stayed longer than an hour or so (unless they were they Sonderkommando – prisoners forced to participate in the mass murder process).
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/timeline-event/holocaust/1942-1945/auschwitz-revolt
This is the story of the Russian POWs.
(I only know all this so well because I recently finished the incredibly grim book ‘The Holocaust’ by Laurence Rees.)
My apologies, glenn_nl; I trust you know better.
My opinion was mainly based on the film Sobibor. We still make films on WW2 here in Russia. In that one my favourite actor performed, so I somehow remembered Sobibor.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6324614/
glenn_nl
– (however Auschwitz was a more serious matter than the camps before WWII. I might appear a stickler with terms but in any discussion you are on lost ground around where I live if you don´t tread this carefully. Birkenau which was the extermination camp, was the other part of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Marshal Kitchener has allegedly coined the term concentration camp in the Boer Wars. In how far those were similiar to the more “advanced” in Europe 30 years later I dont know…another type again e.g. are the US camps where 120,000 US-Japanese were interned) –
I am endebted, AG, but I didn’t want to get bogged down in unnecessary detail (please see my note to Tatyana above).
as I said, forgive my pickiness, it can be self-serving at times.
France bans all pro Palestinian protests, on pain of deportation for non nationals.
Hmmmmmmmm, remarkable that a chi chi little country should provoke such angst.
wonder in how far all this is handy to disrupt BRICS consolidation
I’d be more worried about the suggestion that one is no longer allowed to not have a dog in the fight ? The French move, along with Badenoch’s message to Chief Constables to use the anti terror laws against people displaying Palestinian flags, is a rather disturbing move, and one that will be destined to pish off many more than those who claim to have some tangible connection to events.
Its not inconceivable that even engaging in moderate discussion on sites like that of our esteemed host, could involve being placed upon some governmental, or representative orgs sh1t list. 🙁
@Casual – You mean Suella Braverman (home secretary), not Kemi Badenoch (trade secretary).
Sorry, my bad 🙁 You’re right. 🙂
It’s not that bad, don’t worry.
It is rather concerning that ministers can decide, on an arbitrary basis, that something as innocuous as waving a flag of a recognised country is tantamount to ‘terrorism’ – equating it with an actual threat of death and violence against citizens here and now.
Is law really just a ‘ball of wax’ that can be shaped however some minister says, at any given moment? No need to bother with procedures like passing laws, putting them through the scrutiny of the House of Lords, etc. – just make a statement, and that’s it?
We saw more than enough for that nonsense during the lockdowns.
You’re right about the cynical indifference of much (not all) the mainstream western media and politicians to Palestinian subjugation and the war crimes of Israel. You’re wrong not to condemn the planned strategic murder of civilians and to try to excuse it by appeal to a ‘crazed’ response to occupation and oppression, which removes agency and any ethical (or legal) responsibility. People still have choices, especially Hamas’s leaders. I’m sure you know that and I struggle to see how a ‘human rights activist’ can maintain this position.
They have no agency, that is what causing the primal violence, this is 101 sociology: entrap people, subjugate them to violence, strip them of any human rights for decades – what do you expect to happen? That people like this are not filled with hatred, thoughts of violent revenge? If Israel can do this – klling civilians and get all kinds of support – why do you think the palestinians would turn to any other alternative that is in far far worse situation.
Choice? What are even talking about, people like this have no choice in their situation.
This whole ‘One must condemn Hamas!’ is a way to shift focus from the core of the problem, the occupation. Why should any pro-palestinian buy into such pro-israeli plots? Virtue signalling will not get palestinians any land back.
I’d never ask anyone to condemn Hamas or anyone else. I agree it’s typically demanded to neutralize criticism. However Craig Murray himself chose to declare ‘I won’t condemn Hamas’ here, so I’m responding to the implications of his decision to make that statement. The title of the post ‘Now we have your attention’ itself suggests a convergence between himself as a persistent (and often pertinent) critic of the Israeli government and what seems to be a recognition of the planned strategy of targeting Israeli citizens by Hamas to cause a series of effects (including global media coverage but also likely brutal retaliation). That convergence I find difficult to disentangle and problematic.
Were Hamas members in the attack individuals in a state of ‘primal violence’ as you put it, ‘crazed’ as Craig Murray puts it, terrorists as much of the western media puts it, or militants/combatants fighting against occupation by a hostile force as others, including the BBC, put it? And if the latter, are they not subject to international laws of war? It’s not a trivial question.
More on Casual Observer’s France ban Palestinian protests.
“French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Thursday announced a systematic ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations in France, amid the war between Hamas and Israel.
Darmanin sent “strict instructions” to ban “pro-Palestinian demonstrations because they are likely to generate public order disturbances,” in a document originally seen by AFP and reported on by other French media.
“The organization of these prohibited demonstrations should lead to arrests,” the minister said.”
France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, so to ban demo’s on the murderous activities of the Zionists in Palestine could lead to national unrest.
https://www.politico.eu/article/france-gerald-darmanin-aims-to-ban-all-pro-palestine-protests/
Meanwhile in Germany.
“In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday similarly declared “zero tolerance” of antisemitism. Scholz banned all Hamas-linked activities after some people celebrated the militant group’s attack on Israel last weekend.”
Under International Law the Palestinian people have the right to take up arms against their oppressors, UN General Assembly resolution 37/43 adopted in 1982 says this.
https://nitter.net/kennardmatt/status/1710609969085554916#m
Europe is fully behind the Neo-Nazi regime of Ukraine defending itself, yet when it comes to the long time oppressed Palestinians taking up arms to defend themselves its another matter, and freedom fighter groups such as Hamas are proscribed and labelled terrorists by Europe.
Well there we have it again, surprise surprise – this was never not about Hamas, it is the suppression of views supporting the palestinian cause itself.
First they demand you condemn Hamas and when you have done that they demand that you condemn the palestinians altogether, it is so obvious.
That Gérald Darmanin minister even have arab (algerian) roots but having grown up in a french colony seems to pervert your whole worldview obviously.
For the last 20 years, millions of arabs, muslims have immigrated to europe and by these censorship-measures the west proves freedom of speech do not cover every citizen. This better be tried in court because every human being have the right to use freedom of speech and protest.
So much for you-must-have-freedom-of-speech like the same EU preach onto the middle east.. What a sham
I think ministers and officials are nervous. They know they are painfully out of step with public opinion when scenes of disproportionate devastation start to emerge.
Their culpability lies in their failure to pressurize Israel through sanctions to make good on a two-state solution. Banning BDS related activity and the proscription of Hamas and Hezbollah is a relatively recent development due entirely to intense Israeli lobbying.
Maybe if apartheid era South Africa had used Israel’s propaganda tactics and methodologies, that system would still be in place today. No doubt with full western support, and as for Mandela, well would have died in Robben Island prison, forever labelled a terrorist.
Could the germans get any more pathetic and callous
Germany vows to prosecute burning of Israeli flag
Scholz said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Berlin would fulfill any wartime need that arose, declaring, “There is only one place for Germany — the place at Israel’s side. Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust, makes it a perpetual task for us to stand up for the security of the state of Israel.”
https://swentr.site/news/584777-germany-prosecute-israeli-flag-burning/
German ridiculous guilt will paradoxically lead to another genocide, great job!
“Men learn from their mistakes how to make new ones”.
— A.J.P. Taylor (The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848-1918)
In the same book Taylor came out with this other eternal gem:
“Once men imagine a danger they soon turn it into a reality”.
Of course Germany stands with Israel, I expect IG Farben has contracts set up with the zionists.
As far as I read the city of Munich did allow a pro-Palestine protest (about 350 people) but was of course documenting flags and banners which they did not like and would prosecute eventually (nobody finds that odd!).
But there is no necessity of suppressing such event anyway since Germany is on full pro-war mode by design. That´s why we have no US-like 1st amendment which would guarantee absolute freedom of speech. It makes government control so much easier.
But here it naturally goes deep into scholarship where a couple of people with certain authority of historic interpretation exert influence by their departments and Ph.Ds coming out of those departments. Which themselves later on spread the inherited POV of Israel/Palestine history.
And from there on every item of historic scholarship is built and determines the allowed and forbidden views on the subject, from news items, to schoolbooks, to entertainment products.
As I have repeatedly stated:
Russians and Arabs are worthy of our hatred. With the blessing of the courts and judges.
p.s. Naked Capitalism on Ms. Braverman and the Public Order Act
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/10/uk-palestine-groups-to-defy-suella-bravermans-crackdown.html
“Russia’s attacks against civilian infrastructure, especially electricity, are war crimes.
Cutting off men, women, children of water, electricity and heating with winter coming – these are acts of pure terror.”
Said Ursula von der Leyen, addressing the European Parliament a while back.
https://nitter.net/vonderleyen/status/1582630271287021570#m
The apartheid oppressing occupying military regime known as Israel does the same to the two-million Palestinians, one-million of them children, and the EU remains tacit, except to apply sanctions on the Palestinian folk at the beginning of the Palestinians rising up to defend themselves.
The simple truth is that those people are racists. Many if not most of the establishment of the Western nations; they have learned from bitter experience not to be scornful of black people (especially those who are citizens of the USA), so they have simply redirected their racist feelings against the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, and Muslims of all ethnicities. (Among others).
I’m gobsmacked! Did the last eighty years of murder and oppression not not apply? Is it only when the oppressors are attacked by the long time oppressed, that these disgusting people show solidarity?
“EP President Roberta Metsola will lead MEPs and Parliament’s staff tomorrow in a solemn moment to remember victims of the terrorist attacks in Israel over the weekend.
When: Wednesday 11 October at 12.45
Where: Outside on the Esplanade, in front of the European Parliament in Brussels”
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20231010IPR06819/solemn-moment-tomorrow-for-the-victims-of-the-terrorist-attacks-in-israel
https://nitter.net/ClareDalyMEP/status/1712209358388338755#m
UK to send navy ships and spy planes to support Israel – Guardian
Akin to standing watch while the school bully kicks the shit out of some unlucky young chap.
Some are claiming the projection of naval strength heralds a larger war involving Iran.
An alternative explanation for this show of naval strength from the US and UK, could involve the fact western weapon stocks are now so depleted, after sending them to Ukraine. If a major escalation were to occur the US and EU may not have the weapons available to restock Israel. Hence projecting strength is nothing but a bluff to intimidate potential foes from attacking.
There was an article in Welt(can’t find it) about a NATO meeting where this potential dilemma of war on two fronts, was raised. The bottom line was that Ukraine has exhausted western stocks.
Needless to say, but also huge potential here for Russian mischief if they can drag others in resulting the sidelining of Ukraine.
Just as China watched and learned from what happened with Russia, so the Arab states are watching and learning from what is happening to the Palestinians. The West will suffer for its behaviour.
I imagine that the Saudis and Iranians, not to mention the Pakistanis, Afghans, Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Gulf States, etc. are taking note and realising that they had better hang together if they don’t want to hang separately.
If the USA tries to launch a naval attack against Iran, its navy will very quickly be turned into a collection of smoking wrecks and artificial reefs.
Like HMS Hood in 1939, those huge ships are strictly for display and ritual adoration. They have not been fit for purpose as warships for at least 40 years.
This is beginning to look more like an escalation of hostilities to the rogue state’s neighbours: Syrian ports and airports bombarded; Lebanon’s southern border scoured with drones and missiles. A US Carrier group on its way and the UK is pledging Navy and air force support to a state without declared borders led by a crook.
Winding up Hezbollah and Syria to try and get Iran involved: does this crook’s flight forward into war garner favour with the public.
If you like to be led by Zionists that create false narratives to bring about their ruthless plan to rule the lands between the Euphrates and Tigress, in a fake and false interpretation/distortion of historic facts, then you are just like the many foreign settlers who have joined this genocide of a culture and people.
Why not enshrine Balfour’s policies on Palestine, as it was known before 1947? But this time for real.
Many have tried and succeeded to integrate lives and cultures from very young age; there are positive examples.
A wider war should not prevail because of one person’s narcotic and self-serving allures.
Take care all.
That would be devastating for Ukraine. As the US would switch attention to Israel.
Assistance to Ukraine could be suspended or resources spread too thinly. Skirmishes and war on multiple fronts would be a nightmare for Nato and Ukraine, but it’d suit Russia. I’m not saying they’re responsible for current developments in some Paul Mason ‘fruitloop’ projection logic jump, but they may be the main beneficiaries.
The USA and the West have been looking for a get out clause to escape their failures in Ukraine. Now one crazy jew has provided the means to escape the other crazy jew – you couldn’t make this shit up.
Wipe out a few million defenceless Arabs and then onto China. Ain’t democracy grand !
In the current situation especially, it is useful to bear in mind the story of David and Goliath.
Geezo Oh.
One wonder how much more the utterly oppressed Palestinian people (especially in the Gaza Strip) can take of this.
“The Israeli military has dropped 6,000 bombs weighing 4,000 tons on Gaza. ”
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1712532894126690773#m
People still taking to the streets in France and protesting against the awful bombings of the Gaza Strip.
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1712533410709721578#m
The Gaza Strip now beginning to resemble Libya after Nato bombed it.
https://nitter.net/Rushdibbc/status/1712528737655197936#m
“We have received multiple calls today regarding Palestinian nationals detained by ICE, and/or visited by the FBI.
The FBI has also visited multiple mosques today, in different states, as well as Arab inmates.”
I suppose it would naive of us not to think that MI5 are doing something similar, as are other European nations.
https://nitter.net/aayoub/status/1712518244798509270#m
“The Gaza Strip now beginning to resemble Libya after Nato bombed it”.
Which also was apparently fine with everyone.