We have learnt this year that there is no crime so startling, so obvious and so visible to the whole world that the United States and Israel are not willing to commit it brazenly and openly. The massacre of 20,000 people includes the killing of babies and infants, the deliberate shooting of pregnant women and toddlers, the murder of old ladies in church and the execution of prisoners stripped naked.
This is all justified as “Israel’s right of self-defence”.
We have also seen the increasing rise of fascism as western governments crack down on their publics in order to curtail political resistance to the genocide. Tony Greenstein, Mick Napier and I have all been harassed under the Terrorism Act. I have left the country because I fear I am officially “under investigation” under the Terrorism Act and I fear I shall be arrested and placed in jail for two years awaiting trial. Numerous people have been arrested for expressing their horror at the massacre through placards, words or even songs that the police judge “offensive”. Police action is often prompted by instruction from self-appointed Zionist vigilante organisations.
We are also seeing, exactly as I predicted, a replay of the “War on Terror” state Islamophobic propaganda. Do you remember the famous “ricin plot” where the ricin found was the trace level to be found in every kitchen? The British government kept it Top Secret for two years that there was in fact no ricin. Or the non-existent Easter Bomb Plot where the “ingredient of improvised explosives” found turned out to be a bag of sugar?
In Germany they have a great deal of work to do to justify the world’s most extreme anti-Palestinian governmental racism, so they have invented a “Hamas terror plot” and arrested four young Muslims. No evidence at all that been produced to justify this.
Hamas has never, ever conducted any violent attack outside of Palestine and it has always been their policy not to do so – and it still is. The notion is ludicrous that at this time Hamas have decided to suddenly lose the propaganda war which they are winning worldwide, by attacking Germany.
Germany’s governments have form of course, not only for genocide, but also for enthusiastic creation of fake terrorism. The German government was heavily implicated both in false flag terrorist attacks in Tashkent, which I was able to investigate and report to the UK government in real time, and in the creation of a whole fake terrorist organisation, “The Islamic Jihad Union of Uzbekistan”, which was entirely the work of the CIA and the German security services. The aim at that time was to justify the German military airbase at Termez in Uzbekistan, operating into Afghanistan. People forget German participation on the losing side in the last Afghan war.
I have no doubt we are in for a period of more propaganda, fake terrorist plots, false flag actual terrorism and agent provocateur led terrorism. It is the only way the Establishment can hope to regain the propaganda narrative.
I have not quite got used yet to my new position as an itinerant terrorist, so I apologise that posting has been a bit scarce due to a lot of organisational bother and a general sense of discombobulation. This is being dashed off at Milan airport. I am very happy on a personal note to say that my family are joining me at an exotic venue for Christmas and New Year, so you may not hear much from me till mid-January as I owe my children a great deal of my attention.
I do wish you a safe and very happy festive season wherever you are, and hope you can be together with those you love. For all those living in fear and danger, particularly but not only those in Gaza, my thoughts along with those of millions around the world are with you now and always.
Shortly before the first Iraq War, between the invasion of Kuwait and the outbreak of real hostilities, I sent a minute in reply to one from John Major. I was working in a the Embargo Surveillance Centre, a Top Secret establishment operating from an underground NATO HQ in central London. We were among the recipients of a Christmas message from the Prime Minister which combined Christian wishes with a bellicose message. I replied in a formal minute with this verse from the carol It Came Upon the Midnight Clear:
But with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring; –
Oh hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!
Whomever the angels are to you, I hope you hear them sing.
————————————————
Forgive me for pointing out that my ability to provide this coverage is entirely dependent on your kind voluntary subscriptions which keep this blog going. This post is free for anybody to reproduce or republish, including in translation. You are still very welcome to read without subscribing.
Unlike our adversaries including the Integrity Initiative, the 77th Brigade, Bellingcat, the Atlantic Council and hundreds of other warmongering propaganda operations, this blog has no source of state, corporate or institutional finance whatsoever. It runs entirely on voluntary subscriptions from its readers – many of whom do not necessarily agree with the every article, but welcome the alternative voice, insider information and debate.
Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.
Choose subscription amount from dropdown box:
PayPal address for one-off donations: [email protected]
Alternatively by bank transfer or standing order:
Account name
MURRAY CJ
Account number 3 2 1 5 0 9 6 2
Sort code 6 0 – 4 0 – 0 5
IBAN GB98NWBK60400532150962
BIC NWBKGB2L
Bank address Natwest, PO Box 414, 38 Strand, London, WC2H 5JB
Bitcoin: bc1q3sdm60rshynxtvfnkhhqjn83vk3e3nyw78cjx9
Ethereum/ERC-20: 0x764a6054783e86C321Cb8208442477d24834861a
From the LRB 2 years ago in a text by an Arianne Shahvisi:
“I was a year into my first academic job when the US scholar Steven Salaita was fired from his post at the University of Illinois after criticising the actions of the Israeli government during Operation Protective Edge, in which more than two thousand Palestinians were killed. (Salaita has since found himself unemployable in academia, but continues to write in between shifts as a school-bus driver in Washington DC.) After a teaching observation a few years ago, I was told that I should avoid discussing Palestine in class, and a senior academic more recently advised me to dial down my public criticism of Israel’s state violence if I wanted to get on in academia.”
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2021/february/cranks-and-shills
final pararaph:
“There are at any moment almost three million people in the UK working or studying at universities. The major threat to their ability to manage healthy discourse within their own diverse communities will now be their nervous navigation of the risk of government investigations and fines. We mustn’t be duped into thinking this was ever about ‘free speech’. Universities have been ravaged by the pandemic, and many now hang in the balance. This week’s announcement is most likely part of a campaign of demonisation ahead of whatever regime of cuts, imposition or abandonment the government now has in store.”
I haven´t read her articles since to look whether she has dared to write on Palestine.
Shahvisi’s bibliography js at:
https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p238070-arianne-shahvisi/publications
She’s an Iranian émigré who writes about everything but not much about Palestine. Clearly very personally ambitious, so she would be affected by these warnings not to write about Palestine.
thank you!
(Absolutely. It is interesting how these deformations start and what they look like initially until they turn invisible. btw said Steven Salaita has a pretty decent Wiki page. No smears I think. A couple of good books I might check out. Since 2021 and above article he has taken tenure at the American Univ. at Cairo, focus on literature.)
Those in the Academics for Yes (AYES) group active during the Scottish independence campaign 2014 appear to have been similarly discriminated against, hence we do not see many (if any?) pro-independence senior academics in Scotland’s universities today.
Universities are among the most status-conferring bodies in the country and the appointed leadership elite is virtually entirely anti-independence, which is widely at odds with the mood of the people.
This manufactured institutional bias and prejudice helps explain the dearth of academic research or interest on the subject of Scottish national independence which is entirely contradictory for a nation where around half the population (including most Scots) want an end to the UK ‘Union’ hoax. However, it fits well with Hechters cultural division of labour and Scotland’s subordinate status within the UK ‘Internal Colonialism Model’.
“It is the only way the Establishment can hope to regain the propaganda narrative”
Yes if they are prepared to brand even a former UK ambassador a terrorist it seems very likely that the old “terror” chestnut is being readied for major deployment.
However they are already redeploying a more recent, arguably even more successful scam: the utterly unscrupulous “antisemitism” “crisis” card. It is again being determinedly centred by politicians, media and celebrities as the primary concern of the day, at a time when children are being genocided by Zionist terrorists with UK arms.
As when they last deployed it, nobody in British public life is challenging the scam. So one thing we can be certain of in 2024 is that all the usual good people will keep centring this “antisemitism” “crisis”, casting grave suspicion over anybody who protests what Netanyahu and the UK are doing to the Palestinians.
Netanyahu has thanked Christians all over the world for supporting the Israeli Genocide of Gaza. He called the innocent people of Gaza ‘monsters’, and there was no mention of the Pope’s condemnation of Israeli war crimes – the Pope said this slaughter went beyond war and was terrorism.
No doubt the gunning down of a mother and daughter in a Catholic church in Gaza and the killing of many Christians in Gaza and the West Bank will be met with approval by the Christian community. One thing Netanyahu has in spades as well as being a congenital liar is chutzpah.
The sneaky devils at The Sun claimed, in an editorial, that the good Christians in Bethlehem are “cowering at home amid Palestinian protests” – failing to mention that these ‘protests’ are against Israeli savagery against any non-Israelis (including Christians for that matter, and Israeli hostages) in Gaza, and the unrestrained murder and property theft taking place in the West Bank too.
Imo, since the Vatican began to bless same-sex marriages – which is directly condemned in their holy book – the Vatican should rename itself.
They are today something other than the Holy See. They simply no longer follow what they themselves initially called Holy Scripture and elevated it to the rank of the Highest Truth. They just need to rename themselves and thus stop exploiting the image and authority of something that they are not.
Israel’s president Isaac Herzog claimed in a press conference that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza.
“It is an entire nation out there that is responsible,” Herzog said
“It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’etat.”
Israeli president Isaac Herzog has been photographed signing shells to be fired upon Gazan civilians. Herzog, like other Israeli government figures, has said that there are no innocents being killed in Israel’s wanton slaughter of Palestinian civilians:
Then to put the top hat on this Psychopath, there is this…..
Genocide-mongerering Israeli president warmly welcomed and presented with gifts by right-wing Starmer and Labour Friends of Apartheid.
How these two filthy human beings can share a friendsip is beyond me, how any member of the Labour party can support Starmer means that they themelves have no humanity. Disgusting. https://skwawkbox.org/2023/12/27/starmers-guest-herzog-signs-shells-to-fire-on-gaza/
I must admit that the past couple of years have not really made me any more supportive of Russia; simply put they have made a fool of themselves on the international stage, from the botched ukrainian invasion that goes nowhere to the total silence on israeli/western warcrimes against Gaza, and now this statement:
Israel pursuing similar goals as Russia – Lavrov
The fight against Nazism is what historically unites Russia and the Middle Eastern country, the foreign minister said
https://swentr.site/russia/589831-lavrov-israeli-gaza-hypocrisy/
I do not know why Russia keep sucking up to Israel time and time again, Israel bomb Syria constantly, threaten Iran constantly, support jihadists in Syria fighting against Russian-“allied” Bashar Al-Assad, and most likely are covertly aiding Ukraine = thus working against the interests of Russia.
Israeli minister hints at retaliatory actions taken in Iraq, Yemen, Iran
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-minister-hints-retaliatory-actions-taken-iraq-yemen-iran-2023-12-26/
The only nation that have made some work during this massacre in Gaza is South Africa, the other useless members of the BRICS are indeed as useless as the western powers when push comes to shove.
If they would have any sense they would sanction the west/Israel just like the west have done against BRICS members in various way past decades. Instead they remain passive. That will be their loss.
I came across the following video (3mins) on Middle East Eye’s youtube channel yesterday, posted three days ago and entitled ‘Female Israeli hostages played arm-wrestling with Hamas guard’, in which a couple of women relate their experience, and one that’s totally at odds with all the sexual abuse stories we’ve been hearing recently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIMfc1y59mM
Also came across the following video clip i(1min 30secs) posted a couple of days ago in which Clare Daly is scathing about the EU and von der Leyen:
MEP Clare Daly Brands EU Commission Head Ursula A ‘Frau Genocide’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOfgVLqDIWg
What the Houthis have achieved in the Red Sea, simply with a few UAV’s is nothing compared to the problems a group like Hezbollah could cause in the eastern Mediterranean and Israels two major ports Ashkelon and Haifa, 99% of Imorts/exports pass though these ports plus Tel Aviv here’s why Weapons that are cheap, effective, easy to operate, and in wartime, could become the country’s biggest strategic threat.
According to Western intelligence reports, a number of Arab states and terrorist organizations have acquired naval mines from ex-Soviet bloc countries. A senior Israeli navy officer says that many of these mines are among the most sophisticated types and have already found their way into the arsenals of countries hostile to Israel; including Iran, Syria, and Libya. Terrorist organizations, too, have obtained naval mines. This situation demands Israel’s immediate attention. There are indications that the Iranian fleet possesses contact, magnetic, acoustic, and remote-controlled mines, all supplied by Russia, China, and North Korea, or manufactured in state-owned factories.
Their low cost makes them an attractive weapon in general, and in guerilla warfare in particular. “Currently, no countermeasure exists that can eliminate or even reduce the threat to manageable proportions. In a showdown between naval mines and counter weapon systems, the naval mines come out on top”.
https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/content/naval-mines-strategic-threat-israel%E2%80%9D#google_vignette
In my opinion surrounding Arab countries will be reluctant to be directly involved, however non state actors like Hezbollah and other militias will be drawn in to a wider war, the fate of Palestine is at stake, to my mind it would be inconceivable for Hezbollah not to act, after all they have been threatened with being next.
How long before the Apartheid monstrosity disappears? Go Houthis.
TheGrayzone released a video earlier today, sort of a compilation of what a sick society Israel have turned into past couple of months. Even for us seasoned ones here the video is quite revolting. I never saw anything like this from Russia when they invaded Ukraine or from US/Nato countries during their wars/interventions.
Something is terrible wrong with large part of the israeli population, to the extent they need some enforced de-radicalization by the outside world.
What is wrong with Israelis?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vKuB1su43c
This is the videos western MSM should show because this sickening display are not representative by some small, fringe, racist minority in Israel, no, this is Israel. Next time some naive, western dupe claim that Israel is a democracy whatever, show them this video.
Just imagine the horror living is as a palestinian, having to face this and worse every day, year in year out. Like a real-life horror movie.
could´t watch (no account). But from the Israeli Jews I have met and from what Ilan Pappé said e.g. in his latest “Useful Idiots” interview, it is a society in constant state of emergency for 80 years now. Kept in fear of a phantom. None really tries to scrutinize the alleged threat by Arabs. They take it as a fact of life. And with that of course comes the necessary evil image of Arabs (no threat without a foe). It´s a horrible vicious circle. It´s usually also shared by mixed couples where one is no Israeli. In that case sometimes those are even worse than the Israeli partner. Like an over-identification.
The Holocaust has buried any attempt to question the narrative that Israelis are the good guys and Arabs are the evil guys. Like Russians in Hollywood movies. Same level of insanity. Unfortunately latter is fiction former is real life politics.
Once one has managed to escape that phantasma it appears to be a pathological phenomenon. But up to that level of emancipation entire people (Germany!) are caught in it. No wonder the current lies and fascist cruelty are not regarded as such (Look at the Lavrov quote you cited earlier. He could have done without. But it fits so well the interests of all powers involved. Without any punishment.)
Like “Indians” in the Western genre. It took 200+ years to break that up.
The Age of Enlightement skipped a few tropes in the West.
You don’t need an account to watch youtube videos. The majority of people who watch youtube videos don’t have an account.
Hi Allan,
I watch numerous YouTube video channels but can’t access this one from Germany without joining Google.
Thanks,
Coldish
I get “Sign in to confirm your age” so age-restricted content looks to be why this video is different. Of course paranoia says you’ll immediately get added to a list somewhere.
Good points AG!
The video became age restricted but creating an account/gmail just take a minute.
British/israeli jew and anti-zionist Gilad Atzmon have written in the same vein as Pappe and yourself, in Gilad’s view, israelis/pro-israelis suffer/adhere from pre-traumatic-stress-syndrome
“I was raised amongst people my age who insisted upon being traumatised: the ‘third generation’ they call themselves. People like myself, who were born in the 1960s or later, way after the liberation of Auschwitz. People who claim to have been afflicted by events that neither they nor their parents had experienced. Isn’t that strange?
“Pre-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (Pre-TSS) is a fundamental tenet of Jewish and Israeli culture. Young Israelis are transported to Auschwitz by different Zionist organisations for the purpose of maturing into traumatised Jewish adults. Those who maintain these ‘educational’ trips know that trauma is a powerful fuel with which to maintain the Zionist narrative. Unfortunately, the Israeli youngsters implement the wrong lesson once they return and join the IDF. Rather than developing some empathetic feelings towards victims of oppression, I.e. the Palestinians, the tormented Israeli youth actually seem to mimic SS brutality. ‘Never Again’ they say, and then spread misery around them.
“As no-one is actually voicing a call to throw the Israelis into the sea or to nuke them, Israel’s inclination to blame Muslims and Arabs for holding such murderous tendencies themselves must then be understood in terms of projection.”
from his 2011 book The Wandering Who? — A Study of Jewish Identity Politics
The problem is also that the West is playing into this myth of an impending Jewish holocaust instead of calming this crazied, rabid regime down.
I think the answer to the rhetorical question in the title of that remarkable and disturbing filmlet lays in the intrinsic brutality of Zionism.
Zionism has been allowed to become a terroristic and sadistic and toxic mycelium within Palestine. Israel is a state founded on terrorism. Terrorism and genocide are built into the genes of modern Israel.
It is well known that an abused child can – and may be likely to – become an abuser. Nevertheless, despite the undoubted fact that Jews in Europe suffered horrendously in what they call their holocaust, I do not believe that the Naqba(s) can in any way be ‘justified’ by what the Yehudis call The Shoah and certainly mustn’t be excused from prosecution for genocide and other Zionist crimes against humanity.
As a Brit, I am appalled by my country’s past and present perfidious involvement in the past and present destruction of the Palestinian people in Palestine. It’s horrendous.
And it’s ongoing ….
What is wrong with Israelis?
Nothing whatsoever, according to British politicians. They are the type of people, above all others, who our politicians most want to be Friends with; and for that we the voters are supposed to admire and be impressed by them.
The Arab states are at a crucial point in their relationships with the major powers US/Israel, Russia, China and Iran. US/Israel offer ‘the rules based order’ to which they must all comply. OR ELSE. Russia and China offer the Chinese belt and road initiative and Russian trade with its vast resources. The more violence is used – i.e. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Iran – the more it is obvious how the Arab states must react. In the end they must resist, otherwise they will be the slaves of the US/Israel forever, Gandhi had it exactly right when he said…
Gandhi: “I do believe that where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence…I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour.”
The colonisers of America had a similar mind set as US/Israel encapsulated in the phrase ‘Manifest destiny’ or the will of God. This needed to be enforced by the Army’s Gatling guns and Winchester repeating rifles. Millions of Indians were slaughtered and led into reservations and forgotten about. This was with the approval of people like Winston Churchill, who said this was merely a superior race replacing an inferior one – which sounds like Darwin’s theory of the survival of the fittest, or at another time Mao’s ‘Power grows out the barrel of a gun’.
Israel has now murdered over A HUNDRED journalists in Gaza. They are being deliberately targeted to try and suppress news of war crimes and atrocities. There has never been anything quite like it. The whole world knows the USA is supporting it all the way. Yesterday however (28th December) U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued this tweet:
“This has been an extraordinarily dangerous year for press around the world. Many killed, many more wounded, hundreds detained, attacked, threatened, injured – simply for doing their jobs. I am profoundly grateful to the press for getting accurate, timely information to people.”
First of all Happy New Year to Craig Murray.
I should be shocked, that he no longer feels safe to live in the UK, but nothing much shocks me anymore since 2020, or indeed since 9/11.
Whilst almost everyone I know, thought I was a conspiracy theorist over 9/11, such that I had to keep my mouth shut, the last 4 years have been very much worse and almost completely destroyed my social life and mental and physical health, because I said what I thought.
On the plus side, I can now walk again, after 23 days in my local hospital with a very severe case of Sepsis, and have been told I should make a full recovery. We have also got a Baby Granddaughter (1), a Kitten (10 weeks old) and we have been teaching each other how to walk) The kitten is by far the fastest.
My Wife gets Joint Number 1 – with all the Doctors and Nurses and The Support Staff who saved my life..
First time I had been admitted to hospital in 62 years, when I was 8 with Appendicitis
Tony
Lovely to hear from you again Tony. Happy New Year.
As Craig has previously cited some poetry I thought I would cite some too.
Moon over Gaza
Moon over Gaza, Oh Moon, over Gaza
please Light our way in the darkness,
this evening.
What clouds are these that obscure
your Vision ? Accompany such thunder ?
These strange illuminations, flare and kindle,
the acrid taste of sulphur ? Blown by the Wind
under the canopy of heaven, begging for mercy,
a haven, shelter
On this Eve, the nocturn calls,
the Nightwatchman, sleepless, wanders, hears the scrapes
beneath the rubble, reckons and observes,
the huddled, blinking, shivering….. stars.
The soughing murmurs.
The darkness before the dawn, is coldest.
What will awaken, below the blanket of fear,
from the chill breath of morning, hands reach out
to grasp for meaning. Feet swollen, stamp the cold
for circulation. Prayers begin, ..then lamentation.
The inky Night recedes, before the Sun has risen,
an outline of the broken shells, grows sharper
with each moment: Un-recognised, the fractured,
torn, horizon. Unsteady under foot, the bloody yokes
that coat the ruins.
Break fast, Lord have mercy on the them,
sweet tea and bread for those who have them.
Envision, sunken eyes and swollen bellies, for children
without sustenance.
While crows and scavengers are feasting.
Red skies in the East, a warning
rain clouds gather, Shadows falling, uttering
a deluge ? The Firebirds are also massing
now flying in formation, hear the shrieking
whining, screaming. Emptying their bellies,
which explode.
The Invaders with their Bulldestroyers
monstrous rubble creepers, wear the mask
of Empire/Occupiers to crush the buildings of our hope,
make graves of people’s homes.
Clear Springs, clean water, their faces wet,
have heavens opened ? Cheeks are streaming,
heard imploring, for the ceaseless killing
STOP
Rain and tears, tears and rain
fall into the dust.
I’ll mix these tears, l’ll mix this rain
I’ll mix this dust, to make a paste,
form it into clay. I’ll build a home,
we’ll build a future, in Palestine,
for Palestinians.
Para 6 above had a line missing.
Should read:
Break fast. Lord have mercy on the them,
Sweet tea and bread for those who have them.
Envision, sunken eyes and swollen bellies,
diorrrhoea and dysentary, for children
without sustenance.
Wile crows and scavengers are feasting.
Dreadful news: John Pilger is dead.
He was one of a very small handful of honest journalists. A teller of Truth.
I was devastated by the death of John Pilger on December 30th. We had corresponded for 33 years. I wrote an appreciation of his life: https://www.facebook.com/paul.ohanlon.581/
I also wrote a eulogy for him: https://www.facebook.com/paul.ohanlon.581/
Rest in power John!
I wish you well Craig in your new refuge wherever that is. The fact that you have been forced into exile is a disgrace to that used to be known as British democracy.
Thank you for the mention in the article. I can assure readers that I will be staying to fight the bastards and police state operatives. That is not meant as a criticism of you Craig, as I know you have already suffered 4 months imprisonment on a ludicrous contempt of court charge.
We all must recharge our energy over the Xmas/New Year period to do battle with those who would turn Britain into a police state and in support of the Palestinians.