Who Are the Terrorists? 584


I have a confession to make.

When a journalist writes this it generally means they will proceed to reveal something they hope will actually show them in a good light or justified in some way. But I have a real confession to make, of something I did that was wrong.

Somewhere in the UK, among the papers of a dead loved one which nobody has the heart to throw out, in cardboard boxes in dusty attics or deep in the filing cabinets of Jeremy Corbyn, exist still a few copies of thousands of letters bearing my authentic signature.

These letters, on expensive paper with an impressive Foreign and Commonwealth Office crested header, state that the British Government will not deal with the African National Congress because it is a terrorist organisation.

Many of them go on to state that Nelson Mandela is a terrorist who was rightly convicted of terrorism by a South African court after a free and fair trial.

I really did write those thousands of letters, not just sign them. I did not believe a single word of it, and was only “doing my job” as a civil servant, but in a sense that makes it worse.

So I know how many government functionaries currently feel in carrying out the government’s policy of supporting and indeed actively participating in genocide.

When I joined the FCO, in my “fast stream” intake of 22 I was one of only two who was not public school and the only one who was not Oxbridge. I also had the unusual background of being a member of CND, Friends of Palestine and various other activist groups.

I could not be excluded because in the several days and stages of public examinations I had (tied with 2 others) outperformed everybody else of the 80,000 people who had entered the Civil Service administrative exams (it was 1984 with 3.5 million unemployed).

But the security services were not happy, and my “positive vetting” was delayed. This is an extremely exhaustive process (nowadays direct vetting) for those with the highest security clearance. An MOD officer, usually retired military, is assigned to investigate everything about you for months, including interviewing many who know you.

So while I joined the FCO in September 1984, for five months I was not given a job but rather put on full time French language training together with three other misfits (one of whom I think was being given extra investigation because his uncle was Roger Hollis).

In the end my positive vetting was left with a query, and I was pulled in to see the Head of Personnel Department. They said that they had decided to grant my vetting certificate, but that I was going to be placed on the South Africa (Political) desk as a direct test of whether it was possible for me to put my politics aside and function as a civil servant.

So I did. You tell yourself many things to get by, chiefly that the UK is a democracy and ministers are elected by voters to determine policy; whereas you as a civil servant are merely carrying through the wishes of the voters.

Thatcher was Prime Minister and she simply was a straightforward supporter of apartheid. This is much denied but I am an eye witness. Geoffrey Howe was Foreign Minister and it was never easy to determine what he thought about anything. Junior ministers running day to day policy were Lynda Chalker and Malcolm Rifkind, who were both viscerally anti-apartheid.

But the line that Mandela was a terrorist and the ANC a terrorist organisation was dictated by Thatcher and absolutely insisted upon.

It is difficult now to explain the intensity of feeling in the UK and the strength of the anti-apartheid campaign. Scores of letters would arrive every day, many from MPs, and – this bit is hard to believe now – in those days every letter would be answered point by point, not with a generic reply.

I was writing those replies by hand, and then giving them to the secretaries to type up. In 1985 the Department got its first word processor and I was able to draft forty template paragraphs and select from those for the replies. But out those replies went from Craig Murray, stating that Nelson Mandela was a terrorist, thousands of them.

I was very actively involved in the Whitehall battle to change the policy, but that is a different story which I have in part explained before.

But this is an extremely important thought that I want you all to ponder.

In 1985, the Terrorism Act 2000 was still 15 years away. There was no such thing as a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act.

Under today’s legislation, every single one of those people writing in support of the African National Congress or out campaigning for the release of Nelson Mandela would have been liable for arrest under Section 12 1 (a) of the Terrorism Act.

That is the danger of allowing the state to dictate whom you must consider a terrorist and punishing those who disagree with the state.

In 1985 the official position of the British state was that the ANC were terrorists and apartheid South Africa were the good guys.

In 2024 the official position of the British state is that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorists and apartheid Israel are the good guys.

The state can be wrong.

It is therefore not an irony that Starmer and Cooper banned Nelson Mandela’s grandson from entering the UK as a “terrorist sympathiser” because of his support for Palestine. In this as so much else, Starmer is a follower of Thatcher.

The difference forty years later is that the state is now persecuting British citizens and locking them up for daring to say that the state can be wrong.

The ANC example explains why it is essential we do not give way to this pressure.

Let us face facts. Like most resistance units against colonialism, the ANC were indeed forced by the exigencies of asymmetric warfare into actions that were careless of, or even targeted the lives of, colonial settler civilians.

That did not put them on the wrong side of history. Apartheid South Africa was wrong just as Apartheid Israel is wrong. Occupied people have, in international law, the right of armed resistance. Within that context of lawful struggle, individuals remain accountable for individual war crimes.

The Terrorism Act, abused by the Israel lobby to make it illegal to support Israel’s opponents, is fundamentally bad legislation. It literally provides for up to 14 years in jail if you “express an opinion” in favour of a proscribed organisation.

40 years ago it would have been used against the large majority of the population who “expressed an opinion” in favour of the ANC, officially viewed as a terrorist organisation.

The sickening ratcheting up of pressure on Palestine supporters by super Zionist Keir Starmer continued yesterday with a 6am raid on highly distinguished journalist Asa Winstanley. All his electronics and journalistic materials were seized.

Panicked Zionist “elites” who run western states are lashing out in fear at their opponents. As their popular support evaporates in the face of clear evidence of appalling Israeli atrocities, they are resorting to the methods of fascism.

 

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584 thoughts on “Who Are the Terrorists?

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  • Republicofscotland

    This is significant – for who now, will put out the fires and try and rescue those trapped or injured from strewn rubble, or from Zionist snipers shooting civilians indiscriminately.

    “Gaza’s Civil Defense Forced to Withdraw From N Gaza Amid Israeli Threats

    Gaza’s Civil Defense agency has withdrawn from northern Gaza due to threats from Israeli forces, spokesman Mahmoud Basal stated.

    “Several team members have been targeted and injured, with others lying on the streets, bleeding, with no one able to rescue them,” he said.

    U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that civilians in northern Gaza are rapidly exhausting all available means for survival under the ongoing Israeli siege.”

    • Bramble

      Meanwhile, Harris thinks that Americans are only bothered about the price of groceries. (Well, maybe they are. No credit to her or America’s political and media class.)

      • MR MARK CUTTS

        Bramble

        I wonder what all her crap about wishing for a ceasefire is all about, if it’s only groceries the public are worried about?

        Unfortunately both candidates are not politicians and are nothing like politicians. It’s ‘the economy stupid’ for both Harris and Trump, but because the rich own and guide the economy, then it’s weapons for breakfast, dinner and tea.

        I would only say to the US people – you can’t eat a missile. You may pay for them to land on people you don’t know. The rich won’t pay for them – despite all the show happening to protect their assets – (not the people’s assets – they have very few).

        Even from a self centred point of view – what exactly is in it for individual Americans? Big fat zero – whether it’s Trump or Harris that wins.

        The Yanks are not alone – it’s the same in the whole of The Western World.

    • Brian Red

      The Zionists are really stepping up their crimes in Northern Gaza right now. They shelled one hospital (Kamal Adwan) from tanks, then raided it, forced patients to move to the courtyard, and captured patients, staff, and displaced people who were sheltering there. About 1 patient is dying there per hour as a result of the Zionist attack, according to the hospital director. They knocked out the generators at another hospital (the Indonesian), making sure to damage the solar panels too. The UN says it has been unable to reach all three hospitals in Northern Gaza – those two and the al-Awda.

      https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/25/patients-staff-trapped-in-gazas-kamal-adwan-hospital-amid-israeli-siege

  • Ayesha Khan

    There is an extraordinary bit of legislation that I have not heard people talk about thoroughly. It is the National Secrets Act 2023, particular s.3 assisting a foreign intelligence service, and s.3(7)(d)(ii) which provides a complete defence. This Act was hurried through and fully enacted during the genocide. It allows a PM to be a fully compromised asset for a foreign state and to do so with complete impunity as he is fully protected in the Act. There are no legal mechanisms available to the populace to stop this. Should the PM be a foreign asset and take dictates from a foreign state, completely destroying the UK’s sovereignty and making us a colony or province of said state, there is absolutely nothing we can do within our own legal systems.

    It seems a very funny law to have enacted….

    https://ayauk.substack.com/p/i-need-you-to-read-this-very-carefully

  • Allan Howard

    As just about everyone who follows Craig (and other independent/left-wing/alternative media) knows, only one baby was killed on October 7th (albeit, not deliberately), 10-month old Mila Cohen and, as such, the 40 beheaded babies story (and versions of it) was a falsehood and atrocity propaganda, and proof that that’s the case has been in the public domain since at least December. And we can be absolutely certain that Biden and Blinken and Starmer et al are fully aware of the fact, along with the MSM, and the reason they all keep quiet about it is because they want hundreds of millions of people to go on believing that Hamas did such an evil thing. That said, I have no doubt whatsoever that they all knew from the outset that it was atrocity propaganda, along with many other such claims.

    Anyway, about two or three months ago I did a search to see if any of the British media had informed their readers or viewers or listeners that only one baby was killed on October 7th, and as far as I could tell, not one of them had. But as I learnt earlier, by chance, when I did a search about something, it turns out that the Guardian DID, albeit indirectly, if I can put it like that, and in an article by Mehdi Hasan posted on May 2nd and entitled ‘Which is worse, Israel’s lies about Gaza or its western backers who repeat those lies?’, he mentions the fact:(I have no idea if it was in the print edition though):

    There are almost too many lies, distortions and falsehoods to keep track of. Forty babies beheaded by Hamas? Never happened. Babies baked in ovens or hung on clothes lines? False….

    And he links to a Le Monde article published on April 3rd headlined ’40 beheaded babies’: Deconstructing the rumor at the heart of the information battle between Israel and Hamas, although only the first part of it is visible:

    On October 10, official Israeli accounts relayed a sordid but unfounded allegation. Six months later, it continues to circulate, fueling accusations of Israeli disinformation.

    Following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which claimed around 1,160 victims, images of the massacre flooded social media and news outlets around the world.

    But amidst this flood of accounts of murder, looting and mutilation, one rumor took on extraordinary proportions: 40 decapitated babies were allegedly found in the Kfar Aza kibbutz, one of the communities most impacted by the attack. This story, and its variants, went viral like never before, going as far as being mentioned by the White House. However, in the horror of this massacre, in which 38 minors including two infants were killed, there were never 40 decapitated babies. Not in Kfar Aza nor in any other kibbutz, the Israeli government press office confirmed to Le Monde.

    How did this false information come about? Can it be compared to the Kuwait incubator affair, a fabricated tale of kidnapped and massacred babies that was partly used to justify the first Gulf War?

    The article then goes on to say that ‘Le Monde’s investigation sheds light on a rumor born organically, out of a mixture of emotion, confusion and macabre exaggeration’, which I completely disagree with, and have no doubt whatsoever that like just about all the atrocity claims, it was concocted and contrived for the obvious reason(s).

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/02/israel-gaza-lies-western-backers

    I wonder if we’ll ever learn how many Israelis the IDF killed on October 7th?

      • Allan Howard

        Yes, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the IDF and the Israeli airforce killed the vast majority of them. And deliberately so. And quite possibly all planned in advance of the Hamas attack. And ditto the atrocity propaganda.

        • Brian Red

          @Allan – What do you mean by “planned”?

          1. I have an open mind about whether the Hannibal Directive is as some people say. If it really is the policy, how does it work? It can’t be so secret that the units who have to enforce it don’t know about it until they get the order. It has to be observed that there have never been many stories of Jewish combatants undertaking suicide missions, and the religious believers don’t care a tinker’s cuss about the afterlife, so it would be hard to build up an “Oh dear, we just got unlucky – coulda happened to anyone – go on then, blow us away” culture. The directive might function against majority non-Ashkenazi units or civilian groups though?

          2. The propaganda would certainly have been planned, or at least much of it. The channels are well oiled. There are Zionist media “verification” combatants all over the place now.

          This said, I rarely buy whoopsadaisyist “what a coincidence the defences were down that day” explanations. Or in Israel’s case, explanations that focus on Netanyahu. It’s hard to think the resistance was so sh*t-hot as to be able to plan the camp breakout and the attack on the occupiers without Israeli intelligence knowing. Perhaps it was like the Reichstag fire, where Marinus van der Lubbe was an honourable guy with great intentions…and the Nazis were the opposite.

  • Allan Howard

    RoS mentioned this a couple of days ago, but here’s Al Jazeera’s response:

    Al Jazeera decries ‘unfounded’ Israeli claims about its Gaza journalists

    The network warns Israel against using allegations as a justification for targeting Al Jazeera journalists.

    Al Jazeera has strongly rejected a claim by the Israeli military that six of its journalists based in Gaza are members of the Palestinian groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

    The media network on Wednesday vehemently condemned the “unfounded allegations” by the Israeli army, which in a post on X described some of the named Al Jazeera Arabic correspondents as “operatives” working for Hamas’s armed wing to promote the group’s “propaganda” in the besieged and bombarded enclave.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/23/al-jazeera-decries-unfounded-israeli-claims-about-its-gaza-journalists

    • Jack

      And as usual no support from “Reporters without borders” and other western smug liberal journalists that would get livid if Russia killed some 130 Ukrainian journalists, accusing them of being “terrorists”.
      There is also a racist factor in the western media doubting that these arabs really are journalists. If white western journalists were killed however we would have seen total sympathy.

      Remember also that in WW2 there were 69 journalists killed, in Vietnam war 63 journalists were killed and in Gaza it is some 130 and the number is ticking!
      By comparison, 63 journalists were killed in the Vietnam War that lasted two decades, and a total of 69 killed in World War II (1939-45) – the bloodiest war the modern world has seen.
      https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/9/how-deadly-is-the-israel-gaza-war-for-journalists

      Why are Israel so obsessed with attacking journalists is obvious They lie and the only people that stand in their way from getting their lies out are journalists, reporters inside of Gaza.
      A norweigan reporter put it well recently interviewing one of the israeli reps:
      https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HG3u7ZQOygo
      That is good youtube channel by the way – https://www.youtube.com/@BreezyPolitics – check it out.

      Just look how even BBC protested the lie the other day by Israel that hospital in Lebanon had secret gold bunkers under their hospital:
      BBC footage shows ‘nothing inside’ hospital Israel said sits on Hezbollah gold
      https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/forums/topic/breaking-news-gaza-only/page/31/#post-101245

      What is not talked about is the many israeli journalists being embedded and peddle the propaganda from IDF. Here we certainly have terrorists but frame themselves as journalists.

      • Brian Red

        The Zionists are genocidal “we don’t care for your f*cking rights, or for the laws of warfare” maniacs and they want to be seen as such by their enemies, so as to strike terror in their enemies’ hearts – and the entire population of Gaza is their enemy. They are raping prisoners, humiliating the wounded in hospitals, murdering humanitarian aid personnel, bombing hospitals, schools, churches, and mosques, as well as murdering journalists.

  • Alyson

    Okay – next penny drop moment…

    I couldn’t understand why antisemitism was different from other forms of racism. Surely all racism was bad? Surely we know that the Nazi holocaust targeted other racial minorities, especially the Roma, as well? So why make out it was only the Jews who died? It made no sense. How could we allow Friends of Israel to throw out conscientious anti racist MPs who had compassionate and humanitarian concerns about the actions of a far away country called Israel?

    Aha!

    We are not allowed to criticise our overlords. This is what antisemitism means. We have been conquered and we know what happens to a country which is conquered by a small minority which claims exceptionalism. We have been puzzled for these last few years because we have robust anti racism legislative frameworks ensuring that at least in principle all UK residents are entitled to equal protection under the law. All this fuss about one racial minority seemed to be just so much hot air.

    Well, Friends of Israel ought to be a proscribed political organisation, because it is a fascist supremacist organisation which supports genocide and war crimes. This is not anti semitic to call for this, it is not anti Jew, it is anti war crimes.

    We are in a sticky situation

    • Stevie Boy

      Israel owns and defines antisemitism, and it’s nothing to do with Jews, and the western lapdogs and fifth columnists dutifully follow the instructions of their masters.
      The holocaust is also owned by Israeli, and it is not what we are told, but the story has persisted since 1948, go figure.

      • Brian Red

        The use of the notion of “the” holocaust by Zionists took off in a big way in the 1960s, beginning with the Eichmann trial which was broadcast internationally. (I’ve a feeling it was shown using newsreel-type tech in schools etc. among settlers in Palestine itself, maybe with radio playing a part, because there wasn’t an Israeli TV channel in 1961. Hadn’t West Germany discussed stopping its payments to Israel shortly before then?) Israeli propagandists love to say Israel is a kind of haven for persecuted Jews, but that’s total crap. The Zionists themselves had to terrorise Arab Jews (using bombs), in places like Morocco and Iraq and Yemen where they had been living in peace, to stimulate much of the post-Naqba immigration and settlement.

        There wasn’t much talk of any holocaust during the events of October 1956.

        Then after the Six Day War in ’67, the Woody Allen character was successfully deployed. They got quite a bit of mileage out of that, right through the time of “Hallelujah” at Eurovision, although eventually it stopped being relevant, probably around the time Vietnam Syndrome did the same. The attacks of 11 Sep 2001 (a famous case of “whoopsadaisy, the defences were down”) were the nail in the coffin.

        • wiggins

          Yes, I recall Brother Nat saying that as a regular Shul attendee, he hadn’t heard mention of the holocaust till the beginning of the 1960’s……

    • Tatyana

      Alyson, re. exceptionalism.

      As far as I know, in Jewish culture there is a word for non-Jews – goy.
      I want to say that in other cultures there are words for other people, for example, by ethnicity, race, religion, etc. There are many of them and they all serve to designate specific groups of people by some individual characteristics inherent to them. In semantics, such words can be conditionally interpreted, for example, “people with black skin”, “people living in China”, “people with an unusual national hairstyle/clothes/culture”, etc.
      In the case when we want to convey the meaning of not belonging to us, then we simply use a negative prefix, for example, non-Russian, non-English, non-white, etc.

      But I don’t know of any culture that would have the concept of “Goy” like the Jews. That is, one word for “everyone else”.
      Yes, I know that in the old sacred texts Goy meant Peoples, and the Jews were designated as the Great Goy. But in modern times the meaning of this word has completely changed. I have seen examples of its use, and I can only compare it with the concept of Untermensch in Nazi ideology.

      • Alyson

        This is not about anti Jew sentiment but about risks posed by a fascist ideology which issues death threats to anyone who criticises its criminal actions. Class is also a factor in definitions of status, and senior Jewish men regard the Jewish stars we admire in film and music as Court Jews. Jews who integrate with non Jews are also disrespected unless they can prove they serve the dominant ideology and intend to betray their spouses where necessary. Queen Esther is the role model for all ambitious and beautiful young women committed to serving the tribe before all else. All of this could be just cultural if it didn’t pose a risk in the nations which welcome and include such selfish people as equal citizens. It is the fanatical commitment to harming others which is the escalation which needs to be called out.

        There are other extremist beliefs which make some people behave disrespectfully towards others. No such group should be exempt from being called out if it is in breach of laws which serve all citizens.

        I am merely identifying a risk which I was previously unable to define. I expect the decision makers are fully aware of and trying to balance the risks, and protecting us by keeping us ignorant is a plausible explanation of this flagrant denial and persistent lying. What to do about it is the underlying question. Is the sickness of witnessing such terrible war crimes, or the cure of trying to stop them, more dangerous?

        And the point at which we feel compelled to commit such crimes too, so as not to be a victim ourselves?

        This is where parliamentary scrutiny must be called to the fore and be accountable to the electorate.

        • Stevie Boy

          “parliamentary scrutiny”. That will be the zionist fifth columnists marking their own homework. How do you think that will work out ?

      • Brian Red

        @Tatyana –

        The words that some racist Jews often use are “yok” (for a male non-Jew) and “shiksa” (for a female non-Jew).

        The word “goy” is used in the phrase “shanda fur die goyim”, as in “Don’t be a shanda fur die goyim”.

      • Brian Red

        Re. “goyim”:

        is there an example of another culture which uses a single concept to reference a collection of ethnic groups, but if that collection were to assert its own identity (organising “Goy Pride” marches, for instance), the first culture would accuse them of ipso facto being ultra-racist tending to genocidalist?

    • Squeeth

      The US rulers and their lackeys accepting the horror of the anti-Jewish genocides committed by the nazis is a loss-leader. When someone says spare a thought for the disabled babies murdered first, in the ‘Euthanasia Action’, zionists cry that you’re minimising the atrocities inflicted later on Jews. Since lots of modern states also murder disabled babies, it’s a convenient fig-leaf.

      • Brian Red

        It’s absolutely crucial knowledge about the German holocaust that it started with the mass murder of disabled people, and as you rightly say, disabled babies in particular.

        Have you read Vera Sharav?

        This, written by Sharav, is from the complaint made to the International Criminal Court on 6 December 2021, signed by Piers Corbyn and others:

        What sets the Holocaust apart from all other mass genocides is the pivotal role played by the medical establishment, the entire medical establishment. Every step of the murderous process was endorsed by the academic, professional medical establishment. Medical doctors and prestigious medical societies and institutions lent the veneer of legitimacy to infanticide, mass murder of civilians. T4 was the first industrialised medical murder project in history. The first victims were disabled German infants and children under 3…. The next victims were the mentally ill, followed by the elderly in nursing homes. The murderous operations were methodical, and followed protocol very, very carefully.

        One could also mention forced sterilisations, which were conducted on a large scale in the USA from before they were done in Germany under the Nazis until a long time afterwards, disproportionately against women who were Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous.

        • Squeeth

          No, I used to look after people who have learning difficulties so delving into the atrocities of the past made me uncomfortably aware of the murder in our midst. Before Michael Burleigh turned into a frothing bigot against the Balsamic Fundamentaloids, he wrote a good book “Confronting the Nazi Past: New Debates on Modern German History” (1996) and one of the essays is ‘Spending Lives, Saving Money’ in which every quote from a nazi doctor, nurse, social worker and bureaucrat was something I’d heard from their ‘liberal’ equivalents. I left the statutory sector in 1996 and the ‘voluntary’ sector in 2001, my clients didn’t….

    • Allan Howard

      ‘… Friends of Israel ought to be a proscribed political organisation, because it is a fascist supremacist organisation which supports genocide and war crimes.’

      Or arrested and given long prison sentences for supporting a terrorist state:

      Israel and state-sponsored terrorism

      The State of Israel has been accused of engaging in state-sponsored terrorism,[1] as well as committing acts of state terrorism on a daily basis in the Palestinian territories.[2] Countries that have condemned Israel’s role as a perpetrator of state-sponsored terrorism or state terrorism include Bolivia,[3] Iran, Lebanon,[4] Oman,[5] Saudi Arabia,[6] Syria,[7] Turkey,[8] and Yemen.[9]

      An early example of Israeli state-sponsored was the 1954 Lavon Affair, a botched bomb plot in Egypt that led to the resignation of the Israeli defense minister at the time….

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_and_state-sponsored_terrorism

      • M.J.

        The Home Secretary can choose to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000, if that organisation:
        commits or participates in acts of terrorism.
        prepares for terrorism.
        promotes or encourages terrorism (including the unlawful glorification of terrorism); or,
        is otherwise concerned in terrorism.
        The IDF seems to qualify. Likewise the State of Israel that sends it on its way. I’m less sure about the lobbies like Friends (=Slaves) of Israel or AIPAC. They are deluded into supporting a racist tyranny, yes, and even lying for it (as when they advocate a “two state” solution knowing full well that the second of the “two” is an unviable fragmented vassal bantustan) – but that’s not the same thing.

        • Brian Red

          This is very curious from a legal point of view. The Act does not require the Home Secretary to proscribe terrorist organisations. It says she can choose to proscribe them.

          I wonder whether anyone involved in the consideration and preparation of this legislation ever suggested that the Home Secretary should be given the duty to proscribe terrorist organisations? Then for example if she failed to ban one, she’d be guilty of malfeasance.

          Never forget: Zionism is not an ideology – it is an organisation. The “state of Israel” was a creation of the World Zionist Organisation and Jewish Agency, which by 1948 were functioning as a single entity. It is still the same kind of thing as it was. One should not accept the legitimacy of its declaration into existence.

  • Republicofscotland

    I can’t verify this yet.

    “Hezbollah’s Radwan Force has captured 13 Israeli soldiers, including a commander with the rank of Colonel from the Israeli army. There is currently widespread chaos inside the Israeli Knesset, and the situation is being kept under strict secrecy.”

  • Republicofscotland

    This will be right up Starmer’s street.

    “Labour Councillor Izzy Lenga, part of the Labour Party’s team in the US campaigning for Kamala Harris. This is real. This what this country has become.”

    https://nitter.poast.org/EsheruKwaku/status/1849497169721540800?cursor=NwAAAPAoHBlWvMW0nYfpgaszmIfQocyd36oz4Iay2c2s3qozhIfRkZ-P6Koz3MeytdiJ36ozJQISFQQAAA#r

    https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/labour-womens-candidate-izzy-lenga-trained-israeli-army

  • Jack

    Looks like war on Iran is coming nearer – perhaps this weekend – and that US, Europe will be active, supportive actors:

    F16s in place in Germany: https://x.com/MenchOsint/status/1849833281753104745
    On top of it US tanking airplanes are moving from UK, Sweden, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus etc towards the Middle east https://x.com/MenchOsint/status/1849758294929273325

    So another mass-slaughter in Iran is pending. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that the longer this genocide goes on, the less criticism from the west one hear, instead they are getting more and more involved in even a bigger destruction by enabling a war against Teheran and iranian lives.
    Just look how radlcalized europe have gotten since their rejection of the Iraq war of 2003. Then, atleast some of them, took a clear stance against the deceit and war to uphold the law. And look at the rotten europe today. Do not even pretend to care about the law!

    Meanwhile the useless BRICS are nowhere to be seen. They could have proved that they are better than the west by standing up and threatening with sanctions etc. But nothing from this useless club. But what to expect, I assume the islamophobe Modi of India had Mossad bodyguards during the recent BRICS meeting:

    In November 2015, The Times of India reported that agents from Mossad and MI5 were protecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Turkey.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossad

  • MR MARK CUTTS

    Well. Strike a blow for Truth, Justice and the American way.

    The BBC’s Russian Correspondent Steve Rosenberg finally (after many years of putting his hand up) managed to ask Mr Putin a question. Of course it wasn’t about what the BRICS participants were up to, but Ukraine.

    OK – that’s what he’s representing – the AUKUS gang – but he is entitled to ask questions as the BBC has not been barred from Russia or its television output.

    So after many years of not being allowed to ask Putin a question he gets one. Does he like the answer? No, but he’s not here to find anything out but only to ‘expose’ an evil man. An elected Authoritarian leader.

    He should get to ask the question because he represents all that is good in a Democracy and its adhesion to Freedom of Speech, and that is in his righteous mind. If he checks his notes he will find that RT is banned in the Freedom-loving, Free Speech, West – and that the BBC isn’t banned in Russia.

    He will also know (if he checks his notes again?) that Press TV (Iranian news) was banned before RT – so as a ‘Freedom Lover’ from the West he surely would know that he sounds like a BBC Chump.

    AUKUS is as AUKUS as does. A lot of banning from The West and not much banning from the banned.

    At least if his lot have a go at Iran, he can plead ignorance and just blame Putin for everything. Another useful idiot whose history clock only seems to start at a certain time.

    We may as well ignore every historian who lived before 2014 in Ukraine and October the 7th 2023 in Israel.

    No doubt he (like many BBC and MSM reporters) has been to University to study Politics/History. But it looks like very little knowledge sank in for the duration.

    The BRICS Conference has been studiously avoided by the West. But at least Steve got his question asked and answered. And of course no-one listening learnt a thing.

    A Tassled Cap for that man!

    • Pears Morgaine

      Feel better for that?

      BBC News Russia was blocked in March 2022; RT and Sputnik are still available on some platforms in the UK.

      • MR MARK CUTTS

        Pear Morgaine

        New York Times:
        https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/04/world/europe/bbc-russia-ukraine.html

        Rosenberg has had his hand up for a long time in Russia. He was offended that he couldn’t ask Putin a ‘killer’ question and nor is he barred from Russia. (RT is barred from Broadcasting as is Press TV.) He is there to embarrass Putin – not to ask an honest question.

        Meanwhile BRICs Conference is not being reported on in the MSM.

        I will emphasise yet again: Rosenberg has not been banned from Russia. One BBC female reporter has.

        By the way – can a Russian RT reporter ask Starmer a question? The answer is no.

        • David Warriston

          The point might be that although the Jewish population in the UK comprises around 0.5% of the entire population, the percentage of mainstream political reporters and commentators with a Jewish background is a great deal more. This background might influence their reporting.

          Steven Rosenberg should not be confused with Joshua Rozenberg, a legal commentator often called upon by the BBC and who is married to Melanie Phillips.

    • M.J.

      Just watched it. A really excellent video, I thought. John Oliver has definitely done his good deed for the day, and that’s putting it mildly. It may not be exaggerating to say that he’s done his bit for History, that he has done something significant with his life. I hope that his good friend Stephen Colbert takes note and follows suit in due time, and why not Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel and their colleagues on the Daily Show as well, in the interests of stopping an ongoing crime against humanity that is Israeli apartheid, with its accompanying genocide in Gaza.

  • Brian Red

    Israel is bombing targets in Iran now.

    They have attacked sites in or near Teheran, Karaj, and Shiraz.

    Tass, Al Jazeera, and the Financial Times are all starting their reports with what the Israelis themselves say about their actions.

    • Alyson

      They’ve wiped out military bases and are warning Iran not to retaliate, saying this was a proportional response to Iran’s volley of missiles previously. This might disrupt the US elections quite considerably, especially as the Washington Post is not backing either candidate. I guess Obama is still in charge of decision making on behalf of Biden. Or if not him, then who?

      • Goose

        Look at the condemnatory contrast in response, compared to Iran’s Oct 1 missile attack on Israel. Iran’s retaliation was itself in response to Israel’s multiple assassinations of: Haniyeh, Nasrallah alongside the Iranian general, Abbas Nilforushan. Also Mojtaba Amani, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, who lost one eye and his other was seriously wounded in the pager attacks.

        Starmer and Healey’s stock response of “Israel has a right to defend itself” is being wheeled out yet again; a repetitive response that’s really become as tiresome as it is inappropriate, certainly in regards to the genocide in Gaza. Israel’s law of the jungle, ‘might is right’ behaviour, is not self-defence; no wonder Macron described Israel as sinking towards ‘slay them all’ primitive barbarism.

        Gaza is costing the West all moral standing in the world, and further damaging (if possible) respect for politicians and the armed forces in our own countries. They say Russia wants to undermine US/UK morale and divide us. Well, they couldn’t dream of doing a better job in that regard, than our own UK and US elites are doing themselves; with their unquestioning support for Israel.

        • Wilshire

          Exactly. People may be right in thinking that Kamala doesn’t do anything more than Biden to oppose the genocide in Palestine, but clearly the issue doesn’t suppress the usual suspicion of prejudice against women and blacks.
          A more interesting question would be, who will be in charge of decision making once Trump is elected again ? Elon ?

          • Brian Red

            The reason Musk is publicly backing Trump may be that he has been told that Trump will win. I doubt he is much of a gambler.
            But watch Vance. The notion that Musk and Thiel chose Vance to become US president in the near future may have a lot going for it. Various scenarios are possible, but they all involve getting Trump out of the way.

          • Goose

            Makes me laugh, how they’re claiming Trump will do all the things they warned he’d do in the first term.

            They claim he’ll appoint someone who’ll go to war with the Deep State (typically a reference to intel agency overreach); someone who’ll give them a 2nd Church Committee (1975) type forensic investigation into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Security Agency (NSA).
            In reality, he’ll probably get saddled with another CIA ‘firewall’ like Pompeo again, maybe even Bolton will be back, or if not then their neocon equivalents. Trump lacks the guile/intelligence to be truly dangerous to his ‘Deep State’ opponents.

          • Reza

            @Wilshire
            What issue doesn’t suppress that suspicion?

            @Goose
            The Democrats have to make all the same claims as in 2016 – in the same shrill pitch – because all they are offering themselves is genocide & Dick Cheney.

          • Wilshire

            The answer is the question. And vice versa. Which part of ‘prejudice’ don’t you understand?
            I don’t think there are many Kamala fans reading this blog, but otherwise based on what specific facts would she be less capable of making decisions than the current POTUS ?
            Kudos on editing your comments.

          • Goose

            Glenn Greenwald highlighted the Nixon Foundation videos : https://www.youtube.com/@NixonFoundation/videos

            I’ve seen quite a few of these clips as Youtube shorts.

            As Greenwald states, they illustrate how the quality of US presidential candidates and debate have fallen dramatically. Nixon was clearly infinitely better informed about the world then, than his modern day equivalents are now – especially an empty shell like Harris.

            I don’t personally think that the quality decline across the West we’ve witnessed, is an organic phenomenon either; powerful people, who want to rule without the public spotlight on them, must surely be behind it?

            The idea of Nixon relying on Beyoncé to boost his appeal, would’ve been unthinkable.

          • Reza

            @Wilshire
            No one has suggested she is taking the decisions. If you’re to convince other people to become fans you are going to need more than these gibberish riddles and allegations of prejudice.

        • Alyson

          Biden is still making the decisions, and Obama has been heading the CIA for several years, and appeared to be the voice in Biden’s ear as his speech writer. Biden hates Putin and is vehemently pro Israel. His children all have Jewish spouses. Kuschner is under investigation for leaking US inside information to Saudi and working towards an alliance between Saudi and Israel. These are the nightmare duo who could do us and Europe an awful lot of harm if they are unleashed against us. Trump complained the other day that the EU was as unhelpful as China to American businesses. Our ‘special relationship’ is looking a bit strained with Trump looking likely to win. I mean can you imagine Kamala having cordial discussions with Putin over negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine?

          Anyway, Israel flew unchallenged, for hundreds of miles over Iran last night. Iran says the damage to their military installations is minimal. Is this just an opening gambit to pretend start the war? Both countries have been in the habit of getting Putin’s okay before acting against each other or their proxies, but the US and our obedient pack of hounds are chafing to leap into the abyss. We are being played and we are expendable. Nuts!

          • Wilshire

            Wonderful flip-flop. I would personally think Barack is heading the Vatican rather than CIA. And he’s notorious for enjoying good head, just like Bill Clinton. You’re funny.
            The ‘special relationship’ is as we all know a transparent fig leaf that doesn’t hide the fact the UKOGB is nothing more than an American colony.
            Israel gave a formal warning to Iran a couple hours before last night’s air raid. Which means that with or without Vlad’s agreement, the so-feared abyss is just media fodder for the foreseeable future.

          • Pears Morgaine

            ” can you imagine Kamala having cordial discussions with Putin over negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine? ”

            I can’t imagine anybody having cordial discussions with Putin. Anyway if what various commentators tell us is true and Russia is on the cusp of finally and totally defeating Ukraine why would Putin want to negotiate?

          • Goose

            Harris is like a US version of Starmer.

            Neither are natural leaders, they are simply underlings following orders. Russia was Obama’s obsession because toppling Assad was the elite cabal’s obsession to make the region safer for Israel. Putin frustrated that. Russia then became Biden’s obsession, nothing about this personal obsession among the US/UK’s political and security elite is healthy for the West. Look at BRICS development and how it’s driving a wedge between powers.

            If, and I have serious doubts he and Vance will be allowed to carry their plans through. But, if they can end the Ukraine war, it’ll be a healthy development for everyone, including Ukraine. Because Ukraine can never hope to reincorporate Crimea to be ruled from Kyiv. And how would representatives from Donetsk and Luhansk travel to Kyiv – to fight in parliament again?

          • Stevie Boy

            “Israel flew unchallenged, for hundreds of miles over Iran last night”. Possible, but I very much doubt that (Ref. ?). Also, most military aircraft now actually launch their missiles several hundred kilometres from the targets, there is no need to be ‘over’ Iran. Also, Iran actually has Radar systems that can detect the ‘stealthy’ F-35s.

          • Laguerre

            Goose

            Glad you too noticed the grumpy expressions on the faces of Netanyahu and Vallant. Several photos like that, not just one. They’d just successfully, according to them, attacked Iran. Should have been all smiles, but they weren’t, they were down in the mouth. Sounds like maybe the strike wasn’t as successful as they were claiming….

      • Goose

        Alyson

        Wiped out military bases? Source?

        Many rumours circulating that Israel has severely depleted its own Iron Dome Tamir missiles. So they don’t want a major escalation at this time, hence why they warned Iran in advance. Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) aren’t cheap or easy to manufacture, so that rumour seems credible with Netanyahu choosing to fight on three fronts : Lebanon Hezbollah, Gaza ,Hamas and the Houthis occasional salvos from Yemen have all drawn on limited stocks, and Iran’s salvo must have added to the depletion.
        In the October 1 strike on Israel, it was reported by Iran – including provided video evidence – that an anti-missile THAAD system was destroyed. Lending credence to this claim, is the fact the US immediately afterwards sent a THAAD system to Israel ,with another due to arrive soon.

        • Alyson

          First source was ToI, then Reuters. The balance of peace between Iran and Israel is backed by Russia. This is something that I don’t think Netty would risk while Putin lives, and later reports suggest that this agreement has not been broken. Biden is fully aware of this threat by Russia to back Iran against Israel if Israel attacks Iran, and is very angry about it, thus the need to take the war to Putin and Iran at the same time. Putin is biding his time with ‘small scale’ (ground force) proportionate action, and forging alliances. NATO is preparing on all its fronts. But nobody knows what Trump will really do if the choice becomes his to make.

          He communicates directly with Putin, via translators, and the translators put a different spin on each other’s translations, to flatter their respective leaders. As rapist in chief of the Russian armed forces Putin is a misogynist, and I doubt he will take Kamala at her word.

          You’re right – I can’t find anything about Obama and the CIA though I thought I recalled he had stepped down from such a role a year or so ago. Maybe I’m wrong about that.

          Meanwhile Israel kills in horrific ways with impunity and its representatives have infiltrated every level of all the levers of power, and I don’t know what anyone can do about it.

          • Wilshire

            Backed by Russia? Since, as you know, Iranese air defense is operated by Russian-made structures, we should be very wary of potential other attacks, were we in Tehran. Since apparently out of about a hundred Israeli jet fighters, not a single one got hit while attacking Iran. This tells a lot, whatever opinion you have.
            And likewise, if the day ever comes Ukraine is offered similar equipment, they would only be facing similar challenges in Russia, ie not much. Of course, Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons to date, unlike Russia.
            But then, all the doomsday’s prophets are mistaken about something. They keep saying WW3 is around the corner. Wrong. The third world war has already started, but in a new fashion…

          • Goose

            Wilshire

            Since apparently out of about a hundred Israeli jet fighters, not a single one got hit while attacking Iran. This tells a lot, whatever opinion you have.

            Does it? I’m no expert on these things but afaik, they don’t fly directly over the target(s). As when attacking Syria, they release air-to-surface missile (ASM) then dive below radar horizon range or steep turn. Were Israel to fly directly over Iran they’d need to be sure no air defences existed or risk losing jets. Russia can’t fly over major Ukrainian cities without serious risks for the same reason. Even the man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS) are very capable these days.

            The Serbs shot down an F-117A in 1999, and Iraq, in Operation Desert Storm shot down two United States F-16s over Baghdad and another F-15. The RAF and Royal Saudi Air Force each lost two Tornadoes… all to Iraqi SAMs. And you can wager Iran’s 2024 tech supplemented by Russia and China is far more sophisticated than Saddam’s Iraq in 1990. This is why Israel would need extensive US help to mount any major attack. Lebanon isn’t typical, in having no proper Anti Air batteries. Israel couldn’t do what they’ve done there, had the Lebanese Armed forces had capable AA systems.

          • Wilshire

            Goose, you’re obviously an expert about all things military, and I am not.
            Meanwhile, what you cannot deny is that the Russian-provided air defense was extremely ineffective in this instance. All far-fetched previous similar situations in a distant past won’t change this very simple assessment.
            Don’t get me wrong. It would certainly be better for the benefit of peace if both parties had more balanced equipment. But truth is otherwise.

          • Pears Morgaine

            The Russian radar provided to Iran since 2020 can detect the presence of F35s but lacks the resolution to enable missiles to be locked on. The S400 system will detect an F35 but only if it obliged by coming within 40 miles and that doesn’t provide enough time to successfully engage a target travelling at 600 mph.

            If 100 aircraft were really involved in the raid as Israel doesn’t have 100 F35s many of these aircraft must’ve been less capable F16s and F15s. They’d have had to overfly Syria, Jordan, Iraq or Saudi Arabia too.

          • Alyson

            So Musk is liaising with Putin on behalf of Trump(?). Musk has been heavily pressured by Israel and has set up a lot of tech infrastructure there, including ensuring that his starlink internet system won’t work in Gaza. There are deals within deals being dealt. Robert Reich wants Musk banned from working with Trump.

          • Wilshire

            Thanks for these specifics, Morgane. Always good to have real experts telling it like it is. Regarding geography, I can fully agree with you. Israeli planes must have flown over various countries on their way to Iran.
            How close to their targets did they get, they didn’t say. But I guess it wasn’t just a kind of walk in the park. How far can Russian air defense spot them, you know better. Whatever the answer, not far enough obviously, otherwise there would have been MIA. Were F15s and F16s engaged on top of the F35 squadrons ? Probably, but who cares except the manufacturer…

          • DonDon

            Alyson, surely Putin and Trump communicate via interpreters, not translators? And aren’t interpreters supposed to be impartial?

  • Jack

    The ICC have become a circus. Karim Khan was accused of sexual misconduct after ICC accused Israel of various crimes. ICC claim that this is a israeli smear operation:
    Karim Khan, ICC prosecutor seeking war crimes charges against Israel’s Netanyahu, accused of sexual misconduct
    He’s categorically denied the allegations, saying there was “no truth to suggestions of misconduct.” Court officials have said they may have been made as part of an Israeli intelligence smear campaign.
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/karim-khan-icc-war-crimes-charges-israel-netanyahu-hamas-sexual-misconduct-claims/

    And not only that, already in May one of the 3 judges that (still!) is about to decide if they should call for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu, abruptly stepped down from this case:
    Judge Iulia Motoc of Romania asked to be excused “based on medical grounds.” She will be replaced by Justice Beti Hohler of Slovenia.
    https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/icc-replaces-judge-on-panel-set-to-rule-on-arrest-warrants-for-israeli-leaders/

    Beti Hohler (a hebrew name?) wrote a pro-israel assessment 2015 on whether admitting Palestine to the ICC or not. She even made the absurd claim by saying:
    The borders of Palestine remain largely undefined
    That is while the ICJ already in 2004 made clear that Gaza, West Bank, East Jerusalem is occupied palestinian territory.
    https://www.e-ir.info/2015/02/03/the-accession-of-palestine-to-the-icc-a-brief-analysis/

    In other words, looks like Israel even manage to even manipulate and corrupt the integrity of the ICC.

  • Republicofscotland

    The UK is a direct participant in the genocide of the people of Gaza – in future history books, the UK will be named as one of the aiders and abettors in the genocide of the Palestinian peoples.

    “A UK military source has told The Times that RAF spy planes flying daily over Gaza have been able to surveil “vehicle convoys, streets and apartment blocks”. Intel gathered is then passed to Israel.

    Britain is a direct participant in the Gaza genocide. Has been from beginning.”

    https://nitter.poast.org/kennardmatt/status/1849775335279100234#m

  • Twirlip

    [I’m not sure if this comment belongs here or in the Discussion Forum. Also, I haven’t read all comments on all of Craig’s recent articles, so I don’t know if this question has already been discussed.]

    Recently, the author of Council Estate Media wrote:
    https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/the-lesson-we-learnt-from-never-again
    “If you’re wondering why I’ve been quiet for five days, it might be something to do with living in a mass surveillance state where every word you write can land you in jail. Just typing out something like “genocide is wrong” can get you put on a watch list. I think I can therefore be forgiven for taking a step back to gather myself. The last thing I need is police dragging my kids into the street at dawn while my neighbours gawp and our personal possessions are stolen so the government can peer into every aspect of our personal lives. This is Britain in 2024, folks. […] Given the level of bad faith and the abuses of power, I’ve taken the drastic step of unpublishing almost every article I’ve ever written. I will gradually republish them, if and when this madness stops. Going forward, I will be ensuring no word I write can be misinterpreted, so prepare for a patronising level of clarification. I’m going to talk to you like you’re five.”

    Many of his articles have indeed disappeared: “Page not found”.

    For most of his other articles, one sees a message that was not there before: “This post is for paid subscribers”.

    The situation is exactly the same at Normal Island News:
    https://www.normalisland.co.uk/

    Those are just two of the websites that have been helping me to stay at least halfway sane during the genocide in Gaza.

    Has anyone made a longer list of Internet authors who have been driven into self-censorship by recent activities of the Thought Police?

  • Harry Law

    International law is being politicized since the ICC judges have so far refused to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli leadership under threats and intimidation from US Congress, as well as there is no time limit on their deliberations. The same threats and intimidation is being used against the ICC, threats to harm the Judges and their families are widespread. Israel is bringing International law into disrepute with the connivance of Western powers.
    Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, told The Intercept that the EU’s attitude to the ICJ opinion was “legally flawed, politically damaging, and morally compromised.”
    “The EU is neglecting its responsibility to uphold international law,” she said. “This bending of rules for political convenience erodes the credibility of EU foreign policy and betrays the trust of people beyond Palestine.” https://thecradle.co/articles/eu-neglects-international-law-maintains-trade-with-illegal-israeli-settlements
    Because all International law is being destroyed, the law of the jungle will prevail i,e, the strongest will survive.

    “The EU’s approach also sets a dangerous precedent by treating its obligations under the ICJ advisory opinion as optional, especially amid ongoing atrocities,” Albanese said. “This implies that compliance with international law is discretionary and undermines trust in the international legal system.”
    Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator and president of the U.S./Middle East Project, echoed the criticism, describing Hoffmeister’s advice as “a very spurious and easily rebutted interpretation.”

  • Tom74

    Note how the same media apologists of Netanyahu’s genocide are bandying around the idea that Trump is a fascist. I don’t believe it is a coincidence.

    • Brian Red

      The flag of monarchist Iran, banned in today’s Iranian republic, was flown on the demonstration in support of British nationalist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka “Tommy Robinson” today:

      https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/26/thousands-tommy-robinson-supporters-gather-central-london

      What is the blue and yellow flag with the Breton-style devices, each with three dots?

      (About 3/4 of those protestors look like smackheads, former Paras, or both.)

      • Pears Morgaine

        Looks like the flag of Shropshire!

        https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-hhbbk/images/stencil/1280×1280/products/1216/49025/UNKG7430__84947.1580507596.png?c=2

        Scottish, Welsh, Israeli and even Irish flags were on display.

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14004801/tommy-robinson-london-march-protest-winston-churchill-statue.html

        I apologise unreservedly for soiling Craig’s blog with a link to the Wail but they seem to have the best pictures. I’ll wear a hair shirt for the rest of the week.

      • DunGroanin

        So the Obsessive Groan reported on their fav agit prop edl’r new Moseley? Fartage is getting old now and boring, and the rent a mob they snuck into London for his promo. How many bussed in? How many of their TSG protection squad mates got more overtime?

        Has everyone forgotten how SYL was proudly proclaiming he would go exterminate Palestinians to defend the illegal apartheid entity, to which he has offered his loyalty?

        The Groan didn’t give us as much coverage when we stopped the same bovver boys marching in my neighbourhood a few months ago against migrants based on the murders in Southport. A story that has been memory holed totally since it failed to cause riots that starmztrooper and NuLab could grandstand on (including our lazy local stroll into parliament MP)

        It’s more instant coverage than the Groaniad gave to the massive Palestine support rallies and gatherings this year. As they grow towards the hundreds of thousands.

        Anyone still believing the Guardian is a socialist paper that is not thoroughly establishment and ziofascist and this Labour government isn’t too; and supports either is beyond help – there’s none so blind as won’t see!

        They are supporting genocide and fascism and war mongering and xenophobia. (that includes Russophobia btw). Yup they’re the Bad Guys Nazios.

      • Jack

        joel

        Indeed, some years after 911 neocons were shamed and despised but past couple of years there have been a nasty rehabilitation. I remember when John McCain passed away in 2018 and was I disgusted and shocked how media and even some people to the left wrote condoleances and glorified him.
        It seems that an anti-war stance is not a high concern any more for many socialists, labour, leftist circles. Very disturbing and dangerous.

        • glenn_nl

          Jack, there are no “socialists, labour, leftist circles” – Labour has booted out all the leftists and socialists (at least, those who haven’t kept their heads down for many years, so escaping the purges).

          The people protesting by the millions against genocide are not of Labour – if there were any, Starmer’s Stasi would have them on the “Enemies of the people” list in short order. It’s a deception of the right to conflate the Left with Starmer’s Labour.

  • Republicofscotland

    Harris lets the mask slip right-off.

    “An extraordinary moment occurred on the CNN “town hall” with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday.

    Asked by an audience member what she would do to end the slaughter of Palestinians by U.S.-sponsored bombs, Harris delivered her usual canned answer about how “far too many” Palestinians have died and the need for a two-state solution, after which host Anderson Cooper asked a follow-up question.

    “What do you say to voters who are thinking about supporting a third-party candidate, or staying on the couch, not voting at all because of this issue?” Cooper asked.

    What followed was an absolutely jaw-dropping answer from the vice president. In essence she says that people who have strong feelings about the genocide in Gaza need to get over it and vote for her anyway if they want abortions and affordable groceries, because she supports the genocide and that’s not going to change.”

    https://consortiumnews.com/2024/10/25/caitlin-johnstone-the-genocide-for-groceries-candidate/

    • glenn_nl

      The “hold your nose and vote Democrat” line has been pushed for a number of election cycles. Trouble is, Trump is probably going to be worse for the Palestinians even than Biden. Trump is entirely transactional. So when Miriam Adelson promises Trump a billion dollars to clear the Wesr Bank of Palestinians, that is what is going to happen.

    • Wilshire

      Obviously, she’s not stupid enough to have said such a thing. For those who understand English, just listen to the clip linked to.
      I’m not, repeat I’m NOT a Kamala fan. But there’s no reason to put words into her mouth, like ‘ she supports the genocide and that’s not going to change´.
      She’s probably going to lose the election anyway, so what’s the point ? Better wonder how the Donald will help the Palestinian people. And the answer won’t be pleasant.

      • zoot

        the clip is precisely as described. did you even watch it? furthermore, if you are trying to suggest Kamala Harris would end her support of genocide you will need to provide some evidence. she has been unwilling to suggest such a thing herself even though the direction may well come down to the tiniest margin in Michigan, a state with a large Arab vote.

          • zoot

            Jasmin has the explanation for what? if Americans didn’t think Gaza mattered that would benefit Harris who has been involved in the pitiless genocide there for over a year.

    • Jasmin

      Nothing jaw-dropping about it. Americans don’t consider Gaza to be an important issue in this election (it comes last in what matters most to the average Joe); therefore, Harris doesn’t have to pay it any attention – not now and certainly not after November 5 (assuming she wins). It was the same in the UK: most people didn’t vote for Gaza, they voted for numero uno!

        • Brian Red

          The Republicans need to gain 38 votes in the electoral college.
          There are five states that Biden won in 2020 with smaller margins than the 2.78% in Michigan: total votes 63.
          Trump needs to hold North Carolina and win Pennsylvania and Georgia, or if he’s making a serious play for Michigan – as he seems to be – you could write Michigan there instead of Georgia (they have the same number of votes, 16). Then he would need one other state – which could be Georgia but there are other possibilities. Michigan would be juicy for the Republicans for sure.

          The Republicans also need to hold Florida but everyone knows that, and they’re unlikely to have much trouble there.
          I can’t see them winning without gaining Pennsylvania.

          What is Trump up to in NYC at Madison Square Garden today? I thought he saw NYC as enemy territory.

          • Brian Red

            “What is Trump up to in NYC at Madison Square Garden today?”

            CNN are asking the same question:

            https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/27/politics/trump-madison-square-garden-rally/index.html

            Helping Republican congressmen hold their seats in surrounding suburbs is irrelevant.

            True that Trump is fascist. True that this will be a Nuremberg style event. But repeated references to the pro-Nazi rally held by the German American Bund rally 85 years ago are getting boring. (In any case, MSG in 1939 wasn’t at the same location as MSG today.)

            According to CNN: “The Trump campaign said speakers at the rally will include (…) Vance, (…) Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., (…) Rudy Giuliani and (…) Tucker Carlson.”

            The Trump campaign is going to make an insane amount of money off this event,” one source familiar with the guest list told CNN.

            This is going to be the mother of all Trumptastic extravaganza supershows.

            Will wrestler Hulk Hogan be there? C’mon, if you’re going to stage a spectacle…

            What could possibly go wrong?
            LOL

            Trump is an excellent speaker. The “pained” way he speaks is similar to Hitler’s.
            But there’s such a thing as hubris…

            This isn’t Vegas, it’s NYC, and everyone with a bit of sensitivity can suss that Trump has, shall we say, got it coming to him.

      • MR MARK CUTTS

        Jasmin

        I agree for most voters (non rich) it’s about the economy.

        Biden was lent many people’s votes last time – this time they will not.

        Trump has promised to MAGA. He had four years previously to MAGA – he didn’t and Biden has blown the lent votes.

        My personal view would be to vote for Jill Stein as a warning to both parties (but particularly the Democrats) that the game of least worst is not a game worth playing.

        Blackmail doesn’t work either. A marker needs to be put down.

    • Jack

      She was also heckled by pro-palestinians in Maine:
      Video: Protesters interrupt Kamala Harris’ Michigan rally: ‘No more Gaza war!’
      https://www.foxnews.com/video/6363811428112

      Watch how the brainwashed DNC crowd try to noise out the heckler. How could these people claim to be humanitarian, anti-racist etc and then go about supporting a woman which supports a racist genocide?! Kamala/Biden is the very reason why people are slaughtered in Gaza. It is the american weapons, ammo. political support by the US that made this genocide possible!

      Since Kamala sometimes claim to be of afro-american descent she, and the fake mentor Obama, should read Ta-Nehisi Coates new critically acclaimed book “The Message” where he draw comparsions between the situation in Palestine with the racism, oppression that afro-americans faced during the Jim Crow era in the US.

      Coates : “I don’t think I ever, in my life, felt the glare of racism burn stranger and more intense than in Israel.”
      Pick up the book: https://www.amazon.com/Message-Ta-Nehisi-Coates/dp/0593230388

      • zoot

        Harris was also heckled, called a “piece of sh-t” and booed loudly by anti-genocide protestors at her rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

        https://x.com/joma_gc/status/1850313706074431713

        apparently an issue nobody cares about .. especially in what is being identified as the decisive swing state.

        also, that is big coming from Coates because he was groomed by the owner of the Atlantic magazine to try and convert Black Americans to zionism.

      • Brian Red

        I don’t think I ever, in my life, felt the glare of racism burn stranger and more intense than in Israel.

        There are types from the USA or its satellites who go to e.g. al-Quds (Jerusalem) and look for a flat and get told by a landlord that “Sorry, mate, you’re not Jewish and I’m not letting my flat to a goy – nothing personal” and they write about this as though it’s part of the colourful life of the city and an interesting travel experience, as if they didn’t know Jim Crow, Rosa Parks, the Race Relations Act, or for that matter the Group Areas Act, from their own craphole. Their brains just don’t make the connection. And you look at the person and you think “You don’t look like the sort who would favour racial segregation on buses or the repeal of the Race Relations Act”, but the cretins think this kind of thing is fine when it’s Jews doing it.

  • Republicofscotland

    The Council of Europe is looking into Assange’s detention in the UK – but the Home Office is doing its best to deflect and ignore it .

    “Stella Assange, Julian’s wife, told Declassified the Home Office is making a “grave mistake” in refusing to heed the Council of Europe’s call. ”

    She said:

    “We know that the Crown Prosecution Service has disappeared key documents relating to Julian’s imprisonment and refused to provide information, first to a journalist, and now to the court, that might shed a light on the political side of Julian’s persecution in the U.K..

    “It is one thing for rogue elements in the CPS to collude with foreign governments to persecute a publisher and attempt to cover their tracks. It is quite another for the U.K. government to stonewall in this manner in the wake of an independent report by the Council of Europe and a vote by the overwhelming majority of the chamber calling on the U.K. to carry out an investigation.”

    She added:

    “The U.K. government is effectively partaking in the cover-up, in a way that only a guilty party would.”

    https://consortiumnews.com/2024/10/25/uk-snubs-council-of-europe-over-assange-inquiry/

    • Goose

      Why would Labour wish to protect the previous govt from embarrassment? Makes no sense, does it?

      Like the cross-party consensus in the US. It stinks of deep-rooted, cross-party corruption. It’s why men as repulsive as Farage and Trump can look like a fresh start and clean hands.

      One lie leads to another and another, then a cover-up then the deceit gets so big, among so many, you have to trash democracy itself to protect the entire political elite.

      • Stevie Boy

        Well, I guess one reason is that Herr Starmer, working for the tories, at the CPS was instrumental, if not one of the key players, that was responsible for Assange’s persecution and imprisonment.

      • Jack

        Goose

        Indeed, a fresh example:
        Trump earns endorsement from ‘highly respected’ Muslim leaders in battleground state
        Muslim leaders in Michigan endorsed Trump for president during a campaign rally Saturday

        https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-earns-endorsement-highly-respected-muslim-leaders-battleground-state

        This proves how radicalized and right-wing the DNC have become. They do not even care that thousands of youth protest in the street and that large part of the youth value Palestine an important issue, DNC do not even pretend to care to get votes. No wonder people going to Trump, even though the actual anti-war president is Jill Stein from the Greens.

        • Stevie Boy

          From the Joe Rogan Trump interview:
          “It’s a 2-party system.
          Any time you hear 3rd party, it doesn’t work.
          It doesn’t work because even if you do great, you’re not going to get congress.
          They’re never going to vote for you.
          Pure and simple, it’s a 2 party system.”

          And, … Israel controls both parties.

          • Brian Red

            Sounds like a simple case of corrupt leaders being bought.
            Thought it might be abortion at first, but doesn’t seem like it.
            Whether Muslim voters will listen to these crooks is another matter. A person would have to be very uneducated to believe that Trump’s going to bring peace to the Middle East and help everyone in Gaza. They’d practically have to be the village idiot.
            Trump fits the role for the Dajjal much better.
            The Democrats may possibly be able to tell Muslims in Michigan that Harris will be better than Trump as regards Gaza, if they don’t say it too loud but say it with effective targeting.

          • Goose

            There may be method in this madness.

            Maybe they figure it couldn’t be any worse than the current green light for genocide and general free rein being given to Israel, by the Biden/Harris administration? i.e. they know what they don’t like, and Biden/Harris embody it. It’s a bit like the situation in the UK election and the widespread lack of enthusiasm for Labour. People didn’t know it they wanted Starmer’s Labour in power, but they certainly knew that they didn’t want Sunak’s Tories.

            Of course, Trump could potentially be even worse. But given the fact Biden was heralded in Europe as more ‘moderate’ has stymied criticism in European capitals of the US’s dreadful role as Israel’s chief arms supplier. Under a Trump presidency, would European leaders be so accommodating? I doubt it.

          • Mike T

            The US electorate almost entirely fail to associate the conduct of their own government with the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As Brian wrote “Their brains just don’t make the connection.”

            “45% say the U.S. bears “not much” or no responsibility at all”. Merely one in ten hold the view that the US administration holds “a lot” of responsibility. [AP press poll, 2nd October 2024]

          • Jack

            Brian Red

            Is it really surprising? The warmongers, the neocons, the military/intelligence/media are clearly with the DNC. They are the ones that have supported a genocide in Gaza for 1 year. Not Trump. What do you fear Trump will do that Biden/Harris have not already done? And it is not only about Gaza, look how Trump created better relations in the Koreas during his term. And Ukraine of course will at the very least wind down during a Trump term. Look also at the Arbraham Accords, nothing I support of course but that effort could hardly be considered a hawkish move by Trump.

            If Trump – as a president – wanted to make some bold move (war etc), he will not get the aid/support for doing so as Goose also pointed out.
            The DNC/Labour/European hawkish politicians need to get back to their roots and that is from the position of being in the opposition – if Trump would win you would see rapid detachment from any warmongering policies by Trump.
            Therefore Trump obviously have to win.

            As an example, take the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. EVERYONE rejected Trump’s stance.
            U.N., European Union and Pope Criticize Trump’s Jerusalem Announcement
            https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/world/europe/trump-jerusalem-pope.html

            However 4 more years with Harris there is a high risk of US/European involvement in a war against Iran, the Koreas will keep burning and the risk of nuclear war with Russia will perhaps break out. So why this hysteria about Trump regarding foreign policy topics?

          • joel

            The only occasions when Trump received liberal support was when he bombed Syria, couped Bolivia and tried to coup Venezuela. Those were the only actions of his that the sensibles considered ‘presidential’.

          • Brian Red

            Here’s another clip from today’s Madison Square Garden rally that is well worth watching.
            This guy calls the entire Democratic party a “bunch of degenerates”, “Jew haters”, and “lowlives”:

            https://x.com/atrupar/status/1850618361400463682

            I wonder whether anyone at the event will mention Gaza. They may not even say their candidate will stop the war. His line so far has been that Netanyahu should do what he has gotta do:

            https://archive.is/SgifS

          • Brian Red

            Excuse the multiple posting, but the Madison Square Garden event is quite some spectacle. It’s the most important event in the lead-up to the US presidential election since the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.

            One of the speakers, David Rem, has waved a crucifix on stage and called Kamala Harris “the Antichrist” and “the Devil”. (Well make your mind up!)

            https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-rally-david-rem-msg-b2636545.html

            They’ve also gone big on imagery of the insane US general George Patton.

            And the crowd is chanting “Tampon Tim” against Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz. This is a reference to Walz ensuring as governor of Minnesota that state-sector schools in that state would make sanitary products available to girl students. It also comes after Trump himself said “I used to think the Democrats were crazy for saying that men don’t have periods, but then I met Tim Walz”:

            https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/10/18/donald-trump-jokes-al-smith-tim-walz-doug-emhoff/

            And these are they guys who call their opponents “sick”. These Republicans aren’t “weird”. They are as sick as f*ck!

      • Laura Norda

        “Why would Labour wish to protect the previous govt from embarrassment? Makes no sense, does it?”

        mind-boggoling naivete or sarcasm?

  • Harry Law

    Brian Red..”A person would have to be very uneducated to believe that Trump’s going to bring peace to the Middle East and help everyone in Gaza. They’d practically have to be the village idiot”.
    “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people” [H L Mencken] I might add not only the American people.

    • Stevie Boy

      No-one in the USA (or West) is going to bring peace to the ME. It will require external forces.
      Eg. BRICS, IRAN, The impossible to hide financial (as well as moral) bankruptcy of Israel and internal collapse.
      Harris is the ‘keep doing the same thing and expect a different result’ candidate. Trump is a disruptor, no-one knows what he will do and the outcome will possibly be chaos. But, out of chaos comes (a new) order, maybe.
      The average USA/UK/Western voter is ignorant and uninformed, but it’s not their fault, the ‘system’ has designed it that way. Mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed BS.
      We are but spectators, …, get the popcorn in and enjoy.

      And, another thing. If you’ve ever been to the USA you will know that the average american probably doesn’t even know where Gaza is !

  • Harry Law

    Here are a few of the comments by Guardian scribbler Simon Tisdall https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/23/putin-has-become-a-global-bogeyman-russians-must-exorcise-this-ghoul
    This article although quite dated represents the delusional view of Putin’s Russia, everything in it is delusional propaganda and wishful thinking, Russia’s economy has grown and its alliance with China has grown exponentially, whereas the West especially Germany is in economic turmoil, Tisdall’s views are shared by many Western leaders, boy do they have a shock in store for them when BRICS gets on its feet.
    “Putin has become a global bogeyman. Russians must exorcise this ghoul
    Putin embodies Russia’s international isolation and growing spiritual degradation. Like a daemon, hobgoblin or kraken of ancient folklore, he’s metamorphosed into global bogeyman or bugaboo – a monstrous, nightmarish figure personifying evil. Putinism is a graph charting the arc of modern morality. The zero on the scale is him.
    Even before Ukraine, few around the world much liked or trusted this smirking, sneaky-looking ex-KGB thug. Respected him as Russia’s leader? Sure. Tolerated or feared him, yes. But admired him personally? No. Friendless, paranoid Putin is to charisma what a slug is to lettuce. And now, he’s Russia’s huge, hazmat liability.
    Yet how much longer will Russians tolerate this wicked, incompetent, ostracized man who causes them such dreadful reputational, economic and human harm? The Wagner rebellion spoke to a deeper malaise of the Russian soul. How low must they all sink, what depths must they plumb, in order that Putin can avoid defeat and oblivion”?
    He also called Putin a war criminal because the ICC accused him of kidnapping children from Ukraine etc. This has been refuted in detail by the Grayzone. Here…https://thegrayzone.com/2023/04/13/nato-states-icc-prosecutor-putin/

  • Harry Law

    In that Grayzone article [which was dated April 2023] I linked to in my comment above it said this…“There has been no significant progress or measures taken, the investigation [into Israeli atrocities] is not a priority for the office of the prosecutor, and no cases have been brought yet,” a member of the legal team representing victims of Israeli violence in the occupied Gaza Strip told The Grayzone. “Every time the issue is raised before Khan, he never takes a position, and there’s never been a statement.”
    The lawyer noted the irony of Khan’s obsession with the transfer of civilians from Ukraine to Russia, considering he has ignored the forced deportation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the territory now known as “Israel” to occupied territories and refugee camps across the Middle East. “In Palestine civilians have been transferred for decades, it’s the most over documented situation of war crimes in history,” they said. “Palestine should be the final benchmark for the credibility of the court.”
    It is ironic that whilst ignoring forced ethnic cleansing of Palestinians of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and replacing them with settlers in breach of article 49 para 6, 1949 Geneva conventions i.e, it is a grave war crime to transfer part of the occupiers own citizens into occupied territory. Western Hypocrisy at its greatest extreme.

    • MR MARK CUTTS

      Joel

      For Trump revenge is a dish best served quickly. This worries the Democrats more than anything.

      Trump: When they go low – I go lower. The God Trump is a vengeful God.

      “Keir Who?” may be on everyone’s lips by next Spring.

  • Stevie Boy

    Apparently, there was a truck attack in Tel-Aviv, Israel today. But, curiously you’ll have to search the MSM really hard to find any mention of it.
    “A truck hit dozens of people who had disembarked at a bus stop. Eight of the wounded were trapped under the truck and others were lying and walking near it,”
    “The driver of the truck, named as Rami Natur, an Arab Israeli from the town of Qalansawe in central Israel, was shot dead by a civilian at the scene.”
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdj33rwlyepo

  • Jack

    Is it not revealing how totally absent islamic terrorist acts against jewish targets in the west have been ever since the genocide started? The media, liberals, zionists that for decades egged themselves on about the alleged islamic threat, everywhere there are muslims plotting in darkness they insinuated. And now, 1 year with a genocide against arab, muslim population still the collective muslim community have proved that they stand above attacking innocent jews in the west.

    Perhaps instead of hyperfocusing on islamic extremism, the west should further on focusing on the threat of zionist extremism. An ideology that have through the use of terror killed some 50000 palestinians and lebanese in just 1 year. With this pace and terror, Israel really put ISIS to shame quickly.

    • Ewan2

      ‘Isis’ was the premier goddess of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. I really don’t think a fundamentalist Islamic terror group is likely to name themselves after a pagan goddess. ‘Isis’ is pronounced ‘ est’ or ‘eset’ which is obviously the root of Esther, Astoreth, Eostre. Which may lead us to Freemasonry , inspired by those Egyptians, whose descendants may still be around today. The Esther story seems to be an updated version of the story of Isis tricking Ra into giving her power.

      • Laguerre

        Islamic State doesn’t call itself ‘Isis’; only English language media do that. In Arabic it’s Da’ish: al-Dawla al-Islamiyya fi al-‘Iraq wal-Sham.

        • Ewan2

          I can’t find who translated it, whether it was Daish-Isis-Isil or the western press. It reminds me of ‘hamas’ which means ‘violence’ in Hebrew, despite it being an acronym standing for something quite different.

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