This mini-documentary gives much more extensive coverage of our visit to Baalbek just before the ceasefire. The day before we went, sixty civilians had been killed in Israeli bombings throughout the small city. This video captures something of the terror with which the inhabitants had been living for months, and their extraordinary resilience.
With thanks to Niels Ladefoged for the filming and editing.
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Thank you for reporting these crimes at extreme personal risk. They need to be documented with Biden again calling the Syrian President a brutal dictator “whose hands are stained with the blood of innocents”.
“The origins of the Israelites are obscure. Outside their own writings there is virtually no mention of them as a people before the 9th century BC and many of the events recorded as history in the Hebrew scriptures have no separate archaeological or documentary evidence to confirm them. This has made any discussion of their history intensely difficult. Since the 19th century, there have been Western scholars preoccupied with fitting the stories of the Old Testament to historical evidence, some of them implying that the existence of a Christian God could be substantiated if such links were found while the establishment of Israel as a state in 1948 led to intensive efforts to confirm the link of the Jewish people with their territory back to kings such as David.
Much depends on the status given the Hebrew scriptures/Old Testament as a historical source. The scholar Amelie Kuhrt gives a balanced assessment: ‘like many accounts of the past the Old Testament was not intended to provide a critical historical study; rather it contained stories detailing the interaction of a people, Israel, with their God, Yahweh, who had chosen them to work out his divine plan’. It is a complex, ideologically driven compilation, within which stories were refashioned to drive home particular lessons of the past. In other words, historians should read the Hebrew scriptures as texts in which historical events have been shaped to provide a coherent understanding of how the Israelite people came to be, above all in relation to their god, Yahweh. In this the scriptures remain the only account of a Near Easten people that describes how they themselves visualised the emergence of their nation. Increasingly scholars are insisting that the history of Israel can only be fully understood if the first Israelites are placed among their neighbours of the region and seen as facing many of the same challenges.”
(Ref. “Egypt, Greece, and Rome” by Charles Freeman.)
@Malcolm – I’m not sure what a “Christian God” is, or how his existence could be “substantiated”, but the fact that the followers of the world’s two largest monotheistic religions believe that their supposedly universal God used to be the tribal god of the Jews, who helped his chosen people steal land and commit genocide, does rather weaken their cases.
The notion that the “first” temple of Jerusalem didn’t exist on the physical plane, and nor did the kingdom of David and Solomon, is important and probably true. I am not sure whether you are aware of the role in these matters (both in the past and now) of 1) the chemical substance DMT and 2) ideas of the astral plane.
DNA studies indicate that the Palestinians have a bigger claim on being descended from ancient Israelites than the bunch of eastern european nazis that stole Palestinian land 75 years ago.
Biblical texts tell a good story, but that’s all it is, a story – and one written long after the reported events.
Very nice video. The sanctuary in Baalbakk is wonderful. Of course they don’t say the temple survived because it was converted into a medieval castle with the colonnades walled up (Baalbakk was never conquered by the Crusaders, so it’s an Islamic castle). The French of course cleaned off the medieval masonry, but there are parts of the castle still there.
Congratulations. Baalbekk was certainly worth the trip. Too bad this obnoxious drone ruined the soundtrack on your video, but maybe this can be corrected by further mixing. Having the whole site open just for your private party was no little achievement. Laith was very efficient.
And you give a remarkable performance of your favorite simile, your famous ‘Celts claim over Switzerland’ routine. Very adequate. You could also wonder why the French Normans don’t claim property of England, where they settled back in 1066. Even funnier.
Nothing looks more like rubble than more rubble. In that capacity, Baalbekk doesn’t change much from Beirut from what you saw. It’s probably quite different in the south of Lebanon where former residents struggle to get back to their homes.
Best of luck for your future reports.
The Normans are still there, as grand landowners, at least were when I was young.
Please let Craig know, so he can make variations to his number.
The Normans were just a bunch of Vikings with their helmets off.
No question about it. That’s exactly why they can be a perfect example of the insanity of territorial disputes based upon prior history. Craig Murray is by all means the best defender of this thesis.
Sent the link to my MP and a few other peopIe I know.
In Russia it’s being said today that the Ukrainian government – and in particular its military intelligence service – may have been involved in the HTS offensive in Syria. The specific allegation is made that both Ukrainian and Turkish officers were killed in a strike by the Syrian government on an HTS facility. As far as I know, this allegation hasn’t been made explicitly by the Russian government yet, but it has been reported (attributed to “experts”) by TASS, the government-owned news agency:
https://tass.com/pressreview/1880493
Any military action or sabotage that links the European and Middle Eastern theatres of war deserves attention. We all know the prophecies about Megiddo and the army coming down from the north. One day soon we might wake up one morning and BANG, Russia and Israel have fallen out with each other. And that is *not* going to be a pretty sight.
Personally I don’t think Ukraine has an independent foreign policy or war policy any more than Britain does.
The South Korean martial law event was strange and it’s clear that someone was absolutely stitched up like a kipper.
Meanwhile there has been an incident in the Baltic Sea involving a Russian warship and a German army helicopter. The British f*ckwit “buy toilet paper now before the Albanians do” gutter press are loving it. Meanwhile there are Russian military “exercises” in the eastern Mediterranean.
It was widely reported that the West transported ‘ISIS’ fighters out of Syria and into Ukraine. So it’s no stretch to assume that the West could and would transport some of them back with their Ukrainian buddies and plenty of armaments.
Dead bodies don’t lie …
What is the word from Lebanon on why Russia has moved some ships out from its base in Tartus on the Syrian coast?
The Torygraph are spreading the view “We don’t know, but it doesn’t mean much, and anyway Russia is weak”.
This suggests to me that actually MI6 think they have a fairly good idea, it means a lot, and Russia is strong.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/04/putin-russian-navy-retreat-tartus-base-warships/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/04/putin-tartus-naval-ukraine-ceasefire-bosporus-black-sea/
Meanwhile, King Abdullah of Jordan has been in Brussels with NATO, and NATO will “soon” open an office in Amman:
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_230977.htm
I don’t know whether Mark Rutte was trying to be funny when he said
“In return for troops and weapons, Russia is providing North Korea with support for its missile and nuclear programmes. These developments could destabilise the Korean Peninsula and even threaten the United States.”
The Korean peninsula includes South Korea where yesterday there was an abortive attempt to declare martial law. But don’t worry – NATO will keep things “stable” there! NATO to the rescue – in the Russian-Ukrainian theatre, the Middle East, and Korea. And then there was Donald Trump.
Is punishment imminent for those who spoke or voted for the anti-genocide motion at the Oxford Union, and for those who allowed the debate to happen in the first place? The Torygraph and the ascendancy are putting it out that the debate “broke the law”:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/03/israel-gaza-apartheid-state-genocide-oxford-union-debate/
Apparently a genocidalist got “hectored”. Oh the indignity! Someone must pay!
It won’t surprise me if Genocide Starmer himself is made to apologise for the debate happening.
Meanwhile the Jewish Chronicle is sticking the boot into Britain’s other top university, Cambridge:
https://www.thejc.com/news/billionaire-son-of-holocaust-survivors-defunds-cambridge-over-infestation-of-anti-israel-bias-vivhfsum
And Nigel Farage is accusing the British government of “pandering to Hamas”:
https://www.thejc.com/news/politics/nigel-farage-meets-emily-damaris-mother-and-accuses-government-of-pandering-to-hamas-peebwzkc
Presumably no doors are about to be closed to Nige. No flies on him!
The Telegraph article (on the Oxford Union debate that passed the motion “Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide” by 278 votes to 59) reports its president Osman Mowafy as saying “The video recordings of the speeches will be released on YouTube in the usual manner where these matters can be judged better.” I look forward to viewing Susan Albulhawa’s speech. It should be inspiring stuff!
As Craig Murray said a while back, we are the bad guys. Let’s all repent. Only martyrs in the ME may forgive us. Genocide Joe, back up. Let our people go. Oh Lord, when will the bloodshed stop?
As Mr Murray mentioned previously military and political events don’t just happen, they are the result of intense and detailed planning.
The circulating drones and bomber jet planes are sent on missions by teams of people, military and civilian, Israeli and foreigners, sat around planning tables and computers.
Every civilian death and every destroyed building was the results of the planning teams, no accidents or chance mistakes, all planned, and all part of a grand strategy which will definitely be documented somewhere.
Stevie Boy. Correct.
Those who want to discuss how many Angels there are on a head of a pin re – genocide is:
Is this collateral damage or is it policy? It is policy.
The Israeli government have not lied about it – it’s been announced on Israel and Western TV and X as well as other outlets and so on. It’s also proven that their backers agree with it – that’s been shown and issued on all of the above media.
For the signatories to the ICJ, all of them have a legal obligation to ‘prevent’ a genocide, never mind stop one. You can’t miss it.
The main point of the last ruling referred to a Genocide in whole or PART. There has been a massive PART Genocide and the ruins of Gaza and the Palestinians who lived there has also been shown on the above media and is testimony to the fact that, not only has a genocide not been prevented, but the backers of the genocide have not even tried to prevent the PART from becoming worse.
By definition the assistants in the PART Genocide should be in the Dock too. Prisoners reside in UK Prisons for being at the scene of a killing and are jailed just for being with the killer and ironically are jailed for not trying to prevent the murder from happening.
The Law and Starmer work in mysterious ways.
You can’t miss it.
@Stevie – Planning absolutely does not mean there are no accidents. “No plan survives contact with the enemy”. (Helmuth von Moltke – Prussian chief of staff, generally agreed to be pretty damned competent.) Something always f*cks up in every military operation. That is one reason morale is so important.
The Zionists are deliberately murdering and terrorising civilians for sure. That is not quite what you said though.
Things have gone from bad to worse here Craig, Guinness is being rationed.
Emmerdeur Macron has been in Saudi while the government he appointed in France has been falling.
This is from the (Zionist) Jerusalem Post:
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-831875
^ The article has a big photo of Mohammed bin Salman shaking Macron’s hand. And the headline reads “Saudi crown prince, France’s Macron to lead Palestinian state conference in June”.
The first sentence reads: “French President Emanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced they would co-chair a conference for the establishment of a Palestinian state, according to a Wednesday AFP report.”
Macron is set to address the French nation tomorrow (Thursday) at 1900 GMT.
Just to be clear: the Palestinian state is already recognised by over 140 UN member states, including Saudi. What exactly are Macron and MBS planning?
Macron could be removed quite easily. There is so much dirt on the wretch.
This will be the concentration camp in the Sinia desert.
Thank you for your Work over there Craig. Brave of you – or Clever – to be walking around looking an Important person. Or do they Know who you are> … Likely … Evil you are amidst. Stay safe.
Francesca lets rip on Stupid so-called reporters –
https://youtu.be/fxsj4wxcl7w?t=482