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Yes I am also wary of not generalzing nationals, people of a certain nation/religion etc: what a few do does not represent the whole – that thinking would be primitive, stereotyping, racist.
However…before the recent onslaught against Gaza, I always thought that there was a strong vibrant leftist force in Israel, a strong peace-movement that was… “normal” but I have come to realize that that is not the reality of things, instead the polls, surveys, election voting, public statements from people of all walks of israelis in Israel, have been absolute shocking because it shows, unfortunately, that majority of israelis is not only behind what their government is doing but often think the government act to feebly, beeing too passive in Gaza.Finkelstein put it good some months back:
Norman Finkelstein: “Israel is a satanic state.60% of Israelis say Israel is not using enough force in Gaza…they’re killing people in a concentration camp. They can’t go anywhere, they can’t flee.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FIUP3P5O1I
There are a cruelty, sadism displayed by the israelis that I have not seen in modern wars. What happens in Gaza is that they endure a Guantanamo-scandal happening every other day.
Every day you read, see something sickening by the israelis, makes one wonder what the heck is wrong Israel. It is like a collective mental illness and/or collective psychopathy on display.
Take this photo I just saw, ridiculing and humiliating their defenseless victims:
https://www.threads.net/@dawoodumar432/post/C8K5Fwbiu2SOr take this:
Israeli soldiers proudly desecrating a mosque on Gaza’s border with Egypt, using it as a restaurant. A cursed existence using stolen food, desecrating mosques, stolen land, stolen resources, and proud of if all.
Video https://x.com/omarsuleiman504/status/1801358749287821336
Or how they, with joy, take pride in blowing up a mosque:
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240102-israeli-soldiers-film-shocking-video-destroying-gaza-mosque/Now, imagine if arab/muslims did this to jews? Blowing up syngogues, humiliating blindfolded handcuffed jewish women, killing them in the thousands, all with joy.
No one would accept that, however the racism against palestinians/muslims/arabs are apparently fine and normalized. At the same time the israelis do not only seems to hate palestinians, they seems to hate every other race since they believe they are the Chosen ones, they stand above others. A chilling mentality that we have seen historically in Nazi Germany and South Africa apartheid era, and what that thinking lead to.Paradoxically Israel have become a sick copy of the nazi german regime:
Embracing racism, rabbis at pre-army yeshiva laud Hitler, urge enslaving Arabs
Recordings show instructors at settlement academy openly promoting Jewish supremacy; principal says Arabs want to live under Israeli occupation due to their genetic inferiority
AS`AD AbuKHALIL: The Yasser Arafat Era Is Over
June 17, 2024Oct. 7 was a watershed event for Arab politics with the emergence of a force that engages militarily with Israel on the Palestinians’ behalf. The era of Yasser Arafat is over.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/06/17/asad-abukhalil-the-yasser-arafat-era-is-over/
So after some 40k dead in Gaza Israel feel emboldend to intiate the same nazi-like conquest and murderfest against Lebanon.
I am not surprised. The approval for what Israel have been doing from both west and the arab world/muslim world is what leads to this arrogance by Israel. If you do not put up with bullies, they will thrive.
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In other news:
Do not know whether to laugh or cry, a hysterical pro-israel woman confronts pro-peace pro/palestinian jews claiming they are not jews even though they have every “jewish” attribute you can think of, meanwhile his woman claims she comes from Israel? She is whiter than a scandinavian like me.
Video: ‘What flag is that? You’re a Jew’: Woman confronts pro-Palestine Jewish protesters in New York
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ucq1R5Zt5oInteresting but I am sure the ban is already revoked as I type this:
ADL Faces Wikipedia Ban Over Reliability Concerns on Israel, Antisemitism
‘ADL no longer appears to adhere to a serious, mainstream and intellectually cogent definition of antisemitism,’ wrote an editor, whose request for a discussion about the ADL ultimately led to the ban
Moreover, in a near consensus, dozens of Wikipedia editors involved in the discussion said they believe the ADL should not be cited for factual information on antisemitism as well because it acts primarily as a pro-Israel organization and tends to label legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitism.
Interesting Wiki-article on Anti-Zionism considering that it´s Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-ZionismOn same note, great new Q&A on Gaza with Chris Hedges
recommended:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU29KSzf8Q0&t=351sIsraeli Documents Show Expansive Covert U.S. Influence Campaign
Israeli government officials closely coordinate with advocacy groups shaping congressional and state legislation, social media and campus discourse.by Jack Poulson
and Lee Fang
Jun 24, 2024https://jackpoulson.substack.com/p/israeli-documents-show-expansive
or
https://archive.is/KglJS2 good pieces on Zionism and history:
“By collaborating with the Nazis, a small group of Zionists weakened anti-fascist resistance and contributed to the genocide of Europe’s Jews, writes Stefan Moore.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/06/24/the-treachery-of-the-nazi-zionist-alliance/“‘Faith in Dialogue’ Won’t Stop Zionist Violence –
Lawrence Davidson responds to a recent commentary in The New York Times by two heirs of the Black-Jewish alliance of the 1960s.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/06/24/faith-in-dialogue-wont-stop-zionist-violence/* * *
“Holocaust survivors say using the Holocaust to justify genocide in Gaza and repress student protest on college campuses is a complete insult to the Holocaust’s memory.”
https://scheerpost.com/2024/06/25/108943/
p.s. Finkelstein might be rumbling that in his parents´ era, “survivors” were strictly people who had actually survived the death camps.Illan Pappé in NEW LEFT REVIEW:
“The Collapse of Zionism”
June 21st, 2024
https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/the-collapse-of-zionismHe states 6 indicators for the “downfall”.
Just the start:
“A first indicator is the fracturing of Israeli Jewish society. At present it is composed of two rival camps which are unable to find common ground.(…)
One camp can be termed the ‘State of Israel’. It comprises more secular, liberal and mostly but not exclusively middle-class European Jews and their descendants, who were instrumental in establishing the state in 1948 and remained hegemonic within it until the end of the last century. Make no mistake, their advocacy of ‘liberal democratic values’ does not affect their commitment to the apartheid system which is imposed, in various ways, on all Palestinians living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Their basic wish is for Jewish citizens to live in a democratic and pluralist society from which Arabs are excluded.The other camp is the ‘State of Judea’, which developed among the settlers of the occupied West Bank. It enjoys increasing levels of support within the country and constitutes the electoral base that secured Netanyahu’s victory in the November 2022 elections. Its influence in the upper echelons of the Israeli army and security services is growing exponentially. The State of Judea wants Israel to become a theocracy that stretches over the entirety of historical Palestine. To achieve this, it is determined to reduce the number of Palestinians to a bare minimum, and it is contemplating the construction of a Third Temple in place of al-Aqsa. Its members believe this will enable them to renew the golden era of the Biblical Kingdoms. For them, secular Jews are as heretical as the Palestinians if they refuse to join in this endeavour.”
Censorship in Germany is getting worse by the month.
Now a law has been passed that allows law enforcement to deport non-German citizens based on a “Like” of social media content regarded as “antisemitic” (of course as defined by the German state) or islamistic, i.e. “terrorism”.
by Junge Welt:
“No like is illegal
Even a “like” on Instagram can lead to deportation for “glorifying terrorism” – this is what a new law stipulates”“A law passed by the government on Wednesday now brings the deportation debate together with Palestine solidarity in a very concrete way. The plan is to expel people without a German passport who, for example, support the Palestinian resistance with posts on social media – possibly even without a court ruling. “Anyone who does not have a German passport and glorifies terrorist acts here must – wherever possible – be expelled and deported,” said Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) on Wednesday, justifying the tightening of the law. A single comment or a “like” under a post identified as “glorification of terrorism” on YouTube, Instagram or Tik Tok is enough to justify a “serious interest in expulsion.”
Haha this is a joke, as one expected, the spineless ICC did not have the guts in the end to follow through on the arrest warrants.
ICC backtracks on Israel arrest warrants
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have been accused of committing war crimes in GazaThe delay came after the ICC allowed the UK to submit legal arguments against the jurisdiction over the issue.
https://swentr.site/news/600155-icc-arrest-warrants-israel/
I mean think about this. 40000 dead, some 15000 children killed, way more bombs dropped than during WW2, total civilian destruction but the alleged ICC do not have the guts to call for arrest warrants against the responsible. Have you heard of such perverse corruption?
Meanwhile if Russia so destroy a small electric hub the same pathetic, hypocrite, corrupt ICC call warcrimes.
German interview with Michael Barenboim, son of conductor Daniel Barenboim about “The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which was founded by the Palestinian-American thinker Edward Said and the Jewish-Argentinian conductor Daniel Barenboim.”
It´s nothing unusual. Actually simply quoting ICJ and thus intern. law. But in Germany that is enough to not be inquired for inteviews by the big media outlets.
And btw just because Assange is free and just because people demonstrate and the public mood even in Europe has shifted – German law enforcement carries on as if nothing had happened.
Putting out statements and laws that are simply racist in their singeling out Arabs and suppressing freedom of assembly and speech and academic research.In 10 years journalists will be looking down onto a wrecked German civil rights system and wonder who is responsible even though they would have to simply look into the mirror.
AG
Germany demands new citizens accept Israel’s right to exist
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/27/europe/german-citizens-israel-right-to-exist-intl/index.html
Yes the same obvious racist thinking going in in Sweden too, I am sure it will be implemented here too sooner or later.The arab world should respond by demanding that any westerner that want to move or work in the arab world should recognize Palestine. Then, the pathetic, hypocrite western elite would whine I am sure.
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In other news, the israeli lobby spent some $15 USD million dollars to take down on the staunchest pro-palestinian rep. recentlyDemocrats groan at AIPAC “overkill” against Jamaal Bowman
AIPAC’s unprecedented financial investment into ousting Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) has Democratic lawmakers grumbling about what they say is the pro-Israel group’s heavy-handed approach.
https://www.axios.com/2024/06/26/democrats-aipac-jamaal-bowman-george-latimer
It is amazing that this Israel-first, influence operation by AIPAC is approved. Imagine if there was a pro-russian lobby that influenced western elections this openly!?
Another pro-palestinian rep. have taken on the israeli mafi…I mean israeli lobby:
Meet the Kentucky Republican Who Beat AIPACSo many Democrats are afraid to stand up to the powerful pro-Israel group. But a Republican congressman has done so, and he just scored a big primary win.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/kentucky-republican-beat-aipac/
I am sure that sooner or later that the term Genocide is the word people will eventually use to describe what Israel do/did in Gaza:
HRW founder changes mind on Israel genocide charge
The co-founder of Human Rights Watch, whose German Jewish parents had to flee Nazi Germany, told CNN he now believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Aryeh Neier, who was also head of the American Civil Liberties Union, previously didn’t believe Israel’s military actions on Gaza could be considered genocide, but he changed his mind after witnessing how Israel has systematically deprived Gaza’s civilian population of food and water.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240529-hrw-founder-changes-mind-on-israel-genocide-charge/
…even though it may take years, decades before some people will admit.
Surprise surprise, if was all theatrics to fool the world that US somehow cared about human rights:
US to unblock bomb shipments to Israel – Axios
The IDF will receive a large batch of 500-pound bombs in two weeks, the outlet’s sources claim
As if that was not bad enough:
US and Israeli officials are still in talks on another part of the shipment that includes 1,800 2,000-pound (900kg) bombs, the report said. Axios also noted that negotiations on releasing arms to Israel were delayed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public jabs at Washington on the matter.
Jack
What they will also try to implement – whether successfully so or not I do not know – is written assurances by artists (writers, filmmakers, fine arts etc.) that they support Israel ideologically when applying for state funding (which amounts to 90% of cultural funding). The first attempt failed.
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Loooong interview with Rashid Khalidi:
“The Neck and The Sword
Interviewed by Tariq Ali”https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii147/articles/the-neck-and-the-sword
This long-read ends with following – I found it very touching – exchange between these both gentlmen, which is why I want to share it here with the big audience:
”
Ali: Now, lastly, to your own university, Columbia.Khalidi: It will cease to be my own university when I retire at the end of June.
But you will still be associated in some way.
I’ll just be a former faculty member, teaching some courses as a non-member of the faculty—or as ‘contingent’ faculty, as we have come to call them.
Might they do away with the ‘terrorist’ name altogether, the Edward Said professorship?
I have no idea what will happen with that. There are donors and descendants of donors who will, I assume, insist that there continue to be a chair and that someone qualified should hold it. I have no idea. The campaign in the United States against Middle East Studies in general, and studies on Palestine in particular, is virulent and spans the political spectrum. And we now have the New York City Police Department joining unprincipled politicians in the hue and cry shamefully echoed by university administrators, about outside agitators and incitement by faculty members, including myself. So I don’t know what will happen. When people ask me these kinds of questions, I say that the job description of a historian does not include predicting the future.
You dedicated your last book to your grandchildren, which we oldies tend to do.
[Laughter]
Let the record show both of us laughing heartily.
You expressed the hope that they would see a better world. What is the biggest difference between the world you grew up in and the world they’re growing up in?
I grew up in a world where there was no Palestinian voice—in the Arab world, in the public sphere in the West; none at all, it didn’t exist. Palestinians didn’t exist. My four grandchildren are growing up in a time when there are quite vigorous voices for Palestine, all over the world. So that’s an element of change for the better. I grew up in a world in which the Zionist narrative was completely hegemonic and Israel was fulsomely described as ‘a light unto the nations’. That is no longer the case. Today it is widely, and rightly, seen as a pariah state because of its own genocidal actions. These are among the few good things that have happened in these very bad times.
“German daily Junge Welt, interview with UN´s Francesca Albanese
(the only paper left in the FRG that will do such an interview I believe)
““Israel’s reputation is ruined forever”
On ongoing crimes in Gaza and how to combat them. A conversation with Francesca Albanese
By Hendrik Pachinger”Such difference how the Arab League do not even pretend to care about Gaza – even for their own population, in 2011 the Arab League called for No-fly zone over Libya, and got it. A no-fly zone over Gaza would of course be vetoed by the west but to not even raise the issue, to pretend that you do something, not even that the Arab League could do.
“Arab League backs Libya no-fly zone”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-12723554From Junge Welt (by free-lance Karin Leukefeld, Beirut)
“(…)
Between October 7, 2023 and June 21, 2024, at least 7,400 attacks occurred along the “Blue Line” between southern Lebanon and Israel, according to documentation by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). 83 percent of these attacks were carried out by Israel. At least 543 people were killed in Lebanon. Hezbollah and other armed groups were responsible for 1,258 attacks in which at least 21 Israelis were killed. On Wednesday, Israel assassinated a high-ranking Hezbollah commander. The militia then fired over 200 drones and rockets into Israeli territory. An Israeli army officer was killed in the attack, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua on Thursday
(…)”.i.e. about a ratio of 4:1 killed.
Of course I assume in the MSM you will read 1,258 attacks. Nothing else.
The fact that this is actually defending the country, never mind.But as Khalidi said with Tariq Ali, I think, due to the complex nature of the Iran-Hezbollah-Hamas-Israel sit. a war is not likely. Especially not triggered by Hezbollah. Who are supposed to protect Iran´s interest, not Hamas´.
2 book reviews by Electronic Intifada:
– “Deluge: Gaza and Israel from Crisis to Cataclysm, edited by Jamie Stern-Weiner, OR Books (2024)”
review by Rod Such
https://electronicintifada.net/content/flood/47161Book with Contributions by
MUSA ABUHASHHASH, AHMED ALNAOUQ, NATHAN J. BROWN, YANIV COGAN, CLARE DALY MEP, TALAL HANGARI, KHALED HROUB, R. J., COLTER LOUWERSE, MITCHELL PLITNICK, MOUIN RABBANI, SARA ROY, AND AVI SHLAIM-“The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution by Ryan Grim, Macmillan Publishers (2023)”
review by Rod Such
https://electronicintifada.net/content/incomplete-revolution/45971Haaretz | Israel News:
IDF Ordered Hannibal Directive on October 7 to Prevent Hamas Taking Soldiers Captive
‘There was crazy hysteria, and decisions started being made without verified information’: Documents and testimonies obtained by Haaretz reveal the Hannibal operational order, which directs the use of force to prevent soldiers being taken into captivity, was employed at three army facilities infiltrated by Hamas, potentially endangering civilians as well
Jul 7th 2024
https://archive.ph/WuAgTNew Popular Front, expect to form the new government in France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilOUUPsSA74Their first policy is to declare Palestine is a state.
It is going to be a bumpy ride.
AG
Thanks for the link about Hanibal Directive.
Exactly, Israel used the Hanibal Directive, even the israeli media admit it, but when israeli critics like “us” claimed Israel targeted their own people early on, last year, it was a ” crazy antisemtic conspiracy theory” the western MSM/politicians claimed.
Is it not funny btw how the israeli media could write about these things, openly, but it will never reach into mainstream western media..
michael norton
From what I understand, Macron could unfortunately still become the president.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leftwing leader, seems to be a good man even though I know too little about him than stuff like this:Jean-Luc Mélenchon: We Should All Be Thanking South Africa
https://jacobin.com/2024/01/jean-luc-melenchon-israel-genocide-caseIn Gaza, “This Isn’t Legitimate Self-Defence. It’s a Genocide”
https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/in-gaza-this-isn-t-legitimate-self-defence-it-s-a-genocideAlready the wesstern media, have begun to frame Melenchon as an “extremist” “antisemite” “putin-lover” etc. They try to do a Corbyn on him.
And Israel cannot be happy today:Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Chikli Says Le Pen as French President ‘Excellent for Israel’
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-01/ty-article/.premium/diaspora-affairs-minister-chikli-says-le-pen-as-french-president-excellent-for-israel/00000190-6d11-d9ec-a19e-ef150a860000LANCET´s report on Gaza death toll:
“In recent conflicts, such indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths. Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37 396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.”
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext
Rashid Khalidi in his long talk with Tariq Ali (see one of the above posts) In NLR mentions the story of Ghassan Kanafani.
Jacobin now has a short piece on the Palestinian author:“Resistance Was Ghassan Kanafani’s Only Story”
By Seraj Assi
“Novelist Ghassan Kanafani was assassinated by Mossad agents this week over 50 years ago. Exiled as a child during the Nakba, he would never return to Palestine — except in his fiction.”
