- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
shibboleth
You cant compare it. The Palestinians have endured a century of oppression and injustice. Gaza is the largest prison in the world and has been for decades. Thousands of Palestinian hostages are detained in Israel, many of whom are young children. Israel has stated it will end this conflict – and will do so in the only way it knows, by systematic extermination. Last century, another national and ideology attempted the same and was repulsed and defeated. It is incumbent and essential we do the same now.
What is worth pointing out also is that Gaza, itself, is a huge refugee camp:
During the 1948 Palestine war and more specifically the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees fled or were expelled to the Gaza Strip.[38] By the end of the war, 25% of Mandatory Palestine’s Arab population was in Gaza, though the Strip constituted only 1% of the land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip#1948%E2%80%931959:_All-Palestine_government
So basically you have Israel that ethnically cleansed the native population in 1948, pushed many of them into a crowded Gaza; since then Israel has occupied them, waged invasions multiple times, put a harsh blockade on these refugees – and now Israel wages a war of genocide against this refugee camp.
And then they wonder why groups like Hamas emerge?!
If this is not the epitome of evil, what is?
I don’t think people understand that, Jack – despite the information being widely available. They are unable or unwilling to process what has happened and to compare it to their own situation. It is not dissimilar to having an abusive parent who is exposed as a sadistic, brutal paedophile; the first reaction is one of denial, which often persists. To confront the truth is simply too painful. Try parking in front of someone’s driveway in England and you will find trouble. Imagine then expelling the residents at gunpoint, stealing their possessions and installing your own family in their house. And you have the Police and Army supporting you. It ain’t right under any measure. You know it, I know it and everybody else knows it too – but some are complicit in their silent support.
What is clear is the sense of impotency in the ordinary man and woman, to influence in any small way, the conduct of people whom they trusted to represent their views. When complicity in genocide is so apparent within the British parliamentary system and the Establishment, the feeling of helplessness in the face of impunity and dishonest propaganda is greatly exaggerated. What is clear, politicians will not stop this genocide – but ordinary people can and have done so in Britain before.
Fifty years ago, half a dozen ordinary men stopped a genocide on the other side of the world with a peaceful, principled protest and in doing so, saved thousands of innocent lives – people whom they had no previous connection and owed no allegiance other than solidarity between men.
Not far from me is another aircraft factory who supply fighter jets and armaments to many countries that are used against civilian populations predominately in the Middle East. Half a century on, the only principle that matters is profit.
These are true heroes. Just look how history remembers their incredible courage. If you haven’t seen this before, please take the time to have a watch. Nae Paseran.
I was just checking out the reviews of some books on Amazon, one of which was a book by Norman Finkelstein entitled Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom (published in 2018), and in the first (lengthy) review it said the following:
His objective, he writes, is to refute the ”Big Lie” -ie the “official consensus” that Israel acts in “self-defence” — by “exposing each of the little lies”.
“In the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead” Finkelstein writes, “as many as three hundred human rights reports were issued”. These overwhelmingly gave the lie to Israeli hasbara (propaganda). For instance, in a chapter examining the often unthinkingly-accepted Israeli claim that Hamas used civilians as “human shields”, Finkelstein quotes Amnesty International’s categorical exoneration of Hamas and other Palestinian fighters on this charge:
“In the cases investigated by Amnesty International of civilians killed in Israeli attacks, the deaths could not be explained as resulting from the presence of fighters shielding among civilians, as the Israeli Army generally contends. In all of the cases investigated by Amnesty International of families killed when their homes were bombed from the air by Israeli forces, for example, none of the houses struck was being used by armed groups for military activities.”
Amnesty did, however, find ample evidence of the use of human shields by Israeli troops.
__________________And from the little (so far) I’ve read of Amnesty’s latest report, the IDF/Israel have been doing the same again since October 7th last year – ie lying through their nasty rotten evil teeth to justify bombing schools and hospitals etc where civilians are sheltering – as I’m sure just about everyone who follows Craig concluded a long time ago. As I said in a recent post – it having just occured to me – surely the only way the IDF would be able to determine if Hamas were in a given location – a school, for example – would be by a drone, or drones, and if that’s the case, then they must have footage and, as such, proof and evidence that Hamas WERE in said location (had a command and control center or whatever in said location), and yet the IDF/Israel have never ONCE made such footage public as far as I am aware (and I’m pretty sure I would be if they had), which of course you WOULD do if you had such footage/evidence, AND do so quite regularly.
I posted this yesterday in the comments section of Craig’s current article, but I thought I’d post it on here as well as it amounts to a comprehensive account/compilation of just how evil Israel is:
Just came across this on JVL’s website, posted yesterday – i.e. an article in Haaretz published a couple of days ago. The following is from the JVL introduction:
« Israeli historian Lee Mordechai has compiled a massive archive of material called “Bearing Witness to the Israel-Gaza War” which Ha’aretz says “constitutes the most methodical and detailed documentation in Hebrew (there is also an English translation) of the war crimes that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza. It is a shocking indictment comprised of thousands of entries relating to the war, to the actions of the government, the media, the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli society in general.” »
And here’s a link direct to the Haaretz piece:
« A Massive Database of Evidence, Compiled by a Historian, Documents Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza
A woman with a child is shot while waving a white flag . Starving girls are crushed to death in line for bread. A cuffed 62-year-old man is run over, evidently by a tank. An aerial strike targets people trying to help a wounded boy. A database of thousands of videos, photos, testimonies, reports and investigations documents the horrors committed by Israel in Gaza.
by Nir Hasson, Ha’aretz »
But it’s all just Israel defending itself, as our political masters keep telling us.
Susan Abdulhawa’s address at Oxford University last week. Highly recommended.
Re my 11.25 post a couple of days ago (up the page a tad), isn’t it funny how in past conflicts Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields but bomb them anyway, and that Hamas just go on doing the same again and again. Will they NEVER learn!
Or could it be that Israel is spouting complete and utter B/S so as to justify blowing women and children and the elderly and disabled and sick and non-combatents to bits.
Allan Howard
Exactly and from what I know there have not been 1 single incident where a palestinans fighter somehow have, against someones will, taken that indivudlal, in effect hostage, and used that inidivudal as a human shield. Still media, politicians to this day claim that this is what palestinians do and the reason why so many are killed in Gaza. It is such cynical so evilly corrupt argument.
As Norman Finkelstein said years ago:
NORMAN FINKELSTEIN:Well, the question is whether or not there is a significant difference between what Israel does and what the Palestinians do, apart from the fact that Israel does it in a much higher proportion than Palestinians. If you indiscriminately fire on a civilian population, which Israel routinely does, under international law — and here I can quote the president of Tel Aviv University, Yoram Dinstein, who’s one of the leading international experts on these matters; he says, “There’s no difference whatsoever between intentionally targeting civilians and indiscriminately firing into a civilian crowd.”
https://www.democracynow.org/2006/6/29/aipac_v_norman_finkelstein_a_debate
Ana from The Young Turks also had a good argument on this topic:
Video: https://www.instagram.com/todaywithjulius/reel/CzDyFq5rzN_/Besides, for all the talk about palestinians, allegedly having this or that base in civilian areas, meanwhile, in reality, Israel’s military HQ lies in Tel Aviv right in the middle of civilian population/buildings:
https://x.com/JanieceTurner/status/1395491586377756681
But of course that is nothing that western msm ever bring up or considering to be an example of human shielding by Israel.American jewish actor Wallace Shawn speak specificially about the evil committed by Israel:
Video: https://x.com/RyLiberty/status/1886414989470396746
As he said in the link, the nazis (like most perpetrators of evil crimes) tried to keep their crimes a secret, Israel however boast about their atrocities, openly!:‘Demonically evil’: US actor Wallace Shawn compares Israel’s actions in Gaza to Nazi Germany
‘It’s worse, because they kind of boast about it. Hitler had the decency to try to keep it secret,’ says 81-year-old actor and playwright
It’s disgusting, Jack. This morning, the third prisoner exchange, Herzog calls the treatment of the three released Israelis “a crime against humanity” as they appear evacuated and malnourished. Much media amplification as usual, but no consideration of who was responsible for the lack of food and basic sanitary conditions in Gaza over the last 15 months? I’ve seen images of thousands of innocent dead Palestinian children whilst their neighbours on the other side of the prison fence watch and cheer. There can be no two-state solution with Israel as one party unless the Zionist entity is proscribed globally.
Finally, an article in the Guardian worth reading. Mark Smith. From another former diplomat and senior policy adviser in the F.O. Gaza is a genocide and the UK is complicit.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/09/uk-foreign-office-war-crimes-arms-gaza-yemen
Yes it is absurd, it is like Israel “forgot” that they put a food blockade on Gaza = obviously people are going to be malnourished and starve. The bombastic claims by Israel regarding the frail-looking israeli captvies also expose the racism of Israel. 1 israeli, that is malnourhished, is obviously worse than not just 60000 malnourished palestinians but also worse than 60000 killed palestinians. And the western media play along, the poor israeli captives are worthy of all sympathy while the hundreds of palestinians released by Israel that have suffered far worse treatment get no support.
As a rabbi explained:
At Goldstein’s funeral, Rabbi Yaacov Perrin claimed that even one million Arabs are “not worth a Jewish fingernail
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Goldstein#Veneration_by_extremists
The whole israeli society needs to be deprogrammed from their ethnocentric/narcissistic/chauvinistic worldview.
Going back to my second post on this thread to Clark – re withholding your tax for moral and ethical reasons. Article in the Guardian tonight urging Americans to do just that.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/20/americans-government-taxes
machine-translation of a German (!) interview with Francesca Albanese.
Naturally this is the only decent German daily, JUNGE WELT.German-language original:
https://archive.is/ZyX2GI have to post the entire text here since for some time now archive.is won´t do machine-translated versions:
From: Issue of 01.03.2025 , page 1 (supplement) / weekend supplement
genocide in Palestine“If we are against it, we have to say so”
On the role of the international community in the Israeli genocide in Palestine. A conversation with Francesca Albanese
Interview: Fabian LinderYour work as UN Special Reporter since 2022 has been hampered in many ways, for example by a travel ban to Israel, which also affected your predecessors. During your visit to Germany, event organizers were deprived of rooms and you were accused of anti-Semitism. How do you deal with this?
What I have seen in Europe over the past 16 months has scared the crap out of me. Not as a special rapporteur, but as a European. Because if there is one thing I have always taken for granted, it is that in this part of the world I can think freely, that I can speak freely, that I am free to meet with others, that we have spaces where we can disagree and that people have a right to be heard by government. All of that has collapsed this year. When you see the security you enjoy in a system disappearing, you ask yourself what you are going to do next. When those who are supposed to protect me no longer protect me but come with a baton.
I have seen the German police beating children, young girls who are taking to the streets to protest against the crimes, to protest against the slaughter of children. For me, that is a sign that we are in a very dark place. We cannot afford to hold back. If we are against it, we must say so. Jewish organizations have been attacked in this country, Jewish people have been arrested and imprisoned. What is even more shameful is that they have been lectured about anti-Semitism.
What is needed to eliminate these grievances?
Where is the reason in people? Instead of behaving like parts of a machine, they can speak critically to what is presented to them and judge that a critical attitude towards the State of Israel because of the crimes it commits against the Palestinians is not anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is discrimination against Jewish people because they are Jews, just as discrimination against Palestinians because they are Palestinians is racism.
This is what we should be alarmed about as people and as a society. Instead, the government claims that criticism of the State of Israel is anti-Semitic and people obey. This is normal in 2025 and is why I keep reminding myself of what Primo Levi (Italian, Jewish anti-fascist resistance fighter, Auschwitz survivor and writer, jW ) used to say: that there are few monsters in life. The great evil is committed because ordinary citizens do not recognize the atrocities that are being committed and become part of them. Primo Levi wondered from the darkness of the concentration camp what the people who lived in nice apartments or houses thought when they saw the camp.
My question to the German people is: do they see Palestinians as human beings or not? Is it normal that we saw the bodies of children hanging on the wall after the explosion? Is it normal that we saw parents carrying the bodies of their children in plastic bags? Is it normal that a child named Hind Rajab screamed and cried for help from the car where his dead relatives lay, spoke to an emergency operator who assured her that she would be rescued, but the girl was murdered by the Israeli army with 335 bullets, as were the Palestinian rescue team? Is it normal that Mohammed Bahar, a boy with Down syndrome, was killed by Israeli army dogs and the last words he had were to forgive the dog because it was not its fault? Is it normal that Palestinians are put in prisons that have been turned into torture centers and that the rapes of Palestinians are even shown on Israeli television?
There are Israeli podcasts where participants said that seeing these people die gave them strength. What kind of monsters have we become if this doesn’t shake us? If people don’t move in the face of this because they don’t see Palestinians as human beings, then they have learned absolutely nothing from the past.
In the context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, Israel and other UN member states have been violating international law for decades. How does this affect that same international law?
Failure to stop a genocide that is being televised is very serious. It creates a sense of despair and illusion about the normative, preventive and remedial power of the legal order at the national level. When you have laws that are not enforced, everything weakens, including the ability to maintain law and order. You lead a society into chaos. You prepare society to live in lawlessness, where might makes right. It is no different at the international level. Even people who see international law as a tool for emancipation, to secure rights, may resort to means that are less peaceful than legal means.
So there is the element of the erosion of the power of the law. For Palestine, this is the final nail in the coffin of self-determination, after 50 years of hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of a political system that talks about peace in pursuit of statehood, while Israel continues to destroy any possibility for the Palestinians to exist as a people on what little land they have left on which to establish a state. The UN member states have been the custodians of this process. Look at where this hypocrisy has led.
It is also about a multilateral order that is confident in itself. Although the system is not perfect, we in the West in particular have benefited from it, have been protected from major wars – it is clear that we have been better off in the last 80 years than before. Unfortunately, we have taken it for granted.
How do you assess the role of the federal government?
The German government has legal obligations and what it is doing violates international law. So when I hear Chancellor Olaf Scholz denying that this is genocide and saying he thinks that assessment is inaccurate or inappropriate, then that is for the International Court of Justice, ICJ, to decide. The Chancellor is wrong when he says that it is not time to talk about genocide.
Now, when it comes to the crime of genocide, the ICJ speaks of a crime that must not only be punished, but also prevented or stopped. This is the obligation that the States Parties to the ICJ Statute have had since January 26, 2024 at the latest, when the ICJ recognized the possibility or risk that the rights of the Palestinians, which are protected by the Genocide Convention, could be violated. This means nothing other than that there is a plausible risk that genocide will be committed. In April, the ICJ also reminded the Federal Republic and other States Parties in the Nicaragua v. Germany case that they are obliged not to supply weapons to states that could commit not only genocide but also other crimes under international humanitarian law. And it is clear that Israel is committing crimes against civilians. Germany is acting contrary to its obligations under international law.
What does this mean for the United Nations?
They are just an assembly like the General Assembly. It is a platform, as we have seen in recent years. The Security Council was necessary but not sufficient. The Council declared the settlements and colonies illegal, but nobody stopped the colonies from expanding. Ultimately, it is not the United Nations that is the problem – it is the member states that are not abiding by international law. They have entered into international obligations and treaties. The United Nations should not be used as an excuse to distract from the responsibility of all member states.
US President Donald Trump wants to expel the inhabitants of Gaza and turn the coastal region into a “Riviera of the Middle East”.
It is clear that the United States has never cared much about international law. Regardless of what it says on the international stage, it has violated international law. When I heard about Trump’s comments, I really did not know what to think. We should not be having a discussion about it. Such plans are illegal and only mean that all of this – the forced displacement of the Palestinians, the ethnic cleansing, the lack of reparations for the crimes they suffered and the permanent violation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination – becomes official US foreign policy.
Is this the new normal? Are we going to use this as a benchmark for our discussion? I don’t think it’s just a bluff. It’s a strategy. In Europe, we are being attacked by the US, if I take seriously the words of the US Vice President at the Munich “Security Conference”. He comes to lecture us about democracy. Now we understand how many people around the world have felt.
Europe should rethink its alliances in a new, multipolar order. It is time to break dependence on the United States, which has become too costly economically and politically. Perhaps we need to go through a period of austerity, and that is OK, because independence and freedom are more important than having more money to buy more goods.
A few days ago, Morocco announced a deal with the Israeli arms company Elbit. It can be assumed that Moroccan forces will also use these weapons in occupied Western Sahara. Two countries that have occupied foreign territory for decades and denied the population living there or displaced there the right to self-determination. How do you assess this increased cooperation, which aims to normalize relations with mutual recognition of the occupation?
This type of friendship has a very telling name in southern Italy that comes to mind when it comes to forming an alliance to justify each other’s crimes. It is unlawful and involves unlawful actions. The fact that there are more states engaging in unlawful activities does not make the wrong right, it only makes the number of wrongdoers greater.
That is why I say this trend must be stopped. There are many ways to stop it and I urge people to consider all the peaceful means at our disposal, including the most legal avenues, such as going to court. I do not believe that the conditions in Morocco are such that the king can be held accountable in domestic courts. So there should be an outcry against this in other countries. With other members of the Arab League or the Organization of the Islamic Conference, this kind of normalisation is the worst thing because it is again a partnership around unlawful activities, a permanent occupation that violates the right of self-determination of peoples – from Western Sahara to the occupied Palestinian territories.
In the context of Western Sahara, European countries, particularly Spain, maintain close trade relations with Morocco despite the occupation. EU courts have repeatedly declared trade agreements void in the past when they include occupied territories. Why does international law work in these cases and why not when it comes to Israel and the occupied territories?It is clearly the political system that continues to make Israel untouchable, and that should not be the case. We need to give civil society a clear idea of where the sectors are that should be investigated first. If norms are there and norms are being violated, then there are enforcement mechanisms of law. That is my toolbox as a lawyer. If our governments do not intervene, then the next stop is the courts. First national courts and if that does not work, there is a European Court of Human Rights.
The European Court of Human Rights has not yet heard a case on Palestine. I do not rule out that it could happen because it is about corporate responsibility. It is also beneficial for other countries because the European Court of Human Rights also looks at international law. The Court cannot simply avoid the fact that there are certain obligations that are permanent and international, so that they cannot be delegated. One of these is the right of Palestinians to self-determination, which is being violated by multinational corporations and the arms industry.
If that is maintained because it is being violated by European companies, for example, it can have a positive impact on the way all these companies and businesses are run in other parts of the world. Because the violation of the right of self-determination by private companies is very visible in other parts of the world. Think of colonialism in Congo. King Leopold may no longer rule there, but can the Congolese really control their resources? We should make sure that companies do not engage in illegal activities, which today clearly do not only involve the violation of children’s rights and women’s rights or environmental rights. The focus on this is often just a face-saving checklist. It is also about them respecting people’s right of self-determination.
There are other examples in the international community.
I am thinking of the nine states that launched an initiative in The Hague on January 30, the “Hague Group” (Namibia, South Africa, Malaysia, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Senegal, Honduras and Belize, jW ). They have decided to break off trade relations with Israel – that is, no buying from or selling to Israel’s arms industry and no transfer of military equipment. These are just a few, but the most urgent obligations of the international order. There are countries that I know for sure that are considering joining the group or are in the process of joining.
There are repeated attempts to prevent events at which you want to appear. How are you continuing to work in the face of adverse circumstances?
I know that many people are desperate, but I am not. Because the world has always been an unjust place for many, and now we see it unveiled. It can be seen in all its ugliness. Now is the time for all to see that.
That is why it is so important for me to continue to give lectures. Of course I feel insulted when the University of Munich or the Free University of Berlin betray me. But I know that they have become pawns in the hands of politicians and political interests. Ultimately, if I remain true to my commitment to have a grassroots approach, I cannot just say that to the Palestinians and Israelis. I owe it to the Germans, the Italians, the Danes and everyone else. Even if we have to sit on a meadow with our feet in the mud, I will be there, because the situation is so brutal and so extreme that we have to deal with the extreme.
