“A Textbook Case of Genocide”. 421


The resignation letter of Craig Mokhiber, Director of the New York Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has gone viral on social media but most posts only show page one. Here is the full four page letter.

This needs no gloss from me. Craig is one of the world’s leading international lawyers.

I am writing this in Geneva where I am tomorrow meeting UN officials to pursue my own case: both my unprecedented in modern times jailing for contempt of court, and the current surreal persecution under the terrorism act. I shall also be raising the case of other journalists subjected to persecution under the terrorism act, including Kit Klarenberg, Vanessa Beeley and Johanna Ross.

This account from John Laughland is interesting in how precisely it accords with my own experience, particularly in being held for exactly an hour with no right to remain silent and no right to a lawyer.

By one of those astonishing coincidences in life, tomorrow is the United Nations International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

I am not making it up, that really is a thing.

And the major theme of the keynote meeting is

“to bring visibility to a new Study on the impact of counter-terrorism and other criminal laws on media freedom and safety of journalists. Panellists will explore legal challenges faced by journalists and the increasing practice of resorting to restrictive legal frameworks to unduly interfere with the work of journalists.”

So I could hardly have walked in at a more auspicious moment.

Subject to an “anti-terrorism investigation”, I do not view it as safe currently to return to the UK. Whether the investigation relates to my support for Wikileaks or to my support for Palestine, or to both, I do not know as the police have not said why I am being investigated.

I honestly believe I am not fighting for me, but against encroaching fascism in western societies. It is for freedom from an ever encroaching police state and from a political class trying to enforce a monopoly of information to the public. The fight can only happen at all with financial support from the amazing readers of this blog. You have seen me through so much, and I am very grateful.




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421 thoughts on ““A Textbook Case of Genocide”.

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  • JohninMK

    Not sure where to put this but Tucker Carlson visited Julian Assange at Belmarsh Prison this morning.

    Hopefully more publicity will follow.

    • AG

      how the hell did he accomplish that? bribe Braverman? promised Starmer a yacht? offer the head of the prison a daily show?
      I think C.T. is a second rate anchor but hell I am curious.
      p.s. even though this clearly operates on a century old vaudeville business model of “selling freaks to the populace”

  • Jack

    Interesting that even Benny Morris nowadays speak of genocide and ethnic cleansing:

    “Three million people have lived under military rule for 56 years. It’s not that they do not have equal rights. They have no rights at all.”
    “I’ve always resisted using the word apartheid,” he stressed. “In fact, I’ve criticised the use of it because people attach it to race, saying ‘Israel is a racist government, so the way they govern is apartheid.’
    “I’m saying it’s a form of apartheid based on nationalism, not race. Unfortunately, I’ve come to agree this is a term [that is] accurate to describe Israel’s governance in the West Bank and it’s connected to efforts by the current government to deliberalise Israel and turn it into an autocratic state.”

    Morris says another loaded term, “ethnic cleansing”, is accurate in describing much of the Coalition’s attitude towards the Palestinians of the West Bank. “It’s an outlook of ethnic cleansing. They would like to drive out the Arab population from the West Bank. They would like to de-Arabise it. That’s what [Meir] Kahane wanted and that’s what these Kahanists want.”
    https://plus61j.net.au/israel-middle-east/why-historian-benny-morris-has-finally-decided-to-use-the-label-apartheid/

    (Benny Morris is a well known pro-israeli/brittish apologist/historian)

    • AG

      thx for this

      In fact what is funny about BM, he often states the (historic) fact but then, shies away to draw the obvious conclusions.
      But that kind of misleading tactics is all over the place re: Palestine for decades, re: RU at least 2014, and one would run across it re: the diplomatic history of US foreign policy also for a very long time

      • AG

        odd discussion. Missed opportunity.
        A scholar who has read everything vs. a commentator who has read virtually nothing?
        A moderator who is overwhelmed with making better use of Finkelstein´s knowledge.
        What´s the sense of that?
        But then this emotional ending. May be that´s only possible in the US.

        Now I am getting odd emails from people for sending them the Craig Mokhiber letter.
        Strange days.

        here the the New Yorker article Finkelstein mentioned:
        “Q. & A.
        The Gaza-ification of the West Bank
        As the war in Gaza escalates, so, too, has the forcible displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank. Is Israel’s approach to the two regions linked?”
        https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-gaza-ification-of-the-west-bank

    • IMcK

      Anybody that wishes can make an application to the ICC requesting their investigation of a war crime. It is straightforward to do requiring filling out the form as per the link below. I’ve done it albeit on a general basis rather than specifying any particular incident with attached evidence. No doubt I will be ignored but I thought it worth adding to the chorus of dissent from the state line.
      https://otplink.icc-cpi.int/

      • Goose

        AG, RoS, all

        Sorry for being off topic but this is BIG. It represents a huge assault on privacy and has free speech implications. The EU is wildly overreaching.

        https://last-chance-for-eidas.org/

        Any EU member state will have the ability to designate cryptographic keys for distribution in web browsers and browsers are forbidden from revoking trust in these keys without government permission.

        Welcome to 1984.

          • Goose

            Some EU countries don’t insist on ISPs keeping metadata logs like the UK does.

            With all the scare stories about Russian interference spooking politicians, they’re probably trying to plug that gap?

            A VPN may protect traffic , but ask who really owns the commercial VPN? The fact commercial VPNs exist at all is highly suspect by itself. The only way to protect traffic, is via cheaply renting, and setting up your own VPS (virtual private server) in another country, tunnelling inside https, and firewalling off your personally identifiable traffic, so nothing identifiable, leaves the server at the other end. This is how many Chinese citizens avoid the GFW. And bypass Chinese censorship.

          • Goose

            ET

            Oh, okay, I haven’t followed it too closely in recent years.

            I know the Netherlands rejected their own ‘Snoopers’ Charter’ in a referendum in 2018. Dutch say ‘no’ in referendum on spy agency tapping powers: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-referendum-idUSKBN1GX0QU

            There’s little political pushback, because the ‘civil liberties’ debate gets warped into, do you support terrorists, pedos etc. It’s better to just accept everything is monitored, basically for the sake of monitoring. And that no politicians have the courage to defend civil liberties.

        • Goose

          I’ve always thought the US and UK would likely be doing this already, either through a front Cert authority or simply through demanding cryptographic keys. Because we’re surveillance societies, with no tech savvy politicians or accountability, regarding transparency or mass surveillance.

          And the browser certificates’ rely on trust, therefore they’re the weakest link. But the EU doing this, openly and officially, is astounding. This opens people up to MiTM and all manner of snooping. Even routing traffic through a VPS (virtual private server) might not be safe. Suppose people could remove the Certs, but I doubt they’ll be easily identified.

  • Republicofscotland

    One wonders how many more Israeli hostages (if they haven’t already done so) the IDF will kill and blame their deaths on Hamas, with many Israeli’s angry that Netanyahu for not freeing Israeli hostages from the grip of Hamas, what would those people, and indeed the relatives of those Israeli’s killed by the IDF already think of Netanyahu and his military generals if they knew this?

    “What the BBC fails to tell you about October 7:

    Kibbutz Be’eri has been a favoured destination for BBC reporters keen to illustrate Hamas’ barbarity. It is where Lucy Williamson headed once again this week.

    And yet none of her reporting highlighted comments made to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper by Tuval Escapa, the kibbutz’s security coordinator. He said Israeli military commanders had ordered the “shelling [of] houses on their occupants in order to eliminate the terrorists along with the [Israeli] hostages”.

    Nor did Williamson refer to the testimony of Yasmin Porat, who sought shelter in Be’eri from the nearby Nova music festival. Porat told Israeli Radio that once Israeli special forces arrived: “They eliminated everyone, including the [Israeli] hostages because there was very, very heavy crossfire.”

    Are the images of charred bodies presented by the BBC, accompanied by a warning of their graphic, upsetting nature, incontrovertible proof that Hamas behaved like monsters, bent on the most twisted kind of vengeance?

    Or might those blackened remains be evidence that Israeli civilians and Hamas fighters burned alongside each other, after they were engulfed in flames caused by Israeli shelling of the houses?”

    https://nitter.net/Jonathan_K_Cook/status/1720068355007053832#m

    • Bayard

      “Or might those blackened remains be evidence that Israeli civilians and Hamas fighters burned alongside each other, after they were engulfed in flames caused by Israeli shelling of the houses?”

      and might those Hamas fighters, burned beyond recognition, make up some of those 500 odd “dead Israelis” who have still not been named, even after more than three weeks?

  • harry law

    john Helmer has an interesting take, ‘In dances with bears’ https://johnhelmer.net/if-the-army-says-fight-the-war-russians-agree-if-the-kremlin-says-stop-russians-agree-on-conditions-the-army-decides/#more-88797
    “The moral high ground is already held by Russia as Putin has just said,” a Moscow source comments, “while the state propaganda line portrays Russia as against ‘terrorism’, ‘genocide’, and ‘fascism’.” On the battlefield, he says, the situation is “far more grim. The satellite pictures show they [IDF] now have about 400 vehicles in total. They will overrun all of North Gaza while flooding or gassing the tunnels.”

    For how long can Hamas defend against this without the opening of the other fronts to force the diversion of the IDF, stretch the US rearm and resupply capacities even further, and lengthen the war? There are pro-Russian military veteran sources who believe not long enough. “The Iranians are showing themselves to be blowhards. Hezbollah is afraid of the US response. Both know they risk losing power and position if the war escalates. Israel has called their bluff. Islamic ‘unity’ is proving to be hollow — a dead end.”

    The Moscow source concurs. “When this is over, it will take away any chance of change to status quo for at least a decade. The only defeat it appears will still come in Ukraine but not in Palestine
    Most Arab states may buckle after US/Israel show them a big enough stick. If Hezbollah does nothing they will be proven to be blowhards. I hope not, Nazrallah speaks live on TV tomorrow.

    • Bayard

      I suspect there will be two possible outcomes to this”war”, either the world watches and does nothing while the Palestinians are wiped out by Israel, or Hezbollah attacks and the world watches and does nothing while they and the Palestinians are wiped out by Israel and the US.

      • Casual Observer

        There’ll be a ceasefire imposed that the Israeli’s will claim as some modernised version of the ‘Dolchstosslegende’ but in reality will be passively accepted due to the IDF being in danger of having its invincibility myth punctured.

        Reservists and weekenders going into a FIBUA arena? They’ll take much punishment from blokes who are far more committed than they, and have home advantage. And like all western militaries today, the IDF places huge emphasis on casualty avoidance in order to get bums on seats, so it’s not too fantastic an assumption that Israeli civil society will rebel when the casualty figures for their side start coming in.

        • Bayard

          So far, every soldier killed appears to have instantly become a civilian, as far as the statistics are concerned. Also, I doubt whether the weekenders and reservists will be the ones going into Gaza. They are more likely to be taking over from full-time IDF elsewhere in the country to free them up for the invasion.

          • Casual Observer

            I doubt they have enough regulars to fill the spaces for Gaza alone, and even if they did one would have to give them intensive refresher training before committing them. Just three weeks on from the Hamas action, it’s a fair bet that’s not been the case.

            I see the liability of reservists runs to age 49, so the vast bulk of those wont be in any shape for urban fighting, and even re-acclimatising them after recall would take weeks.

            The numbers quoted for the potential strength of the IDF look impressive, but once you allow for half being female, and lots of blokes many years on from their 24‒34 months national service, it begins to look rather less than the regional superpower image they like to present.

            I did see an article yesterday claiming that settler militias are being formed and armed. I’d have thought that arming a bunch of crazy people might not be such a good idea, and it may also indicate that they don’t have the resources to cover all potential hotspots.

    • Republicofscotland

      Elon Musk recently commented on his X platform that he would allow official news sites to use his Starlink service, over Gaza, of course nothing more has been forthcoming from Mr Musk, maybe this has something to do with it.

      “The social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) is working with an Israeli tech firm to verify BlueTick subscribers, raising suspicions that personal data could fall into the hands of the Israeli government or private sector, both of whom have a long history of illegally stealing user data, including from X itself, and spying on both allies and adversaries.

      In August, app researcher Nima Owji X broke the news that X was testing identity verification features. In September, X made the rumors official and released information regarding the verification means. The process requires uploading a photo of your ID along with a selfie, with the data then being shared with AU10TIX, an Israeli identity verification company founded by former Israeli intelligence officials that stores the data.”

      https://www.mintpressnews.com/identity-verification-or-data-exposure-twitter-using-israeli-tech-firm-headed-by-ex-military-officials-to-verify-users/286156/

  • Republicofscotland

    Another industry professional forced to step down for speaking out about what the Zionists are doing in Gaza.

    “Europe’s biggest tech conference, Web Summit, has appointed a veteran US regime-change operative named Katherine Maher as its new CEO, just days after founder Paddy Cosgrave stepped down from the position following an industry-wide backlash to his suggestion that Israel forces have carried out “war crimes” in their ongoing assault of Gaza.

    Cosgrave’s future at Web Summit had been in doubt since October 13, when he sparked pro-Israel outrage after tweeting that “war crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies.” Industrial and tech behemoths including Siemens, Intel, Amazon, Meta and Google subsequently declared that they wouldn’t be attending this year’s conference, which is slated to take place in Lisbon, Portugal from November 13 to 16.”

    https://thegrayzone.com/2023/10/31/regime-change-web-summit-ceo-israeli-war-crimes/

  • John Main

    That’s a great letter from Mokhiber. I am particularly tickled by his Point 3:

    “We must support the establishment of a single, democratic, secular state in all of historic Palestine, with equal rights for Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and, therefore, the dismantling of the deeply racist, settler-colonial project and an end to apartheid across the land.”

    You have to get up very early in the morning indeed to believe that the Muslims and Jews, both sworn to the extermination of each other, are going to set up a new country together. But I guess that if you work for the UN, the tendency to call for something that will cost billions of dollars and keep you well remunerated for your entire career is a strong one.

    As for Islam and secularism, if the Palestinians were ever to head in that direction, in the fantasy single state called for by Mokhiber, their current Iranian backers would be the first ones to denounce them for apostasy.

    In the light of Mokhiber’s evident lack of engagement with reality, his departure from the UN is no loss.

    • Goose

      The difference is, when Israel threatens something, they have the military capability: air, land and sea to carry it through. When belligerent Hamas threatens to destroy Israel, it’s like a dog barking at the moon.

      So of course, the infinitely more powerful party, Israel, has more responsibility to act proportionately, so as to minimise civilian casualties. It’s a simple concept.

      This is what many find so infuriating about the media coverage of this ISRAEL vs HAMAS War? as if it’s two equally matched heavyweights going at it in the ring. In reality, It’s a one-sided slaughter, and everybody associated with this ‘revenge’ massacre ought to be thoroughly ashamed.

      • John Main

        I was pointing out a spectacularly inane “demand” in Mokhiber’s letter of resignation.

        The “demand” for the setup of a secular state where Jews and Muslims live side by side in harmony and peace.

        I was pointing out that these Jews and Muslims are sworn exterminators of each other. A moment’s thought will allow you to realise that the extreme imbalance in military power between Jews and Muslims will disappear, should that new secular state ever come into being.

        Both sides will then be able to wade knee deep in each other’s blood, as is their wish.

        I’m guessing you believe that once both sides are evenly matched, they will kiss and make up. Fine. I don’t believe that.

        • SA

          The whole point is that an aggressive racist apartheid state should be completely disarmed to live in peace. This model of colonialism of forceful occupation is outdated and we must think with fresh minds.

        • Bayard

          “The “demand” for the setup of a secular state where Jews and Muslims live side by side in harmony and peace.”

          Sounds unrealistic, doesn’t it? Almost as unrealistic as Protestants and Catholics living side by side in harmony and peace in Northern Ireland after all the deaths there.

          • Alf Baird

            Postcolonial theory indicates the need for any oppressed people ‘to break, rather than compromise’, with a racist colonial system that is based on their ethnic oppression, including the theft of their land. In such an environment ‘even the presence of the colonizer is oppressive’ (Fanon).

            Its a cracking letter and also demonstrates why Scots have received so little support or interest from the UN in respect of our decolonization and return of our land.

          • Stevie Boy

            Coexistence worked prior to WW1 and specifically under the Ottomans. The mistake is to assume that the Eastern Europeans and Americans who make up the majority of mad dog zionists in Israel could coexist with anyone. Israel is not a Jewish state: it’s a fascist state.

  • JohninMK

    Its a big day tomorrow in the Middle East. Hezbollah gave Israel until then to lay off Gaza or they would act; and Nasrallah, the Leader of Hezbollah and an iconic figure in the Islamic world, is giving a speech.

    As a result we have respected commentators taking different views on what Nasrallah will say tomorrow, leading to this may be one of the most important speeches for a very long time or a nothing burger. Incidentally he is no slouch at speechmaking and giving, definitely more Putin than Biden.

    It may or not be significant that the current commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Ismail Qaani, will be there, maybe by his side, leading to the obvious conclusion that what Nasrallah says is with Iran’s agreement.

    On a more mundane level, looking at videos of the setting up of the event, that they were able to collect together in poverty Lebanon, 100s if not 1000s of matching chairs (https://twitter.com/i/status/1720157315955843577) gives some idea of how important the speech is to them. They clearly want it to be an imposing event, not like his previous speeches in front of camera or a standing crowd but 1000s of seated individuals.

    Some very professional PR has been deployed on this event. Probably due to its potential to attract one of the biggest audiences this century with a very, very high proportion of the World’s Islamic population likely watching it live on TV or the Web. Life will be coming to a halt from Morocco to Afghanistan, from the Balkans to Kenya plus parts of many countries outside.

    It is possible that many leaders are worried tonight about what their populations will do and want them to do after watching it. I note for example that a million plus crowd is being predicted in London on Remembrance Day.

    Needless to say the speech site in Beirut presents a massive target. God help us if anyone decides to hit it.

    • Goose

      Your last sentence may prove prescient.

      Making the speech in Lebanon, in person, before a huge audience of seated Hezbollah military personnel? Even Zelensky wouldn’t preannounce such a thing, and Kyiv’s probably a lot better protected than Beirut.
      You’d think given current tensions, Israel’s frequent threats to his life and their tendency to flout international law he’d make a televised address instead?

      If the US or Israel wanted to trigger a wider war, there’d be no easier way of getting one.

      His important speech is at 3:00 PM or 1:00 PM UK time

      • Goose

        Another thing is the fact October 23 was the 40 year anniversary of the Beirut truck bombing. Something else Nasrallah should be mindful of.

        Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide bomber hit an American military barracks at Beirut International Airport, killing 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines – still the deadliest attack on Marines since the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima.

        • glenn_nl

          G: “Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide bomber hit an American military barracks at Beirut International Airport, killing 241 U.S. service members[…]”

          Jaja, indeed …. and what was the response of the fearless St. Ronnie of Reagan, the Great Communicator? To order the immediate invasion of Grenada. Which had a fledgling socialist government, and a few score Cubans helping out there. Clearly, a major threat to the very existence of America, and much more important for Americans to concentrate on than the Lebanese humiliation.

          Naturally, after such a tremendous victory against overwhelming odds in Grenada, the victorious troops were given a ticker-tape parade for saving the homeland just in the nick of time.

          • pretzelattack

            they even made a movie about it; didn’t see it but i think it portrayed the americans as heroic.

          • Goose

            glenn_nl

            Which disproves Israel’s nonsense that everyone would act just as they have.

            If Hezbollah attack Israeli military positions, its response will be to go straight for Lebanese civilians. Attacking infrastructure: apartment buildings; bridges; water treatment facilities, etc. Not just legitimate military targets. That’s the Israeli way. US-sponsored thugs.

          • Alyson

            If I recall, it was either the Queen or Margaret Thatcher who politely pointed out to Ronald Reagan that Grenada was in fact a British overseas territory, and asked the Americans to withdraw their forces from the ground

  • SurferDave

    We have been on this road ever since the enabling crime of the twin towers in 2001. That opened the ‘terrorism’ wedge to remove human rights at will. I am reminded of Justin Raimondo’s initial articles about how we all had entered ‘Bizaro Land’ where up is down and nothing is square or true anymore. Please keep up your strength of will Craig, you have been a shining light in a darkening world.

  • AG

    I had the impression Eli Lake had no clue about the “Dahiya” and “Hannibal” doctrines whereas they have been known for many years.

    see e.g.:
    Oct. 10/11
    https://inews.co.uk/news/world/dahiya-doctrine-hannibal-directive-israel-controversial-military-practices-2677233

    Palestine scholarship studies with a study on the subject Dahiya:

    “The Dahiya Doctrine, Proportionality, and War Crimes”

    Author: Rashid Khalidi
    autumn 2014
    https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/186668

    Abstract:
    IN JULY 2014, Israel launched its third and most massive military assault in a period of less than six years on the 1.8 million people of the Gaza Strip. In so doing, it killed over twenty-one hundred Palestinians and wounded more than eleven thousand. The vast majority of the thirteen thousand casualties were civilians, and well over half of them were women, children, old people, and the disabled. This latest massacre of the innocents provides the occasion for the Journal of Palestine Studies (JPS) to offer a special dossier centered on Gaza.

    * * *

    And it´s in the 2009 UN Report. So Eli Lake could have had enough time to read it.

    “HUMAN RIGHTS IN PALESTINE AND OTHER OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES
    Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict∗”
    Sept. 25th 2009
    https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/a-hrc-12-48.pdf

    page 254

    “(…)
    1195. What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. […] We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. […] This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved. [580]

    1196. After the war in southern Lebanon in 2006, a number of senior former military figures appeared to develop the thinking that underlay the strategy set out by Gen. Eiskenot. In particular Major General (Ret.) Giora Eiland [581] has argued that, in the event of another war with Hizbullah,[582] the target must not be the defeat of Hizbullah but “the elimination of the Lebanese military, the destruction of the national infrastructure and intense suffering among the population… Serious damage to the Republic of Lebanon, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people are consequences that can influence Hizbollah’s behaviour more than anything else”. [583]
    (…)”

    * * *

    The NEW YORK TIMES even mentions the “HANNIBAL” Doctrine in 2014

    “Israeli Procedure Reignites Old Debate”
    By Isabel Kershner

    “(…)
    It was one of the rare invocations of the Israeli military’s “Hannibal procedure,” one of its most dreaded and contentious directives, which allows commanders to call in extra troops and air support to use maximum force to recapture a lost soldier. Its most ominous clause states that the mission is to prevent the captors from getting away with their captives, even at the risk of harming or endangering the lives of the captured Israeli soldiers.

    In last Friday’s episode in Rafah, it appears unlikely that the Hannibal procedure caused the fatal injury of the missing soldier, Second Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was later declared killed in action.
    (…)”
    see article: https://archive.ph/ORGe6

    But just like the case was with RUSSIA: If you dehumanize the “enemy” than anything goes and anything is justified.
    The Geneva Convention is actually intending to achieve the opposite.

      • Cabbage

        Don’t be fooled by him, he’s a disgusting apologist who makes milquetoast attacks on the official line merely to lend credibility to his far more ferocious attacks on the side of peace and justice.

        “James O’Brien called Corbyn’s Labour party ‘the party of Holocaust denial’.”

        The amazing attempt to brazen out attacking a holocaust survivor for refusing to allow the Zionists to use the Crimes against Humanity committed by Nazis for political ends.

        “a listener texted the studio, saying: “James O’Brien says a Jewish man who criticised Israel at that meeting in 2010 had a camouflage (O’Brien’s word) of being a Holocaust survivor…””

        https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/passionate-listener-denies-labour-antisemitism/

        Dr Meyer’s family were lost in the Holocaust, he survived. He spoke often, he made himself a public figure. He told of his experiences, he warned: it must never happen again.

        He also accused Israel of behaving like the Nazis in Palestine.

        That isn’t language I would ever use, and I find Nazi comparisons in general to be rhetorically bankrupt. We reach far too easily for the comparison.

        But Dr Meyer experienced the Holocaust and he’s experienced the occupation of Gaza. He has authority. Agree, disagree, but to deny him that authority, that legitimacy, because you disagree with him politically feels to me excessive and disrespectful.

        Those who perished in the Holocaust deserve our respect, and those who survived it deserve our attention. Your words in a recent interview that he was ‘using’ his history as ‘camouflage’ for his antisemitism were, for me, the last straw.

        Any debate that requires an elderly Jewish Holocaust survivor to be accused of ‘using’ his history as ‘camouflage’ is the wrong debate. Any argument that requires him to be called an antisemite is the wrong argument. Any definition of antisemitism that requires him to be an antisemite is the wrong definition.

        https://simonmaginn.medium.com/open-letter-to-james-obrien-e07464de359b

  • AG

    may be 1 out 3 texts in Germany that say how it is. Not by coincidence its an online platform:

    “Swords of iron” – a genocide in Gaza”
    https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=106148

    last translated paragraph:

    “Raz Segal, an Israeli Holocaust and genocide researcher at Stockton University in New Jersey, USA, calls this war “a textbook case of genocide”, and 800 legal scholars in the USA have issued a joint statement calling the total closure of the Gaza Strip “potentially genocidal”. They refer to Segal’s statement: “Indeed, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is explicit, open and shameless…Israel’s goal is to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza. And those of us looking around the world have abdicated our responsibility…to prevent this crime of genocide.” This responsibility can no longer be met with calls to respect the rules of international humanitarian law or to temporarily open humanitarian corridors and appeals to release the captured hostages. Anyone who pleads for the continuation of the war and votes against a ceasefire or abstains from voting is complicit in this genocide. Genocide is a crime, punishable under Section 6 of the International Criminal Code and Article 6 of the Rome Statute. And anyone who, like the German government, supports this war is complicit. The German government should consider this carefully.”

    p.s. however I would like to have more background to the genesis of the genocide term (what battles were fought by whom until they agreed on the known defintion e.g.).

    He does mention the essentials but I have long held contestations with the wide-spread use of “genocide” in general (just think of its hysterical use by our press during the UKR War).

    The author also says re: The Rome Statutes and the Genocide Convention:
    “whereby the number (of victims) is not important.”

    Now that is odd to me when I think of East Timor, Guatemala, Cambodia etc.

    After all when Finkelstein says “concentration camp” he of course by that does not mean “extermination camps”. And he has his good reasons. But hardly anyone will know this and it is therefore important to explain that. Which e.g. did not happen on that show.

    Finkelstein at one point yesterday once spoke of “impending” genocide but got interrupted. And I believe Mokhiber does as well.
    I am not argueing or contesting any of our comments here. I am merely trying to dig a bit deeper and try to find adequate terms for different forms of mass murder.

    • AG

      because the Holocaust by German law is historically singular in its scale and as well by law the German government is to help guarantee the safety of the state of Israel.

      Furthermore the German government is of the view that a situation adequate to Art. 51 was justly invoked by the Israeli government after Oct.7.

      Since Hamas allegedly committed war crimes all this is self-defense.

      It’s just like with the Presidential Executive Order activated in 2001 by US legal council Scalia that gave Bush the power to start a war against Iraq.

      p.s. the same German government up to this very day has not condemned the War in Iraq as war crime and violation of the highest order.

      So they are merely consistent in their madness and dishonesty and corruption.

      • Jack

        AG

        How many germans would you say are criticial of Israel and supportive of palestinians? 5%? 15%? More? Less?
        Is it taboo to side with the palestinians?

        • AG

          frankly I believe you won´t find any serious survey and I havent found any so far.
          So let’s wait.
          But since you ask:
          ARD (German BBC) survey suggested:

          “In the ARD Deutschlandtrend survey, three quarters of respondents said that they are very concerned about the fighting. They are particularly worried about the hostages being held by the terrorist group Hamas. 35 percent of those surveyed consider Israeli retaliatory strikes to be appropriate, 41 percent think Israel’s military action goes too far, while eight percent do not think it goes far enough.”

          right-wing Springer Press major daily BILD (German The Sun I guess?), staunch pro-Israel by design as I pointed out here earlier, calls Hamas beasts etc. They love this stuff (think Lindsay Graham). A survey organized by them:

          “The question was: “In your opinion, does Israel have the right to defend itself militarily against the terrorist organization Hamas?” – More than 70 percent of respondents answered yes. Around 11 percent were of the opposite opinion. A good 18% did not want to take a position. Remarkable: Whether CDU/CSU, SPD, Greens, FDP, AfD or Left Party – all voter groups support Israel’s right to military self-defense.”

          I tried to find a leftwing-made survey but so far found none.

          But you see none of this makes sense since it’s circular in its logic. Media makes surveys on subjects that they are reporting about.

      • AG

        well that´s the ugly truth, and that’s what the invisible struggle is also about now and what in Germany they call “Deutungshoheit”. I never figured out what the adequate English translation would be. “Primacy of definition” sounds stupid and incorrect English but to convey the idea.

        But as the meddling by the Israelis has been going on since day #1, as of 1948 the German state never stood a chance to possibly diverge from the initial agenda.

        Admittedly there were pro-Palestine groups in the 1960s/70s, the time when Arafat became a star persona here and being pro-Arab was cool and avantgarde and when there was more interest in the polis of Arab nations. But this went lost with the right-wing radicalization of formerly left potentials in the Arab world after the left there was destroyed, and of course with the end of “Communism”.

        • Anthony

          When the German left-wing (including ultra-‘radical’ St Pauli fans) are smearing protests against the Gaza genocide as antisemitism, one can only conclude their souls have left their bodies.

          • Casual Observer

            The German coalition government is in such a parlous state right now, that its unlikely they’ll want to get ahead of the USA on this issue.

    • Anthony

      Like the human animals who destroyed respectable British rule in (part of) Ireland a century ago. Good liberals will never forgive them.

    • Jack

      JK redux
      Of course? Israel have now commited genocide against the palestinians and destroyed their land once again, you think palestinians will sit back accepting just this? What if a state destroyed your home, your nation, your people, you would not wish the destruction of that state?

      Memri is by the way a product of israeli intelligence services, it is infamous for their cut and paste and mistranslation videos of palestinains, arabs.

      • JK redux

        Jack

        If Hamas intend the destruction of the State of Israel that doesn’t leave much room for negotiation.

        As if Ukraine announced its intention to destroy the Russian Federation.

          • JK redux

            Jack
            Sure Israel is trying to expunge Palestinian nationality and statehood.

            Which is wrong.

            But for the weaker party in a conflict to threaten the destruction of the much stronger party is foolish and counterproductive.

            As if Ukraine was to threaten the destruction of Russia.

          • glenn_nl

            J: “But for the weaker party in a conflict to threaten the destruction of the much stronger party is foolish and counterproductive.”

            Indeed. Much better that they should be completely servile, accept their fate, and not raise their eyes from the ground.

          • Laguerre

            JK redux

            It is not “the destruction of the much stronger party”. Jews have never had much attachment to one country, ever since the diaspora after the revolt of 135AD. People will just pick up their second passports and move to the US or some other country that has given them a passport, e.g. Spain, which offered free passports to Jews, in recompense for the 16th century expulsion along with Muslims (Muslims didn’t get the same offer). It is just the return of a country to its original inhabitants, a perfectly legitimate aim which no people would abandon, however many centuries it takes.

            Actually Israel is closer to destruction today than any time in my lifetime (approx coterminous with the life of the state of Israel). More war (and genocide) doesn’t make Israel more secure, just isolates it more.

          • Jack

            Jk redux

            Not really weaker if one looks at the international community that time and time again declares that the israeli annexation, occupation, blockade of palestinians are illegal and wrong.

            There have been many struggles in history where the poor, oppressed, diminished minority have raised up against the oppressor and won.

          • AG

            JK redux, et. al.

            “But for the weaker party in a conflict to threaten the destruction of the much stronger party is foolish and counterproductive.”

            I wouldn´t throw that point out of the window at once.
            Yesterday Finkelstein too touched that very aspect.

            He reminded that during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising 1943 everyone knew it was futile. And yes 40,000 got killed and yes the deportations became worse. But, he argues, would today anyone state it was “stupid” or “wrong”? Of course not.

            Now, had I been the moderator I would have reminded Finkelstein of a discussion among Jewish historians, I guess 1980s, where there was bitter disagreement about this very question:

            “Militant resistance in the ghetto, yes or no?”
            Why?

            Because, as to quote Noam Chomsky again, what should be the aim of the inhabitants?
            Be proud and dead or to be submissive and survive?

            No survivor of the death camps was unhappy about his survival. Naturally.

            So as a political activist Chomsky always argues: What is the best means to the ultimate end and goal?
            That’s what matters.

            Now, however, if all peaceful means fail, as perhaps the case in Gaza, what then do you do?

            Besides if you seem to have no way to escape out or for a meaningful future, NO HOPE, what sense does it make to plan a bright future?

            p.s. however, I would discount completely any comparison with Ukraine.
            Ukraine had peace proposals on the table many times.
            They have the backing of the most powerful military alliance in the world. They decided (the government) knowing full well what their decisions would mean and they had FULL AUTONOMY and SOVREIGNTY in their decisions to accept the war. Palestine has nothing of that. So it’s not even the same game. Totally different. IMHO.

          • Aguirre

            @Laguerre

            “People will just pick up their second passports and move to the US or some other country that has given them a passport,…”

            Let’s not repeat bits of nonsense, Laguerre. Or at least, let’s not exaggerate, even if in a laudable attempt to support the Palestinian cause. Or, alternatively, let’s draft a little more tightly.

            You make it sound as if all Israelis have a second passport. That is certainly not the case. I doubt if more than half of them do. Certainly not the Sephardi Jews who came to Israel firstly from Iraq in 1950/51 and then from other Arab countries from then onwards. Ditto, of course, for their descendants.

            Furthermore, there are very few countries handing out passports to Jews (= resuming a previous nationality and those who do – you are correct in saying that Spain is in that category – apply criteria rather more rigorous and restricted than you seem to want to have us believe.

          • will moon

            ” who came to Israel firstly from Iraq in 1950/51 and then from other Arab countries”

            Aguirre, what do you make of Avi Shlaim’s recent work. in which he documents Zionist attacks on Iraqi Jewish communities, using terror to force these people to flee to Israel? This and other historical episodes like the Lavon Affair, in the infant days of Israel’s existence, placed Arab Jewish communities into the geopolitical crosshairs of violent regional change. These were the days when Nasser was dubbed,”the Hitler on the Nile” in the Israeli and Western press as Arab nationalism collided with the long held policies of the British and American Empires

          • Aguirre

            @will moon

            Thanks for yours. I haven”t read Avi Schlaim’s book but I have watched, on YouTube, an hour-long interview he gave to someone whose name I unfortunately forget for the moment.

            In answer to your question “what do you make of…etc”, I agree with Avi Schlaim, for whom I have great respect.

            Together with Avi Schlaim, I wouldn’t lay all of the mass emigration from Iraq at the door of the Israeli false flags; the reaction of the Iraqi government to the formation of the state of Israel also created the conditions whereby many Arab Jews thought it wiser to leave. Regarding subsequent emigrations from the Maghreb/Mashraq, it is clear that the perception of Israel as having been (and being) an agent of the then colonial powers (UK and France) and the US played a large rôle.

            I think we stand on the same side of the argument.

          • Laguerre

            Aguirre
            “Let’s not repeat bits of nonsense, Laguerre. Or at least, let’s not exaggerate, even if in a laudable attempt to support the Palestinian cause.
            You make it sound as if all Israelis have a second passport.”

            I didn’t say that, did I? The Israelis claim it’s only 10%, but I think that figure is downplayed. After all, Israel is not notorious for telling the truth, and they have an obvious interest in minimising the number. In 2006 the queues outside foreign embassies for renewing their second passports were out of sight. Now of course they keep the passports up to date, so that bad news won’t be repeated. I don’t suppose all those Russians or East Europeans who arrived since 1991 bothered saying that they were keeping their original passports as well. It’s an obvious personal security measure.
            There may not be many countries who have offered free passports like Spain, but on an informal level, they won’t have a problem if they suddenly need a new country to live. The doors will be open. Certainly the case in France.
            With regard to the Mizrahis or Arab Jews, the situation is far different from what you say. It was Israel who wanted those people to move; they weren’t driven out. In many cases the only thing preventing their return is the abominable behaviour of the country they moved to. The fact that they see their retreat as cut off is what drives them into the extreme right-wing positions that characterise them in the Netanyahu government. When I was young there were still Jews in Damascus. There still are in Iran, refusing all the attempts of Israel to get them to leave. When I was in Erbil, I discovered there were houses of Jewish families still maintained by the housekeepers, waiting for the owners to come back. But of course the appalling behaviour of the Israelis is what causes the problem.

          • Laguerre

            Aguirre 2
            “I wouldn’t lay all of the mass emigration from Iraq at the door of the Israeli false flags; the reaction of the Iraqi government to the formation of the state of Israel also created the conditions whereby many Arab Jews thought it wiser to leave.”

            I would say most of it. You’re looking at the question from the Israeli POV, not from that of the locals.

            “Regarding subsequent emigrations from the Maghreb/Mashraq, it is clear that the perception of Israel as having been (and being) an agent of the then colonial powers (UK and France) and the US played a large rôle.”

            If you’re talking about Algeria, the French openly privileged the Jews, and gave them refuge in France. Cleaving to the French colonial power, as against the local insurgents, suited them. Of course the Jews found it better to go and live in Europe. I don’t know what other countries you’re thinking of. Tunisia somewhat similar to Algeria but less so, there still are Jews in Morocco.

          • Aguirre

            @ Laguerre at 10h48

            I’ve just noticed this second post of yours but think I’ve already answered it to the extent necessary in my reply to your first one at 10h39.

            I will reply, however, to your comment that ” You’re looking at the question from the Israeli POV, not from that of the locals.”.

            I object to that comment; because it looks curiously like an attempt to characterise me (or at least my post) as advocating for Israel. It looks like the sort of comment one would expect from a hasbara merchant seeking to demolish a point or argument unfavorable to Israel.

            As for the second half of your post, I fear you’ve misunderstood – I was talking about Arab Jews moving from North Africa to Israel, not to France. Hope that clarifies.

          • will moon

            “Regarding subsequent emigrations from the Maghreb/Mashraq, it is clear that the perception of Israel as having been (and being) an agent of the then colonial powers (UK and France) and the US played a large rôle.”

            Aguirre, can you expand on this statement. It is unclear whose “perception” you are talking about – what exactly do you mean here?

          • Aguirre

            @ will moon

            The perception by Arab governments (actual, eg Iraq, or to come , eg Algeria) and the Arab street. The former, I imagine, influenced the latter.

          • will moon

            “I think we stand on the same side of the argument.”

            An argument doesn’t have a “side”, but a conclusion.

            I disagree with you and Shlaim about the forces acting on Arab Jews: others have told this story before Shlaim, remember? The Balfour Declaration was not an isolated incident. The stewards of Imperial oligarchy had decided they needed a presence in the region to protect the link with India. The ongoing discovery of hydrocarbons in this region made Imperial strategy even more Machiavellian and operative. Biblical claims I ignore, so the only reason for Israel’s existence I can see is the desire of Anglo-American Empire to carry on the global rapine of the previous 200 years or so and colonise Palestine. Laguerre tells of Jewish property in Erbil, with Arab custodians, which if Arab Jews were hated by other Arabs is impossible. Ben-Gurion and his band of killers are the determining factor regarding the fate of Arab Jews, with the publicly declared support of the current world empire being a powerful secondary factor.

            Consider these two passages:

            “C. P. Scott, editor of the Manchester Guardian was a leading exponent of the strategic school of thought. ‘Palestine’, he told Lord Milner, was ‘a small thing . . . but it was the thing that mattered.’ It was with Scott’s approval, if not encouragement, that Herbert Sidebotham, the Manchester Guardian’s military correspondent aired his view (issue 26 November 1915) that
             ”Palestine should become a buffer state between Egypt and the North, inhabited … by an intensely patriotic race… On the realisation of that condition depends the whole future of the British Empire as a Sea Empire.’ ”
            — The Question of Palestine, 1914–1918, British-Jewish-Arab Relations, Friedman

            “If, as may well happen, there should be created in our own lifetime by the banks of the Jordan a Jewish State under the protection of the British Crown which might comprise three or four millions of Jews, an event will have occurred in this history of the world which would from every point of view be beneficial and would be especially in harmony with the truest interests of the British Empire.”
            — Winston Churchill 1920.

            So this is my conclusion, do you share it?

            Israel is a death cult, built on terror, bent on genocide and backed by Imperial oligarchy.

        • JK redux

          AG et al.

          Your point re the heroic Warsaw Rising misses my point re Hamas.

          The WR didn’t afaik threaten the destruction of the German (Nazi) State.

          (Nor did it afaik attack German civilians and take them hostage.)

          While Russia does occasionally via Putin and his lieutenants threaten the destruction of the Ukrainian state, I haven’t heard any corresponding threats by Ukrainian spokesmen to destroy the Russian state.

          If Ukrainian spokesmen did so it would be foolish and counterproductive…

          So the analogy between the Hamas/Gaza state and Ukraine is not a false analogy imo.

          • Anthony

            The State of Israel is a European/American colony implanted on top of Palestine.

            Why are you shocked that the native people it has been genociding for 75 years don’t regard it as some sanctified entity that must protected at all costs?

            Because bought European and American politicians keep telling you it must be?

        • Aguirre

          @ Laguerre at 10h39

          “I didn’t say that, did I? The Israelis claim it’s only 10%, but I think that figure is downplayed. After all, Israel is not notorious for telling the truth, and they have an obvious interest in minimising the number. ”

          I was merely seeking to correct an impression that your words may have given to readers not as au fait with the matter as you and I, ie that all Israelis or at least a great majority of them have second passports.

          It behoves us to be very careful in drafting, lest we give an opportunity to Zionists to distort what we are saying as a way of denying the facts.

          You have now “corrigé le tir”, so to speak, by mentioning the 10% figure. I’d of course agree with you that that figure is grossly understated and I also endorse the reasons you give for why this should be so. The real figure is much higher, on the assumption of course that immigrants from Russia and Ukraine do not lose their “original” nationality as they used to do in Soviet times.

          Now, on the question of Mashraq emigration and specifically from Iraq: your take on this seems rather different from that of Professor Avi Schlaim. It is certainly the case that the government of the new state of Israel wished to gather unto itself more Jews, as a way of increasing the population (don’t forget that Israel was a Zionist, secular undertaking whose religious justification was secondary). And you are also correct when you say that they weren’t driven out (in the strict sense of the word). But the political climate in Iraq became such in 1950/51 as to make emigration seem a prudent move, and one of the reasons why this political climate worsened was the Israeli false flag operations (Professor Schlaim says that two out of the five attacks were by Arab Muslims and tree by Israeli operatives). The other reason was the growth of Arab nationalism both in the Maghreb and Mashraq inspired by, inter alia, the perception (and reality) of Western colonialism or its remnants, a colonialism which, quite justifiably, was felt to be supported by the creation and existence of the state of Israel.

    • Bayard

      Well, it is published by MEMRI, so hardly an unbiased source.
      From Wikipedia: “Critics describe MEMRI as a strongly pro-Israel advocacy group that, despite portraying itself as “independent” and “non-partisan”, aims to portray the Arab and Muslim world in a negative light through the production and dissemination of incomplete or inaccurate translations and by selectively translating views of extremists while deemphasizing or ignoring mainstream opinions.”
      So probably yes, it is fake.

      • JK redux

        Bayard
        Of course MEMRI is a biased source as are all sources.

        But it appears that the Hamas spokesman’s statement is genuine.

        No?

        • Anthony

          “The position of the Israeli ambassador [to Ireland] is now untenable”.
          — Mary Lou Mcdonald, SF, Nov 3

          Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says Israel’s actions in Gaza not self-defence. (Nov 2)
          https://www.breakingnews.ie/israel-hamas/taoiseach-says-israels-recent-actions-were-not-self-defence-1547110.html

          Over 600 academics in Ireland sign call for Irish universities to cut ties with Israeli institutions.
          https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41261149.html

          • ET

            Having just read this article about Irish citizens not being allowed through the Rafah border as yet. I think Varadkar might be walking a political tightrope. Outright condemnation of Israel could mean no cooperation from Israel on securing passage for Irish citizens in Gaza.

            https://archive.ph/uIHHW/again?url=https://www.irishtimes.com/world/middle-east/2023/11/03/irish-citizens-not-included-in-list-of-foreign-nationals-allowed-to-leave-gaza-says-dfa/ *

            From the linked article:

            “The Irish ministry of foreign affairs and the Irish Embassy in Tel Aviv and in Cairo, they did not delay in performing their duty towards me as an Irish citizen. They did not stop communicating with me since day one.

            “The problem is they have no official confirmation or information about when Irish citizens will be able to leave Gaza. From my opinion, it’s all about the countries and their political relationship with Israel and Egypt.

            “Also, from my point of view, Ireland is a small country so I think we would get to leave after the big countries like Germany, United States, France and Belgium.”

            Perhaps he’d like to say more, even expel the Israeli ambassador but is constrained by the government’s duty to protect its citizens.
            Possibly a difficulty other nations also have to contend with.

            (* The ‘leaving cert’ is Ireland’s end-of-school state exam similar to A-levels. So this guy in the article just started university.)

          • Pigeon English

            Does annihilation of Israel means annihilation of Jews? Just asking!
            Can’t Palestinians and Jews and other minority live next to each other in peace?

          • Bayard

            Unless you speak Palestinian Arabic, you only have MEMRI’s word for it that the man is calling for the annihilation of Israel and even JK redux admits they are biased.

  • Goose

    Tory security minister asks police to stop any pro-Palestine protest on Remembrance Sunday.
    Tom Tugendhat has written to Met Police, mayor of London and Westminister Council – Independent

    Bizarre, as protest groups have not indicated plans to march on Remembrance Sunday on 12 November. The demonstration is scheduled for Saturday.

    The Tugendhat family was a family of Czech-Jewish textile and oil industrialists. World War II scattered them through Europe and America, and descendants have become influential politicians and academics. – Wiki

    • Goose

      Realising his mistake, he and the Telegraph are calling for the protest to be banned on ‘Remembrance Weekend’.

      Even The Royal British Legion’s own website calls it Remembrance Sunday.

      • Aguirre

        BTW, does Mr Tom not belong to a government whose members keep telling us that the operational details of policing (including decisions to ban protests) are up to the police and that ministers have no business interfering?

      • will moon

        Goose, maybe this Tugithard fellow is onto something? Why not “Remembrance Day Fortnight” or even “Remembrance Day Hiatus” – a period of indeterminate length, according to the Security Minister’s whim?

          • Casual Observer

            True, it’s been that way most of my lifetime – and that’s a while. The practice of observing a silence actually on the 11th must have died out not long after WWII? Observance on the day, as well as the Sunday, really only came back in when the UK chose to embark upon certain military adventures in the wake of 9/11, and the Blair crowd attempted to inculcate some feeling towards the military here that mirrored that of the worship that Americans seem show to their armed forces. Hence the silence on the 11th was back, and PR creations such as the Military Wives Choir were pushed to the fore.

        • Bayard

          Perhaps “Remebrance Sunday” could be subsumed into “War Week” where we remember the dead of the wars of the past, celebrate our victories, praise our armed forces and look forward to the wars of the future.

      • glenn_nl

        Well, too right the protest should be banned!

        Calling for peace on during Rememberance Season – particularly during an on-going genocide – would be shockingly insulting to the memory of soldiers from past wars. Stands to reason.

        No – a call for more war – more bombing, death and destruction – that would be the fitting way to commemorate fallen soldiers.

          • Pigeon English

            C ¨mon Mods lets introduce likes so we don´t have to approve with supporting comment pls.

          • Casual Observer

            Hmmmmmm, a ‘likes’ feature could well open up this excellent forum to the Hasbara crowd? Something that has been refreshingly absent here, and growing by the day on other forums that offer a level of debate that rises above the echo chamber.

  • AG

    recommended interview with journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates after 10 days visiting Israel/Gaza/Westbank as guest of “The Palestine Festival of Literature”:

    “Ta-Nehisi Coates Speaks Out Against Israel’s “Segregationist Apartheid Regime” After West Bank Visit”
    https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/2/ta_nehisi_coates

    excerpt:
    “Probably the best example I can think of is the second day, when we went to Hebron, and the reality of the occupation became clear. We were driving out of East Jerusalem. I was with PalFest, and we were driving out of East Jerusalem into the West Bank. And, you know, you could see the settlements, and they would point out the settlements. And it suddenly dawned on me that I was in a region of the world where some people could vote and some people could not. And that was obviously very, very familiar to me. I got to Hebron, and we got out as a group of writers, and we were given a tour by our Palestinian guide. And we got to a certain street, and he said to us, “I can’t walk down this street. If you want to continue, you have to continue without me.” And that was shocking to me.

    And we walked down the street, and we came back, and there was a market area. Hebron is very, very poor. It wasn’t always very poor, but it’s very, very poor. Its market area has been shut down. But there are a few vendors there that I wanted to support. And I was walking to try to get to the vendor, and I was stopped at a checkpoint. Checkpoints all through the city, checkpoints obviously all through the West Bank. Your mobility is completely inhibited, and the mobility of the Palestinians is totally inhibited.

    And I was walking to the checkpoint, and an Israeli guard stepped out, probably about the age of my son. And he said to me, “What’s your religion, bro?” And I said, “Well, you know, I’m not really religious.” And he said, “Come on. Stop messing around. What is your religion?” I said, “I’m not playing. I’m not really religious.” And it became clear to me that unless I professed my religion, and the right religion, I wasn’t going to be allowed to walk forward. So, he said, “Well, OK, so what was your parents’ religion?” I said, “Well, they weren’t that religious, either.” He says, “What were your grandparents’ religion?” And I said, “My grandmother was a Christian.” And then he allowed me to pass.”

  • AG

    recommended for the many hyperlinks in the original:

    “Advocacy for Palestinians Has Been Outright Criminalized, Warns Academic

    U.S. students and faculty are facing harsh reprisals for speaking out against Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians.”

    By Tyler Walicek
    November 2, 2023
    https://truthout.org/articles/advocacy-for-palestinians-has-been-outright-criminalized-warns-academic/

    excerpts:

    “In the U.S., many individuals who have openly opposed this genocidal collective punishment have been swiftly punished by social consequences including harassment, slander, blacklisting and firings.

    Students and academics, among many others, have protested this treatment with calls for solidarity and speech freedoms, including in a number of collective letters signed by major figures. These discursive struggles have reached the highest levels of government, with condemnations and censorship issuing from state leaders and the Senate.”

    “Yet, despite Israeli propagandists’ success in implanting that correlation in the public mind, there have been undeniable signs that the lockstep ideological narrative is increasingly in disarray. The selective moral outrage cultivated by Israeli hasbara, or propaganda operations, has been diluted by new Western attentiveness to the truth of the occupation, which generates daily injustices that have become impossible to hide. There’s a sense of a qualitative shift; even just a handful of years ago, open criticism of Israel was off the table. Now, it’s arguably a liability for the incumbent in the next presidential election. The fact that referring to the Israeli occupation as a state of “apartheid” has more or less entered the mainstream bespeaks a remarkable reversal.”

    • Goose

      Massive Hasbara trolling on X(Twitter). Musk was talking about introducing a token yearly fee: $1 for an account. The beauty of this, is it would ensure each account is an actual person, linked to a real credit/debit card. Buying multiple accounts with the same card wouldn’t be allowed.

      They should implement this.

  • Goose

    I’d like to see Turkey providing Lebanon with protection against Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure. Note: not supporting Hezbollah; purely defence. Erdoğan talks a good game before huge crowds, on standing up against Israeli aggression. But never puts his money where his mouth is. NATO member Turkey controls the vital Bosporus, so the US would have to call for a ceasefire.

    I understand the dangerous implications, but Israel needs to be stopped from attacking civilians.

  • harry law

    Hezbollah has warned that it will join the Palestinian resistance group Hamas and its allies in the fight against Israel if the regime escalates its aggression on Gaza and in case foreign military forces intervene to help the Israeli regime in the battle. The US/Israel have already done that. We shall see later today when Nazrallah speaks live on tv whether Hezbollah are just blowhards.
    Speaker: T.E. Lawrence
    “Sherif Ali, so long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people, greedy, barbarous, and cruel as you are”…
    Col Gaddafi said something similar in a speech back in 2009 when he berated other Arab league members for allowing the US/UK to destroy Iraq, then to hang its leader. Any one of us could be next. How prophetic and true.

    • Goose

      The Arab world, leaders in Jordan, KSA, Egypt should be doing far more to stop this. What can the US do to them? The military aid and assistance is nothing compared to what it’d cost the US to defend Israel if all those countries were hostile.

        • Goose

          One important thing he has said was that Oct 7 operational secrecy, meant it was even kept from them. But he fully understands why… and he accepts the reasons why.
          That exposes Israel’s and US Neocon lies about Iran being meticulously involved in Sunni-group Hamas’ plans. Gaza is difficult to enter and strictly controlled, the idea that Shia Iranians were running the show, is likely just fantastical BS. The attack wasn’t all that sophisticated.

          Israel wants to get the US and UK to fight its wider strategic battles. Hamas are an offshoot of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, they opposed Assad remember, whereas Iran fully backed Assad – they were on opposite sides. Those in the West trying to pretend Hamas and Iran are one and the same are just liars. Liars with a war agenda.

          • Goose

            It’ll be Saddam’s non-existent links to 9/11 all over again.

            Lapped up by credulous politicians and a craven media.

          • Goose

            Hamas’s main supporters are Qatar and other Sunni Arab states. The same funders of jihadist mercenaries in the Syrian civil war. But that’s not convenient information. So the Iranians and Hezbollah are put in the frame.

    • SA

      Nasrallah said that Hizbullah is already involved in that it has managed to immobilise a substantial part of the IDF for fear of action and also that many settlements have been evacuated and this will cause political and economic pressue and has caused fear and uncertainty.
      He also said that the US reaction has shown that Israel is not as strong as it makes as they have to get reinforcements and economic help from US and that this shows that US is the real driver. He also says that H is not afraid of the American naval presence. He also said that none of the members of the resistance is directed by Iran and are independent.

  • Jack

    Jews from all walks of life in Israel mock, celebrate palestinian suffering in viral videos:
    — SNIP —

    Have you seen such crude vileness?
    What the hell is wrong this people?



    [ Mod: Jack, for a start, you should not attribute those provocations to “Jews from all walks of life”. That accusation is anti-Jewish (or “antisemitic”, in normal parlance) and therefore not welcome here, as explained in the moderation rules for commenters.

    You shouldn’t post lists of bare URLs directing readers to YouTube videos. Links to video content should ideally show the title, the publisher, the date of publication and the duration – along with a short description of what it shows (if it isn’t already apparent from the title).

    We try to discourage comments that consist primarily of external links. Kindly note the ‘Contribute’ guidance in the moderation rules for commenters:

    Contribute
    Contributions which are primarily just a link to somewhere else will be deleted. You can post links, but give us the benefit of your thoughts upon them.”

    A response to your enquiry in the Blog Support forum will be posted later today. ]

  • Jack

    Why am I not allowed to post this?


    [ Mod: Jack, a detailed explanation was appended to your previous comment, which was suspended in the moderation queue. Clearly you’re unable to read suspended comments, probably due to the privacy settings on your browser.

    Please note that reposting deleted comments is likely to prompt pre-moderation of subsequent comments.

    Issues concerning moderation are off topic. Hopefully, a response to your enquiry in the Blog Support forum will be posted later today. ]

    • Stevie Boy

      The question, for me, is where does their allegiance lay, is it to the UK and its people or to another state?
      Dual nationals, and visa holders, should be banned from Government (maybe they are?) and there should be a mandatory oath of loyalty to the UK and its people, and to no other state or organisation. Rather than a royalty ass-kissing oath.
      Being married to foreigners is problematic for government roles and Israeli Jews are a particular problem because of restrictions placed by their religion and, by association, Israel.
      The tories and Labour are currently totally infiltrated by zionists, a position recognised in the past in the USA:
      I am aware how almost impossible it is in this country to carry out a foreign policy [in the Middle East] not approved by the Jews.” And, “The Israeli Embassy is practically dictating to the Congress through influential Jewish people in the country.
      John Foster Dulles.
      The UK does what the USA wants and what Israel wants, ‘we’ have no say.

    • GreatedApe

      Tangential but It’s strange that most of us brits are linked to that area in a way, given either actual oaths to a Jesus or the name coming out like a boundary condition in our minds. “Judeans of the time were biologically closer to Iraqi Jews than to any other contemporary population”

      We all owe more for longer to the African continent than to the fertile crescent.

  • harry law

    French Senate proposes law making anti-Zionism a criminal offence with up to 5 years jail
    Members of the French Senate have proposed a law to punish critics of Israel by prison sentences and massive fines.

    The planned new law proposes three tiers of punishment, with those considered to have transgressed to face prison sentences of up to five years and a fine of up to €100,000:

    « Art. 25. – Those who contest the existence of the State of Israel by one of the means set out in Article 23 shall be punished by one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.
    “Insult committed against the State of Israel, by any of the means set out in Article 23, shall be punishable by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros.
    “Those who, by the same means, have directly provoked hatred or violence against the State of Israel shall be punished by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros.”
    https://skwawkbox.org/2023/11/03/french-senate-proposes-law-making-anti-zionism-a-criminal-offence-with-up-to-5-years-jail/
    These people are lunatics.

    • Goose

      German politicians and the media class are beating themselves up over antisemitism too.

      The big three EU countries: Germany, France and Italy act like they’re treading on eggshells when it comes to criticism of Israel. Doubtless it’s because of their countries’ unique historical perspective and their responsibility in the events around WW2.

      This is damaging the EU’s response to genocide. It’s vital that other countries speak out. I think this is why you can so easily contrast the Portuguese UN Secretary General, António Guterres’ powerful words. With the cowardly response of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Portugal of course, remained neutral in WW2, so criticism of Israel doesn’t carry the same stigma.

      • Anthony

        That makes it sound like deep down they are good people who would dearly love to issue some protest about the genocide of Palestinians. They would love it if they knew ordinary people were suggesting that about them.

        But there is a massive plot hole in the good yet responsible elites theory. It doesn’t account for the hard pro-genocide position of elites in virtually every other European country. And in every Anglophone country bar Ireland.

        • Goose

          Not saying it’s the only explanation. But I think it’s certainly a psychological barrier for German politicians.

          Just look at the crass stunts Israel’s UN Ambassador pulls; with their entire diplomatic team wearing the Nazi-era issued yellow ‘Jude’ stars. Any senior German politician speaking out, condemning Israel’s disproportionality, would immediately be reminded of the holocaust, and accused of harbouring deeply anti-Semitic views, by Israel.

          • AG

            Goose

            Frankly I think, with the UN internally such stunts eventually will hurt them.
            At some point people just don´t take you seriously any more if you pull off this kind of behaviour again and again.
            May be I am wrong. But it’s no coincidence that Bolivia and other states have severed their ties to Israel.
            And e.g. in the US the liberal Jewish milieu is way more critical than 30 years ago.
            Now it’s others who push the anti-Palestine agenda there. Groups you don´t want to call your friends.

        • AG

          you could see that unsolvable mystery of inconsistent thinking with Eli Lake arguing against Norm Finkelstein in yesterday´s show: Lake said: “Well its war and in war people die.” He added that of course IDF should not bomb civilians but since the Nazis aka Hamas are everywhere and they HAVE to be wiped out these are the hard facts of war.

          And this hypocrisy you will not only find with Eli Lake or Germany but all over frm. colonial powers.
          Its so deep in the minds.

          re: Germany – here its especially tragic, because many of those old generations who upheld the antiwar position in the War in Ukraine, are now failing due to their personal stance “my parents/ relatives” were “Tätergeneration” – the generation of the perpetrators of the Holocaust. And that neutralizes any critical thinking. Because they seriously believe for some naive reason that if a people has suffered it will not be able to inflict harm onto others. With the certainty of the law of nature. Regardless of what the facts say. This is clearly madness.

          Right now the specter of Antisemitism is taking hold of the entire public here.
          Its interesting that still hardly anyone cares that if you are black in Germany you will face racism virtually everywhere. This was also true with Turks in the 1960s-90s. And Spaniards and Italians.

          But since they were not exterminated by “us” rules of principled judgement do not apply.

          As if a black dude who is shunned in any way would be better than a Jew being shunned.
          In fact you can be sure both cases of insult will still be treated differently by state power. If you tell an African “fuck off immigrant” in some store or public place you can get into trouble but you dont have to. And the African immigrant will probably have to push that himself (which he most likely will not do if he is truly an immigrant), or other witnesses.

          If the same thing happens with a Jewish dude he most likely would not have to act himself, rather the state power would automatically react in no friendly way. Its a generalization from my part (there are examples to the oppoite of course) but there are double standards and different classes of racism in these questions that are, in my view, still in effect.

          Just last week it was again confirmed that racism against Africans is strong in Germany. Do we go to war for that? no.

          Last year you could observe that very well with the German Documenta art exhibit, when Indonesian artists exhibited big pop propaganda paintings against colonialism which might or might not have contained elements which were antisemitic. From what I saw on the reproductions online I did not find them insulting. I dont want to get into the aesthetic details here. But had it been Arabs, I doubt any scandal would have happened. And in general caricatures have always been intended to provoke.

          Whether its good art or not is an entirely different matter and should be the only one discussed but nobody cared. Today its totally forgotten but the Indonesian collective back then had to remove that painting. Unsurprisingly there was major criticism from the “Global South” but who cares about them.

    • Franc

      Fucking scary, and I’m sure that once the likes of Sir Stammer gets to power, we will have similar draconian Laws in this country.

  • AG

    Patrick Lawrence with a commentary looking back too
    “Deeper Into Depravity”
    https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/31/patrick-lawrence-deeper-into-depravity/

    p.s. one reader´s commentary (currently there are 41, some as long)


    Kalen
    2 days ago

    Patrick fears retaliation from IDL but just yesterday IDL questioned if not condemned Netanyahu and U.S. regime justification of Israelis indiscriminate killing Palestinian civilians in Gaza by tragedy of Jewish Holocaust.

    Marek Edelman, commander of Warsaw Ghetto uprising opposed Zionist statehood agenda already in 1948. In his judgment it would inevitably lead to new Holocaust of Jews. It was exactly opposite to what Zionist propaganda insisted pure Jewish statehood would permanently prevent.

    The vast majority of Holocaust survivors took Edelman position. Those living in Israel became conscience of Jewish nation and for decades vehemently criticized Zionist regime in Tel Aviv for its apartheid policies. Their voices of wisdom and warning were never heeded by Isreali political elites while recently those few still alive were gagged threatening withholding their old age pensions.

    One of lessons Holocaust survivors tried to teach Israelis was about dehumanization of human beings also in reference to Palestinians. They concluded out of tragic experience that no one can dehumanize other human being no matter how atrocious one can be. One can only self-dehumanize in one way namely by denying humanity to other human beings. The Self-Dehumanization of vast swaths of Israeli society is what we are witnessing since October 7th. And such self-dehumanization is what Jews of conscience worldwide loudly protests.

    Secondly they taught that there is no universal victimhood of a nation so we must not compare or valuate victims as more or less worthy. Because if we do that we reject common humanity opening doors to fascism.

    Jews as well as Palestinians are victims of the same geopolitical tragedy while perpetrators deserve the same condemnation on all sides and by all sides.

    Many staunch supporters of Israel but not necessarily Netanyahu regime confused Hamas or Iran ‘s calls for destruction of ZIONIST ISRAELI STATE PRACTICING APARTHEID with calls for destruction of JEWS only extremists in and out of MENA proclaimed.

    In fact demands of creation of one single democratic state of Palestine where Jews would be protected minority as it is in Iran and elsewhere is an old idea often promoted by Holocaust survivors.

    That kind of solution would eliminate question of borders and explosive issue of capital in Jerusalem. Rights of Jews in Palestine could have been guaranteed by UNSC and UN collectively to overcome distrust. Such a state would be secular where all kind political, religious extremism would be delegalized and eradicated and their influence on the state of Palestine eliminated via constitution.

    Such reasonable position is being twisted by Israeli propaganda into an intend to destroy Jewish nation in Palestine by denying them Jewish statehood.

    That is an absurd. This is like claiming that Rhodesia and South African apartheid state had right to exist. They did not. And therefore Israeli state in this current form does not have right to exist either unless it is deeply reformed. But don’t take my word for it as it was articulated by many Holocaust survivors and Marek Edelman in particular as he refused to visit Israel until one single apartheid-free state of Palestine is created. He died about 20 years ago and never visited Israel for that reason.

    Hamas extreme factions as much as Netanyahu regime do not represent aspirations of Israelis or Palestinians as both regimes were born out of mutual hatred and hence must be abolished and a will of both nations to uphold peace must be heeded and take a form of political solutions assuring security and prosperity of both.”

  • Jack

    Here we go again

    Israel bombs Al-Shifa Hospital and ambulance
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231103-israel-bombs-al-shifa-hospital-and-ambulance/
    Horrible scene, look at the dead horse:
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/splash/public/2023-11/F-BNatwWAAAyo9j.jpeg.webp?itok=PWkpjH-Y

    Within hours Israel have struck near hospitals, three times!
    WATCH: Footage shows Israeli air strikes on the surroundings of al-Quds hospital.

    Israeli fighter jets targeted Gaza’s three biggest hospitals on Friday within the space of a few hours, the Indonesian hospital, the al-Quds hospital, and the al-Shifa hospital
    https://twitter.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1720482681098514648

    This is a sick regime, the people in Israel support this through and through, they do not care about anything else than their own race that is why they bomb everything that moves. Israel is on par with Nazi Germany, no need to mince the words.

    And US try to molden Gaza accordingly with his arab puppet states.
    US seeks help from Arab states in Gaza – WSJ
    https://swentr.site/news/586500-us-seeks-help-arab-gaza/

    • GreatedApe

      Putting aside the emotive equating to Nazi atrocities that killed 6 Million Jewish civilians, bombing by or on hospitals seems to be a military tactic used in recent decades by the USA, Russia, Serbians, Israel etc.

      https://international-review.icrc.org/articles/breaking-the-silence-advocacy-and-accountability-for-attacks-on-hospitals-in-armed-conflict-915

      (Turkey also got involved in bombing near medical facilities and services in Kurdish areas of Syria.)

      “Declassified US Air Force manuals that were released after the Vietnam War show that hospitals, schools and churches were listed as “psycho-social targets”.

      “Between 1992 and 1995, the VRS repeatedly shelled Koševo Hospital, the main medical facility in Sarajevo (which still functions today). By early 1993, the hospital had been shelled a total of 172 times”

      “On 28 July 2014, Israeli forces bombed Al-Shifa Hospital” … “The IDF also bombed three other hospitals in Gaza: the European General Hospital, Beit Hanoun Hospital and Al-Aqsa Hospital”…”the official IDF Twitter account stated: “A short while ago, terrorists in Gaza fired rockets at Israel. 1 of them hit Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. The other hit Al-Shati refugee camp.” These conflicting reports, first justifying and then denying the attacks, were never properly investigated.”

      “On 3 October 2015, US forces carried out an aerial bombardment of a trauma hospital operated by MSF in Kunduz, Afghanistan” … “211 artillery shells were unleashed on a hospital without any hostile threat being confirmed”

      https://www.dw.com/en/syrias-hospitals-face-systematic-attacks-report/a-56811097

      “Hospitals have been attacked more than 400 times over the past decade, according to data provided to DW by the Syrian Archive, an organization that aims to curate visual documentation of human rights violations in the Syrian conflict.”

      • will moon

        When a crime is being perpertrated, It is not about previous crimes but stopping the perpertrater committing the crime.

        Similarly, when a war crime is being perpertrated, such as Israel bombing hospitals, talking about previous iniquities does not, in any way hinder,retard or delay the war-crime. The time for this is when the war-crime is over.

        If you saw a person being raped would you really start wittering about all these types of crime which you knew about? Millions of human beings are being subjected to carpet bombing. their hospitals and places of worship – their refuges, are being SYSTEMATICALLY annihilated and you wish to draw our attention to the past not to the slaughter of innocents taking place in real time in front of a global audience.

        If your point is “It is not okay to bomb hospitals but it goes on”, you are starting from the wrong premise and are acting as an apologist for genocide

  • Boindub

    Ireland’s President said the israeli actions were war crimes and was attacked by a stupid lying sleazy shitty ambassador who should be dumped out.
    Today Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) was attacked for saying they were totally disproportionate and motivated not by self-defence but by revenge. They said Ireland was the most anti-jew (complete lies as usual) in Europe unlike their real close friends, USA, Britain and Germany.
    Ireland does not have any military might to put Israel back in their 1947 box.
    Many others have. All cowards with no pride. Everyone is afraid of USA. Shame.
    Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iran, France, Italy, Spain, GERMANY, China, Russia, Turkey, good Americans, etc. etc.
    Cowards all. Any other explanation???
    A child alive now will tomorrow hang from its mother’s arms with guts hanging out and brains and eyes out with the mouth open with her last scream.
    Who cares? There are 3500 more babies dead. And 8000 women and men. Who cares?

    • Cornudet

      Moreover Ireland will never accede to illegal West Bank settlements as being accepted as Israel for the purposes of trade with the EU.

      So God bless Ireland, even if He does not exist

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