Western governments will never isolate and sanction Israel. The war machine will roll on until either we stop it or its lethal games blow up in all our faces
Feeling totally helpless about the situation. Whatever action is taken seems to play into US/Israeli hands; if the non committed movement takes votes away from Harris I think Trump will be even more damaging to Palestinians. If Iran takes any action the US will jump in, which is what Netanyahu has been urging for a long time. The MSM are hopeless, giving us sanitized versions of what is happening or not reporting at all, they seem far more concerned for the hostages than Palestinians. There seems to be no acknowledgement that Palestinians families feel as much grief and sorrow as Israeli hostage families. Even if a ceasefire is agreed to and the hostages are released there is nothing to stop Israel from starting up the war again on some excuse, and that's what probably will happen. There seems to be no acknowledgement of the years long occupation and its role in causing the Hamas attack, its made to sound as if those bad terrorists just attacked because they hate Jews and for no other reason. I hope the campus protests start up again, I understand that if the protests are held off campus then free speech rules apply in the US so they can't actually be arrested for speaking out but you can be sure there will be heavy police action to shut them up and in Canada there are laws against "hate speech" and you can be sure criticism of Israel will be defined as such.. What's happening in Gaza/West Bank is a stain on our humanity but feel helpless to do anything that actually makes a difference.
All Empires are built on blood and theft. Over the last 500 years, Europeans have slaughtered well over 300 million civilians in various locations and currently enjoy "easy living" as a result compared to once "colonized states". The vast majority of US citizens for example are well aware they live on stolen land hence the need to exhibit their flag at every opportunity, this helps reinforce their unstable, shallow, capitalist system. They and their European vassals plus several Pacific states continue to promote violence as a means to support economies which cannot function without death and destruction in foreign lands. Invented excuses for this violence are well documented, the authors remain at the helm, unafraid of repercussions.
Capitalism is the most powerful economic system ever to evolve and was long ago taken over by the Zionists.. They could do this because some Jews from the days of Shakespeare on had become first money lenders and then high class financiers. From the mid 19th century on this activity became the almost exclusive domain of the most ruthless and amoral Jews who became known as the Zionists. They pressured the British government to gift them a large slice of Palestine where they promptly murdered a mass of Palestinians . This is the rough history of the mob we are talking about. The genocide of an inferior race seems quite normal to them and they wonder what all the fuss is about . The mass of Jews all over the world are of course appalled.
The western state has no plan nor intention for moderation. Is it not obvious they are active and willing partner in genocide and maintain apartheid state to oppress the neighbors.
On 22nd September 2023 - just 15 days before the start of the 7th October genocide in Gaza - the Times of Israel reported Netanyahu's address to the UN General Assembly at which he brandished a map of Israel that included Gaza and the West Bank.
In this speech Netanyahu spoke about the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a planned economic corridor from India to Europe through the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Greece.
IMEC had been launched on September 10th 2023 with the "announcement of a multimodal transport and energy corridor between India and Europe via the Middle East today at the G20 summit" in New Delhi.
Netanyahu: "Two weeks ago at the G20 conference, President Biden, Prime Minister Modi, and European and Arab leaders announced plans for a visionary corridor that will stretch across the Arabian Peninsula and Israel. It will connect India to Europe with maritime links, rail links, energy pipelines, fibre optic cables. This corridor will bypass maritime checkpoints and dramatically lower the cost of goods, communication and energy for over 2 billion people.
"What a historic change for my country. You see, the land of Israel is situated in the crossroad between Africa, Asia and Europe.... We will not only bring down barriers between Israel and our neighbours, we will build a new corridor of peace and prosperity that connects Asia, through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, to Europe. This is an extraordinary change, a monumental change. Another pivot of history."
What is your point? Is it that this map/plan by Netanyahu is the way to peace, or that he's a megalomaniac with a maximalist land-grab obsession? Either one seems to be possible from what you said. Please clarify what you take from this. And include that recent map that also erases the Occupied Territories. Are you advocating the peace from the graveyard of Palestinian rights? Or what?
950,000 Palestinians were expelled when the Zionist State was established in 1948 but the plan was always a Greater Israel "From the River to the Sea". The 1967 war expanded Israel to include Occupied Territories.
My comment about IMEC is really a question: why has no-one discussed it despite the "co-incidence" of 7th October being so soon afterwards. This raises another question: did Israel choose this date? Certainly security at the most secure border in the world disappeared, and the IDF response - instead of its normal < 5 minutes - was more like 6 hours.
Western governments don’t have to admit the daytime genocide and extermination of defenceless Palestinians because it is there for all to see. The illusion of good governance, human rights and order is in shreds as fascism is exposed. All who pretend not to know will feel the effects of their indifference soon enough.
Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to come to New York and speak to the United Nations. People of New York don't let a war criminal, carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people, peacefully walk the streets of our city. Arrest Netanyahu for genocide and crimes against humanity!
There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Pope Francis has said what is needed, now he must do what is needed by going to Gaza and standing for peace, justice and freedom.
Let us make our donations to honor Aaron Bushnell, in memory of Hind Rajab, or Dr Jumann Afra, the mother of newborn twins killed by Israel using US bombs.
The most chilling part of the genocide in Gaza is the fact that only the government of South Africa has actually done something in support of the Palestinians by filing a law suit in the ICG.
The ongoing genocide in Palestine is proof positive that every government on the planet, with one notable exception, sees a human life as having absolutely no value. YOURS INCLUDED!!!
That is not entirely accurate. Several other nations have joined South Africa's suit. Nicaragua has its own suit against Germany for violating its obligations under the genocide convention. That case was heard earlier this year. And there was the referral from the General Assembly on the legality of the occupation by Israel, when gave a ruling that Israel's occupation was illegal.
Excellent work, Jonathan, synthesising many different aspects of the situation.
When Dr David Miller won his employment tribunal case against the University of Bristol, many cheered. I groaned. Not because of the result but because he and his team had decided to argue that anti-Zionism was a protected characteristic under the Equalities Act 2010.
Clever legal work, perhaps. But inevitably, if anti-Zionism is protected, so must be Zionism, or any other 'belief' no matter how reactionary or bizarre. Inevitably, that would be used against defenders of Palestinian rights in short order.
Not sure of the logic here: if anti-Zionism were considered a protected characteristic how would that make Zionism also a protected characteristic? It’s like saying if anti-racism is a protected characteristic then racism must also be a protected characteristic.
I think you have grasped the logic exactly, Munawar. The Equality Act defines a number of protective characteristics such as those you would expect based on race or age or gender etc. Section 10 also protects a general category of "philosophical beliefs" in the workplace. I'm not a lawyer, but I would have thought it was unwise in legislation to have something so general and undefined, and to leave it to tribunals to make case law as they proceed. In any event, Dr Miller's lawyers succeeded in convincing the ET that his philosophical belief in anti-Zionism was sincerely held, did not affect the rights of others, and was therefore a protected characteristic which could not be used as the basis to dismiss him. The creates a precedent, and therefore there is no reason why a Zionist's lawyers could not use the same argument, or for that matter a racist or an anti-racist. It will be up to future trbunals, if a test case comes to them, to judge whether they fall under section 10 or not. I imagine that a claimed belief which was clearly against the law would not be allowed, but neither Zionism or anti-Zionism, nor racism, nor anti-racism, are illegal under British law. See this neutral report on the case in a professional journal guiding employers "David Miller Wins Dismissal and Discrimination Claim; ET Say Anti-Zionist Beliefs are Protected Characteristics - Employment Law Review" https://www.employmentlawreview.co.uk/david-miller-wins-dismissal-and-discrimination-claim-et-say-anti-zionist-beliefs-are-protected-characteristics/
Thank you for that comprehensive reply Paul. It seems to me that if our hypothetical Zionist’s lawyer ever made such an argument, in the process of scrutiny, they would expose Zionism for what it actually is: a racist ideology. It affects the rights of others. If I’m not mistaken, ‘racism’ or rather discrimination against a protected characteristic is illegal in areas of British law-including employment law.
The logic point was something like this: we now have a precedent that says Anti-Zionism is a protected characteristic. Zionism therefore cannot be a protected characteristic because it is intrinsically discriminatory against a protected characteristic (anti-Zionism).
In any case I do understand the point you are making. Thank you for taking the time to respond in a helpful way. It’s an interesting point, but I feel Dr Miller’s lawyers employed the right strategy. I don’t see what other options they would have had otherwise.
"The aim is to silence all Palestinian solidarity activism on campus as equivalent to racism, extinguishing any chance of a repetition of the large protests that swept US universities during the spring and summer."
This reminds me of a piece that Pepe Escobar wrote a couple of years ago with the title "If You Are Anti Apartheid You Will Be Labeled A Racist".
The genocidal apartheid state of "Israel" is a product of the imperialist colonial alliance called the "west".
And in colonialism and imperialism, dispossession and genocide are not a bug or a glitch or an error. They are core functionalities - necessary running tasks within the operating system.
Also, in this system where there is a pretence of negotiations it's not Biden running cover - Biden probably can't even tie his own shoelaces, and they probably keep him away from sharp objects. It's Sullivan and Blinken running the genocide.
Its also high time that people stated paying attention to historical actions, and asking questions about happenstance, coincidence or enemy action:
You also need to understand the level of deception they will go to. For example as election time nears in the US and it becomes increasingly clear that Harris is going to see the left wing sit out this vote, they have in the past couple of days assembled a pretence across several entities, of a supposed reduction in weapons to Israel. This after stuffing Israel full of weapons and ammo, more than enough to "complete the job", even if they dont get more.
I hope and expect that you are working on a book, Jonathan. Once the books start coming out with longer well written narratives (and photographs) of the toll on children, families, higher education, public health, environment, $$$, bombs, etc., there should hopefully be a landslide of book talks, on college campuses and in bookstores, Ted talks, etc. Everyone will ask in ten years time: how could this happen? etc. like bush and the Iraq war (which no one talks about anymore in America, ahem). Then there will be the Israeli counter argument about x, y, z. Humans are so pitiful and stupid. I blame western religion and thus am an atheist.
AIPAC?
Feeling totally helpless about the situation. Whatever action is taken seems to play into US/Israeli hands; if the non committed movement takes votes away from Harris I think Trump will be even more damaging to Palestinians. If Iran takes any action the US will jump in, which is what Netanyahu has been urging for a long time. The MSM are hopeless, giving us sanitized versions of what is happening or not reporting at all, they seem far more concerned for the hostages than Palestinians. There seems to be no acknowledgement that Palestinians families feel as much grief and sorrow as Israeli hostage families. Even if a ceasefire is agreed to and the hostages are released there is nothing to stop Israel from starting up the war again on some excuse, and that's what probably will happen. There seems to be no acknowledgement of the years long occupation and its role in causing the Hamas attack, its made to sound as if those bad terrorists just attacked because they hate Jews and for no other reason. I hope the campus protests start up again, I understand that if the protests are held off campus then free speech rules apply in the US so they can't actually be arrested for speaking out but you can be sure there will be heavy police action to shut them up and in Canada there are laws against "hate speech" and you can be sure criticism of Israel will be defined as such.. What's happening in Gaza/West Bank is a stain on our humanity but feel helpless to do anything that actually makes a difference.
All Empires are built on blood and theft. Over the last 500 years, Europeans have slaughtered well over 300 million civilians in various locations and currently enjoy "easy living" as a result compared to once "colonized states". The vast majority of US citizens for example are well aware they live on stolen land hence the need to exhibit their flag at every opportunity, this helps reinforce their unstable, shallow, capitalist system. They and their European vassals plus several Pacific states continue to promote violence as a means to support economies which cannot function without death and destruction in foreign lands. Invented excuses for this violence are well documented, the authors remain at the helm, unafraid of repercussions.
Capitalism is the most powerful economic system ever to evolve and was long ago taken over by the Zionists.. They could do this because some Jews from the days of Shakespeare on had become first money lenders and then high class financiers. From the mid 19th century on this activity became the almost exclusive domain of the most ruthless and amoral Jews who became known as the Zionists. They pressured the British government to gift them a large slice of Palestine where they promptly murdered a mass of Palestinians . This is the rough history of the mob we are talking about. The genocide of an inferior race seems quite normal to them and they wonder what all the fuss is about . The mass of Jews all over the world are of course appalled.
The western state has no plan nor intention for moderation. Is it not obvious they are active and willing partner in genocide and maintain apartheid state to oppress the neighbors.
Brilliant, courageous reporting!
On 22nd September 2023 - just 15 days before the start of the 7th October genocide in Gaza - the Times of Israel reported Netanyahu's address to the UN General Assembly at which he brandished a map of Israel that included Gaza and the West Bank.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-brandishes-map-of-israel-that-includes-west-bank-and-gaza-at-un-speech/
In this speech Netanyahu spoke about the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a planned economic corridor from India to Europe through the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Greece.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93Middle_East%E2%80%93Europe_Economic_Corridor
IMEC had been launched on September 10th 2023 with the "announcement of a multimodal transport and energy corridor between India and Europe via the Middle East today at the G20 summit" in New Delhi.
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/g20-india-middleeast-europe-corridor-8932336/
Netanyahu: "Two weeks ago at the G20 conference, President Biden, Prime Minister Modi, and European and Arab leaders announced plans for a visionary corridor that will stretch across the Arabian Peninsula and Israel. It will connect India to Europe with maritime links, rail links, energy pipelines, fibre optic cables. This corridor will bypass maritime checkpoints and dramatically lower the cost of goods, communication and energy for over 2 billion people.
"What a historic change for my country. You see, the land of Israel is situated in the crossroad between Africa, Asia and Europe.... We will not only bring down barriers between Israel and our neighbours, we will build a new corridor of peace and prosperity that connects Asia, through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, to Europe. This is an extraordinary change, a monumental change. Another pivot of history."
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-09-22/ty-article/full-text-benjamin-netanyahus-2023-un-general-assembly-speech/0000018a-bd3c-d490-adca-fdff21270000
What is your point? Is it that this map/plan by Netanyahu is the way to peace, or that he's a megalomaniac with a maximalist land-grab obsession? Either one seems to be possible from what you said. Please clarify what you take from this. And include that recent map that also erases the Occupied Territories. Are you advocating the peace from the graveyard of Palestinian rights? Or what?
950,000 Palestinians were expelled when the Zionist State was established in 1948 but the plan was always a Greater Israel "From the River to the Sea". The 1967 war expanded Israel to include Occupied Territories.
My comment about IMEC is really a question: why has no-one discussed it despite the "co-incidence" of 7th October being so soon afterwards. This raises another question: did Israel choose this date? Certainly security at the most secure border in the world disappeared, and the IDF response - instead of its normal < 5 minutes - was more like 6 hours.
The map is on the first link
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-brandishes-map-of-israel-that-includes-west-bank-and-gaza-at-un-speech/
Western governments don’t have to admit the daytime genocide and extermination of defenceless Palestinians because it is there for all to see. The illusion of good governance, human rights and order is in shreds as fascism is exposed. All who pretend not to know will feel the effects of their indifference soon enough.
"Western governments will never isolate and sanction Israel."
Indeed...they cannot amputate their u£tra-right arm$ marKKK€t £aboraTory.
Arrest Netanyahu at the United Nations
On Friday, September 27 at 10:00 AM
Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to come to New York and speak to the United Nations. People of New York don't let a war criminal, carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people, peacefully walk the streets of our city. Arrest Netanyahu for genocide and crimes against humanity!
There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Pope Francis has said what is needed, now he must do what is needed by going to Gaza and standing for peace, justice and freedom.
Please sign the petition and share widely.
https://chng.it/CRQ7qw4Gzn
Let us also support UNRWA. If our governments won’t act in accordance with humanity, then we will. https://www.unrwausa.org/donate
Also we can all support the brave doctors who have gone to Gaza: https://palestinian-ama.networkforgood.com/projects/206145-gaza-medical-supplies-oct-2023
Or
Surgeons to Gaza
https://fajr.org/donate/
Let us make our donations to honor Aaron Bushnell, in memory of Hind Rajab, or Dr Jumann Afra, the mother of newborn twins killed by Israel using US bombs.
Here’s a petition to excommunicate Joe Biden: https://www.change.org/p/excommunicate-president-joe-biden-bf979783-ac08-4576-a53f-c786ea23dc9c
These are a few small things we can do. If we can do more, let us do more.
The most chilling part of the genocide in Gaza is the fact that only the government of South Africa has actually done something in support of the Palestinians by filing a law suit in the ICG.
The ongoing genocide in Palestine is proof positive that every government on the planet, with one notable exception, sees a human life as having absolutely no value. YOURS INCLUDED!!!
And please don't forget the brave Houthis of Yemen!!!
That is not entirely accurate. Several other nations have joined South Africa's suit. Nicaragua has its own suit against Germany for violating its obligations under the genocide convention. That case was heard earlier this year. And there was the referral from the General Assembly on the legality of the occupation by Israel, when gave a ruling that Israel's occupation was illegal.
Excellent work, Jonathan, synthesising many different aspects of the situation.
When Dr David Miller won his employment tribunal case against the University of Bristol, many cheered. I groaned. Not because of the result but because he and his team had decided to argue that anti-Zionism was a protected characteristic under the Equalities Act 2010.
Clever legal work, perhaps. But inevitably, if anti-Zionism is protected, so must be Zionism, or any other 'belief' no matter how reactionary or bizarre. Inevitably, that would be used against defenders of Palestinian rights in short order.
Not sure of the logic here: if anti-Zionism were considered a protected characteristic how would that make Zionism also a protected characteristic? It’s like saying if anti-racism is a protected characteristic then racism must also be a protected characteristic.
I think you have grasped the logic exactly, Munawar. The Equality Act defines a number of protective characteristics such as those you would expect based on race or age or gender etc. Section 10 also protects a general category of "philosophical beliefs" in the workplace. I'm not a lawyer, but I would have thought it was unwise in legislation to have something so general and undefined, and to leave it to tribunals to make case law as they proceed. In any event, Dr Miller's lawyers succeeded in convincing the ET that his philosophical belief in anti-Zionism was sincerely held, did not affect the rights of others, and was therefore a protected characteristic which could not be used as the basis to dismiss him. The creates a precedent, and therefore there is no reason why a Zionist's lawyers could not use the same argument, or for that matter a racist or an anti-racist. It will be up to future trbunals, if a test case comes to them, to judge whether they fall under section 10 or not. I imagine that a claimed belief which was clearly against the law would not be allowed, but neither Zionism or anti-Zionism, nor racism, nor anti-racism, are illegal under British law. See this neutral report on the case in a professional journal guiding employers "David Miller Wins Dismissal and Discrimination Claim; ET Say Anti-Zionist Beliefs are Protected Characteristics - Employment Law Review" https://www.employmentlawreview.co.uk/david-miller-wins-dismissal-and-discrimination-claim-et-say-anti-zionist-beliefs-are-protected-characteristics/
Thank you for that comprehensive reply Paul. It seems to me that if our hypothetical Zionist’s lawyer ever made such an argument, in the process of scrutiny, they would expose Zionism for what it actually is: a racist ideology. It affects the rights of others. If I’m not mistaken, ‘racism’ or rather discrimination against a protected characteristic is illegal in areas of British law-including employment law.
The logic point was something like this: we now have a precedent that says Anti-Zionism is a protected characteristic. Zionism therefore cannot be a protected characteristic because it is intrinsically discriminatory against a protected characteristic (anti-Zionism).
In any case I do understand the point you are making. Thank you for taking the time to respond in a helpful way. It’s an interesting point, but I feel Dr Miller’s lawyers employed the right strategy. I don’t see what other options they would have had otherwise.
"The aim is to silence all Palestinian solidarity activism on campus as equivalent to racism, extinguishing any chance of a repetition of the large protests that swept US universities during the spring and summer."
This reminds me of a piece that Pepe Escobar wrote a couple of years ago with the title "If You Are Anti Apartheid You Will Be Labeled A Racist".
The genocidal apartheid state of "Israel" is a product of the imperialist colonial alliance called the "west".
And in colonialism and imperialism, dispossession and genocide are not a bug or a glitch or an error. They are core functionalities - necessary running tasks within the operating system.
Also, in this system where there is a pretence of negotiations it's not Biden running cover - Biden probably can't even tie his own shoelaces, and they probably keep him away from sharp objects. It's Sullivan and Blinken running the genocide.
Its also high time that people stated paying attention to historical actions, and asking questions about happenstance, coincidence or enemy action:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/05/20/2022-10828/in-the-matter-of-the-designation-of-kahane-chai-and-other-aliases-as-a-foreign-terrorist
https://www.newarab.com/analysis/kahanism-legacy-violence-and-racism-israel
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/20/us-removes-ultranationalist-israeli-group-from-terror-list
T
You also need to understand the level of deception they will go to. For example as election time nears in the US and it becomes increasingly clear that Harris is going to see the left wing sit out this vote, they have in the past couple of days assembled a pretence across several entities, of a supposed reduction in weapons to Israel. This after stuffing Israel full of weapons and ammo, more than enough to "complete the job", even if they dont get more.
I hope and expect that you are working on a book, Jonathan. Once the books start coming out with longer well written narratives (and photographs) of the toll on children, families, higher education, public health, environment, $$$, bombs, etc., there should hopefully be a landslide of book talks, on college campuses and in bookstores, Ted talks, etc. Everyone will ask in ten years time: how could this happen? etc. like bush and the Iraq war (which no one talks about anymore in America, ahem). Then there will be the Israeli counter argument about x, y, z. Humans are so pitiful and stupid. I blame western religion and thus am an atheist.