Yves here. While Varoufakis’ sentiment is commendable, and expressed forcefully and cogently…what can ordinary citizens do? Protesting in major cities around the world does tell politicians around the world they will be held accountable at voting time. But Israel has been targeting journalists and UN workers in Gaza, with no apparent consequences.
The reality is that Israel will be stopped in Gaza only by force or perhaps by its campaign against Hamas becoming so costly that it has to back off….but how much civilian slaughter might happen before then?The Muslim countries nearby have the ability to defeat Israel in a conventional war, but are leery of setting off a regional conflagration, and have good reason to believe Israel would launch a nuclear attack if it were losing too badly. Admittedly, Scott Ritter argues that the war is already going badly for Isreal Hezbollah and other Resistance elements are engaging in a slow and not well covered program of escalation that is already cost the Israel economy bigly. So perhaps things are not as dire as they appear now. But even so, a lot of Gaza citizens look set to die.
By Yanis Varoufakis. Originally published on his website
A genocide of Palestinians is happening in Gaza now, in tandem with Israel’s methodically opportunistic ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. We are here because our humanity is being tested – because future generations will censure us for letting the death count exceed 10 thousand, mostly children and women. We are here because, when our grandchildren ask us “Where were you during the mass murder of Palestinians in 2023?” there will be no hiding behind excuses such as “we did not know”.
We do know! Our governments know. Everyone knows because the official representatives of the State of Israel proclaim proudly and openly their genocidal intent. Was it not Israel’s Prime Minister who quoted biblical scripture to justify the wiping out of Gazan Palestinians? Are key ministries of the state of Israel not being run by fundamentalist extremists peddling what can only be described as Messianic visions of a land from the river to the sea delivered fully into the hands of settlers, emptied of Palestinians? No. No one can feign ignorance anymore.
This is why we are here. To tell our rulers:
Enough! Put an end to the slaughter or the slaughtered will haunt you in your sleep till the end of your days.
Enough! We shall never let you forget that you are aiding and abetting Crimes-Against-Humanity, even if the International Criminal Court disgraces itself by staying quiet.
But, friends, to be on the right side of humanism, we need to be clear on who humanity’s enemy here is: It is not the people of Israel, for they suffer too. It is not the Jews outside of Israel – in the same way that the British Empire’s atrocities in Kenya and in India were not the doing of the majority of Britons who also suffered violence and expropriation under the same British authorities – and in the same way that our Israeli friends and comrades are suffocating today under Israel’s apartheid apparatus.
To drive this point home, allow me a personal note. Back in 2015, while fighting the financial oligarchy during my brief tenure as my Greece’s finance minister, an oligarchic newspaper thought they diminished me with a cartoon that depicted me as a Shylock-like figure. What these idiots did not realise was that trying to tarnish my image by likening me to a Jew was, and remains, a badge of honour.
Whenever an antisemite bundles me together with a people who have suffered racism for so long so very bravely, I feel deeply flattered. As long as a single Jew feels threatened by antisemitism, I shall carry the Star of David, eager and ready to be counted as a Jew.
At the same time, as long as a single Palestinian is terrorised, deprived of water, bombed, maimed or killed, I shall wear the Palestinian flag as a symbol of solidarity with a people living in an Apartheid state built by reactionary Israelis damaging my Jewish and Arab brothers and sisters, and stoking the fires of racism – which, ironically, always forge a steelier variety of antisemitism.
Here is a question for well-meaning people who think that centuries of pogroms against Jews, culminating into the uniquely evil Holocaust, make it incumbent upon us to defend Israel come what may:
How far must Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians proceed before our utterly justified collective guilt over the Holocaust no longer prevents us from confronting Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians?
- Until the last Palestinian is killed or exiled?
- Is this the legacy we want to leave behind those of us genuinely opposing antisemitism in all its forms?
- Does ANYONE think that our guilt over the Holocaust can be washed clean with Palestinian blood? I don’t believe so.
And now a message to those for whom Hamas’ atrocities justify all atrocities Israel, supported by the West, inflict on the Palestinian people.
Have we not learned the lessons of recent history? The undisputed fact that Saddam, Qaddafi and the Taliban were bloodthirsty tyrants was a terrible reason to invade, and to bomb to smithereens, the people of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.
Consider also this: What if Hamas had never existed? What is the Palestinians’ representatives recognised Israel and laid down their arms? What would be happening now? No need to speculate. Just look at the West Bank where there is no Hamas and where the Palestinian Authority cooperates with Israel: Mass murders, evictions, collective humiliation, Apartheid methods, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank. Clearly, focusing on Hamas’ atrocities is a cheap trick for ignoring the true cause of this endless, one-sided crime against the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile our established parties of government, if pressed, will tell you that their idea of a peaceful future is the Two State Solution. They are lying! They know that Netanyahu’s life aim was always to make the Two State Solution impossible & ethnic cleansing permanent – an aim that Europe, Britain and the United States allowed him to fulfil – a great gift to Hamas who use the Palestinians’ ongoing suffering as an excuse for their inexcusable atrocities. At that point our Western rulers condemn Hamas and back Netanyahu to kill off the leftovers of the Two State Solution with far worse atrocities whose ultimate victim is the West’s Two State Solution. And that’s how Netanyahu’s and the Israeli racist fundamentalists’ plan to destroy the Two State Solution is implemented. With our Western leaders’ consent!
That’s why we are here. Because our Western rulers are a clear and present danger for World Peace. What should be done now? Four things to begin with.
- An immediate ceasefire.
- The release of all hostages, Hamas’ and the thousands held by Israel.
- An arms embargo and commercial sanctions on Israel.
- The immediate recognition, symbolic but crucial, of a Palestinian State across all the lands Israel occupies since 1967.
- And, of course, a Peace Process, under the United Nations, supported by a commitment by the International Community to end Apartheid and to safeguard Equal Civil Liberties for All – whether as part of two multi-ethnic states or one common secular one.
Our rulers will not push for any of this. This is why we are here. This is why you are here.
When the rulers fail History, it is the People who must make History.
I salute you all. Carpe DiEM!
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Yanis Varoufakis is always a good analyst. This is a good point:
“Enough! Put an end to the slaughter or the slaughtered will haunt you in your sleep till the end of your days.”
And yet, being against war means being against all wars. So I would say: Now do this for the Russia / Ukraine conflict. Estimates are of a minimum of 200,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers and up to 500,000 wounded. Where is the demand in the West for negotiations? I fear that what Western elites are doing is trying to wait out Israel to get back to the pièce de résistance, the attempt at dismantling the Russian Federation.
Enough of war means enough of war: Not that one war is a-okay and another war is a great evil. No one has judgment good enough to make such a distinction.
And I won’t even mention Syria.
So Yanis Varoufakis’s challenge is a start, not a destination.
Will the sociopaths and psychopaths who lead the putative “free world” be even slightly
haunted in their sleep? I wonder.
Yep, crickets. And millions have been brainwashed by state-media-fueled Russophobia to nod in assent.
Reported Obama quote: “turns out I’m very good at killing people.” Albright: “the price is worth it.” Perhaps power is always about violence and and power is the thing that the price is worth in their minds. Of course step one is dehumanization of the victims by calling them all “terrorists” and that leads to step two which is the deadening of any empathy that might produce pangs of conscience.
So it’s all about self deception as well as deceiving others.
Meanwhile the ordinary soldiers who carry out the violence often lack the theory acquired via advanced education and being ordinary possess dangerous amounts of empathy which may explain the military suicides which are all too common. The US military has even said that one part of their training is to try to expunge the reluctance to kill.
Our world needs a shrink badly, and it may be the only thing that will save us from the wars and global warming and all the rest of it. And it needs to be a hard nosed look at ourselves and not some vanity feeding “talking cure.” The vanity is in fact the source of the problem, and especially in Israel.
The US military has even said that one part of their training is to try to expunge the reluctance to kill.
What do you think boot camp is? A huge part of the early training is how to get ordinary citizens to become trained killers.
Tho quote the title of an early (non-samurai) Kurosawa film, “The Bad Sleep Well.”
Excellent film, and despite the connotations of the title we see that some of the bad don’t always sleep so well, e.g., when the unnamed kuromaku sends Iwabuchi some sleeping medicine, and there is a moment in which it appears he might even use it to sleep forever.
I remain pessimistic, though.
Despite the essential free pass that the Establishment and many Americans have issued George W. Bush for the invasion of Iraq, I believe that he is haunted.
Your lips to God’s ears.
‘Just look at the West Bank where there is no Hamas and where the Palestinian Authority cooperates with Israel: Mass murders, evictions, collective humiliation, Apartheid methods, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank. Clearly, focusing on Hamas’ atrocities is a cheap trick for ignoring the true cause of this endless, one-sided crime against the Palestinian people.’
There will always be a ‘Hamas’ somewhere on this increasingly crowded little blue planet. We, all 8 billion, should take stock of how and when we might represent an inconvenience to the powerful, sufficient to take our lives wholesale. Just raze our ‘villages’ to the ground and put up a ‘for sale’ sign.
Meanwhile, in Ireland, there was this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/02/has-irish-town-found-secret-the-good-life-skerries
Husband and I were chatting over our first cups about news of the death of some famous person we have no connection to whatsoever at age 65 and thinking it wasn’t just tragic but somehow personal, in that he was ‘so close’. Before his candle blew out we hope he got to enjoy himself. Every moment is ‘the end of the world’ as we know it.
Interesting sentiments. However, most people in the English-speaking Western world over a certain age have heard of The Pogues and its lead singer Shane MacGowan — who died aged 65 of viral encephalitis. He had a riotous life but his last year wasn’t pleasant.
Here in the U.S. those of us who could plan ahead and are approaching retirement take these last few years more personally, to have gotten so close to financial ‘freedom’ because we ‘earned’ it, and then die and not get to enjoy it together. Seems a damned-er shame.
Yes, it was probably MacGowan, who had no intention of retiring… old punk rockers rarely do.
Quite true Yanis…and where are the billionaires, where is the “me too” movement or “black lives matter”…all silent and all shysters…simple…if NATO ever, ever really wanted to intervene on a conflict on humanitarian grounds, it is right here…or UN troops, if it ever had a reason to step in, its now….shocking and disgusting slience and inhumanity…
I think that Israel will have to be treated the way that the earlier apartheid regime in South Africa was treated. If it has a label saying ‘Made in Israel’ then don’t buy it. Picket their consulates and embassies, protest visiting sports teams, protest visiting Israeli delegations. Everything that was done to South Africa. While writing this I had a thought so picture this. It is July of next year and it is the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris games. Starting with Greece, all the teams march in one after another in alphabetical order. And then the Israeli team marches in…
I’ll take a stab:
This raises an interesting question. As I recall, the way South African Apartheid was toppled was 1) an alternative political party was formed by Catholic Bishop Desmond Tutu (the political arm) and Nelson Mandela (the direct action arm). 2) Resulting in Mandela eventually being elected. 3) Around the world congresses and parliaments wanted to impose economic sanctions. 4) Around the world heads of state such as Harper (Canadian PM), Thatcher and Reagan opposed the sanctions, literally supported the apartheid, but were overuled by their populations.
So…corollary to Israel, we need a leader, it would help if Catholic, a Palestinian would need to be elected PM of Israel to begin the process of reversing apartheid, congresses and parliaments worldwide would need to oppose their political leaders.
I hadn’t thought of it before but electing a Palestinian as PM of Israel does seem like a rather good starter move.
The Palestinian citizens of Israel have practically no effect on national policy, despite their having the vote. Most Jews, who are an 80% majority, will not cooperate with them on any important issue.
Whenever one hears the word “Israeli” in public discussion, in the media, from politicians, it always refers to Jewish citizens alone. I think of this whenever someone bring up the “fact” that Israel is a democracy.
It took about 40 years for Israel to have its first Palestinian government minister. IIRC, Minister of Transportation.
The Canadian prime minister at the time apartheid ended in South Africa was Brian Mulroney, and he did a lot to support Mandela and Tutu. Never let anyone forget it, either — he was proud of himself on that issue.
Harper didn’t even become Canadian PM until 2006.
Your misrecollection of past events and putting a today political spin on them is really off the mark. A simple web search and read will show it. And I’m not doing that work for you.
Desmond Tutu was Anglican, not Catholic, and he formed no political party.
He had a sense of humour. He often spoke about how, when the white man came to Africa, Africans had the land and the white man had the bible. But that now white people had the land and Africans the bible. I once attended the carol service at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town. “The Arch” (as he was fondly known) processed into the cathedral at the start of the service. He was so busy smiling and greeting people on either side of the aisle as he walked along with his ecclesiastical crook that he accidentally knocked the mitre off the head of the bishop in front of him. And verily, there was much amusement.
heads of state such as Harper (Canadian PM)
Harper was PM February 6, 2006 – November 4, 2015.
The Canadian Prime Minister at the time of the fall of apartheid was Brian Mulroney, PM 1984 to 1993.
He was very opposed to apartheid. I rather detested the man for his domestic policies but he did have some significant humanitarian impulses while in office.
Harper, probably, would have been an enthusiastic supporter of apartheid.
See Brian Mulroney’s anti-apartheid speech was a moment when Canada stood tall</a
Don’t rely on barcodes to determine where goods came from though.
Unfortunately I don’t think it’s as easy as boycotts. In South Africa, 80% of people did not have any European ancestors, 10% only had European ancestors, and the rest had some of each. So we’re talking about a very small minority who felt excluded from people of similar cultures, and many of whom did not like the apartheid system anyway. Given the brain drain since the end of apartheid of people who’d been living there since the 1650s, it’s also debatable how well things actually worked out for South Africa, which is not to defend apartheid.
Israel is majority Jewish (74%), some of whom came from South Africa, and very much do not want to see a repeat of that situation (and therefore will never accept a one-state solution with one person, one vote). Polls show a majority want Gaza eliminated, and since Israel has mandatory military service, most Israelis have dirty hands repressing the Palestinians in some way. They also believe they are protecting and saving the land of their people, as a refuge for all Jews, the next time a holocaust comes along. So they don’t feel isolated, and are hardly going to give up just because we stop buying their sour tangerines.
Although it’s never wrong to not give one’s resources to those who do harm, I’m afraid I don’t think boycotting will have much effect in practice. Changing one’s own core beliefs is very difficult, let alone changing those of others.
Boycotting by individuals may not have a profound economic effect. It’s the moral effect that Israel fears.
RevKev Yes, why not? It definitely doesn’t hurt. I also do my very small part by supporting Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
https://bdsmovement.net/
We started by not buying SodaStream products anymore, but there are many other products to boycott.
Wouldn’t the most obvious first step to saving civilians in Gaza be a return of the Oct 7 hostages?
No, Israel has been committed to ethnic cleansing since the state of Israel was born and has an explicit policy of disproportionate punishment of civilians. See https://www.vox.com/2014/7/14/5898581/chart-israel-palestine-conflict-deaths.
See also: https://truthout.org/articles/report-israeli-officials-knew-of-october-7-attack-a-year-ago-but-didnt-act/
The point of view that Israel had willingly ignored information about the upcoming Oct 7 attacks is pretty extreme. We may argue about its hypothetical validity, but we definitely do not know for sure. It is very surprising that no one formally demanded the release of hostages and punishment for the Oct 7 terrorists. Blaming Israel in the absence of such demands in the first place cannot be justified.
Israel supported Hamas as a way to divide the Palestinians. And how do you defend the openly genocidal view expressed by many Israeli officials and ordinary citizens?
I am not aware of any openly genocidal views expressed by Israeli officials. If they exist they are certainly indefensible. As for Israel’s support of Hamas, it’s like supporting the enemy of your enemy. Regular politics which is never pretty but certainly has nothing to do with genocide. One more time, if someone truly cares about humanity and saving lives, demanding hostage return and demanding that rockets are not fired from hospitals and schools should come before any critique of a response to such actions.
‘I am not aware of any openly genocidal views expressed by Israeli officials. If they exist they are certainly indefensible.’
C’mon, man. Now I know that you are not serious and are commenting in bad faith. Nobody believes what Israel says anymore. Nobody. It is well on it’s way to becoming the Pariah Nation of the 21st century. Even US officials – because of their total support of Israel – are being ignored, mocked and sidelined when they visit any country in this region. Thirty years ago Israel could have opted for a two-state solution which would have severely undercut groups like Hamas – but went with land theft and ethnic cleansing instead. Actions have consequences. Always.
> I am not aware of any openly genocidal views expressed by Israeli officials.
And your lack of awareness means what, exactly?
demanding hostage return and demanding that rockets are not fired from hospitals and schools should come before any critique of a response to such actions.
———————————————————
Demanding an end to the Israeli system of grand apartheid, and the ethnic cleansing and terror associated with it, should come before any critique of a response to that system.
I am not aware of any openly genocidal views expressed by Israeli officials.
You might want to have a quick look at this flattering bio of the Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir
The bio is enlightening. Ethnic cleansing is a clear principle of Bem-Gvir’s attitude to Arabs.
Philosophiclly, how is this different from anti-semitism?
Remind me again which side holds the most political prisoners and for over such a protracted period.
For anyone with any interest in BDS or, for that matter, in American democracy, the following link is of extraordinary interest. I may have originally seen it on NC, but if so it’s worth posting again.
How Israel spies on US citizens
To date, 37 states in the US have laws, executives orders, or resolutions to counter the BDS movement. Boycotts are applied to companies participating with the BDS movement. Resolutions have also been passed in the US senate and house to prevent BDS of Israel. Soon this may become federal law. This shows where a majority of our politicians stand.
This is a link that lists the states that have forbidden BDS. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/anti-bds-legislation.
In my dealings with friends and family, the people who are aware of the happenings in Gaza are a small minority. At a Thanksgiving dinner with many highly educated Jewish people who consider themselves liberal, I found that most didn’t follow anything but some mainstream news. The consensus was that Israel has to kill all Palestinians, even children, to eliminate the Palestinian threat to Israel, the beacon of freedom and democracy. These people have a principle that they don’t want to know about any injustices in the world because it has a negative influence on their happiness. Upon hearing any critique of US policy, I was told that I must be depressed and that I should think about moving to another country!
Our “American Hero” Henry Kissinger, will be replaced by many more such American Heroes in the making, supported by the vast majority of Americans.
‘The consensus was that Israel has to kill all Palestinians, even children, to eliminate the Palestinian threat to Israel, the beacon of freedom and democracy. ‘
I think that it might have been awkward at that Thanksgiving dinner to point out to them that there might have been similar conversations happening around the dinner tables in Germany where their educated elite were saying-
‘The consensus was that the Third Reich has to kill all Jews, even children, to eliminate the Jewish threat to the Third Reich, the beacon of freedom and civilization.’
Enough! Put an end to the slaughter or the slaughtered will haunt you in your sleep till the end of your days.
You need a conscience for that.
Psychopaths running the West have none.
Gaza will exist no more in the very near future.
2008 shattered any pretense to free market capitalism and 2023 is about to do the same to western values and moral grandstanding.
Then the slow, long and permanent decline of our civilization will start to accelerate…
Worth a look
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/12/israel-plans-for-long-war-and-the-expulsion-of-people-from-gaza.html#more
“…Protesting in major cities around the world does tell politicians around the world they will be held accountable at voting time. But Israel has been targeting journalists and UN workers in Gaza, with no apparent consequences…”
In May of last year, Israel murdered US citizen and prominent journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh in broad daylight, recorded on video. The US gov. did nothing. If the US won’t do anything about such a high-profile murder of a journalist and US citizen, the certainly won’t lift a finger for anyone else.
We have called/emailed our “elected” representatives, there have been unprecedented protests, there have been opinion polls. All of this in the context of notorious pro-Israel bias in our wonderful MassMediaCartel: The propaganda is wearing thin, and more and more can see through the miasma. That’s the “good news”.
As Chris Hedges, Caitlin Johnstone, Michael Hudson, Jimmy Carter, and others have pointed out: The US does not have a functioning democracy, it is an oligarchy. The US gov. can routinely ignore public opinion and get away with it. The oligarchy is above the law. There is NO way to hold them accountable, since the only other “alternative” party also supports the same policies.
So, I agree: since the US only throws fuel to the fire, the only thing that can stop Israel is brute violence, as usual. If Israel runs out of money or weapons, the US will come with more.
Despite Scott Ritter and others pointing out how Hamas has achieved some goals, the Palestinian people will continue to die in large numbers. And the settler rampage on the WB will continue. The end result will be Palestinians herded into smaller and smaller Bantustans, which are little more than concentration camps.
Hypothetically, if this escalated into a conflict that involves Turkey, Hezbollah, Iran, that could force Israel to stop. But this would be a very dangerous situation.
The American system of Inverted Totalitarianism is immune to democratic pressure. This system selects for narcissistic psychopaths who take pleasure in the infliction of suffering on others. For instance, Obama was indeed quoted in Double Down as saying “Turns out I’m really good at killing people” while directing a 10-fold increase in drone strikes that killed an estimated 5000 “folks.”
The state of Israel is simply an extension of the American Anti-Social Personality Disorder. Biden and Blinken are complaining that the “optics” are likely to cause their faction of the Kayfabe to be turfed-out of office — but they appear to have no objection to the actual genocide.
So, despite best efforts to kill all the journalists, we will continue seeing the horror of thousands of murdered children. The Muslim nations will do nothing “because nukes.” China will do nothing “because Uighurs” and “because bad for business.” Russia will do nothing “because otherwise occupied.”
I think that we in the West underestimate the social power of a Fatwa in the generally religious Muslim populations. If both the Shia Ayatollahs and the Sunni Imams were to call for the Faithful to cooperate on various fronts against the other Abrahamic creeds on this, strange things could be accomplished. Think of it as an Anti-Crusade.
The Zs are overreaching like mad at the present.
“Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.”
It might be a worthwhile task to comb through American history for outrages which were highly visible, inspired protest and action, and had no effect on policy. I’m sure you’d come away with a long list of events which fall into that category, and some sobering conclusions about actually existing democracy. Off the top of my head, there was popular support for ending the policy of ‘non-intervention’ in the Spanish Civil War, with many calling on the U.S. to arm the Republican side, and many others joining the International Brigades. The policy was never changed, and Spain fell to Franco, who was fueled to victory by Texaco.
Another thought occurs: a lack of historical memory in America helps obscure the fact that such horrors are far more common than are the examples of them being stopped. From the Indians to the East Timorese, and now, should things continue, the Palestinians.
You mention Türkiye; aside from possible action by their government, which, until I see it, is only words to me, there is also the 1,000 boat aid flotilla. Perhaps this is wishful thinking, given what the IOF is doing in plain sight, but i feel it may be difficult for Israel to fire on it like they did the last flotilla to Gaza, with the lights on them.
As far as armed actors in the Muslim world, Hezbollah has maintained their low-intensity, resource-draining cross-border fire, but the Houthis are the group we can say has really stepped up and put it on the line for the Palestinians. Brave folks over there in Yemen.
If Hamas operatives emerge from their rat holes with their hands up in the air that would save many Palestinian lives. If Iran or Turkey were genuinely concerned about the Palestinians they would have urged Hamas to surrender. But that is not what they are interested in and neither are you.
Even if Hamas surrendered tomorrow, the bombing would still continue. The extreme-right lusts after those lands to colonize it and the Israeli government lusts after the gas & oil reserves just offshore from Gaza.
I’m impressed that the comments on this issue are not filled with bots and trolls and ugly accusations.
I’m not going to speculate why, but maybe part of a broader sign that Israel’s suddenly more obvious genocidal evil has given people breathing room to talk about these issues. Also that maybe the great defenders of Israel are realizing they have finally worn out the charge of “anti-S” accusations in relation to this.
Well, I’ll speculate that it is largely thanks to NC doing an excellent job of moderating, and an exceptional commentariat that is committed to intelligent, no-BS discussion. I have learned so much here and am deeply grateful to our hosts. I do agree with you that the situation in Israel has reached a point at which a great many people are no longer indifferent, and are now thinking more along the lines of what can be done to bring an end to the state of apartheid (a.k.a., “the Zionist entity”).
Israel is a beautiful country which is forced to defend itself against the savages. And if you need a reminder that you are an antisemite you can consider this post as such.
You do realize that there is a major difference between an anti-Zionist and an antisemite don’t you? And you also realize that Israelis and Palestinians share near identical DNA too don’t you? So that if you hate Palestinians, that actually makes you an antisemite too. Just sayin’.
I get the impression that our “T” tonight is a member of the Hasbara Barbera Cartoon Team.
I think it was the American cartoon program Family Guy that stirred up the hornet’s nest once by running the gag of putting some Palestinians next to some Israelis and having a character say that he could not tell them apart.
When you encounter ‘True Believers,’ emulate Moosalinni and reach for your pistol. [The line is actually from an early German play.]
That one weird trick to try to gain moral leverage and/or win an argument isn’t working the way it used to — not even in Germany, where for the usual historical reasons it has been an unbeatable trump card for generations:
https://www.dw.com/en/singer-gil-ofarim-admits-he-lied-about-antisemitic-incident/a-67574882
If as Varoufakis says, Israel’s Prime Minister claims Biblical authority to justify the wiping out of Gazan Palestinians perhaps he should consider Galatians 6:7: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Unfortunately, Netanyahu will care not a whit what Paul said to a group of Christians near what is now Ankara.
Possibly we need to reconsider monotheism.
Democracy and republicanism originated in pantheistic cultures. The family and cycle of life as godhead. The young god born in the spring, of the old sky god and the earth mother. Though by the Olympians, Zeus didn’t give way to Dionysus, providing fertile ground for Christianity.
The Romans adopted it for the monotheism, to validate the Empire rising from the ashes of the Republic. The origins of the Trinity hidden behind the Spector of the Holy Ghost. Ancient Israel was a monarchy. The Big Guy Rules.
Logically a spiritual absolute would be the essence of sentience, from which life rises, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement from which it fell. More the light shining through the film than the story playing out on it.
The universal is the elemental, not the ideal. Truth, beauty, platonic forms are ideals.
Social structures need some locus, focus, creed, heroes around which it coalesces, but that doesn’t make them universal.
So Western culture is built on the assumption of ideals as absolute and the result is endless conflict.
Alan Watts once said something to the effect of ‘the problem with democracy is that a whole lot of people view the universe as a monarchy’.
The US media is gutless and Congress is paid off. This US/Israeli war should not be sugar coated. Israel’s strategic objective is to make Gaza a man made hell in which no mother would consider raising a child. Israel’s right wing is inspired by one of their martyrs, Baruch Kopel Goldsteinn, who said: “One million arabs aren’t worth one jewish fingernail.” If people support an obvious genocide, there’s a problem.
Terrorists come in all denominations.
(2023) National Security Minister:en-Gvir, who is forty-six, has been convicted on at least eight charges, including supporting a terrorist organization and incitement to racism, compiling a criminal record so long that, when he appeared before a judge, “we had to change the ink on the printer,” Dvir Kariv, a former official in the Shin Bet intelligence agency, told me. As recently as last October, Netanyahu refused to share a stage with him, or even to be seen with him in photographs. But a series of disappointing elections persuaded Netanyahu to change his mind.
That’s the question. What can ordinary citizens do about any of the atrocities perpetrated by the ruling class?
Voting makes no difference, since the parties ensure that no one who disagrees with our foreign policies or economic hierarchies can ever get to be the nominee.
Nonviolent marching and waving signs and chanting catchy slogans also has zero effect, especially when no one is shocked to see police beating and pepper spraying citizens who are already immobilized and helpless. And if the media cover your demonstration at all, it’s only to show a 5 second clip of the weirdest looking and most inarticulate participant.
Trying to boycott corporate sponsors or beneficiaries of the atrocities has little impact, when it’s so hard to penetrate the maze of holding companies and interlocking directorates that corprations hide behind, and when most people blindly buy whatever is pushed in their faces anyway (like, couldn’t we by now at least get everyone to never by gas at an Exxon-Mobil station?).
There was a pretense of an armed resistance in the 1960s, but that was either middle class white kids acting out their guerrilla fantasies or Black Panthers who ended up targeted and murdered by the FBI and police. And who would be recruited to that now? The MAGA folks (who have guns) are probably cheering on the murder of Arabs, and the other side is wringing its hands and wailing quietly behind their lawn signs (“Hate Has No Home Here” and “We Believe” followed by a list of asinine banalities in fine print).
What’s left? Can hackers maybe do something effective? So much of the Empire depends on the internet now that it does leave an opening for somebody with the right skills (and a conscience) to take action. But judging by the comments on Hacker News and SlashDot, most of the tech-heads grew up watching Top Gun and playing Call of Duty, and they’re more inclined to wave the flag, demonize the Empire’s enemy-du-jour, and rhapsodize about the details of bombers, drones, and other weaponry. It’s quite discouraging.
First thing is to identify the puppeteers amd not focus on the puppets and handmaidens.
All this crap is in Biden’s diaper. Col Wilkerson, with Mercouris and Diesen, just pointed the finger at Biden and his administration and called Biden, Sullivan and Blinkie “stupid”, very stupid, but Vickie Nuland he called smart and conniving for western dominance. Clearly there is an agenda there. Also a shadowy figure named Brett McGurk is being fingered. Those bombs dropped on Gaza? They are American bombs dropped fromAmerican jets. It’s not just Israel’s suicide, it’s ours too. I see the objective as securing oil and gas resources from the Saudis to the Gaza gas field. What else could make us feel so threatened that we commit blatant genocide on peaceful people with no protection? We’ve lost our minds.
In the United States, the most enlightening things are happening in the shadows. On the good side, Senator Bernie Sanders gave a powerful speech to an empty Senate chamber this week that seems to have had zero publicity. So here is some!
On the bad side this week, Congress passed a pro-zionist resolution (HR. Res. 888) on November 28, which passed 412 to 1, with Rep. Tlaib the lone “present” voter. A Republican I do not know cast the lone “no” vote. Twenty one did not vote, ranging from Nancy Pelosi to Matt Gaetz. Like Bernie’s speech, I found no coverage in my web search except from Congress itself. I wonder if AIPAC had anything to do with all this?
More bad side, Mehdi Hasan this week appeared on The Daily Show to publicize his new book, “Win Every Argument” and then was fired from his day job by MSNBC. Surely no AIPAC there!
One small plus, at least this way I do not to worry so much about COP28 and global warming!
“When the rulers fail history, it is the people who make history.”
In my opinion, not often or only rarely.
Do the tides of history tend to finally turn on individual and/or domestic collective psychology or the structural architecture (fundamental anarchism) of our international system of nation-states?
An NC commenter from Myanmar made the connection between the disconcern for the death of others and a failed society months ago. Join the chorus, Yanis.
“Vice President Harris says ‘too many innocent Palestinians have been killed’ as fighting picks up in southern Gaza.”
Talk is cheap. When it comes out of Kamala’s mouth, it’s worthless.
This is the heart of darkness of humankind’s future. World-wide, the economic system and politics are geared so the plutocrats get richer at the expense of everyone else. Only during the brief era of the New Deal and Communism did governments reign in the excesses and spend tax monies for the greater good. The Vietnam Defeat, the energy crises, school busing, and the fall of the Soviet Union put an end to all that. Public health, public transportation, public safety, and public utilities were privatized and service ended. Profits outweigh human life. The New Dark Age is here. Garden Europe faces the encroaching Jungle. The stresses of life are magnified because corporate-state propaganda denies the truth. It is a time of endless war and pandemics – to mask or not. There is no alternative. Western civilization is falling.
Only armistices and new DMZs can end WWIII’s two conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine between nuclear armed opponents. To survive the West must live with its means, share its wealth and control the pollution. The neo-con/neo-liberal Imperialists can no more do what is best for the people that their predecessors. The British, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Japanese Empires all fell due to WWI and WWII. Germany faces a third fall. Only planning and empathy can avoid an Apocalypse.
“…The British, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Japanese Empires all fell due to WWI and WWII…”
And the Ottoman Empire.