Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): If I was an Israel supporter I’d be thinking very carefully about the things I’m posting online in the build-up to what could end up being regarded as one of history’s worst genocidal massacres. The internet doesn’t forget. What you’re tweeting today could haunt you for life.
One of the few good things to come out of this explosion is seeing the Israel apologists being exposed everywhere. Pants down. As I noted before, now it’s Tulsi. Another good thing is seeing the courage of those who see and live in justice—Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Great strong women facing down the fucking DNC and all the rest of the dim dam Dems. And I just found out that Gandhi opposed the creation of Israel and spoke out against it even while he had his hands full trying to lead his people out from under the great demon colonizer, England. Chris Hedges is excellent in his latest condemnation of the Israeli’s and Yanis Varoufakis is pointing the blame at Europe for never once speaking out against Israel’s slow torture of the Palestinians. And of course Caitlin—eviscerating the fascist bullshit my country is spewing to promote this Armageddon. At least I can let myself accept that I’m in good company, even if I am a member of the nation that brought this about.
I was wondering if Hamas really was indiscriminately killing civilians, not that I'd rule it out, but there is the issue of complete lack of trust in the media. Let's recall the Russian war crimes on balance seem to have in reality been committed by Ukraine, so we know that narratives are spun. Let's hope saner heads prevail.
That detachment from the horrors--that "it isn't real so we don't have to worry about what was done in our name" syndrome--is what keeps these conflicts growing and spreading. It's what the military industrial complex wants and needs to continue. It's why we've got to show the gruesome pictures and videos of the actual slaughter so it will shock the propagandized sleepy public awake. The body bags being loaded onto the planes from Vietnam shocked a generation and caused them to demand an end to that war. We need to do the same to help end all wars today.
Did the people of Gaza know they were to be sacrificed like this? Israel now has the green light from western allies to basically wipe gaza from the map.
As Caitlin says, there is nothing complicated in all of this.
Britain, in 1948 created the state of Israel out of what was Palestinian land. Israel acquired a much more fertile area, leaving the Palestinians with the poorer quality land. Subsequently, Israel has taken other land it was not entitled to, against UN resolutions and, therefore, international law.
Worse than that, Israel has completely taken over Palestinian infrastructure, work, food and everything else so can simply stop every supply when it wants to, as it is now doing.
Whilst the treatment of the Jews in the 1930s and 40s was wholly unacceptable, it does not give Israel the right to behave as it does against Palestinians.
Palestinians and Jews are the same people, with the same beliefs and are both Abrahamic religions, so both Semitic. Interestingly, the definition of antisemitism is against Abrahamic religions not just Jews.
Jews claim antisemitism for every mild criticism of Israel and/or Jews which it is not. Antisemitism is being racist against Abrahamic religions, not a mild criticism of Israeli activities.
I see in the UK press today, we had the UK Hone Secretary claiming carrying a Palestinian flag could be a criminal offence and that the Police should protect Jews and Israelis from attack by Palestinians (in a peaceful protest), but not the other way round.
We also had a minute’s silence for Israel at the Labour Party conference. What about some recognition of Palestine, a state created by Britain for its treatment by Israel over 70+ years?
In an earlier post I referred to Hamas as a terrorist organisation. What I missed out was that it is not. It is a body protecting Palestinians in the only way it can. It may not be the favourite of every Palestinian but that is the same everywhere: every government governs without the vote of every person.
Also a terrorist group is not a terrorist group, simply because somebody else says it is. The US and the UK claim to be democracies and they are not, simply because they claim themselves to be that. It is like respect: you are not entitled to it, you have to earn it.
Very well said Caitlin. Regardless of anyone's sympathies atrocities against civilians are to be abhorred, with the scale of the abhorrence consistent with the scale of the atrocities. On this score the Israel regime is ahead by at least an order of magnitude (just check the ratio of civilian deaths and injuries after every flare up - about 80 to 1 on one occasion).
The hypocrisy of media and polities who are outraged about Palestinian actions and are then totally silent about the massively greater Israeli actions (genocidal over- reactions) is breathtaking.
Max Blumenthal's doco following the 2014 war in Gazza is more than enough to explain the causes of the latest violence. It would be nice if this was shown on all mainstream media channels!
The hypocrisy comes into it when the West pretends to be acting from the highest moral principles, and are lauded by the uninitiated - those who take rationalizations at face value. Israel has oppressed Palestine for 75 years, ever since the Nakba, or Palestine disaster when they forced 700,000 Palestinians from historic Palestine by openly committing the most horrendous atrocities, with the dual purpose of reducing the Palestinian population directly, and through fear of more atrocities. They have encouraged and ignored horrendous settler violence in the territories ever since, and for 16 years ignored the fact of 2.2 million Palestinians forced by Israel into what is commonly described as an open air prison where water, fuel and all supplies, even food, are strictly limited to the point that the the calories of a near starvation diet have been coldly calculated. And every few years they are mowed down in broad daylight - women, old men, unarmed young men, babies and young children. The West is always on the side of the most vicious, and that describes Israel. Gaza responded as all but the most subservient and brain dead must respond in order to keep their humanity. It is sickening to witness moral outrage and maudlin grief for entirely the wrong side.
I mean, it is about hypocrisy, a little bit. It is no coincidence that all the same empire apologists that supported the ukraine also support Israel today.
Serious intellectual hypocrisy is the greatest sin a person can commit. Nothing else matters.
Colonialists do what colonialists do. And they stick together.
Note that all the countries expressing shock and horror are the SAME one that have stood by while Israel has occupied, ravaged and dispossessed these civilians in Palestine for decades on end. They are the SAME ones that either drone innocent civilians to death around the world - knowingly - or ally with countries that do it:
«….. Biden’s remarks, predictably, incited Israeli war crimes. Immediately following the speech, Israel began using white phosphorus to create firestorms in civilian areas – a crime under international law. Israel bombed the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Tuesday, alongside countless other multi-story buildings. Israel continued to deny the Palestinians food, water, and electricity, in line with the pledge by Prime Minister Netanyahu that any areas harboring that resist the Israeli occupation will be reduced to “ruins.”
Biden's language comes close to promoting and legitimizing genocide. The resistance by Palestinians was a manifestation, Biden began, of “pure unadulterated evil.” These words echoed the statements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday who called the Palestinians “animals.” Netanyahu’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly….»
So all of this is simply colonialists standing together. None of them are actually interested in justice or peace. None.
There can be no reasonable doub t that Jews have been persecuted for a large part of the last two thousand years. So I used to be quite inhibited from criticizing Jewish organization. But them I learned that the group pf Jews who subscribe to Zionism are something else. It is rather like the advanced German civilisation which suddenly developed a very large and very horrible off-shoot called Naziism . To criticize and oppose Nazi Germany was then the right thing to do in spite of the danger of demonising Germans in general. The Nazi State needed opposing and dismantling and exactl the asme applies to the Zionist State of Israel. The 100,000bomber raids blasting civilian Germany were not morally justified and nor is the attempt of fHamas and others to dismantle the Zionist State of Israel via the murder of masses of civilians
It’s a bit like blaming your battered wife for trying to poison you. I do not condone her poisoning you, but it was certainly provoked and understandable. Then you start trying to make her admit that she’s been very bad, that it’s her fault, that she should condemn herself for being evil. You start making sure all your friends agree that it’s her fault, that she’s been very bad and is evil, to justify your continuing to batter her, and then getting them to help you pummel her so hard she’ll never try it again.
"If I was an Israel supporter I’d be thinking very carefully about the things I’m posting online in the build-up to what could end up being regarded as one of history’s worst genocidal massacres. The internet doesn’t forget. What you’re tweeting today could haunt you for life."
The Israeli government simply assumes that they will always be the winners, that their American gorilla will force everyone else to heel, that they always will be able to bully any dissent into silence and compliance.
George Steiner wrote that the Holocaust was what made the State of Israel possible.
One of the few good things to come out of this explosion is seeing the Israel apologists being exposed everywhere. Pants down. As I noted before, now it’s Tulsi. Another good thing is seeing the courage of those who see and live in justice—Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Great strong women facing down the fucking DNC and all the rest of the dim dam Dems. And I just found out that Gandhi opposed the creation of Israel and spoke out against it even while he had his hands full trying to lead his people out from under the great demon colonizer, England. Chris Hedges is excellent in his latest condemnation of the Israeli’s and Yanis Varoufakis is pointing the blame at Europe for never once speaking out against Israel’s slow torture of the Palestinians. And of course Caitlin—eviscerating the fascist bullshit my country is spewing to promote this Armageddon. At least I can let myself accept that I’m in good company, even if I am a member of the nation that brought this about.
How is carpet bombing of 2.5 M people in ultra-densely strip of land different from gas chambers?
I was wondering if Hamas really was indiscriminately killing civilians, not that I'd rule it out, but there is the issue of complete lack of trust in the media. Let's recall the Russian war crimes on balance seem to have in reality been committed by Ukraine, so we know that narratives are spun. Let's hope saner heads prevail.
That detachment from the horrors--that "it isn't real so we don't have to worry about what was done in our name" syndrome--is what keeps these conflicts growing and spreading. It's what the military industrial complex wants and needs to continue. It's why we've got to show the gruesome pictures and videos of the actual slaughter so it will shock the propagandized sleepy public awake. The body bags being loaded onto the planes from Vietnam shocked a generation and caused them to demand an end to that war. We need to do the same to help end all wars today.
Did the people of Gaza know they were to be sacrificed like this? Israel now has the green light from western allies to basically wipe gaza from the map.
The higher the cost of the weapon, the more legitimate the violence. Everyone knows that.
As Caitlin says, there is nothing complicated in all of this.
Britain, in 1948 created the state of Israel out of what was Palestinian land. Israel acquired a much more fertile area, leaving the Palestinians with the poorer quality land. Subsequently, Israel has taken other land it was not entitled to, against UN resolutions and, therefore, international law.
Worse than that, Israel has completely taken over Palestinian infrastructure, work, food and everything else so can simply stop every supply when it wants to, as it is now doing.
Whilst the treatment of the Jews in the 1930s and 40s was wholly unacceptable, it does not give Israel the right to behave as it does against Palestinians.
Palestinians and Jews are the same people, with the same beliefs and are both Abrahamic religions, so both Semitic. Interestingly, the definition of antisemitism is against Abrahamic religions not just Jews.
Jews claim antisemitism for every mild criticism of Israel and/or Jews which it is not. Antisemitism is being racist against Abrahamic religions, not a mild criticism of Israeli activities.
I see in the UK press today, we had the UK Hone Secretary claiming carrying a Palestinian flag could be a criminal offence and that the Police should protect Jews and Israelis from attack by Palestinians (in a peaceful protest), but not the other way round.
We also had a minute’s silence for Israel at the Labour Party conference. What about some recognition of Palestine, a state created by Britain for its treatment by Israel over 70+ years?
In an earlier post I referred to Hamas as a terrorist organisation. What I missed out was that it is not. It is a body protecting Palestinians in the only way it can. It may not be the favourite of every Palestinian but that is the same everywhere: every government governs without the vote of every person.
Also a terrorist group is not a terrorist group, simply because somebody else says it is. The US and the UK claim to be democracies and they are not, simply because they claim themselves to be that. It is like respect: you are not entitled to it, you have to earn it.
The holocaust mantra has been updated to reflect the truth: "Never Again! Unless we are the ones doing it!"
Very well said Caitlin. Regardless of anyone's sympathies atrocities against civilians are to be abhorred, with the scale of the abhorrence consistent with the scale of the atrocities. On this score the Israel regime is ahead by at least an order of magnitude (just check the ratio of civilian deaths and injuries after every flare up - about 80 to 1 on one occasion).
The hypocrisy of media and polities who are outraged about Palestinian actions and are then totally silent about the massively greater Israeli actions (genocidal over- reactions) is breathtaking.
Max Blumenthal's doco following the 2014 war in Gazza is more than enough to explain the causes of the latest violence. It would be nice if this was shown on all mainstream media channels!
The hypocrisy comes into it when the West pretends to be acting from the highest moral principles, and are lauded by the uninitiated - those who take rationalizations at face value. Israel has oppressed Palestine for 75 years, ever since the Nakba, or Palestine disaster when they forced 700,000 Palestinians from historic Palestine by openly committing the most horrendous atrocities, with the dual purpose of reducing the Palestinian population directly, and through fear of more atrocities. They have encouraged and ignored horrendous settler violence in the territories ever since, and for 16 years ignored the fact of 2.2 million Palestinians forced by Israel into what is commonly described as an open air prison where water, fuel and all supplies, even food, are strictly limited to the point that the the calories of a near starvation diet have been coldly calculated. And every few years they are mowed down in broad daylight - women, old men, unarmed young men, babies and young children. The West is always on the side of the most vicious, and that describes Israel. Gaza responded as all but the most subservient and brain dead must respond in order to keep their humanity. It is sickening to witness moral outrage and maudlin grief for entirely the wrong side.
I mean, it is about hypocrisy, a little bit. It is no coincidence that all the same empire apologists that supported the ukraine also support Israel today.
Serious intellectual hypocrisy is the greatest sin a person can commit. Nothing else matters.
Colonialists do what colonialists do. And they stick together.
Note that all the countries expressing shock and horror are the SAME one that have stood by while Israel has occupied, ravaged and dispossessed these civilians in Palestine for decades on end. They are the SAME ones that either drone innocent civilians to death around the world - knowingly - or ally with countries that do it:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/sep/07/us-airstrikes-killed-at-least-22000-civilians-since-911-analysis-finds
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/us-releases-video-of-afghanistan-drone-strike-that-killed-10-civilians
And immediately they have swing into full on coordinated fascist mode:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/11/pers-o11.html
«….. Biden’s remarks, predictably, incited Israeli war crimes. Immediately following the speech, Israel began using white phosphorus to create firestorms in civilian areas – a crime under international law. Israel bombed the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Tuesday, alongside countless other multi-story buildings. Israel continued to deny the Palestinians food, water, and electricity, in line with the pledge by Prime Minister Netanyahu that any areas harboring that resist the Israeli occupation will be reduced to “ruins.”
Biden's language comes close to promoting and legitimizing genocide. The resistance by Palestinians was a manifestation, Biden began, of “pure unadulterated evil.” These words echoed the statements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday who called the Palestinians “animals.” Netanyahu’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly….»
So all of this is simply colonialists standing together. None of them are actually interested in justice or peace. None.
There can be no reasonable doub t that Jews have been persecuted for a large part of the last two thousand years. So I used to be quite inhibited from criticizing Jewish organization. But them I learned that the group pf Jews who subscribe to Zionism are something else. It is rather like the advanced German civilisation which suddenly developed a very large and very horrible off-shoot called Naziism . To criticize and oppose Nazi Germany was then the right thing to do in spite of the danger of demonising Germans in general. The Nazi State needed opposing and dismantling and exactl the asme applies to the Zionist State of Israel. The 100,000bomber raids blasting civilian Germany were not morally justified and nor is the attempt of fHamas and others to dismantle the Zionist State of Israel via the murder of masses of civilians
It’s a bit like blaming your battered wife for trying to poison you. I do not condone her poisoning you, but it was certainly provoked and understandable. Then you start trying to make her admit that she’s been very bad, that it’s her fault, that she should condemn herself for being evil. You start making sure all your friends agree that it’s her fault, that she’s been very bad and is evil, to justify your continuing to batter her, and then getting them to help you pummel her so hard she’ll never try it again.
I am 81.
Joe Biden is the most evil President in my lifetime. I am saying Hail Marys for the Palestinians.
"If I was an Israel supporter I’d be thinking very carefully about the things I’m posting online in the build-up to what could end up being regarded as one of history’s worst genocidal massacres. The internet doesn’t forget. What you’re tweeting today could haunt you for life."
The Israeli government simply assumes that they will always be the winners, that their American gorilla will force everyone else to heel, that they always will be able to bully any dissent into silence and compliance.
George Steiner wrote that the Holocaust was what made the State of Israel possible.