Without extensive narrative manipulation, it would never occur to anyone that bombing Gaza into rubble is a reasonable response to a single Hamas attack.
And it’s taken extensive narrative manipulation to give anyone the impression the Israelis have ever dealt in good faith. Here is what they were after from before the start and how they planned to get it.
Perspective on the most shameless liars in memory.
1895 - Israel's "founder" Theodor Herzl:
“[We shall] spirit the penniless [Arab] population across the frontier by denying it employment. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly
1937 – Israel’s “Prime Minister” David Ben Gurion:
“We must expel the Arabs and take their places and if we have to use force, to guarantee our own right to settle in those places then we have force at our disposal.”
“we will abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine “
1948 - Plan Dalet by Ben Gurion - destruction of Palestinian towns and villages, prevent the return of Palestinians to their homes and repopulate towns with Jewish immigrants.
“We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return… The old will die and the young will forget.”
1967 – Koenig Memorandum:
“We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.”
1978 - Sharon Plan - built settlements along the north-south mountain ridge above Palestinian population centers, and a lateral road network that linked the settlements with major Israeli cities.
1980 - World Zionist Org.
"state-owned lands and uncultivated barren lands in Judea and Samaria [West Bank] ought to be seized right away... Being cut off by Jewish settlements the minority population will find it difficult to form a territorial and political continuity."
2017 -
Plan Smotrich:
Making life intolerable will force many Palestinians to quit the country. “Victory by settlement,” will show the Palestinians they have no hope of ever obtaining a separate state.
Two state solution? In a pig’s eye. Human empathy? Morality? Common decency? Nope.
Wow. Thank you for the history....invaluable to me...Biden supporters I know won't read it let alone accept it as fact. It's interesting to me: we're horrified that The Very Bad (and insane) Orange Monster is ahead in the polls. Dems shake their heads. But too many Dem/Biden apologists deny truth as well.... that Biden (may there be a hell) is the GENOCIDE POTUS. Denial. Seems to me....both "sides" are now .... nuts. Why does all of life now seem to revolve around Jewish peoples' hurt feelings? There's plenty of hurt everywhere. They are not "special" in that regard...in the end.. we're doomed...on the other hand, what is to come will be enormously interesting to observe. Fasten seat belts everyone...
Well, lets not make it seem like we're headed to Coney Island. Trump just made the following statement, "Donald Trump has voiced explicit backing for Israel’s war on Gaza, suggesting that he supports the goal expressed by the hard line government in Tel Aviv of continuing the assault until “total victory”. Of course we know old Joe is doing just that and Trump will do the same. maybe best to go third party.
He just gave a thumbs up to Israel to implement this genocide, and I just sent him a note. I said I wouldn't vote for anyone who supported what Israel is doing in Gaza, and that is the truth.
The term "Christian Zionist" is somewhat of an oxymoron but the Christian Zionism cult is oblivious to that thanks to the Scofield Reference Bible commentary. The deliberate & continuous dumbing down of the human livestock by the Zionist owned media helps the madness along no end.
Well, if they continue their genocide and the Jewish people have total sovereignty over Israel and Jesus comes their way, I hope he kicks their asses straight to hell.
The question is, does he have a choice but to do as he is told? Or will he be obstructed or assassinated for not taking orders? Besides, he only has four years against a bureaucracy that is entrenched for decades.
Knowing the average shitlib mentallity, as soon as Trump praises Israel or send them support they will turn on Israel simply because Trump did it. Never underestimate the power of hypocrisy.
Well, I think events of today suggest otherwise. They are all Genocidal Maniacs in power. Jill Stein will be on 50 states. Next week we start door knocking.
When Trump bleats that the attack on Gaza never would have happened if he were president, he’s absolutely right - but not for the reasons he believes. Had he been president in October, and allowed Bibi to commit a genocide, he would have faced a united opposition from liberals.
It always takes a Democrat to do the shitty stuff the Republicans want done.
Remember how the Squad and others expressed a touching sympathy for the plight of the people of Yemen when Trump was assisting the Saudis in their genocide there, only to drop their concerns like a hot turd once Biden took office?
Sure do. I remember how most of the Squad reacted to the "Force the Vote" campaign, to pressure Nancy Pelosi to at least have a floor vote for Medicare For All. Most of the Squad didn't budge a bloody inch. Even though that was exactly why most Progessives had voted them in - to fight for these kind of progressive values.
Cenk Uygur & TYT also turned out to be a huge hypocrites on the issue. Along with a number of others who revealed their true colors: Ryan Grim and David Sirota come to mind.
Yes! Exactly! In the end, that was why I eased out of activism, as limited as it was. Always at odds....with the "liberal" Dems! When I suggested a Dem POTUS was doing exactly the same dastardly deeds as a Repug POTUS (or many times WORSE than)....I was met with some hostility or....more likely....ignored. So what do we do when the "good guys" support the "lesser evil" instead of supporting a not-lesser-evil (Jill Stein, Cornell West, et al.)?
Why can't these third party candidates run for lesser offices first and gain support rather than suddenly showing up for the presidential election. If they did that, they might actually have a chance.
Lisa, no. They wouldn’t actually have a chance. The two party system is fixed and rigged. Even Bernie had to join the DNC to run, and they only allowed it because he wasn’t taken seriously, just as Trump was allowed on those same grounds. The DNC won’t make that mistake again. And West and Green have both been deeply involved in politics for a long time, just not as part of the DNC, RNC. Trump was involved only as a donor. Obama was a single term Senator and nothing else - and only because he was being groomed for a presidential run.
Jill Stein, I will be voting for Jill Stein, there is no lesser Genocide. I will go to Chicago and scream Genocide Joe GO HOME : ). I know you will think this is crazy, you're not the first ha. I think Jill can win this IF people vote rather than stay home.
Thanks for all that, as disturbing as it is. To think those that were handed the land of Palestine based on proclaimed lack of acceptance and prejudice and the holocaust make this list of comments particularly disturbing to say the least.
You are right, George. Your quotes, plus many hundreds of others show clearly what Israel has had as its objectives since 1948. The fact that the feeble UN and so many other White/ Anglo/ Christian countries have supported them for all these years is the greatest disgrace of our times, influenced by bribery and corruption since day one. Still expanding with the US government sitting at about 86% of corrupted politicians, "brought and owned" Israel stooges.
It is truly unbelevable that they have got away with this outrageous genocide for so long and not a sign of any counter action by the United Nations, an organisation that has always injected itself into disagreements and wars in the past. BUT NOT THIS ONE
Toothless and useless. If it was Sahara, Congo, South Sudan, Pakistan, India, Cyprus, Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia, they would be gearing up to keep the warring parties apart. But with the hated Zionists, everyone backs away, content to observe, once more again, the ridiculous allowable use of the US veto to achieve what the US wants.
The UN....an International social club, achieving nothing, year in and year out.
How can a country like the US, so heavily involved in criminal activities , the like of which we have never seen before, killing thousands of women and children with US supplied weaponry and barrels of money from the US taxpayers and all supplied by a grovelling US President, have a Veto.
How the hell is that possible.
As I said, the United Nations has run its race. Shut it down.
Let's face it, the UN is done and dusted. A new organization representing a multi-polar reality, and anti-imperialism, will need to emerge. Let's be realistic, it will be damn hard to build, and damn hard to preserve, without dealing with the cancerous Western controlled financial system--the root of the problem for centuries. What did someone recently say? "The Vampire Ball is ending." or some such thing? We can only hope.
That's a damned fine list and earns a follow. Thanks for mentioning Sharon in 1978. I asked an Israeli consul about that back then. He didn't like the question. It's how I got my Mossad file. It's also how I got my tires slashed and a swastika spray-painted on my car by Zionists.
It was nothing compared to what they do in Palestine, but it gave me a taste of their true character.
Nor would America have blown $8 trillion on the “war on terror” . Ending world hunger would cost $350 billion. How many enemies would that engender? All the backers of world hunger would be up in arms.
* 695 Israeli Civilians killed on 10/7. Many, how many were killed by the IDF? The Hannibal Directive was in effect on 10/7! It’s almost like this was set up to happen in order for Israel to “Destroy The Lawn”!
I think I saw Donald and Jared sneaking around on the Gaza beach with a measuring tape.
(I know an attempt at humor may not be appropriate given the horror that is underway. But I don't like how people are drawn into just another con artist's shtick.)
The Israeli’s have never acted in good faith and it’s taken the advent of Independent and Social Media to expose them and open the world’s eyes to the realities and true happenings of their decades long acts of criminality, murder and oppression. Banning Tik Tok in the US explains the power of transformative change. Will X be next?
When narrative manipulation causes a person or thousands of people to not merely doubt what their own eyes are seeing and their own experience is telling them, the marketing propagandizing trance has succeeded.
I am also grateful for a number of outlets on the net which provides pictures of what Israel is implementing in Gaza and a picture of course says a thousand words and leaves no questions in your head.
Israel's struggle for peace is a sincere one. In fact, Israel desires to live at peace not only with its neighbors, but also and especially with its own Palestinian population, and with Palestinians whose lands it military occupies by force. Israel's desire for peace is not only rhetorical but also substantive and deeply psychological. With few exceptions, prominent Zionist leaders since the inception of colonial Zionism have desired to establish peace with the Palestinians and other Arabs whose lands they slated for colonization and settlement. The only thing Israel has asked for, and continues to ask for in order to end the state of war with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors, is that all recognize its right to be a racist state that discriminates by law against Palestinians and other Arabs and grants differential legal rights and privileges to its own Jewish citizens and to all other Jews anywhere. The resistance that the Palestinian people and other Arabs have launched against Israel's right to be a racist state is what continues to stand between Israel and the peace for which it has struggled and to which it has been committed for decades. Indeed, this resistance is nothing less than the "New anti-Semitism".
If Israelis want peace, the power is theirs. They must stop killing people in Gaza. They must stop arresting people in the West Bank. They must return homes and land to the Palestinians. They must withdraw to UN specified boundaries, recalling that the UN set up the rules in the first place. They must withdraw from Syria. They must stop harming civilians. They must allow a two-state solution.
The UN did not set up any rules in the first place. Years before the UN, Britain as one of the victorious powers of WWI was given the newly formed colony of Palestine formed from parts of provinces of the defeated Ottoman Empire. Britain agreed and the ruling powers agreed by treaty that Palestine would be developed to become an independent nation for the Jewish people as it was their historical homeland. The League of Nations issued a mandate for Britain to do so. Britain left in 1947. Israel declared itself a sovereign nation and joined the United Nations. Hamas is the only group deliberately harming civilians. Israel is fighting a war against Hamas and civilians are inadvertently being killed.
Oh, Caleb you left out the 1948 Nakba, you know where the Jews displaced some 700 thousand Palestinians, and killed thousands, and then took a lot of their things. You also forgot to mention that Palestine was heavily populated by Arabs, and maybe 5 percent were Jewish when Balfour made his deal with the Zionists. I mean it was their land, for more then a thousand years. Kind of sad, right? You also left out the UN divided up the land because you make it sound like the whole thing went to Israel, not true, but Israel did want the whole thing. Do you know that for many years Israel was slowly, and now not so slowly, swallowing up the West Bank with all the settlements they built, and the people in Gaza were wrapped up tight in what is often called an outdoor concentration camp? Lets also clarify your ending. It goes like this. Israel is implementing a genocide against the people of Gaza, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
What convenient nonsense....otherwise known as AIPAC propaganda. Next you'll be saying "Israel has a right to defend itself". Sure it does - but not from Plestinians whom it illegally terrorises, murders and steals their lands. It's the Palestinians who have the right to not only defend themselves but also a 100% legal right to ATTACK their oppressors.
It is illegal to attack and deliberately murder civilians as Hamas did. It is criminal to rape and mutilate women as Hamas proudly livestreamed on Oct 7. When enemy soldiers surrender, the rules state they should be treated as prisoners of war, not massacred and burnt as was done by Hamas. Hostage taking is also prohibited by the rules of war, but Hamas is also guilty of that. Your argument in support of Hamas is contradictory- they didn’t do it, but they had the right to do it. Hamas started hostilities on Oct 7, breaking the ceasefire that existed on Oct 6. I know: there was no ceasefire and they had the right to break it.
Hamas on October 7th did not set out to murder anyone. The Israeli bombed their own people. Just as they are carpet bombing Gaza where their own hostages have died from their bombs.
Yes Britain was given the land as a Mandate. A Mandate to develop it a national homeland for the Jewish people. So under international law, it is land that belongs to a Jewish state. There was no group of people who called themselves Palestinians at the time other than the Jews who lived there.
There were Jewish nations and kingdoms there for a thousand years. The people had been exiled by the Romans in the 2nd century. The Jews never stopped asserting their rights to the land, praying for it 3 times a day. The notion of Palestinians as a mix of Arab speaking immigrants who lived in the Mandate area was created in the mid-60s. They are new arrivals and certainly not indigenous in any sense. At best they are fellow Semitic peoples, but to be more specific they are mostly Arabs who are indigenous to, wait for it, Arabia. The Jews were indigenous to, you guessed it, Judea. Dig in any spot and you will find Hebrew but no Arabic, artifacts of Jewish origin but nothing Palestinian. The Quran mentions Jewish kings, but no Palestinian ones. The Arabic speaking people of Mandate Palestine have no linguistic or cultural differences from their compatriots in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Arabia, Jordan, and Yemen. When the Jews were kicked out of the countries of the Middle East in 1948-50 they were told to go back to where they came from- the land of Israel.
Even according to their Jewish bible the jews stole Palestinian land and proudly mass murdered to do so. (God told us....). The hebrews were just one of many wandering tribes out of the arab lands to the south.
Israel was set up by the anglo-americans precisely to terrorise the region, that is it's raison d'etre and mandate...apart from looting. When the US declared the "War on [of] Terror" under George Bush the 1st, Sharon declared indignantly "WE invented terrorism!".
Narrative manipulation is another phrase for lies are truth, and democracy is totalitarian.
The Engineering of Consent -- That monster, Bernays.
“The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.”
O, "When the public is convinced of the soundness of an idea, it will proceed to action. People translate an idea into action suggested by the idea itself, whether it is ideological, political, or social. They may adopt a philosophy that stresses racial and religious tolerance; they may vote a New Deal into office; or they may organize a consumers' buying strike. But such results do not just happen. In a democracy they can be accomplished principally by the engineering of consent."
So, think about how narratives in the West have been largely written by and controlled by and held by and marketed by and sold by and manufactured by, well, those folk, a group which rhymes with "blues." And we are not talking Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf or Robert Johnson or Bessie Smith.
It’s kinda like the Zionists have been preparing for this moment for a long time—-or perhaps the goals of various Settler Colonial enterprises coincided 🫣
Funny how close "Engineering consent" is to "Manufacturing Consent". I read Chomsky, but I don't believe he mentioned Bernays in Manufacturing Consent. I could be wrong, it's been a few years - but there is certainly a connection and debt owed there. Bernays was certainly the original gangster of mass manipulation theory (and practice!).
Chomsky relied ion Walter Lippmann, a student of Bernays and far better known at the time:
"the term “manufacturing consent” is not mine, I took it from Walter Lippmann, the leading public intellectual and leading media figure of the twentieth century, who thought it was a great idea. He said we should manufacture consent, that’s the way democracies should work. There should be a small group of powerful people, and the rest of the population should be spectators, and you should force them to consent by controlling, regimenting their minds."
Chomsky's old man prefigures in a lot of nefarious eugenics and Zionist things in Philly. Chomsky is a real kibbutzim lover. He's one creepy Epstein bro. Alison McDowell does good research over at her Wrench in the gears site.
(Rather than 'blowback' and the notion that Israel lost control of Hamas, wouldn't the history of attacks on Israel make more sense as an intended consequence - sort of a perpetual 9/11?
After all, victimhood is the life-blood of Israel.)
You are really deluded. You can go meet thousands of people, many Leftists who believed in peace (yes it was a peace festival) and a two state solution who saw their friends butchered by Hamas. Most Israelis wanted nothing more than to pay off Hamas and let it rule Gaza. The intelligence agencies kept saying Hamas leaders were fat and happy living in swank hotels in the Gulf and would never start a war. There was nothing for Israel to gain by any false flag operation. There was a great failure of Israeli intelligence convincing themselves of a deterrence that no longer existed.
The horrible part, Peace would have avoided all of this. Now as israel has committed Genocide on the Palestinian People, it has economically murdered itself. israel will die a slow and lonely death isolated from the world other than the Murder Porn Fans. The same is true of nato/Ukraine. If only someone in the West had said, Gee, nuclear weapons in Ukraine 5 mins. from Moscow is insane maybe Ukraine should be forever neutral. Peace is an option. There will be a new Palestine.
Without extensive narrative manipulation, the world would have never found itself in such a mess where a genocide is being livestreamed on social media platforms while simultaneously being denied it was occurring in the mainstream media. Without extensive narrative manipulation, the good people of the planet would have shut down the ethnic cleansing within days and thrown the war criminals all in prison. Without extensive narrative manipulation, we wouldn't be seeing a ban of TikTok and other mediums where some semblance of free speech still exists. It's time to boycott and ban all narrative manipulation!
The narrative has been manipulated for the last 80 years at incalculable, human, social, and financial costs. The dictatorship is here and now as Washington is shambolic. Americans have to decide whether to rebuild the American Dream or settle for a "domestic dictatorship" where the decline continues.
"A nation can be one or the other, a democracy or an imperialist, but it can't be both. If it sticks to imperialism, it will, like the old Roman Republic, on which so much of our system was modeled, like the old Roman Republic, it will lose its democracy to a domestic dictatorship."
"Imperial politics represents the conquest of domestic politics and the latter's conversion into a crucial element of inverted totalitarianism. It makes no sense to ask how the democratic citizen could 'participate' substantively in imperial politics; hence it is not surprising that the subject of empire is taboo in electoral debates. No major politician or party has so much as publicly remarked on the existence of an American empire."
*The above quotes are from historian Chalmers Johnson's trilogy, written 20 years ago. He saw all this coming and tried to warn his country. He died shortly after publishing the three volumes, Nemesis, Blowback and The Sorrows of Empire
I was just going to concur with your views, and add the famous quote from Supreme Court Justice Brandeis about the choice between democracy v. concentrated wealth. I had always assumed it came from a Supreme Court decision, but in searching, I could not find a link to the original source!
Apparently there is none - the origin (1941) seems to be from a pro-labor Congressman from Colorado, who was a close friend of Brandeis, but the modern "source" is my friend Ralph Nader in 2000 - I came across this very interesting historical research into the origin of Brandeis' "quote", written by Technical Services Librarian in the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. Good read, check it out:
Brandeis was a clandestine financial supporter of Jewish terror in Palestine. The Parushim society... He was one of the pillars of Zionist destruction of the US.
All these talking points are lies. One by one. "Rape" never happened. Hamas did not "kidnap" anyone, the MANY armed resistance groups (not just "hamas") took hostages in order to free innocnet Palestinian people (thousands) who are held hostages by Shin Beth and IDF WITHOUT CHARGE. So, whose hostages and whose kidnapping? To call genocde in Gaza "hamas endangering" is the same as the genocide monster Golda Meir said "We cannot forgive Arabs for forcing us to kill their children". Who ON EARTH would touch civilians AT ALL if the goal is "fighting Hamas"? Who? Only depraved medieval barbarians like Israel. This is what serial killers do: they kill whole families in order to "punish" their father. Hamas never said anything about "destroying Israel", they only want a two-state solution in terms of pre-1967 borders (read their charter, goddammit). The rest of the decent world INDEED wants to dismantle the Reich-style race-State and establish a normal state with equal right for all. Hardly "genocide of Jews", is it? ISIS, just do you know, was brought to action, armed and trained by Zionists in Israel and the US. ISIS never targeted anyone Jewish, only human heritage of Muslims and Christians, and secular states like Syria. I am not sure why repeat such stupid, meaningless, stale and outdated power-state propaganda about people you have no idea about. Here are a few words by the great journalist Tim Anderson: "Hamas is far from alone. There were almost the same number of operations each by the Al-Quds (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa and Al Asifah Brigades (Fatah) – 90 and 81 respectively. However, it seems that Al-Qassam may have used more heavy weapons. Overall Al-Qassam accounted for about one-quarter of the combined Palestinian Resistance operations. All this makes even more illusory the supposed Israeli aim of eliminating “Hamas”. It is notable that the militia of Fatah (the dominant party of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority: PA) is very active in armed resistance, given that the Fatah-led PLO ‘recognises’ "Israel" and the Fatah-dominated PA’s prestige is at an all-time low, given its collaborationist role in recent decades. The Fatah Resistance groups (mainly the Al-Aqsa Brigades but also Al-Asifah) may be vindicating the party to some extent, in the eyes of Palestinian people. Smaller resistance groups linked to the PFLP (Abu Ali Mustafa) and the DFLP (Omar al-Qasim) carried out another 21 operations in February. Two operations were also recorded for the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades (on 21 Feb and 22 Feb)." - March 2, 2024.
Without extensive raping torturing murdering and mutilation by Hamas, no one would have thought that Hamas was a depraved terrorist organization that needed to be destroyed. Without Hamas kidnapping children and women, no one would have thought Hamas was a bunch of war criminals. Without Hamas hiding its weapons and using civilians as human shields, no one would have thought Hamas was violating the rules of war and deliberately endangering the civilians of Gaza it rules. Without Hamas declaring its goal was to destroy Israel and kill all Jews and eliminate all infidels and throw all gays off rooftops, no one would have thought they were the ISIS of Gaza.
When a people sell their soul to Hamas or any other Islamic terrorist organization they are in league with the devil and deserve whatever hell they have invited upon themselves. Those who are not merchants of terror themselves are raising young terrorists who kill at will. War is hell. The Gazans brought this on themselves and deserve annihilation. The world will be a better place when Israel completes its bloody but necessary mission.
So, one, like say Caleb, can state all kinds of malicious, slanderous bullshit about Hamas here, just don’t say jew(ish) without reverence or you be threatened with permaban???
And, who is it that invented, and repeatedly repeats those lies about Hamas???
The tribe that shall not be criticized, right?
Is this a mistake in reply alignment, or have you completely lost your mind, or don’t you articulate very well?
On the other hand, if you are agreeing with Caleb, die bitch.
You should know WHO actually is killing Christians, spit on Christians, vandalizes and burns Christian churches and schools. I will give you a hint: it has not been Hamas doing all that. Who bombed ancient Christian churches to rubble and killed all patients in Christian hospitals in Gaza? Hamas? haha.
All these talking points are lies. One by one. "Rape" never happened. Hamas did not "kidnap" anyone, the MANY armed resistance groups (not just "hamas") took hostages in order to free innocnet Palestinian people (thousands) who are held hostages by Shin Beth and IDF WITHOUT CHARGE. So, whose hostages and whose kidnapping? To call genocde in Gaza "hamas endangering" is the same as the genocide monster Golda Meir said "We cannot forgive Arabs for forcing us to kill their children". Who ON EARTH would touch civilians AT ALL if the goal is "fighting Hamas"? Who? Only depraved medieval barbarians like Israel. This is what serial killers do: they kill whole families in order to "punish" their father. Hamas never said anything about "destroying Israel", they only want a two-state solution in terms of pre-1967 borders (read their charter, goddammit). The rest of the decent world INDEED wants to dismantle the Reich-style race-State and establish a normal state with equal right for all. Hardly "genocide of Jews", is it? ISIS, just do you know, was brought to action, armed and trained by Zionists in Israel and the US. ISIS never targeted anyone Jewish, only human heritage of Muslims and Christians, and secular states like Syria. I am not sure why repeat such stupid, meaningless, stale and outdated power-state propaganda about people you have no idea about. Here are a few words by the great journalist Tim Anderson: "Hamas is far from alone. There were almost the same number of operations each by the Al-Quds (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa and Al Asifah Brigades (Fatah) – 90 and 81 respectively. However, it seems that Al-Qassam may have used more heavy weapons. Overall Al-Qassam accounted for about one-quarter of the combined Palestinian Resistance operations. All this makes even more illusory the supposed Israeli aim of eliminating “Hamas”. It is notable that the militia of Fatah (the dominant party of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority: PA) is very active in armed resistance, given that the Fatah-led PLO ‘recognises’ "Israel" and the Fatah-dominated PA’s prestige is at an all-time low, given its collaborationist role in recent decades. The Fatah Resistance groups (mainly the Al-Aqsa Brigades but also Al-Asifah) may be vindicating the party to some extent, in the eyes of Palestinian people. Smaller resistance groups linked to the PFLP (Abu Ali Mustafa) and the DFLP (Omar al-Qasim) carried out another 21 operations in February. Two operations were also recorded for the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades (on 21 Feb and 22 Feb)." - March 2, 2024.
Hamas NEVER did any of that, except taking hostages - but 200 hostages is a fair negotiation if Israel is holding 2,500 unlawfully kidnapped, indefinitely detained without charge and tortured daily women and kids in prisons. They had no choice, because there is no other way to make a point that hostages, held by Israel, must be released. And what is Israel doing? Killing these Israeli hostages. Snipers and bombs. The "cruelty" here is simply truth versus cynical paranoid fantasies. All Israelis say about Hamas, is a mirror propaganda, because it is Israel and the settlers who have done all that: rape, opening open pregnant women bellies, burning kids and babies alive (remember Ali Dawabshe family and Mohammed Abu-Khdeir) - if you see the documentary Tantura and Stone Cold Justice (about Israeli torture of Palestinian kids in jails) you would stop talking about "both sides". And calling Palestinian resistance "warlords" - there is NO WAY in the world that ethnically cleansed, colonized, genocided and tortured people should not resist and rise up with arms. Palestinians have a full legal right to armed struggle against what is being unleashed on them.
"Without Extensive Narrative Manipulation ... " nothing of this would have happened. Wise words from Caitlin.
Who or what made this manipulation possible? How did the masses not only in the USA but all over Europe become willing zombies? How did they fall in line with the naked lie and turn away from the truth to be found if they bothered to scratch the surface? Are they willing to give up their comfortable lives so that some poor sods in far off lands can live?
Currently unfortunately the answer to your question is 'no'. The Western comfortable classes are living in obliviousness; their clothes stitched by foreign sweatshop workers, their vegetables picked by poor laborers and food prepped by the service worker underclass, houses also built by the working class or immigrants, and their lifestyle powered by cheap fossil fuel energy. They are absolutely not willing to risk anything to give up even one of their little creature comforts or priveledges. They'll go on a 'March for Women" or a "March for Science", but they will not organize or risk what is required to bring down US hegemony and militarism.
Actually most European countries have been loudly objecting to Israel and refusing to support it from the start (948). The EU itself back when it was the Common Market built endless housing, clinics, schools and hospitals in Palestine. Built and rebuilt since these were destroyed again and again - purposely - by "Israel". This all stopped round 2000 when the EU (run out of Washington ) started. Most Europeans do NOT support Israel and object to it being in the Euro championships, Eurovision etc as dictated by Washington,. Note that Russia is not allowed to participate in the Olympics but the killer terrorist staten since 1948 "Israel" is. What does that tell you.
The slaughter of the Gazan people is absolutely unacceptable. It should not be happening. There has to be some way we can stop it. Who can we talk to? I tell you, Trump's son Donald Jr. sends me emails. I will respond to them in no uncertain terms. The Gaza massacre must end.
I understand what you're saying. I am appalled by Trump's statements about Israel. But from an American perspective, Trump is our best shot for a warless world. There was much less war during his term than before or after. What is more, Donald Trump Jr. is against the Gaza massacre. He may be able to influence his father.
I am not one to passively "expect" anything. I am one to try to change things. I see no opening in the United States for peace other than through Trump.
Wish you and Jill Stein the best Revolution. For me, I no longer want to legitimatize the corrupt US electoral process by giving it the even faintest air of legitimacy with my participation.
I think the best way now to move forward is what MLK Jr did (without running for an office) - i.e. peaceful, organized resistance wherever and whenever possible. And support of workers and labor strikes, like the brave Chris Smalls.
You're talking to the choir. I know, but horrible to hear him support a genocide with great enthusiasm, and he knows that's what it is. In America running for any office demands you support Israel if you expect, or want a win. It's sickening. Down with AIPAC! That being said I can't trust him.
Here is a quote from Caitlin Johstone's June 2, 2023 substack post: "Trump Is Bad Because He's Similar To Other US Presidents, Not Because He's Different"
"Trump ramped up cold war aggressions against Russia, helped set the US on track for war with China, killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans with starvation sanctions, vetoed attempts to save Yemen from U.S.-backed genocide, assassinated Iran's top military commander, worked to foment civil war in Iran using starvation sanctions and CIA ops with the stated goal of effecting regime change, occupied Syrian oil fields with the goal of preventing Syria’s reconstruction, launched repeated airstrikes against the Syrian government, greatly increased the number of troops in the Middle East and elsewhere, greatly increased the number of bombs dropped per day from the previous administration, killing record numbers of civilians, and reduced military accountability for those airstrikes. He also imprisoned Julian Assange by escalating the empire's war on journalism for exposing US war crimes."
Also, it appears Trump would be even more willing than Genocide Joe to support the continuing sadistic mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza right now. I don't share your opinion that "Trump is our best shot". It sounds like yet another "Lesser of Two Evils" argument the American public now has been subject to - because both US political parties are morally obscene and corrupt, and only answer to the Oligarchs - not the US Constitution or The People.
The Lesser of Two Evils is still evil.
The two party system in the US is a con game by the obscenely wealthy - to make it look like the US is a working democracy. Both parties are two sides of the same backside.
To me, it's just another "Lesser of Two Evils" argument karl is making for Trump. We Americans have been hearing this type of reasoning now for a number of decades - "vote for my corrupt party, because we're not as bad as that other awful party". Because that's all they got these days - given both parties are now beholden to their wealthy donors, are corrupt as the day is long, and do nothing for ordinary Americans other than provide a few breadcrumbs once in awhile.
One of the effective ways to manipulate the narrative is simply to drop it all together to pretend it’s not happening at all. And that’s why TikTok must go and it will go with a feeble pushback by a few principled Congressmen. Any news source that provides pictures of this atrocity will be banned if Israel can possibly do it.
This bridge is going to pull the US into the war beyond supplying money and weapons. When the first US soldier is shot, they’ll go full on about the sanctity of US lives and we were only there to “provide aid.” Israel (according to some US military leaders) doesn’t have the expertise to go into the tunnels but the US does. An even more deadly attack will be spun into an heroic battle to extinguish Hamas once and for all. What’s left of the civilian population will be ignored completely by the news media.
"Any news source that provides pictures of this atrocity will be banned if Israel can possibly do it."
This reminds me of a personal story on the media coverage of the Abu Ghraib torture photos. Early on, they were not published in US media but were in Europe. At the time, I had a "citizen journalism" column at the Star Ledger, NJ's largest newspaper. There was no editorial content control over what I wrote. Joe Lieberman (and/or with Obama support) sponsored a bill to amend the Freedom of Information Act to prohibit the release of these photos. Disgusted by that censorship, I wrote a column about the bill that provided a link to the European news photos. It was only a link (not the photos themselves) and I include a READER WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT.
But within 10 minutes of posting that column, I got an angry phone call by the Editor of the paper, screaming at me. He not only took the post down he terminated my column. Never forget that episode. Its also what started my blog.
The idea of censoring out "graphic content" and "sensitive content" is monstrous. This is how they don't let any truth through, about what they are doing to people. On Facebook, how many posts have been taken down and accounts suspended for simply showing what Zionists or Ukrainians have done to people. Once, I posted an article about Aaron Bushnell and got punished for "promoting suicide". Another time I posted Zionist settlers' graffiti "Kill all Arabs" and got suspended for "violent content". It is becoming basically impossible to show any evidence of the evil and their victims. Israel and Israelists are doing one thing: they establish worldwide that evidence does not matter, what matters is the narrative. Like Netanyahu said "It does not matter if justice is on your side. You have to depict your position as just". Therefore, anyone who demands evidence from them that their claims about Hamas have any basis in reality, is for them plain and simple "Hamas supporter", for disbelieving Zionist narrative.
And it’s taken extensive narrative manipulation to give anyone the impression the Israelis have ever dealt in good faith. Here is what they were after from before the start and how they planned to get it.
Perspective on the most shameless liars in memory.
1895 - Israel's "founder" Theodor Herzl:
“[We shall] spirit the penniless [Arab] population across the frontier by denying it employment. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly
1937 – Israel’s “Prime Minister” David Ben Gurion:
“We must expel the Arabs and take their places and if we have to use force, to guarantee our own right to settle in those places then we have force at our disposal.”
“we will abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine “
1948 - Plan Dalet by Ben Gurion - destruction of Palestinian towns and villages, prevent the return of Palestinians to their homes and repopulate towns with Jewish immigrants.
“We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return… The old will die and the young will forget.”
1967 – Koenig Memorandum:
“We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.”
1978 - Sharon Plan - built settlements along the north-south mountain ridge above Palestinian population centers, and a lateral road network that linked the settlements with major Israeli cities.
1980 - World Zionist Org.
"state-owned lands and uncultivated barren lands in Judea and Samaria [West Bank] ought to be seized right away... Being cut off by Jewish settlements the minority population will find it difficult to form a territorial and political continuity."
2017 -
Plan Smotrich:
Making life intolerable will force many Palestinians to quit the country. “Victory by settlement,” will show the Palestinians they have no hope of ever obtaining a separate state.
Two state solution? In a pig’s eye. Human empathy? Morality? Common decency? Nope.
Wow. Thank you for the history....invaluable to me...Biden supporters I know won't read it let alone accept it as fact. It's interesting to me: we're horrified that The Very Bad (and insane) Orange Monster is ahead in the polls. Dems shake their heads. But too many Dem/Biden apologists deny truth as well.... that Biden (may there be a hell) is the GENOCIDE POTUS. Denial. Seems to me....both "sides" are now .... nuts. Why does all of life now seem to revolve around Jewish peoples' hurt feelings? There's plenty of hurt everywhere. They are not "special" in that regard...in the end.. we're doomed...on the other hand, what is to come will be enormously interesting to observe. Fasten seat belts everyone...
Well, lets not make it seem like we're headed to Coney Island. Trump just made the following statement, "Donald Trump has voiced explicit backing for Israel’s war on Gaza, suggesting that he supports the goal expressed by the hard line government in Tel Aviv of continuing the assault until “total victory”. Of course we know old Joe is doing just that and Trump will do the same. maybe best to go third party.
Trump is sitting in pole position for Nov. Even he is not stupid enough to jeopardize that by saying anything but that.
He just gave a thumbs up to Israel to implement this genocide, and I just sent him a note. I said I wouldn't vote for anyone who supported what Israel is doing in Gaza, and that is the truth.
He doesn’t care. He has the entire American Christian Zionist nation behind him.
The term "Christian Zionist" is somewhat of an oxymoron but the Christian Zionism cult is oblivious to that thanks to the Scofield Reference Bible commentary. The deliberate & continuous dumbing down of the human livestock by the Zionist owned media helps the madness along no end.
Well, if they continue their genocide and the Jewish people have total sovereignty over Israel and Jesus comes their way, I hope he kicks their asses straight to hell.
The question is, does he have a choice but to do as he is told? Or will he be obstructed or assassinated for not taking orders? Besides, he only has four years against a bureaucracy that is entrenched for decades.
Then he isn't a leader. Duh.
I think he even said that about himself. YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Knowing the average shitlib mentallity, as soon as Trump praises Israel or send them support they will turn on Israel simply because Trump did it. Never underestimate the power of hypocrisy.
💯 There is a settlement named after him in the Golan Heights, which his prodigal SIL financed.
And today we hear the scumbag SIL talking about the value of Gazan coastline real estate. 🤮
Truth is Trump would be happy to see settlements anywhere, even hell - as long as he got a cut from selling condos there….
Well, I think events of today suggest otherwise. They are all Genocidal Maniacs in power. Jill Stein will be on 50 states. Next week we start door knocking.
When Trump bleats that the attack on Gaza never would have happened if he were president, he’s absolutely right - but not for the reasons he believes. Had he been president in October, and allowed Bibi to commit a genocide, he would have faced a united opposition from liberals.
It always takes a Democrat to do the shitty stuff the Republicans want done.
Remember how the Squad and others expressed a touching sympathy for the plight of the people of Yemen when Trump was assisting the Saudis in their genocide there, only to drop their concerns like a hot turd once Biden took office?
Sure do. I remember how most of the Squad reacted to the "Force the Vote" campaign, to pressure Nancy Pelosi to at least have a floor vote for Medicare For All. Most of the Squad didn't budge a bloody inch. Even though that was exactly why most Progessives had voted them in - to fight for these kind of progressive values.
Cenk Uygur & TYT also turned out to be a huge hypocrites on the issue. Along with a number of others who revealed their true colors: Ryan Grim and David Sirota come to mind.
It would have happened because by Oct 7th he would already have helped Netanyahu wipe out the Palestinians and he would have nuked Iran too.
Biden and the Dems are taking the same route. Just slower.
Yes! Exactly! In the end, that was why I eased out of activism, as limited as it was. Always at odds....with the "liberal" Dems! When I suggested a Dem POTUS was doing exactly the same dastardly deeds as a Repug POTUS (or many times WORSE than)....I was met with some hostility or....more likely....ignored. So what do we do when the "good guys" support the "lesser evil" instead of supporting a not-lesser-evil (Jill Stein, Cornell West, et al.)?
Why can't these third party candidates run for lesser offices first and gain support rather than suddenly showing up for the presidential election. If they did that, they might actually have a chance.
Lisa, no. They wouldn’t actually have a chance. The two party system is fixed and rigged. Even Bernie had to join the DNC to run, and they only allowed it because he wasn’t taken seriously, just as Trump was allowed on those same grounds. The DNC won’t make that mistake again. And West and Green have both been deeply involved in politics for a long time, just not as part of the DNC, RNC. Trump was involved only as a donor. Obama was a single term Senator and nothing else - and only because he was being groomed for a presidential run.
Jill Stein, I will be voting for Jill Stein, there is no lesser Genocide. I will go to Chicago and scream Genocide Joe GO HOME : ). I know you will think this is crazy, you're not the first ha. I think Jill can win this IF people vote rather than stay home.
"Screaming Genocide Joe go home" "crazy"? NO. We should have at least 100,000 fellow sistren and brethlen screaming along with us...in harmony...
Oops, brethren...
Thanks for all that, as disturbing as it is. To think those that were handed the land of Palestine based on proclaimed lack of acceptance and prejudice and the holocaust make this list of comments particularly disturbing to say the least.
You are right, George. Your quotes, plus many hundreds of others show clearly what Israel has had as its objectives since 1948. The fact that the feeble UN and so many other White/ Anglo/ Christian countries have supported them for all these years is the greatest disgrace of our times, influenced by bribery and corruption since day one. Still expanding with the US government sitting at about 86% of corrupted politicians, "brought and owned" Israel stooges.
It is truly unbelevable that they have got away with this outrageous genocide for so long and not a sign of any counter action by the United Nations, an organisation that has always injected itself into disagreements and wars in the past. BUT NOT THIS ONE
Toothless and useless. If it was Sahara, Congo, South Sudan, Pakistan, India, Cyprus, Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia, they would be gearing up to keep the warring parties apart. But with the hated Zionists, everyone backs away, content to observe, once more again, the ridiculous allowable use of the US veto to achieve what the US wants.
The UN....an International social club, achieving nothing, year in and year out.
How can a country like the US, so heavily involved in criminal activities , the like of which we have never seen before, killing thousands of women and children with US supplied weaponry and barrels of money from the US taxpayers and all supplied by a grovelling US President, have a Veto.
How the hell is that possible.
As I said, the United Nations has run its race. Shut it down.
Let's face it, the UN is done and dusted. A new organization representing a multi-polar reality, and anti-imperialism, will need to emerge. Let's be realistic, it will be damn hard to build, and damn hard to preserve, without dealing with the cancerous Western controlled financial system--the root of the problem for centuries. What did someone recently say? "The Vampire Ball is ending." or some such thing? We can only hope.
That's a damned fine list and earns a follow. Thanks for mentioning Sharon in 1978. I asked an Israeli consul about that back then. He didn't like the question. It's how I got my Mossad file. It's also how I got my tires slashed and a swastika spray-painted on my car by Zionists.
It was nothing compared to what they do in Palestine, but it gave me a taste of their true character.
We could just fix it.
How to fix corrupted government in three simple steps:
https://open.substack.com/pub/joshketry/p/how-to-fix-corrupt-government-in?r=7oa9d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Nor would America have blown $8 trillion on the “war on terror” . Ending world hunger would cost $350 billion. How many enemies would that engender? All the backers of world hunger would be up in arms.
And everyone needs to know,THIS
Indeed. If anything posterizes the wanton corruption of the MSM it’s the coverage of Israel.
* 695 Israeli Civilians killed on 10/7. Many, how many were killed by the IDF? The Hannibal Directive was in effect on 10/7! It’s almost like this was set up to happen in order for Israel to “Destroy The Lawn”!
It will really be interesting if it does turn out that they really let it happen. There are too many coincidences now to rule it out.
I wonder as well...inside job? All too convenient...
without question. Same with Russia. Provoke, provoke, provoke, then as “victim” bomb the hell out of them.
yes, US proxy Ukraine and US proxy Israel
I think I saw Donald and Jared sneaking around on the Gaza beach with a measuring tape.
(I know an attempt at humor may not be appropriate given the horror that is underway. But I don't like how people are drawn into just another con artist's shtick.)
The Israeli’s have never acted in good faith and it’s taken the advent of Independent and Social Media to expose them and open the world’s eyes to the realities and true happenings of their decades long acts of criminality, murder and oppression. Banning Tik Tok in the US explains the power of transformative change. Will X be next?
More than decades long, George. The zionists started planning their Holocaust/Genocide in the early 1900s.
When narrative manipulation causes a person or thousands of people to not merely doubt what their own eyes are seeing and their own experience is telling them, the marketing propagandizing trance has succeeded.
I am also grateful for a number of outlets on the net which provides pictures of what Israel is implementing in Gaza and a picture of course says a thousand words and leaves no questions in your head.
Real time on telegram.. 😨
Was the same when US invaded Iraq and Iran and killed a million civilians over 20 years.
Israel's Right to Be Racist By: Joseph Massad*
Israel's struggle for peace is a sincere one. In fact, Israel desires to live at peace not only with its neighbors, but also and especially with its own Palestinian population, and with Palestinians whose lands it military occupies by force. Israel's desire for peace is not only rhetorical but also substantive and deeply psychological. With few exceptions, prominent Zionist leaders since the inception of colonial Zionism have desired to establish peace with the Palestinians and other Arabs whose lands they slated for colonization and settlement. The only thing Israel has asked for, and continues to ask for in order to end the state of war with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors, is that all recognize its right to be a racist state that discriminates by law against Palestinians and other Arabs and grants differential legal rights and privileges to its own Jewish citizens and to all other Jews anywhere. The resistance that the Palestinian people and other Arabs have launched against Israel's right to be a racist state is what continues to stand between Israel and the peace for which it has struggled and to which it has been committed for decades. Indeed, this resistance is nothing less than the "New anti-Semitism".
READ ON AT,
https://palestineremembered.com/Articles/General/Story2289.html
If Israelis want peace, the power is theirs. They must stop killing people in Gaza. They must stop arresting people in the West Bank. They must return homes and land to the Palestinians. They must withdraw to UN specified boundaries, recalling that the UN set up the rules in the first place. They must withdraw from Syria. They must stop harming civilians. They must allow a two-state solution.
The UN did not set up any rules in the first place. Years before the UN, Britain as one of the victorious powers of WWI was given the newly formed colony of Palestine formed from parts of provinces of the defeated Ottoman Empire. Britain agreed and the ruling powers agreed by treaty that Palestine would be developed to become an independent nation for the Jewish people as it was their historical homeland. The League of Nations issued a mandate for Britain to do so. Britain left in 1947. Israel declared itself a sovereign nation and joined the United Nations. Hamas is the only group deliberately harming civilians. Israel is fighting a war against Hamas and civilians are inadvertently being killed.
Oh, Caleb you left out the 1948 Nakba, you know where the Jews displaced some 700 thousand Palestinians, and killed thousands, and then took a lot of their things. You also forgot to mention that Palestine was heavily populated by Arabs, and maybe 5 percent were Jewish when Balfour made his deal with the Zionists. I mean it was their land, for more then a thousand years. Kind of sad, right? You also left out the UN divided up the land because you make it sound like the whole thing went to Israel, not true, but Israel did want the whole thing. Do you know that for many years Israel was slowly, and now not so slowly, swallowing up the West Bank with all the settlements they built, and the people in Gaza were wrapped up tight in what is often called an outdoor concentration camp? Lets also clarify your ending. It goes like this. Israel is implementing a genocide against the people of Gaza, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
What convenient nonsense....otherwise known as AIPAC propaganda. Next you'll be saying "Israel has a right to defend itself". Sure it does - but not from Plestinians whom it illegally terrorises, murders and steals their lands. It's the Palestinians who have the right to not only defend themselves but also a 100% legal right to ATTACK their oppressors.
It is illegal to attack and deliberately murder civilians as Hamas did. It is criminal to rape and mutilate women as Hamas proudly livestreamed on Oct 7. When enemy soldiers surrender, the rules state they should be treated as prisoners of war, not massacred and burnt as was done by Hamas. Hostage taking is also prohibited by the rules of war, but Hamas is also guilty of that. Your argument in support of Hamas is contradictory- they didn’t do it, but they had the right to do it. Hamas started hostilities on Oct 7, breaking the ceasefire that existed on Oct 6. I know: there was no ceasefire and they had the right to break it.
Hamas on October 7th did not set out to murder anyone. The Israeli bombed their own people. Just as they are carpet bombing Gaza where their own hostages have died from their bombs.
Land ownership has never been based on ancient residence anywhere else.
Treaties over the heads of the local native residents = colonialism.
“Two state solution” = colonial power with apartheid + subjugated bbqntustan
Its 2024 and everyone knows this.
And don't forget the Palestinian territory was divided from the start: bantustans.
Yes Britain was given the land as a Mandate. A Mandate to develop it a national homeland for the Jewish people. So under international law, it is land that belongs to a Jewish state. There was no group of people who called themselves Palestinians at the time other than the Jews who lived there.
There were Jewish nations and kingdoms there for a thousand years. The people had been exiled by the Romans in the 2nd century. The Jews never stopped asserting their rights to the land, praying for it 3 times a day. The notion of Palestinians as a mix of Arab speaking immigrants who lived in the Mandate area was created in the mid-60s. They are new arrivals and certainly not indigenous in any sense. At best they are fellow Semitic peoples, but to be more specific they are mostly Arabs who are indigenous to, wait for it, Arabia. The Jews were indigenous to, you guessed it, Judea. Dig in any spot and you will find Hebrew but no Arabic, artifacts of Jewish origin but nothing Palestinian. The Quran mentions Jewish kings, but no Palestinian ones. The Arabic speaking people of Mandate Palestine have no linguistic or cultural differences from their compatriots in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Arabia, Jordan, and Yemen. When the Jews were kicked out of the countries of the Middle East in 1948-50 they were told to go back to where they came from- the land of Israel.
Even according to their Jewish bible the jews stole Palestinian land and proudly mass murdered to do so. (God told us....). The hebrews were just one of many wandering tribes out of the arab lands to the south.
Israel was set up by the anglo-americans precisely to terrorise the region, that is it's raison d'etre and mandate...apart from looting. When the US declared the "War on [of] Terror" under George Bush the 1st, Sharon declared indignantly "WE invented terrorism!".
Not in our wildest dreams.
Yeah, but do you think that's a possibility?
He's being facetious
Narrative manipulation is another phrase for lies are truth, and democracy is totalitarian.
The Engineering of Consent -- That monster, Bernays.
“The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.”
O, "When the public is convinced of the soundness of an idea, it will proceed to action. People translate an idea into action suggested by the idea itself, whether it is ideological, political, or social. They may adopt a philosophy that stresses racial and religious tolerance; they may vote a New Deal into office; or they may organize a consumers' buying strike. But such results do not just happen. In a democracy they can be accomplished principally by the engineering of consent."
http://www.fraw.org.uk/data/politics/bernays_1947.pdf
+--+
So, think about how narratives in the West have been largely written by and controlled by and held by and marketed by and sold by and manufactured by, well, those folk, a group which rhymes with "blues." And we are not talking Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf or Robert Johnson or Bessie Smith.
https://paulokirk.substack.com/p/boots-on-the-bridges-and-in-the-water
It’s kinda like the Zionists have been preparing for this moment for a long time—-or perhaps the goals of various Settler Colonial enterprises coincided 🫣
Funny how close "Engineering consent" is to "Manufacturing Consent". I read Chomsky, but I don't believe he mentioned Bernays in Manufacturing Consent. I could be wrong, it's been a few years - but there is certainly a connection and debt owed there. Bernays was certainly the original gangster of mass manipulation theory (and practice!).
Chomsky relied ion Walter Lippmann, a student of Bernays and far better known at the time:
"the term “manufacturing consent” is not mine, I took it from Walter Lippmann, the leading public intellectual and leading media figure of the twentieth century, who thought it was a great idea. He said we should manufacture consent, that’s the way democracies should work. There should be a small group of powerful people, and the rest of the population should be spectators, and you should force them to consent by controlling, regimenting their minds."
https://walterlippmann.com/tag/noam-chomsky/
Ah yes, Lippmann.
It really is quite shocking how open some of the elite were about expressing their method and intent to subvert democracy.
Chomsky's old man prefigures in a lot of nefarious eugenics and Zionist things in Philly. Chomsky is a real kibbutzim lover. He's one creepy Epstein bro. Alison McDowell does good research over at her Wrench in the gears site.
Extensive narrative manipulation for this event kicked off with the "Hamas attack'.
Let's not get trapped into repeating the lie.
Evidence Mounts That Israeli Intelligence Allowed Hamas Attack to Occur:
https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/85422/evidence-mounts-that-israeli-intelligence-allowed-hamas-attack-to.html
Use the time stamp to start at (27:05) How was the attack possible?:
The Israel Attacks: Beyond the Obvious with Efrat Fenigson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_IAH7PnS_E&t=1800s
Is the Gaza-Israel Fighting “A False Flag”? They Let it Happen? Their Objective Is “to Wipe Gaza Off the Map”?:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/is-the-gaza-israel-fighting-a-false-flag-they-let-it-happen-their-objective-is-to-wipe-gaza-off-the-map/5835310
Blowback: How Israel Helped Create Hamas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7grSsuFSS0
(Rather than 'blowback' and the notion that Israel lost control of Hamas, wouldn't the history of attacks on Israel make more sense as an intended consequence - sort of a perpetual 9/11?
After all, victimhood is the life-blood of Israel.)
Speaking of which: (lest we forget)
Israel Did 9/11:
https://www.sott.net/article/215222-Israel-Did-9-11
You are really deluded. You can go meet thousands of people, many Leftists who believed in peace (yes it was a peace festival) and a two state solution who saw their friends butchered by Hamas. Most Israelis wanted nothing more than to pay off Hamas and let it rule Gaza. The intelligence agencies kept saying Hamas leaders were fat and happy living in swank hotels in the Gulf and would never start a war. There was nothing for Israel to gain by any false flag operation. There was a great failure of Israeli intelligence convincing themselves of a deterrence that no longer existed.
everything you just wrote is a lie.
The horrible part, Peace would have avoided all of this. Now as israel has committed Genocide on the Palestinian People, it has economically murdered itself. israel will die a slow and lonely death isolated from the world other than the Murder Porn Fans. The same is true of nato/Ukraine. If only someone in the West had said, Gee, nuclear weapons in Ukraine 5 mins. from Moscow is insane maybe Ukraine should be forever neutral. Peace is an option. There will be a new Palestine.
Without extensive narrative manipulation, the world would have never found itself in such a mess where a genocide is being livestreamed on social media platforms while simultaneously being denied it was occurring in the mainstream media. Without extensive narrative manipulation, the good people of the planet would have shut down the ethnic cleansing within days and thrown the war criminals all in prison. Without extensive narrative manipulation, we wouldn't be seeing a ban of TikTok and other mediums where some semblance of free speech still exists. It's time to boycott and ban all narrative manipulation!
The narrative has been manipulated for the last 80 years at incalculable, human, social, and financial costs. The dictatorship is here and now as Washington is shambolic. Americans have to decide whether to rebuild the American Dream or settle for a "domestic dictatorship" where the decline continues.
"A nation can be one or the other, a democracy or an imperialist, but it can't be both. If it sticks to imperialism, it will, like the old Roman Republic, on which so much of our system was modeled, like the old Roman Republic, it will lose its democracy to a domestic dictatorship."
"Imperial politics represents the conquest of domestic politics and the latter's conversion into a crucial element of inverted totalitarianism. It makes no sense to ask how the democratic citizen could 'participate' substantively in imperial politics; hence it is not surprising that the subject of empire is taboo in electoral debates. No major politician or party has so much as publicly remarked on the existence of an American empire."
*The above quotes are from historian Chalmers Johnson's trilogy, written 20 years ago. He saw all this coming and tried to warn his country. He died shortly after publishing the three volumes, Nemesis, Blowback and The Sorrows of Empire
I was just going to concur with your views, and add the famous quote from Supreme Court Justice Brandeis about the choice between democracy v. concentrated wealth. I had always assumed it came from a Supreme Court decision, but in searching, I could not find a link to the original source!
Apparently there is none - the origin (1941) seems to be from a pro-labor Congressman from Colorado, who was a close friend of Brandeis, but the modern "source" is my friend Ralph Nader in 2000 - I came across this very interesting historical research into the origin of Brandeis' "quote", written by Technical Services Librarian in the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. Good read, check it out:
http://www.greenbag.org/v16n3/v16n3_articles_campbell.pdf
Brandeis was a clandestine financial supporter of Jewish terror in Palestine. The Parushim society... He was one of the pillars of Zionist destruction of the US.
I like the way you write Caitlin
Keep sharing please
All these talking points are lies. One by one. "Rape" never happened. Hamas did not "kidnap" anyone, the MANY armed resistance groups (not just "hamas") took hostages in order to free innocnet Palestinian people (thousands) who are held hostages by Shin Beth and IDF WITHOUT CHARGE. So, whose hostages and whose kidnapping? To call genocde in Gaza "hamas endangering" is the same as the genocide monster Golda Meir said "We cannot forgive Arabs for forcing us to kill their children". Who ON EARTH would touch civilians AT ALL if the goal is "fighting Hamas"? Who? Only depraved medieval barbarians like Israel. This is what serial killers do: they kill whole families in order to "punish" their father. Hamas never said anything about "destroying Israel", they only want a two-state solution in terms of pre-1967 borders (read their charter, goddammit). The rest of the decent world INDEED wants to dismantle the Reich-style race-State and establish a normal state with equal right for all. Hardly "genocide of Jews", is it? ISIS, just do you know, was brought to action, armed and trained by Zionists in Israel and the US. ISIS never targeted anyone Jewish, only human heritage of Muslims and Christians, and secular states like Syria. I am not sure why repeat such stupid, meaningless, stale and outdated power-state propaganda about people you have no idea about. Here are a few words by the great journalist Tim Anderson: "Hamas is far from alone. There were almost the same number of operations each by the Al-Quds (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa and Al Asifah Brigades (Fatah) – 90 and 81 respectively. However, it seems that Al-Qassam may have used more heavy weapons. Overall Al-Qassam accounted for about one-quarter of the combined Palestinian Resistance operations. All this makes even more illusory the supposed Israeli aim of eliminating “Hamas”. It is notable that the militia of Fatah (the dominant party of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority: PA) is very active in armed resistance, given that the Fatah-led PLO ‘recognises’ "Israel" and the Fatah-dominated PA’s prestige is at an all-time low, given its collaborationist role in recent decades. The Fatah Resistance groups (mainly the Al-Aqsa Brigades but also Al-Asifah) may be vindicating the party to some extent, in the eyes of Palestinian people. Smaller resistance groups linked to the PFLP (Abu Ali Mustafa) and the DFLP (Omar al-Qasim) carried out another 21 operations in February. Two operations were also recorded for the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades (on 21 Feb and 22 Feb)." - March 2, 2024.
Without extensive raping torturing murdering and mutilation by Hamas, no one would have thought that Hamas was a depraved terrorist organization that needed to be destroyed. Without Hamas kidnapping children and women, no one would have thought Hamas was a bunch of war criminals. Without Hamas hiding its weapons and using civilians as human shields, no one would have thought Hamas was violating the rules of war and deliberately endangering the civilians of Gaza it rules. Without Hamas declaring its goal was to destroy Israel and kill all Jews and eliminate all infidels and throw all gays off rooftops, no one would have thought they were the ISIS of Gaza.
That's the stuff. Thanks for illustrating.
When a people sell their soul to Hamas or any other Islamic terrorist organization they are in league with the devil and deserve whatever hell they have invited upon themselves. Those who are not merchants of terror themselves are raising young terrorists who kill at will. War is hell. The Gazans brought this on themselves and deserve annihilation. The world will be a better place when Israel completes its bloody but necessary mission.
What exactly do you mean?
That’s the stuff?
Thanks?
For what?
Illustrating what?
So, one, like say Caleb, can state all kinds of malicious, slanderous bullshit about Hamas here, just don’t say jew(ish) without reverence or you be threatened with permaban???
And, who is it that invented, and repeatedly repeats those lies about Hamas???
The tribe that shall not be criticized, right?
Is this a mistake in reply alignment, or have you completely lost your mind, or don’t you articulate very well?
On the other hand, if you are agreeing with Caleb, die bitch.
I'm saying he's doing the thing I'm talking about. Calm your ass down.
And, I wish you well.
That’s a relief to hear.
Don’t tell me to calm down.
Things like months(years) long mass murder, starvation, and some self-immolation, have gotten my hackles up, significantly.
Tell me same doesn’t hold true for you.
I’d say exactly the same shit if I thought that you were suddenly backing Biden.
That’s why I asked, instead of drawing a conclusion.
You misspelled "I'm sorry for saying 'die bitch' to you like a fucking psycho."
You must have missed the “if”.
But, if it’ll make you feel better, I apologize for saying die bitch.
Apologize???
I imagine that’s something Caitlin Johnstone has little to no experience in.
Getting a little god complex growing, there Caitlin?
Sycophants swelling your head?
You’re a wonderful motivational speaker.
Some excellent cadence and relevance in your work.
Psycho???
That’s what they said about my hero Mr. Bushnell.
Birds of a feather???
Not me.
You.
You should know WHO actually is killing Christians, spit on Christians, vandalizes and burns Christian churches and schools. I will give you a hint: it has not been Hamas doing all that. Who bombed ancient Christian churches to rubble and killed all patients in Christian hospitals in Gaza? Hamas? haha.
everything you just wrote in this comment is also a lie.
everything I'm about to say is a lie: this is a lie
All these talking points are lies. One by one. "Rape" never happened. Hamas did not "kidnap" anyone, the MANY armed resistance groups (not just "hamas") took hostages in order to free innocnet Palestinian people (thousands) who are held hostages by Shin Beth and IDF WITHOUT CHARGE. So, whose hostages and whose kidnapping? To call genocde in Gaza "hamas endangering" is the same as the genocide monster Golda Meir said "We cannot forgive Arabs for forcing us to kill their children". Who ON EARTH would touch civilians AT ALL if the goal is "fighting Hamas"? Who? Only depraved medieval barbarians like Israel. This is what serial killers do: they kill whole families in order to "punish" their father. Hamas never said anything about "destroying Israel", they only want a two-state solution in terms of pre-1967 borders (read their charter, goddammit). The rest of the decent world INDEED wants to dismantle the Reich-style race-State and establish a normal state with equal right for all. Hardly "genocide of Jews", is it? ISIS, just do you know, was brought to action, armed and trained by Zionists in Israel and the US. ISIS never targeted anyone Jewish, only human heritage of Muslims and Christians, and secular states like Syria. I am not sure why repeat such stupid, meaningless, stale and outdated power-state propaganda about people you have no idea about. Here are a few words by the great journalist Tim Anderson: "Hamas is far from alone. There were almost the same number of operations each by the Al-Quds (PIJ) and the Al-Aqsa and Al Asifah Brigades (Fatah) – 90 and 81 respectively. However, it seems that Al-Qassam may have used more heavy weapons. Overall Al-Qassam accounted for about one-quarter of the combined Palestinian Resistance operations. All this makes even more illusory the supposed Israeli aim of eliminating “Hamas”. It is notable that the militia of Fatah (the dominant party of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority: PA) is very active in armed resistance, given that the Fatah-led PLO ‘recognises’ "Israel" and the Fatah-dominated PA’s prestige is at an all-time low, given its collaborationist role in recent decades. The Fatah Resistance groups (mainly the Al-Aqsa Brigades but also Al-Asifah) may be vindicating the party to some extent, in the eyes of Palestinian people. Smaller resistance groups linked to the PFLP (Abu Ali Mustafa) and the DFLP (Omar al-Qasim) carried out another 21 operations in February. Two operations were also recorded for the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades (on 21 Feb and 22 Feb)." - March 2, 2024.
Without stupidity and people buying a false narrative, the world wouldn’t be in shit it’s now in.
Can there be competing magnitudes of cruelty and ethnic hatred? Can a people be eliminated for the crimes of their warlords?
Hamas NEVER did any of that, except taking hostages - but 200 hostages is a fair negotiation if Israel is holding 2,500 unlawfully kidnapped, indefinitely detained without charge and tortured daily women and kids in prisons. They had no choice, because there is no other way to make a point that hostages, held by Israel, must be released. And what is Israel doing? Killing these Israeli hostages. Snipers and bombs. The "cruelty" here is simply truth versus cynical paranoid fantasies. All Israelis say about Hamas, is a mirror propaganda, because it is Israel and the settlers who have done all that: rape, opening open pregnant women bellies, burning kids and babies alive (remember Ali Dawabshe family and Mohammed Abu-Khdeir) - if you see the documentary Tantura and Stone Cold Justice (about Israeli torture of Palestinian kids in jails) you would stop talking about "both sides". And calling Palestinian resistance "warlords" - there is NO WAY in the world that ethnically cleansed, colonized, genocided and tortured people should not resist and rise up with arms. Palestinians have a full legal right to armed struggle against what is being unleashed on them.
Well said Lena. Thank you!
"Without Extensive Narrative Manipulation ... " nothing of this would have happened. Wise words from Caitlin.
Who or what made this manipulation possible? How did the masses not only in the USA but all over Europe become willing zombies? How did they fall in line with the naked lie and turn away from the truth to be found if they bothered to scratch the surface? Are they willing to give up their comfortable lives so that some poor sods in far off lands can live?
So many questions; as many answers.
Currently unfortunately the answer to your question is 'no'. The Western comfortable classes are living in obliviousness; their clothes stitched by foreign sweatshop workers, their vegetables picked by poor laborers and food prepped by the service worker underclass, houses also built by the working class or immigrants, and their lifestyle powered by cheap fossil fuel energy. They are absolutely not willing to risk anything to give up even one of their little creature comforts or priveledges. They'll go on a 'March for Women" or a "March for Science", but they will not organize or risk what is required to bring down US hegemony and militarism.
Actually most European countries have been loudly objecting to Israel and refusing to support it from the start (948). The EU itself back when it was the Common Market built endless housing, clinics, schools and hospitals in Palestine. Built and rebuilt since these were destroyed again and again - purposely - by "Israel". This all stopped round 2000 when the EU (run out of Washington ) started. Most Europeans do NOT support Israel and object to it being in the Euro championships, Eurovision etc as dictated by Washington,. Note that Russia is not allowed to participate in the Olympics but the killer terrorist staten since 1948 "Israel" is. What does that tell you.
The slaughter of the Gazan people is absolutely unacceptable. It should not be happening. There has to be some way we can stop it. Who can we talk to? I tell you, Trump's son Donald Jr. sends me emails. I will respond to them in no uncertain terms. The Gaza massacre must end.
I have just sent urgent emails to Lara Trump and to Trump's campaign people. I will continue to make efforts. Forgive me if this is the best I can do.
Expect nothing from them. Trump recently made a statement giving his full support to Israel. Which means, I guess, kill them all if you have to.
I understand what you're saying. I am appalled by Trump's statements about Israel. But from an American perspective, Trump is our best shot for a warless world. There was much less war during his term than before or after. What is more, Donald Trump Jr. is against the Gaza massacre. He may be able to influence his father.
I am not one to passively "expect" anything. I am one to try to change things. I see no opening in the United States for peace other than through Trump.
Our best shot for a warless world is Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. https://jillstein2024.com
Wish you and Jill Stein the best Revolution. For me, I no longer want to legitimatize the corrupt US electoral process by giving it the even faintest air of legitimacy with my participation.
I think the best way now to move forward is what MLK Jr did (without running for an office) - i.e. peaceful, organized resistance wherever and whenever possible. And support of workers and labor strikes, like the brave Chris Smalls.
You're talking to the choir. I know, but horrible to hear him support a genocide with great enthusiasm, and he knows that's what it is. In America running for any office demands you support Israel if you expect, or want a win. It's sickening. Down with AIPAC! That being said I can't trust him.
Here is a quote from Caitlin Johstone's June 2, 2023 substack post: "Trump Is Bad Because He's Similar To Other US Presidents, Not Because He's Different"
"Trump ramped up cold war aggressions against Russia, helped set the US on track for war with China, killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans with starvation sanctions, vetoed attempts to save Yemen from U.S.-backed genocide, assassinated Iran's top military commander, worked to foment civil war in Iran using starvation sanctions and CIA ops with the stated goal of effecting regime change, occupied Syrian oil fields with the goal of preventing Syria’s reconstruction, launched repeated airstrikes against the Syrian government, greatly increased the number of troops in the Middle East and elsewhere, greatly increased the number of bombs dropped per day from the previous administration, killing record numbers of civilians, and reduced military accountability for those airstrikes. He also imprisoned Julian Assange by escalating the empire's war on journalism for exposing US war crimes."
Also, it appears Trump would be even more willing than Genocide Joe to support the continuing sadistic mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza right now. I don't share your opinion that "Trump is our best shot". It sounds like yet another "Lesser of Two Evils" argument the American public now has been subject to - because both US political parties are morally obscene and corrupt, and only answer to the Oligarchs - not the US Constitution or The People.
The Lesser of Two Evils is still evil.
The two party system in the US is a con game by the obscenely wealthy - to make it look like the US is a working democracy. Both parties are two sides of the same backside.
To me, it's just another "Lesser of Two Evils" argument karl is making for Trump. We Americans have been hearing this type of reasoning now for a number of decades - "vote for my corrupt party, because we're not as bad as that other awful party". Because that's all they got these days - given both parties are now beholden to their wealthy donors, are corrupt as the day is long, and do nothing for ordinary Americans other than provide a few breadcrumbs once in awhile.
“It’s not what happened, it’s what people BELIEVE happened!”
One of the effective ways to manipulate the narrative is simply to drop it all together to pretend it’s not happening at all. And that’s why TikTok must go and it will go with a feeble pushback by a few principled Congressmen. Any news source that provides pictures of this atrocity will be banned if Israel can possibly do it.
This bridge is going to pull the US into the war beyond supplying money and weapons. When the first US soldier is shot, they’ll go full on about the sanctity of US lives and we were only there to “provide aid.” Israel (according to some US military leaders) doesn’t have the expertise to go into the tunnels but the US does. An even more deadly attack will be spun into an heroic battle to extinguish Hamas once and for all. What’s left of the civilian population will be ignored completely by the news media.
"Any news source that provides pictures of this atrocity will be banned if Israel can possibly do it."
This reminds me of a personal story on the media coverage of the Abu Ghraib torture photos. Early on, they were not published in US media but were in Europe. At the time, I had a "citizen journalism" column at the Star Ledger, NJ's largest newspaper. There was no editorial content control over what I wrote. Joe Lieberman (and/or with Obama support) sponsored a bill to amend the Freedom of Information Act to prohibit the release of these photos. Disgusted by that censorship, I wrote a column about the bill that provided a link to the European news photos. It was only a link (not the photos themselves) and I include a READER WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT.
But within 10 minutes of posting that column, I got an angry phone call by the Editor of the paper, screaming at me. He not only took the post down he terminated my column. Never forget that episode. Its also what started my blog.
The idea of censoring out "graphic content" and "sensitive content" is monstrous. This is how they don't let any truth through, about what they are doing to people. On Facebook, how many posts have been taken down and accounts suspended for simply showing what Zionists or Ukrainians have done to people. Once, I posted an article about Aaron Bushnell and got punished for "promoting suicide". Another time I posted Zionist settlers' graffiti "Kill all Arabs" and got suspended for "violent content". It is becoming basically impossible to show any evidence of the evil and their victims. Israel and Israelists are doing one thing: they establish worldwide that evidence does not matter, what matters is the narrative. Like Netanyahu said "It does not matter if justice is on your side. You have to depict your position as just". Therefore, anyone who demands evidence from them that their claims about Hamas have any basis in reality, is for them plain and simple "Hamas supporter", for disbelieving Zionist narrative.
A picture (or a TikTok video) is worth a thousand words. Good for you for trying!