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Lots of sources there.You have do update your denial. But beware, I’m toying with you.

You have yet to provide a source, just multiple agencies and media outlets repeating the same unverified numbers.

Oh, in this case it’s pretty clear. Can’t they make up an Israeli witness who wasn’t even there? Wouldn’t be the first time.

I just inserted these (below) in google search and I got scores of links

Let me guess. Scores of links repeating the same false claim over and over, without one providing a source.

Sure, HolyCrow, the Time is not a source and made a wild claim when it referred to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem which is not a source, and probably only made a wild claim and your assesment is neither wild nor fact free. Because if a link no longer works—something that happens a lot when the file directory is restructured—it has never existed for you. Isn’t ignorance—or should I say, denial—bliss?

But what is this? “The Urbanization Monitoring department at the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem estimates that about 2.5 million trees have been uprooted since 1967. The Israeli policy of uprooting trees has
been executed for a number of reasons, including the construction of Israeli settlements, the construction of the separation wall, and settlements infrastructure; all of which exclusively benefits the settler population.”
https://shabka.org/blog/2013/05/01/to-get-a-sense-of-the-economy-of-the-israeli-occupation/

Lots of sources there.You have do update your denial. But beware, I’m toying with you.

Listen to the mentioned full time idijot and tell me what it souns like.

BBC Middle East Editor Collaborated With CIA, Mossad
January 7, 2025

Alan MacLeod reports on the connections of Raffi Berg, now at the center of a scandal over the BBC’s systematic pro-Israel bias, to the U.S. national security-state and an Israeli intelligence agency.  

By Alan MacLeod

MintPress News

“A senior BBC editor at the center of an ongoing scandal into the network’s systematic pro-Israel bias is, in fact, a former member of a C.I.A. propaganda outfit, MintPress News can reveal. Raffi Berg, an Englishman who heads the BBC’s Middle East desk, formerly worked for the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Broadcast Information Service, a unit that, by his own admission, was a C.I.A. front group.

Berg is currently the subject of considerable scrutiny after 13 BBC employees spoke out, claiming, among other things, that his “entire job is to water down everything that’s too critical of Israel” and that he holds “wild” amounts of power at the British state broadcaster, that there exists a culture of “extreme fear” at the BBC about publishing anything critical of Israel, and that Berg himself plays a key role in turning its coverage into “systematic Israeli propaganda.” The BBC has disputed these claims.

Our Man in London

Berg came to public attention in December after Drop Site News published an investigation based on interviews with 13 BBC staffers who present him as a domineering figure, systematically blocking coverage critical of Israel and manipulating stories to suit pro-Israel narratives.

The 9,000-word report, written by popular journalist Owen Jones, is extensive and well-researched. However, one aspect of the story it almost completely avoids is Berg’s connections to the U.S. national security state, which MintPress News can now reveal.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Berg was an employee of the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) three years before joining the BBC. The FBIS is understood the world over to be a C.I.A. front group known for gathering intelligence for the agency.”

https://consortiumnews.com/2025/01/07/bbc-middle-east-editor-collaborated-with-cia-mossad/

The people who go to the Davos forum each year (i.e. the thought leaders you so admire) have ignored this problem for decades. They don’t care about this fishbowl.
BTW, Davos 2025 takes place in eleven days (Jan. 20-24), during Herr Trump’s inauguration.

John O,
That is an excellent answer to brent’s question. Thank you.

At best this is unneeded welfare for the massive US military industrial complex, whose weapons are then being used to slaughter thousands of Palestinian civilians.
US infrastructure such as bridges, transportation and schools are much better investments for this taxpayer money than apartheid Israel’s war machine.

From the NYT report on this: “Addressing the discovery of Mr. Ziyadne, Colonel Shoshani said that bodies presumed to belong to his Hamas guards had also been found nearby, but he did not indicate how the hostage or the others had been killed. He also did not detail the findings that the military said had raised concerns about the fate of Hamza Ziyadne, the son.”

That looks very like it was indeed Israeli fire that killed them.

Since when are you entitled to your own definitions of words? Truth (there’s no such thing as one’s own truth) has nothing to do with public relations. Indeed, much public relations effort is spent hiding the truth.

Again, what’s with the “ze ze”? Please explain.
You also misspelled council and demonstrates and country..

“I have plenty of insight about the goal of the Zionists”
_________________________________________________

How about insights on how Palestinians could advance their healthy future?

My comments have been addressed to thought leaders, intellectuals, not those trapped in the fishbowl. To the ones thinking about how to make lemonade. How to best avoid future tragedy.

Revenge has been a costly decision for the people of Israel and Palestine…. the region, Lebanon, Syria, and humanity as well. It convinced many that there is little hope for a workable future. Including those who had believed in co-existence and lost trust in motives.

The notion Jews will bedriven into the sea or armed resistance will prove successful are remote… at best. You missed my point on that.

And speaking of media outlets, the Quakers just tried to put an ad in the New York Times using the language ‘genocide’ to describe Israel’s actions, and the NYT refused to run it. Whatever happened to free speech?

Quaker group pulls NYT ad over paper’s refusal to let it call Israel’s Gaza bombing ‘genocide’Organization said paper’s refusal ‘outrageous attempt to sidestep the truth’, choosing ‘silence over accountability’…The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization that advocates for peace, said on Monday the group cancelled a planned advertisement in the New York Times in response to the paper refusing to allow it to refer to Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide.
“The refusal of The New York Times to run paid digital ads that call for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza is an outrageous attempt to sidestep the truth,” said Joyce Ajlouny, general secretary for the AFSC, in a press release. “Palestinians and allies have been silenced and marginalized in the media for decades as these institutions choose silence over accountability. It is only by challenging this reality that we can hope to forge a path toward a more just and equitable world.”…

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jan/08/new-york-times-ad-cancel-gaza-genocide

“I did. The source for the wild claim about 800,00 illegally uprooted trees was nowhere to be found. And neither Robert nor yourself can find it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And you couldn’t find it in google search … odd!?

I just inserted these (below) in google search and I got scores of links regarding the destruction of olive trees by Israel:

How many olive trees has Israel destroyed in Palestine

How many olive trees have been destroyed by Israel

Article III of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (1948) makes it punishable to attempt genocide. So, what is your point?

It’s still the crime of genocide when the armed combatants are being shot lot fish in a barrel in the Warsaw Ghetto. That’s still true even when you are only destroying them in part. Unsuccessfully attempting genocide is still the same crime.

Part 1 Haaretz:

An Israeli Hero Fighting a 12-year-old Girl Who Said What No One Wants to Hear
Tamar Kaplansky
Sep 25, 2024

Be’er Sheva Deputy Mayor Shimon Tubul is a reservist combat soldier in the Givati Brigade, over 40, holds the city’s environmental quality portfolio and chairs the city’s security committee.

He was drafted on October 7 and discharged in January. As chairman of the security committee, he decided to deal with the serious danger threatening the city’s residents: a 12-year-old girl from Zilberman High School. The enemy was revealed last week during a class discussion about October 7 when an Arab student said something – we’ll get back to that.

In response, dozens of students started to congregate around her, shouting out the song “May Your Village Burn” (which the daily Maariv called a “popular song”). According to reports, the student’s parents rescued her after an hour. She has yet to return. In WhatsApp groups parents are demanding that she (and sometimes all Arabs) be ousted from the school (and sometimes from the neighborhood). Right-wing activist Shai Glick from the Btsalmo organization sent a letter to the principal that the student “has no place in the Jewish state, and certainly not in the school.”

Okay, we can’t expect anything from Shai Glick, but a deputy mayor is another story. In response to the events Tubul said “It’s inconceivable that a student who collaborates with the enemy should study in the Israeli school system,” and that the “praise for Hamas” and the “glorification of the Nazi scum” she “heard at home… from her father and mother,” and therefore “the citizenship of the entire family should be revoked.”

Tubul added, “In our neighborhoods, among our children, new Nukhba terrorists are growing up. There must be deterrence and stiff punishment, that’s the only way they’ll understand who’s strong and in control.”

Strength and control, that’s exactly what emerged from this non-hysterical and proportionate reaction to what’s actually just a comment. However, it’s true that words are occasionally dangerous and likely to lead to violence, and therefore not everything can be said. What exactly did this dangerous 12-year-old say, the “new Nukhba terrorist” from 7th grade? There’s no documentation of that. According to some reports, which were based on the statements of other children, she said that Israel Defense Forces soldiers are murderers, and shouted “Free Palestine.” According to other reports and the girl herself, she said that innocent people are being killed in Gaza too. Well, doesn’t it sound like a Nukhba terrorist? Citizenship should be revoked immediately.

But excuse me, innocent people are being killed in Gaza.

Part 2

The IDF itself says so (it calls them “the uninvolved”). If that’s what was said, the child simply pointed out something self evident. Let’s say that she really did shout “Free Palestine” and called the soldiers murderers? Then what? Regarding the liberation of Palestine, heck, the Palestinians aren’t free and calling for their liberation means calling for an end to the occupation. That’s allowed, even if the Israeli right doesn’t like it.

Regarding the word “murderers,” that of course is more complicated. I understand Tubul’s anger, when his son is also serving in the Gaza Strip, and the anger of many parents and students, who, like a huge part of the Israeli public, also have relatives and loved ones serving for months on end in a futile war on whose altar many soldiers are dying.

But the truth is that a “murderer” is someone who took the life of an innocent person. It’s true that in legal terms there must be specific circumstances in order to call this killing murder, but the uproar wasn’t due to legal casuistry, it was a reaction to the criticism of the killing of 40,000 Gazans, most of whom are “uninvolved,” in other words innocent. Saying such isn’t incitement nor is it a crime, it’s criticism. It’s essential and important, and chiefly, saying so is permitted, even if in harsh and imprecise words. But in Zilberman High School an Arab girl isn’t allowed to use imprecise words. In fact, she isn’t allowed to use precise words either, if she dared to use them to express a humanistic message and a simple fact: The IDF also kills – mainly – innocent people. Saying that makes her nothing less than a Nukhba terrorist, who should be thrown out of the school and the city, and whose family should lose their citizenship.

And what about the fact that she’s a child? Children sometimes talk nonsense, certainly in the heat of an argument. That doesn’t interest Tubul. She’s not allowed to speak. In that case, what does the deputy mayor think about the heaps of teenagers who shout until they’re hoarse: “May your village burn”? What does he think of outright incitement and death wishes, which we’ve already seen being expressed in deeds, and because of which Arab students in Zilberman High School are now afraid to come to class? Don’t make me laugh. First of all, these are children, so don’t get carried away. Besides, Jews calling for murder is no big deal. We’re allowed to do whatever we want. What are we, Arabs?

Even the Education Ministry told the Be’er Sheva News website the student was suspended for a few days, “because of her incitement, which could lead to unnecessary provocation.” If that’s the Education Ministry, how can we complain about the racist students calling for death while “educational” staff stand by doing nothing. And how can we complain about the manly Tubul, a hero fighting a 12-year-old girl who dared to stand up and say – perhaps in not-nice words – what nobody is willing to listen.

Just google the pattern of destruction by the terror state

I did. The source for the wild claim about 800,00 illegally uprooted trees was nowhere to be found. And neither Robert nor yourself can find it. So I am pretty comfortable with my original assessment – that it is a fact-free statistic.

The Palestinian Authority is the Vichy France of the twentyfirst century.

Depopulation of northern Gaza. Definition of ethnic cleansing. Allowing minimal food into Gaza while at the same time destroying local farms and shooting at fishermen who dare to fish. Definition of famine. Over 45,000 dead in Gaza while destroying hospitals, schools, mosques and churches and homes. Definition of genocide. Cow saying none of this constitutes ethical cleaning, famine and genocide. Definition of denial.

I see that noone has answered, so I’ll ask commenter Thomas Ellenberg directly: please explain .

Just to be clear, the number of olive trees in the West Bank and Gaza was around 10 million. But 75% of the olive trees in Gaza were destroyed this year. That amounts to several million trees which will take at least three years if anyone is allowed to replant them anytime soon. Oxfam has noted that “At the most extreme this can be the destruction of the trees themselves, either by the Israeli government to make way for construction, or by hostile settlers in the area.”

The notion that 800,000 olive trees have been destroyed by settlers is a small number over 58 years. We are discussing less than 13,800 trees per year, or the loss of about 229 acres per year. Anyone who has watched the settlements expand to 700,000 people has seen the restrictions on the Palestinian crop land. For example, the IDF turned 96,000 dunams of West Bank olive land (23722 acres) into closed zones in 2023. In Palestine there are traditionally 60 olive trees per acre as opposed to 250-300 olive trees per acre in the USA. So about 1,423,320 olive trees were lost to production this year alone. The government of Israel is much more destructive, which includes reparations for removal of the Wall and destruction of the olive trees. Of course the genocidal destruction of Gaza includes the loss of a few million olive trees.

Re “Islamic terrorism”:

Back to the old topic of double standards in how the media reports things: why isn’t the violence against Palestinians in the West Bank reported as Jewish terrorism?

Violence committed by settlers against Palestinians has been documented since the very early days of the occupation in countless government documents and dossiers, thousands of testimonies from Palestinians and soldiers, books, reports by Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations, and thousands of media stories. In addition to documenting the violence, this reportage has focused on three main elements: the participation of Israeli security forces in violent incidents, the disregard of Israeli authorities for their duty to protect Palestinians, and the near complete immunity the state gives settlers who harm Palestinians.. The state condones this violence, giving the settlers free rein to terrorize Palestinians and even providing assistance. The military avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, although soldiers have the authority and duty to detain and arrest them. As a rule, the military prefers to remove Palestinians from their own farmland or pastureland rather than confront settlers, using various tactics such as issuing closed military zone orders that apply to Palestinians only,.

Btselem report on the West Bank:

https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/publications/202111_state_business_eng.pdf

“A wild claim was made, I am simply asking for a source or proof.”

Again, what was wild about it? Just google the pattern of destruction by the terror state using his its terrorist soldiers or the terrorist settlers they protect.

“And despite what you said before olive tress are uprooted all the time by people with factual or historical connection to the land. Construction happens, roads are built and buffer zones are an unfortunate necessity.”

Guess which famous occupation regime in the 1940s also used “necessity” (“militärische Notwendigkeit”) as an excuse for their war crimes and got the piano strings instead? Everything that has been build by this illegally deemed occupation and without the permission of the occupied and not at all for their wellbeing is a war crime as is the presence of its settlers, the soldiers, the settlements, the apartheid roads and the wall. As is stealing or illegaly annexing the Palestinan land and its resources.

And it’s obvious that uprooting olives trees by terrorist soldiers or terrorist settlers is nothing else but racially motivated terrorism to destroy the livelyhood of nonjewish Palestinians in the grand Zionist scheme of ethnically cleansing them. Its genocidal ministers openly brag about it.

So no, that doesn’t happen all the time, but is the speciality of the so called “Jewish democracy”. (I know, it sounds as if I was mocking or insulting Jews or their “democracy”, but the term is their constitutionalized Apartheid invention, not mine.)

I can’t, but maybe ze full time idiot at ze sacurity counsil who demonstraits his cuntry’s respect for international lew by shredding ze UN charter. Not to be confused with the other idiot who uses the same platform to proudly display his hand-drawn pictures of cartoonish bombs. You just can’t make this stuff up. Their target audience must be preschoolers. ROFL

50 percent of the world’s population is already part of the BRICS organization.. 30 other countries have already expressed an interest in joining. Donald Trump has warned partner countries not to create other reserve currencies, as if he can prevent that from happening. But there is no incentive to have your own deposits held hostoge by a mad man who charges you tarrifs, and threatens military coups against allies like Canada, Mexico, Greenland, and Panama. That is especially true when the USA also happens to be the world’s largest debtor nation. The idea that the USA can impose unilateral sanctions on allies has no basis in the WWII cooperative currency agreements. Countries will simply keep their deposits at home, or deposit them elsewhere.

According to my definition of PR, getting one’s truth out, is an imperative for Palestine’s future.

Then again, perhaps we have a different definition of PR. Would you be so kind as to elaborate on yours… and why you claim it amounts to BS?

Jeff Halper, long time Israeli activists, here explains why he is worried for Palestine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcT7ADcyxDE

Of course every dead kidnapped human being is sad news whether Jewish or Palestinian.

But isn’t Hamza the father of Bilal who was freed and claimed that he weren’t afraid of Hamas, but of Israeli airstrikes?

I’m just wondering, because of this article:
“Chief of Staff representative: […] Meaning, many bodies during this day were moved to this area, I have no idea why.
Police officer: What you’re telling us is that some of the bodies found there don’t belong to the party?
Police legal advisor: Like they were brought there.
Chief of Staff representative: ‘Brought.'”
https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan-news/local/831606/

So I wouldn’t be surprised if they were killed by Israel’s indiscriminate fire or airstrikes (or maybe waving a white flag) and than brought into a tunnel to blame Hamas. Because it makes no sense for Hamas kill these Bedouins (sorry, “Arabs”) when Bilal claimed they were treated well, provided with enough food to keep them from being hungry (bread, beans, tomatoes, falafel), a mattress, pillow, blankets, and even the Quran? Especially considering that holding hostages is Hamas’s only leverage to gain anything. Meanwhile, Israel’s goal is to reduce the hostages to zero, one way or the other, avoiding any potential negotiations—aligning with the clear intent behind the Hannibal Directive. Who amongst the messianics and fascists in Israel’s goverment is interestedn in bringing them them home alive if the redemption of the “Land of Israel” is more important to them?

Re: I presume you have no insights for consideration to share.

I have plenty of insight about the goal of the Zionists. They continue to inexorably secure more territory, billions in funding and weapons this year, and ignore the decisions adopted by the ICJ and ICC. The overwhelming majority of UN member states will enact sanctions that Israel’s allies will help to circumvent.

Almost no one in Gaza has time to listen to your ludicrous concern that the poor Jews will be driven into the sea by the Palestinians. After the start of the 18th year of an illegal blockade, 3,000 people have managed to take revenge against the inhabitants of the Gaza envelope. But that only amounted to less than 1,200 of the 9.4 million population of Israel. 45,000 Palestinians have been killed, and Gaza has been turned into an uninhabitable moonscape. The leadership of the Knesset have decided that they would rather not conduct a hostage exchange. They are not concerned with saving their citizens who were taken prisoner. They are more concerned with enacting a draft deferment, the judicial overthrow, and taking civilian control from the IDF administration of Palestine.

What’s the denial stupidity this time HolyCow?

A wild claim was made, I am simply asking for a source or proof. How is that complicated or out of line?

And despite what you said before olive tress are uprooted all the time by people with factual or historical connection to the land. Construction happens, roads are built and buffer zones are an unfortunate necessity.

Let’s not forget the most important rule in Zionist geopolitics: if any UN expert dares to point out the obvious—like, say, that Israel is forcefully displacing Gazans and preventing them to return to their homes, or intentionally starving Gazans and committing genocide against them—well, you can always just accuse them of being part of the global conspiracy to smear Jews. Because we all know Israel is practically the paragon of morality and honesty in the world stage. It’s definitely the one and only country that would never, ever engage in any form of violence against Palestians in since 1948. The military there is so moral, they’re probably giving out free hugs and food parcels to anyone affected by their actions—just like they’ve been so careful to ensure that every single displaced person gets to waltz back to their homes, safe and sound. And the food shortages? Totally overblown! There’s absolutely no evidence of mass starvation—everyone’s just being dramatic. Only allwowing 14% of the food trucks that were needed before October the 7th only means that it’s just time for a small snack. And, of course, the government is beyond reproach when it comes to genocide denial. They’ve gone above and beyond in character assasinating anyone who dares to talk about it—because, you know, when you’re truly committed to human rights, smearing critics as antisemites is just a way to show how much you care. It’s just such a small price to pay to maintain the sanctity of the state. But here’s the most crucial thing: accusing Israel of anything, no matter how documented, is always worse than whatever they’re actually doing. Because in the world of moral gymnastics, the real tragedy isn’t forced displacement, deliberate starvation or textbook genocide (as the Jewish Holocaust and genocide researcher Raz Segal pointed out allready on October the 13th)—it’s the fact that someone might point it out. And really, that’s the worst crime of all. At least for supremacist narcissistic psychopath.

What’s the denial stupidity this time HolyCow? That the Time was lying, because the link is dead? That soldiers or settler terrorists don’t uproot or burn olive trees? That the number can’t be true, because it hasn’t been veryfied by them? Meanwhile anyone else can simply google for ‘Israel uproot tree’ to find a systematic pattern of Israel’s envorimental terrorism. Like I said before, nobody who uproots olive trees has any factual or historical connection to this land.

More sad news, just in: the IDF has located and retrieved the bodies of two kidnapped hostages: Youssef Alziadne ,53, from Rahat , and his son, Hamza, 23.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet members of their family, at the protests here in Beersheva. Heart-breaking.
We’re down to 98 hostages. Bring them home!

PR = BS.

The Biden Administration Declares That A Genocide Is Happening… In Sudan
Caitlin Johnstone
Jan 07, 2025

“The Biden administration, which has been intimately complicit in the genocidal atrocities being perpetrated in Gaza for the last 15 months, has just determined that a genocide is being committed in Sudan.

On Tuesday the Biden administration formally accused the Sudanese paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing genocide in the civil war that has been ravaging the country since April 2023, announcing sanctions on the group’s leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa along with seven RSF-affiliated companies.

“The RSF and RSF-aligned militias have continued to direct attacks against civilians,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken moralized in a statement regarding the decision, adding, “The RSF and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys — even infants — on an ethnic basis, and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence. Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.”

Sometimes all you can do is stare wordlessly at the absolute gall of these freaks.

This is after all the same Antony Blinken who just flatly denied that a genocide is taking place in Gaza in his final interviews with the press a few days ago, even as mainstream western human rights institutions like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch unambiguously accuse Israel of committing genocidal crimes of extermination against Palestinians in the enclave.”

https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-biden-administration-declares

What’s with the ” zere ze ze “?
Can any other commenter here explain Thomas’ comment?

Real question: US taxpayers have certainly been generous to the Israeli military over the past year, even way beyond the usual US$3.8 billion per year. But if Biden, or whoever, has approved a US$8 billion sale, doesn’t that mean that Israel is supposed to pay some US supplier that amount for an equally valued quantity of US materiel? And if so, how does that disadvantage the taxpayer?

No one “has to” listen to anybody, to look beyond the fishbowl, or be open to observations about the collective future…. Including their President, founder, or chief negotiator.

As Arafat’s PR firm point person said, “The man won’t listen to a word I say”.

I presume you have no insights for consideration to share.

“Nice try Robert, but repeating the same nonsense over and over does not make it a fact.”

Typical “Troll” intentional, disruptive/inflammatory BS.

This is not a famine, this is a intentional starvation by a racist genocidal regime whose war criminals deserve nothing less than the same fate as those who inflicted the same suffering on Jews.

“Scholar Alex de Waal wrote in a new article that “the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a deliberate act. Gaza is a starvation crime scene.” He explains that “[t]he rigor, scale and speed of the destruction of OIS [objects indispensable to survival] and enforcement of the siege surpasses any other case of man-made famine in the last 75 years.””

De Waal has written an important history of modern famine, Mass Starvation, in which he wrote about the recent atrocity famines that have been created in this century in Yemen, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria, Syria, and Somalia.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/gaza-starvation/

The Palestinians don’t have to listen to or obey Donald Trump. He doesn’t own anything that belongs to them. Likewise, the Palestinians don’t have to listens to you or me. Why don’t you just concentrate on not being evil, before you start telling other people how they should live their own lives.

Let me guess. Another IDF fabrication that wants us to believe that suddenly it doesn’t control the area as soon as Hamas pops up with a truck, and only manages to kill aid workers in cars? Oh those poor IDF soldiers who do everything to make sure that Gazans get food but only clash everyday with their General who doesn’t. And how could they even find a substitution, when it has become too ugly to simply look into a mirror? They feel so helpless when Hamas uses a truck to steal food, because they don’t want to kill any innocent Gazan accidentally: Look, zere is Hamas with trucks, oh damn to many innocent bystanders. Why do ve have to be ze most moral army in ze world and are only allowed to distribute two sousand pound bombs?!

jon s “Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true”

Claiming something to be a lie even less.

“Hamas is, indeed, an organization with a genocidal agenda.”

Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true. Especially not if you need to distract from a Israel’s factual genocide.

“I never mentioned “40 beheaded babies”, so saying that I made up something I never wrote is just another lie.”

I put the ‘you’ in single quotation marks, because I wasn’t refering to you personally, but to those you identify with, when you talk about “we” or “ourselves”. I can stop doing this once you an are able to shed your tribal herd mentality and act as an individual.

“Re’im is a civilian kibbutz (I understand why you use the term “settlement”).”

You seem to understand nothing so far. I use double quotation marks when quoting you or from this article.

“The base fell to the terrorists, … “

I”n light of what Israel is doing to Gaza, the term “terrorists” takes on an entirely new meaning.

“… allowing them to proceed to their main objective: killing raping and kidnapping Jews.”

As soon as you forget to fabricate this “main objective” it seems to be very important to you to mention that “Jews” were not only Jews, but not even all Israelis. At least try to lie with some coherence.

And the main objective not only according to the police investigation was obviously kidnapping soldiers to exchange them for prisoners. It is actually quite stupid to claim that they were risking their lives and wasting time and ammunition for any other objective. Israel’s main objective on the other hand is very clear.

“Yes, it looks like the attack on the Nova festival was not pre-planned, …”

What changed your mind? Die you realize that you fell for your own “pack of grotesque lies” ?

” … just a stroke of good luck for the terrorists, an easy opportunity to massacre lots of Jews.”

You sound like a broken record. They found themselves fighting security guards, police, special units, soldiers, tanks, artilllery and helicopter fire etc But I see that you are having a hard time accepting the fact that it was Israel who killed so many if not most of the partygoers. Either unintentionally within the overall chaos or because of the Hannibal directive. Because the latter proves that Israel doesn’t care about the kidnapped at all and just exploits the fact. How about you?

“It’s possible that the fact that they were so busy killing raping and kidnapping at the festival”

LOL. It is now a “fact” they were even raping under heavy fire? How envious certain Israelis must be who only have the courage to gangrape Palestinians within secure walls.

“Sorry Sinwar, we failed to bring back more hostages to free even more of our prisoners, because we were too busy raping and killing them and getting killed in the process.” Why is Hasbara so stupid?

Just to be clear, it was the IDF that first built bunkers under Gaza Hospitals and still have their own under a command post located under the busiest intersection in Tel Aviv. The question is why the hospital physicians were arrested? We’ve been told that the ‘Generals’ Plan’ is underway and the Knesset members are publicly urging the Israeli military to destroy all sources of water, food and energy. See Itay Epshtain on X: “Eight members of the Israeli Parliament Foreign and Defense Committee – from coalition parties Likud, Religious Zionism and Jewish Power – write Defense Minister Katz, demanding he issues order to #Israeli forces in #Gaza to: 1. Destroy all energy sources including fuel, solar

The question is not whether a hospital equipment technician happens to be a member of the reserves or has weapons stored on site. Wounded troops are allowed to receive treatment in hospitals and soldiers are permitted to transport wounded. It’s doubtful people have other shelters or fuel anymore. Most structures are long gone, except for hospitals. The question is if they are attacking Israeli territory or personnel illegally or if Israel has the right to unilaterally decide to engage in regime change or genocide.

Nice try Robert, but repeating the same nonsense over and over does not make it a fact. The Nation article sources Time article above, with the same dead link that goes nowhere.

Thanks Anthony, this is absolutely perfect. Unabashedly redefining ethnic cleansing, famine and genocide just to attack the Israelis (the Jews).

Assuming about Trump, and acting on that assumption, would be a fool’s errand. One has to deal with the cards as they are and build on the realities of the day. Not expect a “great father” to do the job. Take political considerations and realities into account.

Waiting for zealots, investing in victimhood, or expecting overnight results, are not wise. Building political support where it matters is.

Perhaps you see an appropriate path?

Israel, as the occupying power with its ill-disciplined troops all over Gaza, has a duty in law to protect the civilian population. Therefore, it has a duty to protect humanitarian supplies and prevent them being stolen in the post-battle confusion. In a nutshell, Hamas is stealing those supplies because Israel chooses to let them.

jon s “Maybe you missed this:”

Thank you jon s. I almost forgot that the IDF is the most moral and honest army in the world who would never harm Palestinians just to fabricate a confession. It is so hard for them to resist the pressure not to torture, sexually abuse and kill him in the end.

Indeed, it must be clarified. Otherwise, morally degenerate racist Zionist psychopaths might misinterpret this as an endorsement of their genocidal intentions.

Once again cow is trying to muddy the water in order to deflect what is happening in Gaza. Ethnic cleansing, famine and genocide.

The official definition of famine is what Israel is doing to the people of Gaza. Purposely starving the people of Gaza in order to commit genocide.

Given their record, I wouldn’t believe the IDF if they told me today was January 7. Did they have to destroy a building protected under international law to find one “terrorist” (who looks in remarkably good shape for a Palestinian under arrest by the IDF? Perhaps you can tell us (via the IDF) where Dr Hossaam Abu Safiya is being held without charge or trial.

Right, I’ve been participating in the protests regularly for the last two years.
Hamas apparently hasn’t been wiped out, due- at least in part- to the delivery of humanitarian supplies, without finding a substitute to Hamas control and distribution.
I’ve seen a report that Hamas steals 90% of the supplies, sells them, controls the distribution , and therefore has enough money to hire new recruits to replace the personnel they’ve lost.

“Settlers have long targeted Palestinians during this period, aiming to disrupt their agricultural livelihoods. Since 1967, settlers have uprooted more than 800,000 Palestinian-owned olive trees. The burning of olive trees and mass swaths of agricultural land in the village of Burin, near Nablus, in July stands out as a tragic reminder of the ongoing theft. But the past five weeks have brought altogether new levels of state-backed settler violence.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/settler-attacks-threaten-palestinian-olive-harvest/

If you think Trump is committed to anything, it would have include Arab sovereign funds and Muslim bans. Go figure.

I don’t think the Hamas leaders misread anything or want our advice. They are a religious group, who are not afraid of martyrdom. I don’t agree with them, but I certainly won’t pretend that they are mistaken about their lot in life. Zionists were militarists, have pursued conquest, and disposessed the Palestinian citizenry long before Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood existed.

I think you need to get a grip. There are nice Jewish Israelis, but the majority of the voters there are unwilling to grant anyone else equal rights or recognize any other group’s existing property rights. The Zionists did not earn the land, they stole it. They only purchased 6 percent by 1946. The religious parties are racists, demand benefits, and exemptions from military service. They would rather have foreign guest workers to serve as “hewers of wood and drawers of water” and keep indigenous Bedouins and Palestinians unemployed in Bantustans or exiled in foreign refugees camps. They insist on other governments paying subsitance, refuse to even negotiate directly, then pretend that it is an insult to them. You keep acting as if that is a misunderstanding. That has always been their plan.

Maybe you missed this:
https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/idf-press-releases-israel-at-war/january-25-pr/hamas-terrorist-apprehended-at-kamal-adwan-hospital/

Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true.
Hamas is, indeed, an organization with a genocidal agenda. In ideology and in practice.
I never mentioned “40 beheaded babies”, so saying that I made up something I never wrote is just another lie.
Re’im is a civilian kibbutz (I understand why you use the term “settlement”. On Oct7 the kibbutz lost 7 dead, 4 kidnapped.
Separate from the kibbutz is the military base, headquarters of Gaza Division. The base fell to the terrorists, allowing them to proceed to their main objective: killing raping and kidnapping Jews.
Yes, it looks like the attack on the Nova festival was not pre-planned, just a stroke of good luck for the terrorists, an easy opportunity to massacre lots of Jews. (It’s possible that the fact that they were so busy killing raping and kidnapping at the festival meant that the never got around to seriously attacking the kibbutzim and moshavim and the town of Netivot,  to the east of Rd.232  ,but that’s just speculation…) 

according to research from the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem.

Is this dead link supposed to be a source for your claim or just a repetition of the same?

not that anyone is literally saying that’s the definition of famine

Except you just did. And it was the first sentence in your comment. And it was decidedly false. There is no argument that hungers exists in Gaza but you tried to make it into famine and that is not the case.

Really – that’s the worst you can allege against the Foundation set up in memory of a small child murdered in the midst of the corpses of her similarly-murdered family by Zionists? Why not think about how she died and what that told the world about Israel’s callousness and its rampant abuse of the bodies of children far more horrific even than that of the Roman Catholic priesthood? But you cannot, because your Zionist ideology has, it seems, rendered you incapable of critical thinking.

The American commitment to Israel’s “self-defense” has long been there for all to see.

Sinwar may have reckoned that capturing a hundred soldier prisoners would provide protection. He certainly misread that as well as the million a day he was getting via Netanyahu. He’s not the only one as some still advocate exercising the “right to armed resistance”.

Effective strategies can be counter intuitive. Tabling one state may logically be the most direct route to independence.

I’m giving an example of the type of thinking the Biden administration is using, an example of casuistry – not that anyone is literally saying that’s the definition of famine. Another example of casuistry is ignoring the point I’m making and instead focusing on trivial technical details.

How on earth could you read the Reuters piece and focus on my comment about 750 calories a day?

“Casuistry in real life can be seen in situations where someone attempts to justify a questionable action by narrowly interpreting rules or ethical principles, often by finding loopholes or making subtle distinctions to fit their desired outcome, like a politician claiming they didn’t technically lie because they used ambiguous wording, or a lawyer arguing that a client’s actions don’t constitute a crime due to a technicality in the law; essentially, “splitting hairs” to avoid the spirit of a rule while adhering to its letter.”

“This is a fact-free statistic.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“As Israeli settlements continue to expand in the West Bank, clashes between settlers and Palestinians have surged, often manifesting in the targeting of farmers and their properties—particularly during the harvest season. Over 800,000 Palestinian olive trees have been uprooted by Israeli authorities and settlers since 1967, according to research from the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem. In 2012, two E.U. heads-of-mission reports found that violent Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians especially targeted farmers. Between 2005 and 2013, Israeli NGO Yesh Din found that, out of 211 reported incidents of trees that were cut down, set ablaze, stolen, or otherwise vandalized in the West Bank, only four have led to police indictments.”

https://time.com/5714146/olive-harvest-west-bank/

What is your point? Meir Kahane and Baruch Goldstein were both born in Brooklyn, New York, USA and had no right to persecute citizens of Palestine. Neither one of them needed to leave the USA, or murder Palestinians to get ahead. Sinwar and Nasrallah were not tourists, or immigrants. They were invaded by Israeli armed forces, not vice versa.

Kahane and Goldstein were not deprived, blockaded, or persecuted. There are no difficulties finding Israeli cabinet officials who share the same criminal philosophy and genocidal agenda. The fact that both sides are guilty of war crimes doesn’t obscure the fact that Israel has been waging a war of aggression ever since Hashomer and Bar-Giora got off the boat breathing fire and blood.

The official definition of famine is less than 750 calories a day

What makes you think this is the “offical” definition of famine?

“Ole Biden” is not and has not been running the country. Biden’s handlers have been running the country and siphoning hundreds of billions of dollars to the war in Ukraine and Israel.

Biden is shot and dysfunctional; he has been from the very start … his handlers, the democrats and the MSM concealed his current cognitive state.

And what happened to that Gaza port/pier to deliver humanitarian aid to the civilians in Gaza?

jon s “A pack of grotesque lies.”

Please don’t insult Israeli survivors or soldiers and their testimionials or Israel’s police investigation ajnd Israel media only because it doesn’t fit your “Hamas genocide” narrative.

“No, we didn’t kill ourelves or rape ourselves or kidnap ourselves. Hamas massacred the people at the Nova festival.”

No ,’you’ didn’t rape or kidnap ‘yourselves’, ‘you’ prefer Palestinans. But when it comes to killing ‘yourselves’, you are still in denial about the true horror of the Hanibal doctrine, because it makes you realize that your goverment has never been interested in getting back the hostages, but fabricating a justifcation to ethnically cleanse Gaza.

Cause “the evidence now suggests that the majority of civilian deaths were likely inflicted by Israeli forces themselves. This was due to the overwhelming firepower employed by occupation forces – including from Apache attack helicopters – and because Tel Aviv issued the controversial Hannibal Directive to prevent Hamas from taking Israeli party-goers as captives.”
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/18526

“They identified the festival as an easy target, an easy opportunity to massacre hundreds of Jews.”

Not to mention 40 beheaded babies. But ‘you’ just made that up, too, didn’t ‘you’?

In truth “An Israeli police investigation reported by Haaretz indicates that Hamas was unaware of the festival in advance. The official findings suggest that the intended target was Re’im, a settlement and military base located just down the road – on Route 232 – from the Nova site.
A major fight did indeed take place at Re’im, home to the Israeli army’s Gaza Division, the Palestinian resistance’s stated military target. The commander of the base was forced to call in airstrikes from an Apache helicopter on the base itself just to repel the Hamas attack. The police investigation also indicates that Hamas fighters reached the festival site from Route 232, rather than from the Gaza border fence, further supporting the claim that the festival was not a planned target.”
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/18526

Why do you think Netanyahu doesn’t want an investigation? Again: “The value system of the messianic and fascist factions, who seem to prioritize the land and enemy bloodshed over the sanctity of life, is seeping into the army. This is doubly alarming and disturbing, especially as our hostages remain held in Gaza.”https://x.com/rozolyo/status/1738686875949228468?mx=2

I think the word for what the Biden administration is trying to do re the famine debate is casuistry:The official definition of famine is less than 750 calories a day, but we think the average daily caloric intake in Gaza is 750.3 calories, but exact numbers are hard to come by. On the other hand, the National Association of Hasidic Nutritionists defines famine as less that 600 calories a day, so you can see there’s some room for disagreement among the experts….

Look, doctors on the ground – American and European doctors on the ground – report that inadequate nutrition is weakening the population of Gaza. To repost a Reuters investigation –

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/famine-conditions-gaza/

Gregory Shay, a retired pediatric pulmonologist from California, spent October treating children in Gaza, and to him it looked like famine was gripping the territory….Shay worked at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Most of the children he treated subsisted on bread and rice, recalled Shay, a volunteer with the U.S.-based non-profit organization MedGlobal. Without vegetables, fruit or meat, he said, the children lacked the vitamins or minerals needed to stave off disease…Most days, Shay said he treated on average 40 new patients who were admitted to the hospital. Many had severe cases of pneumonia, and several others suffered from meningitis, an illness that can kill in hours. Newborns were often small for their age, he said. Some had birth defects or suffered from neonatal sepsis, a blood infection that’s a leading cause of infant mortality….“I’ve never seen the kind and number of infections that I saw in Gaza,” said Shay, who has made 35 medical aid trips during the past decade. “You just look at these kids and you know that it’s a famine.”

And here’s the punchline:

As for the debates over the exact toll hunger has taken in Gaza, de Waal said they miss a larger point. “We need to dethrone the concept that if it’s not famine, it’s OK,” he said. “Even if it’s not a famine, it can be truly terrible.”

@ jon s

Not as bad as contributing to an organization founded and chaired by Theodor Herzl.

Indeed, DaBakr lied.
As did Nonjews. But as we all know, Zionists are under the delusion that only the presence of Jews truly matters and not the presence of anyone who was a Palestinian citizen in 1948 no matter their faith and heritage. This wasn’t the only time in the 1940s that racial supremacy took precedence over citizenship.

Re: jews have been there longer Before Arabs ad Islam existed.

No, the idea that “Jews” are older than other contemporary people in the same region is nonsense. We know for example that Hittites were a great Indo-European Empire that had nothing to do with “Ham,” 7 tribes, or made up Jewish fairy tales. Likewise, half of the Palestinian and modern Israeli people share common ancestors from the current era. The only differences are cultural and religious, not genetic.

Since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinian olive trees have been illegally uprooted by the Israeli authority. 

This is a fact-free statistic.

Sinwar and Nassrallah were resistance fighters, who like Netanyahu, were guilty of war crimes. The Zionist terrorists were always guilty of many more acts of aggression. The Zionist terrorists were assassinating, attacking villages, hijacking commercial aircraft, and shooting down passenger airplanes generations before the Arabs became militants too. The problem with your analysis is that you think that Zionist terrorists crimes can be concealed, when they always constitute the majority of racist, psychopaths acting out and murdering innocent victims.

Re: A pack of grotesque lies. 

No one has said that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc. did not commit atrocities. But we have every IDF mortar battery, two dozen attack helicopters spraying 30mm grenades all day, and tank crews stating they decided to destroy vehicles and hostages rather permit exchange negotiations. The reporters are Israelis and the sources are IDF personnel. The only one engaging in fantasy are people who are white washing what the Israeli witnesses and reporters actually stated.

If another periodical had printed a similar piece about Meir Kahane or Baruch Goldstein, I doubt that you would call them “measured assessments of their significance, with a degree of respect for Goldstein for going down fighting.” You’d say they were being mourned and/or glorified.

I guess all of us heaved a sigh of relief when Joe Biden beat Trump in 2024 and were lulled into thinking that he would be pretty damn good. In the event, he was so bad that Trump – a convicted felon – won in 2024.

It’s unclear from what you wrote if killing another 234 Palestinians is a good thing or bad thing.

And they’ll probably say it’s all Israeli food. “Israeli food” is Arab food.

I live in Toronto. I could get there by bike. But it’s a little beyond my price range……

A serious implication here (and in the rocket attack on Sderot today) is that Hamas is far from being wiped out – Netanyahu’s declared aim in the destruction of Gaza. Time to revive those mass protests against your prime minister’s conduct.

Ehud Olmert pointed out equality was politically attainable and would bring a change in governance.

I watched the video clip you refer to when you posted it a little while ago. Olmert actually said that equality would mean the end of the Jewish state. He is correct but that is not the same as a “change in governance”.

Both sides have a cultivated sense of insecurity and victimhood.

Not true. The Palestinians are genuine victims who live in constant real insecurity.

Watch for Israeli-firsters and Gaza Genocide deniers to assert that the mere existence of a restaurant serving Palestinian cuisine constitutes antisemitism.

“The West Bank is more than at risk. It is under attack, by settlers backed up by the IDF.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“822+ Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This includes at least 146 children.”

“Since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinian olive trees have been illegally uprooted by the Israeli authority. In August 2021 alone, more than 9,000 have been removed, and on February 9th, 2020, 50 olive trees were forcefully uprooted and destroyed in the occupied West Bank region of Salfit. These unprecedented attacks are mainly due to the ongoing expansion of settlements in the West Bank, which are encroaching on the livelihood of Palestinian families. Oftentimes these trees are burned in front of the families, violently ending their livelihood.”

I see no mourning or glorifying of either man in those two articles; rather, measured assessments of their significance, with a degree of respect for Sinwar for going down fighting.

Also at risk are our kidnapped hostages, our brothers and sisters, starved and abused in Gaza. Children and women and men, civilians and soldiers, Jews, Arabs and foreigners. Who knows how many are still alive?
Bring them home!!
https://www.haaretz.com/haaretz-explains/2023-10-22/ty-article-magazine/hostages-held-by-hamas-the-names-of-those-abducted-from-israel/0000018b-55f8-d5d2-afef-d5fdd04e0000

Not too surprising, considering that the Crusaders had massacred the Jews and Muslims when they took the city.
Jews remained elsewhere in the country and eventually returned to Jerusalem.

Like many radicals, Abou Jahjah has a mix of moderate and extreme views. That does not invalidate what the Hind Rajab Foundation is doing, any more than a British charity or non-profit chaired by Jeremy Corbyn or Tariq Ali would be.

It certainly does complicate the matter when either side has a faction opposed co-existence.

The question of whether or not to exercise the right of armed resistance by Palestinians is central to the possibility of liberation and to a workable future. Ehud Olmert pointed out equality was politically attainable and would bring a change in governance.

Both sides are dual minded societies. Some seek peace, some territory. Attacks alienate the allies for peace and give the “security” alibi for Israelis who don’t.

Both sides have a cultivated sense of insecurity and victimhood. Victims are less likely to see the larger picture or take responsibility for their actions. Not unlike Americans, tend to be self-righteous and discount criticism.

–

Here’s an example regarding Sinwar:

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/10/it-was-only-their-machines-on-yahya-sinwars-last-stand/?ml_recipient=135803240374600872&ml_link=135803236709828415&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-01-05&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation

And one about Nasrallah:

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/09/hezbollah-confirms-the-death-of-hasan-nasrallah-in-israeli-carpet-bombing/?ml_recipient=133810116992435916&ml_link=133810112479364928

Mondoweiss, being morally compromised by glorifying people who murder civilians, tarnishes those whom it champions.

Re: Congratulations, you’ve contributed to an organization founded and chaired by Dyab Abou Jahjah.

I would just as soon file war crimes charges against anyone responsible on opposing sides. So long as Dyab Abou Jahjah is filing valid charges, you are free to do the same.

https://x.com/aboujahjah

Congratulations, you’ve contributed to an organization founded and chaired by Dyab Abou Jahjah.

The Egyptian government has been paid by the US government for the Camp David Framework Agreement, Foreign Military Assistance, and things like U.S. Army Corps of Engineering projects to prevent tunnel projects.

They have allowed goods and people to enter and produce to leave Gaza, but do not tolerate Muslim Brotherhood activities in their own country. You should know that they have closed the Rafah crossing because they declared the IDF to be illegally occupying Rafah. They have also joined the ICJ genocide complaint against Israel. See Egypt joins ICJ case against Israel as one official warns Rafah op puts peace at risk

On 1 January 2024, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran officially joined BRICS. So, they also have Brazil, Russia, China, India, and South Africa trade agreements too.

I haven’t said anything about the USS Liberty that isn’t cited by the official IDF and US government declassified reports. Both governments are still keeping the facts redacted and classified. You on the other hand at making up tall tales as usual without a citation in sight. Everyone agreed there were Israeli casualties included in the 90 destroyed vehicles.

Haaretz, Times of Israel, and Ynet which all explained that “near Kibbutz Be’eri, Kfar Azza and Kissufim: The instruction,” says the source in Southern Command, “was meant to turn the area around the border fence into a killing zone, closing it off toward the west.”

Documents obtained by Haaretz, as well as testimonies of soldiers, mid-level and senior IDF officers, reveal a host of orders and procedures laid down by the Gaza Division, Southern Command and the IDF General Staff up to the afternoon hours of that day, showing how widespread this procedure was, from the first hours following the attack and at various points along the border.

But such attacks took place, it turns out, not only inside outposts or bases. At 10:32 A.M., a new order was issued, according to which all battalions in the area were ordered to fire mortars in the direction of the Gaza Strip. Internal discussions in the army noted that this order, attributed to Brig. Gen. Rosenfeld, was heavily criticized, since at that time, the IDF did not have a complete picture of all the forces in the area, including soldiers and civilians. Some of these were in open areas or in woods along the border, trying to hide from the terrorists.

At that point, the army did not know the number of people who had been kidnapped. “We thought they numbered dozens at that stage,” a military source told Haaretz. Firing mortars at the Gaza Strip would endanger them as well. Furthermore, another order given at 11:22 A.M., according to which no vehicle would be allowed to return to Gaza, took this a step further.

Israeli forces accused of killing their own citizens under the ‘Hannibal Directive’ during October 7 chaos

It is completely understandable why so many thought Zionism was the answer to antisemitism, but it became a zero sum game fairly early on. Once it became a question of establishing a Jewish state with Palestinians as an obstacle to be dealt with, violence on both sides was inevitable.

Also, one can moralize and empathize at the same time. That’s true of any conflict, no matter how ugly it gets. People may start out with good motives and end up rationalizing some pretty dark things.

Right now, though, Israel is committing genocide and its defenders, including most American politicians, are backing them as they do it. There will be time decades from now for people to write magisterial histories about what led to all of this.

A pack of grotesque lies. No, we didn’t kill ourelves or rape ourselves or kidnap ourselves. Hamas massacred the people at the Nova festival.
Hamas may not have been aware of the festival in advance, but it was spotted by the Hamas paragliders . They identified the festival as an easy target, an easy opportunity to massacre hundreds of Jews.

“Since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinian olive trees have been illegally uprooted by the Israeli authority. In August 2021 alone, more than 9,000 have been removed, and on February 9th, 2020, 50 olive trees were forcefully uprooted and destroyed in the occupied West Bank region of Salfit. These unprecedented attacks are mainly due to the ongoing expansion of settlements in the West Bank, which are encroaching on the livelihood of Palestinian families. Oftentimes these trees are burned in front of the families, violently ending their livelihood.”

**************************************************************************

‘Our hearts burn’: Gaza’s olive farmers say Israel war destroys harvest

Since the start of the Israeli offensive on October 7, farmers have been unable to access their farmland and crops.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/6/our-hearts-burn-gazas-olive-farmers-say-israel-war-destroys-harvest

Done!

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