We are being asked to live in an Israeli hard right fantasy where war criminals are the victims and 70,000 dead Palestinians is a small price to pay for malign ambition.
My Jewish friends are among the kindest and most socially conscious people I know. Most of them are opposed to the attacks in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Iran. A proportional response to the October 7th attacks on Israel was one thing. Destroying Gaza and expanding their reign of terror is quite another. Past genocide doesn’t validated future genocide.
It is simply untrue that criticism of Israel is anti Semitic. When our friend gets drunk and asks for our car keys, we say no. Israel is drunk on revenge and we must stop supplying them with the equipment to hasten their own demise and ours. Real love must be willing to say NO.
The Zionist agenda is not the same as the Jewish religion. I think there are many Jews that feel their religion has been hijacked by these Zionist activists. This claim to the Palestinian land because of historical occupation by Solomon or whomever is not a legal argument- as you say if all nations operated under this premise, there would be unending claims of “ ownership “ by the Ottomans , the Native American Indians, the Romans etc . The UN created this nation state under the premise that borders be negotiated- which Israel/ Palestine / Syria has failed miserably to establish. The Zionists want it all- per the Greater Israel Plan. The UN needs to step up and draw the lines on the map … and settle this conflict once and for all.
Please be aware of the difference.I know you know, but it didn't not come across well in this article. The "Jewish community" does not have a government. Jews are in every country! However, Israel does have a govt. Fuck BB and his genocide.
You make a valid and important point. The diaspora is widely disapproving of Netanyahu and his right wing coalition. I will give it some thought and adjust the clumsy wording.
In addition I will be sure to give due attention to this in my piece tomorrow. Thanks for highlighting it, I appreciate your drawing it to my attention. - Martin
Truth indeed does matter and I’m not in the business of making up numbers. Multiple reputable sources quote 70,000 with 171,000 injured.
I have no doubt that the numbers are undercounted, but in the absence of verified data I’m not prepared to make up numbers however fashionable that might be these days.
We need peace before weapons of mass destruction are used, peace in the middle east and peace in Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere. We need a sustainable peace, a rules based world order and war criminals must be tried and punished.
This was sought and worked for after the destruction and carnage of World War Two, but complacency has set in and populist extremists are gaining power.
Genopace is required not genocide. Please read the book, listen to the free podcasts and share the concept and the links.
If the allegations in this article regarding the Hannibal Directive are true, then Netanyahu and IDF are responsible for perhaps more, and premeditated, Israeli deaths on October 7 than was Hamas. They then used those deaths to justify the genocide in Gaza (and now in the West Bank, and seemingly in Jordan as well).
I would never defend the Israeli government or its actions but I don’t believe your accounts of historical events qualify as “truth”, which really does matter. The first acts of violence after the partition of 1947 were perpetrated by Arabs, not Jews. While I’m sure they felt justified, and probably were, if violence and war is the method you choose to right a wrong, you have to win. If you don’t, you make everything worse. The Arab world has consistently chosen violence as its answer to the Israel problem, even as recently as October 7th, 2023. It has only made things worse. That’s the truth, and it matters. What would the region look like, how much better would millions of live be if a different strategy of righting a wrong had been chosen.
Oh dear, can I respectfully request you just say no to the Israeli propaganda? Let me try and put is as politely as I can. If your family had lived on land for four centuries during a time where Arabs and Jews had largely lived side by side as a minority population. Then that minority unilaterally declared statehood. I think you’d be pretty pissed.
Hence we see the Arab Israeli war of 1948. A war that David Ben Gurion admitted would have been lost had it not been for the supply of the $14 million arms package supplied by Czechoslovakia at the urging of Moscow.
Yes the truth DOES matter and it’s time to dismantle this Israeli victimhood fairytale that has infected the discourse on this issue like a cancer.
I of course respect your right to disagree with my assessment which is validated in the linked sources and attribution. That’s how democracy works. I understand the truth can be at times uncomfortable, but it is what it is and I stand by my assessment. It’s for readers to judge which is perfectly acceptable to me.
I don’t feel the need to provide a bibliography for the fact that the reaction of the Arab world to the UN partition plan was rejection and violence. It’s historical fact. Feel free to look it up although I’m sure you know this. I never said the violence was only perpetrated by arabs, or denied the expulsion of Palestinians or massacres after May 14, 1948. My two points are very simple: first, the Arab response to the partition and establishment of Israel was violence and war. The Palestinian people are much worse off than if the plan had been accepted and a Palestinian state had been established. Second, you present the situation with an emphasis on hyperbole over accurate, unbiased, historical context.
I don’t care if you take me seriously. Your response intentionally ignores the violence that immediately followed the partition in 1947. “You would be mad too” isn’t really a serious response. You choose to ignore the Arab role in the horrific situation that exists today. You choose to ignore that Hamas is obviously more interested in hating Israel than allowing the Palestinian people to find a way the live their lives in peace. You present this narrative of good vs evil without unbiased historical accuracy or real context or nuance. That’s not truth, that’s propaganda. It’s very popular these days. Congratulations.
You are providing no evidence and no sources for your argument I’m afraid. The violence that followed the, once again I remind you, UNILATERAL declaration of statehood was not one sided as you claim. You suggest I’m being selective in my presentation of the facts yet numerous massacres led by Zionist militias took place in villages like Deir Yassin, Tantura, and Dawaymeh. For context, these were often led by men who would later become senior leaders in the newly declared Israeli government.
Equally you seem to suggest I ignore what happened on October 7. I have written about it extensively and have unreservedly condemned the war crimes committed by Hamas. An organisation by the way that did not have majority support prior to this barbaric terrorist act. There was only an uptick after Israel began their vengeful retribution.
When I’m evaluating bias I am not in the business of giving equal airtime to an apartheid propaganda driven narrative, no more than I would allow Hitler equal consideration for his justification of the Holocaust.
I’m afraid you’re big on rhetoric and skeletal on facts. I fear we will simply have to agree to disagree, but truth does matter and feelings aren’t necessarily a reflection of truth I’m afraid.
I avoid ALL propaganda as best I can but your response to my post doesn’t address my central point. I don’t dispute that Israel relied on military aid to win the war, I don’t dispute that they have engaged in horrific behavior. How I would feel if I lived in Palestine is also irrelevant. But Israel did not unilaterally declare statehood. The lands that they occupied before the United Nations partition plan was finalized were either unoccupied in the earliest cases or largely purchased from Turkish absentee landlords. You seem to portray the Zionist’s as invading Palestine and taking the land by force. That simply isn’t factually or historically accurate. There is no question that Palestinians are the real victims and no excuse for many Israeli actions in the years since the partition, but if you’re going to portray your posts as truth and factual then you shouldn’t use hyperbolic language and ignore any sides of the issue that might complicate your point of view. You should also point out that Hamas’s actions of October 7, 2023 were carried out specifically to provoke the type of reaction they got from Israel. They gladly sacrificed innocent Palestinian lives for the political aim of turning the world against Israel. It succeeded and it doesn’t excuse the Netanyahu government’s actions but to ignore that aspect of the situation doesn’t serve truth, and it matters.
I’m afraid we will simply have to agree to disagree, you accuse me of creating a narrative and then you create your own narrative around October 7. I’m sorry I just can’t take you seriously I’m afraid. The expulsion of almost 250,000 Palestinians BEFORE the declaration of statehood on 14th May 1948 is evidence enough to say they seized property and land. The subsequent massacres and burning of Palestinian villages and the further expulsion of what became 700,000 Palestinians is the very definition of ethnic cleansing.
Israel unilaterally declared statehood on May 14, 1948, when David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel in Tel Aviv, coinciding with the expiration of the British Mandate.
Hours before the mandate officially ended, Jewish leaders proclaimed independence in Tel Aviv. The magic word there is ‘proclaimed’ not ‘accepted’. For geopolitical reasons the US and the Soviet Union granted expedited de facto and de jure recognition. This was a response to the unilateral declaration.
It was NOT a negotiated settlement it was an imposition of statehood on the Palestinians which met no resistance from the major world powers.
Raphael Lemkin, the Jewish lawyer who wrote the original definition of genocide, included forced relocation as part of genocide when it was intended to make it impossible for a population to live and remain in their homeland, by forced relocation and extermination. When the UN adopted its definition of genocide, that was part was left out - probably because of the massive forced relocations by the United States and Great Britain) of so many Germans from their homes in Austria back to Germany by US. What Israel has been doing in Gaza and by settlers in the West Bank can be considered genocide, by the original Lemkin definition, if not by the UN standard.
The Mayor of NYC has lately been charity spewing antisemitic hate for the observation that “hurt people, hurt people.” That works in both directions. It does not excuse Hamas for the October attacks (and many many others)..it does recognize that there are two peoples in Israel and the Palestinian Territories who have suffered generational trauma. The response to that trauma is to hurt others. Justifying inflicting trauma by both sides on the others is simply not working. The policies of both sides are not ever going to produce peace. Letting go of the trauma is a place to start. Both sides.
My Jewish friends are among the kindest and most socially conscious people I know. Most of them are opposed to the attacks in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Iran. A proportional response to the October 7th attacks on Israel was one thing. Destroying Gaza and expanding their reign of terror is quite another. Past genocide doesn’t validated future genocide.
It is simply untrue that criticism of Israel is anti Semitic. When our friend gets drunk and asks for our car keys, we say no. Israel is drunk on revenge and we must stop supplying them with the equipment to hasten their own demise and ours. Real love must be willing to say NO.
Well said
I really like your 2nd paragraph. We have got to quit supporting this.
The Zionist agenda is not the same as the Jewish religion. I think there are many Jews that feel their religion has been hijacked by these Zionist activists. This claim to the Palestinian land because of historical occupation by Solomon or whomever is not a legal argument- as you say if all nations operated under this premise, there would be unending claims of “ ownership “ by the Ottomans , the Native American Indians, the Romans etc . The UN created this nation state under the premise that borders be negotiated- which Israel/ Palestine / Syria has failed miserably to establish. The Zionists want it all- per the Greater Israel Plan. The UN needs to step up and draw the lines on the map … and settle this conflict once and for all.
I could not agree more
The UN is constitutionally flawed, but you're right and we need to reform the UN so that it can do the job it was set up to do.
There is a great deal on the subject in my book Genopace.
This is a link to a UK bookshop, but the book is available in the USA and Europe and there are free podcasts here on substack and spotify.
Please take a look and share and move peace higher up the political agenda and in public debate.
Genopace by Malcolm Snook | Foyles https://share.google/MJkZsgYF14Szwx6zf
There is nothing more dangerous than a person who believes “God is on my side.”
Susan, that is so true !! The ones that feel that God is on "their side", can be the MOST CRUEL !!
Committing a genocide is a war crime. There can be no justification.
Please be aware of the difference.I know you know, but it didn't not come across well in this article. The "Jewish community" does not have a government. Jews are in every country! However, Israel does have a govt. Fuck BB and his genocide.
You make a valid and important point. The diaspora is widely disapproving of Netanyahu and his right wing coalition. I will give it some thought and adjust the clumsy wording.
In addition I will be sure to give due attention to this in my piece tomorrow. Thanks for highlighting it, I appreciate your drawing it to my attention. - Martin
If "widely" is true then the elections will demonstrate that. .....I suspect it is not the majority that opposed sadly.
Truth indeed does matter and I’m not in the business of making up numbers. Multiple reputable sources quote 70,000 with 171,000 injured.
I have no doubt that the numbers are undercounted, but in the absence of verified data I’m not prepared to make up numbers however fashionable that might be these days.
We will likely never know the actual numbers.
We need peace before weapons of mass destruction are used, peace in the middle east and peace in Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere. We need a sustainable peace, a rules based world order and war criminals must be tried and punished.
This was sought and worked for after the destruction and carnage of World War Two, but complacency has set in and populist extremists are gaining power.
Genopace is required not genocide. Please read the book, listen to the free podcasts and share the concept and the links.
Genopace by Malcolm Snook | Foyles https://share.google/MJkZsgYF14Szwx6zf
If the allegations in this article regarding the Hannibal Directive are true, then Netanyahu and IDF are responsible for perhaps more, and premeditated, Israeli deaths on October 7 than was Hamas. They then used those deaths to justify the genocide in Gaza (and now in the West Bank, and seemingly in Jordan as well).
https://realleecamp.substack.com/p/people-are-learning-the-truth-about
You make an important point that I will be covering in this series. - Martin
Excellent article! Really well researched and spot on analysis.
1/2 through. EXACTLY! Indigenous People in the Americas taking power! Being of Scots ancestry I agree this is their homeland, not White Man.
I would never defend the Israeli government or its actions but I don’t believe your accounts of historical events qualify as “truth”, which really does matter. The first acts of violence after the partition of 1947 were perpetrated by Arabs, not Jews. While I’m sure they felt justified, and probably were, if violence and war is the method you choose to right a wrong, you have to win. If you don’t, you make everything worse. The Arab world has consistently chosen violence as its answer to the Israel problem, even as recently as October 7th, 2023. It has only made things worse. That’s the truth, and it matters. What would the region look like, how much better would millions of live be if a different strategy of righting a wrong had been chosen.
Oh dear, can I respectfully request you just say no to the Israeli propaganda? Let me try and put is as politely as I can. If your family had lived on land for four centuries during a time where Arabs and Jews had largely lived side by side as a minority population. Then that minority unilaterally declared statehood. I think you’d be pretty pissed.
Hence we see the Arab Israeli war of 1948. A war that David Ben Gurion admitted would have been lost had it not been for the supply of the $14 million arms package supplied by Czechoslovakia at the urging of Moscow.
Yes the truth DOES matter and it’s time to dismantle this Israeli victimhood fairytale that has infected the discourse on this issue like a cancer.
I of course respect your right to disagree with my assessment which is validated in the linked sources and attribution. That’s how democracy works. I understand the truth can be at times uncomfortable, but it is what it is and I stand by my assessment. It’s for readers to judge which is perfectly acceptable to me.
Thank you for engaging - Martin
I don’t feel the need to provide a bibliography for the fact that the reaction of the Arab world to the UN partition plan was rejection and violence. It’s historical fact. Feel free to look it up although I’m sure you know this. I never said the violence was only perpetrated by arabs, or denied the expulsion of Palestinians or massacres after May 14, 1948. My two points are very simple: first, the Arab response to the partition and establishment of Israel was violence and war. The Palestinian people are much worse off than if the plan had been accepted and a Palestinian state had been established. Second, you present the situation with an emphasis on hyperbole over accurate, unbiased, historical context.
I don’t care if you take me seriously. Your response intentionally ignores the violence that immediately followed the partition in 1947. “You would be mad too” isn’t really a serious response. You choose to ignore the Arab role in the horrific situation that exists today. You choose to ignore that Hamas is obviously more interested in hating Israel than allowing the Palestinian people to find a way the live their lives in peace. You present this narrative of good vs evil without unbiased historical accuracy or real context or nuance. That’s not truth, that’s propaganda. It’s very popular these days. Congratulations.
You are providing no evidence and no sources for your argument I’m afraid. The violence that followed the, once again I remind you, UNILATERAL declaration of statehood was not one sided as you claim. You suggest I’m being selective in my presentation of the facts yet numerous massacres led by Zionist militias took place in villages like Deir Yassin, Tantura, and Dawaymeh. For context, these were often led by men who would later become senior leaders in the newly declared Israeli government.
Equally you seem to suggest I ignore what happened on October 7. I have written about it extensively and have unreservedly condemned the war crimes committed by Hamas. An organisation by the way that did not have majority support prior to this barbaric terrorist act. There was only an uptick after Israel began their vengeful retribution.
When I’m evaluating bias I am not in the business of giving equal airtime to an apartheid propaganda driven narrative, no more than I would allow Hitler equal consideration for his justification of the Holocaust.
I’m afraid you’re big on rhetoric and skeletal on facts. I fear we will simply have to agree to disagree, but truth does matter and feelings aren’t necessarily a reflection of truth I’m afraid.
I avoid ALL propaganda as best I can but your response to my post doesn’t address my central point. I don’t dispute that Israel relied on military aid to win the war, I don’t dispute that they have engaged in horrific behavior. How I would feel if I lived in Palestine is also irrelevant. But Israel did not unilaterally declare statehood. The lands that they occupied before the United Nations partition plan was finalized were either unoccupied in the earliest cases or largely purchased from Turkish absentee landlords. You seem to portray the Zionist’s as invading Palestine and taking the land by force. That simply isn’t factually or historically accurate. There is no question that Palestinians are the real victims and no excuse for many Israeli actions in the years since the partition, but if you’re going to portray your posts as truth and factual then you shouldn’t use hyperbolic language and ignore any sides of the issue that might complicate your point of view. You should also point out that Hamas’s actions of October 7, 2023 were carried out specifically to provoke the type of reaction they got from Israel. They gladly sacrificed innocent Palestinian lives for the political aim of turning the world against Israel. It succeeded and it doesn’t excuse the Netanyahu government’s actions but to ignore that aspect of the situation doesn’t serve truth, and it matters.
I’m afraid we will simply have to agree to disagree, you accuse me of creating a narrative and then you create your own narrative around October 7. I’m sorry I just can’t take you seriously I’m afraid. The expulsion of almost 250,000 Palestinians BEFORE the declaration of statehood on 14th May 1948 is evidence enough to say they seized property and land. The subsequent massacres and burning of Palestinian villages and the further expulsion of what became 700,000 Palestinians is the very definition of ethnic cleansing.
Israel unilaterally declared statehood on May 14, 1948, when David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel in Tel Aviv, coinciding with the expiration of the British Mandate.
Hours before the mandate officially ended, Jewish leaders proclaimed independence in Tel Aviv. The magic word there is ‘proclaimed’ not ‘accepted’. For geopolitical reasons the US and the Soviet Union granted expedited de facto and de jure recognition. This was a response to the unilateral declaration.
It was NOT a negotiated settlement it was an imposition of statehood on the Palestinians which met no resistance from the major world powers.
Raphael Lemkin, the Jewish lawyer who wrote the original definition of genocide, included forced relocation as part of genocide when it was intended to make it impossible for a population to live and remain in their homeland, by forced relocation and extermination. When the UN adopted its definition of genocide, that was part was left out - probably because of the massive forced relocations by the United States and Great Britain) of so many Germans from their homes in Austria back to Germany by US. What Israel has been doing in Gaza and by settlers in the West Bank can be considered genocide, by the original Lemkin definition, if not by the UN standard.
The Mayor of NYC has lately been charity spewing antisemitic hate for the observation that “hurt people, hurt people.” That works in both directions. It does not excuse Hamas for the October attacks (and many many others)..it does recognize that there are two peoples in Israel and the Palestinian Territories who have suffered generational trauma. The response to that trauma is to hurt others. Justifying inflicting trauma by both sides on the others is simply not working. The policies of both sides are not ever going to produce peace. Letting go of the trauma is a place to start. Both sides.
If truth matters then please cite the 180000+ slaughtered by Israel not 70000 which os as fictional as the word antisemism.