My apologies for not posting yesterday. I’m deep in the weeds of the apartheid Israeli state and their war crimes. Research in this area is both challenging and dangerous because of the ever-present threat of retaliation. Not necessarily physical, but attempts at reputational damage and other insidious actions. I find myself checking, checking, checking and checking sources and facts again so as to leave no door open to claims of antisemitism and the usual ‘blood libel ’. I’ve made it a point of visiting the subject every six months so that the unheard voices and fears of those who fall victim to the Israeli crusade are heard.
Unfortunately, working on this subject adds a layer of delay, as I have to run my work past lawyers to double-check that I’m not exposing myself to frivolous legal action designed to cost me money to defend. There’s a reason people steer clear of writing about this conflict, despite the desperate need to speak out. This is the first of what looks, at the moment, to be a four-part series, though this could change as my thoughts and research evolve throughout the piece. So, thank you in advance for your patience.
I am more than mindful that Israel’s prosecution of its war on Hamas and Hezbollah and anyone else who upsets them in the region is and always has been contentious. Those who discuss or write about it are often the targets not just of Israeli ire, but also of the US, which seems to provide unquestioning loyalty to Israel regardless of their at times abhorrent behaviour. I’ve experienced the consequences of speaking out, which I have discussed before, so I see little point in reliving them. However, speaking truth to power is why I’m here, and those who read my work expect no less.
Experience shows that a series of posts like this can lead some readers to unsubscribe because the uncomfortable truth can be difficult to read. I fully accept and respect anyone who makes the decision to take such action. The only thing I would say is that when I deliver these posts, it is not done for clicks or outrage. It is just me honouring my promise to deliver the truth people need to hear, not the truth they want to hear.
In an upside-down world where a malignant narcissist and convicted criminal has taken America hostage. Where the truth now appears to be the enemy of the state, we are faced with the reality that we can’t believe a word of what the US government says. That’s becoming ever more dangerous as Trump becomes ever more desperate not to be held to account for his corruption in office. To be very clear, Trump has absolutely no interest in ANYONE but himself and stuffing his pockets with money by any means necersarry, and that includes through conflict, extortion and geopolitical abuse.
I want to treat this opening piece in the series as a preface to set the scene for how and why Israel has been empowered to embark on an act of vengeful retribution that has resulted in an act of genocide and the perpetration of war crimes with impunity. It’s not just the US that has enabled their actions; it’s the UK and many European governments who have, by their silence, also become complicit in Netanyahu’s religious crusade to realise his long-held ambition to see the birth of the ‘Greater Israel Project’.
This series of posts is an opinion based on my thoughts after extensive research on the current conflict and the long history of the Israel-Palestinian war of attrition. I have long subscribed to several Israel-based publications that offer diverse perspectives on the subject, helping me understand both sides of the narrative. However, don’t mistake my willingness to listen to both sides of the story as a search for ‘balance’. I do not come to this highly contentious matter with anything but a social justice hat on. Just as I don’t approach the subject of the Holocaust with a view to providing an equal perspective of Hitler’s position on the Jews.
It’s not my job to defend the indefensible; it’s my job to look at the picture in the round and overlay my social justice values set in an attempt to provide a fair but truthful assessment of where I stand. I do this to provide thought-provoking commentary that hopefully prompts readers to dig deep and find a critical path to their own conclusion. I am not here to tell you what to think; I’m here to lay out the facts and challenge a narrative that wants you to believe that if you criticise Israel you are antisemitic, which is nonsense.
What I don’t want to do is travel over ground I have covered before, which is still highly relevant to what I want to build on this week. With that in mind, can I point you to my previous writing on the subject so you understand how I have long approached it? If you want to familiarise yourself with my thinking long before the advent of this deadly conflict, I have linked my last four-part series below, which looks at the history and evolution of Israel, and, in particular, Netanyahu’s longstanding ambitions in furtherance of the Greater Israel Project.
It’s important to look back at the evolution of my feelings, because I think it will become evident that, bad as the situation was perceived then, it has become exponentially worse today.
Looking back to May of 2025, I made a short video featuring a song, ‘Whispers beneath Gaza’s Sky’ from Muslim artist Amal Iqbal, which absolutely reflected my thoughts at the time, and features just a fraction of the case presented to the International Criminal Court by a series of learned international lawyers
The reason I include this deeply disturbing short reflection of how I felt is that it’s easy to fall for the Israeli claim that ‘It’s complicated’ or a misrepresentation of the facts. There is nothing complicated about murdering innocent women and children and turning their homes to dust, with the absolute intent of rendering Gaza uninhabitable. In March 2025, I wrote an earlier piece that really digs into the horror of Netanyahu’s abhorrent act of vengeful retribution.
Just as a measure of how the public mood has evolved since this piece, I lost over 2000 subscribers overnight as a result of my words; I received death threats as a result of it being shared on other platforms, as well as being called a Hamas sympathiser and an antisemite. Neither of which, by the way, is true.
In a post I wrote on X on October 10th 2023, just three days after the Hamas attack, I wrote:
In a world where social media dictates that owning the narrative is king, it’s easy to see hate through the distorted lens of political sound bites.
Trigger words like Holocaust, 9/11, and murdered babies are inserted into carefully crafted statements, designed to take public opinion hostage, in preparation to justify the brutal vengeance that will follow.
An eye for an eye takes precedence over self-reflection. As a result, the cycle of violence continues as sure as day follows night.
There can be no excuse for the slaughter of the innocent, no more than there can be an excuse for oppression and apartheid.
As the perpetrators become the recipients of vengeance, there are no winners, just devastated families drowning in a sea of pain, as rivers of blood are diluted by the tears of those left wondering why?
The mightiest armies can rain down death and destruction, but when the dust settles and the news cameras move on, the age-old words will echo from the broken landscape: ‘Let my people go’, before once more, the cycle of hate is resurrected and played out yet again.
My heart breaks for those whose lives will never be the same. For the bedrooms that will be frozen in time, for the deafening silence that loss delivers. Loved ones who days ago were part of the fabric of daily family life will become a fading circle drawn on a calendar each year.
There are no winners in war. No winners in the battle for ideological ambition. Just broken hearts and dying flowers littered in the graveyard that is history. So listen not to the false prophet politicians promising solutions. THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.
History teaches us that we are destined to repeat our mistakes, often at the hands of politicians who fail repeatedly to put people before power.
It doesn’t have to be this way. As the distant voices of those lost echo from fields of gold that represent memories of better times, let’s honour them by rejecting the politics of mediocrity and opening our minds to respecting others for who they are, NOT for what tribe they belong to.
Nothing I wrote on that day, following the barbaric war crimes committed against innocent Israelis, was either antisemitic or sympathetic to the cause of Hamas. It should also be noted that many of those attacked on the kibbutz communities were actually supporters of peaceful coexistence with the Palestinian people. For the record, I unreservedly condemned what was a clear act of terrorism and a war crime, and supported a proportional response by the Israeli government. I stated, however, that I feared the response would be disproportionate. Never in my wildest dreams did I foresee what would follow.
The question for those of us who condemn Israel for its actions is always: ‘Do you support the right of Israel to exist?’ My answer is very simple: YES, of course I do, and I also support their right to defend themselves against attacks from those that might do them harm, just as I support the right of Ukraine to defend itself from the illegal invasion perpetrated by Russia. It’s not a difficult question to answer.
What I don’t support is the creation of an apartheid state in which Palestinians are subject to separate judicial laws. Laws that deem them second-class citizens living under illegal occupation of land that has belonged to them long before the creation of Israel. I don’t support administrative detention under which Palestinians can be detained for unlimited periods on mere suspicion of wrongdoing, or as summary punishment. I don’t support the detention of children for throwing stones or shouting insults at members of the IDF. Equally, I don’t support the Israeli Army’s ability to walk into the home of a Palestinian family in the occupied territories and declare it a military outpost, nor do I support the illegal eviction of Palestinian families by Israeli settlers supported by the IDF.
This conflict did not begin on October 7th 2023; it has been a systematic persecution of the Palestinian people since 1947. October 7 simply provided an excuse for the Israeli government to remove the Palestinians from Gaza and further persecute those living in the West Bank, in an effort to create a permissive environment for ethnic cleansing.
Though few dare ask them, serious questions remain about October 7 for fear of retribution. These questions are NOT about denying the attacks happened and that Hamas committed war crimes on that day, as already supported by the issuance of indictments for Hamas leaders. Leaders that Israel took care of by assassinating them without a trial. The questions relate to events leading up to the attack and the Israeli response that immediately followed. We know that despite the false claims still made today by those pushing Israeli propaganda, there were no 40 beheaded babies.
In the coming days, we’ll drill into the facts that few dare speak of, not to defend Hamas or diminish their barbaric crimes against innocent Israelis, but rather to step back, set aside the emotion and outrage, and examine the facts to ensure the historical record is accurate. I’m sure the families of those murdered would want that record to be defined by the truth rather than the politically charged lies of an Israeli Prime Minister prepared to kill an unlimited number of Palestinians even during an alleged ceasefire to get re-elected and avoid prison.
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Sadly beautiful post. It breaks my heart to see this.
Thank you for your intrepid work!