The invasion of Gaza 2024-25
It is well understood that any comparison of Israeli Jews to Nazis is a deal breaker and a career-ending one so making one here carries its risks. During this invasion, I have already lost two very dear Jewish friends whose loss is still painful, but the danger of unpopularity should not govern how we conduct ourselves; what we say or do, if that runs contrary to our beliefs.
World opinion, or the opinions of the power brokers and the opinion formers in the media, has remained solidly on the side of Israel. Not only that, the major powers…US and Europe … have gone beyond themselves in providing vitally-needed weapons and bombs to Israelis in order to complete the genocide. A lot of pablum has been shoveled everywhere in order to make sure people believe that “Poor little Israel” is in the midst of an existential “WAR!”, fighting to stay alive and only exercising its “Right to self-defense” and who would deny that?
Jewish prisoners on Palestinian hands have been called (Hostages) while the Palestinian prisoners, all 9,500 of them are either “Detainees” or “prisoners”. As the Jewish prisoners are being released, they and their families are being interviewed on radio, Tive and all other media, describing the terrible conditions of their captivity; not one word about Palestinian prisoners in Israel who have been tortured to death and kept in conditions that would make the Jewish prisoners envious..
We now learn that the mutual agreement between Hamas and Israel was reached back in May 2024 but Israel rejected it afterwards and continue their destruction for another seven months with active support from Europe and the US before coming to a ceasefire agreement in early January 2025, which is the same as the first one.
We can understand why Israelis wanted to delay agreement; they wanted to complete their ‘Final Solution’ on the Palestinians before stopping…all of Israel was drooling over that prospect. But what could be the justification for Western nations to continue to blindly support and empower Israel in its genocide?
I am still bewildered as to how a nation of people who are descendants of the survivors of the WWII Shoah, can so coolly turn around and commit genocide on another nation? What can possibly be such a strong drive that the entire nation of Israeli Jews and all their Jewish and Christian supporters overseas, can shift from continuously condemning the WWII Holocaust, to committing yet another one?
They say the Nazis were the first ones to make genocide an industry and the Nazis slaughtered millions of Jews with an industrial, deliberate, efficiency. The Germans would round up Jews in areas they conquered, load them in cattle cars, ship them to various death camps where they were sorted into labor or extermination and when the laborers were exhausted, ship them for extermination as well.
Six million, almost all Jews…men, women and children, slaughtered without thought, all in the pursuit of an ethnically pure Germany.
Comparing the Holocaust by the Germans with the Holocaust by Israeli Jews (Muslims are Israelis too) is startling. To be sure the Germans slaughtered MANY times more people than the Israelis did but that is the only area where the Germans did “better”; Israelis “win” in all other areas.
Germans spent a lot of money, effort, resources and manpower to conduct their genocide, they used trains to transport people to camps that were specially build to house and slaughter Jews. The bodies were then incinerated and buried. All the while, most Germans were unaware of the enormity of the Holocaust.
Israelis did one better. They got the wealthy Western nations to provide the money and weapons and plastered the Gaza Strip with bombs and missiles indiscriminately. They also targeted families of known Palestinian leaders (“Terrorists”) and families of Journalists in an effort to “Pressure” them to stop resistance and stop reporting on the atrocities. They entered bombed-out areas with tanks and bulldozers to flatten any building that survived Israeli bombings. Israelis destroyed water supply lines, power plants and stopped food supplies from reaching Gazans, even hospitals were deliberately destroyed. Israeli snipers used Palestinians as targets and competed by regiments to see who killed more Palestinians each week; even small children were shot through the head, probably because those “targets” were more challenging.
Israelis did not “invest” in any death camps, nor did they use transports to take Palestinians to death camps; they simply exterminated and left the debris and bodies for any surviving Palestinians to clean up.
The Israeli public has been fully aware of what has been happening in Gaza, thanks to live reporting by the Israeli soldiers themselves through videos and photos and except for a very few, stifled, voices of objection, the Israeli Jews have been fully supportive of the extermination of the Palestinians.
At last estimate, about 46,000 Palestinians were killed directly by Israeli bombs and bullets. This does not include well over 10,000 Palestinians buried alive in the rubble of the bombed-out buildings nor does it include the well over 200,000 Palestinians who died of sickness or wounds for lack of medical care.
Now the Israelis are saying they will not allow any equipment into Gaza for clearing rubble and debris or for reconstruction until “HAMAS!” is gone. The message to Gazans from Israelis is clear: “We will exterminate you, destroy anything that might allow you to resettle or, you can leave”; they want a purified land for Jews only.
The problem is that it is impossible to erase “HAMAS!”< especially since Israelis have declared that everyone in Gaza…man woman or child, is “HAMAS!”.
Hamas is a resistance organization, opposing Occupation and genocide so even if it is actually erased, another resistance group will emerge and that one may be meaner and stronger than the one before it.. Sometimes, comparisons are necessary even if we know that comparisons will bring no new awareness or shame but will heap lots of abuse on the messenger.
Israel and the West; When is it enough?
I keep thinking, “it is not possible for Israelis to get worse than this”, then I find out that yes, the full depths haven’t been plumbed yet.
So, what are we to believe?
There is no genocide.
There is no famine.
Gaza has not been flattened.
There is no ethnic cleansing.
The most moral army takes great care not to kill non-combatants (after declaring that everybody is a combatant).
The West including the US (“The World”), as if there is a different “World” for Israel and a different one for Iraqis, Afghans, Libyans, Houthis and all; “The World” for all its moralizing in every situation, is dead silent about Gaza. Being silent would be bad enough, but “The World” is actually diving into the dismembered bodies and the blood of the Gazans by eagerly providing weapons and money without which Israel would not be able to carry out its deadly designs.
Any protests or criticisms of Israel’s actions is dismissed and choked off by labeling it “Anti-Semitic”; one dare not even call for an end to the violence in Gaza without being accused of supporting “terrorism” and being “Anti-Semitic”; people have lost jobs because they protested, people have been jailed and even some organizations have had their names ADDED to the notorious list ot “Terrorist-supporting organizations”. You can just forget about comparing Nazis with Israelis or the Shoah with what’s happening in Gaza even though by now, Israelis have outdone the Germans, not in numbers perhaps, but in cold, calculated cruelty.
The unwashed of the rest of the world are hammered with messages demanding better humanitarian conditions, an end to tortures and mass killings but when Israel does one better (worse?), “The World” can only provide support for the evil Israel commits.
Is that because most Israelis are Jews? Is it because most Israeli Jews are White, European descent and their victims are merely faceless Arabs (Muslim and Christian)?
Could it be because Israel is the pit bull that helps “The West” control the Middle East and therefore, its currently valuable resources?
Whatever the reason or reasons, Israel is committing the most evil acts imaginable, it has gone far beyond what Hitler did to Jews during WWII and “The World” is an equal partner in this historic crime against Humanity and genocide. Western news sources have been so intimidated by condemnations of any criticism of Israel that they prefer to not even report what’s happening in Gaza, choosing to regurgitate versions of newsfeed provided to them by Israeli military and the well-oiled, information control machinery in Israel. The ONLY news source I have come across that fearlessly presents what Israel is doing, is the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz. For its pains, Israeli government has banned subscriptions to Ha’aretz by any government agency and has stopped all government advertising in it. Nevertheless, Ha’aretz remains the sole voice of humanity within Israel.
Just one example is Brig. Gen. Yehuda Vach, a settler from Kiryat Atba who wasa division commander in Gaza and is expected to return to that post again. Vach (The Whole World Will Know: Israel Is Standing Behind Its War-criminal Army Officers – Opinion – Haaretz.com) instructed his commanders to move Palestinians out of Northern Gaza and he reprimanded those who failed to reach his demanded quota…. all 250,000 of them. Vach’s brother leads a civilian militia that brings in bulldozers to raze every structure to the ground, making sure there is nothing for the Palestinians to return to. “There is no ethnic cleansing”.
Israel’s “most moral army” is busy committing genocide and the Palestinians who are permitted to leave some zones are told to leave only with the clothes they have on; no belongings. This being Winter, we can be sure to see more people freezing to death and of course, dying of hunger. “There is no Genocide”
Are there “rogue elements” acting without permission or authority? Hardly. Lawmakers in Israel have demanded that the army destroy all sources of food, water or medical aid to Palestinians in order to kill them. This is exactly what the former Israeli defense minister demanded after the October 7 attack. Ministers and members of Knesset called for the same “without mercy”. Israel’s military spokesperson said early in the “WAR!” (invasion that of the hundreds of tons of bombs being dropped on Gaza, “the focus id on destruction, not accuracy”. Yitzhak Herzog the president of Israel openly stated that every Palestinian is a target Israelis who are calling for an end to the “WAR!” are doing so only because they want “the hostages” back, nobody seems to be concerned about the over 45,000 directly butchered by Israelis and the well over 200,000 who died as a consequence of the attacks by lack of medical aid, food, exposure. Western political leadership appear only to be able to offer Israelis more bombs and more money.
Can the whole nation be a population of genocidal butchers? But this is happening with the active support of almost every Western country; Can the entire West be a population of psychopathic, genocidal people?
Of course, let us not forget the leaders of “The Muslim World” who, with few exceptions, are silent about the genocide in Gaza. Is “The Muslim World” populated by servile cowards?
I cannot say how many Gazans were killed in the time it took to write this article but please God, let this be enough?
Reports of Horrors by Israel are only getting worse and worse…
I am still resisting the idea that almost all Jews in Israel and all their blind supporters outside, have turned into single-minded, genocidal, maniacs, but the evidence each day, seems to be beyond question. I guess it is difficult for me to believe that a people who have suffered their own genocide, can transform themselves into their persecutors and perpetrated a genocide upon another people. It is as difficult for me to accept or understand how Germans, who are clearly so hollowed-out by the shame of the genocide they conducted on Jews, only to turn around and become partners in another genocide;. This time, conducted by the survivors of their first genocide.
I still cannot believe how completed to so-called, Western “civilized world”, has not only tolerated the Gaza genocide, but they have actively promoted it, financed it and provided the weaponry to make the genocide possible.
As far as I know, the Nazis committed their holocaust without public show, children were not invited to visit and view the starving, dying and dead Jews and most of the German people were not involved in the slaughter or in celebrating the slaughters in fact, most Germans were unaware of the death camps.
Today, the descendants of the survivors of the holocaust are fully aware of the genocide happening in Gaza and carried on to the West Bank and Lebanon. Jewish children are bused to viewing sites from where they can watch…AND celebrate… the destruction of Gaza from a safe distance, Israeli Jews have openly stated their intent to kill as many Palestinians as possible and to starve the rest. Even those calling for a ceasefire, are only calling for it until their Jewish prisoners are returned by the Palestinians; there are no calls to stop the bloodshed of the Palestinians.
Israeli media have slogans on their masthead that say, “Erase the memory of the Amalek”, meaning the Palestinians
“Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionism faction in the Knesset, said this week with icy detachment that he believes it’s possible “to thin out half the population in Gaza within two years.” He was speaking at a conference organized by the freebie newspaper Israel Hayom; there were no reports of alarm or protest from the audience.” (Ha’aretz Nov 29, 2024).
Stories by witness after witness from Israel only serve to underscore the incredible uncontrollable, depraved, inhumanity of a people of almost an entire country. I know of many genocides that have occurred during my conscious lifetime, but never one where an entire people have become executioners. It breaks my heart to also know that this is only possible BECAUSE of the active participation by the United States and Western nations…MY country and its allies, with MY money.
When Fiction Replaces Reality
This morning I was catching up with the news…REAL news, not the ‘Whatifs’ about Trump or Harris, not the “what will happen if and when” but what IS happening now, today, yesterday, a year ago and a hundred years back. Yes, I was reading about the death and horrors the United States is raining upon the people of Gaza, spreading on to the Lebanon and watch out because Iran is next.
This is my reality these days, as if I am mesmerized, caught in the glassy stare of a snake, unable to move away or even to avert my eyes.
The world has split into two consciousnesses; one (the developing countries) that sees what is going on in Gaza and the other, the West, that refuses to acknowledge anything happening there and when forced, blames only the victims while providing all the means to committing a successful genocide. Here in the US and in Europe as well, people are losing their livelihoods, their careers, their education and their freedoms only because they recognize the horrors being perpetrated by Israel and made possible by the US and the West and reject them. Even countries that oppose the genocide are being threatened with the withholding of US aid that they desperately need, plus sanctions.
Journalists are being killed because they dared to cover the genocide in Gaza and report it to Western media; a media that for the largest part, also refuses to recognize the reality of the horrors of Gaza and even promotes the denials supplied by Israel and the US. The media conspires to present stories given to them by Israelis or by the State Department which is behaving like a branch of Israeli interests; People (of all faiths) protesting against the Gaza genocide are dismissed as being “Pro-Palestinians” or “Terrorist Supporters” while people supporting the genocide are lauded as being “pro-Israel”.
I looked a little more closely and I realized that even in the West, even here in the US, there are two worlds; one that lives on from day to day, blissfully and willingly unaware of the Holocaust we as a nation are committing in Gaza and the other that looks on with horror and revulsion at what we are doing and screams ineffectively in the air.
The half that does not react to the genocide is not just doing so passively, they are pressuring, persecuting, prosecuting, threatening, bullying and making lives of the other half as unlivable as they can; materially as well as emotionally in order to force them into submission and agree that indeed, nothing is happening in Gaza or, that it is all the fault of that catch-all demon, “”Hamas”!.
I am reminded of ‘The Time Machine’ by H.G. wells. In the book a 19th Century inventor creates a time machine and one of his guests accidentally travels 800,000 years into the future. There he finds a beautiful world with beautiful, delicate, people called the Eloi, who do nothing and are not aware of much. They are in fact, served by another rather primitive species of humans who live underground in the dark. Called Morlocks they make all the things the Eloi need, to live on, but the Morlocks also eat the Eloi when the opportunity arises; Life in the future is a balance between those who serve and those who are privileged but remain ignorant of their surroundings.
Today, we find ourselves in a world where the majority of the people wish for a different life but the minority exploits the majority and live off them in deliberate, willing, ignorance of their surroundings. Far from being “the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”, America today has become “the Land of the Silenced and the Home of the Moral Cowards”; we not only refuse to recognize the holocaust being committed in our name, with our money and our bombs, we persecute those who do recognize the genocide and try to speak out. Our imaginary bravery is choked to death under a mass of money and threats to our material lives. From our President to Congress, from businesses to media, we have voluntarily turned into cowards and servile bullies. Even our writers have been instructed not to talk about Gaza at the risk of being frozen out of the world of literature.
Our leaders’ greed for power is so great that they are willing to do anything and say anything to show they are Israelis first and maybe Americans after that. They will spend billions of dollars for Israel’s economy and for their military while ignoring the needs of the less able Americans so, no healthcare, no money for higher education, no money for housing or for daily needs of the less able, but hey, propose money for Israel and every one of the spineless wonders in Congress jumps to sign the bill. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while speaking at a gathering of Israel America Council’s National Conference once said “If this Capitol crumbles to the ground, the one thing that would remain is our commitment to our aid to Israel”.
This country is responsible for enabling and supplying a genocide that has taken well over 200,000 Palestinian lives so far and has made the entire Gaza region uninhabitable; Our client Israel, has choked off all food, water, electricity and medical supplies to Gaza; people…children, are having their limbs amputated without anesthesia while Israeli forces bomb hospitals and refugee shelters under the pretext of hunting “Hamas Terrorists” as we guarantee Israel the fiction of its “right to defend itself”.
We live in a world where resistance fighters are condemned as terrorists and terrorists are applauded as exercising their “right to defend themselves’.
This is an election year, so politicians are even less willing to speak out against one of the worst Holocausts in a hundred years…and sadly, there have been many. Yet we remain resolute they say, Israel must be “defended” even when there is little or no need for the defense and it does not matter how many innocent people, women and children included, should be killed. There has been no indication that any of these politicians will have a change of heart after .. IF they are elected. Our jobs and our need for acceptance by our paymasters, overrides all.
Time to get your vote done!
If you haven’t yet registered to vote, for God’s sake REGISTER!
In WA State you still have a week to do it online…HERE
Here’s my list of recommendations but first, a general rule of voting.
Do not vote for a Republican, they are too industry-oriented and don’t care two cents for the people who really need the help. They will cut taxes for those who don’t need more money and cut services for those who need it most. Republicans will fight for gun rights but oppose civil rights while Democrats will oppose gun proliferation and pay some lip service to civil rights.
Private spoken statements by candidates or their representatives are worth the air used to say them with.
State-wide Initiatives, there are four of them. These (2066 & 2117) basically are trying to cancel efforts for reduce Pollution and (2109) takes away excise taxes on those who make a lot of money selling stocks. 2124 allows healthy folks to opt out of paying tor long-term care, leaving the entire program useless.
VOTE ‘NO’ on 2066, 2109, 2117 & 2124
Presidential candidates. The voices of the Ignored come from Muslims and other folk of good will who adamantly oppose paying and providing for the on-going genocide in Gaza and now spreading to Lebanon, Yemen and possibly, Iran. Well over 200,000 lives have been wiped out; men women and children, many buried alive in collapsed buildings and many burnt to death by Israel’s bombing. Medical supplies have been halted by Israel and amputations are occurring without any anesthesia, even on children.
Republicans don’t care and neither do the Democrats, they plan to continue to give Israel endless bombs and money as well as diplomatic cover so the genocide is completed and spread to other countries as well (Lebanon, Yemen and Iran). Should we select “the lesser of the two evils” when both are genocidal? Or should we vote in a strategic manner that shows our votes are countable and they make a difference. Nothing will change this time, but if oyur votes show up in greater numbers for Jill Stein, politicians will note and start to change their relationship to the voters (instead of paymasters) before the next election in 2026.
Vote for Jill Stein.
Senators. Cantwell is sunning against a Republican. Cantwell is also a strong supporter of the genocide. At the same time, we cannot allow Republicans to take control of both houses so Vote for Cantwell.
Representatives. Once again, we are faced with the choice of a heartless Republican who will cut every support service and taxes for the rich in order to make the military industry richer.
Vote Democrat (in District 9 both are Dems, vote for Choudhry
Lt. Governor. Denny Heck
Secretary of State. Steve Hobbs
State Treasurer. Mike Pellicciotti
State Auditor. Pat McCarthy
Attorney General. Nick Brown
Commissioner of Public Lands. Dave Upthegrove
Superintendent of Public Instruction. Chris Reykdal
Insurance Commissioner. Patty Kuderer
Sno County Prop 1. Approve
Everett. Initiative: 21-01 Yes. 24-02 No. 24-03 Yes.
What does your conscience say? VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE!
Still want to vote for Kamala (or Trump)?
Muslims and other people of good will who are sitting undecided, need to think hard before they, mark up the ballot.
Trump is out of the question unless someone is a racist, intolerant moron.
Kamala SOUNDS like a better choice, but is she?
* She supports the genocide in Gaza with her blind support for Israel and intends to continue Biden’s pro-genocidal policies.
* She supports the bombing of Lebanon.
* She has identified Iran as the “Number One Enemy” of the US, thereby giving Israel the freedom to liberally use American-provided bombs and aircraft, tanks and missiles to pulverize Iran and turn one of the most advanced Muslim culture and its edifices, to rubble.
* There won’t be greater “Freedom of Speech” under her because there isn’t one now nor has there been for far too long. This ” “Freedom” is a luxury that is available to the privileged and not to the unwashed minorities.
* Right now, both the Democrats and the Republicans harbor ill feelings towards Muslims in America and outside. This is largely because they are so eager to support Israel that they feel (are told) that any sign of friendship towards Muslims is “Anti-Semitic”.
* Neither party has any sense that Muslims “out there” are actually human so if our “Friends” such as Israel, are slaughtering them, we the US, are happy to provide the money, the weapons and the diplomatic cover.
All this must change but to bring about that change, we must work together.
So, the choice comes down to this for me: Which one will be a lesser genocidaire? This is a bad choice because no matter the degree of genocidal streak on a leader, as long as they participate in and support genocide, I cannot vote for them.
I will not vote for Republicans because they are heartless; the less privileged amongst us will suffer even more under Republicans than under Democrats.
I cannot vote for Harris because of her willing participation in genocide.
Muslims cannot refuse to vote because that is a pointless exercise; they must somehow get their votes counted otherwise no politician will pay any attention to our concerns. How do we do that?
We vote for a candidate who will likely not get many votes; someone like Jill Stein. When the votes are counted and if she gets more votes than expected, Muslims will get the credit for the extra votes. It may not make a difference to the Presidential elections because Kamala might well win. But the numbers will make politicians more sensitive to “The Muslim Vote” and maybe, instead of signing off on another arms deal for Israel, they will call for an end to persecution and genocide by cutting off the means for Israel to do so.
In the meantime, we MUST vote for the state and local elections.
Generally, in a choice between a Republican or a Democrat, vote Democrat. In Washington’s Congressional District 9, vote for Melissa Choudhry because the incumbent Smith is a full-blown supporter of genocide and in the past, has crafted anti-Muslim laws (AUMF) that allowed the military to hold any Muslim without charges, without trials…forever. No, the AUMF does not NAME ‘Muslims’ but it defines who can be so held in such narrow terms that only a Muslim could qualify.
For Washington Governor, it’s Bob Ferguson.
In other elections, pick the Democrat because the Republican will not be good news.
Vote, don’t vote; does it matter?
Whether we vote or don’t vote, does it matter?
BOTH matter!
Muslims, people of good will and those who are undecided, we MUST register to vote immediately, there is almost no time left in Washington State
(Online and mail registrations must be received 8 days before Election Day. Register to vote in person during business hours and any time before 8:00 p.m. on Election Day). Yes, please register and VOTE in these elections and register NOW! Our votes do count but only if we don’t throw them away as “Default votes”. Here’s how to register and vote in Washington state BY October 28th!:
Republicans and Democrats have clearly told us that they will continue to support the genocide in Gaza and the coming mass slaughters (if not genocides) in Lebanon and Iran. Their calculations is simple; the anti-genocide voters will either vote for their own major parties (while holding their noses) as always so the attention must go to those who pay large monies to the parties and candidates; the Blindly pro-Israelis, the religious right and the arms industries.
In all decency, we cannot vote for Trump because he and his Republican entourage are batshit crazy and we cannot vote for Harris because she and her Democrats don’t give a damn for how many Palestinians are butchered by Israel using US weapons (neither does Trump for that matter).
We could simply not vote for anyone on the Presidential ballot. But I doubt if that will matter unless we do it intelligently. Otherwise, there is no way to count how many votes have been lost because of people who oppose the US-provided weapons for the genocide.
Vote for Jill Stein, not because she is the best person to lead the nation but because vote for her can be counted and politicians can see what they lost. It won’t impact these elections but politicians will be watching and counting and if there are enough people opposing the genocides and the “WAR!”s, politicians at House, Senate and Gubernatorial levels will pay close attention to the will of the anti-genocide voters. If we can influence the House, the Senate and the Governors in the NEXT elections, they will learn to listen to us and the Blindly pro-Israel Lobbies will lose their death-grip on how the US decides its Israel policies…and maybe other policies as well!
Muslims cannot afford to not get counted.
Yes, please register and VOTE in these elections and register NOW! Our votes do count but only if we don’t throw them away as “Default votes”. Here’s how to register and vote in Washington state BY October 28th!:
Online and mail registrations must be received 8 days before Election Day. Register to vote in person during business hours and any time before 8:00 p.m. on Election Day.
Call the WA state Elections Office (1-800-448-4881) to get more information if the above link is insufficient.
Emmy for Bisan in spite of Blindly pro-Israelis
The Blind Supporters of Israel have a scorched Earth policy of attacking anything that may appear to show “poor little Israel” in the least negative shade.
This is why today there is a West-wide McCarthyist attitude created among Western governments to forcefully squash anything “anti-Israel”, which includes anti-Genocide.
Israel’s addiction to violence and genocide is amply fed by weapons and money from almost every single Western country; countries that bury their lofty ideals about Equality, Freedom, Democracy or Human Rights when it comes to Arabs as the targets and Israel as the attacker.
As Gideon Levy, the great reporter from Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz said, “Israel is the only country in history that occupies with violence and yet claims to be the victim”.
Now these well-funded Blind Supporters went after this documentary about a young woman who managed to avoid each Israeli bombing and send out her report, “It’s Bisan from Gaza and I am Still Alive“. In spite of the tremendous international pressures, Bisan was still awarded an Emmy for her hard-hitting reportage of the Gaza Genocide and now Israelis will be looking for her so they can kill her as well, along with the 114 (as of Aug 31st, 2024) other journalists that Israelis have already murdered in Gaza.
There is an explanation for why Israelis kill so many women and children; it is summed up in the words of David Levi Strauss who wrote about the mindset of Rwanda’s Hutu-led government, who were the authors of the genocide of over 800,000 Tutsis:
“It was important to kill everyone. If someone survived, they could tell the story of what had happened, and name names. It was especially important to kill all the children. If any of them were spared, they could go on telling the story for a long time, and they would never forget.“
Vote! Republican or Democrat?
Here’s my BIG problem.
I believe the Democrats are spineless but, on the whole, they are very good for the people. They have brought in laws that support the social web of the nation even though they are also servile to Big Money.
If the Republicans had it their way, we would not have even the basic healthcare measure that exist today, we would not have people free to marry who they wish; Black-White, Jew-Christian or gay.
Democrats support Paid Family leave; they believe healthcare and education should be RIGHTS enjoyed by all, that minimum wage should be a LIVING wage.
Republicans would have none of that, instead, they want to lower taxes on the rich even more. Lower taxes are not a blessing because there is nothing to offset the many benefits enjoyed by us except by increasing the burdens on the lesser-income people and reducing budgets for social security (and increasing defense expenditures) and Medicare/Medicaid.
WAR? Republicans took us to invade Afghanistan, Iraq and pretty much set the world on fire. I would not trust Republicans to not start something else, even by proxy. They want to support unlimited gun ownership without any responsibilities, they have already brought in the so-called, “Stand Your Ground” laws across the United States where a person can kill another and not have consequences by simply saying he felt “threatened”
All in all, I support the Democratic platform…BUT… i simply cannot get past the fact that the current Democrats are goose-stepping alongside Israel and committing GENOCIDE in Gaza.
I can understand that Harris has to dance a fine dance and not piss off the Blind supporters of Israel who also stand behind the Gaza genocide, but I would have expected just some indications of her standing against the genocide…just enough to help us hope that her arrival will change things. But it isn’t forthcoming.
Because of the unlimited Democratic support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, I just cannot vote for either of the two major Presidential candidates, nor for the silent Congressional people (House and Senate) who also support Israel’s Genocide in Gaza, I just cannot.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) is among the few who have the courage and character to speak out against Israel’s atrocities. She and all the deserving candidates can use our votes especially in state elections where our votes really do count and where the candidates have little or no influence on what is happening in Gaza. So please register and VOTE! there is not too much time left to register and let us not waste an opportunity to bring in good candidates.
Let the Presidential and Congressional winners win without my vote and without the votes of other Muslims and people of good will because voting for either WILL make us complicit in the genocide.
When people are getting slaughtered in wholesale numbers in Gaza and when Americans in Israel and the West Bank can be executed by Israeli soldiers without a peep from our leadership or the American masses, we have to stand as the voices of conscience.
“Anti-Semitism” & McCarthyism: Israel’s P-R wars
The late Senator Joe McCarthy (1947-1957) would be proud that his philosophy and actions against “Communism!” are being so well implemented, this time against “Anti-Semitism”.
Every day, there is news about some school head, some comedian, some artiste has their career ruined or show cancelled because someone accuses them of “anti-Semitism”. Major law firms have drawn up lists of people who agitate against the genocide in Gaza to ensure they do not get hired. Israeli propaganda Industry has put up online lists of people accused of “Anti-Semitism” that employers may refer to before they make the decision to hire someone. Prominent people are falling over themselves to show they are not “Anti-Semitic” by supporting the Gaza genocide which is referred to as “Israel has the right to defend itself!”. Just as in the 1950s, the wanton, capricious, destruction of careers in the West, knows no bounds. People still protest against the genocide in their thousands, and it may yet have a pivotal effect on the upcoming 2024 elections.
This is just in the US. In Europe it gets worse. In Germany (Israel’s third largest weapons supplier) one can land in jail for displaying Palestinian flags or other overt support for Palestinians; prospective citizens are required to commit support for Israel or they get refused German citizenship. People still protest against the genocide in their thousands but the politicians barrel on.
The bias-production goes on and on. The public mind is molded silently but deliberately until the words “Arab” or “Palestinian” conjures images of mindless killers while the word “Israeli” is always reserved for Jews and conjures up images of or a tragic, beaten-up population struggling to stay alive.
Israel has a full-blown Ministry of Hasbara…Hebrew word for “Explaining”… set up to “explain” or restate in palatable terms, any action by Israel that could be seen negatively. Their job is not only to manage information about Israel but to train young Jews who go to Israel on their free “Birthright” trip on how to organize the P-R defense of Israel; it is a highly effective organization.
Western media and politicians are completely complicit in the genocide, destruction and dispossession of Palestinians. Even the words they choose, are designed to Polish the image of Jews and Israel while poisoning the minds against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.
Consider:
Palestinians are routinely referred to as “Terrorists” while Jews are “Settlers” and “Far Right” but never even Israeli Jews.
Captive Jews are “Hostages” while captive Palestinians are “Detainees” with “blood on their hands”. An NPR reporter speaking on Saturday afternoon from Jerusalem about how close the negotiations are for a ceasefire said how most of the issues are almost worked out, “including a hostage-prisoner exchange”. The bias becomes the language.
The number of Jews killed are never questioned but Palestinians killed are as “reported by the Hamas-run Health Ministry”, implying the figures are questionable.
Jews killed are named and their pictures displayed while Palestinian killed are simply dubious numbers.
Even in the current “WAR!” in Gaza, history began on October 7, 2023, not a hundred years earlier when Zionists landed in Palestine, determined to make “A miraculous clearing of the land” as described by one of the founding leaders of Israel.
Hope lies in the hands of the younger generation who are loudly agitating against the genocide and demanding that the US stop supplying weapons to Israel AND put a stop to the genocide. Their resolve may go all the way to the elections where they will either not vote or, vote for a third party candidate just to show how disgusted they are at out spineless, amoral, politicians.
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