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Thursday, November 30, 2023
Progressive US lawmakers renew calls for ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera
Progressive US lawmakers renew calls for ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera: With pause in Gaza war set to expire, Congress members gathered outside White House in call to stop the bloodshed.
Henry Kissinger was a cave man
Henry Kissinger was a cave man: The establishment media was Hitler's Leni Riefenstahl
How Huawei surprised the US with a cutting-edge chip made in China
How Huawei surprised the US with a cutting-edge chip made in China: The inside story of how the country’s flagship tech company kept its edge in the semiconductor war despite sanctions
Saudis Offer To Invest In Sanctioned Iranian Economy To Deescalate Gaza Tensions | ZeroHedge
Saudis Offer To Invest In Sanctioned Iranian Economy To Deescalate Gaza Tensions | ZeroHedge: ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
NATO makes new Ukraine announcement — RT World News
NATO makes new Ukraine announcement — RT World News: NATO makes new Ukraine announcement
The US-led bloc promised “interoperability” – but not membership – to Kiev
Self-Amplifying RNA Shots Are Coming: The Untold Danger | The Epoch Times
Self-Amplifying RNA Shots Are Coming: The Untold Danger | The Epoch Times: The truth behind RNA-based vaccine technology (Part 3)
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Fr. Bob's Reflection for the Solemnity of Christ the King -
Father Bob Warren’s Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King – 11/26/23
Today’s Gospel tells us that most of the time, we get in trouble for doing nothing. I was hungry, and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, and you gave me no water. I was away from home, and you gave me no welcome; naked and you gave me no clothing. I was ill and in prison, and you did not come and comfort me.
In other words, in all these cases, nothing was done.
Of course, we sin when we do wrong: Stealing, lying, cheating. But so often, we overlook the possibility of sinning by not doing anything.
The Gospel calls our attention to the fact that we will all face judgment. This is wholly contingent on whether one has responded humanely to the needs of the marginalized, the homeless, those society looks down upon.
You do not define your neighbor by race or religion. Neighbor is a four-letter word: Need. We have our modern-day outcasts, often ostracized from human society. Separated from their families, even at times from their churches. There are substance abusers, unable to receive treatment, runaways who sleep on the streets every night. Add them to the elderly, for whom a nursing home is hardly a home; who watch and wait for a relative or a friend, anyone to spend an hour with them. There are many people in the world who need us. What are we doing to help?
St. Theresa of Avila, a great mystic and doctor of the Church, wrote after 20 years of being a nun: “Christ has no body on earth but yours. No feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which He is to look out into the world. Yours are the hands He must use to bless.”
St. Theresa understood that if the sick, the hungry, the homeless, the thirsty are to be cared for, then it is to be done by us, His followers. We are the ones who must sustain His mission.
My friends, it is not for me to tell any of you how you should fit into today’s Gospel. I do, however, urge you to take time and listen to what God might be saying to you; what He might be asking of you. Perhaps, He is saying to some of us, “Live simply, so that others may live simply.”
Especially, those who experience far more of Christ’s crucifixion than His resurrection.
In the preface of Christ the King, it tells us that His Kingdom on earth is to be a Kingdom of truth and life. A Kingdom of holiness, grace, justice, love and peace. Is this the Kingdom we experience every day? If not, then why not?
Maybe we need to recall from time to time the words we begin Mass with: “Forgive us the things we have done, and those we have failed to do.” We stand before the Lord and He asks us what we do to bring about His Kingdom on earth.
Make sure your answer is not “Nothing.”
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Robert Warren, S.A.
Spiritual Director
[Salon] Peace in the Middle East: a suggestion - ArabDigest.org
Peace in the Middle East: a suggestion
Summary: a Jewish Canadian who has written plays about the Israel/Palestine conflict offers insights and calls for international intervention as neither side is capable of finding a road to the fair and equitable peace that the majority on both sides yearn for.
We thank Arthur Milner for today’s newsletter. Arthur is a Canadian playwright and activist and the author of two plays about Israel/Palestine Masada and Facts. Critics described Masada as “a skillful piece of writing driven by a powerful and frightening logic” and “an act of great moral courage” while Facts was called “riveting (from) a writer passionately engaged” and “a hard-hitting discourse on and challenge to identity – Zionist and Jew, Palestine and Israel – carried by the momentum of an intriguing who-done-it.” A published version of the two plays is available here.
Below, I offer a concrete plan for peace in Israel/Palestine. These are my credentials:
My parents’ parents, their grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts and all but one of their uncles were killed in the Holocaust. Since his youth, my father had been an active right-wing Zionist. In Montreal where I grew up, he was president of an Orthodox synagogue for 30 years and remained active in Zionist politics. He went to Israel every year. Menachem Begin was a friend of his and occasionally visited our home. Begin had been a member of Irgun, the Jewish paramilitary organisation responsible for blowing up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and for the massacre of more than 100 Palestinian villagers, including women and children; in fact Irgun was a terrorist organisation. Begin was a founder of Likud and served as Israeli prime minister from 1977 to 1983.
My mother was active in more mainstream Zionism. We were “traditionally” kosher. Pork was banned from the home but welcomed in Chinese restaurants. My brother and I were sent to Hebrew school. If you asked my father if he believed in God, he’d say: “religion keeps the Jews together.” He had absolute confidence that left to our own devices we would arrive at his conclusions. He did live to regret his laissez-faire approach.
I turned 17 in 1967 and got involved in sixties left-wing politics. My generation gradually turned against Israel as, following the Six-Day War, Israel transformed from David to Goliath, from socialist outpost to oppressor. In 1975, I joined a leftist theatre company and in the early eighties became resident playwright. I decided that, given my background and since no one else was doing it, I should write about Israel/Palestine. The result was Masada, a one-person play about the history of Zionism, which premiered at the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) in Ottawa, in 1990. I remember telling my father I was writing a play about Israel. He anticipated it would not be to his liking and he was quite angry. I didn’t mention it again until the opening date had been announced. “Then I should come see it,” he said. But he never did.
The play is told as a monologue through the character of an Israeli history professor who begins the lecture as a critic of Zionism but moves into an emphatic pro-Zionist stance, shifting from reason to passion or to put it another way from the rational to the irrational.
An Israeli infantry soldier takes part in a live firing exercise near the Gaza border in Southern Israel in readiness for possible deployment, November 20, 2023 [photo credit: @ahnouch_hassana]
The Middle East and its politics continued to fascinate me. But it wasn’t only the complex political dilemmas that roused my interest. I had started reading about evolution and I became interested in creation, as described in Genesis and by Darwin; and then about biblical history, according to the Pentateuch and modern archaeologists. When I heard about the actual unsolved murder of Dr Albert Glock an American archaeologist teaching in the West Bank, I thought: I have a plot.
That play, Facts, opened at GCTC in 2010 and was soon translated into Arabic by Kamal El Basha. Bethlehem’s Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society produced Facts in 2012, and it toured through Palestine and Israel. We did talkbacks after every show — the cast translated for me. The play was very well received. Looking back on it, I think that, wherever it was produced, people liked Facts because it showed that two very different characters, a Palestinian Authority police inspector and an Israeli police detective, could find common ground in their effort to solve the murder. A good and mature relationship developed between a Palestinian and an Israeli. And in the third character, a settler who is the suspected killer, audiences could see the face of the militant settler movement which was then and to this day is doing its best to fatally damage any hope of a two-state solution.
In the talkbacks I was often asked, “Why does a Canadian write about us?” I was a little nervous about answering. “I’ve always written political plays,” I’d say, adding “I grew up in a Jewish and Zionist home, and eventually I felt it was my duty to write about Israel and Palestine.” The reaction was almost always positive. However, I recall one talkback, where a Palestinian university professor was particularly critical of the play but afterwards invited me to his home for lunch.
Two years after its Palestinian tour, Facts was produced at the Finborough Theatre in London and, in Turkish, by Semaver Kumpanya in Istanbul.
Meanwhile, I had been writing articles about Israel/Palestine for inroadsjournal.ca. I’d long supported the two-state solution and then the Arab Peace Initiative but, by 2004, I had reached the conclusion that there was no hope for a negotiated settlement. And if a negotiated settlement was hopeless then, what is it now, after 56 years of occupation and the atrocities we’ve just witnessed?
I’ve concluded two things: arguing about who’s to blame will never get us anywhere. And it’s time for the international community to step in, to protect Palestinians from Israelis and Israelis from Palestinians, and to keep war from spreading. It’s time to say to Palestinians and Israelis, ‘You’ve had long enough to work this out. We’re taking over now.’”
Keeping that in mind, I’ve come up with a seven point plan. To bring peace to Israel and Palestine, the international community must:
as soon as possible, send an armed force to the Israeli border and maintain a reduced blockade of Gaza. The international force will come primarily from the U.S. and from Arab countries.
oversee the removal of all remote and small settlements from the West Bank, and the freezing of all other settlements.
oversee moving the fence to the Israeli side of the Green Line. Israel can have its “security barrier” but it cannot be used to annex Palestinian territory.
construct a secure road link between the West Bank and Gaza; and oversee the reopening of airports.
oversee elections in Israel and in Palestine. All parties and individuals contesting election must accept the existence of Palestine and Israel within the post-1948 borders. All must renounce violence.
after elections, oversee the complete closing of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. However, the newly elected governments may alter the borders and settlement closures through mutual consent.
keep international troops in the area for five years, at which time the situation will be reassessed.
It’s a simple plan, based on the Arab Peace Initiative, though it does not speak to the Palestinian right of return, which will have to be resolved down the road, by other means. Pretty well every international institution and every country supports the two-state solution. Will they send their armies? That’s what we have to work on. But it’s urgent. And it’s the easiest and most likely solution because it’s the only possible solution.
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
However Difficult, The United States Should Still Pursue Israeli-Palestinian Peace - War on the Rocks
However Difficult, The United States Should Still Pursue Israeli-Palestinian Peace - War on the Rocks: The horrific Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel has laid bare a key assumption underpinning U.S. policy toward the Middle East: that the Israeli-Palestinian
[Salon] UN Secretary-General message on the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people
The Secretary-General
Message on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
29 November 2023
This International Day of Solidarity comes during one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Palestinian people. I am horrified by the death and destruction that have engulfed the region, which is overwhelmed with pain, anguish and heartache.
Palestinians in Gaza are suffering a humanitarian catastrophe. Almost 1.7 million people have been forced from their homes – but nowhere is safe. Meanwhile, the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, risks boiling over.
I express my sincere condolences to the thousands of families who are mourning loved ones. This includes members of our own United Nations family killed in Gaza, representing the largest loss of personnel in the history of our organization.
I have been clear in my condemnation of the terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October. But I have also been clear that they cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Across the region, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency is an indispensable lifeline, delivering vital support to millions of Palestinian refugees. It is more important than ever that the international community stands with UNRWA as a source of support for the Palestinian people.
Above all, this is a day for reaffirming international solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to live in peace and dignity.
That must start with a long-term humanitarian ceasefire, unrestricted access for lifesaving aid, the release of all hostages, the protection of civilians and an end to violations of international humanitarian law. We must be united in demanding an end to the occupation and the blockade of Gaza.
It is long past time to move in a determined, irreversible way towards a two-State solution, on the basis of United Nations resolutions and international law, with Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security with Jerusalem as the capital of both States.
The United Nations will not waver in its commitment to the Palestinian people. Today and every day, let us stand in solidarity with the aspirations of the Palestinian people to achieve their inalienable rights and build a future of peace, justice, security and dignity for all.
COVID Vaccine Skepticism Censored After Virality Project… – The Vaccine Reaction
COVID Vaccine Skepticism Censored After Virality Project… – The Vaccine Reaction
"A Stanford University group helped the United States government censor COVID dissidents, then they lied about it. The Twitter files published by journalist Matt Taibbi in March revealed the Stanford’s Internet Observatory initiative, also known as the Virality Project, pushed platforms to treat user concerns about vaccine mandates as disinformation and to consider stories of true vaccine side effects to be actionable content on social media.”
'From Danielle and Emilia' - Freed Israeli Woman Thanks Qassam Brigades - Palestine Chronicle
'From Danielle and Emilia' - Freed Israeli Woman Thanks Qassam Brigades - Palestine Chronicle
The article transmitted below reports on the letter of thanks to the Al-Qassam Brigades from an Israeli woman who was released with her six-year-old daughter on Friday.
The prolonged stays in hospitals of released Israelis may have less to do with their physical health than with keeping them incommunicado while convincing them not to speak honestly about their decent treatment while in Gaza, as an 85-year-old woman released in October scandalously did on live TV.
Israel apparently believes that beastly and inhumane treatment of its Palestinian "prisoners" serves its own intimidatory interests, and the Palestinian women and children released in the West Bank in recent days have been speaking freely and frankly about their beastly and inhumane treatment in Israel's prisons.
Hamas clearly believes that treating its "guests" kindly serves its own reputational interests, but this kind treatment, if publicly disclosed, would undercut the "human animals" dehumanization and demonization narrative required to justify to Israeli and Western public opinion the planned resumption of Israel's genocidal assault against the people of Gaza.
NOTE: While 150 Palestinian women and children, the great majority held without charges or trials, have been released during the past four days, Israel has taken 260 new hostages in the West Bank during these same four days, bringing the total number of new hostages taken in the West Bank since October 7 to 3290. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, 56 of the 60 Palestinian women still in Israeli prisons have been "arrested" since October 7.
From China To Europe & Back Again: The World Bank Predicts Middle Corridor Freight Capacity Could Triple In Volume By 2030 - Silk Road Briefing
From China To Europe & Back Again: The World Bank Predicts Middle Corridor Freight Capacity Could Triple In Volume By 2030 - Silk Road Briefing: By Chris Devonshire-Ellis The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM or Middle Corridor) could significantly increase its freight capacity in the near future, according to Victor Aragones, a Senior Transport Economist of the World Bank, in a new study. The World Bank has completed a report around the potential for expanding the Middle Corridor. This study[.....]
Dancing with broken hearts for the Palestinian children being freed – Mondoweiss
Dancing with broken hearts for the Palestinian children being freed – Mondoweiss: On Sunday, hundreds gathered in Ramallah to welcome Palestinian children set free from Israeli jails for the third consecutive day. It was a bittersweet victory however, with thousands still in jail and Israel’s genocide continuing in Gaza.
Monday, November 27, 2023
What’s Behind Israel’s Financial Might?
What’s Behind Israel’s Financial Might?: Last year, Israel's gross domestic product (GDP) soared to $501 billion and is estimated to increase to $611 billion by 2026. So what factors add to Israel’s state coffers refilled? Sputnik explores.
Trillion Dollar Bailout: What Xi Really Wants From Biden | OilPrice.com
Trillion Dollar Bailout: What Xi Really Wants From Biden | OilPrice.com: Emerging reports shed light on the factors that led Xi to seek aid, displaying signs of desperation during the summit held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) in San Francisco
Eat Like a Local in Croatia: Vis Island | Croatia Week
Eat Like a Local in Croatia: Vis Island | Croatia Week: Indulging in the vibrant flavours and rich culinary traditions of a foreign land is one of the most delightful experiences for any traveller. In Croatia, immersing oneself in the local cuisine specific to a destination is an essential aspect of the journey. With its diverse regional specialties and an array of delectable dishes, Croatia is
The High Cost of International Shipping - Geopolitical Futures
The High Cost of International Shipping - Geopolitical Futures: Though the cease-fire in Gaza has eased tensions in the Middle East, the prospects of a wider conflict still remain, and energy markets expect a new hike
Sunday, November 26, 2023
A Slow-Motion Gaza - TomDispatch.com
A Slow-Motion Gaza - TomDispatch.com
Engelhardt, World War III?
Posted on November 26, 2023
[Note for TomDispatch Readers: Just a reminder, as you read my latest piece about our ever-more-beleaguered planet. Do consider lending a hand to this ever-more-beleaguered website. There’s no way I’ll be able to adequately thank those of you who have offered TomDispatch regular monthly donations and those who give from time to time, but believe me, you’ve made all the difference. I’m only hoping that there are more of you out there keeping up with this site who, as the year winds down, might think about giving us something. If so, please check out our donation page and then do your damnedest. A million thanks in advance! Tom]
The hidden reasons behind the war on Gaza (Part I) | Al Mayadeen English
The hidden reasons behind the war on Gaza (Part I) | Al Mayadeen English: Either the Resistance Axis and the Global South decolonize the Middle East, or "Israel" and the US will continue occupying the region, choking off the New Silk Road, plundering Syria's oil, and keeping Russian, Iranian, and Arab gas cut off from the world market.
Saturday, November 25, 2023
Priest offers a single word that can confront anxiety
Priest offers a single word that can confront anxiety: Fr. David Michael Moses shares some very useful advice on how we should address the worries in our lives.
Can the Palestinian Authority Really Govern Gaza After the War? - The New York Times
Can the Palestinian Authority Really Govern Gaza After the War? - The New York Times
John Whitbeck writes:
"Public speculation by most Western politicians and commentators regarding the "Day After" Israel's genocidal assault against the people of Gaza finally ends appears to accept as givens that Israel will not succeed in achieving its scarcely hidden objective of making the Gaza Strip unlivable and emptying it of Palestinians but will succeed in achieving its publicly proclaimed objective of totally eradicating Hamas, thereby leaving a vacuum which will need to be filled by some other form of governance for survivors continuing to live in Gaza.
In his article transmitted below, TIMES chief diplomatic correspondent and distinguished recipient Steven Erlanger offers a much more sophisticated, knowledgeable and realistic assessment of what the future could and should hold.
NOTE: While Steven cites an Israeli figure of 1850 Palestinians "arrested" by Israel in the West Bank since October 7, Palestinian sources put the figure for the number of hostages taken by Israel in the West Bank since October 7 at over 3000. In any event, in light of these numbers, the 150 Palestinian women and children released yesterday and to be released in the coming days are overwhelmed by the number of new hostages recently taken. Israel is clearly capable of restocking and inflating its inventory of Palestinian hostages whenever and however it chooses."
Friday, November 24, 2023
Gaza: a pause before the storm
Gaza: a pause before the storm
https://new.thecradle.co/articles/gaza-a-pause-before-the-storm
Gaza: a pause before the storm
The US and its allies will continue backing Israel's war on Gaza after a brief truce. But as the case for 'genocide' grows stronger, the new multipolar powers will have to confront the old hegemons and their Rules-Based Chaos.
The Chris Hedges Report Show with Dylan Saba
The Chris Hedges Report Show with Dylan Saba
The Chris Hedges Report Show with Dylan Saba, an attorney with Palestine Legal, on the censorship of those who defend Palestinian rights and condemn Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Pfizer sues Poland over Covid-19 vaccine — RT World News
Pfizer sues Poland over Covid-19 vaccine — RT World News: Pfizer sues the Polish government for alleged failure to pay for 60 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine
[Salon] The Genocide Debate - ArabDigest.org
[Salon] The Genocide Debate - micheletkearney@gmail.com - Gmail
The Genocide Debate
Summary: those who call what the IDF is doing in Gaza a genocide are accused by supporters of the Israeli war effort of being anti-Semites and that charge can be enough to stifle legitimate criticism.
The debate on whether it is fair and appropriate to call Israel’s pummelling of Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip a genocide took a revealing turn in America when on 18 November the Harvard Law Review (HLR) pulled an already editorially approved article written by Rabea Eghbariah a Palestinian human rights lawyer and doctoral law student at Harvard. The article, had it run, would have been the first ever by a Palestinian scholar published in the prestigious and influential journal.
In a thoughtful and well argued piece, subsequently published by The Nation, Eghbariah makes the case that the carpet bombing and the ground invasion that have caused a massive number of civilian casualties together with efforts over decades to “erase the group dynamic: the attempt to incapacitate the Palestinians from exercising their political will as a group” constitutes a genocide. He cites the UN Genocide Convention and numerous experts including the first chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo. Ocampo argues that “Just the blockade of Gaza—just that—could be genocide under Article 2(c) of the Genocide Convention, meaning they are creating conditions to destroy a group.”
The Intercept in analysing why HLR pulled Eghbariah’s article arrived at the conclusion that the reason was fear, fear that student editors who run the journal and number 100 would be targeted and doxed with accusations that they were supporters of Hamas and therefore supporters of terrorism. They were also concerned about career damage. One of the editors who asked to remain anonymous told The Intercept:
Editors expressed that they supported the piece and wanted to uplift marginalized voices but were voting against publishing it because they were afraid of the consequences and had worked too hard to now risk their futures. Some also expressed concerns that the blowback to the piece would discriminatorily target editors of colour more than others.
Presciently Eghbariah had begun his article thusly:
Genocide is a crime. It is a legal framework. It is unfolding in Gaza. And yet, the inertia of legal academia, especially in the United States, has been chilling. Clearly, it is much easier to dissect the case law rather than navigate the reality of death. It is much easier to consider genocide in the past tense rather than contend with it in the present. Legal scholars tend to sharpen their pens after the smell of death has dissipated and moral clarity is no longer urgent.
And he asks a challenging question: “does one have to wait for a genocide to be successfully completed to name it?”
111 Palestinians are buried in a mass grave in Khan Yunis, November 22 [photo credit: Andalou Agency]
The veteran Israeli opinion writer Gideon Levy is one who is not waiting. In a scathing piece in Haaretz yesterday he denounced the language used by a retired Major General and current advisor to the Defense Ministry Giora Eiland. In a piece Eiland wrote for Yedioth Ahronoth the general advocated for the killing of women: “Who are the ‘poor’ women of Gaza? They are all the mothers, sisters or wives of Hamas murderers.”
Levy was particularly repulsed by Eiland’s statement that “the spread of severe epidemics is a legitimate means of warfare.” Eiland had written:
The international community warns us of a humanitarian disaster in Gaza and of severe epidemics. We must not shy away from this, as difficult as that may be. After all, severe epidemics in the south of the Gaza Strip will bring victory closer and reduce casualties among IDF soldiers
That was evidence of what Gideon Levy called a “Nazi proposal” and he went on to write:
Anyone who attributes genocide to Israel is anti-Semitic, after all. Just imagine a European general proposing to starve a nation, or to kill it with an epidemic – the Jews, for instance. Imagine spreading a plague because it would promote the war effort. All is fair in war, and now it’s ok to suggest anything and everything you’ve dreamed of and never dared to bring up. Political correctness has been turned upside down. Anyone can be Meir Kahane, nobody may be human. It’s ok to propose genocide, but wrong to pity the children of Gaza. It’s ok to propose ethnic cleansing, but it's wrong to be shocked by Gaza’s punishment.
Rabea Eghbariah titled his article “The Ongoing Nakba” and he concludes it with these words: “The denial of the genocide in Gaza is rooted in the denial of the Nakba. And both must end, now.”
IDF Knew Real Hamas HQ While Lying About al-Shifa
IDF Knew Real Hamas HQ While Lying About al-Shifa
While telling the world that Hamas HQ was under al-Shifa Hospital, the IDF had already found the actual command center 8.5km away, reports Gareth Porter.
The Jewish civil war over Israel - UnHerd
The Jewish civil war over Israel - UnHerd
While Jews often seem clannish to outsiders, the reality is somewhat different: we have always suffered from a divisive streak of self-destructiveness. As far back as the levelling of the Temple and the expulsion from the homeland, Jewish unity has been undermined by both class divisions and theological disagreements. Two thousand years later, though General Titus’s legions may be forgotten, fissures and infighting remain.
Since October 7, there has been a very real upsurge in antisemitism in Europe and America. Some members of my own synagogue openly discuss whether they should attend services, or events such as menorah lightings; others are considering buying guns.
But despite this shared threat, the response of the Jewish community to events in Israel has been far from homogenous. This is, to some extent, nothing new. Extreme Orthodox Jews have long been a feature of pro-Palestine marches, maintaining that only God can sanction the return of the Jewish state. The equally extreme Black Hebrew Israelites, who maintain they are “the real Jews”, are also avowedly anti-Zionist.
Redefining Success in Ukraine | Foreign Affairs
Redefining Success in Ukraine | Foreign Affairs
Redefining Success in Ukraine
A New Strategy Must Balance Means and Ends
By Richard Haass and Charles Kupchan
November 17, 2023
Thursday, November 23, 2023
All Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, must join Non-Proliferation Treaty — IAEA - World - TASS
All Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, must join Non-Proliferation Treaty — IAEA - World - TASS: All Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, must join Non-Proliferation Treaty — IAEA
Speaking at the IAEA board meeting in Vienna, Rafael Grossi noted that the Agency had made "repeated calls" on "all countries in the Middle East, and that includes Israel, to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty and to open all their nuclear facilities to comprehensive safeguards inspections"
[Salon] How Israel could lose - ArabDigest.org
How Israel could lose
Summary: Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is estranging itself from its international partners and turning it into an international pariah creating an unprecedented opportunity for a change in the balance of power not just in the Palestinian struggle but against dictators across the Arab world.
It is still too early to say how Israel’s assault on Gaza is going to end but as the window of opportunity to destroy Hamas closes it looks increasingly unlikely Israel is going to be able to meet at least one of its key military objectives.
As a result, when the war ends Israel could find itself in a much worse position than it was before 7 October and with few good options going forward; in other words defeated.
Other than a comprehensive political solution, the only way Israel can conclusively “win” at this stage is by either the extermination of everyone in Gaza or the evacuation of the entire population into Egypt. Neither is acceptable to Israel’s Western allies.
In a recent article Israel Could Lose Arab Digest member Jon Alterman reflected on the possibility the war will not end well for Israel:
Most discussions about the war in Gaza assume that, in the end, Israel will win. The stakes are so high for Israel, and Israel’s edge over Hamas is so large, that any outcome other than victory is unthinkable. The only questions are in what timeframe and at what cost.
As former Hamas chief Khaled Meshal made clear in his Al Arabiya interview on October 19, Hamas is working on a completely different timeframe and cost than Israel’s.
Nations are not easily liberated. The Russians sacrificed 30 million people in World War II, in order to be free from Hitler’s attack. The Vietnamese sacrificed 3.5 million people until they defeated the Americans. Afghanistan sacrificed millions of martyrs to defeat the USSR and then the US. The Algerian people sacrificed six million martyrs over 130 years. The Palestinians are just like any other nation.
Jon Alterman continues:
Hamas sees victory not in one year or five, but from engaging with decades of struggle that increase Palestinian solidarity and increase Israel’s isolation. In this scenario, Hamas rallies a besieged population in Gaza around it in anger and helps collapse the Palestinian Authority government by ensuring Palestinians see it even more as a feckless adjunct to Israeli military authority. Meanwhile, Arab states move strongly away from normalisation, the Global South aligns strongly with the Palestinian cause, Europe recoils at the Israeli army’s excesses, and an American debate erupts over Israel, destroying the bipartisan support Israel has enjoyed here since the early 1970s.
All the signs are that this is Hamas’ strategy and it is working like a clock, as in its rage and thirst for revenge against an elusive guerrilla enemy Israel is steadily estranging itself from its international partners and turning itself into an international pariah.
The Palestinian resistance have created an unprecedented opportunity for a change in the balance of power not just in the struggle against Israel but across the whole Arab world [photo credit: Saraya Al Quds]
Though Western governments still offer Israel their wholehearted support, the atrocities Israel is committing and which are available to view 24 hours a day for everyone on their timeline and social media feed are leading to rapid changes in public opinion, especially in the US where pro-Palestine demonstrations have swept cities and university campuses.
This is putting Israel on a trajectory to becoming an uninvestable pariah like the apartheid regime in South Africa, which also had full western backing before its collapse.
Of course many continue to support Israel strongly and the Israeli lobby remains extremely influential, but slowly the realisation is dawning on western public policy makers that while in the past Israel served a useful purpose for the West, it is becoming a liability, both in terms of absorbing huge sums of money and creating vast numbers of unnecessary Arab and Muslim enemies. The longer the atrocities go on, the wider these sentiments spread.
At the same time the situation inside Israel itself is also difficult. Hamas continues to pepper Tel Aviv with large barrages of rockets. Israeli businesses have been buckling under the war. The country remains in a state of shock, struggling to come to terms with the impact of October 7. The security failures surrounding the attack have led to a collapse in trust both in the army and political institutions. The general public is deeply divided, with people being arrested for opposing the war and chaos in the Knesset as families of the Israeli hostages row with ministers. Large numbers of Israelis are reported to be leaving the country.
As Arab Digest reported at the time, existential problems in Israel were rising even before the October 7 attack because of Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government pushing through controversial judicial reforms which would also serve to keep Netanyahu himself out of prison. Five hundred Israeli reserve pilots had threatened to refuse to serve because of the government’s plan.
As long as the war continues these divisions can be mostly papered over but if it ends without Hamas being eradicated or all the hostages being rescued, the divisions will grow deeper.
Meanwhile, there is mounting anger in the Arab world about what is happening in Gaza.
The most volatile situation is in the West Bank and in Jordan where more than half the 6.3 million population is of Palestinian origin. An Intifada erupting in the West Bank would be another disaster for Israel. Mahmoud Abbas has 60,000 Palestinian policemen under his command whose main job is guaranteeing Israeli security. If that control were to end, either through revolution or by his dying (he is 88) and a succession crisis then the Palestinian Authority will collapse, the people will rise up and Israel will be facing a war on a new front.
Other Arab leaders are also in a difficult position. In public they must show support for Palestine but behind closed doors they back Israel and are doing whatever they can to contain growing public outrage. This is not sustainable indefinitely and Jordan and Egypt in particular are ripe for a coup or revolution.
Deep down, Israelis know the current situation is exceptional and cannot last forever.
Sooner or later the Arab Spring will return, current Arab regimes will be overthrown and Israel will find itself faced with hundreds of millions of hostile Arabs who are led by rulers not so ready to betray the Palestinians. This is why Arab dictators have long since operated on the principle that pleasing Israel is the best way to garner US support to remain in power and why Israel is so keen for US and European governments to back the current Arab regimes, even at the cost of western principles, interests and security.
Had it not been for the Hamas attack on October 7 the situation would have continued until a full normalisation between Israel and the Arabs had been realised and the Palestinian resistance eradicated. Instead, despite the ferocity of the siege and all Hamas’ military and technological disadvantages, the way Israel has chosen to conduct the war ensures at best a Pyrrhic victory that promises to reshape the region and re-ignite the suppressed aspirations for freedom that fuelled the Arab Spring.
Why This Thanksgiving Day Is So Important After COVID | The Epoch Times
Why This Thanksgiving Day Is So Important After COVID | The Epoch Times: Even in the darkest times, rituals can help ground us, distract us from negative thinking cycles, and give us the chance to emerge stronger.
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Fr. Bob's Reflection for the Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
A master was going on a journey. Before he left, he called in his servants. He gave each of them strange and extraordinary gifts. To the first servant, he gave a power which, until then, had never been seen or heard in the land. It was the power to make music and dance. The gifts of melody and rhythm were given to him for keeping.
The second servant received a power only the humans hold. It is the power of speech, to make words. He was given the gift of language. To the third servant, the master gave the greatest gift of all: the power to love. Having given all these gifts, the master set out on his journey.
One day, the master sent his son to ask what the servants had done with the gifts they had been given. The first servant used his gift of melody to write a new symphony, and had taught a young boy how to play the harmonica. He also taught a group of elderly people how to dance. They danced at weddings and parties, and the master’s son was very pleased.
The second servant who was gifted with words composed lullabies and wrote poetry. He said “yes” to good things and “no” to bad things. The master’s son was so pleased, he taught him another phrase: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The master’s son, again, was pleased.
What about the third servant, who was gifted love? He used his power to love himself, but not his neighbor. He loved money and bought things only for himself. He loved a woman enough to marry, but not have children. He wanted to travel and have a good time.
The servant came in fear of the master’s son and said, “I have not used your gift wisely. Now, it is too late.” The son was angry, but the servant asked for mercy. The son said, “I will give you one more year. Take your power and use it the right way. Visit the sick, learn to love them. Open your home to the homeless. Take the money you loved and give it to the poor.” The man went and did as he was told, at top speed. And the master’s son was pleased.
“None of you are worthless,” he said to the servants. “Welcome into my father’s house.”
My friends, you all have been given many gifts. Gifts to help you help each other and lead useful, happy lives. Do not bury them. God has given you each a special way to speak, listen, love and be a friend. You are called to lightness, not darkness. Use your gifts well and do not hide them.
Jesus is telling us in this parable that it doesn’t matter how many talents we have. What matters is how we use them. And all the talents or gifts that God has given us, be they little or great, are not to be used just for ourselves. They are to be used in the service of others, and in the service of the God who gave them to us.
And if we use them right, the master’s son will be very well pleased with us, and say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Robert Warren, S.A.
Spiritual Director
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