Posted by: ld | Nov 18 2023 15:02 utc | 16
Poignant
My Lai March 16, 1968 should be a reminder for the boomers who seem to have lost their way. There was of course no politician or Sr. military man held accountable, but there was someone who stood up at great risk to himself to stop the horror. His name was Hugh Thompson.

Posted by: bubbles | Nov 18 2023 21:33 utc | 103

Posted by: Áobh Ó’Sheachnasaigh | Nov 18 2023 21:07 utc | 49
Do you work at the Onion?

Posted by: bubbles | Nov 18 2023 21:37 utc | 105

Hopefully there is someone on this thread who can add up the weekly costs of the current US armada
Abierno 24 We would need top secret clearance. Nobody wants the US taxpayer to freak out.
About what really happened on Oct 7, I suggest the following links below which are the original articles. Everyone else is republishing these as mashed potatoes. IMHO there’s a tiny bit of LIHOP, a nasty bit of false flag in the coverup, a lot of incompetence. TLDR: Most civilians likely killed by Israel but blamed on H.
For the final military summary this is Scott Ritter’s assessment. Nov 13: https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/the-october-7-hamas-assault-on-israel
Ritter, the UN Weapons Inspector who said Iraq had no WMD describes Hamas as conducting a successful military raid “disciplined, deadly, and determined”. While being courteous with civilians. He thinks it was Israel’s reliance on AI algos / dodgy tech / incompetence / hubris that led them to underestimate Hamas. Some LIHOP in that Hamas had been observed playing war games but this was dismissed.
WSJ has recently put out a video saying Hamas operated in a very sophisticated way to disable all the surveillance equipment and the robot machine guns on the fence.
Hamas have always claimed it was a military operation targeting only military bases and related kibbutzim (which they consider not combatants as they have armed security). Seems military was quickly overrun. Hostages taken to exchange for Palestinian prisoners. They say the only civilians they may have killed happened inadvertently in crossfire. This seems to be backed up by Israeli witnesses.
Hamas itself (I doubt they’ve been surfing the net) probably has no clue about the lurid atrocities they have been accused of. They were in uniform so all video that came out with a delay of guys in jeans and sneakers could be anyone. Eg the silly bodycam of a gun shooting at toilet doors at the rave: we don’t see the guy holding the gun. Hamas have never said they went to a rave. Now Israel admits it. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/tv-police-probe-of-reim-massacre-shows-terrorists-didnt-know-about-party-in-advance/
The unconvincing footage of guys in normal clothes “kidnapping people” at the rave came out much later when the propaganda campaign was under way. That is probably staged by Israel itself imho.
The first to mention the Haaretz list of dead was Hamas guy on Rania Khalek’s show on Oct 21. (This is an excellent channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_4wJMm3KEs)
He said of the 600 names released at that date, almost 400 were soldiers and police. That initial “1400 civilians” claim was BS. (The Haaretz list is a whole article by itself, they’ve been fiddling with it over the 3 weeks. It now include soldiers killed in Gaza since oct 27 as well as a lot of other nonsense eg people killed in Egypt wtf).
Haaretz now claim that the total number of Israeli + foreign civilians killed ON and SINCE Oct 7 is under 800 by WHOM?
These articles suggest the majority of civilians were killed by Israel itself but deliberately attributed to Hamas by the Israeli government. So that is a “false flag” element in the coverup even if it was not planned before Oct 7 and was the result of spontaneous incompetence.
Oct 22: Got the ball rolling https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/a-growing-number-of-reports-indicate-israeli-forces-responsible-for-israeli-civilian-and-military-deaths-following-october-7-attack/
Oct 24: Follow up to Mondoweiss. Inlakesh later posted a slightly updated version to Unz.comhttps://new.thecradle.co/articles/what-really-happened-on-7th-october
Oct 27 https://thegrayzone.com/2023/10/27/israels-military-shelled-burning-tanks-helicopters/
Currently, the total Haaretz list is under 1,200 (civilians, foreigners, non-civilians, including everyone killed from Oct 7 until today).

Posted by: pq | Nov 18 2023 21:39 utc | 107

Appolyon 48
Music festival a celebration of sexual freedom and a necessary release from intense theological,
indoctrination, hopefully not accompanied by torture – chemical – psychological manipulation.

Posted by: Giyane | Nov 18 2023 21:46 utc | 109

Áobh Ó’Sheachnasaigh 49
The Turks share Erdogan’s contempt for their country’s neighbours who the previously tyrannise over
Just a dog-whistle charlatan like Trump and Boris Johnson.

Posted by: Giyane | Nov 18 2023 21:57 utc | 111

@afe_con_leche2
“we crossed a red line here, it seems NATO (white genociders) vs BRICS world war is coming.”
NATO is a military alliance, whereas BRICS is a economic union. War seems unlikely; moreso when you consider that BRICS member states are largely still beholden to SWIFT. A lot has to change before what you propose becomes a reality.

Posted by: Oat | Nov 18 2023 22:19 utc | 113

RE: AndrewB | Nov 18 2023 13:26 utc | 6
“OR weak (total failure to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians) – Again, time will tell.”
There has NEVER been a “solidarity” in the last 70 years of Palestinian/Israeli conflict… as “time has told” that obvious fact already.
All the surrounding Arab nations now have to decide, is how much of their own territory will they turn over without a fight in the future. That’s all that’s on their mind. Or do they end it here?
It would appear they’ll sleep on it and figure that out another day.
Posted by: Trubind1 | Nov 18 2023 14:08 utc | 11
Rather “Takiya” or “good cop / bad cop” in Hollywood fashion …
Bleeding the beast by thousand cuts, while pretending business as usual …

Posted by: Greg Galloway | Nov 18 2023 22:19 utc | 115

Posted by: Seer | Nov 18 2023 15:51 utc | 18
The US game plan is as ancient as they come: divide and conquer.
Smack down any upstart power.

Could be. But it is beginning to feel more like they are doing whatever they can to persuade themselves that they are still a Big Dog. They know for sure they are not the only Big Dog any more – something which even a few years ago would have been loudly refuted.
Economically, culturally and diplomatically they have little geopolitical clout. Militarily somewhat but only if they go apeshit with long-range missiles not mano-a-mano with boots on the ground.

Posted by: Scorpion | Nov 18 2023 22:20 utc | 117

The West Should Welcome Gaza Refugees
Netanyahu bronze age gov’t continues to push for ‘reducing’ the number of residents of Gaza. Not all at once tho.
A slow march approach
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-west-should-welcome-gaza-refugees-asylum-seekers-hamas-terrorism-displacement-5d2b5890
Video ..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4vI_MDVYzY
Search page link, multiple sources.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&q=The+West+Should+Welcome+Gaza+Refugees#ip=1
Rumblin’, bumblin’, stumblin’ Genocide Joe is all in.

Posted by: bubbles | Nov 18 2023 22:49 utc | 119

“….Israel has succeeded in uniting all Muslims against it. That won’t necessarily lead to a grand military coalition against Israel; most of the significant Arab states can’t face Israel militarily. It’ll happen otherwise….” laguerre@45
Another point, which I will add though it is notorious, is that most of the well armed Arab states are armed by the US and its allies. And some of them-Saudi Arabia for example-depend upon British and American (and other ) technical assistance from contractors.
In essence the Saudis have an enormous arsenal which they pay for in cold hard cash but which they can only employ with foreign, imperial permission. This is also close to the csase with Egypt whose army, as we know, is very close to the US. As is Jordan’s, traditionally as British as Camberley and Sandhurst could make it- the modern Arab Legion without Glubb Pasha.
The same sort of patttern can be discerned in, for example, the powerful Pakistani military and, probably, the Indonesians too.

Posted by: bevin | Nov 18 2023 23:18 utc | 121

The Washington Post has published an opinion piece by Joe Biden titled:
US won’t back down from the challenge of Putin and Hamas
I can’t read it in WaPo, so here are some bits from TASS and Israel National News Arutz Sheva.
WASHINGTON, November 19. /TASS/. The policy being pursued by Washington in Ukraine and the Middle East would bring progress and make the United States more secure, US President Joe Biden said in his article for The Washington Post.
According to Biden, against the backdrop of “so much violence and suffering – in Ukraine, Israel, [the] Gaza [Strip] and so many other places – it can be difficult to imagine that something different is possible.” “We must never forget the lesson learned time and again throughout our history: Out of great tragedy and upheaval, enormous progress can come,” he maintained.
Biden expects the US policy to bring “more hope, more freedom, less rage, less grievance, less war.” “That is the strategy that my administration will continue to lead — in the Middle East, Europe and around the globe. Every step we take toward that future is progress that makes the world safer and the United States of America more secure,” he emphasized.
“As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a cease-fire is not peace. To Hamas’s members, every cease-fire is time they exploit to rebuild their stockpile of rockets, reposition fighters and restart the killing by attacking innocents again,” he said in an article for The Washington Post. According to the US leader, “an outcome that leaves Hamas in control of Gaza would once more perpetuate its hate and deny Palestinian civilians the chance to build something better for themselves.”.
Israel News:
US President Joe Biden has promised that the US will not back down “from the challenge of Putin and Hamas.”
“Today, the world faces an inflection point, where the choices we make — including in the crises in Europe and the Middle East — will determine the direction of our future for generations to come.”
Comparing the Russian President to the Hamas terror group, he noted, “Both Putin and Hamas are fighting to wipe a neighboring democracy off the map. … America cannot, and will not, let that happen. For our own national security interests — and for the good of the entire world.”
In his opinion, the US plays an essential role, supporting its allies in their quest for “a brighter, more peaceful future.”
“The world looks to us to solve the problems of our time. That is the duty of leadership, and America will lead,” he stressed.
We stand firmly with the Israeli people as they defend themselves against the murderous nihilism of Hamas.”
Acknowledging that Hamas “promised that it will relentlessly try to repeat Oct. 7. It has said very clearly that it will not stop,” Biden also said that, “The Palestinian people deserve a state of their own and a future free from Hamas.”
“Our goal should not be simply to stop the war for today — it should be to end the war forever,” he stressed, though he insisted that a two state solution is the “only” way to ensure peace and security for Israelis and “Palestinian” people.
In his vision, Gaza “must never again be used as a platform for terrorism,” but it should be ruled “under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.”

Posted by: JB | Nov 18 2023 23:19 utc | 123

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister announced the start of a ministerial diplomatic tour charged with advocating for an Israeli ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“The first stop will be in China and then we will move to a number of capitals to deliver the clear message that there must be a ceasefire immediately… and humanitarian needs must be immediately delivered to Gaza and we must work to end… this war on Gaza as soon as possible,” Minister Faisal bin Farhan said.
middleeasteye.net/

Posted by: JB | Nov 18 2023 23:33 utc | 125

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister announced the start of a ministerial diplomatic tour charged with advocating for an Israeli ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“The first stop will be in China and then we will move to a number of capitals to deliver the clear message that there must be a ceasefire immediately… and humanitarian needs must be immediately delivered to Gaza and we must work to end… this war on Gaza as soon as possible,” Minister Faisal bin Farhan said.
middleeasteye.net/

Posted by: JB | Nov 18 2023 23:33 utc | 127

Posted by: JB | Nov 18 2023 23:19 utc | 60
All the MSM now are trying to throw Satanyahoo under the bus.
And Biden talking “peace” ….but without Hamas. It’s all BS. Just another repeat of Oslo 2.O with Gaza completely destroyed.
They are trying to get away from war crimes and genocide charges.
Huge massacre tonight in Central Gaza. 3 journalists killed. Doctors killed. So many kids with amputations and horrid burns.
And there are NO HOSPITALS FUNCTIONING. Injured are just dying slowly. Israel has completely WRECKED all the hospitals and the equipment.
Just horrifying scenes on Al Jazeera https://youtu.be/aBYVz3PHzwA?feature=shared
The last few seconds, just bodies lying there.
It’s like living in a horror movie.

Posted by: Pq | Nov 18 2023 23:56 utc | 129

Thank You to b and to all who take time and make effort providing information and links. You have enabled me to know what is true and what isn’t regarding the situation in Palestine the past 40 some days and nights.
Little girl gaza – slow writhing in delirium of indescribable pain on the hospital floor in the filth and the blood and chaos, her leg bone protruding from her, and helpless adults prevented the means to come to her aid – knowing this evil was premeditated – and knowing my money paid to make that happen to her – she looks like my grandaughter – she looks so much like my precious grandaughter – she is my constant companion now – she lives in the back of my head – i carry her everywhere day and night – DunGroanin I thank you for giving me her – so that my tears will not be dried.
I have only my tears to give.
And my curses upon every last vile israeli zionist jew and upon every filthy rotten member of the zionist infested usa gov.
God bless Hamas and Yemen. Free Palestine.

Posted by: DuchessAndBob | Nov 19 2023 0:11 utc | 131

@ Posted by: Aleph_Null | Nov 18 2023 20:17 utc | 43
“Most, many, or some hurt people hurt people.”
I hear you. Aleph_Null & Agree 100%. I write and post too quickly sometimes, often.
Only to realise at a later reading of my hastiness. Apologies for the inadvertent generalisation.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Nov 19 2023 0:13 utc | 133

Posted by: JB | Nov 18 2023 23:19 utc | 60
OpEd | Joe Biden: The U.S. won’t back down from the challenge of Putin and Hamas, 18 Nov
I promise you: He didn’t write it. He didn’t even dictate it. It’s possible that a person, ahem, familiar with the matter read it aloud in his presence, and this stimulus triggered either a passive or aggressive nonverbal response believed to signify either approval or disapproval, respectively, of publication from him.

Posted by: sln2002 | Nov 19 2023 0:19 utc | 135

@ DunGroanin | Nov 19 2023 0:13 utc | 64
Words are like that, chum: always accidentally coloring outside the lines. Yours is a respected handle in my catalog, anyhow, and this seems to be a pretty good thread, so far. Maybe I’ll save the lyrics to my current earworm (God’s Song by Randy Newman), and get serious.
I’m seriously haunted by a column Hedges wrote a few days back, called The War According to Hamas. He summarizes the resistance philosophy of Palestinian fighter Basel al-Araj:

Al-Araj argued that the fight with Israel cannot be measured with body counts. The Israelis will be able to kill far greater numbers of Palestinians. Resistant movements, he wrote, always suffer disproportionate losses. In the independence war in Algeria, between 1954 and 1962, upwards of 1.5 million Algerians — or around 10 percent of the population — were killed by the French. In the airport in Algiers, the country’s capital, is a huge sign that reads: “Welcome to Algeria. Land of a million Martyrs.”
“We are far more capable of bearing the costs, so there is no need to compare or be alarmed by the magnitude of the numbers,” he wrote.

https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/12/chris-hedges-the-war-according-to-hamas/
Egads! As we commence the next phase of history, there may be hope of usurping regnant insanity, at some point; even Ritter says IDF will have a terrible time on the urban rubblefield in Gaza. But so many have to die; how come so many have to die so horribly? As a US American taxpayer, I’m already up to my elbows in Palestinian blood, and you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Nov 19 2023 0:47 utc | 137

Posted by: ld | Nov 18 2023 15:02 utc | 16
I have posted your great poem to Gab and X as a screenshot of your posting here. Thanks.

Posted by: DjangoCat | Nov 19 2023 1:17 utc | 139

Milei is very pro-Zionist and anti-China. Election is tomorrow. Whats his mchances? no idea

Posted by: nomfbes | Nov 19 2023 1:26 utc | 141

fyi
from Caitaln Johnstone today. see below
then she goes through each one of the 15 in a thread and presents a bit more commentary & evidence
And there’s also her article over at her website in Australia
personally, if I were to make an estimate, I would say the the israeli armed forces are now killing at least 100-150 innocent civilian Palestinians for every member of the IDF that’s been killed in action in Gaza itself, though because they hide the real casualty numbers it’s a bit hard to tell.
that’ what I call zionist proportionality.
I haven’t seen any figures on the number of dead Hamas fighters.
https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1725853426268164230
Fifteen things you should never have to say to a country:
1. Stop bombing children.
2. Don’t kill journalists.
3. Don’t bomb hospitals.
4. Don’t shoot patients through their hospital window.
5. Don’t drive bulldozers over dead bodies.
6. Don’t bomb ambulances.
7. Don’t do ethnic cleansing.
8. Don’t call humans animals.
9. Don’t starve people.
10. Don’t cut off people’s water.
11. Don’t cut off the electricity at hospitals, killing their ICU and NICU patients.
12. Don’t bomb doctors.
13. Don’t bomb UN staff.
14. Don’t do apartheid.
15. Stop lying constantly.

Posted by: michaelj72 | Nov 19 2023 1:30 utc | 143

@ Aleph_Null | Nov 19 2023 0:47 utc | 66
along the same lines as Hedges and Basel al-Araj also see
https://new.thecradle.co/articles/to-palestine-lessons-from-overthrowing-the-french-in-algeria
or my comment here @ Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 18 2023 3:05 utc | 230
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/11/one-religions-war-against-all-others.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef02c8d3a30fbd200b#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef02c8d3a30fbd200b
and here Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 18 2023 8:25 utc | 280
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/11/one-religions-war-against-all-others.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef02c8d39f102f200c#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef02c8d39f102f200c
fwiw, summed up as “Israel is Toast”; and why I don’t support a ceasefire until Hamas themselves seek one.
Even if Hamas fails in the short term eventually Israel will be brought to it’s knees by the Palestinian insurgency and will ultimately collapse as a jewish/zionist state.
History proves this will be so. I hope I live to see this occur. Cheers

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 19 2023 1:44 utc | 145

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-3062949/Video-IDF-worlds-effective-military.html
Daily mail. Brought to you by the same propagandists that have Ukraine won and putin dead 7 times over.
The readers hold the bs to account in the comments which was nice to see

Posted by: Hankster | Nov 19 2023 1:50 utc | 147

I have resigned as poetry editor of the New York Times Magazine.
The Israeli state’s U.S-backed war against the people of Gaza is not a war for anyone. There is no safety in it or from it, not for Israel, not for the United States or Europe, and especially not for the many Jewish people slandered by those who claim falsely to fight in their names. Its only profit is the deadly profit of oil interests and weapon manufacturers.
The world, the future, our hearts—everything grows smaller and harder from this war. It is not only a war of missiles and land invasions. It is an ongoing war against the people of Palestine, people who have resisted throughout decades of occupation, forced dislocation, deprivation, surveillance, siege, imprisonment, and torture.
Because our status quo is self-expression, sometimes the most effective mode of protest for artists is to refuse.
I can’t write about poetry amidst the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering. No more ghoulish euphemisms. No more verbally sanitized hellscapes. No more warmongering lies.
If this resignation leaves a hole in the news the size of poetry, then that is the true shape of the present.
—Anne Boyer

Posted by: suzan | Nov 19 2023 2:27 utc | 149

Washington Post reporting tentative agreement for 5 day pause in fighting.

Posted by: jayc | Nov 19 2023 2:33 utc | 151

So, the IDF creates a grand lie about the Hamas headquarters under Al Shifa hospital … Then proceeds to turn all Shifa into an israeli military headquarters?
You can’t make this shit up.

Of course this means Al Shifa becomes a legitimate military target under ‘international law’ and Hamas is free to bomb it.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 19 2023 2:47 utc | 153

Gaza has been called a Zionist Concentration Camp.
But that is wrong.
It is not a Zionist Concentration Camp.
It is a Zionist Death Camp.

Posted by: anon | Nov 19 2023 3:00 utc | 155

The extent of Israel’s psychopathic tantrum has been so extreme that political pressure in USA is changing the calculus (i.e. unconditional support):
Sanders issued a statement calling for conditioning U.S. aid to Israel, including by ending what he called “indiscriminate bombing” to allow a “significant pause in military operations” so humanitarian aid could enter Gaza; allowing displaced Gazans to return home; no long-term Israeli re-occupation or blockade of Gaza; an end to settler violence and expansion in the West Bank; and a “commitment to broad peace talks for a two-state solution.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/18/democrats-in-senate-house-discuss-conditioning-military-aid-to-israel-00127930
If the “5 day pause” actually happens, it is difficult to imagine that Israel’s military operation will proceed at its conclusion. The level of violence has been so extreme and has targeted international organizations to such a degree that its continuation is untenable. It’s not clear that Israel has even been “fighting” Hamas at all – just razing hospitals, schools, and refugee camps. It is very conceivable that the Netanyahu government will be replaced during the 5 day pause, if it occurs.

Posted by: jayc | Nov 19 2023 3:17 utc | 157

Sanders issued a statement calling for conditioning U.S. aid to Israel, including by ending what he called “indiscriminate bombing” to allow a “significant pause in military operations”
Posted by: jayc | Nov 19 2023 3:17 utc | 76
Sanders, the controlled opposition sellout should be calling for a full blockade of isreal and accountability of it’s leaders under ‘international law’ at the Hague.
He is just a burnt out old fart trying to stay relevant.
Nobody who matters in the American regime machine cares what he says.
Not even other Jews cares what that old Jew says.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 19 2023 3:23 utc | 159

Posted by: jayc | Nov 19 2023 2:33 utc | 73
All lies.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 19 2023 3:25 utc | 161

History proves this will be so. I hope I live to see this occur. Cheers
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 19 2023 1:44 utc | 70\
Your whole life spent hoping for something that will not happen. Put your hope in something better.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Cat | Nov 19 2023 3:29 utc | 163

P/I and everything else the Merican media focuses on on is a distraction from this…
The leaders of the Censorship Industrial Complex insist they didn’t break the law, but they did. They worked on behalf of the government, demanded mass censorship, and interfered in an election. In this video, I explain how they almost got away with it. Michael Shellenberger on Renée DiResta
—-
And they wont stop…
https://twitter.com/shellenberger/statu … 1119067611
https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1723493811119067611
Who is Renée DiResta!??
and this..
Bret and Heather 199th DarkHorse Podcast Livestream: Surgical Totalitarianism
https://odysee.com/@BretWeinstein:f/bret-and-heather-199th-darkhorse-podcast:8

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 19 2023 3:41 utc | 165

Arch Bungle 77-78
I understand your cynicism.
Reading between the lines, the Politico article isn’t about Sanders, its about the various pressures developing over this past week, affecting US foreign policy and domestic politics. These pressures influenced the “5 day pause”, if it does occur.

Posted by: jayc | Nov 19 2023 3:46 utc | 167

It’s a good article by Ritter as per @ pq | Nov 18 2023 21:39 utc | 53
https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/the-october-7-hamas-assault-on-israel

Hamas defeated those Israeli soldiers stationed along the barrier wall in a stand-up fight. Two battalions of the Golani Brigade were routed, as were elements of other vaunted IDF units.
Hamas struck the Headquarters of the Gaza Division, the local intelligence hub, and other major command and control facilities with brutal precision, turning what should have been a five-minute response time into many hours—more than enough time for Hamas to carry out one of its primary objectives—the taking of hostages. This they did with extreme proficiency, returning to Gaza with more than 230 Israeli soldiers and civilians.
The Marine Corps defines a raid as “an operation, usually small scale, involving a swift penetration of hostile territory to secure information, confuse the enemy, or to destroy his installations. It ends with a planned withdrawal upon completion of the assigned mission.”
This is precisely what Hamas did on October 7.
What were the objectives of this raid? According to Hamas, the purpose behind the October 7 raid were threefold.
First, to reassert the right of the Palestinian people to a homeland not defined by the Abaraham Accords.
Second, to release the more than 10,000 Palestinians held prisoner by Israel, most without having been charged with a crime, and none with any notion of due process.
Third, to return the sanctity of the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest place, which had been desecrated repeatedly by Israeli security forces over the past years.

and concluding quote:

It goes without saying that the Hamas raid of October 7 unleashed a firestorm of brutal recrimination in the form of bombs, shells, and bullets on the civilian population of Gaza. These are people who, for nearly eight decades, have been denied a homeland of their own by the Israelis, who violently evicted the Palestinians from the land currently called Israel in one of the greatest acts of ethnic cleansing in modern history—the Nakba, or catastrophe, of 1948.
These are people who have suffered untold deprivation at the hand of their Israeli occupiers while awaiting the moment they will see their dream of a Palestinian homeland come true. They know that a Palestinian homeland cannot be realized so long as Israel is governed by those who embrace the notion of a Greater (Eretz) Israel, and that the only way to remove such people is by defeating them politically, and the only way to trigger their political defeat is to defeat them militarily.
Hamas is accomplishing this.
But there is a price to pay—a heavy price. The French lost 20,000 civilians killed to achieve the liberation of Normandy in the Summer of 1944.
So far, the Palestinian civilians of Gaza have lost 12,000 civilians killed in the effort led by Hamas to militarily defeat their Israeli occupiers.
That price will go higher in the days and weeks to come.
But it is a price that must be paid if there is to be any chance of a Palestinian homeland.
The sacrifice of the Palestinian people has compelled an Arab and Islamic world which, with few exceptions, has been mute over the depravations carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people. Who did nothing as the cause of Palestinian statehood was mooted by the Abraham Accords.
Only because of the suffering of the Palestinian people is anyone paying attention to the cause of Palestinian statehood today.
Or the welfare of the Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Or the sanctity of the Al Aqsa Mosque.
These were all stated objectives of Hamas in launching their attack of October 7.
And all objectives are being accomplished as we speak.
Only because of the actions of Hamas and the sacrifices of the Palestinian people.
Which makes the October 7 assault on Israel by Hamas the most successful military raid of this century.

You can’t extinguish an committed insurgency with aircraft carriers. Only Justice will achieve the end of people fighting for their freedom and their lives.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 19 2023 3:53 utc | 169

Details on the potential pause from ZH

Under the terms of a six-page agreement;
All parties would freeze combat operations for at least five days.
During this period, an initial 50 or more hostages would be released in batches every 24 hours.
It is unknown how many of what is believed to be 239 hostages will be released.
The halt is also intended to allow humanitarian assistance to flood in, including fuel, which would arrive from Egypt.
According to the report, an outline of the deal was created during several weeks of talks in Doha, Quatar – where Israel, the USA and Hamas – indirectly represented by Qatari mediators, hashed out the logistics. Until now, it was unclear if Israel would agree to it.
“We are not going to comment,” said a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington late Saturday.

Concern about the captives — two of whom Israel said were found dead — along with the rising number of Palestinian civilian casualties have steadily increased pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. More than 100 countries — but, notably, not the United States — have called for a full and immediate cease-fire.
The decision to accept the deal is difficult for Israel, said one person familiar with the situation who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations. While there is strong domestic pressure on Netanyahu to bring the hostages home, there are also loud voices in Israel demanding that the government not barter for their release. -WaPo

On Friday, Israeli National Security Council head Tzachi Haegbi told the press that a decision had been made by the war cabinet to agree to a limited ceasefire only after “a massive release of our hostages … and it will be limited and short, because after that we will continue to work towards achieving our war goals.”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 19 2023 4:28 utc | 171

psychohistorian 82
The bronze agers who have long been extinct have been re-created and given a jurassic Park playground .
Now entering the monitoring and control station.

Posted by: Giyane | Nov 19 2023 4:41 utc | 173

Lavrov’s Cat | Nov 19 2023 3:29 utc | 79
No “hope” is coming from me, that angle ain’t required to KNOW that Israel is toast. Live with it (you only need to give up one of your lives, right?).
BTW – Bad systems fail. That is why Israel is toast. Built on a bad premise. Too much energy to hold up a bad system. Entropy doesn’t sleep.

Posted by: Seer | Nov 19 2023 4:41 utc | 175

All parties would freeze combat operations for at least five days.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 19 2023 4:28 utc | 82
The jews will not cease firing for 1 hour.
And if they ceasefire they will probably fill the time with:
Bludgeoning patients to death in their hospital beds,
Or blowing up suspected tunnels,
Or mining civilian infrastructure for demolition after the ceasefire,
Or strangulation of other necessities not covered under the terms.
We know them well, they lie out of necessity, not out of choice.
If Hamas gives up any hostages all that will happen is the hostages go free and they gain not even that minor leverage.
The objective of the occupiers still remains : annihilation of the Palestinians and their resistance.

Posted by: Archbungle@gmail.com | Nov 19 2023 5:11 utc | 177

If this resignation leaves a hole in the news the size of poetry, then that is the true shape of the present.
—Anne Boyer
Posted by: suzan | Nov 19 2023 2:27 utc | 72
I entered this in a google search for more info;
‘poetry editor of the New York Times Magazine resigns’
The first item in the results contained this message;
“Anne Boyer drew widespread mockery on social media following her announcement that she was resigning as poetry editor of The New York Times Magazine. “If this resignation leaves a hole in the news the size of poetry, then that is the true shape of the present,” Boyer, a Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote on Substack”
I had never heard of the source, ‘JNS.org’ so I looked it up and clearly it’s not a site that would receive the most hits and earn top of the page status.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&q=+poetry+editor+of+the+New+York+Times+Magazine+resigns
duckduckgo doesn’t push that site or the obvious intent.
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=h_&q=+poetry+editor+of+the+New+York+Times+Magazine+resigns&ia=web
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” (Sir Walter Scott, 1808)

Posted by: bubbles | Nov 19 2023 5:14 utc | 179

Put your hope in something better.
Posted by: Lavrov’s Cat | Nov 19 2023 3:29 utc | 79
Like Eretz isreal, perhaps?

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 19 2023 5:28 utc | 181

Scott Ritter yesterday:

Everything that Israel is doing is a war crime
You see yes under International humanitarian law (the Geneva Conventions during war time etc) there are conditions in which a civilian object such as a hospital can be converted into a military object and amongst those are uh if an hostile force is using it as a command and control point to um to Barracks troops to store ammunition things of this nature um
but in the Law of War there’s also the criteria called distinction meaning that you in order to make a distinction between Civilian and Military you have to have proof. You don’t get to attack a hospital then go on a fishing expedition to look for proof.
That’s not how the law of War works. You have to have absolute proof or otherwise the object must be treated as an exclusively civilian object protected under International humanitarian law.
As we see right now Israel doesn’t have proof – they’re desperately searching for something that can back up the extraordinary claims they made about Al Shifa hospital – “it’s big huge command and control underneath there bunkers everywhere guns and the whole thing” – where is it Israel? Where is it?
The fact that you’re looking for it means you didn’t know for certain it was there You’re guessing and therefore you’re guilty of murder mass murder, a war crime. Every Israeli officer every Israeli Civilian Authority associated with the attack on this hospital is guilty of a war crime and should be prosecuted as such
This isn’t an accident, this isn’t a mistake, the law of war is clear and Israel has violated it 100%. People need to get angry, people need to start getting angry. I’m tired of people going well “we’re just gonna have a civil civil discussion”
Imagine your child dead right now in the hospital imagine your mother going in for surgery and dying in the recovery room because she can’t get the medical care she needs.
It’s time for everybody to get angry Israel no longer gets a pass this isn’t about antisemitism I’m not anti-Semitic this is about calling out a regime, the Netanyahu (extremist Zionist) regime as a war criminal regime and they must be recognized as such and treated as such.
And I’m telling every Israeli pilot right now, we may not know your names because you’re protected by the Israeli defense establishment, but we know the date you dropped your bombs and one day Justice will come to you because the records are clear you climbed into a cockpit and you received an order and you executed that order and you are responsible for the due diligence of the Target that you’re striking you are responsible and if you know that you’re carrying out an act of violence as part of the mass the indiscriminate bombing the collective punishment of the Palestinian people you have committed a war crime by definition and you will be found out and you will be held guilty.
Just like every Israeli officer on the ground in Gaza right now Hey you Battalion commanders if you have snipers under your command and they’re in school shooting children they’re guilty, you’re guilty – they’re all guilty and it’s time we call them out for what they are

War Criminals one and all.
All Lost, Total Failure Achieved 1 hr w Dialogue works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVCSXYcGs78

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 19 2023 6:08 utc | 183

IDF wants out – the last few days have been brutal for those conscripts; getting ambushed by ‘ghosts’

Posted by: Exile | Nov 19 2023 6:33 utc | 185

Sln2002 on Biden: the piece was read to him as a picture of him and Epstein plus young friends was let on the table. It includes the key phrase “we stand with Azrael” that has also been appearing in all sort of petitions in universities and letters from jewish communities here and there as ways of pressure.
It is simply disgusting and entirely denying the existence of the people opposing Netanyahu and his millenarist allies.

Posted by: Minaa | Nov 19 2023 7:02 utc | 187

I always read about this “concern about captives”, you know the israelis and others taken cative on Oct 7, but never any concern or caring about the 1000s upon thousands of Palestinian prisoners who are being held without charge in the West Bank etc, and the many more thousands who are rounded up, beaten, abused, tortured and then released year after year
why is that?
there’s no ceasefire deal yet and I haven’t read anything in it about any Palestinians prisoners, but it would have to be in there somewhere, I am guessing

Posted by: michaelj72 | Nov 19 2023 7:12 utc | 189

The planet seems to be having an absurdus delirium of some kind, no?
This article by “j.b., WaPo reader” instead of an interview or an address to the nation? Unheard of.

Posted by: Minaa | Nov 19 2023 7:32 utc | 191

Overbooking is a common strategy in US business, to increase profits.
Overbooking is when an airline reserves more seats than available, hoping not everybody will not show up to board the flight.
In a similar way, the US military has overbooked. The US has extended guarantees to more countries than the US military can defend at the same time, hoping not all adversaries will attack at the same time. That strategy might work, if your adversaries do not work together.

Posted by: Passervy | Nov 19 2023 7:34 utc | 193

Jalal #CeasefireNow
@JalalAK_jojo
Addressing the US Representative at @UNGeneva
State of Palestine Representative Nada Abu Tarbush: “No, you do not get to say you stand with Palestinian civilians until you stop sending arms to Israel as it commits genocide.”
https://twitter.com/JalalAK_jojo/status/1725950281161068966

Posted by: Menz | Nov 19 2023 7:50 utc | 195

asad abukhalil أسعد أبو خليل
@asadabukhalil
·
Reprimands? If only reprimands were around in the 1930s; they would have stopped Hitler and the Nazis:
“Biden orders top aides to prepare reprimands for violent Israeli settlers in West Bank”
https://twitter.com/asadabukhalil/status/1726072414814318594

Posted by: Menz | Nov 19 2023 7:57 utc | 197

fyi,
from Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature and Orientalism, University of Tehran, just one hour ago
& via Red Cross to Al Arabiya: Reports indicate that 1,000 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours
the murderers in the IDF of the zionist regime are killing as many people as they can before the first ceasefire (probably, soon) goes into effect
https://twitter.com/s_m_marandi/status/1726129235256053813
One thousand Gazan civilians were murdered by Zionist forces in multiple massacres in Southern and Central Gaza over the past 24 hours.
Think about it. 1000 innocent people were murdered by Israel within hours because they’re Palestinian.
Why won’t Western media tell you this?

Posted by: michaelj72 | Nov 19 2023 8:03 utc | 199