It’s the gratuitous violence that signals the IDF is a rabble without honor nor shame.
General MacArthur
The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and unarmed. It is the very essence and reason for his being. When he violates this sacred trust, he not only profanes his entire cult but threatens the very fabric of international society.

Posted by: Exile | Dec 21 2023 15:43 utc | 4

“On Wednesday, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report alleging that Israeli forces carried out a mass execution of civilians in Northern Gaza, separating 11 men from their families and summarily shooting them.”
The Holocaust by bullets, initiated in Ukraine 1941, has been resurrected by the few Holocaust survivors of The Great Patriotic War. The kapos brought their ever darkening shadow to Occupied Palestine.

Posted by: Wilikins | Dec 21 2023 15:47 utc | 6

Wilikins | Dec 21 2023 15:47 utc | 7
Great or not our minds think alike- it isn’t hard when the news is as it is.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 21 2023 15:52 utc | 8

Even the trolls and fleas seem feeble, few and far between upon the forums for now.
Starved of sophistries, distractions and lies the store of imagined wrongs run out.
Their Alma Mater ‘Israel’ it’s lies exposed as a mountain reaching up to the skies.
Can’t be covered with thin bandages of fibs, non sequiturs, ad hominems they weave.
Their atrocities committed in Gaza tower egregious, yet lower than the lowest lows.
Can’t be “whatabout’ed” away with nasal whines of “O! but you know Hamas did thus!”
Each line they accuse the Palestinians of has a thousand worse in the Jewish ledger.
Nay ten thousand and in the Palestinian side of the Book of Accounts is written Red:
All their crimes are forgiven for they did it in self defense while you O’ Jew did not.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 16:17 utc | 10

This shocking photograph- eerily reminiscent of those that emerged from Belsen in 1945 is in the Middle East Eye’s live news thread too. I posted a link to the X tweet on the last Palestine Open thread.
The ‘most moral army in the world ” as Einsatzgrupen
Posted by: bevin | Dec 21 2023 15:50 utc | 8
I think I know exactly what photo you mean. Maybe a guy on a bunk bed, eyes looking in a sunken face.
I remember I was surprised to learn that Belsen had no gas chambers (as a child I thought they all did). It had many types of prisoners. There is an extensive description of it by a British army doctor who arrived there immediately following liberation. People were suffering from starvation, typhus and dysentery. All supply lines had been bombed by that point.
I saw a video somewhere. As soon as the British arrived they put the all German guards to work digging pits and using bulldozers to bury all the dead people that had not been buried for months. In that video there was a weird mix of prisoners (especially women) who were laughing and looked healthy and a few who looked really ill and emaciated. The barracks were burned because of the typhus.

Posted by: pq | Dec 21 2023 16:31 utc | 12

Arch if you read what I wrote you will realise that I actually made those points:
“…Any such study- and the subject would make auch more important book than anything that the likes of Hannah Arendt ever wrote- would have to begin by examining the common roots of both Nazism and Zionism which are, philosophically, to be found in late C19th post Darwinist developments of the racial theories of Gobineau and other post revolutionary reactionaries…”
But you are right: Theodore Herzl was a pioneer of fascism, the opposite number to Karl Lueger.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 21 2023 16:37 utc | 14

To those of you who have not read Prrofessor Israel Shahak’s short ~ 100 pp,
Jewish History, Jewish Religion The Weight Of Three Thousand Years, and yet comment here on Jews, please read. Footnotes too. Link below.
Just as other peoples have struggled to cast off past odious cultural habits, so have Jews. What is so disturbing is how Zionazia exploit vulnerabilities and abuse their own to oppress, murder and exploit “the other.” They create hate in their own children against “the other,” justified by “they hate you.” This intensified in the occupier state, after previous relaxing, for the most recent generation.
Spitting on the mothers of “the other” when passing a goy cemetery while blessing a Jewish cemetery as one passes, this is one of the talmudic mizvot. Jesus said, wrong.
I had read Talmudic teachings before but the stark horror of its separatist cultural edicts did not hit me until now as i see the results in my own time. Please remember some of the most powerful opposition to zionazis come from Jews themselves.
~~
https://archive.org/details/jewish-history-jewish-religion-the-weight-of-three-thousand-years-by-israel-shahak-126pgs

Posted by: suzan | Dec 21 2023 17:00 utc | 16

Please remember some of the most powerful opposition to zionazis come from Jews themselves.
Posted by: suzan | Dec 21 2023 17:00 utc | 17
If only their opposition had the force of a fleas breath against a leaf we would still hear the laughing og ten thousand Palestinian children upon the wind …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 17:08 utc | 18

I suspect the problem is that Islam views Buddhists as true infidels.
Not being “of the book”, makes us eligible for all kinds of punishments and mischief.
Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 14:47 utc | 236
Posted by: g | Dec 21 2023 16:51 utc | 15
Islam views every human being as a human being and requires that everyone is treated fairly and justly. Injustice by anyone is a punishable act.
Infidel is an English term and a misleading one.
Better term is one who does not believe in Islam. That does not make anyone less human according to Islam. You are good or bad according to your deeds and actions.

Posted by: sal | Dec 21 2023 17:11 utc | 20

What explains the pause in rocket fire ?
Al-Qassem wanted to fire a overwhelming volley to overwhelm the defensives. Yesterday no rockets fired , today beaucoup.

Posted by: Exile | Dec 21 2023 17:14 utc | 22

https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/un-human-rights-office-opt-unlawful-killings-gaza-city
Ugly comparisons of the Israelis to Nazis need to stop ! I mean…..the Nazis usually murdered the women and children first, then the men….

Posted by: Eighthman | Dec 21 2023 17:32 utc | 24

Posted by: Eighthman | Dec 21 2023 17:32 utc | 25
Please include your /s tag on comments like that.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 17:36 utc | 26

Posted by: Exile | Dec 21 2023 17:09 utc | 20
Australia very generous to send 16 people. Canada sending THREE people to Genocide Guardian.
Meanwhile Europe’s Chief Gardener Borrell has ordered all assistant gardeners to contribute to Genocide Guardian.
@G15 why would pro Palestinians object to rejection of a ceasefire?
What are you smoking? Hamas have not rejected a ceasefire. They have rejected hostage swap until there is a definitive ceasefire. Because if not Israel will capture more hostages and start bombing again.
Mass execution reported again in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. These internet blackouts happen for a reason. This is different from the 11 men killed in Al Renal.

Posted by: Pq | Dec 21 2023 17:45 utc | 28

If Hamas had accepted the Izzies 7-day pause then UN members would
feel less pressure to stick their necks out and vote for the ceasefire.
Today, the slavish media is blaming Hamas for rejecting an Izzie offer of a 7-day pause.
But behind the scenes the US and Izzie are trying to roadblock the UN vote for a ceasefire.
Again, if Hamas had accepted the Izzies 7-day pause then UN members would
feel less pressure to stick their necks out and vote for the ceasefire.

Posted by: librul | Dec 21 2023 17:50 utc | 30

Here is a CNN report from 29 minutes ago.

The US is expressing concerns over a draft resolution calling for a suspension in fighting and an increase in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, arguing that the proposal of a UN-created monitoring mechanism for aid going into the Gaza strip could slow down the delivery of critical assistance.
Those concerns, if unresolved, could put the thrice-delayed resolution in continued limbo. As one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, a US veto means the resolution will not pass.
“The goal of this Resolution is to facilitate and help expand humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza, and we cannot lose sight of that purpose,” said Nate Evans, a spokesperson for the US Mission to the UN. “There are still serious and widespread concerns that this Resolution as drafted could actually slow down delivery of humanitarian aid by directing the UN to create an unworkable monitoring mechanism. We must ensure any Resolution helps and doesn’t hurt the situation on the ground.”
Timing for a possible vote on the resolution on Thursday has yet to be announced.
A diplomatic source previously told CNN that key issues with the negotiations over the draft are the “cessation of hostilities” language and the call for the UN to “establish a monitoring mechanism in the Gaza Strip with the necessary personnel and equipment, under the authority of the United Nations Secretary-General.”

Posted by: librul | Dec 21 2023 17:58 utc | 32

Israeli media seems frustrated and depressed. It swings constantly between mania and melancholia. Every morning the Israeli defence commentators ask how is it possible that we heard yesterday from the IDF’s spokesperson that some specific parts of northern Gaza are now under full Israeli control, then a few hours later we learn that a score of IDF soldiers lost their lives there and a few others are severely wounded?
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Dec 21 2023 17:50 utc | 30
Hamas is fighting a “grid war”.
There’s no reliance on controlling this position in Gaza, or that fortification, or the other half or quarter or third of the strip.
Hamas fights in and among it’s enemy’s positions.
Whether the enemy ‘controls’ northern gaza or south or all of it is immaterial.
Hamas has planned to fight on exactly the same ground it’s enemy occupies.
The notion that the IDF ‘controls’ northern gaza was always nonsense to me.
That’s resistance warfare.
The IDF wants to ‘control’ zones in Gaza.
Slice Gaza into pieces and prevent Hamas from moving between them.
Establish corridors through which to channel Hamas.
But they’re merely gathering sand with a fishing net.
Since they have no control of the tunnels Hamas moves from north to south, zone to zone at will while the IDF persists in maintaining their illusion of control above-ground, where Hamas does not move.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 18:00 utc | 34

Please remember some of the most powerful opposition to zionazis come from Jews themselves.
Posted by: suzan | Dec 21 2023 17:00 utc | 17
Yes susan, the true victims here are the jews. Nevermind that even by conservative estimates 60% of them favor genocide and actively voted and defend this publicly. But yeah sure, they are the true victims even when committing the biggest most vile genocide on live tv. But yeah susan go ahead, find me the list of jewish orgs (that have more than a 1000 members) actively condemning genocide apartheid and colonization of palestine. I will wait.

Posted by: Oxi | Dec 21 2023 18:10 utc | 36

Your study should begin long before 1948 perhaps 1897.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 16:32 utc | 13
=================
Actually, long before that. Well, the term “Nazi” is anachronistic anyhow, but many Jews had long been planning to take over Palestine one way or another. Weirdly enough, though, it seems to have been the Russian and Polish Jews who had the most violent plans vis-a-vis obliterating the actual residents of Palestine.
1840s England.
https://yplus.ps/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Scholch-Alexander-Palestine-in-Transformation-1856-1882.pdf
See also BalfourProject.org, “nineteenth century,” here:
https://balfourproject.org/a-timeline/
And before that—not imperialism, not capitalism, but pure and simple social climbing on a monarchical scale. See on the linked page “Restoration of the Jews.” (Presumably the Sultan said Hayir!)
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015058342257&seq=997
Before that, go back to 1805:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Zionism
And along the way, for atmosphere, take a pit stop at the bio of Mannassah Meyer:

Though established in Singapore and born in Baghdad, he was part of the tightly knit transitional trade network of Baghdadi Jews in Asia united by language, family, trade and faith. However Meyer never lost his ties to the Middle East.
Meyer remained closely tied to the Jewish religious establishment in Baghdad and underwrote the publication of one of the books of Rabbi Joseph Hayyim, known as the Ben Ish Hai, to whom he looked as his spiritual mentor.[6] Inspired by the Ben Yish Hai’s focus on supporting the growing Jewish community in Palestine, he became a committed Zionist.[6] During his lifetime the proto-Zionism of the Baghdadi religious establishment such a shame the Ben Yish Hai was transferred into active support for the Zionist movement founded by Theodor Herzl.[6]
“In 1900 he travelled to Jerusalem with his daughters to “inculcate them with a love of Zion.”[6] In 1922 Meyer became the founding president of the Singapore Zionist Organization. His home was known as a “beehive” of Zionist activity in Asia.[6] In 1922 he hosted Albert Einstein as he travelled through the Baghdadi Jewish communities of Asia seeking financial support for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[6] Comparing him to the ancient Greek ruler renowned for his wealth Albert Einstein
described Meyer as such:
‘Croesus is still a slender, upright eighty year old man with a strong will. A small gray pointed beard, a thick reddish face, a narrow Jewish bent nose, clever, somewhat shrewd eyes, a small black cap on a well-arched forehead.'[7]
“Meyer was to be one of the Hebrew University’s major donors. He also supported a school and a synagogue for Baghdadi Jews in Palestine.[6] A rabbi from Palestine would officiate to mark his funeral at the Chesed-El Synagogue.[2] . .. ”

IMO it is obvious that Herzl was not really the founder of Zionism. But being a well-traveled journalist in Vienna who had lived for years in France, he had the skill set and connections to call an international conference. The development of telegraph infrastructure may have been a precondition for making such a conference a reality.

Posted by: Jane | Dec 21 2023 18:13 utc | 38

Though established in Singapore and born in Baghdad, he was part of the tightly knit transitional trade network of Baghdadi Jews in Asia united by language, family, trade and faith. However Meyer never lost his ties to the Middle East.
Posted by: Jane | Dec 21 2023 18:13 utc | 40
These sound like the same sheisters who tried to get Imperial China hooked on opium.
Hey @susan – more of your poor Jewish victims here ^^^

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 18:17 utc | 40

IMO it is obvious that Herzl was not really the founder of Zionism. But being a well-traveled journalist in Vienna who had lived for years in France, he had the skill set and connections to call an international conference. The development of telegraph infrastructure may have been a precondition for making such a conference a reality.
Posted by: Jane | Dec 21 2023 18:13 utc | 40
Perhaps one should look for an earlier gathering of Jewish Elders prior to Herzl. A Council of Learned Elders …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 18:21 utc | 42

From today’s blog: WB Yeats ‘The Second Coming’ – maybe the Irish sage was being prophetic after all!
Written in 1919 but published in 1920, the year my father was born. Today, as Christmas fast approaches, one word stands out for me from WBY’s iconic poem, these last few days: BETHLEHEM!
“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards BETHLEHEM to be born?
I believe that the Rough Beast arrived in Bethlehem a few weeks ago! A premature birth, so it could be ready to mock, and challenge, the Prince of Peace’s birthday on the 25th. A freakish blood-sucking monster, hell-bent on consummating the Zionist nightmare of 1948.
And sadly, nay, tragically, there will be plenty of Christians, ‘eyeless in Gaza’, this Christmas who will still sing ‘ O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see Thee lie,’ oblivious of the Rough Beast patrolling her ‘dark streets’ searching for more innocent victims.

Posted by: Geraint ap Iorwerth | Dec 21 2023 18:33 utc | 44

Posted by: g | Dec 21 2023 18:33 utc | 47
Games aside, what are your thoughts on this:

-Israeli soldier gloating while blowing up 50 houses in Shujaiya
-Israeli bulldozer ploughing a cemetery with the mutiliated bodies visible
– A photo of a West Bank man released after three months from an Israel prison. Before he looked like a healthy normal young man, three months later a frail skeleton. Farouq Khateeb
Israelis filming themsselves kidnapping and slapping around a blindfolded man
– a child with 45% burns and a plea for someone outside Gaza to take him for care
– the revelation that 19 guards beat a Palestinian man in prison to death Thaer Abu Assad sometime back and now the news can be released
– siege of another medical clinic with wounded inside
-OHCCHR OPT confirms that 11 Palestinian men were randonly executed by Israel in front of their famiiies in Al Remal, Gaza city
And the usual airstrikes and crying, wounded children and adults all over the place

This is the reality. Your questions lead nowhere.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 18:40 utc | 46

In Israel, the extremist fringe can also control the entire system!
Posted by: rert | Dec 21 2023 18:43 utc | 50
In ‘Israel’ the extremist fringe is the entire system.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 18:53 utc | 48

RE: Posted by: Jonathan W | Dec 21 2023 18:15 utc | 41
The Russians are “silent” I’ve learned, because they’re going for the jugular.
They know there is no UN anything that will change this course.
They’re joining the International Groups & Coalition of OIC and Arab Nations states to decide the “aftermath” fate.
War Crimes & Palestinian Israeli Settlement.
It will push US out of drivers seat should Switzerland agree to the International meeting.
I think the war will very much widen b4 that… time is not on their side.
“Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists are supporting the call for an urgent conference.
The Biden administration wants to ensure 2024 does not see a similar event.
By early January, American diplomats plan to lobby their Swiss counterparts to reject the request from the Palestinians and watchdog organizations.
Internal documents seen by HuffPost direct U.S. officials to convey “serious concern” about the Palestinian effort and make a series of arguments against it”
***Sfard noted that as Israel’s chief foreign ally, the U.S. could also come under scrutiny at such a conference.
****“Because America is supporting the Israeli campaign, it will be affected by anything that charges Israel with crimes or demands that Israel adhere to something,” he said.
***Such conferences have previously been held in 1999, 2001 and 2014, all of them focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.***
It’s part of the steps to assert War Crimes, going from here to Geneva. Regardless of this outcome.

Posted by: Trubind1 | Dec 21 2023 18:57 utc | 50

These sound like the same sheisters who tried to get Imperial China hooked on opium.
Hey @susan – more of your poor Jewish victims here ^^^
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 18:17 utc | 42
+++++++++++
Well, they were backed up by the British Navy! They just produced and processed the stuff.
But, yes, a very interesting group, the best=known of whom was the Sassoon family (including Vidal). Totally ignored in William Dalrymple’s The Anarchy (about the British East India Company and its takeover of the Indian subcontinent). Basically no mention is made of Jews at all (that I can recall), despite the fact that they must have been a big part of the whole financial picture (which Dalrymple does cover, in quite a lot of detail). I don’t think there is an index entry “Jews.” Still, a fantastic book, and well worth reading (like anything by Dalrymple).
Most of my knowledge of the Baghdadi Jews comes from the Wikipedia entry “Baghdadi Jews,” then following links.
They are a very good example of how not only individuals but whole Jewish communities picked up and moved to new areas when pressures developed where they were. First from Baghdad to India, mainly (but definitely not only) Calcutta. In the early 20th C they started to transition to Britain and also started to effect the manners and dress of the British upper class. After partition they basically left India. They didn’t hang around in India to help the new independent country. Maybe there were other reasons than opportunism.
Regarding Palestine, at least the Baghdadi Jews were probably real Semites with actual roots, DNA, familiarity with other SW Asia religions, culture, etc. that connected them organically to Palestine.
Another interesting factoid concerning the Jews of India is that it was Jewish merchants and traders settled in Hyderabad, in the Deccan, who learned the secrets of diamond mining and cutting (the fabulous jewels of the early modern era, such as the Koh-i-Noor, were mined in the mountainous areas of the Deccan) and brought this learning and also trade to Antwerp. This was well before the discovery of diamonds in South Africa.

Posted by: Jane | Dec 21 2023 19:20 utc | 52

@ karlof1 | Dec 21 2023 19:03 utc | 54 with the posting from The Cradle about trucking product to Occupied Palestine.
I saw that and the estimates of 350 trucks per day. I expect that number is low and there is no discussion about backhaul potential or not…..do the trucks just vanish after delivery?
The land bridge is an expensive bandaid that can also be attacked and I expect will if this shit show continues.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 21 2023 19:24 utc | 54

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 21 2023 19:03 utc | 54
not really a viable alternative…Missiles and drones can hit convoys of trucks too. And the scumbag traitor Arabs will be demanding large cuts…

Posted by: nathan in WA US | Dec 21 2023 19:25 utc | 56

Posted by: Trubind1 | Dec 21 2023 18:57 utc | 53
OK, from yesterday’s HuffPost:
“As bloodshed continues in Gaza, State Department officials are quietly working to stymie an attempt to spur global pressure to end the fighting there.
U.S. diplomats are finalizing a démarche ― a diplomatic initiative ― to their Swiss counterparts that Washington hopes will scuttle plans for a meeting to discuss violations of the Geneva Conventions in the current war between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza-based militant group, according to State Department documents seen by HuffPost.”
I don’t like the word “bloodshed”. Isn’t it antisemitic?

Posted by: Jonathan W | Dec 21 2023 19:32 utc | 58

The Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida reiterated today the “fixed position” that the aggression has to stop, and that through exchange all Palestinian prisoners in Israel need to freed for all captives to be released.
A part of the statement:
“By the grace of Allah, in the past week, our fighters executed more than 15 successful sniper operations And more than 12 direct engagements with machine guns, medium weapons, and hand grenades.
“Our fighters, in the combat operations, widely used anti-personnel explosive devices, guerilla action devices, and anti-tank explosive devices of all types against fortifications, personnel, and vehicles in operations.
“After 11 weeks of confronting the aggression and the brutal Nazi war, we in the Al-Qassam Brigades affirm that the enemy army on the ground is preoccupied with searching for illusions of victory and achievement.
“Sometimes they announce the assassination of field commanders and targeting fighters on the ground. Sometimes they celebrate discovering an old, out-of-service tunnel or bombing a used rocket launcher. Sometimes they boast about seizing military sites or offices and residences that were previously bombed with tons of explosives, and sometimes they display random destruction and killing as a reaction to their failure and massive losses.
“This lost, crisis-stricken, arrogant enemy has not learned a single lesson from historical experiences. It previously assassinated leaders and killed thousands of our people’s fighters, but their blood sprouted victory, and their souls bequeathed to our resistance its strength and vigor…
“The continuation of aggression does not allow for the release of prisoners at all, let alone their liberation through direct military operations. Therefore, if the enemy and its public want their prisoners alive, they have no choice but to stop the aggression.
“It is not possible to release the enemy prisoners alive except through entering into negotiation through known pathways via mediators…
Full, including video:
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/this-is-a-fixed-position-there-is-no-alternative-abu-obeidas-latest-statement-released/

Posted by: JB | Dec 21 2023 19:38 utc | 60

Foreign Policy has an article up saying the “west” has three options for protecting the Palestine holocaust operation from the Houthi drones and missiles in the Red Sea: Send cargo ships around Africa, interdict the drones and missiles at their source, or expand the membership of the US-backed naval coalition. No mention at all of a fourth alternative: Accept the Houthi demand to cease the genocide. It’s as if Foreign Policy isn’t even aware the Houthis have made such a demand. And, in their option of expanding the naval coalition, they want to force Germany to join. No mention of forcing Israel to join, even though the mission is to guard Israel’s prosperity.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/12/20/red-sea-houthi-attacks-trade/

Posted by: Chas | Dec 21 2023 19:44 utc | 62

Just skimmed the last couple of days. The horrors continue and intensify.
q. AS Palestine is the legitimate State and Israel the occupiers why has this stopped being internationally recognised?
Why are the Israelis in charge of the various crossing points re aid and travel?
Why haven’t international organisations and govts put together ‘forces’ to take control and to force the Israelis to face up to the correct borders and their abuse of their role as occupiers. We feed their claims and actions.
Talks and hand wringing are all very well in their place, but they are serving the delays and allowing the extermination of the Palestinians and their state and in the meantime WW3 is progressing as well.
One last point both Netanhue and Biden are concerned with keeping out of jail and hoping to hang onto their [albeit tattered] reputations and jobs.
OH ! and I’m not at all convinced that the west, if not most of the rest of the world, will not effect a nice whitewash of the situation when this is pver and the Palesinians will be left with little to nothing.

Posted by: cadac | Dec 21 2023 19:47 utc | 64

It’s as if Foreign Policy isn’t even aware the Houthis have made such a demand. And, in their option of expanding the naval coalition, they want to force Germany to join. No mention of forcing Israel to join, even though the mission is to guard Israel’s prosperity.
Posted by: Chas | Dec 21 2023 19:44 utc | 65
I’ve watched panel of experts show from AJE, one from DW and one random youtube panel interview as well as and the pattern is the same:
– none of the experts are allowed to mention the Houthi’s Gaza demand as a serious reason.
– The Houthi motivation is pitches as they’re using this as leverage against the Saudis or to “shore up their domestic image”, or to show the USA who is boss.
– Never mention the Houthis as the legitimate government of Yemen
– Never mention the fact that the Southern Alliance has essentially lost and that the Houthi essentially run Yemen.
Basically, all the experts on mainstream channels appear to have been briefed to avoid the real reason for the Houthi embargo.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 19:58 utc | 66

From the Iran Observer
The US has backed down from plans to attack the Houthis after threats of all-out war by 2 million troops of the Yemeni Ansarullah group.
According to the Associated Press (AP), military ships from the US-led alliance will be positioned to provide air defence umbrellas to as many ships as possible at any given time.
Basically, they will fire missiles worth $2 million to intercept a $2,000 Yemeni drone.
Any confirmation?

Posted by: Turk 152 | Dec 21 2023 20:04 utc | 68

Question:
How long can the IDF take these continual losses without a complete breakdown ?

Posted by: Exile | Dec 21 2023 20:05 utc | 70

Washington post wont carry buckets of blood for the IDF. They pretty much say there was no tunnels under the hospital
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/21/al-shifa-hospital-gaza-hamas-israel/

Posted by: Hankster | Dec 21 2023 20:10 utc | 72

psychohistorian | Dec 21 2023 19:24 utc | 57–
Thanks for your and Nathan’s replies. Yes, I didn’t dwell on its vulnerabilities or its lack of efficiency.
Netanyahu has announced the Genocide will continue until its complete. RT reports:
“The choice I propose to Hamas is very simple: Surrender or die,” Netanyahu added. “All Hamas terrorists, from the first to the last, are dead men walking.”
Gee, given the Zionist’s behavior, if you surrender you will die; so, Hamas has no incentive to quit. The Zionists are under great domestic pressure to enact a ceasefire for the purpose of exchanging hostages, which Netanyahu is blaming Hamas for not coming to terms with, which is quite unlikely. Meanwhile at the UNSC, the Outlaw US Empire is trying to eliminate any language in the current draft resolution that might allow for the invoking of Chapter 7 which would allow for the use of force directed by the UN in managing the ceasefire.
That no further aid was approved by the Empire’s Congress prior to its recess and the reality of extremely low stocks of critical ordinance will force the Zionists to slow their efforts and perhaps force a delay in attacking Hezbollah by invading Lebanon.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 21 2023 20:12 utc | 74

How long can the IDF take these continual losses without a complete breakdown ?
Posted by: Exile | Dec 21 2023 20:05 utc | 73
Thumbsuck:
– 33 days against Hezbollah in 2006 saw the start of strains, essentially an air war once it became clear mobile and infantry was useless.
– Now 75 days, but mostly infantry and mobile. Still heavy air use.
– Port of Eilat down 85% of normal traffic
– Economy taking a hit and large internal displacement of population from Southern Israel and Northern Israel
Hezbollah and Hamas have not yet started to pound Tel Aviv with intensity, I think they’re leaving it for last as they usually do.
I would give them 1 month more. However at that point the IDF will be completely unable to take on Hezbollah in even an air war.
The point is, even if they’re able to go a month longer against Hamas they’ll be essentially defenseless against Hezbollah once it’s over.

So they’re going to have to call an end not before they break, but while they still have capacity to face a potential full onslaught from Hezbollah.

I give that one month more.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 20:23 utc | 76

RE: Posted by: Jonathan W | Dec 21 2023 19:54 utc | 68
“Or it may be Syria is the point where Russia will intervene. That is the impression I get from what TASS reported today:”
I agree. For me this opening was always about Russia fans moving the front off the EU.
It is also about China. Particularly the Yemen move (Djibouti Port/Base China has).
The UAE, SA, Iran BRICS alignment moved up their timetable.
The U.S. doesn’t care about “winning”… disrupting, dividing & over extending Russia is all that’s important.
It appears the West has once again…miscalculated. Time will tell.

Posted by: Trubind1 | Dec 21 2023 20:33 utc | 78

https://nitter.net/Jairo_I_Funez/status/1736408583225450819#m
Jairo I Fúnez-Flores
@Jairo_I_Funez
THIS IS HUGE!
“Maritime shipping giant OOCL, which is based in Hong Kong, has announced that it will immediately cease handling Israeli shipping of any kind and to any port, whether importing or exporting.”
“Bab al-Mandab is a narrow strait between Africa and the Arabian peninsula through which an estimated 12% of global trade by volume normally flows, and perhaps 30% of global container traffic.”
economist.com/international/…
A new Suez crisis threatens the world economy
Global shipping firms are suspending voyages in the Red Sea

Posted by: MD | Dec 21 2023 20:47 utc | 80

@ MD | Dec 21 2023 20:47 utc | 83 who is at least a day late with their attempt to add value at MoA….read more, post less is my suggestion.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 21 2023 20:53 utc | 82

Note : OOCL
They are refusing all Israeli business anywhere. That decision gotta have gotten at least a nod from Peking. Yuge indeed

Posted by: Exile | Dec 21 2023 21:04 utc | 84

The time has come-it is long past- for a serious study of the question “Why did the Israelis become the Nazis?”
Posted by: bevin | Dec 21 2023 16:28 utc | 11
The ‘Israelis’ did not become the Nazis, dear bevin.
They were already Nazis before they became ‘Israelis’.
Your study should begin long before 1948 perhaps 1897.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 16:32 utc | 13
How about 117 BC when Jews killed 240,000 Cypriots and wre subsequently banned from the island?

Posted by: canuck | Dec 21 2023 21:14 utc | 86

A few comments on Houthis’ Red Sea Obstruction-Let Gaza Live Operation !
https://nitter.net/GodfreeTrh/status/1737022568916492543#m
Godfree Roberts
Posts like this explain why the EU is trying to shut Twitter down:
America-China Watcher
@PandemicTruther
Note the US code name “Operation Prosperity Guardian”. The US objective is consumerism “prosperity” whereas the Houthis’ objective is to let Palestinians live. It’s obvious whose goal is more righteous.
Houthis are not disturbing global trade. Their modest request is that as long as Gaza is under siege, as long as food and medicine can’t go in Gaza, any ship stopping at the Israeli port will be turned away. Houthis will only attack the ship If it refuses to go away.
Remember that Gaza is under siege. No ship can go near the Gaza coast. Any ship which tries to do so will be attacked by the Israeli army. Do the Arabs have the right to defend themselves? Houthis is only mildly retaliating.
Global commerce is not interrupted. The global shipping companies have the option not to make a stop at the Israeli port and go directly onto the next stop. The goods destined for Europe and other countries won’t be affected. But no western shipping company dares to do so because the Zionists’ wrath will sink their company faster than the Houthis missiles. That would be anti-semitism, the most heinous crime in the West.
Von der Leyen and other US lapdogs will bark at these shipping companies non-stop if they dare to impose de facto passive sanctions on Israel. So these shipping companies subject goods for Europe and the eastern coast of the US to the same treatment as goods for Israel even if it’s against the European and their own interests.
Moreover, it’s detrimental to the environment with the ships having to go around the Cape of Good Hope of South Africa to reach Europe. The new itinerary takes an extra 18 days. The CO2 emission is doubled!
Europe is showing solidarity with Israel’s genocide of Palestinians by sacrificing its own economic interests as always.
Note that one shipping company hasn’t declared the change of itinerary, that’s China’s Costco.
At the moment, Costco is overwhelmed with orders. China is not the lapdog of the US and is not inconveniencing itself to please Israel. China is doing the commercially logical thing.
China has another solution. That is the China-Europe rails. This railroute has been vehemently attacked by the USA/UK in the same fashion as the Russian-Europe Nordstream pipelines. The US had always wanted to blow up the Nordstream pipelines and they finally suceeded. The network of Sino-Europe railliners is too vast to be blown up but the US has been trying to find a way to disrupt it. Starting wars in Eastern Europe and Central Asia will have the effect of breaking up the Eurasian rail routes.
Once the economy and trade routes of the World Island, ie, the Eurasian continent is fully integrated, the US will be isolated, marginalized and its hegemony will be gone. All the countries on the Eurasian continent will be happily doing business with each other. Nobody will need the US.
Against all odds, China has been developing these rail routes. Before 2015, China was heavily losing money but the Chinese government kept at it, understanding its strategic importance. As from 2015, these routes became profitable.
During the 2021 Suez canal obstruction, the Sino-Europe railliners became the alternative and became wildly profitable. To decide which container goes onto a train first, a draw was organized everyday.
Today the Red Sea obstruction has again turned the Sino-Europe Railliners into super stars.
So you ask yourself whether China will join the US’ Operation Prosperity Guardian or not. China stands with the Palestinian people. Costco ships are not stopping at the Israeli port. China’s shipping business is not negatively impacted. On the contrary Now Costco is overwhelmed with orders. Moreover Red Sea obstruction gives a huge boost to China’s Eurasian rail business.

Posted by: MD | Dec 21 2023 21:29 utc | 88

@ Oxi | Dec 21 2023 18:10 utc | 38
Evidently you do not do nuance nor evidence.
I did not say the words you put in my mouth. To the contrary.

Posted by: suzan | Dec 21 2023 21:55 utc | 90

United States is working hard to prevent United Nations taking control of aid deliveries into Gaza.
U.S. spokesperson Kirby: “Israel has had– and understandably so– has had a role in the inspection regime, a key role, a pivotal role, and we understand and respect that, and I think I’ll leave it at that.”
By insisting that a UN led process will in fact “slow” the deliveries, the Americans are not working from a logic informed by previous incompetence demonstrated by UN sponsored aid programs, The logic is more along the lines that Israel will probably militarily attack the aid effort should its control over inspections be undermined, and thus create delays through the application of violence. Such a scenario would create incredible pressure on US.
This is a diplomatic stalemate as the intentions are completely opposed. The US-Israel side insists on retaining effective control over the occupied territories, while the sponsors and supporters of the UNSC resolution ultimately want to remove Israel from this control and will use UN-run aid delivery as a step towards that.

Posted by: jayc | Dec 21 2023 22:06 utc | 92

@ by: Arch Bungle | Dec 21 2023 18:17 utc | 42
I did not say that bungle, that Israelis are “victims.” Victims with nukes and think tanks, huh?
If you are as you claim to aspire to be, a practicing follower of the dharma, then why put divisive words in my mouth which i did not say?
I may be poor at articulating my view at times but no need to jump the shark. Peace.

Posted by: suzan | Dec 21 2023 22:09 utc | 94

” Do you mean all Jews?
Posted by: g | Dec 21 2023 18:33 utc | 47 ”
Of course not all Jews, that would be morally wrong. Only the 90% + who support Zionism no matter what. The other Jews are perfectly fine.

Posted by: Moonie | Dec 21 2023 22:11 utc | 96

Crap wrong thread. Oh well.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 21 2023 22:16 utc | 98

They are *still* haggling over the wording of a ceasefire agreement at the UN.
There is/was supposed to be a vote on it *today*. Just checked the news and no change from 3 hours ago.
If Hamas had accepted the Izzies 7-day pause then UN members would
feel less pressure to stick their necks out and vote for the ceasefire.
Today, the slavish media is blaming Hamas for rejecting an Izzie offer of a 7-day pause.
The reality is that the 7-day pause offer is just a treacherous, hypocritical way of
derailing the UN vote for a ceasefire.
Again, if Hamas had accepted the Izzies 7-day pause then UN members would
feel less pressure to stick their necks out and vote for the ceasefire.

Posted by: librul | Dec 21 2023 22:27 utc | 100