Just hoping the Lord ain’t a crypto-Jew./s
@ persiflo | May 5 2025 2:06 utc | 76
I didn’t make up Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. So far as I can tell, he’s the closest thing to a source of Christian Zionism, the first-motivator of the original idea of Zionism: to re-collect the Jewish diaspora into Palestine, in order to:
(1) Prepare conditions as foretold so that Jesus can complete his second visit after Armageddon — in which all Jews who refuse to convert are destroyed.
(2) Meanwhile, remove as many of these annoying Jews from our neighborhoods as possible: solving the “Jewish problem.”
I defy anyone to find an earlier, more powerful influence at the inception of (definitely Christian) Zionism than Shaftesbury.
Numerous cultures have engaged in imperialism throughout human history, but Christian white-supremacists seized the settler-colonial ring when the League of (White Christian) Nations redrew the world map after WWI. Settler colonialism has been an intensively Christian enterprise ever since. “Israel” has always been a product of the same worldwide settler-colonial enterprise. To ascribe Zionism to idolatrous, messianic Jews such as Netanyahu & company is absurd. There’s essentially no such a thing as Jewish settler-colonialism in the 20th century context of overwhelmingly Christian settler colonialism.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 5 2025 12:04 utc | 103

Alastair speaking from Professor Marandi’s office in Tehran
Livestream has ended but catch the replay @ Judge Nap on YouTube

Posted by: steel_porcupine | May 5 2025 12:46 utc | 105

You have to agree that it is funny how Israelis keep voting for Bibi to improve “security” when it has gotten worse, way, way worse over his almost 30-year rule.
It is almost as funny as voting for a billionaire to improve the working people.

Posted by: Polli | May 5 2025 13:21 utc | 107

AIPAC tried this once before & it passed in the house, but failed in the senate.
From Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights:
“Friends,
TODAY  Congress will be voting on a bill (H.R. 867), which seeks to punish those who boycott and criticize Israel with up to 20 years in prison and $1 million in fines — even if it’s just sharing information online.
Criticism of Israel is growing along with support for Palestinians despite efforts by the government and the mainstream media to spin the narrative. As a result the government is arresting and deporting foreign activists, and it is now attempting to criminalize free speech for all Americans. 
While this bill applies to boycotts and speech critical of Israel, if passed it will embolden the administration to criminalize other peaceful protest and political speech that it doesn’t like.”
********
If this pos legislation passes, I plan to seek out & publish Ethical Alternatives to companies that support genocide!
I’m already doing it for myself, a couple items at a time.

Posted by: Mary | May 5 2025 13:57 utc | 109

An Algebra of Death:
Population of Gaza was around 2.5 million at the start.
55K are said to be killed in around 1.5 years of fighting.
Set the number at least double: 100K
No counting living casualties – theyre still alive.
At the current rate (optimistic) it will take 25*1.5 = 37 years to erase the population of Gaza.
Let’s not be so optimistic and half that period, assuming hunger and disease accelerated the process (negative factors), but let’s also assume that in those years there’ll be brief periods when food aid comes in by smuggling routes and the U.N calls a temporary pause to this shitshow:
Using this loose reckoning we can half 37 years to roughly 17 years.
(Note: children born this year will have grown up to fighting age under daily bombardment and siege)
For the doomers who think even 17 years is too optimistic, let’s arbitrarily half it again:
8.5 years.
Zionistan will need to subject Gaza to a further 8.5 years of daily butchery to completely erase the Palestinians.
And they will have to be erased.
They cannot be allowed to leave.
For their very existence on this earth puts the existence of Israhell in question.
There will be no Palestinian Exodus through the Sinai or across the Mediterranean or through the Rafah crossing.
Does anyone here think the Zionist Occupation can last that long, even if there was no Hamas, how many years will it take to butcher your way through 2.5 million people without some unintended consequence coming along and wrecking your plans?

Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 5 2025 14:13 utc | 111

Posted by: Mary | May 5 2025 13:57 utc | 109
Per Senator King’s office, unconstitutional bill HR367 which blatantly violates the constitutional 1st amendment free speech rights, has been taken off the calendar & will not be voted on today!

Posted by: Mary | May 5 2025 14:18 utc | 113

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/05/middleeast/israel-gaza-expansion-hnk-intl
This begins to look like a “final solution”.
I hope this finds you well

Posted by: ockham | May 5 2025 14:24 utc | 115

Since October 7th, 2023, Israel’s war in Gaza and increasingly unquenchable thirst for war with Iran has seen the Middle Eastern country strengthen its iron-fisted grip over the U.S. political establishment. From proposed laws criminalizing antisemitism under the guise of hate speech to the expansion of the U.S.’ involvement in the Middle Eastern theater of war culminating in a direct military conflict with the Houthis in Yemen, the exponential influence of Israel on determining U.S. foreign and domestic policy alike has led to growing opposition over that imbalanced power dynamic. The extent of the blowback from the heightened visibility of the Zionist agenda steering the course of U.S. policymaking has reached new heights as the House Of Representatives decided to suspend a vote on proposed legislation that embodies Israel’s pervasive influence on the U.S. government.
The House was scheduled to vote on H.R. 867: The IGO Anti-Boycott Act on Monday under suspension of the Rules Of The House Of Representatives. Voting in that fashion would have required a two-thirds vote for the bill to pass but also would have limited debate on the issues it presented, a microcosm of the subversion of democracy by the interests promoting the legislation. The proposed legislation was introduced by Republican Representative Mike Lawler on January 31st to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and sought to expand existing federal law that makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to participate in boycotts against the State Of Israel. Despite the bipartisan support that H.R. 867 had from its 24 co-sponsors, the outcry against the proposed legislation ahead of the vote it was scheduled for on Monday proved to make bringing it to the floor a bridge too far, even for the most zealous supporters of Israel in the House Of Representatives.
zerohedge

Posted by: ld | May 5 2025 14:30 utc | 117

Meanwhile in Texas:
https://x.com/SeanMcCarthyCom/status/1917592243973587452
Greg “Zionazi Bootliker” Abbott, Governor has sent a letter of reprimand to the (small) city of San Marcos regarding their plan to vote on a measure (today, I believe) on a sort of tax boycott of Israel during their Gaza genocide.
Texas, and Abbott, are notorious Zionist monsters of the highest order, prompting Glenn Greenwald to write an article at the Intercept a number of years ago. At that time it was in response to the firing/dismissal of a contract teacher/counselor for refusing to sign a “loyalty oath” to Israel in the form of a promise not to boycott them (allegedly in a professional or personal capacity) as a condition of state employment (every school district employee is technically a state employee).
https://theintercept.com/2018/12/17/israel-texas-anti-bds-law/
This shit is OUT. OF. HAND. It’s not something new or particularly unique to the Trump administration, but they seem to be taking the ball and running with it….straight into a brick wall (one would hope)?
Fuck Israel.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 5 2025 14:41 utc | 119

A little detail about Wikoff, given that the “Witkoff model” has been mentioned. I read that one Jack Witkoff has entered into an agreement with Eric Trump and officials from the UEA to create the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial Company, a cryptocurrency “company.” Grifting on a truly giant scale. Makes Bribem & Co look like pikers.
I too have been avoiding Izzyhell products for years. Sometimes they use the cover of other countries but there are certain barcodes which are always Izzy. Pace y amore. Remembering Rachel Corrie and Aaron Bushnell.

Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | May 5 2025 14:50 utc | 121

I have come to believe that accusations of “anti-Semitism” are essentially no different than white racist accusations of “reverse racism”. Israeli Jews not only have power over Palestine, they exert substantial levels of control over the US media and the US political caste. This, at this stage, has to be undeniable. While liberals fret about “Russian interference” in US politics, Israeli Jews are funding primary challengers for any Democrat who dares to recognize the genocide unfolding before their own eyes.
In the future, Jews will look at the state of Israel as a black spot on their history, as the Germans view the Third Reich.

Posted by: fnord | May 5 2025 14:55 utc | 123

Friends, do not be demoralized by the claims of Israeli plans for Gaza.
They have been trying for decades without success.
The threats and big talk are weakness not strength.
They are calling up conscripts because regular forces have been refusing to deploy to Gaza.
It is difficult to imagine Israel lasting too much longer.
Even attempts to demoralize are weakness and an attempt to substitute for lack of success.
Everything Zionist is weak and pathetic.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 5 2025 15:11 utc | 125

If this pos legislation passes, I plan to seek out & publish Ethical Alternatives to companies that support genocide!
That is brilliant! An idea that needs to go viral

Posted by: dan of steele | May 5 2025 15:59 utc | 127

Just some of the genocide enablers that MUST end up in prison – well done Albanese, you’re a credit to the UN.
“The top expert on Palestine at the UN has called for senior EU officials, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas to face prosecution for their complicity in Israeli war crimes committed in Gaza.
“The fact that the two highest figures of the EU continue business as usual engagements with Israel is beyond deplorable,” said UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese in an interview ran by The Intercept on Saturday.
“I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’ — they will have to be judged before then. And they will have to understand that immunity cannot equate with impunity,” she added.
Israel has killed nearly 52,500 people and destroyed Gaza’s entire civilian infrastructure. Most of the dead have been civilians, including tens of thousands of children and women.
Israel’s initial aim of exchanging captives with Hamas has turned into a US-backed vision for ethnically cleansing Palestinians from Gaza.
To that end, the Israeli military has increased its lethal attacks after breaking a 2-month ceasefire deal with Hamas on March 18.
It has enforced a complete blockade on humanitarian aid, electricity, food, and water since March 2, marking the longest aid blockade since the start of the genocide nearly 19 months ago.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly called on the EU members to boycott Israel and stop selling weapons to the regime.
Nonetheless, since taking office in December, Kallas has blamed Hamas for Israel’s decision to end the ceasefire, continued normal diplomatic relations, and vowed to “stand in solidarity with Israel.”
A complaint against Leyen, the European Commission president, was also filed at the International Criminal Court last May for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | May 5 2025 17:09 utc | 129

Israel Approves Full ‘Conquest’ of Gaza – Media
https://www.rt.com/news/616801-israel-plan-gaza-conquest/
“The Israeli government has approved a plan for the complete military occupation of Gaza and the forced relocation of its Palestinian inhabitants to the southern part of the territory, multiple news outlets have reported citing unnamed officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted unanimously in favor of the strategy during a meeting on Monday morning. Two sources told the media, Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces Eyat Zamir has also announced the mobilization of tens of thousands of additional reservists.
‘The plan will include, among other things, the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories, moving the Gaza population south for their protection,’ an Israeli official stated, as quoted by Agence France Presse.”
Free Palestine. Down with USrael.

Posted by: JohnGilberts | May 5 2025 17:35 utc | 131

“Can you read faces?
Samira Qishta, from Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, was trapped for a whole month in her home in Khirbet al-Adas, north of Rafah”
https://t.me/pal74press/105372

Posted by: Ornot | May 6 2025 1:46 utc | 133

Zits panicking now
Flailing. Uncle Sam’s
Oyster picnic plan.
How many flakes of humans
In John Bolton’s tache?
Bodies in the garden
Nobody would speak to them.
They told No-one. For sex?
For God? For land?

Posted by: Giyane | May 6 2025 2:30 utc | 135

Palestinians who wish to live must run as fast as they can, as far away as they can from Gaza, the west bank and Israel.
It’s over. The Fat Lady is singing.
The entire world (those that matter) are fully onboard with the Chorus which is Greater Israel.

Posted by: just in | May 6 2025 2:37 utc | 137

The Mizrahi Perspective
Why Israel can’t change course, and the right way to resist a monster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H74k4ZbBCu4

Posted by: ld | May 6 2025 2:47 utc | 139

Hamas On The Record: An Exclusive Interview (podcast)
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/osama-hamdan-hamas-interview-podcast-gaza-israel
“In an exclusive interview with Drop Site News is one of the most extensive English-language discussions with a senior Hamas official published by a Western outlet. Osama Hamdan spoke to Jeremy Scahill about genocide, resistance, direct US talks and why disarmament in ceasefire negotiations remains a ‘million red lines’ for Hamas.”
Thread: How Hamas Sees the Current Moment
https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/1919517818514550910

Posted by: JohnGilberts | May 6 2025 3:47 utc | 141

meanwhile back at the ranch
https://t.me/TrackingIsraeliGenocide/1669
Israel Genocide Tracker
In a tacit admission of their involvement in war crimes, official Israeli army battalion pages now omit officers’ names and faces during ranking ceremonies, posting only images showing the backs of their heads to thwart public and online identification.
https://x.com/AlexCrawfordSky/status/1916027961662153165
Alex Crawford @AlexCrawfordSky
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has filed 4 complaints with the International Criminal Court for war crimes committed against journalists by the Israeli army in Gaza. ‘Journalists are being slaughtered at an unprecedented pace’
https://rsf.org/en/gaza-rsf-files-its-fourth-complaint-year-icc-israel-s-war-crimes-against-journalists
Gaza: RSF files its fourth complaint in a year with the ICC for Israel’s war crimes against journalists
https://x.com/IlhanMN/status/1919463512847339651
Ilhan Omar @IlhanMN
No food, aid, or fuel have entered Gaza since March 2.
Community kitchens have closed. Children are sick, thirsty, and starving.
Now Netanyahu’s government wants to occupy Gaza and shut down the existing aid distribution system run by the UN and its humanitarian partners.
Arms embargo now.

Posted by: michaelj72 | May 6 2025 4:26 utc | 143

Posted by: JohnGilberts | May 6 2025 3:47 utc | 144
######
Great shares, thank you.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 6 2025 4:32 utc | 145

‘Call Zionists What They Are: Nazi Criminals’
https://x.com/TrumpSimp4Putin/status/1919597180861698498
“Dr Hajo Meyer, Auschwitz survivor. August 24, 2014. (Google it).”
Israeli TV Producer Calls For ‘Gaza Holocaust, Gas Chambers’
https://x.com_ZachFoster/status/1919557676159107353
“An Israeli broadcaster has caused outrage after he called for Israel to carry out a Holocaust against the people of Gaza…”
Actually, polling indicates such hateful malevolent sentiments are not uncommon among Israelis/Zionists. And even the ICJ found ‘plausible genocide’. After all – it’s in plain sight. Why do we let our politicians continue to support it?

Posted by: JohnGilberts | May 6 2025 4:50 utc | 147

Interesting article on Israel’s use of environmentalism as part of its project to erase the history of Palestinian settlement – and how planting foreign tree and other plant species is backfiring (literally) on Israel in the form of wildfires as rocket fire and the dust caused by explosions are igniting forests of alien plant species.
Green Colonialism in Palestine

Forest fires rage in the north of Occupied Palestine — a side-effect of Hezbollah rocket fire from southern Lebanon. The strikes are mostly aimed at military sites, but rocket impacts also sparked fires in the area. Scholar Ghada Sasa points out that it is no surprise that the rocket fire is igniting huge forest fires because over the past century Zionists have “converted Palestine into a tinderbox” by planting over 250 million trees since 1948– a large percentage being invasive pines and eucalyptus.
Not only are these forests destructive for local ecosystems, which dry out the Land and become hazards for fires, they were actually planted with a more sinister purpose: to cover the ruins of Palestinian villages destroyed and emptied during the 1948 Nakba, where 95% of the Indigenous population was massacred or forcibly expelled from Palestine.
Israeli historian Ilan Pappé explains that the Birya forest, for instance, Israel’s largest man-made forest in the north, was strategically planted over the ruins of 6 different Palestinian villages.
The problem of Zionist organizations planting invasive species in Palestine has been dubbed “green colonialism.” Under the guise of environmental conservation and “turning the desert green”, this type of colonialism is a way Israel appropriates environmentalism in order to displace Palestinians, destroy the remains of their lands, and make it impossible for Palestinians to return to the villages of their grandparents and ancestors.
Planting trees is arguably the most insidious form of Palestinian erasure, and a lot of times it appears as protected parks, forests or natural reserves. Some call this an attempt to greenwash their theft …
… Visualizing Palestine, an organization that “uses data and research to visually communicate Palestinian experiences,” highlights that it’s not just villages that the trees are planted to replace and destroy. “Israeli” authorities have uprooted over 800,000 Palestinian olive trees since 1967. In place of the olive trees, Israel has planted invasive species and has destroyed the source of both livelihood and sustenance as well as culture for Indigenous Palestinians.
Eucalyptus trees, a favorite import of colonialism, can be found throughout the world in the former British Empire. This extremely “thirsty” tree has been responsible for disrupting ecosystems …
… [Jewish National Fund’s] website reads, “Eucalyptus trees are one of the most familiar sights on the Israeli landscape. This tree was originally brought to Israel from Australia to help dry out swamps, which were breeding grounds for malaria-spreading mosquitoes.”
They go on to say that “Eucalyptus trees are often chosen by KKL-JNF foresters because they grow rapidly, thrive in various types of soil, are very advantageous for bee keepers, produce lumber and ethereal oils, and more.” Although the trees did dry up swamps, they dried up a whole lot more. Eucalyptus is a thirsty tree that increases the effects of water scarcity in areas like the West Bank or other parts of Palestine. The tree has no natural predators. In Australia, where the tree species originated, mammals evolved to feed and digest the trees’ nutrient-poor and often toxic leaves and bark. In non-Australian ecosystems, the Eucalyptus tree can become an invasive species that poses a threat to wildlife and biodiversity. Additionally, the tree resin is highly flammable …

Who would have thought that Israel’s attempts to transform the Palestinian landscape would result not only in ruining its ecosystems and wasting precious water but also endangering Israel’s own cities, towns, villages and settlements?

Posted by: Refinnejenna | May 6 2025 5:52 utc | 149

Please watch this video
It contains a letter by the woman who was attacked on Thursday night by a mob of Jews in New York
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMFIPsqrgFw

Posted by: ld | May 6 2025 10:16 utc | 151

@146 Arch
Yet this is one of the realities that carries a sense of dread.
In the west, after working through the various layers of social management and established presentation, after understanding to a credible degree how the political and financial world is organised, based on its observation, not proclamations issued and not its ideals that were never attained or attainable, you understand eventually not only the depth of the deception but how pervasive the control of the populations is.
It is one thing to point out the discrepancies, it is another to present a workable answer. That is to say even visible punishment of those responsible for the atrocities would be nothing to base a future reality on, failure of official oversight and responsibility would be just be folded into a new version of the same approach. In fact Germany is a good example, it (the population) were “reprogrammed” …now while their country officially supports further genocide.
This is the level and way of those that an “average person” has no way of dealing with, so insiduous is the reality spun to them, so dependent is any person on its existence. To question it is to question everything, all you have learned, the social environment you have learned to trust, the honour or dignity of your own family even.
And then ? It would just leave any person vulnerable, and unstable.
I say dread though, because the obviousness of the crimes, the blatant support of those, implies they do not ever intend to be judged for them. You can figure the various levels of what that means, which go from whitewashing and ‘slaps on the wrist’ , through to persecution of dissent and extreme social control, and if not then greater distraction, as in larger more threatening wars, that would also serve for installing and consolidating acceptance of control on a population, as well as elimination of the most capable. The ultimate horror of course would be considered by most as being a nuclear war (next to chemical and biological ) , and that is always presented as a menace to shape public perception.
You don’t think if “these people” felt threatened enough that they wouldn’t unleash some form of major destruction on mankind ?
They are telling us they would.
They are offering us commodity if we simply comply, ignore, follow along and not question.
What position anyone takes is a choice each individual person would have to make for themselves.
So that is a main reason to individually present what is known or understood of any circumstance, to broaden the ability of anyone to assess the reality of the world around them, and so as to make sure they realise that there is discussion and debate over the validity of what anyone might be being, or has been, accustomed to accept.
You know, I am no activist or similar, it is just a simple and obvious duty or responsibility to present to society a fuller and fairer picture of events, where the one more widely presented is lacking or distorted.
In short:
“Stop hurting other people”

Posted by: Ornot | May 6 2025 13:23 utc | 153

From Al Manar
Fourth Round of US-Iran Talks to Be Held Sunday, May 11, in Oman
Good to read they are talking again….

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 6 2025 14:30 utc | 155

Posted by: teri | May 6 2025 13:35 utc | 154
###########
I have read that Hezbollah would (democratically) rule Lebanon if there were no limitations on certain parties running.
As usual, there is a 5th column that allows the West (US/UK/France) to keep its hooks in.
Like Israel, it cannot last. The world has changed and will keep changing.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 6 2025 16:18 utc | 157

Israel’s “occupation” plan is half-baked at best, and its loudest proponents (i.e. Smotrich) are idiots. It is tied to future approval by Trump, supposedly during a regional trip to exclusively Arab states on record as supporting a “two-state” future. Like the threats to attack Iran, the bellicosity rises according to the perceived uncertainty as to ultimate US position.
Since the ceasefire was officially breached, the IDF has participated in extremely limited direct engagements with Hamas fighters, preferring as before to attack the civilian population with stand-off weaponry. The occupation plan will place many soldiers on the ground in an extremely hostile terrain. The food distribution scheme will require all recipients to pass through armed checkpoints to areas maintained by foreign security personnel, in a proposed environment where two million persons are already crammed into a very small area. That’s not a functional concept.

Posted by: jayc | May 6 2025 16:48 utc | 159

I am not sure why people pretend there is such thing as judaism. The pentateuch has no resurrection whatsoever while the iraqi rabbis who produced the babylonian talmud have corporeal resurrection… like the christians and most probably under manichean influence.
People who study judaism in universities put various rival currents under a banner that actually did not exist but is made to exist for the new testament to make (still little) sense

Posted by: Tom | May 6 2025 18:05 utc | 161

Trump waves white flag, ends Yemen war in Omani-mediated truce:
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/30548

Posted by: Vortex | May 6 2025 20:03 utc | 163

Somebody who knows the House of Saud better than I do (which would be most everyone else on the thread) might add some insight to these two articles. I can’t figure out what they are doing, but I am pretty sure it is not what Trump thinks they are doing.
On the surface, it appears that the Sauds simply have more money to offer Trump than Israel does – especially given that Israel sucks US teat so vigorously – and the Sauds are perhaps aware that they can use this to usurp the favored position away from Israel.
Is it possible that it is that mundane? Because that would make the whole “support israel or else” thing look like a simple financial transaction that is mouthed until a better offer comes along. Gosh, wouldn’t that just be too bad for Israel.
Note that Yemen did not offer to quit bombing Israel [first article] and that Saudi Arabia is demanding that no mention be made of normalisation with Israel during Trump’s upcoming visit there [second article].
—————
1. Exclusive: Saudi Arabia pressed Trump to stop attacks on Yemen ahead of visit
Riyadh warned the US of the repercussions of attacking Yemen while Trump is visiting the kingdom, US officials say.
Saudi Arabia has been lobbying the US to stop all US attacks on Yemen ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the kingdom, warning that it would create an “embarrassing situation” for Riyadh and the US, Middle East Eye can reveal.
Saudi Arabia has resisted the US bombing campaign in Yemen since the Biden administration began strikes in 2024, but their insistence that attacks stop picked up last week as they became more concerned about the scope of the strikes, two US officials told MEE on the condition of anonymity.
“Trump appears to be meeting a Saudi ‘ask’ to stop strikes ahead of his visit,” one of the US officials told MEE.
“The pressure from the Saudis to end this has intensified since last week. They told us that attacks on Yemen while POTUS is there would be playing with fire,” the official added, using an acronym for the US President.
Trump announced on Tuesday that “effective immediately”, the US would stop bombing Yemen.[…]
Arab and US officials told MEE that Saudi Arabia has been fiercely “pre-negotiating” Trump’s visit.
Saudi Arabia wants to focus on economic deals and military sales, Arab officials say.
MEE reported last week that Riyadh sought assurances from the US it would keep discussions of normalisation with Israel off the agenda during Trump’s visit.Saudi Arabia says it needs to see steps toward the creation of a Palestinian state and a ceasefire in Gaza before it recognises Israel. […]
The “ceasefire” between the US and the Houthis could also reveal deeper schisms between Trump and Israel.
Trump announced his halt in attacks the same day Israel pummelled Sanaa airport.
Neither Trump nor Oman’s foreign minister made any mention of the Houthis stopping their attacks on Israel in their announcements. Over the weekend, a Houthi ballistic missile hit a parking lot close to Terminal three at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, sending shockwaves through Israel.[…]
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-saudi-arabia-pressed-trump-stop-attacks-yemen-ahead-visit
—————————
2. Saudi Arabia told US to keep Israel normalisation off agenda for Trump’s visit, sources say
After meeting with Marco Rubio, Saudi foreign minister told colleagues kingdom would not be ‘tricked’ into normalisation talks.
Saudi Arabia has set a ground rule for US President Donald Trump and his entourage ahead of their visit to the kingdom in May: keep talk of normalisation with Israel off the agenda.
That was the message delivered by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud during his visit to Washington DC last month to plan Trump’s visit to the kingdom and in follow-up discussions among senior officials, two Arab officials familiar with the talks told Middle East Eye. […]
The crown prince has publicly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, tapping into his people’s anger over Israel’s assault on the enclave, where over 52,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian officials.
“Saudi Arabia is serious not to be tricked into anything that regards Israel during the upcoming visit. It was made clear in DC,” one Arab official told MEE.[…]
Trump has publicly backed Israel’s decision to pull out of a January ceasefire and return to war in Gaza.
However, ahead of his visit to the Gulf, he has altered his tone somewhat. 
“We’ve got to be good to Gaza … These people are suffering,” Trump said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week.
On Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said, “we want aid to resume” when asked about Gaza. […]
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-told-us-keep-israel-normalisation-agenda-trumps-visit-sources-says
—————–

Posted by: teri | May 6 2025 23:06 utc | 165

All of this, “we want aid to resume” stuff is kabuki. One phone call is all it would take, but Trump is trying to starve out the Gazans like a NY landlord who burns down their buildings so he can evict the tenants they could not otherwise remove legally.
I suspect Trump is going to announce a major land development deal when he goes to West Asia on the 13th.
I will be very disappointed if he announces an Iran deal instead.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 6 2025 23:22 utc | 167

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 6 2025 23:22 utc | 166
Thanks, as always.

Posted by: teri | May 6 2025 23:32 utc | 169

teri 165
Saudi boys come to uni in Britain and shag Chinese girls in Bournemouth in the normal, British, venal way, don’t give a monkeys about religion anyway.
Trump on the other hand is an Epsteined paedophile. All Saudi money is Uncle Sam’s money, pawned. Trump is porned.
Islam recognises the pressure cooker of teenage lust, but the West still blushes at outright perversion by paedophiles.
In public, I mean.
Judaism specialises in incest. Keep it in the family, according to the Israeli Settlement Minister’s daughter, descended from Hungarian Lawyers.
Nothing to do with money. What amount of money can wash off the shame of blackmail.
Innahu la yaghfiru dhanouba illa Allahu.
Nobody forgives sins except Allah.
The Palestinian People imbued with the Colkective Memory of many of the prophets of Islam and Eesa AS and our prophet SAW, are a clean-living people, enduring extreme poverty with patience.
It enrages the Jews and the Christian Crusaders that they are un-blackmailable on account of their clean living habits.
Everything else, money, politics, weaponry and Power is magician illusion.
The World is Crusading against the peoples of Sham, the Palestine Region, because they cannot abide anything too damn squeaky clean in their eyes.

Posted by: Giyane | May 7 2025 3:17 utc | 171

this interview is a must watch
Norwegian news interview with David Mencer a spokesperson for the Israeli government.
The interviewer Yama Wolasma, is utterly relentless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOB-otPKYPE

Posted by: ld | May 7 2025 7:09 utc | 173

Just 11 states (out of 190) including Jordan, Bahrain, Turkey, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, Chile, Belize, Brazil, South Africa and Chad, have recalled their ambassadors to Israel or severed ties altogether.
Jordan? Bahrein? Turkey?
Can we verify that?

Posted by: Tom | May 7 2025 11:49 utc | 175

News of another F-18 slipping into the drink in the Red Sea:

May 7, 20259:52 AM GMT+8Updated 10 hours ago
WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – A U.S. F-18 fighter jet was lost in the Red Sea on Tuesday after tipping off the flight deck of the Harry S Truman aircraft carrier, in the second such incident in about a week, two U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the fighter jet failed to come to a proper halt after landing on the carrier. Both members of the crew ejected before the jet plunged into the water and were recovered by a rescue helicopter, one of the officials said.

Assumedly post this somewhat unclear truce we hear rumours of.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 7 2025 11:55 utc | 177

I get the impression there is a notion that “It is Allah’s will” and he will take care of it.
And I cannot help but wonder: If you were a vengeful Abrahamic God, on the day of Yawm ad-Din following the Malhama, and all mankind was gathered before you for the moment of Judgement, would you accept such apathetic cowards into the gates of Jannah, or damn them all to hell?
Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 7 2025 12:05 utc | 178
Interesting comment. The term God’s Will is not only immensely misunderstood but a phrase used by those lacking in knowledge and courage in order to avoid doing something. Why would He encourage to strive in His cause, to help the poor, those in need, orphans and widows and the oppressed, etc. On Judgement Day they will be asked (paraphrased Hadith Qudsi) Why did you not help Me when I was in need. Why did you not feed me when I was hungry, sick, etc. He knows His will better than these excuse makers.
Also God is not vengeful. His Mercy far exceeds His Anger making Him Most Forgiving and Most Merciful. A rude awakening awaits those trying to pass the buck.

Posted by: sal | May 7 2025 13:07 utc | 179

@ld | May 7 2025 7:09 utc | 173

this interview is a must watch
Norwegian news interview with David Mencer a spokesperson for the Israeli government.
The interviewer Yama Wolasma, is utterly relentless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOB-otPKYPE

Thank you very much for providing this link. As a Norwegian citizen I have been deeply demoralized by the Norwegian media, NrK included, on many many issues. This interview however, does to my surprise the right thing of pressuring the Israeli spokesman (who by the way doesn’t stand out as a typical ‘semite’ to put it like that).
It is a shocking display of arrogance by this colonial Englishman, who was throroughly undressed by the journalist Yama Wolasmal, credits to him for a fantastic job!

Posted by: Norwegian | May 7 2025 13:17 utc | 181

@Arch Bungle | May 7 2025 11:55 utc | 177

News of another F-18 slipping into the drink in the Red Sea:

The cost is increasing:

— 🇺🇸/🇾🇪 NEW: U.S. aircraft losses in ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ and ‘Operation Rough Rider’ against Yemen total at least $930 million, including 22 MQ-9 ‘Reaper’ UAVs and three F/A-18 ‘Super Hornet’ jets.

https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/18070

Posted by: Norwegian | May 7 2025 13:22 utc | 183

UK government’s dramatic change in stand on Israel as MPs unite to register anger |Janta Ka Reporter
WOW! the tide turns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9dws0yuaPY

Posted by: ld | May 7 2025 13:58 utc | 185

UK government’s dramatic change in stand on Israel as MPs unite to register anger |Janta Ka Reporter
WOW! the tide turns
Posted by: ld | May 7 2025 13:58 utc | 185
______
Purely performative sanctimonious bullshit until compellingly proven otherwise.
And no, recognizing Abbas’s corrupt quisling regime as Palestine is in no way meaningful.

Posted by: malenkov | May 7 2025 15:25 utc | 187

RE: “I get the impression there is a notion that “It is Allah’s will” and he will take care of it.
And I cannot help but wonder: …”
Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 7 2025 12:05 utc | 178
This is what “religion” does. Numbs, if not nullifies “actionable faith/belief”.
It’s obvious in every “religion”.
You can have pages and pages of accounts where faithful believers “acted” or reacted defending their faith and beliefs, defending the virtues, guarding the integrity of their “God”, but religion comes along, mumbles pious words, focuses on a few guiding texts, and the believers end up sitting on their laurels, reciting platitudes about their “faith” because this behavior is all they’ve been been preached to as a response in the modern age.
There are other factors that interfere with the faithful, besides the “religious”, the state.
US took a lesson from MLK uprising. The real assassination cause was the Vietnam war rebellion, more than the civil rights.
At that time, moving over half the nation, displaying faithfully his belief, actionable belief, the US had not extended the 501c3 tax code benefits to include “Church’s”. They did this immediately following MLK’s death, vowing never to have “Church’s” rise against the State.
The God of mammon came into play, corrupted all the organized religious church corporations, and we’ve yet to see another “Church” or “believers” unifying to defend their faith ever since. The religious sect are too afraid of having their 501c3 yanked.
In other nations the religious that preach religion, are generally state installed and keep their power.
They’ll come a a spiritual reckoning on day, as it is pressing in. Scripture calls it “separation of the wheat and the tares”
Call it whatever u want, the posers vs. the true believers. But across all believers, the unyielding truth and desire for removal of evil and iniquities will remain steadfast globally and will become actionable as yolks are thrown off.

Posted by: Trubind1 | May 7 2025 18:27 utc | 189

Here is what the US and Israel are working on. It is, naturally, unacceptable to the UN and to the Palestinians and most of the NGO humanitarian groups, but since the US did so well managing Iraq, Lybia, Afghanistan, etc after bombing them to hell and back, what could possibly go wrong this time? Just because we turn everything we touch into shit and just because Israel openly says it intends to murder every last Palestinian doesn’t mean that this time won’t be all rainbows.
Oh, and putting Mike Huckabee in as the head of the US Office of Palestinian Affairs is likewise promising good things to come.
That’s all sarcasm. There is nothing but mal-intent and evil coming from the leaders in the US and Israel, and the countries we’ve ruined don’t ever seem to heal.
Article:
——————-
Israel is holding “high-level” talks with the US government about Washington possibly leading a “temporary post-war administration of Gaza,” according to officials familiar with the matter who spoke with Reuters.
The British news outlet reports these discussions are “centered around a transitional government headed by a US official that would oversee Gaza until it had been demilitarized and stabilized, and a viable Palestinian administration had emerged.”
This scheme would have no fixed timeline and “depend on the situation on the ground.” It would also include “Palestinian technocrats” but omit members of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The report from Reuters comes one day after US State Secretary Marco Rubio’s announcement that Washington is “merging” its Office of Palestinian Affairs with its embassy in Israel, indicating a long-expected downgrade in US relations with the Palestinians.
The US Office of Palestinian Affairs will now be under the supervision of Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump also said he will make a “very, very big announcement” during his trip to West Asia next week, which reports suggest could involve an international aid mechanism for Gaza.
According to Haaretz, the Israeli military recently began construction of a food distribution site in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The construction of this center is said to be part of an Israeli proposal to the UN and international NGOs for distributing aid at the location.
“The groups rejected the Israeli proposal, refusing to cooperate with it. They argue that the plan will not provide equitable distribution of food and supplies, protect the neediest people, or ensure the population’s survival,” the Israeli news outlet reports.
Israel’s security cabinet and military leaders this week approved plans for the total “conquest” of Gaza, calling up thousands of reservists who will implement a final solution to ethnically cleanse the strip and forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to the ruins of Rafah.
https://thecradle.co/articles/us-in-talks-with-israel-to-lead-temporary-post-war-administration-of-gaza-report
—————

Posted by: teri | May 7 2025 21:12 utc | 191

Bucharest | 7 May 2025​
The Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Romania has formally acknowledged the war crimes complaint filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation against Israeli soldier Orel Benyaish, a member of the 432nd Battalion of the Givati Brigade.
The complaint, submitted on behalf of the Foundation by attorney Elena Lazăr, has been referred to the Military Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Military Court of Appeal for further examination.​The legal action concerns Benyaish’s alleged involvement in the intentional destruction of civilian property during Israel’s military operations in Gaza, including the demolition of the homes in the Nuseirat camp on 12 November 2024.
The complaint is based on documented open-source material, including videos and photographs posted by the accused on social media, which appear to show direct participation in and endorsement of the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
The submission is grounded in both Romanian domestic law—specifically Articles 438 and 441 of the Romanian Penal Code, which criminalize genocide and war crimes against property—and relevant international legal instruments, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Geneva Conventions, to which Romania is a party.
In a written communication, Romanian authorities confirmed that the materials submitted by the Hind Rajab Foundation were officially registered and forwarded to the competent military prosecution authority for further processing

Posted by: Mary | May 7 2025 23:11 utc | 193

Correction from above: ‘Widespread Grisly Murders’
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/05/08/747568/Israel-execution-Palestinian-refusal-spying

Posted by: JohnGilberts | May 8 2025 2:54 utc | 195

174 JB “How can the anyone realistically expect that a world, that simply watched the systematic starvation and annihilation of the Palestinians, is going to be better.”
Good question IMO.
Lavieja from May 5 Yemen thread:
Responding to Posts 345, 346 on May 5 Yemen thread.
Speaking of the poor….
A recent Naomi Klein publication titled “The Rise of End Times Fascism.” No, this is not about millenarist quasi-religious theories. The document’s thesis is that our (US and West) current economic model is about giving up on this world. The world is being divided into the wealthy elites often classified into specific economic sectors, like Silicon Valley, which is aligning with right wing projects to give rise to a form of technological ‘end times fascism’. Klein covers the categories of elite economic communities more exhaustively than is given here in my summary. Elites will build and live in exclusive cities, not just gated communities, but cities built as locales for specific technologies, etc., for example Musk’s recent city in Texas, Star City, built around space technology.
“…wealthy elites are preparing for the end of the world even as they contribute to growing inequality, political instability and the climate crisis.” Klein says that while billionaires dream of escaping to bunkered enclaves or even to space, President Donald Trump and other right-wing leaders are turning their countries into militarized fortress states to keep out immigrants from abroad and ramp up authoritarian control domestically.
“There’s always an apocalyptic quality to fascism, but fascism of the 1930s and ’40s had a horizon for a utopian future”, says Klein. “Today”, by contrast, “we’re up against people who are actively betting against the future — not just actively betting against it, but fueling the fires that are burning this world.”
The world is being divided into the in and out groups, those who have no role to play in this scenario, no place except the wastelands of trash and areas of depleted natural resources — degraded landscapes and rotting sections of inner cities and surreal landscapes of destruction by bombing like Gaza. This is my description of the world to come Klein is speaking of that is resulting from the economic model of late-stage capitalism. And I will add also to Klein’s scenario the barbarism that is on the rise as those who have the power to stop the genocide of Gaza refuse to do so, except for the righteous Ansar-Allah.
Also, I would again add to Klein’s document that at the same time that BRICS is being built based on fair trading among nations, while nations continue to be threatened by Empire in its death throws, the nation state as the functional structure of global intercourse or dealings is being undermined.
Klein acknowledges that her vision is a bleak one. But she also believes that this bleak vision may point to a way forward as so many people representing different interests are being hurt by the ‘rise of end times Fascism’, that a broad coalition must be formed including the environmental movement, and she proposes a unifying action call. She says,
“This kind of strange Frankenstein coalition that Trump represents where he’s bringing together the richest people in the world who have ever existed with many working class people so what binds the vision they all have given up on this world they all have bought into a kind of apocalyptic fever (so) in a lot of progressive spaces where we’ve talked building these very broad coalitions I’ve never encountered a potential coalition more broad than the idea of how about ‘we believe in this world if we believe in the future because we are up against people who are actively betting against the future; we love the world and we love each other.'”
I don’t know if Klein’s idea can be a catalyst to unify all the disparate groups she has in mind or exactly who they are. IMO a worldwide war on the poor may be the main contradiction in the ‘end times’ fascist world that Klein envisions.
Posted by: Lavieja | May 7 2025 17:18 utc | 351 on May 5 Yemen thread
Her proposal seems to be that people will be inspired to unite to ” change the world because of awareness of our common enemy, all shapes of the annihilationionists. I don’t know if this is anything more than a liberal expression of discontent (I guess the MAGA’s could be included if they had renounced Trump). A revolution requires democratically formulated demands. I would rather read Klein’s report as it suggests a worldwide movement would be a Poor People’s Resistance.

Posted by: Lavieja | May 8 2025 5:21 utc | 197

Put differently, democracy is government for good times with high-trust societies.
Democracy is not for hard times or a low-trust environment.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 8 2025 5:39 utc | 199