#it will never compare to what palestinians are losing. don’t even attack me for that

[natsukaishii]

twt if i see one more “zhongli and tighnari’s eng vas are zionists don’t support them” tweet i’m deleting the app

[diamondorloj]

do you know any neutral post that sums up the Israeli–Palestinian conflict because I don't know what to think. I don't want to dislike jews or Israel but it all sounds so bad? Send help

Hi! I super appreciate you asking because I know exactly how hard it is to even find one reliable source.

Of course it all sounds super bad, because Hamas is a well-oiled and functioning propaganda machine with a lot of money and children and parents willing to throw themselves in front of the camera to make Israel bad, and for some reason their pictures are always what get picked up by the media. Plus, there are super loud antisemitic voices everywhere chanting against Israel at every mention. And the BDS is lobbying pretty hard too, so it's very hard to not find a super negative picture.

It's a super tricky conflict. I'm not saying everything went well and Israel is a country with a pristine history. But here's some points to consider that are usually the biggest issues in any ''''controversy'''' around Israel- Jewish people have always lived and practiced Judaism for over 5000 years in Israel. They have been victims of pogroms and hatred and chased in the desert, but they have literally always been there and to say that Israel was a state installed by foreigners for foreigners coming to these lands is a blatant lie.

There are countries with way more questionable borders in existence, yet Israel is the only country to continuously has to defend its very existence.

The United Nations have two organisations for refugees. One is the UNHCR which deals with refugee questions for all over the world, except for one group. And the other is the UNRWA which is an organisation only for the Palestine/Gaza refugees. The differences between these organisations are more than in structure and beaurucracy, they have two different tasks: UNHCR aims to give refugees a home, UNRWA doesn't. When in 1951 the director of UNRWA proposed to give 250.000 refugees a home in different arabic countries, these governments were angry and strictly refused, leading to the director John Blanford to lose his job. Since then, no further attempts have been made.

Furthermore, the UNHCR only defines refugees as people who have actually fled from their homes. Meanwhile, the UNRWA broadens that definition to "people who lost their homes in 1948 and their descendants".

- Israel is the only country that won all their wars for their survival and in self-defense yet had to have the coniditions for peace dictated by the defeated enemies. Even more paradox, this was supported by countries which all defined their borders after winning wars over these territories -- like, look at an old map of Europe and you will see what I mean. Btw Europe, Germany and Poland drew their finite borders in 1990 but I guess Israel is the only ''''artificial'''' state

- One of Hamas' conditions was that no jewish people were allowed to live in Gaza, so for the first time in centuries if not more, there are no Jewish people living in Gaza. Weirdly, it doesn't seem enough because these people are still living somewhere else and not all dead, I guess.

- Hamas literally uses children and families as a shield, regularly raises palestine flags with swastikas and calls protests of throwing rocks, burning tires and attacking soldiers 'peaceful'. It's a terrorist organisation and literally has the destruction of Israel as a defining goal, yet we always expect Israel to work with them. Hamas wants to build a state based on ethnic purity and cleansing of the territory, but somehow everyone thinks it's okay.

- By the way, when the two state solution was on the table, it was refused because they didn't want Israel to even have a bit of Jerusalem, the capital city with which the jewish people has been connected for over 3000 years. Even weirder, this connection is widely known (famously written into the most read world book in the world, the Bible) and yet every country refuses to acknowledge it as the official capital city because they're afraid that terrorists will riot

- Israel is the only country which is continuously attacked by three organisations in the UN which only exist to represent the Palestine agenda and to defame Israel (they're three comitees and I can't remember their exact names even in German, but they're about realising Palestinian rights, researching the Israeli actions in regard to palestinian rights and there's something in the UN-department for politic agendas or somth)

- Every year. Every year, Israel is targeted by more UN-resolutions than all of the other 192 member countries together. No-one can tell me that this number is justifiable in the least, but it is a reality and it paints the picture of Israel in the media.

- Israel is also the only country in the UN that continuously has to defend its existence against other UN-members and that suffers threats from other members all the damn time. And not just any threats, Iran for example continuously threatens to wipe out Israel and supports Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, both of which are terrorist organisations with the goal of destroying Israel. And destroying Israel means killing all their Jewish citizens.

And we continuously forget that Israel is the only liberal democracy in that area, they're currently conducting investigations into Netanyahu and his regime and it's a country with a rich and vivid discourse nature. They just refuse to let their existence be up to debate, and frankly, neither should any of us.

So, does this mean no-one is allowed to criticise Israel? Absolutely not. It is a functioning democracy and like any country, it is not a moral entity and there is a lot of room for debate. But when looking into the arguments, you should keep in mind that there's a lot of antisemitism hidden as 'Israel critic' when it's just the same old shit. There's a test called "the 3 Ds" (in German) that can function as a broad test to see if you're reading legitimate critics or antisemitic shit:

- Demonisation (are they demonising Israel, for example by comparing Israel to the Nazis or the palestine refugee camp with Auschwitz)

- Double standards (are they criticising Israel for a behaviour or an act that they ignore or belittle when it's different state, for example how is it that Israel suffers resolutions for hurting human rights but China, Iran, Kuba and Syria don't)

- Delegitimisation (when they're arguing against Israel to exist; it's also a double standard bc it's refusing to allow Jewish people to have a state in which they can live a safe life)

I realise this won't directly answer your question and I easily get side tracked, but I feel like knowing about these difficulties and critically reading your sources will help you more than just drawing a timeline of events. Because there's a lot of anti-Israel propaganda even on Wikipedia, on seemingly normal internet platforms and even our big Western media liberally use Hamas material while refusing to show the Nazi swastikas blowing on burning kites they shoot over to Israel ground. And it's hard to be neutral about this topic, because it is a democracy which is never flawless against a terrorist organisation which demonstrates great finesse in painting the picture the way they want it. I don't think we should all be neutral about it. I am firmly pro Israel because I need my Jewish friends who are currently worrying about anti-judaic sentiments on the uprise everywhere in Europe to have a safe haven. I am pro Israel because it is a country with huge efforts and contributions to our world and advancing medicines etc every day. It's a LGBTQ friendly country (contrary to Hamas policy in which gay sex means 10 years of prison). It is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East and deserves our support more than a terrorist organisation using their children as human shields. Yknow. Maybe that's not actually a topic to be neutral about.

[nataliesnews]

funerals     Nofim  politics 27.1.2021

I wonder if anyone has wondered and also what is happening in other countries. We have  never been shown one funeral taking place nor are there any reports of burial societies being inundated. Why does Netanyahu not have himself photographed at some of the funerals. Here there is already talk of a 4th shutdown. Two of the ultra-orthodox rabbis have come out bitterly against the ultra orthodox who are completely ignoring the instructions and one of them compares them to the deniers of the Holocaust who are only endorsing the past murders but these people are the murderers of the present. And of course Netanyahu has nothing to say about them. Why does the media not show the funerals and those who are mourning. They don’t want to cause panic. Nothing to the panic that there is already.

 I heard on the radio that it is against the law to sack anyone who refuses to take the vaccination. I spoke again to our Anastasia. She said that the director here said he would not allow her into the building if she did not take it. There are also people here in the building who for health reasons did not take the vaccination. Her firm for whom she works offered to find her another placing but for personal reasons she did not want to take them and she was fired. But I gave her the name of Noa from  Balfour,  who helped me, for a nurse in the sick bay whom he is threatening to fire for the same reason….and this at a time when they will find it difficult to find someone to work there.

 The demonstrators at Nofim.....about 10 of us all over the ages of 70 .....were nearly mowed down by a motor cyclist. At the crossroads I saw him going through lights like a madman and when he  crossed over to us I will wondered where he was going. The next moment  he was on the pavement where he accelerated even more...we were standing on two sides of the pavement with a few years between us  and simply drove through this narrow space  and I could actually feel the wind as he went past. He obviously wanted to frighten us . The violence is getting closer and closer. But we will hang in there.

 On January 17, 211, the Minister of Education, Yoav Galant, called for "banning the entry into schools of organizations that operate contrary to the goals of state education or in a manner that demeans IDF soldiers or calls derogatory nicknames or statements against the State of Israel being a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state." Following this, the director of the Haifa district at the Ministry of Education ordered the director of the Haifa Real School to cancel a conference on human rights, in which the director general of the B'Tselem organization was supposed to participate, or to cancel the organization's participation in the conference. The school did not respond to the instruction, and the principal was told he would be summoned to a hearing

 Don't say we didn't know 732

On the night between Monday and Tuesday, January 18-19, 2021, settler-colonists uprooted about one-hundred young olive trees belonging to a Palestinian farmer of Sha'ab Al Butum (near Avigail settler-colonist outpost in the South Hebron Hills).

*** 

On Wednesday, January 20, 2021, Israeli government agents escorted by police came to Al Arakib in the Negev and demolished the village structure and an artistic installation erected nearby.

 Go to Facebook and see how much material there is on all these attacks and how many organizations are handling it. Many victims refuse to file complaints for fear of losing work permits. The police also make it very difficult to file complaints on the pretext of the "Corona days" - but "Yesh Din" has reached an agreement to file complaints "remotely" and with the help of power of attorneys signed in the presence of lawyers.

Except for the news in Haaretz, you hardly hear about it

Two Palestinians   attacked by settlers when out with their sheep

  NATALIE

[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/russia-israel-and-the-values-of-western-civilization-where-is-the-truth/

Russia, Israel and the values of “western civilization” – where is the truth?

[This article was written for the Unz Review]

First, what’s the deal with this obsession about bombing entire nations back into the “stone age”?

Very interesting article in RT today: “IDF chief turned PM candidate touts body count & bombing Gaza into ‘stone age’ in campaign ad” (please read the full thing – it is short and very enlightening).  When I saw that, I immediately had a flash back to a (truly brilliant, if evil) US diplomat, James Baker, who promised Iraqi Prime Minister Tarik Aziz (whom the Empire kept in jail until his death in spite of the fact that 79 year old man suffered from depression, diabetes, heart disease, and ulcers) that the Empire would “bring it back to the stone age“.

Now, Benny Gantz is your typical Israeli Zionazi nutcase with all that entails, but this can hardly be said of James Baker who was one of the most educated and brilliant diplomats the USA ever produced.  So what’s this thing about bringing those who dare defy the AngloZionist Empire back to the “stone age”.�� Coincidence?  You tell me!

I sure don’t think so.

The Israeli butchery in Gaza enjoyed the massive support of the Israeli people who even organized special “viewing locations” for the joy of seeing Palestinian civilians (the vast majority of the people the Israelis murdered in Gaza) massacred.  Which is not very different from the way the US Americans (and their European vassals) organized “viewing locations” in their TV sets for the joy of seeing Iraqi civilians (the vast majority of the people the USA and its vassals murdered in Iraq) massacred.  The difference is only in numbers: in Gaza the Israelis only murdered “only” about 1500 Palestinianswhereas the USA can pride itself on having massacred well over a million Iraqis.

Still not convinced?

Then how about Mr MAGA promising to “devastate” the DPRK? or, even better, to make Iran “SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE” (all in caps as in the original).

Now if this was a schoolyard or, say, a Harley-Davidson biker meeting, I would say that this is just the kind of empty talk of insecure males trying to compensate for their insecurities by clumsily affirming their manhood with roaring macho threats.

After all, in the real world, both the US and Israel got thoroughly whooped each time they took on an enemy which was not defenseless (the best example being, of course, the “Divine Victory” of Hezbollah against Israel (and the US, of course, which had promised a “new Middle East” just before the Israeli attack) in 2006.

But our planet is not a schoolyard and thousands and even millions died as a result of that kind of mindset.  And a President who thinks in “tweets” worthy of a 7th grade pimply 13-year old is outright frightening (or, at least, ought to be).

Now it is rather unsurprising that the western Zionazi press would 1) blame it all on the Palestinians and their supporters 2) turn away its prudish eyes from such language and massacres 3) go back to blaming Russia for everything imaginable (and even unimaginable).

What is more interesting is all the self-declared anti-Zionists who actually blame *Russia* for not doing enough to protect Syria, or Iran, or [fill in the blank].  I already thoroughly debunked the flawed logic and arguments of that group in my article “Why is Putin “allowing” Israel to bomb Syria” so I won’t repeat it all here and will assume that the reader will have read that.

And yet, after the latest Israeli air strikes in Syria (which also follow a pattern I predicted here) I am, again, getting panicked emails about Putin/Russia “betrayed/gave up” Syria or how the S-300s/Pantsirs are “not working”, Putin is a “Zionist agent”, etc.  Sigh, rolleyes…

[Sidebar: for one thing, that kind of nonsense shows an amazing level of illiteracy in military affairs.  Why?  Because all these Israeli attacks on (alleged) pro-Iranian or even Iranian positions were small, even if annoying, pinpricks, especially when  compared to the very real losses suffered by Iranian and pro-Iranian forces in combat (real combat, not the pretend-combat for Hollywood the Israelis and their US vassals have mostly performed in the past decades).  Just because each such pinprick results in hours of Israeli (and pro-Israeli) chest-thumping does not mean that it was in any way effective in deterring Iran or its allies.  The truth is that Iran and its allies are all over Syria (they mostly came after the AngloZionist decided to trigger a revolution against Assad – bravo AngloZionist geniuses!!) and that they ain’t leaving].

In Russian this type of behavior, which is really a political manipulation tactic, is called “перевести стрелки” or, roughly, “change focus”, or simply “obfuscate” (again, for a detailed discussion of this, please see my article “Why is Putin “allowing” Israel to bomb Syria“).  So let’s bring the focus right back to where it belongs: Israel and the total support the so-called “West” has given it for decades.

By the way, Russia is also guilty, at least in my opinion, of overlooking the plight of the Palestinians (I made my own distress about the Russian position very clear in my piece “It All Depends On Your Values“).  And yes, there is most definitely a powerful pro-Israel lobby in Russia too, including, alas, in the Russian White House and even in the Kremlin.  But the difference between Russia’s stance towards the issue of Israel and it’s murderous policies and the stance of the West could not be more different anyway.  Simply put:

Russia does condemn Israel when the latter acts in violation of international law and norms of civilized behavior and Russia does offer support, both political and military, to “resistance” countries such as Syria.

The West supports Israel no matter what and finances and arms it to the teeth and supports its genocidal policies to the hilt.

Most importantly, Russians never say that Israel stands for “Russian values” or is the “only democracy in the Middle-East”.  So while Russia does not, to my immense regret and shame, take a truly principle-driven position like Iran, she does not obsequiously use every opportunity to show her total and unconditional love for Israel and everything Israel does.

The difference here is not only one of quantity, but also one of quality or, if you prefer, a quantitative change which eventually leads to a qualitative shift.  There is a difference between first looking out for your own self-interest and being a prostitute, is there not?

Blurring or otherwise obfuscating such crucial and profound distinctions is a clever form of deception.

You might ask “but what *are* Russian values then?

What’s the deal with Holy Russia then?!

Fair enough.  Right now Russia is still in search of herself.  She is a project, a moving target, a nation desperately trying to re-gain her true and full sovereignty and to (finally!) get rid of a powerful 5th columnist gang inside the ruling and wealthy elites who simply want to make more money while aping the West.  And yet, even that somewhat confused nation which is looking for her true roots and identity (which might take a very long time, Solzhenitsyn predicted that 200 years would be needed for Russia to truly recover) did not lose the very core of her true civilizational values.

In the distant 13th century the Russian Prince and Saint Alexander Nevsky famously declared “Не в силе Бог, а в правде” which can be translated as “God is not in force/power, but in truth/justice“.

Many centuries later, in a year 2000 movie (the year Putin came to power) called “Brother 2” a very different kind of Russian hero, Danila Bagrov, has a (now famous) monologue with an American and rhetorically asks him “tell me American, where is strength/power found?  In money?” and proceeds to answer himself and say “I think that strength/power is in the truth/justice, he who has the truth/justice is stronger“.

[Sidebar: I am translating the word “pravda” (yes, yes, that same word “pravda” as in the Soviet newspaper) as “truth/justice” as depending on the context it can have either one, or even both, of these meanings.  And even more complex Slavic concept of truth would be “istina” which Father Pavel Florensky discussed in this famous book “The Pillar and Ground of the Truth: An Essay in Orthodox Theodicy in Twelve Letters” of which I posted a translated crucial passage here and which I *highly* recommend as a “must read” to anybody interested in understanding the Russian civilization, culture and history]

So one 13th Russian said that God is in Truth and another 20th said that strength is in Truth.  And both were facing a threat from the West when they made their statements; seven centuries later, and so little has changed…  amazing, no?

Not a coincidence if you ask me.

Sergei Bodrov as “Danila Bagrov” in the movie Brother-2

I already hear the reply of those lobotomized by western materialism who will, no doubt, say something along the lines of “oh please! don’t give us this propaganda about “Holy Russia” again!  One quick look at Russian history immediately shows that Russia was never so holy and that, in fact, amazing levels of evil, depravity, corruption and even pathological sadism could be found throughout her long and bloody history and also in our times!“.

And I can only admit that there is, alas, much truth to that statement.  And there is still much evil, pathology and corruption in today’s Russia, no argument here!

But there is also much this statement is completely missing.

First, right next to an amazing degree of evil and depravity, Russian history is also filled with no less amazing cases of true holiness, from Saint Boris and Saint Gleb to the millions of saints and New Martyrs and Confessors of the 20th century.

But that is not even the main issue here.  The main issue here is that the concept of “Holy Russia” is not primarily descriptive, but *prescriptive*.  It is a call, an ideal, something which modern people with the crude consumerism and generally materialism-suppressed noussimply cannot understand or even imagine, but which inspired many generations over the 1000 years+ of Russian history to live a life maybe still in the world, but not “of this world” (John 15:19)!

This is why, in spite of three centuries of rule by foreign elites and 70+ years of materialism run amok, an otherwise very modern suspense movie hero like Danila Bagrov can still speak of what the truth is and where it can be found and why the Russian audience “gets it”, even the atheists.

Check out this dialog in this short, English subtitled, excerpt:

Notice something important here: Danila does not think that only the American is a money-worshiping and clueless idiot, he says “even my brother believes [that the truth] is in money“.  So yes, there are plenty of nous-suppressed people in Russia too.  And I won’t even go into what most Russians who live in the West think as so many of them need to justify their own voluntary exile from Russia by either advocating that Russians resume aping westerners or by declaring that Russia is really no different from any other western country.  These are the folks who have rejected any form of true spirituality for a rather bizarre form of worship of consumerism.  And yeah, a lot of them are Russian, at least by birth or by language (if not by culture or spirit).

[Sidebar:  there was a time when the West was no different from the East in terms of spirituality, ethos, values and even holiness.  But that all came to a gradual full stop with each passing century following the breakaway of the Frank-occupied Rome from the rest of the Christian world.  Now all is left is either a post-modern wasteland à la Conchita Wurst (see “it” “pray” with Latin officials here – amazing sight to behold indeed!) or a rather nasty nationalist and even racist blow-back to this postmodernism degeneracy à la Alt-Right.  What a crying shame after 1000 years of real western Christianity!  There have been many western saints and martyrs like SS Boris and Gleb, but there is no “Danila Bagrov” on western TV screens today.  All that is left of the once Christian West are thousands of holy relics of western saints nobody cares about, least of all the Pope and his minions at the Vatican…]

Back to our original topic:

And finally, what’s the deal with the “only democracy in the Middle-East“?

What is “Israel” really?  It is a democracy only in the modern Russian sense of the word, meaning that “democracy is the power of the democrats“.  In this case, these “democrats” happen to be racist nutcases who have a religious belief (literally, see here) in their racist uniqueness and their God-given right to massacre the semi-human goyim(again: literally, see here) and who don’t give a damn about “western values” (well, other than impunity, consumerism and violence). It is most certainly the country which is the only and last *official* racist state on the planet (see here, here, and here).

And contrary to the fantasies of various Jew-haters, this has absolutely nothing to do with “the Jews” or being Jewish, and everything to do with an exceptionally toxic interpretation of the Old Testament by Pharisaic rabbis who developed a God- and man-hating religion in response to the galut (the exile from Palestine of those Jews who rejected Christ) and to the tremendous success of Christianity.  As for modern Zionism, it is nothing more than a transposition of the very same racist assumptions and implications of Pharisaic Judaism to a materialistic milieu, that’s all.

Does that make Israeli a part of the “western civilization”?

You tell me!

But if your reply is “yes”, don’t come whining when I point that out to you! And if your reply is “no” – then, tell me: how is it that no western politician can agree with you without risking his career and reputation?

Anyway, I think that it is high time for those who find the mote in Russia’s “eye” to look at the huge and densely populated forest of their own civilization’s “eye” and maybe try to imitate the beautiful example of those westerners who sailed for Gaza and still do all they can to help the oppressed Palestinians, no?  And how about showing some gratitude to Iran for being pretty much the only country on the planet not only to support the Palestinians, but actually accept the sacrifice of a lot of lives (and resources) to help them?!  Don’t they deserve our gratitude and admiration for their courage?

You really don’t like Putin?  Fine.  But rather than place your trust and hopes in the lies of Mr MAGA or the Clinton gang, maybe you ought to make Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei your true hero, no?  Or, at least, “al-Sayyid Hassan” (Nasrallah)!

If the West persists on it’s current path, it will die like the “sad old man” in Roger Water’s superb title “Dogs”

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder You know it’s going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get older And in the end you’ll pack up and fly down south Hide your head in the sand, Just another sad old man All alone and dying of cancer And when you loose control, you’ll reap the harvest you have sown And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone And it’s too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone Dragged down by the stone

Time will tell, of course, but my own belief is that both Russia and the West can only be truly saved by a return to the values of repentance and self-limitation which Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote about while still in the Soviet Union in the distant year 1973 (full text in PDF format here).  The same Alexander Solzhenitsyn, already in the West a full decade later, also warned us that only a return to true spirituality and God could save the world.  Again, I can only agree with him no matter how ridiculous this may sound to western (and Russian!) materialists, “cultural Christians”, or any other nous-suppressed person nowadays.

But that’s only one simple guy’s opinion.

So you, tell me!  Where do you think strength comes from?  Israel?

The Saker

[feedbaylenny]

It’s not easy being a moderate. That’s definitely what I consider myself and it seems to make people on both sides angry.

Either that, or because I tell it like it is.

Today, the issues that got to me started with this post from Miami journalist Eliott Rodriguez.

Fine points, and you can click here or click here to watch.

Then some idiot wrote these two *separate* comments, *each* of them leading to the majority of the discussion:

The second post generated more comments than the first. People wondered what Cuba has or had to do with what CBS News described,

“Oprah Winfrey reports on the Alabama memorial dedicated to thousands of African-American men, women and children lynched over a 70-year period following the Civil War.”

https://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/

Fascinating story. Horrific pictures. In fact, there’s even a 60 Minutes Overtime video called “Why 60 Minutes aired disturbing photos.”

And that idiot used this as an opportunity to make cheap political cat-calls. Notice the word “ancient” in the first post. One person referred to it,

“Like the Jews enslaved by the Egyptians .. yet, we still read and talk about it … and pray about daily. Denial is a terrible thing.”

Another told that guy to

“Tell holocaust survivors or their children that their images are apart of a leftist agenda, please do I’ll Wait!”

This was my part of the exchange. I started by referring to the Cuba remarks vs. the subject of the 60 Minutes report:

But my “favorite” line is Eliott summing up what that one person did to an important conversation.

Then came word that the awfully biased United Nations chose Syria out of all countries in the world to chair a disarmament conference, just days after that country in the middle of a civil war allegedly used chemical gas on its own people.

  The BBC reports Saturday, “the Syrian-American Medical Society said more than 500 people were brought to medical centers in Douma (Duma),”

“near the capital Damascus, with symptoms ‘indicative of exposure to a chemical agent.’

“It said this included breathing difficulties, bluish skin, mouth foaming, corneal burns and ‘the emission of chlorine-like odor.’

“Neither the death toll nor what exactly occurred can be verified as the area is blocked off with access denied. (Note from Lenny: Absolutely the OPPOSITE of what’s happening around Israel, not because Gaza – led by the terror group Hamas – is a free, open society, but because Israel is, with freedom of the press.)

“The estimates of how many people died in the suspected chemical attack range from 42 to more than 60 people, but medical groups say numbers could rise as rescue workers gain access to basements where hundreds of families had sought refuge from bombing.”

Now, the US and Russia have traded barbs at a UN Security Council meeting. The Russian representative said the incident was staged and US military action in response could have “grave repercussions.”

US ambassador Nikki Haley said Russia – being a Syrian military backer – had the “blood of Syrian children” on its hands. She said if the UN Security Council acts or not, “either way, the United States will respond.”

Later Monday, President Trump pledged the incident would “be met forcefully,” adding the US had a lot of military options and a decision would be taken “tonight” or “shortly.”

UN Watch reports Syria is due to “chair the United Nations disarmament forum that produced the treaty banning chemical weapons” from late May into late June. The US and others are expected “to strongly protest, and for their ambassadors to walk out of the conference during the four weeks of the Syrian presidency.”

Whatever happened to President Obama’s red line against chemical weapons? Absolutely nothing! This could’ve and should’ve been avoided. The Washington Post published this article, “The problem with Obama’s account of the Syrian red-line incident,” a year and a half ago.

To the situation in Gaza and reaction: Starting with the basics, Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian National Authority after Yasser Arafat died. Then, the PLO Central Council voted him into office indefinitely. So there’s no democracy in Judea and Samaria, which is referred to as the West Bank of the Jordan River.

In 2005, the Israeli army withdrew from Gaza and dismantled all settlements in the Gaza Strip. Then, the terror group Hamas was elected as the Palestinian government. Abbas, who succeeded Arafat in Judea and Samaria, lost.

  According to Wikipedia, “There have been conflicts between Hamas and similar factions operating in Gaza, and with Israel” and “The radicalization of the Gaza Strip brought internal conflicts between various groups” like deadly Hamas crackdowns. Plus, of course, nobody can ignore all the rocket fire from Gaza into Israel from schools and hospitals – any way to use civilians as human shields.

So there has not been a Palestinian group to negotiate with Israel.

Tonight, a friend I respect in certain areas but on the far left fringe posted this on Facebook.

So Israelis should just sit back and let everyone nearby do what they want to do?

This was somebody else’s response, and then mine to my friend.

Click here for the link I used and read on to understand.

Do you believe the headlines you read?

The group Facts and Logic shows many mistakes in The New York Times, and this incorrect headline was last Saturday: “Israeli Military Kills 15 Palestinians in Confrontations on Gaza Border” but what really happened was “Palestinian Terrorists Attack Israel’s Gaza Border, 15 Dead.”

It compared what’s happening to the US-Mexico border

“being attacked by 40,000 rioters whose goal is to overthrow the United States and reclaim Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. What if they were hurling Molotov cocktails, rolling burning tires and trying to cut holes in the border fence? How would our country respond?”

Some people say Israel overreacted. Tell that to the folks who live in the area, like southern Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California!

Facts and Logic guessed,

“We’d probably respond with leaflets and loudspeakers warning the militants to stay away from the border. If they didn’t stop rushing the border, we’d use tear gas, then rubber bullets. If they persisted and tried to tear down the border fence, we’d respond with live ammunition, and some would die. Which is exactly what happened when the terrorists attacked Israel last week.

“The Israel Defense Forces have identified 10 of the 17 people killed as members of Hamas or other Palestinian terror groups. This was no family picnic or peaceful demonstration.”

Even worse, “Hamas leaders told the protesters, the so-called March of Return marked a “new phase in the Palestinians’ national struggle on the road to liberating all of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”

In other words, don’t shed any tears. That’s conquering all of Israel.

You can’t say they’re attacking Israel to end the boycott of Gaza. Facts and Logic says they’d be attacking Egypt since “Egypt controls the Rafah crossing to Gaza, which was open for less than 30 days in 2017, compared with some 280 days for the Erez crossing from Israel.”

We know the phrase “war is hell.”

I ask you, who started it and who is experiencing (and arguably deserving of) hell?

There have been numerous offers of land for a Palestinian state. The Arabs rejected the 1947 UN Armistice Plan and Israel won its War of Independence. Then, 19 years later after a war of defense that took only six days, Israel

“drove Jordan from eastern Jerusalem and the Jewish homelands of Judea and Samaria (later known as the West Bank) and repulsed Egypt from Gaza. Shortly thereafter, the Arab League issued its famous Khartoum Resolution: ‘No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with it.’ (Any questions? -Lenny) Since then, despite numerous Israeli offers of land for a Palestinian state, the Arabs continue to reject peace.”

Luckily, the Gulf states may be coming to their senses with Iran being a bigger, closer enemy. In fact, India’s airline can actually fly over Saudi Arabia to and from Tel Aviv, saving gasoline and hours! (Israel’s El Al can’t do so at this time.) The way it’s looking, the Palestinians will be the LAST Arabs to make peace with Israel.

I’ll end this section with this Facts and Logic note that serves them right:

“Following World War II, the Germans and Japanese surrendered and were forced to give up lands they had earlier occupied. In return they were granted peace and sovereignty. The Arabs, on the other hand, have never surrendered, despite losing numerous wars with Israel, and they have never accepted peace. Sadly, until the Palestinians are willing to give up their quest to conquer Israel, they are doomed to unending struggle and statelessness.”

Then tonight, I saw this story from a week ago:

It reminded me of this story:

The New York Post reported,

“A Brooklyn legislator was accused Wednesday of delivering a bizarre tirade against Jews, while ripping Mayor Bill de Blasio as a sellout, during a local community board meeting this week. Assemblywoman Diane Richardson’s 50-minute rant during the Board 17 meeting Monday night faulted Jews for gentrifying in her district. … During a rezoning talk, a board member complained that people constantly ring her doorbell to ask if she’s interested in selling her home. ‘It must be Jewish people,’ Richardson responded, according to Lew Fidler, a former City Council member who is Jewish and attended the meeting as a representative of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.”

Want to stereotype? We’re not the ones who ring doorbells or even knock on doors!

But The Post reports, “Before faulting Jewish interlopers, Richardson snidely referred to Brooklyn state Sen. Simcha Felder as ‘the Jewish senator from southern Brooklyn.’”

(He should be taken to task for “new rules for what yeshivas must teach … the result of state Sen. Simcha Felder’s push to lower standards for yeshivas. Lawmakers mercifully nixed that outrageous demand but did agree to new language, seemingly written just for yeshivas, that spell out new curriculum requirements.”)

Would that work with any other group of people?

The article also said Assemblywoman

“Richardson apparently knew her remarks were controversial because she had board officials shut off the board’s tape recorder before her comments. Richardson also invoked race when discussing what she called the city’s uneven placement of homeless shelters.”

This is how the discussion played out.

  So a few giggles about the absurdity of the whole thing.

I don’t know why Richardson felt the need to invoke race or religion.

I would think people like her have suffered enough. Didn’t last night’s 60 Minutes teach anyone anything? And now, she’s a New York State assemblywoman who made herself look like only the first three letters of her title.

from http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Diana-C-Richardson/

I wonder if she even realizes her district contains Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, plus Crown Heights and Eastern Parkway. There’s also the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, but I think she should stay as far away from there as possible, and not be any influence.

Apparently this was the second time in as many weeks Richardson had a breakdown.

The Post wrote she

“also went ballistic … at a Democratic caucus in Albany, sources said. Assembly Democrats who witnessed Richardson’s outburst at Speaker Carl Heastie over funding one of her pet projects said they were stunned and outraged, calling it the most abusive and rude behavior they ever encountered at a caucus meeting.

“She had a meltdown. She was really out of control,” said one Assembly veteran.

“Everyone in the room was appalled at her behavior. She basically accused the speaker and his staff of lying to her. It was a personal attack. I’ve never seen anything like that in conference.”

Another Assembly Democratic insider who witnessed Richardson’s rant called it “the most abusive behavior in memory.”

Looking for some sort of apology, Richardson has had no press releases posted in almost a year, since May 3, 2017.

Click here for her website and let her know what you think.

Distorting history, stirring up stereotypes It's not easy being a moderate. That's definitely what I consider myself and it seems to make people on both sides angry.

[oldguardaudio]

Rush Limbaugh Explains that Jared Kushner Tells the Truth About Middle East Peace

Rush USA Flag at HoaxAndChange.com

rush limbaugh cut spending lower taxes at HoaxAndChange.com

rush obama shadow government against trump at HoaxAndChange.com

Aug 1, 2017

  RUSH: I mentioned this leak. Of course, General Kelly, one of the things he’s supposed to do is be tightening these leaks down. He’s supposed to be ending these. This one is from the New York Post: “Latest White House Leak Proves No One Can Be Trusted — Even congressional interns can’t be trusted after [a congressional intern] leaked a recording of a speech by Jared Kushner in which he admitted ‘there may be no solution’ to the conflict in the Middle East.

“‘So, what do we offer that’s unique? I don’t know,’ President Trump’s son-in-law said in the speech on Monday, which was leaked despite a stern warning from an administration staffer not to spill the beans.” You know, it’s obvious — even despite the firings and despite this — there doesn’t seem to be any restraint on these leakers. People aren’t afraid of punishment. They’re not afraid of being called out. Many of them are probably not even afraid of being found out or discovered. They continue.

But this one… This one I find fascinating, ’cause this is exactly right: There isn’t a solution to this if they’re talking negotiation. This has been one of the biggest follies. This is why I could never live and work in Washington. I could never be of Washington. I could never be part of that process, because this has been one of the biggest jokes perpetrated on people my whole life. The whole idea of Middle East peace as a diplomatic solution? It’s impossible. There will never be one, and I’m glad Kushner said so. I’m glad he’s realized it.

Kushner is very young compared to all these other diplomats, and he’s way ahead of the game here. But look at what we’ve had to put up with. We’ve had Jimmy Carter and the Camp David accords, and we had Clinton bring in Arafat and all these players to the White House. We’ve had everything under the sun, and it’s one of these things that never ends no matter who the president is. No matter what party runs Washington — or runs Congress, I should better say — this is a thing that is just part of Washington that goes on and on and on to which there will never be a solution.

Yet it is something careers are made of. It is something that people have invested in for all kinds of reasons other than solution, and everybody plays along. The Drive-By Media duly reports every phase of the latest round of talks, ideas, negotiations on Middle East peace. What is Middle East peace? What is it, anyway? Is it still the Palestinians versus the Israelis and a Palestinian state? What is it anymore? If we achieved Middle East peace, what would be the result? What would happen? I don’t think anybody can even tell you anymore.

But the one thing I know: This is a conflict that goes back to the beginning of time. It is a biblical religious conflict that does not have a diplomatic solution. Not a single side in this dispute is ever going to surrender because somebody talks them into it. There’s never gonna be — and I have to think that all these people playing this game have to know this, which is why is it strikes me as a gigantic phony exercise. We’ve got whole think tanks that exist. We’ve got scholars and thinkers and think tanks. We’ve got experts on Middle East peace.

Whenever a mortar is launched in the Middle East, they’re brought out to television to analyze what it means and what’s going on. We don’t need any of that. We know that it’s a never-ending conflict. People that pay attention to it do. But there hasn’t been a conflict like this that has ever been solved with words, with the Red Cross, with environmental policy. It’s just never going to happen. The only way — and I’ve said this before; it’s nothing new. The only way this is ever gonna end… It’s like every other conflict ends.

It’s only gonna end when someone loses militarily and surrenders because of it. But nobody wants to start a war over this, not a permanent war. I mean, we’ve had Israel under attack. They’ve defended themselves, and they’ve been savaged and criticized for having the audacity to win each of these attacks that they’ve suffered. Israel continues to be portrayed as the problem in the area. And this is the whole thing that sustains all of this. But it’s never gonna end, and there are people that don’t want it to end. It’s like the racial strife in this country.

The people who ostensibly are there to solve the racial strife are the last people that want it the solved. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton would literally have nothing to do if it were ever solved, and so it won’t be. It’s too valuable an issue to exploit. It’s too valuable an issue that can be used to shake people down. It’s too valuable a political issue. So all of this conflict and all of this strife has become part of the system, and we are all victimized by phonies telling us they have the answer and the solution when that’s the last thing they’re interested in.

I think this also frustrates people, because it’s common sense that all of these things dividing the country are happening in perpetuity with no real desire to solve them. So people want to take matters into their own hands. So they keep electing candidates they think are gonna be different, take different approaches to things, and that’s one of the reasons that Trump was elected is because he had a different solution to every problem we’ve been talking about. The solution, actually, if that ever happened, would be genuinely beneficial to the American people.

Which is unique and is a standout from most other solutions that people have to put up with in terms of listening to the endless debate on — pick the issue — racial strife, labor versus management. Doesn’t matter what it is. Middle East peace? The strife has become too profitable. It’s become too valuable to a lot of people’s careers and so forth. So I’m just saying that it’s refreshing. I don’t care if it was a leak that made it happen. It’s refreshing to hear Jared Kushner say, “There may be no solution to the conflict in the Middle East.”

There isn’t! Not the way we’ve been going about it. Where’s the evidence that the way we’ve been going about it for the last 50 years has a solution? There isn’t any, not a shred. Because you’re never gonna convince one side to quit and give up. Can I give you the best evidence ever? Bill Clinton was so desperate to be seen as the president who brought peace to the Middle East, he offered Yasser Arafat everything Arafat was demanding and threw in some goodies. What did Arafat do? He canceled his trip. He didn’t want any part of it. Arafat didn’t want the solution.

He was given everything he had been demanding; he didn’t want it. He didn’t want the solution, didn’t want to end the strife. It’s never gonna happen. Kushner sees it. It’s a good thing. Well, then what is the solution? Maybe there isn’t one. Maybe certain things just are the way they are. Maybe there isn’t a solution. Maybe what “is” is just the way it is and you manage it. No, I would not say that about tax cuts or tax reform because there are genuine solutions there that have provable benefit-outcomes. But this, Middle East peace? I mean, it’s been going for thousands and thousands of years; everybody has been tackling it the identical way.

Nobody’s ever made any headway in it, not really. At some point you stop beating your head against the wall. Except they don’t. They continue to beat their heads against the wall and people profit from it and their careers advance on the basis of it. And we’re all misled that there is a solution out there. Kushner at least says that there isn’t.

Rush Limbaugh Explains that Jared Kushner Tells the Truth About Middle East Peace Rush Limbaugh Explains that Jared Kushner Tells the Truth About Middle East Peace Aug 1, 2017…

[thefabulousfulcrum]

Full Text of Remarks by Top State Dep’t Official Discharged by Trump’s White House–Tom Countryman’s Powerful Farewell Address

via Just Security

By Ryan Goodman

Last week, six top State Department officials were suddenly discharged by the White House—an Undersecretary, an acting Undersecretary, and four Assistant Secretaries—without notice and without even a nominee selected to replace them. Tom Countryman, who served the nation for 35 years and at the time as Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, was in Amman booked to fly to an international meeting on nuclear arms control when he received the discharge and orders to turn around and fly back home. Earlier this week, Foreign Policy’s John Hudson wrote about Countryman’s farewell remarks to former colleagues which Hudson described as a “soaring and thinly-veiled critique of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.” It is that and more, including a powerful message to public servants in this administration to keep the faith in our Constitution and in their work on behalf of the national good. With Countryman’s permission, Just Security is reproducing the full text of his remarks.

Thomas Countryman Remarks at Retirement Ceremony (as prepared) January 31, 2017

Thank You! When I entered the State Department, I never intended to rise high enough to merit a retirement ceremony. And when it occurred to me that I had, I pictured instead an off-campus bacchanalia. But now we’re here, and it is altogether fitting and proper, and I thank you.

Some of you have asked if recent events have left me disgruntled. The answer is No; I am probably the most gruntled person in the room.

When Ambassador Robert Pelletreau retired 20 years ago, he said “The State Department doesn’t owe me anything. It has given me everything.” It is the same for me. In my very first tour, the Department gave me more than I could ask for in a lifetime. It sent me to Belgrade, where in 1984 I met my wife, Dubravka Trklja, the greatest thing ever to happen to me. She reminds me often that she could have had a better husband, but I suspect she feels what I feel so strongly: that I could never have had a better friend. And as a result, I have something else, the only thing for which you should envy me: Stefan and Andrew, the two best sons and the two most remarkable young men anyone could have.

The Department gave me and my family the opportunity to see the world, and not just as tourists. It allowed me to see the reunification of families divided by the Iron Curtain, and to see Israelis and Palestinians negotiate face to face. I saw – and contributed a little to – the restoration of democracy in Serbia. And for the last few years, it’s given me the chance to speak for the United States about a priority shared by eleven successive Presidents: reducing the risk of a nuclear holocaust.

This career gave me a constant resurgence or energy in the form of bright young officers with brilliant careers ahead of them, people like Rafik Mansour, Patrick Connell, Daniela Helfet, Seth Maddox, Lizzie Martin and David Kim. It allowed me to work for Ambassadors legendary in the Foreign Service (some of them here today), like David Anderson, Dick Miles, Barbara Bodine, Emil Skodon, Patrick Theros, Skip Gnehm, Frank Wisner, Bob Pelletreau, Marc Grossman and Charlie Ries. From them I learned the four words central to diplomatic success: “High Road, Hard Ball.” And it gave me the great honor to stand beside exemplary Secretaries of State like Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

The Department gave me the chance to be part of, and to lead, amazing interagency teams at Embassies abroad, in the European Bureau and at the White House. These were great organizations, but it was only when I spent a year and a half in the PM Bureau, and five years in the ISN Bureau, that I came to fully value the true strength of the Department, a Civil Service cadre every bit as talented as the Foreign Service. It was perhaps my highest honor to learn from, to guide, and to take credit for the accomplishments of the deepest bench of experts in any agency.

The State Department owes me nothing. But we still owe America a lot. We still have a duty – you have a duty – to stay and give your best professional guidance, with loyalty, to the new Administration. Because a foreign policy without professionals is – by definition – an amateur foreign policy. You will help to frame and make the choices.

Because that is WHAT we do.

Our work is little understood by our fellow Americans, a fact that is sometimes exploited for political purpose. When I have the opportunity to speak to audiences across this amazing land, I explain “We do not have a Department of State – we do not have a foreign policy – because we love foreigners. We do it because we love Americans.”

We want Americans to prosper, to sell the world’s best food and the world’s best products everywhere in the world. We want Americans to be protected and safe when they are abroad, whether they are missionaries, tourists, students, businessmen or (for those you have done consular work) the occasional false Messiah.

We want Americans to sleep the sleep of the righteous, knowing that the smallest fraction of their tax dollar goes to ease poverty and reduce injustice. We want them to know that our consular officers are the first of many lines of defense against those who would come to the US with evil purpose. We want the families of America’s heroes – our servicemen – to know that their loved ones are not put into danger simply because of a failure to pursue non-military solutions.

And we want Americans to know that the torch borne by the Statue of Liberty is not just a magnet for immigrants, it is a projector, shining the promise of democracy around the world. The United States is the world’s greatest economic power, the world’s greatest military power, and with your vigilance, it always will be. But the greatest power we project is hope, the promise that people can establish liberty in their own country without leaving it.

I’ve seen it in the country second dearest to my heart: Serbia. I saw democracy born in Serbia. I saw it stolen. I saw – and played a minor role in – its restoration. And I know this: that if a generation stands up and insists upon defending the rights of the people, they will succeed. And if the next generation stands up and resists every corrosive attack on democracy, they will triumph.

If we wall ourselves off from the world, we will extinguish Liberty’s projection, as surely as if, as the Gospel says, we hid our lamp under a bushel basket. If we do not respect other nations and their citizens, we cannot demand respect for our citizens. If our public statements become indistinguishable from disinformation and propaganda, we will lose our credibility. If we choose to play our cards that way, we will lose that game to the masters in Moscow. If our interaction with other countries is only a business transaction, rather than a partnership with Allies and friends, we will lose that game too. China practically invented transactional diplomacy, and if we choose to play their game, Beijing will run the table.

Business made America great, as it always has been, and business leaders are among our most important partners. But let’s be clear, despite the similarities. A dog is not a cat. Baseball is not football. And diplomacy is not a business. Human rights are not a business. And democracy is, most assuredly, not a business.

Each of us came to this work with our identities – more or less – fully formed, and have preserved our values – with greater or lesser success – against the professional deformation caused by any bureaucracy. Just for myself, I came here with my identity framed: as a Christian, as an Eagle Scout, as a taxpayer. These didn’t require me to go into the State Department, but they define my obligations as a citizen: to spend tax dollars wisely; to look out for the best interests of the US and its people; to share the best of America with the world; and to be not only optimistic, but also – to use a word so suddenly fallen from favor – altruistic. I line up with Steven Pinker. In his book, “The Better Angels of our Nature,” he describes the ‘escalator of reason’: “…an intensifying application of knowledge and rationality to human affairs.”

That is HOW we do it.

“…an intensifying application of knowledge and rationality to human affairs.”

That’s the very definition of the work I’ve been privileged to do, that I will pursue now in different clothes, and that I leave to you.

That’s the sermon, and in a moment I will let you go in peace. First, I want to thank you for so many messages of support and appreciation. One of you here compared the situation to the scene in Star Wars, when Obi-Wan Kenobi is struck down, and I found that touching. Another compared it to the scene when Princess Leia strangles Jabba the Hutt, and I found that confusing.

The most meaningful came from my son Stefan, a future Nobel laureate in physics, who wrote: “I am proud of your decades of service to this country and the world…You gave everything you could for the people of this world in a slow and painful line of work…You have given more than your share…The values you upheld in your career are part of what makes me who I am.”

And that is WHY we do it.

Even if you don’t have your own children, what you do in this building tomorrow can mean another generation will live in a habitable world, can enjoy peace and liberty. If we are firm in our principles, steadfast in our ideals, and tireless in our determination to uphold our oath – to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic” – then for many generations, another American will stand in this spot with the same satisfaction and hope I feel today.

I leave you with one last thought, from one of my favorite philosophers. If you’ve never read him, or not for many years, I urge you to take the time now. His name is: ….Winnie the Pooh.

And he said:

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

Thank You and God Bless You!

[nataliesnews]

Religious women want a non Jewish life saver  the murderer of Emil Greenschwieg says others will carry on his work, right-wingers vent frustrations at premier - The Times of Israel, 12.8.2020

12.8.2020 Weirder and weirder this country gets. I am actually doing very little, walking, swimming, friends, Spanish and Arabic….all of which nothing very exciting so this is mainly for those of you about the Israeli scene. A post on facebook which shocked me about a swimming pool in Jerusalem which had a sign up that that day the lifesaver was an Arab. The director said that as soon as he heard about it he had it taken down. But the reason it seems was not racism!!! But even stranger. Religious women had asked for a female lifesaver  but when there was not one they had asked for a lifesaver who was not Jewish. If a man is not Jewish he is less a man?  Go understand their heads.

I think it is well that the interview with the murderer of Emil Greenzweig so many years ago at a march of Shalom Achshav   below was published.  Those of us who took part in that march remember well the violence and curses against us as we walked. The next murder is on the line. And what easier way to do it than to take a hand grenade today and thrown it into the crowds at Balfour. I ask why  this man who is a murderer was freed and not given a life sentence. Of course by the way he now has his kippa on his head and says he stays whom,  eats and drinks and prays. To what God I would ask him.  Now I am sure the idea has been planted in the hands of his supporters. There are enough settlers who have the opportunity to obtain a grenade. Only yesterday some cars with supporters of Netanyahu actually stopped at the stand of those who have been there for weeks and attacked them physically. But it will be as it was with Emil and also with Rabin.  I doubt that even if this does happen anything will change. In the meantime all over the country there are demonstrations. I wonder that also in Caesaria a black curtain has been put up round the ancestral!! home of the Netanyahus and there are barriers all over to prevent demonstrations. I wonder how come no one has interviewed people of that area to ask how they feel about this.

 Peace activist’s killer calls anti-Netanyahu protesters ‘germs’ to be dealt with

Ahead of Saturday rallies, Yona Avrushmi, who in 1983 ‎lobbed grenade into left-wing rally, killing Emil Grunzweig, has no plans to attend but says others 'know exactly what to do'

https://www.timesofisrael.com/peace-activists-killer-calls-anti-netanyahu-protesters-germs-to-be-dealt-with/

Joining anti-Netanyahu protests, right-wingers vent frustrations at premier

While still a small contingent compared to majority of protesters, some who once voted for the Likud leader are making common cause with those on the left in calling for him to go

https://www.timesofisrael.com/joining-anti-netanyahu-protests-right-wingers-vent-frustrations-at-premier/

But sometimes there is something heartwarming. I wonder how the women who came in their black anonymous dress will manage not with Western dress. On the other hand I believe  that many Palestinian women here under this outfit are very modernly dressed and I remember once outside such an area seeing a woman drive up, park, get out very modern in her dress and put exactly that one. I just hope no one in her family ever found out

UAE helps reunite Yemenite Jewish family that was separated for 15 ‎years

'My soul felt reborn,' one relative says at Abu Dhabi airport ceremony; tweeting about reunion, Emirati FM Abdullah bin Zayed hails his country as 'homeland of coexistence'

https://www.timesofisrael.com/uae-helps-reunite-yemenite-jewish-family-that-was-separated-for-15‎-years/

I received in my bank account the 760 shekel which Netanyahu promised but first of all I know I will pay for it in some way and secondly I will donate the lot.  As many of my friends do. But I realise now in what security I grew up in. There were always financial worries of which I was very aware but never did I feel that I would lose my home and never did I think that I would go hungry of need clothing. And today listening to the news I think of the young people who are just starting out, the children who up to now grew up in the same security I did and who are now seeing a very different future. I think of people in their middle age  suddenly also having to confront a new reality and how the world has turned upside down. And I have now stopped asking…”Can this really be happening to us.” I just hoped it isn’t a case of “they said to her smile it could get worse” and she smiled and it did. Put gloomy mood down to just going off to town now for root canal work….. and it brings me back to the present as the dentist to whom I am going said to me, “Do you know  how much it will cost you”

Palestinians….and if they put up tents those are confiscated

 Don't say We Didn't Know 709

The Co-Existence Forum In The Negev's 2019 report shows that the government of Israel demolished 2241 Bedouin structures in the Negev!  88% of these demolitions were carried out by the structures' owners! They demolished themselves, for fear that if the state carries it out, they must pay the demolition expenses. In addition, in order to avoid the trauma of having police enter the village and evict the dwellers by force, they decided to demolish their homes with the same hands that had built them.

Importantly, the various governments of Israel have created a situation whereby all structures in the Bedouin villages of the Negev have been constructed illegally, Thus, any Bedouin in village who wishes to fulfill his basic human right of shelter, must break the law

 Natalie.

[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/it-all-depends-on-your-values/

It All Depends On Your Values

This article has been written for the Unz Review]

This has been an interesting week for Russia.  First, and contrary to my own expectations, Iulia Skripal has been allowed to make a recorded statement on video where she is seen writing a statement in English and Russian.  This falls far short of even the basic British obligations to allow consular access to both Skripals, but it is a sign that the Brits are finally starting to feel the pressure.  This is just a small first step, but thank God for small things. Now let’s just hope that the pressure to free both Skripals will not abate.

Second, the St Petersburg Economic Forum has started to what promises to be a big success: 14’000 participants, including many top western business and even representatives of the British oligarchy (to the great despair of The Times).  Now that the “economic block” of the Russian government is firmly in the hands of the Atlantic Integrationists and even Alexei Kudrin declares that the impact of the economic sanctions to only 0.5% of the Russian GDP, and against the background of US arrogance gone berserk (see Pompeo’s 12 point ultimatum to Iran or Trump’s sudden cancellation of this planned meeting with Kim) thereby deeply frightening many European investors, Russia appears to be an island of comparative stability and predictability.  Turns out, there are billions of dollars to be made in Russia, who would have thought?

Third,  for all the saber-rattling heard over the past years from NATO, a former Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), General Breedlove, has gone on record that NATO is in no shape to fight Russia.  The Baltic statlets and the Swedes can continue to prepare for a Russian invasion if they want, but this nonsense is slowly losing its traction with EU politicians.

Finally, the President of Bulgaria has had to fly to Moscow to ask the Russian to re-start the “Bulgarian Stream”.  Yes, the very same “stream” which Bulgaria reneged on under EU pressure.  The logic of the Bulgarians is simple and irrefutable: if the Germans get to open their own “stream” then so do we.  Makes sense.

True, there was this latest idiocy by the Dutch who now are saying that it was a “Russian” unit which shot down MH-17.  I don’t know why they would bother coming up with this latest nonsense right now, this might be a desperate hope by some hardcore NATO Cold Warriors, but in the current political climate this is going largely unnoticed.

The key to it all?  Can you connect the dots?

As Roger Waters put it in his song Perfect Sense “Can’t you see? It all makes perfect sense, expressed in dollars and cents, pounds shillings and pence. Can’t you see? It all makes perfect sense“.  It is all about money.

No doubt there will be those who will greatly rejoice at these developments, after all, this could be the beginning of a much needed (for both sides) rapprochement between Russia and the EU and improving economic ties, along with the rapidly increasing energy costs, could provide the funds needed to implement Putin’s ambitious internal reforms and development program.  So what’s there not to celebrate?

Well, it all depends on your values.

If you want the Russian economy integrated into the western markets and financial sphere, if you believe that the correct economic path of development for Russia is western-style liberal capitalism,if you believe that the Zionist lobby in Russia does not exist or is not an issue, then you truly have cause to rejoice and, indeed, many have (including my friend Alexander Mercouris at The Duran).

But if you believe that morals, ethics should always prime so-called “pragmatic” considerations, if you believe that the correct path for Russia is to follow her own civilizational model, if you believe that there is a very influential and highly toxic Zionist lobby in Russia, then you have cause to worry.

In an ideal world or, at least, a less crazy one, this choice should not be as stark, but with the Neocons in absolute control of the USA and the US foreign policy decided in the Likud offices in Jerusalem, and with Israel and the USA taking turns bombing Syria (even today), that choice will have to be made.

True, to some degree, there are already obvious unofficial understandings between the US and Russia and between Israel and Russia over military operations in Syria.  And as I have argued many times (even if some pretend I did not), Russia has no obligation whatsoever to fight on behalf of anybody in the Middle-East.  However, what Russian ought to do, at least in my opinion, is to carefully evaluate the potential consequences of inaction, not because of Syrian or Iranian interests, but because of her own, Russian, interests.

The unofficial agreement between Russia and the Anglo-Zionist does make sense, but only in the short term.  In the long term it contains many possible dangers:

First, the Israelis are clearly baiting Iran for a meaningful counter-strike.  And they are doing all they can to push the USA to attack Iran.  How long can the Iranian patience last?  How long can the (hopefully existing) rational minds in the Pentagon contain the “crazies”?  You tell me, I don’t know.

The Israelis, clearly buoyed by the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem (along with a few vassal states) has now basically given up on their public image, which has been roadkill since many years already, and have decided to use even more grotesque violence than usual to make the Palestinians pay for having the audacity to exist.  This increase in violence creates a great deal of tensions in the Muslim world and Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already called on all Muslim countries to condemn Israel.  He used very precise language (emphasis added): “It is the Muslim states that should take a stance against it (the massacre of Palestinians). Muslim states are the ones that should rise up but they do not because they have distanced themselves from the Quran and do not believe in holy book. By God’s grace Palestine will be freed from the vicious enemies. Al-Quds (Beit-ul-Moqaddas) is the capital of Palestine and the US and its minions cannot do a damn thing against the truth and the divine tradition regarding Palestine”.  The implication here is clear: it is an Islamic obligation mandated by the Quran itself not to collaborate with the Zionist entity, those who are now ignoring this imperative are acting like disbelievers.  That includes the Saudis and all their allies.  With that kind of language (which has tremendous support in the Muslim world at large, not amongst the Shia) how long will the current standoff be limited to Syria?  You tell me, I don’t know.

As I have also argued time and again, the AngloZionists interpret every non-escalatory move by Russia as a sign of weakness, even when it is motivated by a sincere desire to avoid conflict, when it is pragmatic and even mutually beneficial.  The Ukronazis in the Donbass have a tactic they call “leapfrogging” in which they regularly seize a couple of houses here and there in the neutral zone while keeping the Novorussians under a more or less constant stream of artillery strikes and terrorist attacks.  They do that while trying to keep the shooting just under the threshold which would result in full-scale attack on Novorussia which, so they themselves say, will happen in the not too distant future.  That kind of “leapfrogging” under “petty fire” is exactly what the Empire is doing against Russia in Syria and elsewhere.  The difference is only that AngloZionist leaders do not promise a final attack on Russia.  Do you trust their word?  I sure don’t.

These are not what I would call minor issues which can be comfortably ignored and the purpose of analysis is not comfort but understanding.  Intelligence work is built on three components, the tripe “A”: Acquisition, Analysis and Acceptance.  First, you get the raw info, then you process it (primarily by rating the source and the info itself), and then you present it to those who will use it.  Most often, the problem is in the third “A”, that is when decision-makers are unhappy with what they hear and then put pressure on the second “A” (analysis).  In extreme cases, this can result in the 2nd “A” downgrading a perfectly reliable source.

That is the kind of stuff which starts dumb wars and results in surprise attacks.

[Sidebar: There is a natural desire in each one of us to see “our” team win, and nuanced arguments are easy to misrepresent.  For the dishonest, it is a no-brainer to present any criticism or concern as “betrayal” (we all know what happened to Cassandra).  And then there are, of course, those for whom any nuanced argument is too complex to process and who simply are not intellectually equipped to understand a balanced thesis.  Cheering is fun.  Honestly analyzing often takes courage.

I recommend that we avoid both extremes, the one of mindlessly cheer-leading and the one of defeatism, both are equally toxic and both are used by AngloZionist strategic psychological operations to weaken Russia in general and Putin and his Eurasian Sovereignist supporters in particular.   The words of Christ “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) have a profound spiritual meaning, but they can also be taken quite literally and He never said that that truth would be comfy, I would add.  In our case, you, the reader, are the third “A” and my role is only limited to try to honestly do the first and second “A”.

For independent analysts like myself, there is no point in doing what the CIA did about Iraq: have these words of Christ as a motto and then provide a hopelessly politically-correct “analysis”.  True, unlike the folks at the CIA, I am not paid (by you, in the form of your donations) to follow a narrow political agenda, neither do I depend on any oligarch’s financial support.  As for calling things the way I see them, I know each time in advance when this will get me a barrage of criticism and hate mail from those who follow a very specific political agenda (I have explained that here in some detail, check it out!).  The Empire uses the term “fringe extremist” while in the blogosphere what you mostly see is “out of touch”, but the goal is the same: a total dismissal.  Next time you see that language, ask yourself not only what actual arguments it contains (if any!), but also cui bono – who benefits from making it, and why.  Then think of the words of Christ quoted above one more time :-)].

I think that Paul Craig Roberts is fundamentally correct when he says that the Empire is escalating on all fronts against Russia, even if I do not share his pessimism (but neither do I dismiss it!).  First, with Trump turned into a rabid Likudnik, Putin’s plan of a “rapprochement” with the EU might work, NATO’s histrionics notwithstanding.  We will see soon as Europe is now facing a stark choice, either join the USA in even more sanctions on Iran, or not.  And “not” means de-facto join Russia in her support for Iran.

So which will prevail?  The cowardice and subservience of the European leaders or their greed?

As long as all this remains in the realm of economics, Russia will probably continue her current balancing act between her own short-term economic interests in the West and her long-term economic interests in the rest of the world.  But if Iran is actually meaningfully attacked by any combination of AngloZionist states, then Russia will have to chose.  Ideally, the Atlantic Integrationists will have to do what they did in the cases of Georgia and Crimea, look away and play along, while the Eurasian Sovereignists do what they did in both of these instances: immediately take action.  That does not mean fighting a war on behalf of the Iranians or “protecting” Iran, but that will mean a willingness to help Iran at all level short of war.  Which is what Russia has been doing in Syria.

There is a big difference between Iran and Syria though: the Russian public did support Putin’s argument that it is better to fight the Takfiris over “there” rather than right “here”.  But Russians are most unlikely to support any risks of war (nevermind a war itself) unless it directly affects Russian national interests.  On that Russians are split.

Some, like myself, think that Iran is, if not a vital, then at least a crucial partner (and, hopefully, ally) of Russia in the entire greater Middle-East.  It is also a country which, unlike Russia, has achieved true, real, sovereignty and thus, at least to some degree, a test-case for the rest of the planet (that is the real reason for the AngloZionist’s hatred and fear of Iran, not some non-existing military weapons program).  Others think that Iran is just a useful partner which should be engaged, but that the Iranians have too different an agenda to really become Russia’s reliable partner (the feeling in Tehran is often symmetrical).  Still, regardless of the doubts on both sides, I believe that Iran is vital for Russia because Iran has achieved what Russia is still after: full sovereignty.  No country which wants to become truly sovereign can refuse to help Iran in every possible way.

There is also the “minor” issue of international law by which neither the USA nor Israel consider themselves restrained and which they both constantly, and very openly and gleefully, violate. This set a terrible and very dangerous precedent for the entire planet and is yes another factor Russia cannot ignore.

And then there is Palestine.

Like it or not (I don’t), for the time being, Russia and the EU have chosen to be in the famous words of Yehuda Bauer, a “bystander”.  Some of us will deny that (good luck with that!), some will minimize it, some will explain that away on pragmatic grounds.  Who is right?

Well, again, it all depends on your values.

If you believe that the Palestinians are to blame, or if you believe that what is done to them is their problem, not yours, or if you think “let the Arabs or the Muslims solve this” – then all is well.

But if you believe in basic notions of Right and Wrong, if you believe that racism and genocide (even slo-mo genocide), should be abhorrent to every human being, then no, you cannot feel good about Russia’s stance on Palestine.

Iran has chosen to take a moral stance on this issue.  Russia, at least so far, has chosen a “pragmatic” one, for many reasons, including good ones (as I explained in some details here).  But that does not change the fact that the triangle Israel-Palestine-Iran presents a crucial spiritual, ethical, moral and civilizational challenge to Russia, one which she cannot ignore and one which most likely will determine her future.  Sooner or later, Russia will have to make a choice even if that choice is to remain a bystander.

The same can be said about Novorussia.  Russia cannot let the Donbass bleed forever and while in the past Russia has helped Novorussia a great deal, the fact that the Donbass is still bleeding cannot be allowed to last forever.

In the case of the Donbass, the problem is obvious: if Russia openly stops the daily Ukronazi attacks, the Empire will scream to high heavens about a “Russian aggression” (they will pretend that they did not come up with their so-called “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) doctrine).  Which will compromise the Russia-EU relations.  Hence the current Russian balancing act.

These are hard and painful decisions for Putin.  In the past he has shown tremendous courage and will-power when Russian vital interests were at stake and I hope and believe that he will do that again.  Time will show if Putin and the rest of Russia will decide whether moral, ethical and spiritual values are an integral part of “Russian vital interests” and whether they have to prime over “pragmatic” considerations or the other way around.  And maybe they will come to conclude, as I do, that moral, ethical and spiritual vales are pragmatic considerations and that the apparent choice between them is an illusion.

This choice also will determine the future of Russia and her civilizational realm.

The Saker