It is not the morning for blogging.
It is dry, almost warm and the day to spend out in nature. But, a thought before I go, which is this.
At long last Biden is realising that Netanyahu is not Israel. He is even beginning to show intolerance of his government.
This is incredibly welcome. That far-right would always have us believe that the governments that they create are synonymous with, and represent the true opinions of, the states that they temporarily represent. But that is not true, at least for democrats, who always recognise that any particular government must be transitory.
Netanyahu is not Israel. Separate the two and you begin to make other necessary distinctions. You also begin to find the pathway to a solution.
That is true in so many other places, where there are different issues, but far-right governments also seek to claim their views are synonymous with those of the nation, starting in the UK as a whole.
Maybe, just maybe, some political awareness is dawning.
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Biden’s public stance separating Israel and its inhabitants from their present extremist President, Netanyahu, will save lives.
To do openly criticise a Zionist leader is also an unprecedented move by a postwar US President which will have political consequences at home and globally. However, it is both welcome and potentially transformative.
Things can tip very quickly. Lots of change takes place out of sight but is not acted upon.
I used to have a quote (but can’t remember who) written early in 1848 saying the Continent is quiet and stable. The year was later called The Year of Revolutions-in France, Prussia, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Denmark and Netherlands. England saw the Chartists present their third petition. Many of them did not succeed but Conservatives knew that change was inevitable.
It was obvious to some of us from the very start that Biden’s ridiculous ‘do whatever you want’ backing to Netanyahu was fatal , given the record over the years of Israel killing 10 or more palestinians for every Isaeli .
As Sam Fowles points out , both Hamas and Netanyahu want to keep the conflict going –
https://perspectivemag.co.uk/winners-from-the-slaughter/
Once it stops, Netanyahu will bevoted out , so he will keep it going as long as he can
Biden’s leverage seems to be very weak.
You are right; nor for commenting, but i made the mistake of switching on the radio.
A BBC Radio Scotland news interviewer this morning, speaking with American political history academics on the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, raised the British/US “Special Relationship” – in late, sobered post-Trump 2023! – only to have the notion dismissed out-of-hand……
Where in the last 250 years is BBC Scotland still determinedly situating itself? Where are the adults in Pacific quay? The last time I felt there were adults providing a little worldly gravitas to proceedings was, I vaguely recall when Bateman and Isobel Fraser were in the Newsroom. Does BBC Scotland have a newsroom nowadays? Because it has become a national embarrassment; it lives in a daily refreshed, couthy, Brigadoon inflected, Sunday Post, 1950s backwater; like a precious, gushy, primary school (the journalists even sound like children); living in and reflecting a bland, anodyne preciously genteel world-view; renewed each day (in spite of the invasive sheer awfulness of impinging reality) ; a dreamworld entirely of its own making.
https://labouroutlook.org/2023/12/15/zarah-sultana-end-arms-sales-to-israel-today/
https://labouroutlook.org/2023/12/16/john-mcdonnell-do-the-government-know-whether-uk-weapons-are-being-used-in-gaza-or-not/
It’s time the UK government did its job properly and stopped supplying arms export licences to Israel.
It’s time Starmer joined his backbench MPs and called for companies to stop supplying arms to Israel. It’s noticeable that the UK and US both went against decency in the UN and did not call for a ceasefire. It’s all to do with the money gained in both countries by arms companies.
I think that Israel is in a similarly position today as Russia was in the mid 00s. On the outside it has the appearance of a democracy but there are internal dimensions which look suspect. This type of government does its best to cover up issues to conserve the outward appearance and maintain international support.
These actions aren’t healthy for the conservation of democracy.
The situation in Gaza is tragic but we have seen today what happens when a right-wing government empowers its military to use disproportionate force against civilians in a crowded urban area.
Three men with a white flag become a target to be shot and killed, even if they are fleeing and shouting for help in Hebrew.
It is a tragedy for all concerned, but I wonder how many Palestinian civilians – dozens? hundreds?thousands? – have been killed in similar circumstances in the last two months. Would we even hear about it if an Arab man was shot while fleeing with a white flag? It seems the Israeli army considers any person in Gaza a legitimate target.
And not just in Gaza. Palestinian children are shot and killed in the West Bank far too often.
The terrorist actions of Hamas were hateful, but it seems to me the actions of the Israeli government and military are often just as hateful.
The only slim hope I can see is that this round of blood-letting brings all sides to their senses and we end up with some sort of lasting peaceful settlement.
Agreed
The Israeli forces and the so called settlers have been killing unarmed civilians for decades, in the West Bank as well as Gaza. Witnessed and documented many times.
The killings of the hostages was the inevitable result of that shoot to kill mindset. The regular claims of minimising civilian casualties can be treated with utter derision. Israel under Netanyu has become a terror state and should be treated as one.
Where will Bibi (& his cabinet of horrors) seek refuge after Israel rejects him? No country will want them with Hamas after them. I doubt they’ll live long wherever they go. So be it.
The ICC should be after them. They should be after them now. International Law is being broken, constantly and blatantly, in the most shameful way.
If political awareness is dawning, then it needs to demonstrated with generosity towards those in our societies who are attracted to fascism because not having enough is what draws them to it.
Fighting fascism and the far right begins at home folks – you can write it down – for sure.
We should not rely on horror and fear causing “both sides to reconsider”. We waited 30 years for that not to happen in the north of Ireland.
In the end, it was the major player in the conflict ,the British state, that finally realised they had to change.
Once John Major had responded to an IRA request to announce publicly that Britain had no “selfish reason” to hold on to the 6 counties of Northern Ireland, the IRA was happy to move seriously to a ceasefire.
Once Britain suggested that it would not just keep the “province” going economically and militarily, and that it had no particular desire to do so , there was hope for a negotiated future.
We see the result every day in the peace on the streets and the sense that there is “a new game in town”.
Biden and the USA should learn the lesson. If the USA were to announce a suspension of economic and military aid to Israel, the war would end almost instantly. Israel would not have the capacity to carry on and the Palestinians would see that all was not hopeless and that the Israeli state would have to negotiate a shared future.
In fact, given the capacity of Americans and Europeans to indulge in spasms of vicious anti-semitism, it may be that Israel will only become a genuine safe haven for Jews when it has decent relations with its Palestinian,and other, neighbours.