I watched this report on Channel 4 News last night.
In fairness, they have always been first rate on their coverage of the continuing crisis in Gaza over very many years, and they persistently seek to hold Israel to account.
There is no way those children could be suffering as they are but as a consequence of genocide.
And then just watch and note the words of the volunteer plastic surgeon, recently back from Gaza, and her experience there, including of her scrub nurse being deliberately assassinated by Israel, with his family.
This is genocide.
And it is war on a civilian population.
It is ethnic cleansing.
This is fascism at work.
And an hour away many Israelis will be going about the routine of their daily lives, safe in the knowledge that they can since countries like the UK will not stop their political leaders and their military, in which they will know people, given the nature of Israeli society, from committing war crimes.
Why should we be silent in the face of that?
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Israel was attacked by HAMAS for sure, but prior to that there had been the systematic immiserating of the Palestinians and theft of their lands by Israelis, advocated by political structures where many in it seem to be descended from white Europeans that also manipulated and interfered with Palestinian politics as well.
Since that attack, the response at first looked indiscriminate but has taken on a more sinister and deliberate appearance that is removing the capacity of the Palestinians to look after themselves in the face of Israeli aggression. If you remove the means to repair people and make them better then your view must be that they might as well be dead. That seems like genocide to me, if you want the wounded dead too.
Time is always the revelator – and over time, this conflict has taken on a more Neo-liberal and opportunistic dimension – as Philip Mirowski observed – never let a serious crisis go to waste. So what if thousands of Iraqi’s died in the Gulf war in the name of freedom to boost corporate profits! And the same elsewhere and in Palestine.
This is more like the ‘total war’ we saw in the East in World War II between Germans and Slavs. It is a war of annihilation. No quarter – because the Israelis want lebensraum – living space – or we might also say that many in Israel and the West want ‘profit space’ – the land to make vast sums of money out of the new real-estate that will be built on the blood of Palestinians.
You could also make a case that this conflict is also like the American Indian wars – especially if the Palestinians go into confinement into some sort of reservation which has also been floated.
This is the world we live in then – where there are no new ideas, just the same old ones. Neo-liberal to its core. Anything is justifiable if it will make money. Anything.
I have to locate and define the cold logic of all this only because it is a coping mechanism in the face of the suffering I am seeing on my TV every night which is frankly overwhelming.
To my Palestinian brothers and sisters, Muslim, Christian, whatever, I am so, so sorry.
you are right Pilgrim
And the mayhem could have been avoided if 23 years ago the US and West had taken the offer of the Arab League to recognise Isreal in its 1967 borders and pressured Israel to comply. The armed resistance groups -like the IRA in Northern Ireland- would have lost much of their appeal. That is why we have to carry some of the responsibility for the situation
People adopt extremist views when they are oppressed and see no hope.
One of these days the worlds leaders will either be changed by elections, or by force of public pressure and then Israeli’s will most definitely NOT be sleeping safely in their beds
Time and again we were told “Never Again”, but it was a lie, wasn’t it. Just like “The Rules based Order” is a lie.
Western media’s job is not to inform, but to indoctrinate. The sooner we all realise this, the better.
Thank you Richard for highlighting this extract from Channel Four News (the only news programme on terrestrial tv that I still can tolerate and respect) as I missed last night’s News. Picking up on the theme of John Boxall’s post, it seems to me that today’s political office holders and brand managers (to call them “leaders” would be a gross misrepresentation) are becoming increasingly distant and out of touch from the people that they are supposed to serve and, worse still, becoming authoritarian in the extreme. They dictate to the people and force their warped world view (and that of the global vested interests whom they really serve) on the general public. The problem that I see is that many people are starting to see through this and a backlash may be coming.
Agreed
Oh look, some distinguished lawyers in the House of Lords are (now) concerned with international law.
“Some of Britain’s most distinguished lawyers have warned the UK government that recognising a Palestinian state would breach international law.”
Among the signatories, according to the BBC website this is taken from, is Lord Pannick KC. This guy:
“Does the Minister agree that the essential difference between Hamas and Israel is that Hamas aims to kill civilians—Jews—while Israel does all that it can to avoid civilian deaths?” Hansard 16 October 2023.
I have read the Montevideo Convention.
First, it’s not law. It’s a convention.
Seconbd, it says there can be uncertainty without invalidating the claim to statehood, totally negating the claims these lawyers make.
I wonder in that case how they are ’eminent’ in anything but Zionism.
One insidious side effect of the coverage from Gaza is the drip drip corrosive decay in how we view the human beings and their culture, infrastructure and society in these beleagured places.
It isn’t new, we’ve been doing it to Africa for decades.
Ruined buildings, wailing women, starving children, families fleeing bombs pushing handcarts or donkey carts, hands held out pleading for help, dirty desperate children wielding empty begging bowls, everywhere dirt, filth, devastation.
It all reinforces the subtle message that here is a primitive sub-human rabble with no culture, no real civilisation, who belong in tented camps and can be thrown scraps and then hopefully forgotten about.
The possibility that “they” (it is always “they” or “them” or “those”, never “we”) might be just like us or better than us, is impossible to sustain in the face of the relentless images of degradation and destruction.
The same happened with the photos and films from Belsen/Bergen – were those the corpses of humans piled in the pits? Those people in striped “pyjamas” behind the barbed wire, they didn’t look like normal human beings.
Again and again we have to publicise the human stories, the rich culture, the perfectly normal aspirations of our fellow human beings who have (had) loved family members, shared humour, favourite hobbies, joy in their communities, flowers in their gardens, because they are human beings, because they are JUST LIKE US, and it could be ME that was born in Gaza, not Glasgow, then that would be my story.
This bothers me, because I am one of those whose sensitivities are coarsened by keeping myself informed about the horror and I don’t like what it does to me.
So I also devour the GOOD news, that reminds me of the humanity of people I see only as defeated victims, not to dilute the bad news, not to encourage complacency, but to defiantly reject the ever-so-subtle message of the “disaster porn” that these people are somehow sub-human and can be discarded. NO, NO, NO, I refuse to accept it!
My antidote comes from newsletters and prayer requests from the region, particularly from Lebanon, where I see people whose material circumstances are far worse than mine, sharing, loving, building for the future, caring, reconciling, working for justice, being decent human beings, loving their neighbour and also loving their enemies.
Without their example, I would sink.
So much to agree with
Another excellent article from Chris Hedges on the rise of authoritarianism and loss of freedom of speech in the USA: https://scheerpost.com/2025/07/29/chris-hedges-abolishing-the-first-amendment/
Thanks again for all you do, Richard.
Thanks Richard.
Personally, I think we have to accept as a nation, UK has (& continues to) supported Israel and endorsed genocide. When history is written, we have to acknowledge that as a nation we have not stood up for the Palestinians and not raised our voices against genocide. Even now prime minister has strings attached to supporting a Palestinian state. There is no mention of genocide or war crimes by the Israeli state.
The only time I see the PM having conscience is when it comes Ukraine – there also, it is not to seek peace but supplying arms. There is absolutely no appetite for talks and diplomacy.
Why is there a “coalition of willing” only to wage wars but no willingness to talk peace or seek accountability for genocide?
An all encompassing reminder, within 20-minutes via an Al Jazeera Q&A session with Ralph Wilde, covering his incisive presentation to the ICJ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgNM0us6EsY
The Israeli Government has for a very long time relied on telling massive lies; there is even a name for it; Hasbara/propaganda. To keep insisting that there is no starvation in Gaza, that food in sufficient quantities is being distributed and they do their best to prevent civilian casualties is massive lie upon massive lie. Finally the world (except for the US) seems to be willing to do what it should have done months ago. The lie that this “rewards Hamas” should be re told as “punishes Israel for genocide and years of occupation, oppression and apartheid.” About time. With Israelis living so closely beside the scenes of carnage reminds me of the movie “Zone of Interest” where the genteel family of the Nazi concentration camp officer lives right next door to the killing camp with little moral /emotional trouble. I’m afraid the Israelis, have become those awful people and deserve the worlds censure.
It was very evident on Channel 4 News tonight