As the FT notes this morning:
A UN-backed panel declared a famine in Gaza for the first time on Friday, in a damning assessment of the devastating conditions caused by Israel's 22-month-long offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
The report, which came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government signed off on plans to invade Gaza City, follows months of warnings from aid groups that the restrictions on food deliveries Israel has imposed during its war with Hamas were causing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
As they noted, the report came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which said the famine was “entirely man-made”.
As the FT added:
In a statement alongside the findings — which marked only the fifth time the panel has declared a famine anywhere in the world — the UN's emergency relief co-ordinator, Tom Fletcher, said the catastrophic conditions “could have been prevented if we had been allowed”.
Let me be clear, then, that this is not as such a famine - although its impact is the same as a famine. This is the deliberate starvation of a population as an act of war. It is genocide. It is an act of war. It is a crime against humanity. It is deliberate. It is an action for which many must be held to account.
Way back in October 2023, I agonised over whether to comment on what Israel was doing in Gaza and decided that I must.
I agonised because I knew how venomous were those who used the accusation of antisemitism against anyone who criticised Israel as if that state and being Jewish were synonymous. I knew that the two were not. I knew what antisemitism was. And I knew that the term was being abused, and had been abused for political advantage by some who should most certainly have known better. What I also knew was the grief that being accused of being antisemitic gave rise to. I have been accused of being so for previous comments about Israel and its actions.
What I did, however, realise was that whatever Israel was embarking on in October 2023 was something quite different from what we had seen before. This was not the inappropriate, malicious, vindictive, and deadly racially motivated skirmishing intended to oppress and contain a population that we had seen before. This was, very obviously, on a different scale, and from the outset, the possibility that annihilation of the Palestinian population of Gaza was the agenda was clear, even if that idea was so abhorrent that there was a reluctance to accept that fact. As a result, I decided I had no choice but to make a comment and condemn the actions of Israel, which, from the outset, were clearly in contravention of international law.
The association between Israel and Judaism has absolutely nothing to do with that condemnation. There has not once been any association between my condemnation of Israel's actions and antisemitic thought. Those who suggest otherwise are wrong. What they are claiming is that Jews could not commit the sorts of crimes that we have seen, and therefore, we are wrong for suggesting that they might have committed them. As such, they are claiming that Jews are distinct and separate from other forms of humanity, which is itself, of course, a form of discrimination that can be described as antisemitic.
The reality is that Netanyahu and his government, and many in his own forces, have committed crimes as human beings against fellow human beings. That is what they might stand trial for. Amongst the evidence that should be brought against this table, published by the FT this morning, based upon the UN analysis:
All of these people are at risk of dying from starvation. For one third of the population of Gaza, that threat is imminent. For most of the rest, it is not going to be long delayed. And in the meantime, Israel is not facilitating aid but is instead increasing its tax on the people of Gaza.
Meanwhile, the British government has still not recognised Palestine as a state.
Meanwhile, the countries of Europe have not combined to use their military to deliver aid to the beaches of Gaza, which they could have, but for their fear of upsetting the combined fascist alliance between Netanyahu and Trump.
In that case, let's not pretend that our countries are uninvolved observers of this genocide. Many of the political leaders of Europe are participants in this process, with some honourable exceptions who stood apart from the crowd, like Ireland, being noted. Those who have not acted have actively supported this genocide. Many, including the UK, have supplied some of the arms that Israel uses to undertake this activity. And they have stood by and refused to supply the aid that is needed in ways that are possible.
I do not think it is a coincidence that as the politics of countries like the UK move towards the far right, this silence about, and involvement in, a genocide has taken place. Israel has "othered" Palestinians, just as we are seeing migrants being "othered" in the USA, in the UK, in France, in Germany, and in very many other countries. Cruelty and the suffering of others are being normalised.
My question is, to where does this lead?
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I think the BBC has had a policy of playing down the Israeli war crimes and any condemnation of the state.
IMO the journalists have responded by showing what is happening without making judgements. Last November over 100 BBC staff signed a statement that the BBC was biased in its coverage.
We know many Foreign Officials have warned both Sunak and Starmer’s governments they are in danger of complicity in war crimes. The other thing they said was that they were not being listened to.
The media are giving constant coverage to asylum seeker protests but have been almost silent about the unease among the officials.
It looks to me that the governments have followed the US State Dept pressure and the media , especially the oligarch owned newspapers, have willingly reinforced this
There is a growing gap between them and rank and file of the MPs and much of the public. Of late they seem to have noticed that people will not be silenced by counter accusations and are trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
I think the stand off will break and soon. How the pieces will fall I don’t know but I suspect there will be no place to hide and people will be accountable for their values and views.
I hope you are right.
What does this all lead to? reduction in the population of Gaza (Lancet article end 2024 noted that +/- 350,000 dead or murdered). The UK media is dominated by Zionists so the on-going genocide & the “information space” is “managed” for the “benefit” of Israel.
UK has form & a long history wrt genocide & population reduction: (Tarmania – 100% genocide – zero comment, Ireland – 1847 – Uk portrayed as helpless to do anything, Indian faminnes ad nasueum = act of nature etc).
Hammas is the fig leaf wrt to food aid/lack thereof (cann’t have it going to Hamas so need to control it) – glossing over a reality: which country was the conduit for money to Hamas over +/- 2 decades? Israel. There is a great deal about the events of oct 2023 that don’t add up, but perhaps that is something for another time. Meanwhile, what we see in the UK is a zionist controlled “managed information space” which faciliates genocide in plain view, and in doing so emphasises the utter powerlessness of the whole UK population (demos likewise are now almost completely controlled because the zionists in gov passed legisltation to make sure this was possible). The UK, with respect to middle east affairs, an oblast of Israel. Time to “take back control”, from the UK facilitators of genocide (= the entire LINO gov and its MPs. Suggestion to LINO MPs – if you are against the genocide in Gaza, leave LINO – become an independent. If you do not you ARE cuplable, you are aiding & abetting genocide.
I am interested in hearing from (or about) those who until recently, simply did not believe the reports of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, coming out of Gaza, the W Bank, E Jerusalem, nor the accusations of international aggression against Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
I am interested in those who, until recently, discounted reports of assassinations of relief workers, medical staff, and the administrative detention without trial but with torture, rape and murder of Palestinian civilians, including children from the Occupied Territories.
I’m interested in those who until recently, did not believe the casualty figures or reports of high proportion of civilian deaths (because they came from Hamas).
I am interested in those who until recently viewed all NGOs and UN-linked organisations reporting on or working for Palestinians as terrorist sympathisers.
I am interested in those who until recently, managed to reject or ignore all the organisations INSIDE Israel reporting on these things (Eg: B’tselem, 972, Ha’aretz etc).
I am interested in all those who managed, until recently, to ignore or discount inflammatory statements of intent to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, from Israeli politicians, military leaders, and government ministers including Netanyahu.
I am interested in those who until recently, believed that those of us who spoke about such atrocities and have done so for years, did so because of “deeply held antisemitism” (I quote from an accusatory email I received recently from a former friend).
If you HAVE changed your mind recently on such things, please share with us…
1. How did you avoid the evidence for so long?
2. What changed your mind?
3. How do you feel about that?
This is a genuine question. I have former friends who have NOT yet changed their minds, and I fear for them, when they realise fully, what they have been complicit in. So if you HAVE shifted, I want to know your story.
(There are others, who acknowledge the truth of what is happening, but believe it is “justified” by their Zionism/Christian Zionism, and who do not accept international humanitarian law as binding. I’ve heard enough already from them, and they needn’t bother trolling me here, I’ve been vaccinated against their hate).
Thank you. I think this a very good line of questioning.
What amazes me is the very obvious denial in Israel which Channel 4 has, I presume deliberately, been platforming of late in coverage that I think of merit, even if sometimes anger inducing to watch.
“denial in Israel”
That is a consequence of the education system (for Jewish Israelis) in which non-jews (mulsims & christians) are “othered”.
A feel for this (apologies for posting the link again) can be gained from this: https://alethonews.com/2010/12/09/israels-racist-rabbis-hate-the-gentile/
One of the rabbis mentioned is….Ovadia Yosef, a former chief rabbi of Israel. Given the comments by the rabbi’s in the article, whilst some in Israel might still deny what is happening, a large number of (jewish) Israelis welcome/support what is happening, which I find impossible to understand.
If we don’t talk about this, then the unfair way in which it is being presented will prevail. So we have to talk about it.
I don’t want to talk about it because I find rather painful and makes me feel powerless. Nevertheless………….
Where does this leaves us? Well, as I have said before, it means that a line has been crossed and something awful has become tangible which is a first step to it being acceptable and doable. And that being so, anyone can be subjected to this sort of treatment going forward.
The other thing is, these events run throughout human history. I think we’ve kidding ourselves that in out time something like this would not happen. I feel caught out and disappointed. It’s not that we are going backwards – if we look at the long run of history – it’s just that we seemed to be looking in other directions, at other problems. We let our guard down on Gaza.
At the root of this though I’m sure is the real-estate business and capitalism, national expansionism at someone else’s expense, helped by a huge dose of racism, and a manufactured conflict event to help it a long. Israel have found an excuse to speed up what they have been doing a lot of previously but more slowly.
But Israel was an error committed a long time ago, because of its ill-conceived implementation and execution very early on. The possibility of abuse was not dealt with – as with a lot of post-war institutions, they were fundamentally weak. Both Jew and Muslim are supposedly related to Abraham. We forgot that the some families are dysfunctional.
But the big question I have for both Jews and Muslims involved in killing each other is if they both believe in God – do they consider what he/she/it must think of their actions? I ask this as an atheist. How will you all be judged upon your ascent to heaven? It makes no sense to me. None at all.
Faith and organised religion are rarely the same thing, in my opinion.
you are right. There is a spectrum of ‘belief’.
The concept of God for Zionist Israeli settlers or ChINO -Christian in name only -Zionists, is one of a tribal deity.
Far removed from that which is encountered by mystics of all faiths.
Salim J Munayer (a Palestinian Christian Israeli academic) discusses this in his book on “Justice” and what it means in the various strands of the 3 Abrahamic faiths including the militant versions of each.
History has seen this worked out particularly in the battles for Jerusalem. It was not pretty.
https://shop.embraceme.org/reconciling-justice
There are schools of thought in each of those 3 religions that give a theological justification for dehumanising the enemy, for distinguishing them from the “true believer”, thus making discrimination, war, and even killing them a religious duty. These dehumanising schools of thought are contradicted by other more eirenic mainstream interpretations in each of the faiths.
Christian Zionism is almost entirely devoted to this type of thinking – they believe the Hasbara, and pretend the atrocities are not happening, but even if all the accusations ARE ultimately true, it is justified because it is a fulfilment of (their twisted interpretation) prophecy and the victims (including ultimately all non-converting Jews) are “enemies of God”.
Of course secular states do this too, including mine, especially in times of war, with “eating babies” propaganda, and nicknames for the enemy, Argies, Dagos, Hun, Eyeties, Jerry, Fenian ******* etc. But it is much more chilling when done in the name of religion.
And sometimes the horror stories ARE true.
Jesus faces this in the closing chapters of Matthew’s gospel, in Jerusalem, as things hot up, and he becomes much more confrontational. (Eg Matthrw 23)
The strange thing is, PSR, most of what you say about religion, I agree with you. Yet you are an atheist, and so far, I’m not.
My theology lecturer always wanted to know about what kind of god his atheist friends DIDN’T believe in, because almost always, he didnt believe in that sort of god either.
To your last, much to agree with, and, come to that, in the rest as well.
RobertJ
I am a simple human being in that like all of us I want to believe in something worthwhile, something ethical, something real, deep.
Currently I believe only in my ability to go to sleep (interrupted as it is) – I mean I’m not even sure about waking up these days.
I’ve resorted to reading Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries book ‘The Happiness Equation’ (2007) . The equation seems to have three key terms:
1. Someone to love.
2. Something to do.
3. Something to hope for.
And I’m trying.
I find very little authenticity in much else – except perhaps here or at work. It’s not just possible answers here – its the authenticity. And that the answers lie here, now in our hands, and not in some ‘after life’.
I have no idea about an after life.
I never have.
If there is a Kingdom of Heaven I have always assumed it is here on earth (see the Lord’s Prayer for the source of that idea) and that it is our job to do the best we can to create it.
Evangelical UK magazine Premier Christianity, published this by Symon Hill (Baptist minister-in-training arrested for expressing Republican sympathies during Charles III’s accession.
https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/ant-middleton-wants-a-leader-with-christian-values-i-dont-think-he-understands-what-that-means/19923.article (subscribe for full article)
Hill responds to a (deleted) X post by London Mayoral candidate Ant Middleton (released convict, who served four months for “unlawful wounding of a male police officer and the common assault of a female police officer in a nightclub in Chelmsford, Essex in 2013”. Also, “In March 2025, the Insolvency Service announced that Middleton and his wife had been banned from becoming a director of a company for four years following the failure of his company to pay over £1 million in tax. The UK Insolvency Service said £385,000 in VAT and £869,000 in corporation tax was owed on £4.5 million in income which flowed into the company between 2019 and 2022.”
This banned director has been living in Dubai. (Quotes from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_Middleton )
Middleton was associated with Reform, but now an independent London Mayoralty candidate.
Middleton:
“1st, 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants SHOULD NOT hold top tier government positions! Our great nation, our culture and our great people are not naturally at the forefront of their hearts & Minds! It’s just not in their nature or DNA! Patriotism can not be taught or bought and needs to run through the veins of those at the very top to ensure our country and our peoples needs and demands are not only understood but prioritised. Khan is a prime example of this and as witnessed over time his true alliances have come out and his innate nature and culture naturally surfaces and takes precedent! (Which we all know is very un-british). Our Capital City of our Christian country needs to be run by a native Brit with generational Christian values, principles and morals coursing through their veins from which our very society was built, thrived and was forged upon. Look what has happened since we stopped this practice! (Edited 5.52pm, July 31st, 2025).
Hill challenges him robustly..: “what does he mean by “generational Christian values”? Following Jesus is not hereditary. It is a personal choice… Middleton.. argued… only people born in… UK, (with) parents &grandparents… born in.. UK, should hold “top tier government positions”. …this would rule out several former prime ministers, including Winston Churchill.”
Middleton’s demagoguery feels to me like “blood and soil” fascism.
See here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_Middleton
Thank you.
This is reform.
I would be barred from public office by him.
There are people in all the major religions who use them to inspire them to help others, increase compassion and stand up for love and our common humanity. There are others in those same religions who us them to increase division and hatred, justify violence of all sorts and persecute others. I find I am less interested in what religion or beliefs people hold than what they do with them.
Precisely.
But that is also a reason to oppose fascism. It most certainly has nothing whatsoever to do with loving one’s neighour as oneself.
“…the British government has still not recognised Palestine as a state.”
How can they? A Palestinian state is a hope, an idea. It has no government or borders.
And all Palestinian leaders want to see Israel erased – which is unacceptable. So there are two basic options: a two-state solution or the transfer of the Palestinians to another Arab state.
Nonsense.
Palestine is not a hope. It is a reality. And it has elected government, whether anyone likes it or not. And it most definitely has borders.
As for the claim Palestinians want Israel erased, that is not true of all Palestinian leaders (who, contradicting your own argument, you think exist).
For spreading straightforward falsehoods you are banned.
@Paul Rowntree
Please may I ask you, as domeone who brought up the subject of borders
What are Israel’s borders?
Palestine’s borders were defined by the international community during their decision to found the secular state of Israel.
They have never been respected but they do exist. My Gazan friend feels quite strongly about that.
Now, please, what are the legally internationally recognised borders of Israel?
Thanks
Or transfer the Israelis to another state. To me that is no different to your suggestion of ‘the transfer of the Palestinians to another Arab state. ‘ Both are equally, and for the same reasons, unacceptable.
To me the fact that you can make your suggestion is a clear indication that you consider one set of human beings as inferior to another. You demonstrate that you are a fascist.
I am saddened by two things
1) In almost every fight for human rights everywhere, there have been Jews in the forefront. Today they would be in danger of being considered antisemitic. Our own dear Labour party has expelled a fair few Jews for antisemitism.
2) Given the chance, the children and grandchildren of holocaust survivors are happy to inflict the same atrocities on others.