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While determining the truth regarding violations of international law is complex in war zones, the destruction in Gaza is clearly due to the Israeli military’s indiscriminate use of U.S. bombs. And, thankfully, Biden, has stopped sending them.

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Yes and what Joe has done is labeled by some as anti-Semitic. It is mot. It is pro humanitarian but should have started on 10/8. Due to the complexities and inanities of Federal law and GOP (DJT) whinig, it did not. Joe is stuck in the middle. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't

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Hamas is a terrorist organization asserting to be a state government. The Netanyahu regime is a state government acting like a terrorist organization. Accepting Hamas claims of casualties or Netanyahu regime claims of compliance is fraught.

But considering the amount of military aid we give Israel, our credibility is tied to our acceptance of Netanyahu administration claims. There is disagreement within the State Department. It is giving Blinken the benefit of the doubt to consider his actions as tied to the Biden administration playing some diplomatic 'long game' with the Netanyahu regime. That, from the Netanyahu regime perspective, Biden is the 'bad cop' pausing aid and Blinken is the 'good cop' giving Netanyahu another chance. Biden has criticized Netanyahu's settlement policies for decades. Blinken has to work with his Israeli counterparts every day.

From long term and current evidence, I cannot doubt Biden's or Blinken's sincerity in working to bring the truculent Netanyahu to the table to seriously negotiate for two sovereign and geographically autonomous states. (Netanyahu has built his career on rejecting a two state solution. The UN General Assembly just took a step in that direction by approving a resolution granting Palestine new "rights snd privileges" and reviving its UN membership bid. With the Israeli representative having his Nikita Khrushchev shoe banging moment, by putting a copy of the UN charter into a mini shredder.)

And all this taking place during a war. And during a political campaign in which both Marjory Taylor Greene and Jill Stein are personally invested in attacking the Biden administration - in service of their own egos and of effectively pandering to Putin by helping elect Trump.

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It might be mentioned that Hamas uses human shields as a matter of policy and that is a violation of UN Human Rights. I don't know if the UN has condemned the Oct 7th attack on Israel by Hamas. However Netanyahu mus go. Then it is a travesty that a few wealthy individuals can endlessly escape justice by endlessly appeals what if anyone found guilty by a court could keep appealing.

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Human shields. Maybe so. On the other hand, putting aside the rivalry and the politics, would any fighting force choose to stay out in the open? Gaza is fenced in on all sides, leaving Palestinians in a very small area. Under such conditions, the Darwin effect would have eliminated any fighting force who didn't dig in -- the alternative is to breathe the fresh air, and invite Israeli drones to strike them out.

Joseph in Fairfield, NY

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Exactly. There is no space where there aren't many civilians. Just another lie/propaganda from Israel. Now I'm seeing on youtube the horror stories from released hostages. I do NOT believe Hamas was abusing hostages. I believe the hostages were getting more food (still meager) and medical supplies than the Palestinians because Hamas wanted and wants to keep them safe. The hostages have never mattered to the Israeli government. Ever. They have only ever had one goal: cleanse Israel of Palestinians. Dead hostages are just collateral damage. Their families know this and it's making them rightly crazy.

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Judith, I wouldn't look to youtube for true stories. I depend on tried and true journalists whose opinions and predictions have proven fairly correct over time.

We currently don't have the eyes and ears of journalists in Gaza. So detailed info is scarce. As they say, the devil is in the details.

Joseph in Fairport, NY

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No place to hide? How about all the endless tunnels that had to cost millions to make, all of which are under key buildings. The loss of life is exactly what Hamas planned. They do not care one twit for human lives, for them they are all martyrs going to paradise. Israel played right into Hamas's plan. A win-win for Hamas.

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Harvey,

We all speculate on Hamas' true reasons and intentions. But it's a known that Israel owns the skies over Gaza. That being the case, it's reasonable to assume that Hamas built the tunnels to escape detection and avoid being easy targets.

But where to dig? The media is replete with opinions that fault Hamas with cowardice and rabid disregard for their own people. I'm trying to imagine Hamas' predicament and walk in their shoes. In doing so, it immediately becomes clear to me that digging tunnels in open areas would be massively unsafe, so they had to camouflage their movements, their comings and goings, carrying massive equipment and materials for the dig, which could only be accomplished by doing it bit by bit and among the population.

I'm a Jew, born and raised on the Lower East Side of NYC -- a block from Delancey Street. My shul where I was Bar Mitvahed in 1953 still stands on Broome Street. And as a Jew I learned to care about the disadvantaged. One can talk all day long about how the Palestinians are responsible for their plot in life, but it's not how I see it. I see them being held down, not being able to move and live free. And that has to change if the Middle East is ever to rid itself of the rage that has existed for 75 years between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israelis have the power, Palestinians don't. And those with the power are in a position to usher the change that future generations will thank them for.

Joseph in Fairport, NY

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The wealth make a travesty of the rule of law with endless appeals. How to lose respect for the system.

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Hamas puts no value on human lives. All that die as a result of their actions, i.e. the attack in Oct and using civilians as human shields, for Hamas they are all martyrs going to paradise.

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No way will there be a 2 state solution with Netanyahu who has based his whole career, to put it simply, on hate of Palestinians and their rights.

You might say well this is true of Hamas. And I would disagree. Chances of Hamas moderating are better.

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No, they aren’t. What has to happen is that both the current Israeli clique and Hamas need to be removed and replaced. What Israel needs to recognize is that in the end, only Palestinians can rid themselves of Hamas. That means having realistic Palestinians to deal with, and dealing with them honestly.

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ThankYou Jon Margolis. As always.

Trump's Bibi Bromance - especially supporting settlement land grabs and settler violence -intentionally disheartened many Palestinians who'd previously supported a two state solution.

For decades, Biden has been an outspoken critic of Israeli settlement policy -especially as undermining two state negotiations. His track record should aid Biden administration diplomatic efforts.

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This is realistic? Who is going to get rid of Hamas? And who is going to replace them? And who is going to VET these people? Hamas has said they will accept Israel ( or do) and you have to separate out the threats/resistance from their willingness to survive. That is a good bet vs whatever you are saying. Words are easy. yes Palestinians can rid themselves of Hamas ( or Hamas can reform) and should but that will not happen before there is something to live for and no need for resistance.

As for the current Israeli state of mind- larger than a clique by far, this has to be sold to Israelis by Israelis. The left, the peace movement, has been "dissed" decimated and discredited and many have been sold that the whole enchilada belongs to Israel. This is a big deal. There are many many more people who feel this way and depend on might, weapons, walls, containment to prevail.

So this October 7th massacre has shaken Israel and needs to ferment in minds.

US pause in weapons is a good start for distancing ourselves. We, nor Arab countries cannot impose a government on either side. Arab countries are doing well to hold off cooperation with Israel in support of Palestinians as well...

World attention, attention and awakening of the "street" is what Hamas and Netanyahu's response has brought about.

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This has been going on for how long? I don't mean October 7th. 1948 is a good place to look. Now in my 80th year, and as I wonder what can be done to bring Palestinians and Israelites together, I fear there is too much history that directs the historical mindsets of both Israel and Palestine. I think: "When one Hamas soldier is killed, how many more are made in "his image?" When one Israeli IDF soldier is killed, how more tightly will be the jaws of Netanyahu? There have been other players in this drama, including other Arab states and Britain, so one can see that trying to make peace in Gaza, now, is an incredible feat if not an impossible one. And then comes the United States into the picture trying to balance its support of Israel while trying to broker peace on both sides. "Oh what a tangled web has been woven," to paraphrase Sir Walter Scott in his poem, "Marmion."

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Yes. There is a very long way to go.

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Do you think there are any Palestinians who aren't mad as hell from losing relatives and they all have PTSD. Israel has been teaching from kindergarten that these people are animals....not worth anything. The women giving birth to filthy snakes. Killing and starving them is right.

This is hardly a formula for any good resolution.

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What makes you think that about Israel or Israelis? It is true that many Israelis view Palestinians in a racist--for lack of a better word--light, but that is hardly true of all of them. Did you know that a very high percentage of doctors and nurses in Israeli hospitals are Palestinians? Are you aware that Israeli Arabs sit in the Knesset, the parliament? And that in the last government some of them were ministers? I suggest you do some deep introspection about your feelings toward Jews.

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In their shared rejection of a two state solution, the Netanyahu regime and Hamas share a bullying disdain for the well being of their own people. On Hamas' part, through terrorizing Palestinians and using them as fodder. On Netanyahu's part, by corrupting government institutions.

As a Ugandan journalist said of the Bosnia crisis 'people only stop slaughtering each other when they tire of blood running through the streets.' Hamas and the Netanyahu coalition seem never to tire. Their apologists prolong the violence. But it is possible that the rest of the world is ready. And the Biden administration is helping keep that diplomatic momentum going.

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The news is that a Hamas leader has said they are willing to accept Israel and for Palestinians to have their own state. Israel does not want that. So far blood has not been running through Israel's streets. Gaza has no streets anymore.

Leaders of both have wanted the whole enchilada. With enough pain, and EQAUL pain, which is I bet what Hamas is trying to prove, there can be some movement.

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Has there been an instance where a self-avowed terrorist organization moderated and became a working government? No. Hamas today could hardly be considered—in any way—pro-Palestinian.

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"Has there been an instance where a self-avowed terrorist organization moderated and became a working government? "

Irgun during the mandate. Later its leader Menachim Begin became the Israeli Prime Minister who made concessions and signed the Camp David Accords with Anwar Sadat of Egypt.

The Irish Republican Army.

Sinn Fein.

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/15/1238876771/how-sinn-fein-has-made-themselves-over

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (FARC–EP or FARC)

I don't have time to provide all the examples and citations.

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Well, you misunderstood the question. No, not even the American government turned its rebel (not terrorist) army into a working government. In that and the instances you cited, some of the leaders were also leaders in forming the government, but in all cases most of the people involved in forming the government, writing laws and foundational documents, establishing practices and procedures for the state, for its people, and establishing the new government in its relationship with the world were scholars, former high-to-mid-level government officials, and those with particular subject matter expertise. The PLA used to have some of this resource, though it has perhaps dwindled away. Hamas has never had any such resources, and has been a farcical force in any attempt to run a community of only 2 million people.

Sinn Féin Poblachtach or Republican Sinn Fein is a splinter of the original Sinn Fein and its terrorist roots. Sinn Féin Poblachtach Has not allowed violent action in its party since its founding. There again, it is a political party, not a government.

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Thank you for those examples.

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You answer your own question! But you are not right. Can Netanyahu be considered "pro Israel" given the results and the direction? And can Trump be considered "pro-American"? No.

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I am confused. Is your comment meant to answer mine? If so, I referenced neither Trump nor Netanyahu. I consider Trump to be pro-Trump only, and Netanyahu seems to only pro-keeping -Netanyahu-out-of-jail.

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All of this is a puzzle to me. Why do the Muslims hate the Jews so? Was this not known to those who created the state of Israel in 1948? Israel had not existed as a country since 722 B.C. when the Assyrians completed their conquest. We should talk, I suppose. Look what we did in stealing the land from the American indigenous population, or the way we stole half of Mexico's territory as a result of the Mexican American War, 1847-1848. But back to Gaza, viewing the photos of the homes and civilian structures destroyed by Israeli bombs is stomach churning. I don't know if there is a viable solution to Israel and the Mid-East.

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Jews out of need because of anti-Semitism started returning in small numbers in the late 19th cent. It was not until after the Holocaust that in desperation they came in numbers. It’s a good history to know to understand this. Maybe you need something concise. This is not that comparable to colonization of the “new world” to my way of thinking. Jews were desperate and had ancient roots in Israel. Western powers supported this after such devastation.

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lin, Gangrene and Jill not Green Stein, both acting to help Putin against Biden. I want to gag. I had forgotten (tried to) the egregious Stein. Thank you for this assessment of the situation with regard to Bibi and Hamas. I do not envy Biden. I am glad he has paused sending bombs. I also note that Egypt is not helping as they are worried about the influx of Palestinian refugees which would probably include some Hamas types.

So many nefarious egos involved here as well and their desire to remain in power, making sensible solutions impossible. And so people continue to die and if they live, live precariously.

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Excellent analysis. Although the report states that it "noted that it’s hard to collect accurate information in a war zone," there have been hundreds of anecdotal reports and videos of Israeli military sickening humanitarian international law abuses collected by Amnesty International, which is currently being investigated. From the accounts I've read they have acted in the same depraved behavior as Hamas. There is no question that Bibi is engaged in systematic genocide in broad daylight. It took Joe too long to put his foot down. It is striking that both Netanyahu and Trump, the former appeasing his right wingers and the latter world dictators, in order to cling to power so they avoid going to prison.....

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Yes! Yes! Yes!

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Excellent summary, lin. Sadly.

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Agree 100% with your savvy analysis. Only question I have is that Palestine, Hamas, the Arab Street, clearly don't favor a two-state-solution themselves! They repeatedly advocate for a one-state-solution: and it's been hard to find, frame or foist a leader for them who will negotiate in good faith otherwise.

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In Palestine, Hamas has violently suppressed support for two states. The truculence of the increasingly extremist Netanyahu regimes has lead many previous supporters to think demanding full civil rights in one state is the only possibility.

Trump moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and his underhanded Abrahamic Accords was the last straw. Biden and Blinken seem to have revived the possibility. As has the Netanyahu coalition - unintentionally.

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Do you think that full civil rights for ALL in one state is a goal worth striving for? It would call for sincere Israeli change, but once the war ends, and Netanyahu receives his just desserts, couldn't it be a possibility?

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damned either way, this is that kind of dispute. You don't hear Republicans complaining about 35000 Gazen deaths, and with them some millions of Americans to boot. Israeli public opinion is overall closer to Republicans, and you can imagine why. Should we run a litany over the murders, torturing, raping of Israelis, the continued hostage imprisonment of Israelis in Gaza? How many of them are likely still alive you might wonder. We could of course do the same for Gazan women, men, children shot or blasted to bits, not to mention the enormous others wounded, lives cripplied... and death from starvation. War rhetoric sanitizes all this, except when pointing out "your own".

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“War is hell,” which is why it is to be avoided. People sitting outside of war can write rules to have “nice, safe wars,” but is that real when one side (Russia, Hamas,…) is doing anything and everything to win? Russia has been attacking non-combatants and civilian facilities. If Ukraine wants to survive, don’t they have to use all the resources and options they have? Don’t they need to bring pain to Russia to make Russia stop? In 1943, US and RAF attacks on Germany killed 800,000 people, mostly civilians. War is about survival. It’s not a sporting event.

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Agreed that “war is not a sporting event.” But as we try to become more civilized, we need to try to end it. That was the purpose of the UN, an organization we should always strive to support and improve. The vision is hazy, but we need to refocus, which is what our president is trying for against warmongers’ wishes.

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We have to appreciate the proximity of the rock and the hard space. WE were/are close to war with Iran. OUR troops were/are killed in Syria. US shipping attacked. Some of the hostages are US citizens.

The purpose of a bomb is.....

What is the best means to extricate hostages...

How do you tell the players without a scorecard?

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That is what I meant by “threading the needle.” How, with Netanyahu fighting a two-state solution, can there be any solution to this impasse? Do you remember that he encouraged Qatar to continue giving money to Hamas (to build tunnels?) or that settlements on the West Bank were encouraged? I am haunted by the destruction of ancient Arab orchards, which seems to have been an Israeli goal.

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Virginia, yes, absolutely (“become more civilized” and “what [Biden] is trying for”). In every generation, there seem to be hateful and/or greedy leaders, and we need tools and ways to stop them before their wars develop. I wish the UN were effective that way.

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Goodman. You are on target with "war is hell" . Hamas intentionally brought this on, willingly sacrificed it's own people to bring attention to a long festering situation. It is ugly and painful specticle. Are the scenes from Ukraine any more appealing? Are not the Russians destroying schools, apartment buildings, destroying cities, killing men, women and children? A major difference between the two wars is that THE RUSSIAN INVASION WAS UNPROVOKED. But no campus

protests, no large scale encampments calling for killing Russians or for the destruction of Russia, no UN resolutions, no daily media coverage. Why is there such a difference? It is the world's oldest hate. The memory of the Holocaust is fading. One half of Europe's (East and West) Jews were erased just 80 years ago but that was not sufficient revenge for the supposed killers of Jesus two thousand years ago. We live in a sad, bitter world that still looks to strong, aggressive men as leaders. But look on the bright side.

yeswris hell

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George, agreed. We also hear barely a peep about the much-greater death toll in Sudan. Sinwar, a key Hamas leader, is hateful for his own egocentric reasons, having nothing to do with Jesus. He was in Israeli prison for murdering Palestinians. With him on one side and Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir, etc, on the other, what can we expect? Can we find ways to stop such people in the bud, before their diseases impact the rest of us?

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Also, I believe that Hamas is not releasing hostages because there are so few that have not been raped and/or tortured.

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No. They are not releasing them because it’s their only card to play. Once they release, they lose and are killed. The hostages will only be released if Isreal simply ends hostilities and allows for an international armed force into Gaza and the Yahoo in power won’t allow it so eventually the hostages will all be killed. And it will be rightfully blamed on Netanyahu. This is unfortunately my prediction.

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I agree but not that they will be all killed. If they are, the blame goes to Netanyahu moreso. Hamas has to keep the hostages for barter and also be wary that if they are released, stories of their treatment would be told. How they are keeping their well being in this war is related also to Israel prolonging the fighting and Hamas *ability* to keep them well. I imagine (believe) they are being held separately.

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Seems to me I've read several pieces of news that told of the numbers of Palestinians - many CHILDREN - that are being held in Israeli prisons. I've also read of several - several times HAMAS has actually agreed to return the hostages but Bibi & his bunch would not agree. I'm sure the families & friends of the remaining hostages arent happy with Bibi. My question is when there seems to be no knowledge of exactly where the hostages are being kept - how is it safe for THEM when Israel bombs & destroys buildings - hospitals, mosques, homes, schools? I have to question - exactly how many hostages are still alive?

I really doubt Bibi's concern is for the hostages rather than his own welfare.

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Moot. So to those that call this pause "anti-Semitic" ( a cry that is losing meaning, like "wolf") to be pro humanitarian is anti Semitic? Yes about October 8th when this should have started but Joe and many were traumatized and teary eyed and could not see clearly. But should have much much sooner. This cost. As well there was a political cost which doing the right thing blocked.

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As someone on the receiving end of anti-Semitism, I suggest that you think more about your easy conclusions.

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Reading your treads i must point out that the Palestinians are Semites. Most Jews are not. This anti-Semites is really anti Jews. It’s a convenient mask of truth. People hate Jews and have hated them since the Roman Catholic Church said the Jews, meaning the people of Judea not the Hebrews killed Jesus . And Jesus the man was a member of the tribe that worshiped the Hebrew god of Abraham.

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Yes, but "anti-Semitism" means prejudice against Jews. It's not ethnically precise, but that's what it was coined to mean.

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Anti-Semitism gets to mean anything some Jews don't like others saying. It's losing its power. People reactions get to be "there they go again". This is not smart.

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I am Jewish. An eye for an eye does not work. That is my conclusion. Sechel. You may represent some Jewish feeling, not mine.

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Soooo, if my Jewish girlfriend wants me to spank her for excitement, I’m I practicing antisemitism? (Im joking again. I can’t get into this.)

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Seems like we think alike!

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It was mearly a symbolic gesture since the us was already transferred massive amounts of weapons to Israel. The real question that should be asked is why have we allowed a virtually renegade state pretending to be civilized as all nation states do, but why have we ‘allowed’ Israel to act with impunity through the decades against a people to ethnically cleanse them. The truth is hard to accept especially with Jews. I understand this but it’s a salient point. Our lobby mainly Jewish lobby and international Jewish interest have bought congress through the decades to allow Israel to do anything it has wanted including allowing an untenable problem to fester like an open sore.

I recall when backpacking around Europe in the mid 1970s meeting a Jewish American doctor also on the road and returning from an internship in Israel and he told me he could never understand why as he practiced in the hospital, that an Israeli Jew was always treated first. And any Arab Israelis would be treated second as though they were second class citizens. My fellow Americans of newish heritage, I’m afraid the truth hurts. But what Hamas has revealed in their unprecedented vicious attack on Israel is this historic incredible infliction of pain on Arab peoples. We frequently criticize Chinese and what they have done to their ethnic minority Weagers. (Misspelled) And we have given Israeli Jews a pass on account of the disaster befallen them in mid 20th century Europe. This is the history of man kind. I’m not singling out Israeli Jews as a unique circumstance although I am stating it emphatically using it as a modern example.

I know I’ve set myself up for criticism. But these are my feelings, my beliefs. Let’s talk truth here and be real. At 14, I was enamored of General Moshe Dayan with patch over one eye as he heroically battled to save his nation. But it was in reality another in many battles against a people whose only sin was living on lands for thousands of years and not being able to sufficiently able to defend themselves against land loss and lives lost. Our species is a shameful one. I am ashamed.

Billkatz@substack.com

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I do want to acknowledge another unspoken personal point. I know my last name is a Jewish one. I was not brought up Jewish but catholic due to my Italian mother’s wishes. In grade school, I had great teaching nuns who taught us to always use reason and logic as our guiding posts in life and I reasoned myself right out of believing in God at a very early age and they expelled me. Also, when confronted by Jews trying to sell me some advertising or such, first word out of their mouths is, “is your mother Jewish?” Suffice to say, I dislike believers of all persuasions but I tolerate them. I need to because I now am in the marketplace and need to sell shit (Sorry for my Italian.) (That was kind of a joke.) So no, I’m not a self-hating Jew. But I do hate everyone. (That was a joke too, kinda.)

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No. The real question is why do people hate each other due to the color of their skin and their religious beliefs.

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My answer is a stand-up I once did at an open mic at a Methodist church. I opened with (and I thought I had sufficiently cleaned my act up for the Christians like no nasty stuff that I love indulging in) “God made a terrible mistake allowing the wrong primate branch up the evolutionary trail. God had given the tickets to the Bonobos tribe of Africa— a non aggressive sub species, but man grabbed the tickets and ran up the trail. Not only did I not get one laugh, but the pastor called me the following morning and asked me to come in to discuss my apparent anti Christian attitude. That says it all.

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Bonobos are matriarchal. That can't fly with patriarchal religions, which have come to dominate the world. Christianity is so patriarchal that God is always a man, Mary had to be a virgin to give birth to Jesus, and women's sole power of giving birth was co-opted in the Garden of Eden story to make Adam appear to give birth to Eve from his rib! It's all patently and biologically fantasy conceived for power purposes to make all things solely female to be "other" and "not Godly" by definition. That’s real anti-christanity for you. Yet historians of ancient man can trace the shifting structures from ancient matriarchy with goddesses rooted in powers of pregnancy and menstruation (bleeding without dying!) to the current patriarchy and all powerful male God depictions with concurrent subjugation of females. Heck, the current abortion bans are a modern perpetuation of the same.

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I know, Barbara. And studies have shown that when bonobo males act up, the females simply deny them sex and it calms them right down. So my audience was so stunned by my performance I felt like a million bucks walking away from the mic. I felt like a combo Mark Twain and George Carlin. A month later at the same open mic, I asked the host why there was such angst at my presentation and she screamed at me, “Because God doesn’t make mistakes.” She just happened to be a married lesbian but heck, I didn’t mind except that just a few years ago, she would have been cast out of that church for such oh my God, naughtiness. lol.

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"God doesn't make mistakes'. What a joke. If "God" is omniscient and omnipotent, and if intelligent design were true, the "God" makes mistakes happen ALL THE TIME. Evolutionary mistakes, genetic mistakes, disease and climate disasters, and certainly plenty of religious mistakes.

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Thank you, Bill Katz. I think about the Old Testament constantly during all these “discussions,” remembering the hate spewed by Israelis I have seen on TV. It is biblical, not 20th century. How many know the long history of the “wandering” Jews or that there was a hardy house plant called “wandering Jew.”? Envy of the successes of Jewish persons in every land they land in (pun intended) has fueled the constant battle against their brilliance and adaptability.

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Virginia, "lands they land in" should actually be written, "lands they escaped to after being oppressed in the lands they were born, a process started when the Romans forced Israelite migration out of Judea and Samaria just after the time of Christ."

You should visit Masada in the souhthern part of Israel and Gamla in the north, and learn their histories.

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Masada history I know. Didn’t think about Roman “pogroms.” Thank you for reminding me of the Romans.

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Oh my god.

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Interestingly, a very high proportion of doctors and nurses in Israeli hospitals are Arabs.

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Perhaps now but maybe not in 1977 when I had that brief discussion l

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Perhaps that shows that as Israel advanced, so did its Arab citizens? I was in Jerusalem in 1970 and walked safely in the Arab Quarter and to the mosque at the Dome of the Rock. This was after the 1967 war. I wonder what happened to that peaceful coexistence?

My theoretical hunch is that Arafat's Fatah movement pushed some Palestinians towards violence, while influx of Jews from oppressive countries, notably the USSR, shifted a generally idealistic Eutopean-descent population rightward. Until Netanyahu, that idealism prevailed. Since Netanyahu came to power, cynicism started to rise, not in a small way because of the 2 Intifadas and the start of barrages of rockets from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

While all this was transpiring, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon did nothing for Palestinian Arabs. Donations to Gaza and the West Bank grew as violence grew.

I guess we're getting what we paid for.

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Did you know that extreme orthodox women become baby factories by order of their men.

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Not surprised. And the same may be said of Arab women. Who will care for the many orphans?

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Kill Batz, You must have been fed only anti-Israel propaganda all your life, or you aren't who you say you are.

You obviously haven't been to an Israeli hospital. It seems like you haven't been to Arab neighborhoods or shops in Israel. You've never experienced a rocket attack nor been in a bomb shelter. You must never have been in a modern Israeli apartment in which a secure safe room is required.

Yes, Israelis should never have settled in the West Bank, not because they're illegal, but because their security needs have created the oppressivw conditions you sllude to. But then Arabs should not have pushed out all the Christians in Ramalla either, after Arafat's gang moved there in the early 1960s. (They were pushed out by force, with Arafat's men kidnapping young women and taking them for brides, with extortion, snd with direct violence. Jordan, a true apartheid state, did nothing to correct this oppression, and by the 1967 war, the town became wholly Arab.) I bring that single story I know about to illustrate that somehow the Palestinians were always there and always had claims to all the land is and has been pure bullshit.

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Neither side is innocent - not in Israel/Gaza - likely in any of the present on-going "conflicts" - many/most of which the US has or is supplying weapons/training for. Look at OUR history - US citizens (mostly Repubs) want to forget all about what this country & the "immigrants (Europeans-Puritans etc) have done to the true Natives here plus putting slavery in place for "economics" reasons. We certainly do not want our children/grandchildren to be aware of what our ancestors did and were capable of doing, do we? Considering all that - kind of makes you wonder how we feel we are able to teach or judge other countries, right?

Jerry & Bill, lets not go down the rabbit hole here, please.

Commenters on these posts most of the time stay polite & TALK. Well aside from a troll or two now & then.

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Jerry is my comrade.

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Can I sell you from my product line? Special offer just for you. Exploding candles.

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Agreed...brutality always arises. Always. The human race is despicable.

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Susan, much of the behavior of the human race is despicable, I agree, but the race of Homo Sapiens Sapiens is not as a whole despicable. It is still evolving, and we obviously have a long way to go. The process is slower than many of us would like. In my view, I see us in a stage of prolonged adolescence, where tribal thinking and extremism can be common. But idealism is part of what comes into play during adolescence, and the hope to make this world a better place is what I am counting on to prevail. It has long been predicted that this time of the early part of the 21st century would be in upheaval on multiple levels. But the result will ultimately usher in huge changes to increase the consciousness of humankind. We are living during pivotal times. We each have a role to play and I, for one, am grateful for HCR's letters that offer an historical perspective and have inspired this community to come together. Here we can express our thoughts and feelings to find the best way forward for the human race during these incredibly difficult and trying times.

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HCRs letters always prove the "history repeats itself." Humanity has a big problem with learning from mistakes. How can the American people forget the catastrophic 4 years of Trumpism? Injecting bleech and nuking a hurricane should have been enough..........how many times does a child need to burn his hand on a red hot stove burner?

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Michael, The Republicans yelling about not giving Israel bombs to be used in Rafa have obviously forgotten about Reagan’s stopping supplies of F-16’s to Israel because of the large number of civilian casualties when they bombed Beirut,Lebanon in 1981.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/07/21/reagan-halts-f16s-for-israel/578f0c5e-d018-4317-aa8d-d5b369a0550e/

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I hope you're right. I read just a few hours ago in either the Guardian or Washington Post that the weapons were still being sent.

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My understanding is that certain types of weapons are still being sent. Those are defensive weapons. That will not discontinue. It is offensive weapons that are supposedly halted. I do not know whether some can be both.

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the Iron Dome stands.

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I can't help but wonder what the cost is of those weapons and what could be done with the money spent on them. What the cost will be to rebuild all the bombed infrastructure? How many with limbs lost, malnutrition, or PTSD who will never reach their full potential. The world needs to find a different way to resolve disputes. Monitoring the misuse of weapons seems only a small step in that direction.

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That is not something you need to convince me of. It is people like Putin and others like him that need to be convinced of that. In the meantime, I want protections from their aggressions.

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They are still being sent.

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The Iranian/Russian connection is a constant consideration. President Biden is trying to thread the needle which is too subtle a stance for what Michael Steele brilliantly with humor calls “the stupids.”

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It sure looks like that, except when one looks at the numbers of hamas fighters dispatched by the I.D.F.: basically half of the overall total of deaths. A one-to-one civilian-to-combattant mortality rate is significantly better than death rates in other counter-insurgencies carried out in densely populated areas.

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I do not believe half of the deaths were Hamas fighters. I believe Israel lies about everything and our politicians buy it. Hillary actually said the student protesters didn't understand middle eastern history. Maybe they know less than she does, but one thing they do know is that people, children are being slaughtered, hospitals destroyed and there is a state of famine. I guess Hillary is just doing what she can to keep that criminal out of the White House, which is what the Israeli government wants: Their dumb buddy Donald Trump as President. The more misery they cause, right out there for the world to see, the more students and others will protest. Just wait for the Democratic convention.

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Chump and Bibi are evil twins. The protestors need an update on who will make things worse

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Unfortunately, we all do. Biden''s hands are not clean but he's the only option in November. I have learned a lot that I was not aware of about how dirty "politics" is. I can't think of another word to describe all the wars that should NOT have been waged and all our citizens who return in a box or ruined for life....not to mention the destruction of millions of little villagers in those countries we invaded.

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If you are willing to accept the death toll of 35,000 at face value, you are giving the Gazans the benefit of the doubt that the data are not distorted by hamas. Seems fair to take the Israeli numbers at face value, too, giving the authorities the same benefit of the doubt. The bigger question remains the possible descent into mass famine and dehydration. That may be the crux of Israeli war crimes.

EDIT: what troubles me most is that I can not square pictures of the cityscapes of Gaza and Bakhmut looking very much the same. Easy to condemn Putin. What about Netanyahu?

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Netanyahu has done more damage to Jews worldwide than can be calculated.

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That is what worries me. Netanyahu is proving to be the best recruiter hamas will ever have. Framing this counter-insurgency as an existential war was a mistake.

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Sort of like the attack on Iraq was a great recruiter for Isis.

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Yes about the framing being a mistake. Israel is so armed to the teeth and powerful in other ways (including re the US) that this is ridiculous, but it sells. What is existential is what Israel is doing to itself; destroying itself by continuing the occupation and going for all the land and the government allowing or planning mistreatment, cleansing or "thinning out" of Palestinians.

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Jerry and Potter,

I suspect that none of us were in Israël on 08oct23; I also suspect that all three of us may recall 12sep01 in the United States. I know how I felt that day; the same as I felt when I served the U.S. government voluntarily in Iraq three years later. While I am proud to have served my country, I blanche at my reasons why.

B.L.U.F. (bottom-line, up-front): there is dirt on both sides between Israël and Palestine. In the end, a focus on everyday people in the Holy Land -- not to mention virulent anti-Semitism and Islamophobia surfacing in our own country -- should inform our judgements and any attendant suggestions. Thank you, Jerry, for favouring reason, restraint, and compassion over ad hominem attacks.

Yes, Potter, it was a tactical error by Netanyahu in not pursuing a lower-intensity counter-insurgency, one that he also had an interest in pursuing. Yes, Jerry, hamas and hizbolah have deliberately targeted innocents for up to forty years. Like their common sponsor, the gangster régime in Teheran, these organizations' aims include an eliminationist anti-Semitism. Several times in Israël's short history, surrounding Muslim states have sought to wipe out the Jewish state.

While this grisly determination has abated in the cases of Jordan and Egypt, much to their credit, Israël can hardly be faulted for feeling insecure with régimes like those of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, as well as, to lesser extents, Yemen, I.S.I.S., and Lebanon in the neighbourhood. As we have seen in the Holocaust, the Balkans, Cambodia, and Rwanda, genocides in deeds follow genocides in words. Potter, show me the genocidal intent in mainstream Israeli rhetoric; show me the kidnapping of children; show me the proof of intent to kill civilians only.

Unfortunately, however, Israël's the continuation of search-&-destroy missions, when the deleterious consequences became clear and predictable early on, crossed the line from collateral damage to collateral carnage. Netanyahu clearly ignoring a clear warning from the International Court of Justice crossed the line from collateral carnage to war crimes.

In my opinion, President Biden has been complicit by sending weapons (e.g., bunker-busting bombs) for use in a densely populated areas. So, one saw the possibility of these bombs killing many (albeit often tainted) innocents above the ground while hamas gangsters were laughing below the ground. We do not know if those bombs ever collapsed any hamas tunnels.

Yet, I made a BIG MISTAKE at the expense of Israël. I had assumed that the numbers of civilians killed to be in addition to hamas fighters eliminated. In reality, half of those Gazans killed were hamas fighters. That leaves a civilian-to-military mortality ratio of one-to-one or, at most (to acknowledge those who claim Israël lies all the time), 1.5-to-one. Either level is significantly better than the ratioes endured in recent urban combat. Israël appears to be using restraint.

At least for me, the main concern right now -- one that could make this bloody war a genocide -- is the looming famine and dehydration of the Gazan population. I have faith in the Israeli people -- a lot more than I do in those Gazans cheering as kidnap and murder victims, untainted innocents all, were paraded by them on 07oct23 -- to intervene and prevent this outcome. That unearths the other BIG RUB here: many arguments assume that hamas fighters reflect all Gazans and that Netanyahu and his coalition reflect all Israeli Jews. And, yes, I am prone to that error, too.

In the end, Potter, your moral judgements ring hollow and out of touch with flawed humanity; most Palestineans and Jews wish to live together in peace and building a common prosperity for their children's future. Yet the governments of good peoples can do bad things. What those peoples do subsequent to those moral lapses is what counts. It will not be the I.D.F., hamas and fellow gangsters, diplomats, or officers on either side that will solve this immense tragedy. It will be the mothers on both sides fed up with burying their children who bleed out in the same color.

Netanyahu's worst wrong here is that he has deferred this hope for at least a generation. Please revert to Leviticus 33 & 34; Netanyu has betrayed the best traditions of Judaism. Israël will set it right. In that better prospect, I have faith.

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It's a war, not a counter insurgency. Hamas still has thousands of trained fighters and still has stockpiles of weapons.

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This is certain.. and this damage to Jews worldwide was easy to foretell.

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Required no Einstein, just a brain not hardened by hatred. Something legions of Jews have lived (or died) with for eons.

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The French-Americans during the 50s-60's helped fill the ranks of the Viet Cong...NLA and North Vietnams regular army constantly...year after year.

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And the beat goes on, and on, and on

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Netanyahu, for all of his corruption and incompetence, did not start it.

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He did not strike the match, but he created the situation in Gaza that caused the match to be struck, and rather than extinguishing the flame has poured gasoline, nay, napalm and created the conflagration.

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Ally, no. Hamas created the conditions in Gaza after the Israelis pulled out all military and all Jews cities in Gaza in 2005. The blockade of Gaza started after Hamas began weekly rocket attacks on Israeli civilians after they violently took over Gaza. As well, residents from Gaza were restricted from entering Israel for work after some Gaza residents killed Israeli citizens. (Those visit restrictions were being progressively lifted, and some Gazan workers in Israel were among those killed on Oct 7).

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That depends on how you characterize decades of "settlements."

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Sigh. There were no settlements before the 1967 war, started by Egypt and Syria. The Israelis pleaded with Jordan to stay out, but King Hussein opened fire and lost the West Bank as a result. It's important to recall that Israel has faced numerous wars mounted by those who do not want to defeat it, but to wipe it off the face of the Earth. The current conflict is another one of the same. (If you care I want a two-state solution, and I would tell almost all of those in the settlements that they'll have a choice: they can return to Israel, or live in a Palestinian state.)

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The Gaza Health Ministry’s count of deaths and injuries has been cited and determined to be roughly accurate for years by the UN, WHO, HRW, and *the US State Dept*. The notion that half of all Gaza’s deaths are combatants is absurd on its face. For one thing, half of all Gazans are children, which is also their estimated proportion of deaths, and approximately one-fourth are adult women. Neither group are considered combatants in any substantial numbers. Israel, however, counts ALL able-bodied adult males - approximately one-fourth of all Gazans - as combatants. So the only way half of all deaths were combatants is if no women or non-combatant men were killed, just kids and “terrorists”, which isn’t remotely the case.

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yes but.. the Palestinian ministry that is counting has more credibility and access.

Anti-Netanyahu should be the subject of marches, but *everyone* in Israel is behind this war or in solidarity or repressed from showing otherwise.

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Suffice it to say, there is dirt on both sides of the street. hamas started in the 1990s to undermine the peace process between Arafat (i.e., the Palestinean authority) and Prime Minister Rabin. Israël is democracy, a far better starting point than the gangster régimes of hamas and hizbolah that second and pursue agenda of eliminationist anti-Semitism consistently articulated by the theo-thugs in Teheran. I still have faith in the 98% of the peoples of Palestine and Israël, particularly the women (mainly mothers).

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Student protesters are filled with righteousness and hungry for simple answers and simple phrases. I don’t know if half of those killed in Gaza were Hamas fighters, but a very large number of them were, and the media has largely failed to note that, instead inflating the number of civilians killed.

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Jon, “…filled with righteousness and hungry for simple answers and simple phrases” is so apt a description for their outlook. Well said.

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The hospitals have skin and bones children and simple males lying on floors wounded with little medical resources. These are not Hamas fighters.

As far as student protesters....they just know the simple facts. What do you expect? Only the ones that have Palestinian relatives know history and details.

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No one is disputing that there are many civilians who have been maimed and killed. Many of them may have hated Hamas. They might still hate Hamas, we just don't know.

As for college students, they could, uh, study, before they issue non-negotiable demands and righteous pronouncements. Do I really expect them to be experts? No, but that also means that I need not take their sanctimoniousness at face value.

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The students are angry. And, they are rightly sanctimoniousness. Some are even on hunger strikes. It does not take an educated person to see the obvious.

I have studied since Oct 7. I have enough material to teach a couple of 3 credit courses. But, to really be educated in this situation, one would have to delve into a lot of heavy tomes of material. Like a master's degree. I have wondered about the Jews since I heard about the holocaust in 1963, and why they have been persecuted through the ages. I got a book from my library that went back to the 1200's. Then in the 1970's the media was full on with stories about the holocaust. I lived in NYC which is a pretty Jewish part of the country. I won't go into personal experiences except to point to the most Jewish New Yorker, our new "hero" Michael Cohen. His history is fairly typical. (I get a real kick out of him; I am waiting for the end of Monday, after he has testified)

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These student protesters have the right to express themselves. They should not be compared to the 60s protests, where National Guards fired live ammunition and had bayonets on the ends of their rifles.

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No one says they don't have the right. But that doesn't mean they are right. And I lived through the protests in the 1960s.

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Israel lies a lot......

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No one knows if the Israelis are giving an accurate "body count". But you'd be right, modern warfare has consistently shown civilian deaths far outnumber that of combatants, at times, deliberate. WW2 bombing of German cities, even when there was no military value, other than for the Germans to remember what they're in for the "next" time something like that came around.

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1. If Israel had bombed "indiscriminately" the numbers would be in the hundreds of thousands -- more like Arab deaths in Syria.

2. Still no mention of Ganz -- who could displace Netanyahu.

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The reason why I did and do not discuss Minister Ganz is that I have not done my homework on him. My bad.

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Perhaps a military coup. Going down the wrong road but the current PM has been down that wrong road for a few decades.

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I laid this out yesterday. Ganz is a greater threat to Netanyahu than Hamas, Biden, anyone. Has 85% support in the polls. Protesters are attacking the wrong targets. Qatar is not an honest broker. Grants asylum to murders and rapists. Jordan and Egypt refused to give aid, any admission to innocent Gazans, starting with October, through the first pause, etc. In our country, if they knew or believed that there would be reprisals, that's like felony murder. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/felony_murder_rule

Some of the protest leaders, some faculty, many not students, supported Hamas from onset. https://www.wsj.com/articles/whos-behind-the-anti-israel-protests-hamas-gaza-hezbollah-talking-points-d2f538ca

Somebody needs to produce a scorecard.

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Good points, all, Daniel. Thank you. On Jordan, of which I am fond, and Egypt, your statement reminds me of what I found in the Middle East: Palestineans are not universally loved by other Muslims. Here is a Palestinean, and Queen of Jordan, who presents the other side of my pro-Israeli sympathies reasonably.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gbPxU_K8rA

EDIT: the three-minute segment starting at 7:50 says it all for me.

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Due, also, to Hamas’ strategy of fighting from among civilians and providing no shelter. Hamas built as many as 450 miles of tunnels under Gaza, but none of them—none— for civilians to use. It knowingly invited Israel to attack, intending that huge numbers of civilians would be maimed and killed. Hamas’ tactics virtually assured that Israel would use artillery and bombing, and it was fine with that, because it believed that Israel would pay a greater price in the world. So far, it has been proved largely right—although I suspect that the organization’s leaders have been shocked by the military defeat its forces have suffered. So, while it’s easy to see what Israel has done, Hamas deserves equal blame, at least. Indeed, more of the blame, because it started the fighting. (Think of the immense destruction of German and Japanese cities, much more than what was visited on British or American cities, brought on by starting World War II.)

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It’s too late. He could lose the election over this.

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Not so fast, kids leave schools in a few weeks. Also there are plenty of ways they could both lose the election. It is only May, 6 months til election.

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Hamas did nothing, nothing, nothing whatsoever to protect the Palestinian population ahead of time when they knew that Israel would respond to its evil sadistic pogrom and hostage taking on October 7, 2023.

Hamas's plan is to victimize the Palestinian people so that good people will sympathize with them. They have succeeded brilliantly in their plan.

This war could have stopped in a nanosecond if Hamas released all of the hostages. Israel will not stop the fight until the hostages are released and Hamas knows this.

435 Arabs in Middle East - 19 countries and no one is going out of their way to help the Palestinians because to do so is to help Hamas spread its terrorism.

Hamas is succeeding brilliantly in galvanizing young American students to support them as well as stirring up anti-semitism.

Not to condemn Hamas and not to demand hostages returned is to support Hamas propaganda plan and its terrorism with the aim to genocide the 7 million Jews in the Middle East.

A factual truth. Hamas’ is 100% With its evil intend to genocide, Israel is responsible for this war and its continuation.

If something is true which no one believes, it is still true.

If something is a lie which everyone believes, it is still a lie.

Hitler’s success until the world got together and defeated him, was based on a big lie that people believed. Sadly, this big lie has surfaced again.

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Hamas is evil, plain and simple. That doesn't excuse the excesses of the Israeli government, which ironically has deepened hatred of Israel exponentially with its tactics.

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Yes, you are right! But what you do not see is that you are doing exactly what Hamas wants you to do

Instead of condemning Hamas and its victimization of the Palestinian people you are condemning Israel.

Not headline news, but has been reported Is that Palestinians are Beginning to condemn the Hamas and its control over the Palestinian people and are clearly recognizing that they are being victimized.

I would suggest that you search on YouTube and see what the eldest son of the founder of Hamas Mosab Hassan Yousef raised to be a Hamas terrorist, and even once imprisoned by the Israelis And then turned against Hamas has to say about the evil of Hamas.

Hamas continues to hold October 7 hostages, which at the time of the kidnapping was a nine month old baby and elderly women in some cases holocaust survivors from the kibbutz.

A number of years ago, Israel gave back 1000 Hamas terrorist prisoners for one Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas.

Israel will never stop this war until those hostages are returned. Hamas is holding them hostage, so Israel continues this war.

None of the Arab states are helping the Palestinians only the Americans. The only people protesting are Americans students.

Did you see the photo of the American hostage with his hand cut off that Hamas posted? Came and went with no condemnation of Hamas by American students.

Hamas is absolutely enjoying people like yourself. You fall right into their plan of Condemning Israel for the evil that Hamas Is Continuing to commit on their own people.

No condemnation of Iran, who is helping Hamas. Did you notice the news that came and went with 120 drones That Iran sent to hit Israel.

Do know how that got stopped. Not just by the help of the US France Great Britain, but with the surrounding Arab states which opened up their air passages To Israel to stop the drones and to even attack Iran military complex in return.

The Arab states know with absolute certainty, the evil that Hamas terrorist can do to the entire region and so in its quiet way, it is supporting Israel.

There is a large political reality going on underneath here. A quiet war between freedom and democracy, and the terrorism of Iran, Russia, and Hamas.

World War III can come out of this.

These are facts if you want to dig deep.

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No, I was making a singular point about an important recent development. I wasn't offering all my views on the most complex foreign policy issue of my lifetime, which would require hundreds of words. Suffice to say I'm empathetic for both the Palestinian and Israeli people. Not Hamas, which is evil, or the Israeli government, which had done way too little to protect civilians. You seem to think everything is black and white. It's not.

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I find it odd that you say that I see things in black-and-white. I Strongly suspect you skim read my response. Would be most amazed if you didn’t skim read this response, but I will respond

I clearly acknowledged that the Palestinians are victims of a horrific war . However, this war is 100% responsible on the part of hamas.

Not only for not taking any measures to protect the Palestinian people from the Expected response But also keeping the response going as long as it holds innocent hostages.

Israel’s response is very strong. However, Israel knows anti-Semitism is on the rise. They know the American students are waving Palestinian flags and shouting for Hamas victory.

Demonstrations for releasing Israeli hostages and condemning Hamas and Iran for their terrorism By American students are nonexistent.

Israel doesn’t care anymore it was alone just like the Jews were under Hitler until the allies saw how harm could come to them and that’s when they entered and defeated Hitler.

Did you see how fast the US, France Britain and the Arab countries came to Israel’s aid when Iran sent 120 drones to attack Israel. They need the Democratic state of Israel on their side in the underlying geopolitical war.

I am not condoning Israel’s action. I’m just saying something that you can’t see the condemnation of Israel is much more severe and out of balance than any condemnation that is rightfully for Hamas and it’s evil terrorism and victimization of The Palestinian people.

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I didn't skim read your comments. And don't tell me what I can't see. Like you no doubt, I read extensively every day about the war. Also, I agree with many of your points. But as I said, I'm not inclined to write deeply about the many aspects of what's happening, at least not today or yesterday.

Also, feel free to criticize me for this point: Netanyahu bears some responsibility for Hamas' attack. He got played by Hamas for the last couple of years. And, his military was worse than ill-prepared for the attack, enabling the terrorists to torture and kill with impunity.

I hope to see Hamas destroyed, Netanyahu out of office, and creation of a Palestinian state not controlled by terrorists. And peace on all sides.

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Much the yowl of the Neo GOP PeacenikS

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Biden has only “paused” one shipment of weapons to Israel

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Biden has only “paused” one shipment of weapons. Billions worth of US funds and weapons are going to Israel as we speak.

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Bannon was convicted on the contempt of Congress charges in July 2022 and sentenced to four months in October 2022. His appeal wasn’t heard until November or December 2023. And we finally have an appellate decision in May 2024. He still has not served a day in confinement nearly two years since his conviction, and his sentence is still on hold pending further appeal. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but in his case they grind not at all.

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I'm probably over simplifying, but "White Privilege" is the first thing that comes to mind.😔

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Whatever it’s called, it’s an injustice to us who believe one should be held accountable when you do wrong.

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White privilege was 1st on my mind, too.

Had I attempted to overthrow our US Gov't, my ass would'a been in the slammer so fast with no hope of delay by appeal after appeal.

SCOTUS: WHOOO??

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TFFG, Bannon, Flynn and Stone should all be serving time.

TFFG has perfected the strategies of delay, deny and attack. These have served him well. There are so many of his followers that actually believe, he won the election in 2020 and therefore he should be President.

They continue to attack Biden and the justice system every day. The Democrats need to fight back. The professor, Joyce Vance, Jennifer Rubin are all fighting every day. Joe Biden is fighting every day. We all need to up the attacks and mock the deniers like TFFG and all of his loyalists.

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But most of MSM love shinny objects, or fat blobs of blubber with bully habits that know no bounds.

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We also should tighten up on the pardoning rules presidents enjoy.

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Both Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro deserve to be in jail for their roles in all the shenanigans before, during, and after the last presidential election. The fact that Steve Bannon was allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence on supervised release, allowing him to continue spewing lies on the internet, while Peter Navarro was sent straight to prison, seems to indicate that the law is not being applied equally. It is high time that these two ruthless men serve their time - which in both their cases should be an even longer sentence.

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Do you ever wonder how long any of us could delay justice if we stole government documents? And to think the Supreme Court is helping TFFG delay justice.

How is it they can hear some cases in a day or two and others they can delay for months?

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The money is behind chump. The money rules us fools

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Recently, Linda Bean, grand daughter of LL Bean passed away. She was anti-abortion, anti LGBTQ+ rights and opposed the ERA. She was friends with Phyllis Schaffley and ran for Congress twice using her trustifarian money.

She was friends with TFFG, I supposed because of the tax breaks she received from the Trump 2017 tax cut bill which BTW, added over $2 trillion to the national debt.

And then there's Nancy Walton Laurie who used her trustifarian money to buy a $300 million yacht.

Why do the Republicans love to prop up the trustifarian kids of the billionaires class?

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oh dang, I love L.L.Bean's clothes...Now knowing this, I cannot be a customer. It is hard to know what companies align with the liberal ideals. Is there a link for that kind of information that you may know of?

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I saw a list once. I stopped buying from Uline and Home Depot to name a couple.

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And one of the members of Bedminister is one of the beef jerky heirs. I can't remember which on though.

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Patagonia is the only one I know of. I knew about LL Bean, so many are on board with such. New Balance on my crap list as well.

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We've bought plenty of stuff from LL Bean as they have an outlet store in the town next to us.

She's gone now, so maybe it's ok??

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The "Warren Buffets" are going extinct. Now it's hogs slurping at the trough. Or, making sure that their progeny expect the same. Inherited money can be a curse, or a ladder. For chump it was a curse on the whole world, since he was given no humanity to go with it.

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And why do they all need yachts? It would be so cool to feed hungry people with 300 million dollars!

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Good question 🤔

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Completely aligned with you.

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Yes it enrages me to think of the penalty we would suffer had we done these outrageous things.

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Bannon has not served any time yet. He is released on appeal. When he finally grinds through our slow wheels of appeals (for rich white men), he will be remanded to prison for 4 months. That's his suspended sentence. Agree that this long length of appeals time with an exceedingly short sentence, with no interceding ban on his insurrectionist speech, is appalling and demoralizing for us who believed in the rule of law and equal treatment.

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It’s insane that they are out there doing Putin’s work in plan sight what the actual F ……

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Thank you, such a clear and useful summary of two complex and important issues facing us today.

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It has been clear for a long time that our enemy is War.

I recently visited (again) the traveling Vietnam "Wall that Heals," a testimony to the 58,281 (no rounding permitted) Americans who died in service of our Country, despite the dishonor we originally heaped on them when they returned to their homeland. Without going into all of that history, it is one more piece of evidence that it is a violent world and we are not exempt from that reality. Now in my 91st year, it is unlikely this will change during my lifetime. Still, we are compelled to wrestle with the recurring events that reflect our killing instincts.

The bottom line for me, in this instance, is that Hamas has launched not just a devastating physical conflict; it has instigated a horrific dilemma that Israel and its supporters (especially the United States) cannot escape without serious damage. Winning is not an option; just different degrees of losing. That Hamas knew exactly what it was doing is a source of painful reality for those trying to execute a balanced response that is accurately seen as an act of survival. Those of us who are not faced with such an existential threat need to engage in a little reflection about what we would do in a similar situation. History suggests the answer would not be pretty.

One of the reasons this particular horror story is so impactful is that we can see it daily in real time. It is one thing to read about such mayhem, or see still shots of victims. It is quite something else to watch it unfold in front of us every night, as if it were occurring right there in our living rooms. We have been there before; many times. Most of us just didn't have to experience it personally. Now we can. Now we do. Now we know what it looks like; what a dismembered body tells us. The bodies lying in disarray after the Hamas cruel surprise attack looked the same; we didn't see that it real time.

In a previous life (65 years ago), I was a Navy pilot, trained to engage in war if necessary. We were not technically in that condition, so my two buddies who died one New Year's day were not victims of war; they were merely dead. Or so we are led to believe. I think of them every day

I ask myself, what would I do if I were Mr. Biden? What would you do?

This is called War. We have a lot of work to do, don't we?

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Excellent comment, right to the point. October 7th was a foolproof trap designed by a heartless strategist to inflict lasting damage on a people led, misled, by a political cardsharp who doesn't even know what strategy is.

9/11, also designed by cold, determined strategists, was far from foolproof. But fools made up for that deficiency, rushing in where angels fear to tread. With horrendous long-term consequences.

How can systems stuck in the short-term rut of quarterly returns compete against those that take a long, long view of time?

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Osama Ben Laden would be pleased at the W/Dickie response to 9/11 and the horror that unleashed. Bibi is doing the same thing

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Jeri, it's not "would be". Ben Laden must have died in the sure knowledge that he HAD accomplished his mission.

A reality that narrow minds are somehow unable to encompass, despite its blatant obviousness.

Unlike 9/11, the trap set for the Bibi and the Nazi-type sidekicks with whom he has chosen to get into bed was foolproof.

With the best will in the world, the Hamas fighters who had dug themselves in deep under Gaza could not be unearthed without severe damage to the city and its population.

What the Hamas strategist had, however, well understood was that even if he and every one of his men died along with 100 000 "martyrs" -- mostly, no doubt, unwilling -- his enemy would react, not with the skill of bomb-disposal artificers, but with the wild, aimless, senseless violence of foxes in a henhouse.

That is why the Hamas assault on Israel was so vile, so horrendous. It was designed as a sure provocation to trigger crazed emotional reactions guaranteed to deliver the fanatics' worldwide aims.

It was done in the knowledge that Netanyahu et al would, while destroying today's Gaza and today's Hamas, undermine Israel and its protectors, spread anti-Semitism worldwide and sow the dragon's teeth from which a greater Hamas would arise to take the place of today's terrorists.

In combination with ill-prepared Israelis, equally ill-prepared allies and would-be Arab allies, these men represent an extraordinary danger to all others.

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So unbelievable that somebody described Hamas as the good guys. They know each other well, you know them too. It unreal that people now forget how horrible W/Dickie were and the damage they did. Thank you.

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Unfortunately, wars of religion, wars on ideas (like "terror") and ideologues, wars on heresies and heretics, cause huge and lasting social damage while achieving nothing positive.

One of the stupidest ideas possible -- but a staple of horse opera, Holy Inquisition and Islamist mythology -- is the belief that by killing men you kill the ideas they represent.

As for these Hamas "good guys" maybe some regarded them as "good" because, long before they were killing Israelis they busied themselves with purifying Gaza of their fellow Palestinians of the Fatah persuasion by throwing them from rooftops.

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Is there a good guy In The Middle East? Damn, religion has flunked all over. I buy Twain’s take on religion. “The easy confidence with which I know that another man’s religion is folly, teaches me to suspect that my own is also.”

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“Winning is not an option; just different degrees of losing.” Thank you Al.

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Wow, well said!

It was the television news coverage that brought the Vietnam War into our livingrooms that eventually turned Americans against that war.

GW Bush was very clever to limit the news coverage of the dead and wounded returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. He really knew how to capitalize on the guilt people felt for the treatment of the Vietnam veterans. Now we are reminded to thank members of the armed forces and law enforcement for their service.

Hamas deliberately used their own people as human sacrifice to their cause. Isreal complied by using the only way nations use to go after terrorists. They use conventional weapons that don't discriminate between the enemy and civilians. As long as conventional weapons are used to fight unconventional wars, civilian casualties will be horrific.

What still amazes me is that Hamas pulled off the invasion in the first place. Where was Israeli security???

9/11 didn't have to happen either. There were credible warnings.

Innocent people die because the people in charge of governments can be incompetent and/or corrupt. There's a lot of money to be made from manufacturing weapons. Prevention saves lives and money.

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We do indeed have “a lot of work to do.”

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Right on Al, I want to give a dozen red heart likes to you sir.

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It's likely that the Israeli response to the massacre was the key part to the Hamas plan. Bush's response to 9/11 and Netanyahu's response October 7 remind me of the scene in Lawrence of Arabia where, going into battle after being held prosoner and probably raped, Lawrence cries "NO PRISONERS!"

In other words, the Hamas plan was to sacrifice the lives of Gaza's citizens by eliciting the massive Israeli respone in order to diminish the moral standing in of Israel. The divisive protests we are seeing in the US is a likely result of the Russian origin of Hamas plan to create chaos before the US election.

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Heather, if you are in Maine I hope you got out to the Aurora Borealis! After all, you’re awake anyway! They are lingering green here in Waldoboro but earlier on Quarry Hill Preserve they were so vivid, andi know the were in Bremen and Bristol too!

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I didn't see anything outside of Boston, alas.

But you're in Waldoboro? Back in '72, a girlfriend and I bicycled from Boston to Bar Harbor. We found ourselves in Waldoboro at lunchtime in one of the last days of that journey, and got some lunch at a small, excellent eatery there--which was gone, alas, the next time I was in Waldoboro around 35 years later.

At said eatery, we met some kids our age, who had never even been to the town we'd bicycled through a half an hour earlier. That still amazes me.

The cycling up the Maine coast was some of the toughest I ever did--tougher than cycling over 12,000 foot passes in Colorado, because the terrain on rt. 1 in Maine was so up and down, requiring constant gear shifting and changes of cadence, whereas Colorado is long, steady, gentle climbs, but the countryside was gorgeous--in both places.

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All we got were clouds in the Bar Harbor area. One of these days we'll see the northern lights.☹️

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Yep. We're in Ellsworth & it was just cloudy 🤨

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"After all, you’re awake anyway! " .... Lol Heather !

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That State Department summary reminds me of Bill Barr’s summary of the Mueller report, condensed, misleading and ignoring the overall thrust of the obvious, which is the destruction of vast parts of Gaza. It seems every day brings more conformation that most human beings cannot overcome their biases- Barr recently said he will vote for Trump because he is less dangerous than Biden- this verges on insanity- no one has hinted that Biden wants to become a dictator on day one or on any day which Trump has gleefully announced is his plan. Anyone else reminded of Nero? The longer this argument goes on the more it seems to me that the main difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats have a fundamental belief that all people are created equal and should be treated with respect and fairly whereas Republicans believe that a small number of privileged people are entitled to a comfortable life and the majority should accept that they are an underclass who have only a partial right to vote or vote in an assuredly drawn district that drastically reduces the weight of their vote and oh also do not have the most basic right of personal autonomy to control their own body. To pretend that the choice to be made in November is a normal choice of two competing but rational views is madness- what is at stake is the survival of government of the people,by the people, FOR the people. Somehow Trump has tapped into the vestigial dark and murderous instincts of human beings and glorified them . Just as rational inquiry has provided astonishing information that could bring incredible advances for improvement in the quality of life we have Trump advocating for another Dark Ages. Some choice.

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And the People say "Amen!"

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And then there is the Dark Money promoting rebuilding of Gaza as a resort destination - another left-over from #45 era

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1. 4 MONTHS ? - Which hand would you like slapped. Bannon and Navarro and Roger Stone (already convicted and serving until pardoned by Mr. Immunity) et al are even bigger provable criminals than DJT (yes, that's possible) and like their puppet should be in Federal prison for years not months.

JUSTICE IS DEAD

ABOVE THE LAW

2. I am not Anti-semitic but I am anti-Israel and the permissions it has given its current government to carry on what is an obvious genocide in Gaza. Joe has done part of what should have been done on 10/8. I think the US should have said we're doing everything we can to help the Palestinians re refugees and non military aid and we're not giving you any weapons except to protect yourself in Israel. AND we should have been working with the midEast coalition for a cease fire but we've been saying yes to Israel for far too long and so we're hamstrung. American and other aid countries say the US, instead of spending 320 million on that pier and token aid drops should just open the crossing points and give the Gazans the aid and protection they need. Admit non-Hamass Palestinians to NATO. Then we and others have to help them.

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@William Whitman. When you repeat the trope "genocide," you repeat the ancient blood libel and that sounds antisemitic to this samite.

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Non-Hamas Palestinians???? Where might they be. Wearing name tags?

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Bravo 🙌. I wish I could like this comment ten times. 🫡

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Mr. Whiteman — What do you mean by “anti-Israel”? Do you mean you believe there should exist no country called Israel at all? No homeland for the Jews?

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I agree and I’m 49% Jew

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This letter covers quite a bit this evening. Thanks to you Professor ⭐

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I am disgusted, but not surprised, that the Biden administration issued a report essentially whitewashing the horrors being committed around the world using US weapons. I wrote to Biden expressing my dissatisfaction when I first saw the report this morning. As I approach my 82nd birthday this weekend, I am sickened that my choice in November is boiling down to a man who lies through his teeth and a man who lies through the mouths of others. I’m not so naive as to believe things were better in some distant past, but I would have hoped that humans — with all the experiences we have had and the fancy technologies now available — would have figured out that endless conflict has no place in a world that is descending into ruin.

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Sir I feel the same exact way. I say on social media several times a week to the Trump supporters that instantly attack me for being a "pedo supporter, Biden's B$tch and worse" that with 330 million people in the United States, it's sad that we have these two "___" to choose from. Because regardless what the libertarians or independents think, America is a two party State.😡

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I think at Biden acted out of deep love and sympathy after October 7; now that he knows the reality of what is happening, he has no choice except to do the bidding of Israel and the Jewish Lobby.

Palestinian's main problem: no power. Just pity. We can wish to help or feed them but Israel will block every effort.

Hamas is not the bad guy in this so called "war". It's not much of a war to bomb and starve those in a prison.

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Hamas is not the bad guy. Really. You can’t find a good guy with a microscope.

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The IDF is the really really bad guy. Hamas, as part of the enslaved population, is doing the best they can to fight back. They knew what the consequences would be and even now they think it was worth it. Put yourself in the place of those people; suicide is an appropriate option.

Check the history of the Warsaw Ghetto. Those desperate people risked death. They got death but they went down fighting back. Check Nat Turner's rebellion.

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I have a hard time seeing any Hamas supporter as a good guy, includes Netanyahu

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One can't "support" Hamas....they aren't a sports team. But, as Norman Finkelstein said, he can't condemn what they did. Generally, they are just another bunch of humans: the worst animal god created.

(I do think god has moved on; she's totally disgusted with what's happening to this nice planet)

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Protestors seems to disagree. However, I agree about god.

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Wrong. He’s just waiting until we have proven Satan’s first lie (“you will not die, you can decide right and wrong for yourself, God is the evil one holding you back”—Gen 3:4, 5) must never again be given a hearing. All along He has pointed the way to peace, and few have responded. But those meek are promised an inheritance: the Earth, free and pure: Psalm 37:10, 11. This assurance is consistent in scripture. See Rev 11:18, 2 Pet 3:13.

The church’s dogma, “heaven or hell, bliss or horror,” is a fiction from the Enemy, designed to provoke anger at God. The scriptural choice is always “life or death, happiness or nonexistence.”

And choosing life isn’t so hard. Just don’t choose hate.

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It’s an interesting way of tying these two things together…. lack of information.

It made me think of the problem we have literally tons of information about but almost no agency - women and girls suffering from lack of medical care while in pregnancy related emergency situations and/or because of rape/incest.

When we can’t change the situation with even more information we will need to get out the vote to change who is in power at all levels of government. While we still can.

Now I will go read Hopium to cheer myself up about trends.

PS when people vote for President in France there is nothing else on the ballot… according to my French partner. I am still digesting that.

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I find it difficult to accept as credible the State Dept's assessment that Israel is not hindering the delivery of humanitarian aid. The clear reports in the NYT, for example, describe the Israeli gov't's actions which effectively stop the delivery of aid or slow it down so much that children especially are put at risk of death.

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There is much more accurate information on youtube coming from others, mostly Israelis who have been studying this for decades. The NYTimes has tried to keep it quiet for as long as possible. Start with Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe, Gordon Levy, Democracy Now....

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Gosh, I can't even fathom how that data is gathered and evaluated. Interesting subject striving for comparative analysis.

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Professor, there are less than a handful of individuals able and willing to compile such clear synopses of such broad yet vital issues as you do daily. Your expertise and work are greatly appreciated as well as instructive.

Anne Frank wrote in her diary, before her family was betrayed and sent to concentration/death camps

"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

I see that in my local community, in our places of faith and worship, in families and in allegiances to schools, universities, clubs and team fandoms. I see it in people grieving tragedies, and supporting victims, and caring for others.

In The Terminator movie series (as well as other sci-fi lit and imaginings) AI becomes sentient and with cold impartiality takes action against humanity, resulting in global destruction.

With the various conflicts, and the US role in making and using more and more deadly weapons, bombs and agents, perhaps AI is following the axiom quoted since the 1950s: GIGO. "Garbage In, Garbage Out."

With leaders such as Putin and terrorist organizations such as Hamas, and gangs and crime organizations besting law enforcement efforts, humanity's potential for evil and murder and war is even more treacherous than current AI abilities.

Certainly, a significant percentage of the American population has jumped on the Trump Train, even though its heading full steam over a cliff.

IF WE WANT CHANGE, IT HAS TO BEGIN WITH US.

We need to teach cooperation, de-escalation tactics and conflict resolution along with "ABCs."

We have to inform people of scams and false ads and persuasion techniques -

such as those used in so-called "polls."

Most of all, we have to learn how the chess game is played, and see four, five and more steps ahead - then folks would realize war is destruction, not an answer.

"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."

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Evening to All!

"Lack of information". Interesting.

Yes, the otherwise conclusive 01/06/21 Thompson/Cheney committee did lack the complete information it would otherwise have had in the "normal" course of events, had not cowardly, slovenly blowhards (pretty much a description of all MAGA types) such as Steve Bannon failed to comply with their lawful duty to obey a proper subpoena.

Yet with respect to the clear violation of both CAT (Conventional Arms Transfer) policy and the Leahy laws by the genocidal government of what was once the only democracy in the Middle East under the war criminal Netanyahu, the State Dept.'s report was crippled not by lack of information, but from lack of will to state the obvious.

The State of Israel has committed ghastly war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and it is nothing short of shameful that our government has participated indirectly in same by constantly supplying billions of dollars worth of these weapons to commit these atrocities.

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I totally agree with all of what you said. Of special note: "State Dept.'s report was crippled not by lack of information, but from lack of will to state the obvious." You nailed that to the wall sir!

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It was shocking to listen to. I'm sure they wager most don't know it's total bull.

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The list of groups receiving weapons sounds like nasty bunch. But they aren't using our stuff to do the nasty. That's some pretty fine threading of the needle.

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Thanks, Rick

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I play an online card game called Spider Solitaire. If you get to a point where there are no more moves and you have accumulated enogh game money by consistently winning, you can use "magic" to reaarange 5 cards (ie cheat). If you have enough "money" and are not too bright, you can use magic more than once.

I can think of several who are playing Spider Solitaire but in real life to others detriment.

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That's a sad, but accurate AF analogy.

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