41 Comments

I am sickened to know that we have stood behind and supported what has turned out to be the starvation of innocent children and civilians.

Destruction of Hamas is justifiable.

Netanyahu has gone too far. Destroy Hamas is one thing, destroy an entire society is totally another.

It is impossible to justify the kill ratio and the slaughter to the children and innocents in Gaza.

Expand full comment

What is it about the USA today that has us willfully participating in a genocide? What are the qualities of our society today that have kindled the evil we are doing? We once sacrificed our men so that the destruction of a population would end. Now we are throwing money at an apartheid country to starve to death a population of those people not already being murdered by our USA made and delivered bombs. Neither Washington Senators Cantwell and Murray have set up a howl for the strangulation of USA aid to Israel. Neither inform their constituents their rationale for such abject pitiless passivity. They act as though they are not beholden to their constituents. A clear breach of their constitutional obligation to us as representatives of the citizenry voice.

Expand full comment

If Hamas is to be dismantled, dismantle Israel 10x, talk about hostages?

https://youtube.com/shorts/Sfm4VjXt6iU?si=3p0Jf_s4_hzVk4CW Norman Finkelstein:

Expand full comment
Feb 10·edited Feb 10

Holodomor was covered up by Stalin but he did the same thing to the Ukrainians in 1933-34. It is estimated 5-7 million Ukrainians starved to death. It was a holocaust that was buried beneath the politics of the era. Lookup Gareth Jones, full name Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones. He was banned from re-entering the Soviet Union due to his honest and eye witness account of the mass starvation. Jones was kidnapped and murdered in 1935 while investigating in Japanese-occupied Inner Mongolia; his murder is suspected by some to have been committed by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD. There should be no repeat of this, but it has been repeated in smaller number and too often. BTW: Did you know these little known figures designed and implemented the mass murder of non-jews: Russian Holocaust, Lev Bronstein Trotsky; Ukrainian Holocaust (Holodomore), Lazar Kaganovich; Kazakh Holocaust,Fillip Goloshchyokin; Armenian Holocaust, Talaat Pasha. They were all Jews. So genocide was delivered and hardly acknowledged, but is well represented as a tool against others in the history of the Jews.

Expand full comment

Paula

Theres another history - but maybe you just need to look deeper into the story.. of the reason for the famine - it wasn't just Ukrainians that died in the famine..

And how does this part of history help us now?

Expand full comment

The reason Holodomor was applied to the Ukrainians is because they were resistant the soviet collectivization of farms. They were independent farmers. Under Stalin they were ordered to produce more and more, which wasn't possible. Because people have memories and they pass those memories down to the next generation. "Never forget what they did to us". I hope that particular human propensity also applies to the elites of the world. But, nevertheless, as Putin tried to tell us, history matters and applies in the human psyche and behavior. I do know that Jews are not the only culture/people who have caused or orchestrated genocide. Genocide by famine or any other means is not new to the history of humankind.

Expand full comment

It makes me sick when I see people dancing for joy over other people's misfortune and death.

It makes me sick when an army equipped with the most modern weapons destroys civilian infrastructure for no reason other than the destruction of their enemy's ability to live.

It makes me even sicker to hear all the excuses and silly explanations for why people have to die for no reason other than being on the wrong side of the prison wall.

It is impossible to avoid feeling desperation at not being able to do anything to stop the killing - I often think if it was possible to make a peace march from Europe to Israel - I want to be a human shield for those children...and women and old men and grandmothers .. yes all of them.

Stop the killing..

Thank you Chris Hedges..

Expand full comment

The last Hamas soldier will hide in the last refugee camp,

giving the Israelis the excuse to kill the last Palestinians,

achieving their objective of extinction and ending the Gaza War,

but beginning the war with the Muslim nations☠️☠️☠️

Expand full comment

Do the Israeli actions suggest to you they give a rat’s ass about having to have any excuse for their genocide of the Palestinians? What have they shown you that they care about what anyone else thinks? They are loaded with insatiable blood lust. Their hunger to destroy knows no bounds. They are mad, gone, crazed, obsessed.

Expand full comment

It just might be that the destruction of an entire people with deliberate malice aforethought with the

Expand full comment

None of this had to happen if we did not have terrorist sympathizers empowering Hamas to murder, rape and kidnap innocent Jews.

None of the atrocities in 1930s and 40s Germany had to happen if we had not had Nazi terrorist sympathizers empowering the murder, rape and kidnapping of innocent Jews.

There is a common theme here... those that sympathize with terrorism. THEY are the cause of the continued conflict.

Expand full comment

Frank, What was it, do you think, that drove the intense hatred it took to cause Hamas to do such obscene acts?

Expand full comment

Oh, please read a little history of the Zionist project to learn of the on going Israeli wipe out of Palestinians towns ongoing for decades …and the conditions in Gaza described by objective observers as the world’s kargesyptvoutdoor prison.

Expand full comment

I have been to Israel and seen the apartheid conditions first hand. They are obvious. Jimmy Carter wrote about them years ago as have many others.

Expand full comment

I think Hamas did it to provoke Israel to do exactly what it did, to turn the entire world, but half or America, against Israel. I think Caitlin has missed the entire point of the October 7 raid, as has Chris Hedges, whose Substack newsletter I also receive in my email account most days.

Expand full comment

This all is happening because the Israelis have been trying to illegally create a Palestinian genocide for the last 70 years. The Israelis have created an apartheid state, turning themselves and their children into racists. A horrible, inhuman, project.

Expand full comment
Feb 10·edited Feb 10

What? Try reading about the sustained Zionist bludgeoning, scourging of Palestinian towns, and displacement and imprisonment of Palestinians for years and years prior to their open air prison called Gaza hyper controlled by the Jewish settler colonial state of Israel. Innocent Jewish victims. Huh? Please google the number of times Israel thumbed its nose at UN for sanctions for their wretched treatment of Palestinians. What does it say about the Israelis who were enjoying a funky good time just minutes away from ,the Palestinians locked into what’s been described as the world’s largest outdoor prison in the world? Innocent Jews in Israel? Read Niko Peled’s book The General’s Son to understand the 24/7 racist indoctrination

of the Israeli population towards Palestinians. Relentlessly for years. Sorry. No Israeli innocents in Israel. As there now are no innocent Americans of their government’s heinous participation in the genocide of Palestinians.

Expand full comment

In a speech to Israeli military officers in 1948, David Ben Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel from 1949-1963 said “We must use terror, assassination, and intimidation. We must steal their land and eliminate every social service to free Israel from its Arab population”. This is a quote from a biography of Ben Gurion by Michael Ben-Zohar.

Nothing, has changed. Not in seventy five years.

In a moment of candor, Ehud Barak, when asked what if he had been born Palestinian, replied “If I were a Palestinian of the right age, I would join, at some point, one of the terrorist groups”.

(I would add, fighting for their rights.)

Expand full comment

That quote never happened. It is propaganda of the antisemitic left.

Expand full comment
Feb 9·edited Feb 9

How much is enough? ...

Chris Hedges' indulgent affair with all things Gaza just eclipsed the 4-month mark ...

With this audio, I now count 63 pieces posted here since OCT 7 and only 3 dealing with issues other than the ISR-Palestinian conflict ... and when you then consider the ways he has distanced himself from the struggles of middle class Americans since the MAR '20 lockdowns, one must ask why "we the people" are no longer on his radar ... an unemployed, divorced mother of four never gives a thought to Gaza, Assange and CIA corruption - and Hedges knows it!

Expand full comment

It might be that the willful destruction of an entire people by a savagery that would not be in any way possible without the willful savagery of the U.S. government has occupied Mr. Hedges’ mind more than anything else that has been going on recently. Of course, the savage annihilation of millions by the U.S. and its disgusting minions in the 5 Eyes states and Europe is exactly in his professional ‘wheelhouse’, as opposed to other events. He has written about domestic matters as well, but this had to have hit a part of him that he could not but focus fully upon. Of course, so many others write of this in the MSM with the same passion and understanding as Mr. Hedges, so it really wasn’t necessary./sarc As opposed to the vile MSM echoing the equally vile US inverted totalitarian oligarchy, which NEVER writes or speaks about the sad fate of Americans who have had to put up with not being able to go out to dinner for a couple of months.

Pound sand, pita brain.

Expand full comment

Your callous selfishness is only eclipsed by your irrationality

Expand full comment
Feb 10·edited Feb 10

What you see as selfishness and irrationality is actually the result of my meticulous research of Hedges' words bench-marked against his actions ...

I've followed him as closely as probably anybody here over the past decade ... he's not the same guy since the lockdowns ... something made him flip ... if you'd like, I'll post links here proving that he has in fact thrown the U.S. working class under the bus with COVID ...

On another point, Hedges will tell you the problem is TRUMP-MAGA, but has never even mentioned the World Economic Forum, Agenda 21 or the Great Reset ...

I got it all loaded up and ready to post here, so go ahead, make my day, call my bluff ...

And if you don't read it, there are plenty of other people here who will.

Expand full comment

Pick your battles. This is the first genocide in history we can view in living color in real time paid for with my tax dollars🤮

Expand full comment

This started 4 months ago ...

So have you been a regular, must-not-miss attendee?

I knew all I needed to know about Gaza after only about a week ...

I can only conclude that you're not here to be enlightened or empowered, you're just here to be entertained ... Hedges knows his flock and he'll continue to find new angles to keep you in tow ...

Expand full comment

Consider your bluff called. So, he has ‘thrown the US working class under the bus with COVID.’ My, my. Post your links, PITA. Can’t wait to see it all.

Iyiyiyiyi.

Expand full comment

Haven't forgotten about your challenge here Andrew ...

I've decided to give that spineless snake Hedges a few days until the Assange story settles, then I'm going after him with both barrels ... but I'm also not giving him a blank check to cover Assange for months like he has with Gaza ... cheers!

Expand full comment

As soon as I get home ...

Expand full comment

Your statement “I knew all I needed to know about Gaza after only about a week” really says it all. I question your authority to decide what Chris Hedges should or should not write about, and to judge how much attention he should devote to an evil massacre, a Genocide, and the probable extermination of a wonderful, highly educated, honorable people, and their culture. Hedges has spent years in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and reported for many other years in war torn areas under the threat of great personal harm, and lives with the tragic memories. His writing is moral, ethical, brilliant, and profound. I am so grateful to him, as he speaks for me, and for many other people who are heartbroken by the horror being wrought upon the Palestinian children, women and men. Don’t Stop Talking About Palestine! And, finally, I doubt you are capable of seeing into the minds of women, any women.

Expand full comment
Feb 10·edited Feb 11

Anne ... of course he is free to comment on any issue he chooses ...

And as a long-time fan of Hedges, I actually agree with much of what you've said about the scholarship of his work ... but like 99% of those who pounce on me here, you miss my point ... and before I make it again, please digest the following now infamous trademark quotes by St Chris ...

** "Let us stand up and resist so future generations will at least say ‘they tried.’ We cannot do this alone ... together we have a chance." ...

** “I do not fight fascists because I think we will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists.”

For the past two decades, he has given us reason to believe he would be there to fight the good fight WITH US, but he ducked out the back door once the MAR '20 lockdowns were declared ... Chris Hedges went back on his word to us ... and I for one, will not let him forget what he did ... last year, he admitted that he actually lapses in and out of a state of despair over what's happening now throughout the world ... me too and I really appreciated him saying that ... but what I find more disturbing is to see this once good man abandon us at a time when we need him most ... and please don't take issue with my citing just those two quotes above, because one of your clapping-seal colleagues in this thread has asked for the details ... so stay tuned!

Expand full comment

Jack Maxey needs a better interview where he is allowed to speak all he knows.

https://rumble.com/veb71f-jack-maxey-on-the-contents-of-hunters-laptop-and-why-it-matters-to-every-am.html

Expand full comment

Americans need to be aware of the huge criminal element sitting at the top of our government probably being blackmailed by the CIA.

https://rumble.com/veb71f-jack-maxey-on-the-contents-of-hunters-laptop-and-why-it-matters-to-every-am.html

Expand full comment

Even as an American suburbanite I can relate to this article. I watched my father die from stomach cancer. He could not eat and wasted away from starvation. That’s what I have to fix on, this memory from 55 years ago, when I consider this genocide and its reality.

Expand full comment

Thank you for a eloquent narration and glimpse into current and past atrocities and horrors, people don’t like to discuss.

Expand full comment

Hi All,

Does anyone have ideas of how an average American can help the people of Gaza?

Expand full comment

Donations to UNWRA?? If they are being blocked from delivering by Jewish settlers, I don't know how much that would help.

Expand full comment

Excerpts from

NPR

February 10, 2024

In Gaza, anger grows at Hamas along with fury at Israel

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — "Hamas ... has destroyed us," says Adnan Abdelaal, who has fled for safety four times in the past four months of war.

First, he escaped Israeli bombing on his Gaza City neighborhood. Then he sheltered in a United Nations school until it was hit 40 days later. Then he fled to central Gaza, then farther south to Khan Younis, then even farther south to Rafah, escaping each time the Israeli military got closer.

He is in the same clothes he has worn for the past month, living out of a backpack and searching every night for a new place to sleep.

"I don't know if they thought about it, and what would happen to us," Abdelaal says about Hamas' decision to attack Israel on Oct. 7. "We didn't receive any warning to leave."

Hamas has not tolerated dissent among Gazans in the 17 years it has ruled the tiny territory, choked by an Israeli-led blockade. But dissent against the Islamist militant group is now widespread and out in the open, voiced alongside Gazans' fury with Israel.

"Enough Israel, enough Hamas," Abdelaal says.

Cheers rang out on the streets of Rafah this week after Hamas said it responded in a "positive spirit" to a proposal for a cease-fire. But Hamas still drew criticism from some Gazans, for submitting a host of demands for shaping Gaza's reconstruction and future.

"We are not happy with their reply at all," says Jamal, who did not want to use his full name to avoid retribution from Hamas. He lost his home to Israeli bombing in Gaza City and is sheltering in Rafah. "Hamas is focusing mostly on remaining on the chair, ruling Gaza mainly. Because they don't care about people in Gaza, they don't care about their suffering."

Why Gazans have protested

Several demonstrations have taken place in recent weeks in Gaza, expressing frustration with Hamas over the war. At a demonstration in the city of Khan Younis, Palestinian protesters singled out the leaders of Israel and Hamas.

"Netanyahu and Sinwar, enough war and enough destruction," they chanted, in a protest captured on film and shared on social media. "The people demand a cease-fire."

Hamas' popularity has soared in the other Palestinian territory, the West Bank, since the war began. In past Israel-Hamas wars, Gazans under bombardment also rallied around Hamas for standing up to years of Israeli oppression. But this war is different.

It's the deadliest conflict Palestinians have faced in their history, coupled with Israel's large-scale destruction of homes and infrastructure across Gaza. About 85% of the population, according to the U.N., have now fled their homes and are sheltering in tents, schools and overcrowded buildings.

Many in Gaza liken it to the foundational Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and the mass Palestinian displacement that came with the establishment of Israel, what Palestinians call the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe.

Some Hamas supporters say the group miscalculated

Hamas still has supporters in Gaza. A recent poll found 57% of Gazans support Hamas' decision to attack on Oct. 7. Most of the Palestinians surveyed said they had not seen the videos of Hamas' attacks on Israelis that day and didn't think Hamas committed atrocities.

But even supporters of Hamas launching the attack say the group misjudged the consequences.

Abdelsalam Al-Ghoul, a 30-year-old Palestinian who fled his home in Gaza, called Hamas' attack an "honorable act" against Israeli oppression, but says Hamas "greatly misjudged the situation," because Iran and Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, didn't join the attack, diminishing its results.

He criticizes Hamas for preparing its fighters for the war, without preparing its civilians.

"The resistance says it's ready for rounds of combat for months and years," Al-Ghoul says. "So are we, but provide us with our daily bread, so we resist together."

It takes hours to wait in bread lines at bakeries, which are short on flour, fuel and cooking gas.

"[Hamas] should give consideration to their people," says Suheir Safi, amid the wafting smoke of a mud oven, where Palestinians baked bread near a tent. "Every shepherd is responsible for his flock."

On Facebook, many Gazans have been alluding to their frustration with Hamas' leader Yahya Sinwar.

"A captain takes the ship to where the people want. A pirate takes the ship to where he wants," Sami Allhelou wrote.

"An entire generation in Gaza never saw a tank in their lives. The crazy man brought the tanks to the center of the refugee camp because of stupidity," Mohanad Mehrez wrote.

But Hamas still maintains a fighting presence on the battlefield, and has even reasserted itself as a governing force, paying partial salaries to civil servants and sending police officers to patrol in areas where Israeli troops have withdrawn.

Sinwar, the Hamas leader whom Israel has vowed to kill, remains alive, in hiding, leading negotiations with Israel for a hostage-prisoner exchange and cease-fire.

"Hamas, they consider that they are the winner in this war," says Tholfikar Swairjo, a pharmacist in Gaza who was previously a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a leftist Palestinian political faction. "They didn't lose the war because ... until now, Hamas is Hamas."

The "bigger war," Swairjo says, is what Hamas will face after the fighting is over: the colossal task of rebuilding a decimated Gaza. Hamas cannot do that without international cooperation.

This is the fifth war Hamas and Israel have fought since Hamas took over Gaza. The U.S., Qatar and Egypt are now involved in negotiations over what the future Palestinian leadership would look like when the war is over.

To move forward, Swairjo thinks Hamas will have to change from an outlier opposition force to a participant in the internationally recognized Palestinian movement, the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO, which is committed to the goal of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

"Hamas, they are smart enough to understand what's happening and what is coming in the future. Because of that, they will change," Swairjo says. "People will obligate them to change ... they will not accept to have another war, another catastrophe. People will not accept to continue this forever."

That includes Swairjo himself. He has lost his main pharmacy, his livelihood, his house and his father's house to Israeli bombings in the last four months.

"I lost everything," he says. "I want Hamas to do something for me."

Expand full comment

The PLO are lackeys of Israel.

Expand full comment

The NPR article is about people living in Gaza, Hamas and Israel.

Expand full comment

"What happens if he has a knife in his pocket…"

https://youtu.be/DjihuT-R94E?t=403

Expand full comment