The Chris Hedges Report with Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin on the stranglehold the Israel lobby has over our political system and how it blocks a ceasefire resolution in Congress.
The Chris Hedges Report with Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin on the stranglehold the Israel lobby has over our political system and how it blocks a ceasefire resolution in Congress.
Democratic Reps. Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, André Carson, Summer Lee, and Delia Ramirez introduced a “Ceasefire Now” resolution on October 16th to halt the siege on Gaza. The resolution calls on the Biden administration to demand an end to the Israeli attacks and send humanitarian aid to Gaza. Eight other Democrats signed on as original co-sponsors, and an additional five have since sponsored the resolution, bringing the
The Isreal government is very good at playing us for suckers.
Why the hell we're giving them aid is beyong my comprehension. We give them our tax dollars they buy our weapons and put money into the pockets of our non-representative Congress persons. What fools we be to let them. We know our politicians are stupid morons but we be too for allowing it to happen.
They are the US' eyes and ears in the M.E. They have spies and infiltrators all over and they report what they find to the Pentagon. We feel like we need them because the US has created so much death, destruction and hatred in the region. Security reasons are the constant drone of the warmongers but they cause them. A never ending circle.
And BTW, even the weapons that, yes the US taxpayer is supplying Israel, are kept a secret. The Intercept published a piece the other day about it. Not only the quantity but the specific weapons that Americans are supplying to Israel are not being disclosed. Lie upon lie upon lie.....
From the article:
"National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged the secrecy in an October 23 press briefing, saying that while U.S. security assistance flows to Israel “on a near-daily basis,” he continued, 'We’re being careful not to quantify or get into too much detail about what they’re getting — for their own operational security purposes, of course.'"
The Biden administration put out a three-page list of arms for Ukraine, but information on weapons sent to Israel could fit in one sentence.
What worries me more is that Israel, a proven lunatic state, has nuclear weapons. When will they bomb Iran? and once our honeymoon ends and they cannot get more Favours from us, when will they bomb USA?
You need not worry about the U.S. attacking its own citizens with nuclear weapons, Paula ... ya see, there's a problem with nuclear weapons - they destroy buildings and property ... a neutron bomb on the other hand, just will just vaporize us useless eaters ...
You are badly misinformed about what a neutron bomb is/does/was designed to do.
A "neutron bomb" is an "enhanced radiation weapon", the design was intended to KILL TANK/ARMORED VEHICLE CREWS with very penetrating high energy neutrons from fusing deuterium + tritium- Since tanks were pretty robust vs. air blast and thermal pulses of the original generation of "tactical" nuclear weapons, it was necessary to KILL THEIR CREWS with penetrating radiation and so take them out of the long predicted NATO vs. USSR fight "at the Fulva gap"™. But those "neutron" weapons STILL required a nuclear fision bomb as part of the system, the tactical neutron weapons the USA designed STILL had blast & heat outputs similar to the bomb which destroyed Hiroshima. They wrecked the neighborhood just FINE, rather than merely making any people present dead as popularly misunderstood. Nope, your realtor would not be able to sell those neutron ombed properties, nor would bodies have "evaporated". In fact, the dead bodies would hang out for a LONG time as they would effectively have been "radiurized" plus local natural decay bacteria and corpse eating organisms of all types from flies to vultures would have been killed along with the humans
But I'm actually not misinformed simply because I was never informed to begin with - Ha!
But I am sincerely interested in your professional opinion as to what strategies OUR military would deploy to reduce U.S. population while preserving a "useful" segment to serve their needs ... and is there any approach that could kill large numbers of people without damaging land and property, specifically buildings ... and I am not joking when I say that our military arsenal will eventually be deployed against U.S. citizens because it's in writing and everything else is on the table including torture of U.S. citizens, also because it is in writing ... your thoughts please ...
I agree. They be so insecure the Isreal spy industry has perfected and built multiple servalence systems/algorithms that are unconstiution to our civil liberties (free speach_right to assembly) in the name of -their security-not ours. This spy industry has also perfected Orwellian double speak to hide their malfeacience behind malfesient wording/phrasing. The current facist state under Bibi needs a reboot. Santa I'm sure has put him and his followers on his naught list as has most of civilized world (with the exception of the colonizer nations).
Read (or re-read) "Israel's Culture of Deceit" that Chris Hedges published on 10/18. I can't fully speak to how it's changed my perception of Israel, the US and the Middle East. All I know is that I have to consult it repeatedly. I probably should be ashamed at my own naivete (in middle age, no less!), but the clarity that I now have feels so good, I can't be bothered. It's just lie upon lie upon lie.....and here in the US too. Now I understand why so much of the journalism is empty and shallow: delusion is the state of mind in this country.
Perhaps, our annual almost 4 billion tax tribute for them is just to congratulate them for those benefits that we have not been able to give to our people.
I do not know why these lobbies don't have to register as foreign agents when they fund people to go to Israel and steal the homes and land of Palestinians. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and JFK were not wrong about needing to shut down the Federal Reserve and create our own central banking system. Nathan Rothschild really fucked up our country.
"George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and JFK were not wrong about needing to shut down the Federal Reserve"
Good Lord, do you actually BELIEVE the BS you posted there?! Only ONE of the presidents you named was even alive at a time the Federal Reserve banking system existed. And JFK?AFAIK he was not known to speak about "shutting down the Federal Reserve".
Thank you both for an accurate, if painful, iteration of the current state of the nation viz., the rest of the world. In the short term, I imagine the next presidential election will witness the lowest percentage of voter participation in our history. Biden will be allowed to avoid all debates, for obvious reasons, and the Republicans will nominate Trump or a Trump wanta-be, and the choice, on most state ballots, for the credulous crowd who will vote, will be between two cretins, united by their fealty to their capitalist "friends," and their devotion to creating a new cold war. I intend to vote for a Jewish woman, but I doubt whether Jill Stein will appear on many ballots. Quo Vadis?
I don't know exactly when Israel's dominance of U.S. political discourse began, but the final nail in the coffin was the 2010 SCOTUS ruling in CITIZENS UNITED vs THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION ...
The gross exaggeration of the numbers killed by Hamas on Oct 7th continues to be whitewashed even with the testimony of those that survived the onslaught from IDF forces and visual images that show IDF helicopters and soldiers shooting at Israelis. The continued attribution to the Hamas fighters, who were targeting military installations, keeps citizens in the west deluded because if they knew the Israeli response would show itself to be even more disproportionate.
So very grateful to Medea and Chris for their courage in truth telling. As unsettling their knowledge and understanding are, I feel more grounded and determined because of it. AIPAC like Netanyahu is cancerous and dangerous to the civic health of our democracy. Somehow we must make a moat of teflon prohibiting entirely any monies from donors to reach Congress people. I was very surprised to learn about Pocan's initial refusal to call for a cease fire. And, Ro Khanna's! That really amazed me because of his progressiveness on so many issues. These spineless, compassion-less Congress people remind of a period of time - probably decades ago by now - when a woman was beaten to death? in front of a bunch of people who didn't move a muscle to help her though she cried out. Such a phenomenon. Those watchers/witnesses are these silent chickens we've invested our faith in doing what is right not just legislatively but by acts of personal integrity and compassion. These representatives for the "public good" stand by, watching benumbed? a scale of brutality- wrenched on children and innocents - and remain unmoved. What is going on? Does a life directed strategically for wealth accumulation dull/inhibit spontaneous, instinctual acts of compassion? Other- directed as distinct from inner directed.Other-directed meaning - a lifetime of acts strategically geared to win friends and influence people, or making the right people happy with you so you are favored and popular. Is that how they, the spineless lot of cold hearted government sorts garnered such wealth? Does much wealth inhibit basic acts of compassion? "As of 2020, over half of the members of Congress were millionaires and the median net worth of members was approximately $1 million." (googled)."The median net worth of a senator was $3.2 million, versus $900,000 for members of the House of Representatives. These are conservative estimates.
Congress members are not required to report on the value of their residence, though many do. "(qz.com) If you weren't a constituent of theirs, would they still retain the innate capacity to feel your pain? And reach out to help? No matter where you lived or what color your skin packaging or your God?
Julio - I can well understand your placement of Bernie on such. It gets tricky - this classifying. We need to remember - or I need to remember - each of us has a shadow side. The best we can do in life is to be whole, not perfect. Just like beautiful faces (not model types). The ones transparent enough you can see the soul there. They're marked with a synergy of qualities...not pure through like water out of a natural spring...substantive with a spark, full of presence. It helped me to understand Bernie's reluctance when I read about his family. You may want to check it out. I still abhorred his reluctance but understood it a little. I need to often check myself when I get overly exercised over something - am I getting strung up by perfection? by absolutes of all good and all bad? Forgetting that most all of life occurs between those polarities. Allows in a little dip of compassion and softens judgments of other and self up...Cuidate. Caringly.
Selina, I know well that we all have some shadow side, in my case that's almost both sides. I am proudly a compromiser but the only thing I don't accept is crimes against humanity and Bernie despite his family background and multiple indications of being a true progressive in this occasion he decided to become a supporter of baby killings. I think that his second citizenship with Israel made him to forget his allegiance to America and common decency. If you have not watched Democracynow.org today, you are missing the photograph of the babies taken off their incubators for lack of electricity to sustain their lives. Following is a part of today's issue:
"Gaza’s two largest hospitals, Al-Shifa and Al-Quds, have closed as Gaza’s health system collapses under relentless Israeli bombardment and blockades. At least six premature babies and nine other patients have died at Al-Shifa due to shortages of electricity. Photos show premature babies removed from their incubators and placed together on a bed for warmth as the last remaining hospital workers are forced to resort to desperate measures."
Julio, I understand and respect your faithfulness to your scruples. Seeing those sweet innocents in the maw of the Zionist one-sided viciousness is the territory of speechlessness and the loss of breath. A time and geography of terrible grief. And righteous outrage.
Forgive if you’ve seen this before, but I had a crazy idea a couple of nights ago that the one thing that could stop the bombing immediately, would be for Pope Francis to go to Gaza, to the Rafah Crossing and enter into Gaza with the Gazans. I believe this would change the dynamics as soon as such a visit was announced. I made a petition on change.org
If anyone thinks this might work, and would like to support it , please sign:
This is in addition to any and everything else we can do, but given the craven behavior of the western governments, it’s’ st least something different. It might not work, there are plenty of obstacles, but maybe it's worth trying. Please sign and share if you can.
If you haven't already done so, may I suggest you post this same comment and link to other relevant Substack authors and be sure to push it out there via NOTES also.
I fully agree, and would add that it would be very nice if whoever openly proposed a change to "business as usual" doesn't have to get nailed to a tree by the local authorities this time 'round.
I just sent it, but he will have to be extremely careful because religion is the cause of this madness and there is the possibility that Zionists Christians and Jews will murder him for which even Catholic Biden wouldn't feel any regret.
You are absolutely right that there are many obstacles to this proposal, but which proposal is it that has none?
I feel it is imperative to break this current narrative. Nothing we have done so far has brought peace and justice to the people of the Middle East. Time to try and think of as many, different, outside the box ideas as possible. This is just one of those. I encourage you to bring forth your own creative ideas on this.
My poor creativity manifests only on my canvases. I believe that the only one idea that has always proven effective is boycott like with apartheid in South Africa, so I encourage to strengthen BDS. If the Pope, the Dalai Lama or any other human universally respected by their wisdom want to go to Gaza it will help but at their own risk and with no attachment to religion which is quite discredited. Remember that was another beloved pope at his time who rallied the whole of Europe into the First Crusade which ended with the murder of most of the Muslims and Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Of course there are many potential problems, some of the ones you mention were among the ones I considered, but I weighed the potential outcome of trying to stop the killing against those others, and decided I would work for the goal of trying to save lives, rather than let those others cause me to not at least try everything I thought might help.
I did too and that is why I signed the petition for the pope to go and shared it with 250 more people. Other than that, beside supporting BDS, contributing to humanitarian organizations and watching our politicians to be sure I will not vote for those who have opposed the ceasefire, this humble American can do nothing more. Perhaps If I believed in a personal god, I would pray but that is not for me.
Hi Julio, I appreciate it. I just heard from Moveon that I should put my petition on their website which m, I think might increase the exposure. OTOH, what happens to the one on change dot org? As someone who has signed, what do you think of that idea? Will two work against each other or reinforce?
For a clear explanation of the geopolitical aspects of the US relationship with Isreal, see Ben Norton's recent interview with Michael Hudson. Starting a war with Iran is Washington's ultimate goal, and Isreal is our proxy in helping make that happen https://youtu.be/9AeAfFfTqMk?si=HCUz_RW5PdprbI3C
Those are thoughtful words from Mr. Halper. He says that countries don't have friends, but they have interests and for this reason they support Israel as a way to improve their surveillance and suppression tactics along with testing their weapons on the Palestinians. He considers the religious and messianic aspects of the conflict but not as primary causes, but I believe that he forgets the most important reason of the countries supporting Israel, meaning that their leaders are bribed and so they ignore the terrible damage made to the world and their own countries with their actions. Repressing and aspiring countries to become the leaders of the world don't support Israel.
I sometimes wear my Code Pink “I 💗 Palestinian Rights” T-shirt outside my jacket around town here & at protests. My intent is for folks to know they’re not alone when they see my shirt or buttons.
Medea and Chris as well as the many of you here that are writing comments give me courage when I’m feeling like a voice in the wilderness.
Today is Armistice Day which has been hijacked, both nomenclature & meaning, by Veterans Day.
Biden could end this with a single phone call.
Biden is a enunch.
An idiotic eunuch that is risking global nuclear Armageddon.
Or just genocide.
For now
In the end, isn't it always about the $$$?...and AIPAC = $$$(lots of it) = power. Follow the money.
The Isreal government is very good at playing us for suckers.
Why the hell we're giving them aid is beyong my comprehension. We give them our tax dollars they buy our weapons and put money into the pockets of our non-representative Congress persons. What fools we be to let them. We know our politicians are stupid morons but we be too for allowing it to happen.
They are the US' eyes and ears in the M.E. They have spies and infiltrators all over and they report what they find to the Pentagon. We feel like we need them because the US has created so much death, destruction and hatred in the region. Security reasons are the constant drone of the warmongers but they cause them. A never ending circle.
And BTW, even the weapons that, yes the US taxpayer is supplying Israel, are kept a secret. The Intercept published a piece the other day about it. Not only the quantity but the specific weapons that Americans are supplying to Israel are not being disclosed. Lie upon lie upon lie.....
From the article:
"National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged the secrecy in an October 23 press briefing, saying that while U.S. security assistance flows to Israel “on a near-daily basis,” he continued, 'We’re being careful not to quantify or get into too much detail about what they’re getting — for their own operational security purposes, of course.'"
The Biden administration put out a three-page list of arms for Ukraine, but information on weapons sent to Israel could fit in one sentence.
https://theintercept.com/2023/11/07/israel-us-weapons-secret/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter
What worries me more is that Israel, a proven lunatic state, has nuclear weapons. When will they bomb Iran? and once our honeymoon ends and they cannot get more Favours from us, when will they bomb USA?
I caught that and it is very scary as the US has developed DEWs and they have been working on nuclear weapons with more limited impact.
You need not worry about the U.S. attacking its own citizens with nuclear weapons, Paula ... ya see, there's a problem with nuclear weapons - they destroy buildings and property ... a neutron bomb on the other hand, just will just vaporize us useless eaters ...
HAVE A NICE DAY!
You are badly misinformed about what a neutron bomb is/does/was designed to do.
A "neutron bomb" is an "enhanced radiation weapon", the design was intended to KILL TANK/ARMORED VEHICLE CREWS with very penetrating high energy neutrons from fusing deuterium + tritium- Since tanks were pretty robust vs. air blast and thermal pulses of the original generation of "tactical" nuclear weapons, it was necessary to KILL THEIR CREWS with penetrating radiation and so take them out of the long predicted NATO vs. USSR fight "at the Fulva gap"™. But those "neutron" weapons STILL required a nuclear fision bomb as part of the system, the tactical neutron weapons the USA designed STILL had blast & heat outputs similar to the bomb which destroyed Hiroshima. They wrecked the neighborhood just FINE, rather than merely making any people present dead as popularly misunderstood. Nope, your realtor would not be able to sell those neutron ombed properties, nor would bodies have "evaporated". In fact, the dead bodies would hang out for a LONG time as they would effectively have been "radiurized" plus local natural decay bacteria and corpse eating organisms of all types from flies to vultures would have been killed along with the humans
Thank you Billy ...
But I'm actually not misinformed simply because I was never informed to begin with - Ha!
But I am sincerely interested in your professional opinion as to what strategies OUR military would deploy to reduce U.S. population while preserving a "useful" segment to serve their needs ... and is there any approach that could kill large numbers of people without damaging land and property, specifically buildings ... and I am not joking when I say that our military arsenal will eventually be deployed against U.S. citizens because it's in writing and everything else is on the table including torture of U.S. citizens, also because it is in writing ... your thoughts please ...
It's not US citizens I am concerned about in this case.
Yeah, they want that land ... that's why nuclear is not an option.
"... for their own operational security purposes, of course." ...
But of course!
I agree. They be so insecure the Isreal spy industry has perfected and built multiple servalence systems/algorithms that are unconstiution to our civil liberties (free speach_right to assembly) in the name of -their security-not ours. This spy industry has also perfected Orwellian double speak to hide their malfeacience behind malfesient wording/phrasing. The current facist state under Bibi needs a reboot. Santa I'm sure has put him and his followers on his naught list as has most of civilized world (with the exception of the colonizer nations).
I forgot to mention assassins.
Read (or re-read) "Israel's Culture of Deceit" that Chris Hedges published on 10/18. I can't fully speak to how it's changed my perception of Israel, the US and the Middle East. All I know is that I have to consult it repeatedly. I probably should be ashamed at my own naivete (in middle age, no less!), but the clarity that I now have feels so good, I can't be bothered. It's just lie upon lie upon lie.....and here in the US too. Now I understand why so much of the journalism is empty and shallow: delusion is the state of mind in this country.
Israel has, among othet things, free healthcare and university education for citizens, among other things we are assured that we cannot afford.
Perhaps, our annual almost 4 billion tax tribute for them is just to congratulate them for those benefits that we have not been able to give to our people.
Great interview
Great courageous guest
Peace to us all
I do not know why these lobbies don't have to register as foreign agents when they fund people to go to Israel and steal the homes and land of Palestinians. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and JFK were not wrong about needing to shut down the Federal Reserve and create our own central banking system. Nathan Rothschild really fucked up our country.
@Paula
(Quote)
"George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and JFK were not wrong about needing to shut down the Federal Reserve"
Good Lord, do you actually BELIEVE the BS you posted there?! Only ONE of the presidents you named was even alive at a time the Federal Reserve banking system existed. And JFK?AFAIK he was not known to speak about "shutting down the Federal Reserve".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KylrUfCXN0&t=616s
Thank you both for an accurate, if painful, iteration of the current state of the nation viz., the rest of the world. In the short term, I imagine the next presidential election will witness the lowest percentage of voter participation in our history. Biden will be allowed to avoid all debates, for obvious reasons, and the Republicans will nominate Trump or a Trump wanta-be, and the choice, on most state ballots, for the credulous crowd who will vote, will be between two cretins, united by their fealty to their capitalist "friends," and their devotion to creating a new cold war. I intend to vote for a Jewish woman, but I doubt whether Jill Stein will appear on many ballots. Quo Vadis?
I don't know exactly when Israel's dominance of U.S. political discourse began, but the final nail in the coffin was the 2010 SCOTUS ruling in CITIZENS UNITED vs THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION ...
The gross exaggeration of the numbers killed by Hamas on Oct 7th continues to be whitewashed even with the testimony of those that survived the onslaught from IDF forces and visual images that show IDF helicopters and soldiers shooting at Israelis. The continued attribution to the Hamas fighters, who were targeting military installations, keeps citizens in the west deluded because if they knew the Israeli response would show itself to be even more disproportionate.
Thank you. This country has been bombing somewhere in the world for my entire life. The United States of Self Righteous Murder.
Is it possible to get a transcript of this dialogue? I really want to read it and am hearing impaired.
So very grateful to Medea and Chris for their courage in truth telling. As unsettling their knowledge and understanding are, I feel more grounded and determined because of it. AIPAC like Netanyahu is cancerous and dangerous to the civic health of our democracy. Somehow we must make a moat of teflon prohibiting entirely any monies from donors to reach Congress people. I was very surprised to learn about Pocan's initial refusal to call for a cease fire. And, Ro Khanna's! That really amazed me because of his progressiveness on so many issues. These spineless, compassion-less Congress people remind of a period of time - probably decades ago by now - when a woman was beaten to death? in front of a bunch of people who didn't move a muscle to help her though she cried out. Such a phenomenon. Those watchers/witnesses are these silent chickens we've invested our faith in doing what is right not just legislatively but by acts of personal integrity and compassion. These representatives for the "public good" stand by, watching benumbed? a scale of brutality- wrenched on children and innocents - and remain unmoved. What is going on? Does a life directed strategically for wealth accumulation dull/inhibit spontaneous, instinctual acts of compassion? Other- directed as distinct from inner directed.Other-directed meaning - a lifetime of acts strategically geared to win friends and influence people, or making the right people happy with you so you are favored and popular. Is that how they, the spineless lot of cold hearted government sorts garnered such wealth? Does much wealth inhibit basic acts of compassion? "As of 2020, over half of the members of Congress were millionaires and the median net worth of members was approximately $1 million." (googled)."The median net worth of a senator was $3.2 million, versus $900,000 for members of the House of Representatives. These are conservative estimates.
Congress members are not required to report on the value of their residence, though many do. "(qz.com) If you weren't a constituent of theirs, would they still retain the innate capacity to feel your pain? And reach out to help? No matter where you lived or what color your skin packaging or your God?
Agreed. Bernie is now in my list of false progressives for not supporting the ceasefire.
Julio - I can well understand your placement of Bernie on such. It gets tricky - this classifying. We need to remember - or I need to remember - each of us has a shadow side. The best we can do in life is to be whole, not perfect. Just like beautiful faces (not model types). The ones transparent enough you can see the soul there. They're marked with a synergy of qualities...not pure through like water out of a natural spring...substantive with a spark, full of presence. It helped me to understand Bernie's reluctance when I read about his family. You may want to check it out. I still abhorred his reluctance but understood it a little. I need to often check myself when I get overly exercised over something - am I getting strung up by perfection? by absolutes of all good and all bad? Forgetting that most all of life occurs between those polarities. Allows in a little dip of compassion and softens judgments of other and self up...Cuidate. Caringly.
Selina, I know well that we all have some shadow side, in my case that's almost both sides. I am proudly a compromiser but the only thing I don't accept is crimes against humanity and Bernie despite his family background and multiple indications of being a true progressive in this occasion he decided to become a supporter of baby killings. I think that his second citizenship with Israel made him to forget his allegiance to America and common decency. If you have not watched Democracynow.org today, you are missing the photograph of the babies taken off their incubators for lack of electricity to sustain their lives. Following is a part of today's issue:
"Gaza’s two largest hospitals, Al-Shifa and Al-Quds, have closed as Gaza’s health system collapses under relentless Israeli bombardment and blockades. At least six premature babies and nine other patients have died at Al-Shifa due to shortages of electricity. Photos show premature babies removed from their incubators and placed together on a bed for warmth as the last remaining hospital workers are forced to resort to desperate measures."
Julio, I understand and respect your faithfulness to your scruples. Seeing those sweet innocents in the maw of the Zionist one-sided viciousness is the territory of speechlessness and the loss of breath. A time and geography of terrible grief. And righteous outrage.
Cuidate,
Selina
Forgive if you’ve seen this before, but I had a crazy idea a couple of nights ago that the one thing that could stop the bombing immediately, would be for Pope Francis to go to Gaza, to the Rafah Crossing and enter into Gaza with the Gazans. I believe this would change the dynamics as soon as such a visit was announced. I made a petition on change.org
If anyone thinks this might work, and would like to support it , please sign:
https://chng.it/tfYb2DjFDy
This is in addition to any and everything else we can do, but given the craven behavior of the western governments, it’s’ st least something different. It might not work, there are plenty of obstacles, but maybe it's worth trying. Please sign and share if you can.
And isn’t it Armistice Day?
I think this is a pretty good idea, Joy ... thx.
If you haven't already done so, may I suggest you post this same comment and link to other relevant Substack authors and be sure to push it out there via NOTES also.
Thank you. Please share wherever you can as well.
@Joy in HK
Lovely idea, that. Auspicious day too. Never going to happen.
See the old movie "The Shoes of the Fisherman" for a similar "Catholic Pope actually DOING something Jesus would have approved of" theme.
Whether it happens or not, at least it’s time to start thinking outside the box that contains only a spiralling of more and more death and hatred.
@Joy in HK
I fully agree, and would add that it would be very nice if whoever openly proposed a change to "business as usual" doesn't have to get nailed to a tree by the local authorities this time 'round.
https://read.amazon.com/sample/B001OF5F1E?f=1&l=en_US&r=7a610598&rid=26HS9C5HQTBJBYCN9KSY&sid=145-8320213-9913246&cid=A39NJMOJTX1THZ&ref_=litb_m
I just sent it, but he will have to be extremely careful because religion is the cause of this madness and there is the possibility that Zionists Christians and Jews will murder him for which even Catholic Biden wouldn't feel any regret.
You are absolutely right that there are many obstacles to this proposal, but which proposal is it that has none?
I feel it is imperative to break this current narrative. Nothing we have done so far has brought peace and justice to the people of the Middle East. Time to try and think of as many, different, outside the box ideas as possible. This is just one of those. I encourage you to bring forth your own creative ideas on this.
My poor creativity manifests only on my canvases. I believe that the only one idea that has always proven effective is boycott like with apartheid in South Africa, so I encourage to strengthen BDS. If the Pope, the Dalai Lama or any other human universally respected by their wisdom want to go to Gaza it will help but at their own risk and with no attachment to religion which is quite discredited. Remember that was another beloved pope at his time who rallied the whole of Europe into the First Crusade which ended with the murder of most of the Muslims and Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Of course there are many potential problems, some of the ones you mention were among the ones I considered, but I weighed the potential outcome of trying to stop the killing against those others, and decided I would work for the goal of trying to save lives, rather than let those others cause me to not at least try everything I thought might help.
I did too and that is why I signed the petition for the pope to go and shared it with 250 more people. Other than that, beside supporting BDS, contributing to humanitarian organizations and watching our politicians to be sure I will not vote for those who have opposed the ceasefire, this humble American can do nothing more. Perhaps If I believed in a personal god, I would pray but that is not for me.
Hi Julio, I appreciate it. I just heard from Moveon that I should put my petition on their website which m, I think might increase the exposure. OTOH, what happens to the one on change dot org? As someone who has signed, what do you think of that idea? Will two work against each other or reinforce?
Why is AIPAC allowed to fund elections?
For a clear explanation of the geopolitical aspects of the US relationship with Isreal, see Ben Norton's recent interview with Michael Hudson. Starting a war with Iran is Washington's ultimate goal, and Isreal is our proxy in helping make that happen https://youtu.be/9AeAfFfTqMk?si=HCUz_RW5PdprbI3C
Jeff Halper wrote about how Israel uses Palestinians for weapons testing. Listen here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S_UdmHA7E
Those are thoughtful words from Mr. Halper. He says that countries don't have friends, but they have interests and for this reason they support Israel as a way to improve their surveillance and suppression tactics along with testing their weapons on the Palestinians. He considers the religious and messianic aspects of the conflict but not as primary causes, but I believe that he forgets the most important reason of the countries supporting Israel, meaning that their leaders are bribed and so they ignore the terrible damage made to the world and their own countries with their actions. Repressing and aspiring countries to become the leaders of the world don't support Israel.
I sometimes wear my Code Pink “I 💗 Palestinian Rights” T-shirt outside my jacket around town here & at protests. My intent is for folks to know they’re not alone when they see my shirt or buttons.
Medea and Chris as well as the many of you here that are writing comments give me courage when I’m feeling like a voice in the wilderness.
Today is Armistice Day which has been hijacked, both nomenclature & meaning, by Veterans Day.
Here’s an illuminating article:
https://today.usc.edu/the-true-meaning-of-armistice-day-a-commitment-to-peace/