The Chris Hedges Report with reporter Max Blumenthal on how the Israeli military launched a series of attacks on Oct. 7 designed to kill Hamas gunmen along with their Israeli hostages.
The Chris Hedges Report with reporter Max Blumenthal on how the Israeli military launched a series of attacks on Oct. 7 designed to kill Hamas gunmen along with their Israeli hostages.
Thank you. The GrayZone has been very focused and clear. Every day since I read your post The Horror The Horror I have sent an excerpt from it to the President, the two Senators from my state and my Congressional representative. Murder by my government in my name has been taking place my entire life. Surely there must be a way to stop. Max makes it clear that at least in this case, it is unlikely.
The political Gnosticism of the liberal imperium is infinitely convoluted: “ so the darkness shall be the light and the stillness the dancing, TS Eliot, Wait without Hope.
We’ve seen 80 years of the same prevarications yet no one concludes that our fanciful prescriptions don’t work in practice. Answer, both sides are equally at fault and animated by insurmountable hatred : separate them.
Is it on purpose? America has monetized warfare. Is it on purpose? Lots of Jew hate in this world: is it on purpose?
"Shut down all the Military business." And then create businesses that produce something positive like industrial and agricultural machinery, improve education health and housing. These will replace the employment lost in war industry.
Thank you for another excellent interview. Max is a walking encyclopedia on current events. I could listen to you both discuss world events all day.
Quite upsetting so many Americans have been lied to by our government controlled media. If it weren’t for independent news we’d all be as gullible at the hands of our war department.
Thank you, for always letting your guests talk through all the pertinent points they need to make instead of like other interviewers constantly interrupting them and trying to redirect them to the questions they want to have answered. This is the type of reporting that is important to me thanks again.
Blumenthal has done excellent work reporting on this. He is to be commended. Also, as always, Chris Hedges is simply the greatest journalist/author of his (my) generation.
It distresses me that a reporter as thorough, honest, and eloquent as Max Blumenthal would smear one of the greatest historians of Israel/Palestine vis-a-vis the role played by the United States in the "Jewish State's" bloody founding, Alison Weir, author of "Against Our Better Judgment: How the United States Was Used to Create Israel" and founder of "If Americans Knew". I cannot find it within my heart to forgive Max for his smear against my friend and fellow activist, Alison Weir, one of the finest, most righteous and humane Americans that has ever lived but, credit where credit is due, his reporting on Oct. 7th, 2023, is indeed, admirable.
I agree. The way Alison Weir was vilified and ostracized for publishing a well researched history of the USA's collusion with Zionists to create Israel, was an absolute disgrace. Ali Abunimah was another prominent activist who unjustly censured Ms Weir. That said, both Abunimah and Blumenthal have been outstanding in their commentary and journalism since October 7th, but that whole episode with Ms Weir leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.
I was not aware that Ali Abunimah “smeared” Alison. Jewish Voice for Peace, however, did condemn her for being interviewed on some right wing man’s radio show. They objected not only to her presence but, that, when he allegedly said things the left considers unsavory, immoral, not “woke”, etc., Alison was quiet. The fact is NO MAINSTREAM RADIO HOST ANYWHERE IN THE WEST WILL INVITE ALISON ON!! She has NO CHOICE but to go where they will invite her!! Even my own erstwhile, liberal church, The Presbyterian Church (USA) in Texas refused to allow her to speak! JVP wants Palestine, LGBTQ rights, etc., etc. to be all part of the “Holy Trinity” of the Church of Intersectionality and they brook no descent, apparently. JVP and SJP have been great, especially since Oct. 7th but, anybody who calls Alison Weir “borderline antisemitic” as Max Blumenthal DID and for which he has never apologized to my knowledge, because she TRUTHFULLY reports on Frankfurter and Brandeis unethically and immorally being members of the SECRET Zionist organization called “The Parushim” while serving on the SCOTUS (a fact that had it been known at the time would have warranted their immediate expulsion from the Court and probably disbarment if not a hefty fine and jail time), deserves scorn and a reprimand.
It seems to me the only way to end the slaughter is if the billionaire American jews put pressure on Israel to stop. They are the only ones with the money, power and influence to do so. As far as I know none of them have. Which indicates that they are fine with genocide. If we the people can put pressure on them, such as boycott, perhaps we have a chance.
True. And the billionaire Christian right should also ask for peace in Palestine, but they too are complicit and funding the genocide. We must boycott and demand from our leaders BDS!
this is US/Israeli genocide - bizness as usual for the hegemon in it's Imperial March to Nowhere. Israel of course exists to help fulfill that and is happy to be it's profit making proxy. ah yes. Perhaps I'm more cynical than most. I think it's extremely likely that the Israeli's knew the attack was going to happen and simply let it happen. It advances the end that has always been the goal since the formation of Israel. Throwing a couple of thousand citizens under the bus seems like an easy leap for a gov that is coming down hard on any citizen or person that criticizes. The US owners do.
Perhaps what happened is otherwise, as Max says, but I think not. It's all a continuing disaster for everyone.
Yes, Chris, the essential aspect of understanding the now fast accelerating ‘death knell’ of America, Israel, and the integrated combination of the unholy AIPAC is that “The Quiet American” EMPIRE [Apologies to Graham Greene] of this combined fascist Empire has been shrouded in deceit, lying, War-ginning, and camouflaged backing of the GLOBAL “Masters of the Universe” — of which I have written about for several decades:
AIPAC Defined
By Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
11-5-9
For me, AIPAC should stand for American-style Imperialism Political Action Committee:
I still believe that the number one reason that AIPAC should not have undue influence on this matter is, as I wrote to “The Nation” in 2007, that "AIPAC (the American Israel Political Action Committee) and others, which are together termed “the lobby,” are not really speaking for the majority of Israeli nor American Jews–but are actually speaking nearly the opposite. I have long believed and written that the acronym AIPAC should rightly stand for American-style Imperialism Political Action Committee, since it does not reflect the honest desires and needs of the vast majority of the people of Israel but the aims of a global corporate Empire, which reduces the people of both Israel and America to living in its twin facades of “Vichy America” and “Vichy Israel.”
Yes, AIPAC accomplishes precisely the inverse of the noble purpose it claims to serve–to protect the people of Israel–and is instead a great danger to the people of Israel through its singular focus on the unsustainable and inevitably sorrowful strategy of militarist Empire. But AIPAC is neither the only nor the worst deceiver and denier of the aspirations of peoples whom it claims to speak for. That title of champion guileful mis-guider and destroyer of people’s democratic purpose is the corporate global Empire, which has metastasized from an initial tumor in the United States itself (although it shows no nationalism nor patriotism) and which can best be described as the Empire behind the curtain of “Vichy America.”
Just as AIPAC disregards the real interests of the people of Israel in favor of its own agenda of militant imperialism, so the domestic-grown pathology of the US-centered corporate/financial Empire even more contemptuously and arrogantly disregards the democratic and peaceful interests of all Americans and displaces their dreams with its own sordid nightmare of global domination by force of arms and economic exploitation under the false flag of “Vichy America.”
At the end of the day, it needs to be understood that the global corporatist Empire which hides behind the facade of “Vichy America” is the heart of the destructive unitive Empire that “the lobby” lobbies."
Since my 2007 criticism of AIPAC’s undue and FALSE viewpoint in claiming to speak for any majority of Jews, I have further thought that from the humanist and empathetic ‘democracy thinking’ of the majority of Israeli and American working-class citizens, that "it’s hard to imagine, in this very modern 21st century, that we are still looking toward the end of the last of tribal ‘empire-thinking’.
We are a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-racial, even post-racial, sectarian, mixing-pot-world of democracies on a small fragile planet — and yet, we are still not beyond the danger of existential death at the hands of ancient and irrelevant tribal ‘empire-thinking’.
As only Kurt Vonnegut’s sense of ironic black humor might envision, “It is as if the whole human race was about to sit down to a celebratory picnic for successfully reaching our 21st century, when we are all unexpectedly killed by one remaining giant dinosaur.”
The last people in the world who should want to stay in (or ever promote) a world of tribalism, are the Muslims and Jews ---- based on how they have been abused by various nationalist and other modern “-ism” Empires.
Fighter pilots have a saying that, “speed is life”. But, for all the rest of us, “inclusiveness is life” — and tribalism is death by the oldest lie of empire.
Racism is another deadly old lie of empire, as is aggressively fundamentalist religion.
Nationalism is a somewhat newer lie of empire, proving particularly deadly in the 20th century.
While, economic ideology is the newest, and current, lie of empire (which is causing our economic and environmental collapse).
But all the lies and deceptions of “empire-thinking” lead ineluctably to the very same grave — so choose your empire poison, stupidly. Or choose your inclusiveness, wisely.
You make a common mistake. AIPAC=America Israel Political *AFFAIRS COMMITTEE*. not AIP...."Action Committee"(It is not a PAC.) It is a foreign lobbying agency which refuses to register as a FOREIGN lobbying agency. JFK was getting ready to insist it register as what it is....a FOREIGN lobbying organization....but....11/22....
Thank you Max Blumenthal for covering a story which msm is afraid to touch, the death of Israelis by friendly fire. It is possible that a large number of the Hamas victims were actually killed by the Israeli forces. Israel cares little about Hamas hostages, as indicated by how little is being done to get them released and the indiscriminate bombing that is killing the hostages as well as the Palestinians.
So, it is a genocide that is based on lies too?! I mean, 1200 people killed by who exactly? How many were killed by the Israeli army?! The lies about the horrific act of violence of the hamas terrorists galvanized the people of the world and gave an excuse for the Israeli army to pound on Gaza, at least for sometime. What can you do with this very important piece of news about the truth of what happened on Oct 7?!
And the scaring part is when these lunatics will decide to "Hanibalized" us with their nuclear bombs. They will not care if the majority of the Jewish people live here, they are crazy and blood thirsty.
Many if not most Jews are dual citizens of Israel and the countries where they work and live most of the time….USA, Europe, UK, Canada, Latin America, Australia, NZ, Mexico, etc. Dozens of Jews in government are dual citizens with divided loyalties….
Great work. Thank you. Such a sad note at the end. Agree, Zionist Israel will not stop until it clears and reoccupies Gaza ( and the West Bank which is already happening at this moment under cover of Gaza). This will be, if not already is, one of the darkest chapters in human history
I'm transcribing part of PHYLLIS BENNIS "Ending Cycles of Violence: Israel & Palestine "Interview by David Barsamian (Washington, DC 27 October 2023)
"D.B. -The term genocide was coined by a Polish Jew, a famous jurist, a lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, having seen what the Turks did to the Armenians in 1915, and then the Holocaust. Now there's an Israeli historian of genocide, his name is Raz Segal, and in the issue of Jewish Currents, he calls Israel's assault on Gaza “a textbook case of genocide.”
P.B. -And he's not the only one. There is a petition that has been signed, I don't know how many, I think it's over 100 scholars around the world, scholars of genocide. That's an academic discipline. Hard to imagine, but it is. And they are the ones who understand better than anyone what international law actually says and doesn't say about defining genocide, holding accountable those accused of acts of genocide, and crucially, the obligations of, in this case, the member states who have signed the convention against genocide, which include of course the United States and Israel. Any outside third party who is a signatory to that convention has an international obligation to act to stop it. So, what is our government doing? We are not only sending Israel $3.8 billion every year as a starting amount. It's
already, this year, up way over $4 billion, but we are now just announcing $14 billion that the Biden administration wants to send for this war. So, we are paying for this war. Israel's entire military budget is $23 billion. When this $14 billion goes through, and there's little doubt that it will, it will mean that the
United States taxpayers are paying more than 75% of Israel's entire military budget this year. That's shocking. For a government that is carrying out acts that are at best war crimes, and may well be crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide. We are culpable. Our government is accountable and we as taxpayers have to do even more to say, "Not in our name. We need a ceasefire now." This is the necessity to stop the killing. Will a ceasefire solve all the problems? Of course not. We also need humanitarian aid. We need accountability for all of the crimes, including the crimes of October 7th.
We need all of that. We need the hostages to be freed. It's now over 10,000 Palestinians being held illegally in Israeli jails, we need them to be freed. 160 of them are children. Twelve of those children are being held under administrative detention. It's shocking. Israeli military detention laws apply to children as young as 12. It's the only country in the world who has a military juvenile justice system. So, it's a shocking reality and we need to keep up the pressure."
Yes, natural resources are important but, in my opinion, the main reason is the bribing of our politicians. Following is another part of the mentioned interview with Phyllis Bennis that I downloaded from Alternativeradio.org:
"D.B. - Acquisition of land by force is an undisputed part of international law, as is collective punishment. We've talked about that. The latter is a long time Israeli practice, homes are blown up. East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights have been annexed by Israel in flagrant violation of international law. It rarely comes up in any kind of a
discourse, but particularly the Syrian Golan Heights. Large swaths of the West Bank have been taken for Israeli settlements. There are at least a half a million settlers, probably more than that, on the West Bank. How does that portend for any kind of viable Palestinian state?
P.B. -The second part of your question, I think is the easy one. There is no longer a possibility of a two-state solution. It's very clear. This is not a debatable issue at this point among anybody who knows anything. The two-state solution, or as it usually is called very quickly, the two-state solution with swaps. You have to say it very fast, and you have to say with swaps, is something that exists for politicians and diplomats who have no answer, who have no answer to what to do about the oppression of Palestinians, the apartheid facing Palestinians, the settler colonial reality of Israel. They have nothing to offer to solve that challenge. So instead, they say, "We need to get back to a two-state solution." There's
not going to be a two-state solution, because there's no land left for a viable contiguous Palestinian state. Now putting that aside, the question of annexation remains a very key one. And we did hear not too long ago, some specific and terrifying realities about the occupation and now annexation of the Golan Heights. The annexation of the Golan actually was announced by Israel back in 1981, just a few years after it was occupied in 1967. It wasn't recognized by any country in the world. That changed in 2018. Donald Trump is president, he goes to Israel. He meets with Netanyahu, and he says, "I now declare that we recognize Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights as legitimate." It's like, who said you can do that? In complete violation of international law, and no one calls him out on it. And worse, then he gets back to Jerusalem, and he announces that the U.S. embassy is now going to be moved, again in complete violation of UN resolutions and
international law. He's going to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and he comes back to the United States and he meets with a group of wealthy Jewish Republicans, main donors of the Republican Party and of his campaign. And he looks around and he says, "I, for the first time, recognized Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights." And then he says, "And when I did, I was with your prime minister." And not one of them stood up and
said, "Excuse me, Mr. President, we're not Israelis. We're Americans. We don't have a prime minister in Israel. Netanyahu's not our prime minister. You are our president." Nobody said that. It was the ultimate kind of anti-Semitic canard that says that Jews have dual loyalty to Israel. It was an outrage, and no one called him out on it that was in the room or in the mainstream press. Those of us outside of those arenas did. And then he went on in that same meeting, and he looked around and he saw Sheldon Adelson, one of the wealthiest funders of the Republican Party, and of Israeli occupation and settlement processes, and his wife. And he looked around and said, when he was talking about the move of the embassy to Jerusalem, essentially the U.S. was recognizing the annexation of Jerusalem, also illegal and recognized by no one. He said, "Sheldon and Miriam, I did it for you." What could be a clearer acknowledgement that he is making his policy based on the desires of wealthy Jewish money? Exactly what Ilhan Omar was excoriated for anti-Semitism, when she talked about it as a phenomenon that some politicians will make their decisions based on money provided by different lobbies, and she mentioned the tobacco lobby, big pharma, a third one, and the Israel lobby. She mentioned four separate lobbies, but because it included the Israel lobby, she was excoriated for anti-Semitism."
Chris! I love that you work for/with the Real News Network.
For 2 reasons
1)they are great!
2) I just learned the word "Bumfuzzled" from them
It went "Biden Bumfuzzled by loses he is taking with young voters..." and it was accompanied by a photo where he clearly looks like he just smelled one of his own dusty old farts! I was thoroughly amused, I'll read the article at some point likely as well.
But anyone seeking a laugh seek out this photo & download there app(I did not get paid to say this, or anything else... Clearly)
Thank you. The GrayZone has been very focused and clear. Every day since I read your post The Horror The Horror I have sent an excerpt from it to the President, the two Senators from my state and my Congressional representative. Murder by my government in my name has been taking place my entire life. Surely there must be a way to stop. Max makes it clear that at least in this case, it is unlikely.
Apartheid, separate the combatants: solution.
The political Gnosticism of the liberal imperium is infinitely convoluted: “ so the darkness shall be the light and the stillness the dancing, TS Eliot, Wait without Hope.
We’ve seen 80 years of the same prevarications yet no one concludes that our fanciful prescriptions don’t work in practice. Answer, both sides are equally at fault and animated by insurmountable hatred : separate them.
Is it on purpose? America has monetized warfare. Is it on purpose? Lots of Jew hate in this world: is it on purpose?
"America has monetized warfare." Of course it has.
Shut down all the Military business State by State then you have hundreds if not thousands of people out of work!
It's gone too far.
"Shut down all the Military business." And then create businesses that produce something positive like industrial and agricultural machinery, improve education health and housing. These will replace the employment lost in war industry.
OK, but it will be probably easier to shut down the state of Israel and give them Montana.
Thank you for another excellent interview. Max is a walking encyclopedia on current events. I could listen to you both discuss world events all day.
Quite upsetting so many Americans have been lied to by our government controlled media. If it weren’t for independent news we’d all be as gullible at the hands of our war department.
Thank you, for always letting your guests talk through all the pertinent points they need to make instead of like other interviewers constantly interrupting them and trying to redirect them to the questions they want to have answered. This is the type of reporting that is important to me thanks again.
Blumenthal has done excellent work reporting on this. He is to be commended. Also, as always, Chris Hedges is simply the greatest journalist/author of his (my) generation.
It distresses me that a reporter as thorough, honest, and eloquent as Max Blumenthal would smear one of the greatest historians of Israel/Palestine vis-a-vis the role played by the United States in the "Jewish State's" bloody founding, Alison Weir, author of "Against Our Better Judgment: How the United States Was Used to Create Israel" and founder of "If Americans Knew". I cannot find it within my heart to forgive Max for his smear against my friend and fellow activist, Alison Weir, one of the finest, most righteous and humane Americans that has ever lived but, credit where credit is due, his reporting on Oct. 7th, 2023, is indeed, admirable.
I agree. The way Alison Weir was vilified and ostracized for publishing a well researched history of the USA's collusion with Zionists to create Israel, was an absolute disgrace. Ali Abunimah was another prominent activist who unjustly censured Ms Weir. That said, both Abunimah and Blumenthal have been outstanding in their commentary and journalism since October 7th, but that whole episode with Ms Weir leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.
I was not aware that Ali Abunimah “smeared” Alison. Jewish Voice for Peace, however, did condemn her for being interviewed on some right wing man’s radio show. They objected not only to her presence but, that, when he allegedly said things the left considers unsavory, immoral, not “woke”, etc., Alison was quiet. The fact is NO MAINSTREAM RADIO HOST ANYWHERE IN THE WEST WILL INVITE ALISON ON!! She has NO CHOICE but to go where they will invite her!! Even my own erstwhile, liberal church, The Presbyterian Church (USA) in Texas refused to allow her to speak! JVP wants Palestine, LGBTQ rights, etc., etc. to be all part of the “Holy Trinity” of the Church of Intersectionality and they brook no descent, apparently. JVP and SJP have been great, especially since Oct. 7th but, anybody who calls Alison Weir “borderline antisemitic” as Max Blumenthal DID and for which he has never apologized to my knowledge, because she TRUTHFULLY reports on Frankfurter and Brandeis unethically and immorally being members of the SECRET Zionist organization called “The Parushim” while serving on the SCOTUS (a fact that had it been known at the time would have warranted their immediate expulsion from the Court and probably disbarment if not a hefty fine and jail time), deserves scorn and a reprimand.
It seems to me the only way to end the slaughter is if the billionaire American jews put pressure on Israel to stop. They are the only ones with the money, power and influence to do so. As far as I know none of them have. Which indicates that they are fine with genocide. If we the people can put pressure on them, such as boycott, perhaps we have a chance.
True. And the billionaire Christian right should also ask for peace in Palestine, but they too are complicit and funding the genocide. We must boycott and demand from our leaders BDS!
this is US/Israeli genocide - bizness as usual for the hegemon in it's Imperial March to Nowhere. Israel of course exists to help fulfill that and is happy to be it's profit making proxy. ah yes. Perhaps I'm more cynical than most. I think it's extremely likely that the Israeli's knew the attack was going to happen and simply let it happen. It advances the end that has always been the goal since the formation of Israel. Throwing a couple of thousand citizens under the bus seems like an easy leap for a gov that is coming down hard on any citizen or person that criticizes. The US owners do.
Perhaps what happened is otherwise, as Max says, but I think not. It's all a continuing disaster for everyone.
I read that Egypt and Jordan had warned Israel.
Yes I think Israel let this happen.
Yes, Chris, the essential aspect of understanding the now fast accelerating ‘death knell’ of America, Israel, and the integrated combination of the unholy AIPAC is that “The Quiet American” EMPIRE [Apologies to Graham Greene] of this combined fascist Empire has been shrouded in deceit, lying, War-ginning, and camouflaged backing of the GLOBAL “Masters of the Universe” — of which I have written about for several decades:
AIPAC Defined
By Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
11-5-9
For me, AIPAC should stand for American-style Imperialism Political Action Committee:
I still believe that the number one reason that AIPAC should not have undue influence on this matter is, as I wrote to “The Nation” in 2007, that "AIPAC (the American Israel Political Action Committee) and others, which are together termed “the lobby,” are not really speaking for the majority of Israeli nor American Jews–but are actually speaking nearly the opposite. I have long believed and written that the acronym AIPAC should rightly stand for American-style Imperialism Political Action Committee, since it does not reflect the honest desires and needs of the vast majority of the people of Israel but the aims of a global corporate Empire, which reduces the people of both Israel and America to living in its twin facades of “Vichy America” and “Vichy Israel.”
Yes, AIPAC accomplishes precisely the inverse of the noble purpose it claims to serve–to protect the people of Israel–and is instead a great danger to the people of Israel through its singular focus on the unsustainable and inevitably sorrowful strategy of militarist Empire. But AIPAC is neither the only nor the worst deceiver and denier of the aspirations of peoples whom it claims to speak for. That title of champion guileful mis-guider and destroyer of people’s democratic purpose is the corporate global Empire, which has metastasized from an initial tumor in the United States itself (although it shows no nationalism nor patriotism) and which can best be described as the Empire behind the curtain of “Vichy America.”
Just as AIPAC disregards the real interests of the people of Israel in favor of its own agenda of militant imperialism, so the domestic-grown pathology of the US-centered corporate/financial Empire even more contemptuously and arrogantly disregards the democratic and peaceful interests of all Americans and displaces their dreams with its own sordid nightmare of global domination by force of arms and economic exploitation under the false flag of “Vichy America.”
At the end of the day, it needs to be understood that the global corporatist Empire which hides behind the facade of “Vichy America” is the heart of the destructive unitive Empire that “the lobby” lobbies."
Since my 2007 criticism of AIPAC’s undue and FALSE viewpoint in claiming to speak for any majority of Jews, I have further thought that from the humanist and empathetic ‘democracy thinking’ of the majority of Israeli and American working-class citizens, that "it’s hard to imagine, in this very modern 21st century, that we are still looking toward the end of the last of tribal ‘empire-thinking’.
We are a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-racial, even post-racial, sectarian, mixing-pot-world of democracies on a small fragile planet — and yet, we are still not beyond the danger of existential death at the hands of ancient and irrelevant tribal ‘empire-thinking’.
As only Kurt Vonnegut’s sense of ironic black humor might envision, “It is as if the whole human race was about to sit down to a celebratory picnic for successfully reaching our 21st century, when we are all unexpectedly killed by one remaining giant dinosaur.”
The last people in the world who should want to stay in (or ever promote) a world of tribalism, are the Muslims and Jews ---- based on how they have been abused by various nationalist and other modern “-ism” Empires.
Fighter pilots have a saying that, “speed is life”. But, for all the rest of us, “inclusiveness is life” — and tribalism is death by the oldest lie of empire.
Racism is another deadly old lie of empire, as is aggressively fundamentalist religion.
Nationalism is a somewhat newer lie of empire, proving particularly deadly in the 20th century.
While, economic ideology is the newest, and current, lie of empire (which is causing our economic and environmental collapse).
But all the lies and deceptions of “empire-thinking” lead ineluctably to the very same grave — so choose your empire poison, stupidly. Or choose your inclusiveness, wisely.
You make a common mistake. AIPAC=America Israel Political *AFFAIRS COMMITTEE*. not AIP...."Action Committee"(It is not a PAC.) It is a foreign lobbying agency which refuses to register as a FOREIGN lobbying agency. JFK was getting ready to insist it register as what it is....a FOREIGN lobbying organization....but....11/22....
Thanks much Donna --- and thanks for your info on JFK wanting to, as you say, "insist that it be registered"!
My pleasure.
Oh shit I haven't even had a chance to hear this one but these are 2 of my favorites no doubt!!!
And briahna joy Gray
Hope there’s bonus material on this one
Thank you Max Blumenthal for covering a story which msm is afraid to touch, the death of Israelis by friendly fire. It is possible that a large number of the Hamas victims were actually killed by the Israeli forces. Israel cares little about Hamas hostages, as indicated by how little is being done to get them released and the indiscriminate bombing that is killing the hostages as well as the Palestinians.
So, it is a genocide that is based on lies too?! I mean, 1200 people killed by who exactly? How many were killed by the Israeli army?! The lies about the horrific act of violence of the hamas terrorists galvanized the people of the world and gave an excuse for the Israeli army to pound on Gaza, at least for sometime. What can you do with this very important piece of news about the truth of what happened on Oct 7?!
And the scaring part is when these lunatics will decide to "Hanibalized" us with their nuclear bombs. They will not care if the majority of the Jewish people live here, they are crazy and blood thirsty.
Many if not most Jews are dual citizens of Israel and the countries where they work and live most of the time….USA, Europe, UK, Canada, Latin America, Australia, NZ, Mexico, etc. Dozens of Jews in government are dual citizens with divided loyalties….
Great work. Thank you. Such a sad note at the end. Agree, Zionist Israel will not stop until it clears and reoccupies Gaza ( and the West Bank which is already happening at this moment under cover of Gaza). This will be, if not already is, one of the darkest chapters in human history
I'm transcribing part of PHYLLIS BENNIS "Ending Cycles of Violence: Israel & Palestine "Interview by David Barsamian (Washington, DC 27 October 2023)
"D.B. -The term genocide was coined by a Polish Jew, a famous jurist, a lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, having seen what the Turks did to the Armenians in 1915, and then the Holocaust. Now there's an Israeli historian of genocide, his name is Raz Segal, and in the issue of Jewish Currents, he calls Israel's assault on Gaza “a textbook case of genocide.”
P.B. -And he's not the only one. There is a petition that has been signed, I don't know how many, I think it's over 100 scholars around the world, scholars of genocide. That's an academic discipline. Hard to imagine, but it is. And they are the ones who understand better than anyone what international law actually says and doesn't say about defining genocide, holding accountable those accused of acts of genocide, and crucially, the obligations of, in this case, the member states who have signed the convention against genocide, which include of course the United States and Israel. Any outside third party who is a signatory to that convention has an international obligation to act to stop it. So, what is our government doing? We are not only sending Israel $3.8 billion every year as a starting amount. It's
already, this year, up way over $4 billion, but we are now just announcing $14 billion that the Biden administration wants to send for this war. So, we are paying for this war. Israel's entire military budget is $23 billion. When this $14 billion goes through, and there's little doubt that it will, it will mean that the
United States taxpayers are paying more than 75% of Israel's entire military budget this year. That's shocking. For a government that is carrying out acts that are at best war crimes, and may well be crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide. We are culpable. Our government is accountable and we as taxpayers have to do even more to say, "Not in our name. We need a ceasefire now." This is the necessity to stop the killing. Will a ceasefire solve all the problems? Of course not. We also need humanitarian aid. We need accountability for all of the crimes, including the crimes of October 7th.
We need all of that. We need the hostages to be freed. It's now over 10,000 Palestinians being held illegally in Israeli jails, we need them to be freed. 160 of them are children. Twelve of those children are being held under administrative detention. It's shocking. Israeli military detention laws apply to children as young as 12. It's the only country in the world who has a military juvenile justice system. So, it's a shocking reality and we need to keep up the pressure."
Yes hostages for hostages.
In my opinion US will never abandon Israel............OIL.
Yes, natural resources are important but, in my opinion, the main reason is the bribing of our politicians. Following is another part of the mentioned interview with Phyllis Bennis that I downloaded from Alternativeradio.org:
"D.B. - Acquisition of land by force is an undisputed part of international law, as is collective punishment. We've talked about that. The latter is a long time Israeli practice, homes are blown up. East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights have been annexed by Israel in flagrant violation of international law. It rarely comes up in any kind of a
discourse, but particularly the Syrian Golan Heights. Large swaths of the West Bank have been taken for Israeli settlements. There are at least a half a million settlers, probably more than that, on the West Bank. How does that portend for any kind of viable Palestinian state?
P.B. -The second part of your question, I think is the easy one. There is no longer a possibility of a two-state solution. It's very clear. This is not a debatable issue at this point among anybody who knows anything. The two-state solution, or as it usually is called very quickly, the two-state solution with swaps. You have to say it very fast, and you have to say with swaps, is something that exists for politicians and diplomats who have no answer, who have no answer to what to do about the oppression of Palestinians, the apartheid facing Palestinians, the settler colonial reality of Israel. They have nothing to offer to solve that challenge. So instead, they say, "We need to get back to a two-state solution." There's
not going to be a two-state solution, because there's no land left for a viable contiguous Palestinian state. Now putting that aside, the question of annexation remains a very key one. And we did hear not too long ago, some specific and terrifying realities about the occupation and now annexation of the Golan Heights. The annexation of the Golan actually was announced by Israel back in 1981, just a few years after it was occupied in 1967. It wasn't recognized by any country in the world. That changed in 2018. Donald Trump is president, he goes to Israel. He meets with Netanyahu, and he says, "I now declare that we recognize Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights as legitimate." It's like, who said you can do that? In complete violation of international law, and no one calls him out on it. And worse, then he gets back to Jerusalem, and he announces that the U.S. embassy is now going to be moved, again in complete violation of UN resolutions and
international law. He's going to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and he comes back to the United States and he meets with a group of wealthy Jewish Republicans, main donors of the Republican Party and of his campaign. And he looks around and he says, "I, for the first time, recognized Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights." And then he says, "And when I did, I was with your prime minister." And not one of them stood up and
said, "Excuse me, Mr. President, we're not Israelis. We're Americans. We don't have a prime minister in Israel. Netanyahu's not our prime minister. You are our president." Nobody said that. It was the ultimate kind of anti-Semitic canard that says that Jews have dual loyalty to Israel. It was an outrage, and no one called him out on it that was in the room or in the mainstream press. Those of us outside of those arenas did. And then he went on in that same meeting, and he looked around and he saw Sheldon Adelson, one of the wealthiest funders of the Republican Party, and of Israeli occupation and settlement processes, and his wife. And he looked around and said, when he was talking about the move of the embassy to Jerusalem, essentially the U.S. was recognizing the annexation of Jerusalem, also illegal and recognized by no one. He said, "Sheldon and Miriam, I did it for you." What could be a clearer acknowledgement that he is making his policy based on the desires of wealthy Jewish money? Exactly what Ilhan Omar was excoriated for anti-Semitism, when she talked about it as a phenomenon that some politicians will make their decisions based on money provided by different lobbies, and she mentioned the tobacco lobby, big pharma, a third one, and the Israel lobby. She mentioned four separate lobbies, but because it included the Israel lobby, she was excoriated for anti-Semitism."
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Chris! I love that you work for/with the Real News Network.
For 2 reasons
1)they are great!
2) I just learned the word "Bumfuzzled" from them
It went "Biden Bumfuzzled by loses he is taking with young voters..." and it was accompanied by a photo where he clearly looks like he just smelled one of his own dusty old farts! I was thoroughly amused, I'll read the article at some point likely as well.
But anyone seeking a laugh seek out this photo & download there app(I did not get paid to say this, or anything else... Clearly)