I returned to occupied Palestine, from where I had reported for The New York Times, after two decades. I experienced once more the visceral evil of Israel’s occupation.
Thank you for making this brave journey so you could bear witness to the suffering firsthand, Chris. I have always loved how you weave in dialogue with the ordinary human beings you encounter as that is where the truth lies, not in the hubristic and deceptive statements of leaders and their propagandists.
You have the ability to capture the physicality of a scene in a way that makes me sense I am there, the emotional undercurrent in a way that cuts to my heart, and the bleak desperation tinged by courageous resilience in a way that makes me want to raise my fist in Apocaloptimistic solidarity ✊
Hedges IS NOT "a rare uncorrupted journalist of integrity, courage, and compassion." Since the OCT 7 attacks, he has posted 129 written and audio pieces here on Substack and only 5 pieces directly addressed the core problems that now plague the U.S. working class ...
Chris Hedges has pushed the U.S. off of his radar, and you might ask yourself why?
Contrary to what many people seem to think, those of us who devote ourselves to writing, exposing corruption, stopping mass murder, and the like do not have an infinite supply of time with the ability to instantly manifest every idea in our heads. I myself have hundreds of unfinished pieces, some of which I started over three years ago and am still trying to find time to finish.
Everybody has their own passion topics, and a number of readers have tried to dictate what I should and shouldn’t write about. My response to them is if they think it’s so important, they should write about it themselves!
I can only do so much within my limited lifespan and encourage others to add their own voices as they are inspired to do so. This is a joint effort, and we need all hands on deck to defeat tyranny.
Margaret: "Everybody has their own passion topics, and a number of readers have tried to dictate what I should and shouldn’t write about. My response to them is if they think it’s so important, they should write about it themselves!" Well said, but I would add, in my vulgar style, that if they cannot write and only complain then they should shut up and find another place that would satisfy their needs! Simple formula that any normal person will understand.
I'm not criticizing you, Margaret ... I'm merely pointing out that your praise of this man is undeserved in light of the way he has abandoned his true constituency here in the U.S. since the lockdowns, and more specifically, since OCT 7 ... of course Hedges is free to write about any topic he chooses ...
But his literary focus since the lockdowns has been so dramatically different that it must be mentioned ... I find it all extremely peculiar.
Understood, PITA Contrarian. That was just to say I don’t judge what other writers choose to write about because I understand what it means to be guided by inspiration and opportunity, and my neglect of certain topics does not mean I feel they are unimportant but rather is a reflection of the limitations of what one human being can possibly do.
If you’ve read Chris’s “War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning” (2002) or any of his other books on the topic of war, you will see he is returning to his roots and addressing large-scale topics that, while not immediately recognizable as pertaining to the US, ultimately impact Americans in ways they may not yet realize, especially as the cruelites push us ever closer to the brink of WWIII.
"Kissinger bears significant responsibility for attacks in Cambodia that killed as many as 150,000 civilians (AT LEAST), according to Ben Kiernan, former director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University and one of the foremost authorities on the U.S. air campaign in Cambodia."
A new United Nations report has projected that the death toll from Yemen’s war will reach 377,000 by the end of 2021, including those killed as a result of indirect and direct causes
Sadly, it seems there will be no consequences for, and no end to Israel's genocide of the Palestinians until the western countries address the money and influence of the Zionist lobbies in their own countries (AIPAC in the US).
I'll preach you a sermon right now, for if there's a hell down below, we're all going to go.
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
All fantasy! There is no heaven and hell. They exist in this world. Hell is generated by the Israelis in Palestine! I remain disgusted that the Zionist lobby continues to hide the genocide in Palestine. The proportionality was met months and months ago. I repeat! You cannot kill an ideology. The more the Israelis perpetrate their hatred towards the Palestinians the deeper and stronger the ideology
We Americans also create this hell by voting for war criminals. For my part I'm going to follow RALPH NADER's advice in "Corporate Autocracy, Fascism, Trump & the Election" Interviewed by David Barsamian (Washington, DC 9 February 2024):
"D.B.: Robert Weissman of Public Citizen says, "We're facing an authoritarian threat like none other in American history”
and “an election that may well decide the fate of American
democracy." Do you share his worry? And if so, do we then
vote for Biden?
R.N.: I do share his view of the threat. We've been living under a
corporate state autocracy, whether the Democrats or Republicans, but Trump has come along, he's taken it to a new level of American fascism. He's unleashed the worst, ugliest forces in our country that were sort of under the surface because they didn't have a champion who got press every day and who had tweets every other minute all over the country. So yes, the threat of American fascism is very real...
A very perilous time. As far as how people vote, I say to people, "Vote your conscience." Once you start voting least worst, you're going to get least worst worse every four years again and again. So, you vote your conscience. You can make up your own mind. There are other third parties. You can vote write in, you can stay home, but I would urge you to express your vote in some way rather than stay home."
I was a union activist and local D campaign mgr. I fought the usurpation of the party by neolibs who ditched the New Deal and abandoned the majority working class.
For years I've asked D apologists how they can support a party that is okay w/ an econ system destroying human communities and entire environments. A party that rolled back New Deal regs on manipulations by financiers. A party sponsored by the same 1%ers and corporations as the Rs. And why is it fine that the Biden State Dept. is run by Dick Cheney trained neocons--fans of war and empire?
That Trump is loathsome does not transmute the D elite and their mediocre, addled, neolib puppet into good guys.
Neolib Democrats rid the party of rank and file democracy. The Ds now are the party of the admin and professional 10-20%. Same class as the well paid bureaucrats who enable oligarchies, plutocracies, and outright dictatorships by keeping them running.
Thank you again Chris Hedges for the light of truth, (and great reporting).
In my opinion the key to resolution of this situation is the dissolution (melting) of the illegal state of Israel. One country from the r***r to the s**. Big job.
What the Zionists fear is exactly that homogeneous society: democratic, all inclusive.
The message that needs to spread is that Zionism itself is anti-semitic. It’s certainly the source of much anti-semitism. Zionism was dreamed up long before the Holocaust, before the world’s sympathy could be grafted onto this racist hogwash. The world contains many Jews who understand this. Some have lived in Palestine for centuries, and in harmony with Arabs, (not to ignore that there are also Jewish Arabs). Once the distinction between Judaism and Zionism is understood the world will be less inclined to support this genocidal land grab. I think the tide may finally be turning.
Thank you for drawing the parallel with the Black and indigenous experiences in the U.S. The disturbing continuity of genocide as a result of American imperialism was the prevailing theme of a piece I wrote a few weeks after October 7. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/indigenous-lives-matter-from-north
I also visited the West Bank in 2017 as part of a delegation organized by Code Pink and Dr Bronner’s Magic Soaps. While I envisioned writing an article to explain my experiences, they came out in a song instead. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/from-ferguson-to-jerusalem
Thank you again for demonstrating the independence and humanity that so many of your former colleagues painfully lack.
Thank you Chris. for painting the truth for us. These stories need to be heard, seen felt so we can wake up to the horror that is happening in Palastine.. Where oh Where do the Children Play in the tattered tents, bombed streets in the shredded tapestry of their beleaguered lives? Where does the love in these streets abide? Thank you Chris for following your calling to serve justice and walk in the streets where no Children are allowed to play.
She needs more attention. If Americans want change they have to move in that direction.
Please, Chris Hedges host her on Substack. We need to be the change we want. Why isn’t anyone taking her seriously? Jill Stein went to jail with college student in Palestinian protest. We need seriously to consider a larger movement in that direction.
Jill Stein has a full grasp of the issues and excellent solutions to propose, but the US Green Party doesn't seem strong enough to break through the way it has in Europe. Stein's candidacy is also harmed by being excluded from debates, Citizens United, exclusion by corporate media...the list goes on ad nauseum. Keep making small donations as you can afford, and start writing to your local newspaper, folks!
Thank you Cris. for the reporting on the real conditions of Palestine, where many Palestinians (And Jews and Christians) have lived for centuries. I am Jewish, parents from Russia, not a "self-hating" Jew but a hater of criminal and cruel Zionists in Israel and supporters around the world who murder the Palestinians and destroy their homes and fields growing food. Many children, women, especially pregnant women
as well as others are killed or captured and captured. If this isn't genocide, then nothing is or has been.
This infuriates. And the "this" is this per se and the larger context of USA active participation in making this profound travesty a reality. There are no words left in me that are adequately descriptive of my sentiments towards Biden and his "handler" Blinken. And, the other immoral racist unethical undemocratic legalized leadership in Europe who support this Hell making. The sharp fact is inescapable and cut into our awareness. That those participating in crushing the Palestinians - the Western world's legalized leadership - are slick members of the walking hollow humans. In bas relief their moral turpitude parades before us all. No wonder their addiction to domination, power and money. Their addiction to war over peace. Their exclusivity in service to the Fraternity of Like-Addicts over democracy and the people. I want to mention too - I have been a long paying monthly contributor to The Chris Hedges Report...and don't understand why I'm getting the appeal to "become a paying subscriber."
Progressive bloggers are increasingly asking who is/are running things as it becomes increasingly apparent that that Biden can't and isn't doing so. The questions are increasingly rhetorical as they mostly know that Blinken is in charge and doing whatever Netanjahu directs him to do. Americans don't seem ashamed that their government officials are governed from Israel.
It is obvious that Biden is not really in charge but Blinken, Sullivan and their merry neo-cons. This in turn raises the questions of whom do they answer to, since it ain't the voters? How do we get rid of them?
Democracy, as a practical matter, is basically an exercise in passing the buck, in avoiding responsibility. Everyone in power claims to answer to and derive their authority from someone else, going ultimately back to "the people" who themselves do not directly exercise power, and who would find it difficult to exercise as a collective action problem, even if they had the formal authority to do so. The technical term for this is a "beard".
What this means is that real power is often in the hands of unelected bureaucrats, who typically don't even want to stand for election because they don't want the voters to know what their programs are, much less to exercise any oversight. Robert Moses is the classic example here. (Apparently Robert Moses did run for office - once, but he never held elective office). Anthony Blinken being the eminence grise in the Biden regime.
Even that minimal level of scrutiny is too much for some, and real power is often exercised by people not formally part of any government structure. Corporate lobbyists or Robert Kagan come to mind.
From this, taking into account how wildly unpopular most western politicians and their policies are with their respective publics, "democracy" as it is practiced is basically a cover for rulers to do what they want.
After all, your elected representatives approved this. If you don't like it, you can vote for a different carefully vetted corporate imperialist muppet, so until then, shut up and fall in line!
As I wrote above to the "but but but Trump" post, the D apologists need to explain why they're fine with a neolib econ system, a neocon State Dept, and a party that purged rank and file democracy long ago.
I have a pin from the '60s: "Lemmings are silly, dinosaurs are extinct." Sure describes D party apologists, D party elite. DINO--Democracy in name only. And being heavily armored isn't enough.
Les Margosian - I am on the same page as you...with everything you say....and my heart hurts to say that...because what you write is the truth....and it's about our fellow American citizens....as it is the one(s) running the disaster... thank you for posting.
I almost liked your comment, especially because I agree that genocide is a profound travesty, and that the US and its allies have participated to an egregious extent, but I don't agree with the theory that you and Les Margosian seem to share about who is "running things." I think of President Biden as a particularly able administrator, but an overly loyal friend who has become complicit in a crime committed by someone whose behavior he can't bring himself to question, let alone criticize. Blinken heads a massive US-based bureaucracy charged with serving the best interests of the USA, and he also believes that supporting Israel right or wrong is what's best for our country. Congress chose to approve that enormous aid budget, and everyone knows that Congress is hugely influenced by the big money flowing in and out of the military-industrial complex. Biden, Blinken, Congress, and everyone else responsible for national security wants to retain a technological edge to ensure our security, so they fund the MIC, which is international. It's good to keep these facts in mind, and set aside fantastical notions about the US being "governed from Israel." Netanyahu is the PM of one small but strategically located country, and not the dictator of the known world.
Tech-la - Take a good look at what you wrote. Take a look at Biden's warhawk history. Another look at the fact he has received almost $6 mill from AIPAC (Mendendez, the NJ criminal Senator, comes in second from AIPAC largesse at $2 mill) Take a look at Biden's running over Anita Hill's testimony to help install that paragon of defenders of justice Clarence Thomas, another look at Biden's racist anti-busing history, his "friendship" with Strom Thurmond, then take a look at your portrait of Biden. Helpless , powerless victim of his own friendship feelings for that sadistic, psychopathic Bibi. A man using the genocidal slaughter as a pretext to avoid being thrown in jail by his own people for other crimes he's committed? Biden, powerless - can't bring himself to say to Bibi - "No! No more killing stuff from us." But instead passes cluster bombs, bullets, guns, drones, US military intelligence over to his "friend." to pulverize an entire people? Did we hire Biden for his friendship feelings or for serving his country with wisdom, prudence, and justness? If we " don't let friends drive drunk", do we let them commit mass murder by passing them the killing goods to slaughter people who have been living decades in the "world's largest open air prison", their every step controlled by the Israeli's? Colonial settler apartheid racists who have been killing off Palestinians and oppressing them with their apartheid system since the founding of Israel? "The central facts of the Nakba during the 1948 Palestine war are not disputed." Israelis expelled and forced out about 750,000 Palestinians—over 80% of the population in what would become the State of Israel—from their homes and became refugees. The Israelis destroyed or depopulated eleven Arab urban neighborhoods and over 500 villages.(Wikipedia) Were you a psychologist, might you realize that your whole line of excusing Biden's treacherous immorality is one gigantic rationalization? Where denial is the major defense mechanism in play?
Selina Sweet - I agree with much of what you say, but in no way did my statement give Biden a pass. In fact, I characterized him as overly loyal. I judge Biden's excessive support for Netanyahu the way that I'd expect to be judged as an individual under US law. If I provide a gun to a friend who plans to use it to engage in criminal actions, then I share their guilt. Israel's actions against civilian targets are in flagrant violation of international law and the Geneva Convention. Therefore I judge US support for Israel's brutal campaign against Palestine's civillian population (including Congress, which once again you omit!) as a significant policy blunder. I do give credit to Biden as a generally able administrator, especially compared to Trump and his cohort of Christian Fascist Republicans and their openly stated agenda to destroy what's left of democracy in my nation.
Regarding the history of Israel, Jews fleeing the holocaust in Europe couldn't have established their Jewish state without the support of colonist Western European nations. Their support came with strings, and without regard for the human rights of Palestinian people, but now the fact is that the state exists and most of the Israelis currently alive are not those who participated in the Nakba, but their descendents. As a citizen of the USA and the offspring of colonials, I know that it doesn't really matter that one side of my family trapped with indigenous peoples and intermarried, and the other side came more recently and were appalled at the awful scraps of land set aside for "Indian Reservations," because as white people, we profited. Like most children of colonists who have intersected with Native American tribes, I do my best to be an ally, and lend my shoulder to the wheel of change while Native American peers do the steering, but I can't go back and rewrite history. I'm just one little person trying to survive and take care of my family and contribute to my community.
What about you? You want to judge me through your professional lens and declare me a denialist, but your response doesn't fit my actual statement. I work for peace and have risked my life for my ideals, but my goal is to help achieve a better balance, as I believe the world is not currently ready for a pure peace. Perhaps it never will be. International relations are complex, and although some might find my stance cynical, everything in that realm looks like shades of gray to me. Are you looking for simple answers where there aren't any?
(edited to fix conflation of "colonialist" with "colonist")
Believe me. I don’t omit Congress. Especially my two WA senators. Drawing attention to AIPAC’s $5 mill purchase (donation) of Biden was an aside to suggest their monied control of Congress members. Too subtle I can see. We part ways on this. For Biden’s handling of Israel and his condemnation of dissent constitute a travesty of the worst sort earning the condemnation of the ICJ and the approbation of the majority of the world’s nations - especially those of the Global south. You regard his actions as a mere policy blunder.
You did omit Congress until this comment, but in your concluding statement you again refer to "his actions" as if US military aid to Israel is all singularly due to President Biden rather than the entire US government. Categorizing this as a policy blunder is perhaps the highest form of criticism of statesmanship. I find your arguments naive and simplistic rather than subtle. I would have let your statements go unchallenged if you hadn't suggested that the solution is to dissolve Israel entirely. Strategic alliances aside, how do you imagine this could be accomplished without inflicting suffering on innocents among the Israeli population, like my peace activist friends? And should the same fate be dealt to you or to all children of colonizers across the globe? Or do we support the two-state solution as the most humane and ethical option available?
I was a freelancer in Central Bosnia 1993 frightened every minute I was out there. Croatians I met during the war in their country, told me that Bosnia would make the Croatian War look like Child's Play. Your description of occupied Palestine makes Bosnia seem like Child's Play. Almost nauseous to read, but thank you. I wish your posts would end with some notion or Notions of what we can do. I have written to Biden saying I will not vote for him. He responds by sending appeals for money.
So have I. BTW, I have had several likes already. The word nobody is a universal, and impossible to argue. So I will say that everybody likes your comment.
Duh. I didn't realize that nobody was a person. My apologies. I wish the thousands of us could do as Chris did. Go to Palestine as human Shields. As it stands we are all but powerless to stop the horror show that Biden has approved.
Jim, since you are the only one that have noticed my moniker, I will tell you this silly story of mine: I wanted to keep my true identity (don't like anonymity) but at the same time I wanted the fun of choosing a moniker. So, I started thinking there was one Alexander the Great (hmm) and another Suliman the Magnificent (more thinking) and even one Ivan the Terrible (tempting, tempting) but then I thought that since, unlike some of our partners here, I'm not leaving any mark on our history I finally decided for Julio the Nobody. But I want to leave this pedestrian note with a very serious comment that is that we should serenade our current insensitive president with this famous song from the 60's:
Buenos dias. Thanks for your moniker explanation. So I'll explain my response. I'm 80 with very low tech skills. My only internet is on my phone. I didn't expect anyone to read my post, but hoped that Chris would respond with some advice. Your first comment read: Julio Santos Nobody liked your comment. As a former English teacher, I don't like universals. So I lectured you a bit. I have never cared for monikers. I like to be confronted as me. This has at times inspired some threats, but also some interesting exchanges. I believe that Biden is owned (like all of them) by MONEY and by the Corporate Media, which is almost totally OWNED by Jews. Byden is the only one who could have stood up to Bibi. He has refused. If he loses the election, because of people like us, I don't give a damn. We will deserve another dose of Trump. End of sermon. As Chris just (briefly) wrote. We will need to take to the streets in huge numbers. I'm ready. Are you?
Not only approved, but Biden has also become a key partner in the execution of the genocide. I hope that he finally realizes that the democrats don't want him to continue his presidential campaign and allow someone younger and healthier to confront the other crazy candidate in the elections.
I live in Rhode Island. I have written complimentary pieces about Sheldon Whitehouse and the Supreme Court. But both senators here are warmongers. I've written about that as well. They've never been to war, but they are all for it.
Your voice deserves a wider audience: Write a letter to a newspaper for the Opinions column. There's strength in numbers: Join one or more organizations that are fighting for democracy. Send money to humanitarian organizations operating in Palestine: Doctors Without Borders. Register with the Green Party. Join a protest. Write your local Dems. And of course, support Chris Hedges. :)
This reply sounds as if it was computer-generated. I have done much of what it calls for. I have written about war for the Providence Journal and argued against it as a call in on a major in New England talk show.
Who but Chris Hedges at great personal risk would have the courage to travel through the West Bank knowing Israeli assassins murder journalists as a matter of routine. Amazingly brave.
There is no literary prize of sufficient stature for honoring great journalism like this, reporting that bears witness “without fear or favor” to the horrors of genocide, outright murder, rape, and torture encountered in the “visceral evil of Israel’s occupation.” In our jaded world that has normalized such depravity, courageous coverage of this caliber is barely tolerated by a “press corpse” that’s lost all credibility. But no matter since your narrative stands in the glory of its own reward and will endure for the ages because it speaks to those universal, morally just “better angels” of human nature that transcend the twisted protocols and demands of imperialist colonialism imposed on other human beings.
Right On Chris as always! Every Newspaper in the world should reprint this! Sadly Geriatric Joes senility has pushed a G-d D-mn GENOCIDE off of the Zionist Colluding MSM air ways! Gaza has been sent down Orwell's Memory Hole! While the Zionist O'Brien's of the world are torturing Palestinian's in their Dungeons and versions of Room 101. P.S. you are good for peoples sanity watching the Genocidal onslaught and massacres, living amongst the sheep who either don't care, are indifferent or blind Israeli supporters who still think Israeli Jews are the victims, and any criticism of Israel is anti Semitic! Confusing college protesters because of never ending hasbara, when they are on the right side of history. Until the world understands, Zionism is a Fascist Master race ideology nothing will change! SIGHHH!!!
Whenever I see your post, before I read it or watch it my heart starts to beat fast , then I get anxiety, because I am going to fave the truth that I don’t want to see or hear it. I want to thank you for keeping me alive to feel.
Thank you for making this brave journey so you could bear witness to the suffering firsthand, Chris. I have always loved how you weave in dialogue with the ordinary human beings you encounter as that is where the truth lies, not in the hubristic and deceptive statements of leaders and their propagandists.
You have the ability to capture the physicality of a scene in a way that makes me sense I am there, the emotional undercurrent in a way that cuts to my heart, and the bleak desperation tinged by courageous resilience in a way that makes me want to raise my fist in Apocaloptimistic solidarity ✊
Thanks so much for these words Margaret. This is what I try to achieve. Chris
You have, and you do, Chris. Thank you for being a rare uncorrupted journalist of integrity, courage, and compassion.
No Margaret! ...
Hedges IS NOT "a rare uncorrupted journalist of integrity, courage, and compassion." Since the OCT 7 attacks, he has posted 129 written and audio pieces here on Substack and only 5 pieces directly addressed the core problems that now plague the U.S. working class ...
Chris Hedges has pushed the U.S. off of his radar, and you might ask yourself why?
Contrary to what many people seem to think, those of us who devote ourselves to writing, exposing corruption, stopping mass murder, and the like do not have an infinite supply of time with the ability to instantly manifest every idea in our heads. I myself have hundreds of unfinished pieces, some of which I started over three years ago and am still trying to find time to finish.
Everybody has their own passion topics, and a number of readers have tried to dictate what I should and shouldn’t write about. My response to them is if they think it’s so important, they should write about it themselves!
I am responsible to my muse alone (admittedly a slavedriver, as I describe in this piece: https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/all-our-stars-out-on-finding-cheng), and it is not possible for me to cover everything others think I should write about let alone what I myself wish to address.
I can only do so much within my limited lifespan and encourage others to add their own voices as they are inspired to do so. This is a joint effort, and we need all hands on deck to defeat tyranny.
Margaret: "Everybody has their own passion topics, and a number of readers have tried to dictate what I should and shouldn’t write about. My response to them is if they think it’s so important, they should write about it themselves!" Well said, but I would add, in my vulgar style, that if they cannot write and only complain then they should shut up and find another place that would satisfy their needs! Simple formula that any normal person will understand.
😆👍
A pretty tepid response, Margaret ...
I'm not criticizing you, Margaret ... I'm merely pointing out that your praise of this man is undeserved in light of the way he has abandoned his true constituency here in the U.S. since the lockdowns, and more specifically, since OCT 7 ... of course Hedges is free to write about any topic he chooses ...
But his literary focus since the lockdowns has been so dramatically different that it must be mentioned ... I find it all extremely peculiar.
Understood, PITA Contrarian. That was just to say I don’t judge what other writers choose to write about because I understand what it means to be guided by inspiration and opportunity, and my neglect of certain topics does not mean I feel they are unimportant but rather is a reflection of the limitations of what one human being can possibly do.
If you’ve read Chris’s “War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning” (2002) or any of his other books on the topic of war, you will see he is returning to his roots and addressing large-scale topics that, while not immediately recognizable as pertaining to the US, ultimately impact Americans in ways they may not yet realize, especially as the cruelites push us ever closer to the brink of WWIII.
Mr Hedges ...
In the intro of a recent piece here several weeks ago, you said: "the Gaza Genocide is unlike anything we have ever seen" ... oh really?
You're an omnivorous reader and a student of history, Mr Hedges ...
Why on earth would you feel it necessary to juice your commentary with false claims?
Did you forget ...
1) Cambodia, 1969-1974 ...
https://www.globalresearch.ca/survivors-of-kissingers-secret-war-in-cambodia-reveal-unreported-mass-killings/5820657
"Kissinger bears significant responsibility for attacks in Cambodia that killed as many as 150,000 civilians (AT LEAST), according to Ben Kiernan, former director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University and one of the foremost authorities on the U.S. air campaign in Cambodia."
2) Yemen, 2021
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/23/un-yemen-recovery-possible-in-one-generation-if-war-stops-now
A new United Nations report has projected that the death toll from Yemen’s war will reach 377,000 by the end of 2021, including those killed as a result of indirect and direct causes
Sadly, it seems there will be no consequences for, and no end to Israel's genocide of the Palestinians until the western countries address the money and influence of the Zionist lobbies in their own countries (AIPAC in the US).
I'll preach you a sermon right now, for if there's a hell down below, we're all going to go.
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
All fantasy! There is no heaven and hell. They exist in this world. Hell is generated by the Israelis in Palestine! I remain disgusted that the Zionist lobby continues to hide the genocide in Palestine. The proportionality was met months and months ago. I repeat! You cannot kill an ideology. The more the Israelis perpetrate their hatred towards the Palestinians the deeper and stronger the ideology
We Americans also create this hell by voting for war criminals. For my part I'm going to follow RALPH NADER's advice in "Corporate Autocracy, Fascism, Trump & the Election" Interviewed by David Barsamian (Washington, DC 9 February 2024):
"D.B.: Robert Weissman of Public Citizen says, "We're facing an authoritarian threat like none other in American history”
and “an election that may well decide the fate of American
democracy." Do you share his worry? And if so, do we then
vote for Biden?
R.N.: I do share his view of the threat. We've been living under a
corporate state autocracy, whether the Democrats or Republicans, but Trump has come along, he's taken it to a new level of American fascism. He's unleashed the worst, ugliest forces in our country that were sort of under the surface because they didn't have a champion who got press every day and who had tweets every other minute all over the country. So yes, the threat of American fascism is very real...
A very perilous time. As far as how people vote, I say to people, "Vote your conscience." Once you start voting least worst, you're going to get least worst worse every four years again and again. So, you vote your conscience. You can make up your own mind. There are other third parties. You can vote write in, you can stay home, but I would urge you to express your vote in some way rather than stay home."
However you vote the tRump must NOT be elected. Democracy will be dead and your rights severely curtailed!
Our democracy has been dead for a long time, and I refuse to vote for any evil lesser or not.
I was a union activist and local D campaign mgr. I fought the usurpation of the party by neolibs who ditched the New Deal and abandoned the majority working class.
For years I've asked D apologists how they can support a party that is okay w/ an econ system destroying human communities and entire environments. A party that rolled back New Deal regs on manipulations by financiers. A party sponsored by the same 1%ers and corporations as the Rs. And why is it fine that the Biden State Dept. is run by Dick Cheney trained neocons--fans of war and empire?
That Trump is loathsome does not transmute the D elite and their mediocre, addled, neolib puppet into good guys.
Neolib Democrats rid the party of rank and file democracy. The Ds now are the party of the admin and professional 10-20%. Same class as the well paid bureaucrats who enable oligarchies, plutocracies, and outright dictatorships by keeping them running.
"Democracy will be dead"? It IS dead!!!
However you rationalize voting for genocide.
"If following the rule brought you to this, then what was the use of the rule?"
The imminent battle is tRump. Once he is out of the way, then full court press on the genocide. Gotta play with what we have right now!!!
Thank you again Chris Hedges for the light of truth, (and great reporting).
In my opinion the key to resolution of this situation is the dissolution (melting) of the illegal state of Israel. One country from the r***r to the s**. Big job.
What the Zionists fear is exactly that homogeneous society: democratic, all inclusive.
The message that needs to spread is that Zionism itself is anti-semitic. It’s certainly the source of much anti-semitism. Zionism was dreamed up long before the Holocaust, before the world’s sympathy could be grafted onto this racist hogwash. The world contains many Jews who understand this. Some have lived in Palestine for centuries, and in harmony with Arabs, (not to ignore that there are also Jewish Arabs). Once the distinction between Judaism and Zionism is understood the world will be less inclined to support this genocidal land grab. I think the tide may finally be turning.
Agreed, Israel is a blight upon the land and should be dissolved. I think its end is nearing as it suffers from its own self destruction.
Thank you for drawing the parallel with the Black and indigenous experiences in the U.S. The disturbing continuity of genocide as a result of American imperialism was the prevailing theme of a piece I wrote a few weeks after October 7. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/indigenous-lives-matter-from-north
I also visited the West Bank in 2017 as part of a delegation organized by Code Pink and Dr Bronner’s Magic Soaps. While I envisioned writing an article to explain my experiences, they came out in a song instead. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/from-ferguson-to-jerusalem
Thank you again for demonstrating the independence and humanity that so many of your former colleagues painfully lack.
Chris's writing just gets better as he brings us closer to the brutal evil taking place over there.
Thank you Chris. for painting the truth for us. These stories need to be heard, seen felt so we can wake up to the horror that is happening in Palastine.. Where oh Where do the Children Play in the tattered tents, bombed streets in the shredded tapestry of their beleaguered lives? Where does the love in these streets abide? Thank you Chris for following your calling to serve justice and walk in the streets where no Children are allowed to play.
Hopefully there is a camera person too.
I don’t know why more people are not for Jill Stein. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jvCB-OHOC5k&pp=ygUKamlsbCBzdGVpbg%3D%3D
She needs more attention. If Americans want change they have to move in that direction.
Please, Chris Hedges host her on Substack. We need to be the change we want. Why isn’t anyone taking her seriously? Jill Stein went to jail with college student in Palestinian protest. We need seriously to consider a larger movement in that direction.
Jill Stein has a full grasp of the issues and excellent solutions to propose, but the US Green Party doesn't seem strong enough to break through the way it has in Europe. Stein's candidacy is also harmed by being excluded from debates, Citizens United, exclusion by corporate media...the list goes on ad nauseum. Keep making small donations as you can afford, and start writing to your local newspaper, folks!
Thank you Cris. for the reporting on the real conditions of Palestine, where many Palestinians (And Jews and Christians) have lived for centuries. I am Jewish, parents from Russia, not a "self-hating" Jew but a hater of criminal and cruel Zionists in Israel and supporters around the world who murder the Palestinians and destroy their homes and fields growing food. Many children, women, especially pregnant women
as well as others are killed or captured and captured. If this isn't genocide, then nothing is or has been.
This infuriates. And the "this" is this per se and the larger context of USA active participation in making this profound travesty a reality. There are no words left in me that are adequately descriptive of my sentiments towards Biden and his "handler" Blinken. And, the other immoral racist unethical undemocratic legalized leadership in Europe who support this Hell making. The sharp fact is inescapable and cut into our awareness. That those participating in crushing the Palestinians - the Western world's legalized leadership - are slick members of the walking hollow humans. In bas relief their moral turpitude parades before us all. No wonder their addiction to domination, power and money. Their addiction to war over peace. Their exclusivity in service to the Fraternity of Like-Addicts over democracy and the people. I want to mention too - I have been a long paying monthly contributor to The Chris Hedges Report...and don't understand why I'm getting the appeal to "become a paying subscriber."
Progressive bloggers are increasingly asking who is/are running things as it becomes increasingly apparent that that Biden can't and isn't doing so. The questions are increasingly rhetorical as they mostly know that Blinken is in charge and doing whatever Netanjahu directs him to do. Americans don't seem ashamed that their government officials are governed from Israel.
It is obvious that Biden is not really in charge but Blinken, Sullivan and their merry neo-cons. This in turn raises the questions of whom do they answer to, since it ain't the voters? How do we get rid of them?
Democracy, as a practical matter, is basically an exercise in passing the buck, in avoiding responsibility. Everyone in power claims to answer to and derive their authority from someone else, going ultimately back to "the people" who themselves do not directly exercise power, and who would find it difficult to exercise as a collective action problem, even if they had the formal authority to do so. The technical term for this is a "beard".
What this means is that real power is often in the hands of unelected bureaucrats, who typically don't even want to stand for election because they don't want the voters to know what their programs are, much less to exercise any oversight. Robert Moses is the classic example here. (Apparently Robert Moses did run for office - once, but he never held elective office). Anthony Blinken being the eminence grise in the Biden regime.
Even that minimal level of scrutiny is too much for some, and real power is often exercised by people not formally part of any government structure. Corporate lobbyists or Robert Kagan come to mind.
From this, taking into account how wildly unpopular most western politicians and their policies are with their respective publics, "democracy" as it is practiced is basically a cover for rulers to do what they want.
After all, your elected representatives approved this. If you don't like it, you can vote for a different carefully vetted corporate imperialist muppet, so until then, shut up and fall in line!
As I wrote above to the "but but but Trump" post, the D apologists need to explain why they're fine with a neolib econ system, a neocon State Dept, and a party that purged rank and file democracy long ago.
I have a pin from the '60s: "Lemmings are silly, dinosaurs are extinct." Sure describes D party apologists, D party elite. DINO--Democracy in name only. And being heavily armored isn't enough.
Les Margosian - I am on the same page as you...with everything you say....and my heart hurts to say that...because what you write is the truth....and it's about our fellow American citizens....as it is the one(s) running the disaster... thank you for posting.
Shame on all of us, not only Americans. Israel tentacles are quite effective in all NATO states.
I almost liked your comment, especially because I agree that genocide is a profound travesty, and that the US and its allies have participated to an egregious extent, but I don't agree with the theory that you and Les Margosian seem to share about who is "running things." I think of President Biden as a particularly able administrator, but an overly loyal friend who has become complicit in a crime committed by someone whose behavior he can't bring himself to question, let alone criticize. Blinken heads a massive US-based bureaucracy charged with serving the best interests of the USA, and he also believes that supporting Israel right or wrong is what's best for our country. Congress chose to approve that enormous aid budget, and everyone knows that Congress is hugely influenced by the big money flowing in and out of the military-industrial complex. Biden, Blinken, Congress, and everyone else responsible for national security wants to retain a technological edge to ensure our security, so they fund the MIC, which is international. It's good to keep these facts in mind, and set aside fantastical notions about the US being "governed from Israel." Netanyahu is the PM of one small but strategically located country, and not the dictator of the known world.
Tech-la - Take a good look at what you wrote. Take a look at Biden's warhawk history. Another look at the fact he has received almost $6 mill from AIPAC (Mendendez, the NJ criminal Senator, comes in second from AIPAC largesse at $2 mill) Take a look at Biden's running over Anita Hill's testimony to help install that paragon of defenders of justice Clarence Thomas, another look at Biden's racist anti-busing history, his "friendship" with Strom Thurmond, then take a look at your portrait of Biden. Helpless , powerless victim of his own friendship feelings for that sadistic, psychopathic Bibi. A man using the genocidal slaughter as a pretext to avoid being thrown in jail by his own people for other crimes he's committed? Biden, powerless - can't bring himself to say to Bibi - "No! No more killing stuff from us." But instead passes cluster bombs, bullets, guns, drones, US military intelligence over to his "friend." to pulverize an entire people? Did we hire Biden for his friendship feelings or for serving his country with wisdom, prudence, and justness? If we " don't let friends drive drunk", do we let them commit mass murder by passing them the killing goods to slaughter people who have been living decades in the "world's largest open air prison", their every step controlled by the Israeli's? Colonial settler apartheid racists who have been killing off Palestinians and oppressing them with their apartheid system since the founding of Israel? "The central facts of the Nakba during the 1948 Palestine war are not disputed." Israelis expelled and forced out about 750,000 Palestinians—over 80% of the population in what would become the State of Israel—from their homes and became refugees. The Israelis destroyed or depopulated eleven Arab urban neighborhoods and over 500 villages.(Wikipedia) Were you a psychologist, might you realize that your whole line of excusing Biden's treacherous immorality is one gigantic rationalization? Where denial is the major defense mechanism in play?
Selina Sweet - I agree with much of what you say, but in no way did my statement give Biden a pass. In fact, I characterized him as overly loyal. I judge Biden's excessive support for Netanyahu the way that I'd expect to be judged as an individual under US law. If I provide a gun to a friend who plans to use it to engage in criminal actions, then I share their guilt. Israel's actions against civilian targets are in flagrant violation of international law and the Geneva Convention. Therefore I judge US support for Israel's brutal campaign against Palestine's civillian population (including Congress, which once again you omit!) as a significant policy blunder. I do give credit to Biden as a generally able administrator, especially compared to Trump and his cohort of Christian Fascist Republicans and their openly stated agenda to destroy what's left of democracy in my nation.
Regarding the history of Israel, Jews fleeing the holocaust in Europe couldn't have established their Jewish state without the support of colonist Western European nations. Their support came with strings, and without regard for the human rights of Palestinian people, but now the fact is that the state exists and most of the Israelis currently alive are not those who participated in the Nakba, but their descendents. As a citizen of the USA and the offspring of colonials, I know that it doesn't really matter that one side of my family trapped with indigenous peoples and intermarried, and the other side came more recently and were appalled at the awful scraps of land set aside for "Indian Reservations," because as white people, we profited. Like most children of colonists who have intersected with Native American tribes, I do my best to be an ally, and lend my shoulder to the wheel of change while Native American peers do the steering, but I can't go back and rewrite history. I'm just one little person trying to survive and take care of my family and contribute to my community.
What about you? You want to judge me through your professional lens and declare me a denialist, but your response doesn't fit my actual statement. I work for peace and have risked my life for my ideals, but my goal is to help achieve a better balance, as I believe the world is not currently ready for a pure peace. Perhaps it never will be. International relations are complex, and although some might find my stance cynical, everything in that realm looks like shades of gray to me. Are you looking for simple answers where there aren't any?
(edited to fix conflation of "colonialist" with "colonist")
Believe me. I don’t omit Congress. Especially my two WA senators. Drawing attention to AIPAC’s $5 mill purchase (donation) of Biden was an aside to suggest their monied control of Congress members. Too subtle I can see. We part ways on this. For Biden’s handling of Israel and his condemnation of dissent constitute a travesty of the worst sort earning the condemnation of the ICJ and the approbation of the majority of the world’s nations - especially those of the Global south. You regard his actions as a mere policy blunder.
You did omit Congress until this comment, but in your concluding statement you again refer to "his actions" as if US military aid to Israel is all singularly due to President Biden rather than the entire US government. Categorizing this as a policy blunder is perhaps the highest form of criticism of statesmanship. I find your arguments naive and simplistic rather than subtle. I would have let your statements go unchallenged if you hadn't suggested that the solution is to dissolve Israel entirely. Strategic alliances aside, how do you imagine this could be accomplished without inflicting suffering on innocents among the Israeli population, like my peace activist friends? And should the same fate be dealt to you or to all children of colonizers across the globe? Or do we support the two-state solution as the most humane and ethical option available?
" if you hadn't suggested that the solution is to dissolve Israel entirely." Provide quotes please backing up this assertion.
I was a freelancer in Central Bosnia 1993 frightened every minute I was out there. Croatians I met during the war in their country, told me that Bosnia would make the Croatian War look like Child's Play. Your description of occupied Palestine makes Bosnia seem like Child's Play. Almost nauseous to read, but thank you. I wish your posts would end with some notion or Notions of what we can do. I have written to Biden saying I will not vote for him. He responds by sending appeals for money.
And I have replied to Biden's appeals for money by saying that I don't support genocide.
So have I. BTW, I have had several likes already. The word nobody is a universal, and impossible to argue. So I will say that everybody likes your comment.
Thank you from the nobody. Perhaps the ones that don't like my comments are the elected officials whom I write to.
Duh. I didn't realize that nobody was a person. My apologies. I wish the thousands of us could do as Chris did. Go to Palestine as human Shields. As it stands we are all but powerless to stop the horror show that Biden has approved.
Jim, since you are the only one that have noticed my moniker, I will tell you this silly story of mine: I wanted to keep my true identity (don't like anonymity) but at the same time I wanted the fun of choosing a moniker. So, I started thinking there was one Alexander the Great (hmm) and another Suliman the Magnificent (more thinking) and even one Ivan the Terrible (tempting, tempting) but then I thought that since, unlike some of our partners here, I'm not leaving any mark on our history I finally decided for Julio the Nobody. But I want to leave this pedestrian note with a very serious comment that is that we should serenade our current insensitive president with this famous song from the 60's:
"How many ears
must one have
before he can hear
people cry?
the answer my friend
is blowing in the wind.
The answer is blowing in the wind."
Julio,
Buenos dias. Thanks for your moniker explanation. So I'll explain my response. I'm 80 with very low tech skills. My only internet is on my phone. I didn't expect anyone to read my post, but hoped that Chris would respond with some advice. Your first comment read: Julio Santos Nobody liked your comment. As a former English teacher, I don't like universals. So I lectured you a bit. I have never cared for monikers. I like to be confronted as me. This has at times inspired some threats, but also some interesting exchanges. I believe that Biden is owned (like all of them) by MONEY and by the Corporate Media, which is almost totally OWNED by Jews. Byden is the only one who could have stood up to Bibi. He has refused. If he loses the election, because of people like us, I don't give a damn. We will deserve another dose of Trump. End of sermon. As Chris just (briefly) wrote. We will need to take to the streets in huge numbers. I'm ready. Are you?
Not only approved, but Biden has also become a key partner in the execution of the genocide. I hope that he finally realizes that the democrats don't want him to continue his presidential campaign and allow someone younger and healthier to confront the other crazy candidate in the elections.
I live in Rhode Island. I have written complimentary pieces about Sheldon Whitehouse and the Supreme Court. But both senators here are warmongers. I've written about that as well. They've never been to war, but they are all for it.
Your voice deserves a wider audience: Write a letter to a newspaper for the Opinions column. There's strength in numbers: Join one or more organizations that are fighting for democracy. Send money to humanitarian organizations operating in Palestine: Doctors Without Borders. Register with the Green Party. Join a protest. Write your local Dems. And of course, support Chris Hedges. :)
This reply sounds as if it was computer-generated. I have done much of what it calls for. I have written about war for the Providence Journal and argued against it as a call in on a major in New England talk show.
I like your advocacy, though not your spurious assessment of my writing skills. ;)
Please forgive. I shouldn't have said that. I'm not used to participating in these threads.
NP. Your participation is most welcome.
Thank you, Mr Hedges. Be as safe as you can be over there.
You are morally braver than I.
Who but Chris Hedges at great personal risk would have the courage to travel through the West Bank knowing Israeli assassins murder journalists as a matter of routine. Amazingly brave.
They murder journalists and surely Mr. Hedges has been under their radar for a long time. Double courage.
There is no literary prize of sufficient stature for honoring great journalism like this, reporting that bears witness “without fear or favor” to the horrors of genocide, outright murder, rape, and torture encountered in the “visceral evil of Israel’s occupation.” In our jaded world that has normalized such depravity, courageous coverage of this caliber is barely tolerated by a “press corpse” that’s lost all credibility. But no matter since your narrative stands in the glory of its own reward and will endure for the ages because it speaks to those universal, morally just “better angels” of human nature that transcend the twisted protocols and demands of imperialist colonialism imposed on other human beings.
Right On Chris as always! Every Newspaper in the world should reprint this! Sadly Geriatric Joes senility has pushed a G-d D-mn GENOCIDE off of the Zionist Colluding MSM air ways! Gaza has been sent down Orwell's Memory Hole! While the Zionist O'Brien's of the world are torturing Palestinian's in their Dungeons and versions of Room 101. P.S. you are good for peoples sanity watching the Genocidal onslaught and massacres, living amongst the sheep who either don't care, are indifferent or blind Israeli supporters who still think Israeli Jews are the victims, and any criticism of Israel is anti Semitic! Confusing college protesters because of never ending hasbara, when they are on the right side of history. Until the world understands, Zionism is a Fascist Master race ideology nothing will change! SIGHHH!!!
Chris ,
Whenever I see your post, before I read it or watch it my heart starts to beat fast , then I get anxiety, because I am going to fave the truth that I don’t want to see or hear it. I want to thank you for keeping me alive to feel.