Why the ICC is right to indict these two criminals, why Amnesty International is right to back the ICC, and why America needs to stop whining about it.
Everything you said makes sense and adds up! I wish more people had access to this info and the desire to take time parsing it out for themselves. In some ways, it's incredibly complicated and nuanced.
If you have the time and inclination, maybe you could explain why American college students seemed to be running campus protests that were (are?) both anti-Semitic AND anti-Arab/Palestine. It goes against everything I've understood of the issues.
I've been careful, very careful, to not really speak aloud pro-Palestine sentiments. I was told very explicitly by a Jewish friend that anything pro-Palestine was anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. I felt "put in my place" for decades until Jon Stewart said that being pro-human life and criticizing Israel for its extended attacks on Palestinian civilians was not anti-Semitic.
But I don't understand how some campus protests have been threats to Jewish students, and some have been threats to Arab and Muslim students, when the geopolitical issue has been about both sides engaging in extreme, vile violence. And it's not about who did worse, but the fact that both sides could have reached some kind of peaceful resolution or ceasefire agreement decades ago, if humanitarian relief had been their true motivation.
Human beings have a "single villain" problem. Watch two kids in a fight, interrupted by their mother. The whole issue is to find out who started this, or, "who's to blame." It's simpler that way. One side is good; the other is evil. So you have pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian backers. AND early on, Palestinians won the propaganda war because a whole bunch of European movie stars, most notably Vanessa Redgrave, backed the Palestinians. For Jews, the "origin" of the problem is being blamed for the death of Christ. For Palestinians it really became with the Russian pogroms in the 19th century, which prompted Theodore Herzl to theorize Zionism, the creation of a Jewish homeland. The next major event was the Balfour Declaration by the British which, in 1917, backed the creation of a Jewish homeland. But that flew in the face of the Dar-al-Islam (land of Islam) vs. Dar-al-Harb: a very early Islamic theory that *once land belongs to Muslims, it can never be taken back. So anyone who subsequently controls it is an OCCUPIER.* This is why Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri always called Spain by the name Andalucia: as far as he was concerned as once the eastern Iberian peninsula was ruled by the Muslim Moors--when it was Andalucia--that was it: that's Muslim ground forever. The problems began the SECOND the Balfour Declaration was signed, for in the Palestinian Corridor, now with a heavy Muslim population and only a tiny Jewish minority, this violated the concept of Dar-al-Islam v. Dar-al-Harb and was, for all intents and purposes, the outright theft of Muslim lands. Then, with the 1967 and the Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, Muslims had lost all their previous lands and wound up destitute castaways. Almost the entire upper echelon of HAMAS are men (no women, of course) who were born in packed refugee camps where their parents lived in the most desperate poverty. Meanwhile, it is a tragedy to see a state formed by people whose families had been robbed of everything, blamed for everything, and exterminated by the millions allow their corrupt governments to treat people as they treat the Palestinians. I have a friend who is a black female rabbi. She went to Jerusalem and was shocked. She said she'd rather be a black in America any day than be a Palestinian anywhere in the State of Israel. She found the same used for Palestinians as were used for the Jews by the Nazis: vermin, claims they are sub-human, blamed for everything. This lies in contrast, of course, to the 40% of Jews in Israel who are secular Jews and runs completely against their wishes. Moderates, who make up 20% don't do that, either. But the conservative 20% are really vicious. However, even the moderates and liberals in Israel were so shocked by October 7th that they are in favor of the COMPLETE removal of HAMAS. And HAMAS, actually, sees their funerals in their eyes, for the #1 demand in all negotiations for the end of this war is made by HAMAS: that their LEADERS won't be put to death for what they've done -- that they won't be held accountable for anything, brought to trial, jailed, or executed for the murders of more than 1,200 people. And until they have that assurance, as far as HAMAS is concerned, Palestinians can die to the last man, woman and child because for HAMAS, Palestinians exist to serve their political and religious egos and the value of their lives is ZERO. Israel has behaved horribly for years. And HAMAS is a terrorist organization. And neither should be trusted with the welfare of the Palestinian people.
Hi, thanks so much for writing such an informative, in-depth article. I haven't had the chance to look at your other writing and so I apologize, I'd like to ask if you can direct me to other work of yours that provides a "balanced" review of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
I put quotes around balanced because I know that is in some ways a loaded term. But the fact that you're calling out BB and the Hamas leader both as war criminals is a good indication that you are indeed one of the least biased reporters on this issue.
I'm most fervently NOT anti-semitic but I've been called anti-semitic for seeing the way the Israeli *government* has treated Palestinians in the Gaza strip and calling it "human rights violations." It's not a criticism of people because of their Judaism, it's a criticism of the government of a country. People obstinately conflate the two, which is frustrating to say the least.
Yours is one of the only articles I've read that—rightly, imo—criticizes Benjamin Natanyahu AND Hamas. Back when Hamas was just a fundamentalist faction within the PA, I perceived that the PA genuinely wanted a two-state resolution, or some kind of real resolution, and the resistance was from Israel. Israel seemed unwilling to come to a compromised resolution. It only wanted what it wanted and was not going to budge on any of its demands, which was untenable to the PA; logical, as that's not how negotiations work.
My perception now, with the dismantling of the PA and its subsequent replacement by Hamas, is that any talk of resolution between Israel and "Palestine" as represented by Hamas, is disingenuous or flat out rejected.
My perception of the current escalation has been that both sides found it more suited to their political and religious agendas to invite and fan the escalation rather than work to de-escalate it, with the ordinary people on both sides suffering the consequences of this fundamentalist stalemate.
So basically, I see a fundamentalist Jewish leader who represents a non-fundamentalist Jewish State, locked in ideological brinksmanship with a fundamentalist Muslim who is representing a non-fundamentalist group of stateless people, and they have both lost the ability to override their fundamentalism in order to see the pain, death, and destruction their intransigence has caused.
Hi, Carly, and thank you for this incredible note. I have a whole bunch of comments. [s] First, a whole article on Netanyahu later this week. He's trying to stay out of jail, and that may be, in large part, why this war is still going on. The minute it's over, he's facing jail for corruption and prosecutors can't WAIT to put him in bracelets. Here's what the ICC has drawn up for charges against Netanyahu and Gallant:
Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);
Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).
The list is only a bit shorter than the list against HAMAS.
Meanwhile, Palestinians APPEAR to be largely in favor of HAMAS, but then there's the problem that when they dissent, they die. Sinwar himself executed anti-HAMAS 28 protesters. That was public. What happens privately is that a person can be just summarily shot in the street for saying anything against HAMAS. As it is in Saudi Arabia, people are afraid to tell the truth, so IF there is massive dissent, you won't know it because these people are too afraid to tell anybody, even a foreign NGO that promises them confidentiality.
Meanwhile, two-solutions have been rejected both by HAMAS and Israel several times.
And several other things just to know as background information. Over the long term, four Palestinians die for every Israeli who dies in this conflict. HAMAS wins every prisoner exchange because for HAMAS Palestinian life is cheap and to Israel Jewish blood is sacred. In the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, Israeli gave up 1,027 Palestinians (with a few foreigners thrown in) who were almost exclusively jailed for terrorism-related crimes in order to get back ONE Israeli IDF soldier kidnapped at a checkpoint. This is par for the course. One of the first Palestinians to be released was Yahya Sinwar, who now refuses to go to the bargaining table despite the fact the deaths -- mostly women and children -- has passed 40,000 in Gaza.
Israel has long been run by its right-wing, Likudite conservative Jewish community, and that's bad. But Netanyahu's own corruption, which led to try to suspend and then TAKE OVER the SUPREME COURT OF ISRAEL to skate out of charges (a la Donald Trump) exposed him as the narcissistic sleaze he is.
So here we have a corrupt Isreali prime minister and a terrorist--because Yahya Sinwar and ALL of HAMAS are terrorists as well as being criminally misogynistic -- both abusing people who are brained-washed by HAMAS TV (see MEMRI) beginning at. the kindergarten level to hate Jews and vow to destroy Israel. There has never been a populace so brainwashed as this one.
Which leads to another problem: surrounding Arab countries don't want to take ANY Palestinian refugees. That's why Egypt closed the border. The rest don't want them, either, because they know if they let them in, the whole HAMAS mindset comes with them: this pathological, planted hatred of Jews, blame of Jews, blame of the West, antipathy toward a more Hanafi-like Islam, and throwback philosophy on women's rights. The Rafah crossing at the Gaza-Egypt border is 14-miles wide and its buffer zones is 8.7 MILES DEEP. It is several times more complex and definitely more technologically vicious than the border crossing at El Paso.
HAMAS has ruined the entire Palestinian mindset. Nobody wants these people -- AND Arab states LOVE using the Palestinians to dump hatred on Israel and the West, while privately many Arab states admire the success of the oil-less Israelis who have the best economy in the Middle East. AND one in every six Israelis is an Arab Muslim, and you'll note these people NEVER rise up when HAMAS tells them to take Israel from the inside. There is nowhere in the Middle East they can live that would be safer for them.
So ... more to come on all this, and pretty soon I'm going to talk about Al-Aqsa and the Temple Mount -- AND why I think that the nations of the U.N. should resolve to strip Israel and HAMAS-controlled Gaza of all foreign aid and blockade the entire Palestinian Corridor--AND take control of Jerusalem as a 100% disarmed International Shrine City ALL peoples have to apply to visit. The UN should also take over the HUGE oilfield in Western Syria that rich developers are trying to get their hands on so Syria doesn't come into this conflict with nuclear weapons and a jerk as head of state.
I am so tired of these two hateful, intolerant, spoiled brat toddler states having temper tantrums that hold the whole world hostage. The rest of us need to band together and kick a little ass.
Both Israel and HAMAS, which is backed by Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which regularly shells the Israeli north, need to have their wings clipped.
And to that end, I'd also make illegal ALL PACS in the USA that represent foreign powers or religions that routinely war on others or deprive women or minorities of rights. AIPAC, CAIR (initially known as HAMAS IN THE UNITED STATES), etc. Rashida Tlaib should register as the agent of a foreign power.
And yes, trump totally got that play for avoiding prison from Netanyahu. So many other notable and salient points you covered, too! 🔥👍
Everything you said makes sense and adds up! I wish more people had access to this info and the desire to take time parsing it out for themselves. In some ways, it's incredibly complicated and nuanced.
If you have the time and inclination, maybe you could explain why American college students seemed to be running campus protests that were (are?) both anti-Semitic AND anti-Arab/Palestine. It goes against everything I've understood of the issues.
I've been careful, very careful, to not really speak aloud pro-Palestine sentiments. I was told very explicitly by a Jewish friend that anything pro-Palestine was anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. I felt "put in my place" for decades until Jon Stewart said that being pro-human life and criticizing Israel for its extended attacks on Palestinian civilians was not anti-Semitic.
But I don't understand how some campus protests have been threats to Jewish students, and some have been threats to Arab and Muslim students, when the geopolitical issue has been about both sides engaging in extreme, vile violence. And it's not about who did worse, but the fact that both sides could have reached some kind of peaceful resolution or ceasefire agreement decades ago, if humanitarian relief had been their true motivation.
Thanks again for your detailed explanations.
Human beings have a "single villain" problem. Watch two kids in a fight, interrupted by their mother. The whole issue is to find out who started this, or, "who's to blame." It's simpler that way. One side is good; the other is evil. So you have pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian backers. AND early on, Palestinians won the propaganda war because a whole bunch of European movie stars, most notably Vanessa Redgrave, backed the Palestinians. For Jews, the "origin" of the problem is being blamed for the death of Christ. For Palestinians it really became with the Russian pogroms in the 19th century, which prompted Theodore Herzl to theorize Zionism, the creation of a Jewish homeland. The next major event was the Balfour Declaration by the British which, in 1917, backed the creation of a Jewish homeland. But that flew in the face of the Dar-al-Islam (land of Islam) vs. Dar-al-Harb: a very early Islamic theory that *once land belongs to Muslims, it can never be taken back. So anyone who subsequently controls it is an OCCUPIER.* This is why Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri always called Spain by the name Andalucia: as far as he was concerned as once the eastern Iberian peninsula was ruled by the Muslim Moors--when it was Andalucia--that was it: that's Muslim ground forever. The problems began the SECOND the Balfour Declaration was signed, for in the Palestinian Corridor, now with a heavy Muslim population and only a tiny Jewish minority, this violated the concept of Dar-al-Islam v. Dar-al-Harb and was, for all intents and purposes, the outright theft of Muslim lands. Then, with the 1967 and the Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, Muslims had lost all their previous lands and wound up destitute castaways. Almost the entire upper echelon of HAMAS are men (no women, of course) who were born in packed refugee camps where their parents lived in the most desperate poverty. Meanwhile, it is a tragedy to see a state formed by people whose families had been robbed of everything, blamed for everything, and exterminated by the millions allow their corrupt governments to treat people as they treat the Palestinians. I have a friend who is a black female rabbi. She went to Jerusalem and was shocked. She said she'd rather be a black in America any day than be a Palestinian anywhere in the State of Israel. She found the same used for Palestinians as were used for the Jews by the Nazis: vermin, claims they are sub-human, blamed for everything. This lies in contrast, of course, to the 40% of Jews in Israel who are secular Jews and runs completely against their wishes. Moderates, who make up 20% don't do that, either. But the conservative 20% are really vicious. However, even the moderates and liberals in Israel were so shocked by October 7th that they are in favor of the COMPLETE removal of HAMAS. And HAMAS, actually, sees their funerals in their eyes, for the #1 demand in all negotiations for the end of this war is made by HAMAS: that their LEADERS won't be put to death for what they've done -- that they won't be held accountable for anything, brought to trial, jailed, or executed for the murders of more than 1,200 people. And until they have that assurance, as far as HAMAS is concerned, Palestinians can die to the last man, woman and child because for HAMAS, Palestinians exist to serve their political and religious egos and the value of their lives is ZERO. Israel has behaved horribly for years. And HAMAS is a terrorist organization. And neither should be trusted with the welfare of the Palestinian people.
Hi, thanks so much for writing such an informative, in-depth article. I haven't had the chance to look at your other writing and so I apologize, I'd like to ask if you can direct me to other work of yours that provides a "balanced" review of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
I put quotes around balanced because I know that is in some ways a loaded term. But the fact that you're calling out BB and the Hamas leader both as war criminals is a good indication that you are indeed one of the least biased reporters on this issue.
I'm most fervently NOT anti-semitic but I've been called anti-semitic for seeing the way the Israeli *government* has treated Palestinians in the Gaza strip and calling it "human rights violations." It's not a criticism of people because of their Judaism, it's a criticism of the government of a country. People obstinately conflate the two, which is frustrating to say the least.
Yours is one of the only articles I've read that—rightly, imo—criticizes Benjamin Natanyahu AND Hamas. Back when Hamas was just a fundamentalist faction within the PA, I perceived that the PA genuinely wanted a two-state resolution, or some kind of real resolution, and the resistance was from Israel. Israel seemed unwilling to come to a compromised resolution. It only wanted what it wanted and was not going to budge on any of its demands, which was untenable to the PA; logical, as that's not how negotiations work.
My perception now, with the dismantling of the PA and its subsequent replacement by Hamas, is that any talk of resolution between Israel and "Palestine" as represented by Hamas, is disingenuous or flat out rejected.
My perception of the current escalation has been that both sides found it more suited to their political and religious agendas to invite and fan the escalation rather than work to de-escalate it, with the ordinary people on both sides suffering the consequences of this fundamentalist stalemate.
So basically, I see a fundamentalist Jewish leader who represents a non-fundamentalist Jewish State, locked in ideological brinksmanship with a fundamentalist Muslim who is representing a non-fundamentalist group of stateless people, and they have both lost the ability to override their fundamentalism in order to see the pain, death, and destruction their intransigence has caused.
Am I completely wrong?
Hi, Carly, and thank you for this incredible note. I have a whole bunch of comments. [s] First, a whole article on Netanyahu later this week. He's trying to stay out of jail, and that may be, in large part, why this war is still going on. The minute it's over, he's facing jail for corruption and prosecutors can't WAIT to put him in bracelets. Here's what the ICC has drawn up for charges against Netanyahu and Gallant:
Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);
Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).
The list is only a bit shorter than the list against HAMAS.
Meanwhile, Palestinians APPEAR to be largely in favor of HAMAS, but then there's the problem that when they dissent, they die. Sinwar himself executed anti-HAMAS 28 protesters. That was public. What happens privately is that a person can be just summarily shot in the street for saying anything against HAMAS. As it is in Saudi Arabia, people are afraid to tell the truth, so IF there is massive dissent, you won't know it because these people are too afraid to tell anybody, even a foreign NGO that promises them confidentiality.
Meanwhile, two-solutions have been rejected both by HAMAS and Israel several times.
And several other things just to know as background information. Over the long term, four Palestinians die for every Israeli who dies in this conflict. HAMAS wins every prisoner exchange because for HAMAS Palestinian life is cheap and to Israel Jewish blood is sacred. In the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, Israeli gave up 1,027 Palestinians (with a few foreigners thrown in) who were almost exclusively jailed for terrorism-related crimes in order to get back ONE Israeli IDF soldier kidnapped at a checkpoint. This is par for the course. One of the first Palestinians to be released was Yahya Sinwar, who now refuses to go to the bargaining table despite the fact the deaths -- mostly women and children -- has passed 40,000 in Gaza.
Israel has long been run by its right-wing, Likudite conservative Jewish community, and that's bad. But Netanyahu's own corruption, which led to try to suspend and then TAKE OVER the SUPREME COURT OF ISRAEL to skate out of charges (a la Donald Trump) exposed him as the narcissistic sleaze he is.
So here we have a corrupt Isreali prime minister and a terrorist--because Yahya Sinwar and ALL of HAMAS are terrorists as well as being criminally misogynistic -- both abusing people who are brained-washed by HAMAS TV (see MEMRI) beginning at. the kindergarten level to hate Jews and vow to destroy Israel. There has never been a populace so brainwashed as this one.
Which leads to another problem: surrounding Arab countries don't want to take ANY Palestinian refugees. That's why Egypt closed the border. The rest don't want them, either, because they know if they let them in, the whole HAMAS mindset comes with them: this pathological, planted hatred of Jews, blame of Jews, blame of the West, antipathy toward a more Hanafi-like Islam, and throwback philosophy on women's rights. The Rafah crossing at the Gaza-Egypt border is 14-miles wide and its buffer zones is 8.7 MILES DEEP. It is several times more complex and definitely more technologically vicious than the border crossing at El Paso.
HAMAS has ruined the entire Palestinian mindset. Nobody wants these people -- AND Arab states LOVE using the Palestinians to dump hatred on Israel and the West, while privately many Arab states admire the success of the oil-less Israelis who have the best economy in the Middle East. AND one in every six Israelis is an Arab Muslim, and you'll note these people NEVER rise up when HAMAS tells them to take Israel from the inside. There is nowhere in the Middle East they can live that would be safer for them.
So ... more to come on all this, and pretty soon I'm going to talk about Al-Aqsa and the Temple Mount -- AND why I think that the nations of the U.N. should resolve to strip Israel and HAMAS-controlled Gaza of all foreign aid and blockade the entire Palestinian Corridor--AND take control of Jerusalem as a 100% disarmed International Shrine City ALL peoples have to apply to visit. The UN should also take over the HUGE oilfield in Western Syria that rich developers are trying to get their hands on so Syria doesn't come into this conflict with nuclear weapons and a jerk as head of state.
I am so tired of these two hateful, intolerant, spoiled brat toddler states having temper tantrums that hold the whole world hostage. The rest of us need to band together and kick a little ass.
Both Israel and HAMAS, which is backed by Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which regularly shells the Israeli north, need to have their wings clipped.
And to that end, I'd also make illegal ALL PACS in the USA that represent foreign powers or religions that routinely war on others or deprive women or minorities of rights. AIPAC, CAIR (initially known as HAMAS IN THE UNITED STATES), etc. Rashida Tlaib should register as the agent of a foreign power.
More later. Thanks for the conversation ...