Censoring Israeli Violence: Western Media Outlets Capitulate
The cathedral of censorship is a vast, airy one. In its embrace, texts are abridged, images removed, ideas scrubbed. Historical inconveniences are filed and rendered inaccessible. The only sermons tolerated will be those satisfying and serving the dictates of power.
The power Israel disproportionately wields here, notably across a number of Western democratic states, is staggering. It is manifested in moves to not publish material critical of the country’s assault on Gaza, and, in some cases, directly target journalists who dare violate such injunctions.
Censorship is a manifold beast. The conventional approach is that of the blanking redaction: the “nothing to see here” school of regulation. Another is that of imposing what is akin to a counterfeit balancing act: to mention the slaughter of thousands of Palestinian children must be, for instance, softened by mention of a dozen Israeli children who were killed, mutilated or kidnapped by barbaric Hamas fighters. Each message, dispatch and broadcast must be accordingly laden with such qualifications.
In some cases, certain matters are simply not mentioned, indexed for being too unsavoury, too challenging, too inconvenient. To also run them would risk careers and put reputations at risk. Moral cowardice is guaranteed to do the rest.
Examples abound in the field. In October, the German media behemoth, Axel Springer, took a dim view of 20-year-old news apprentice Kasem Raad for taking issue with the outlet’s crawlingly pro-Israeli line. He had asked questions of the management line regarding Israel’s military operations while also posting a video disputing parts of the Israeli narrative regarding the Hamas attacks on October 7. “It is one of my rights to ask questions. I wanted to stay at Axel Springer,” claimed Raad, who was fired for his alleged impertinence. “Unfortunately, I was taken in for questioning by senior management, who told me, ‘We are Germans and we need to do this’.”
In November, almost a dozen staffers at the Los Angeles Times signed an open letter condemning the Israeli operations in Gaza, arguing that such efforts alongside the media blockade “threatens newsgathering in unprecedented fashion.” In addition to noting the runaway death toll of Palestinians, the letter was also cognisant of the growing number of slain journalists. “As reporters, editors, photographers, producers, and other workers in newsrooms around the world, we are appalled at the slaughter of our colleagues and their families by the Israeli military and government.”
The letter also goes on to note the “dehumanizing rhetoric” being used by “Western newsrooms” that have “served to justify ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Double-standards, inaccuracies and fallacies abound in American publications and these have been well-documented.”
On November 18, Semafor reported that “staffers who signed the letter have been told by the paper’s management that they will not be allowed to cover the conflict in any way for at least three months.” That’s certainly one way of enforcing balance.
A favourite of news management in such cases is also the non-renewal of contracts. Veteran cartoonist Steve Bell received such treatment from The Guardian in October, ending a four-decade association. It involved a submitted cartoon, featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu performing surgery on his own stomach with two scalpels while wearing boxing gloves, revealing a flesh incision in the shape of the Gaza Strip. Internal complaints followed. The scolding line from management: “Jewish bloke; pound of flesh; anti-Semitic trope.” As Bell reflected, “It is getting pretty nigh impossible to draw this subject for the Guardian now without being accused of deploying ‘antisemitic tropes’.”
Had the incurious dunderheads at the paper bothered to do their research, they would have realised that Bell was not even referencing the famous Shakespearian remark by Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. It was inspired by the satirical work of cartoonist David Levine, a frequent New York Review of Books contributor who thought it appropriate to, in 1966, mock US President Lyndon B. Johnson’s posing for cameras to sport a scar left by gallbladder surgery. Levine’s little touch-up gave the scar the shape of Vietnam, a country that would come to define his presidency.
The Spectator’s editor, Fraser Nelson, appropriately remarked that this whole chapter potentially imperilled the glorious savagery of British satire itself, menaced by such forces as the social media juggernaut and doltish editors. To have depicted Netanyahu as an echo of LBJ seemed a “fair analogy: Netanyahu will be defined by what happens next in Gaza just as LBJ was by Vietnam.”
Even in the more rarified climes of academic discussion, the devil of censorship was doing its work behind the thin veneer of bogus integrity. In a November 18 meeting of the Harvard Law Review, editors (they number 104) voted by a majority to block the publication of a piece commissioned from human Palestinian human rights attorney and doctoral candidate, Rabea Eghbariah. The article asserted that the unfolding calamity in Gaza would satisfy the demanding threshold of genocide and that the Nakba, which involved the expulsion of Palestinians from their territories in 1948, deserved to be recognised as a crime.
Despite reviewing and checking the article for its factual content, the online chairs, Sabrina A. Ochoa and Tascha Shahriari-Parsa, were taken to task for, among other things, sidestepping standard editorial processes at the Law Review. This stiff and snotty reasoning suggests something else at play. It certainly did not impress some 125 law professors who signed an open letter raising matters of “censorship” and over 25 editors who, in a November 22 statement, found the decision threatening to “academic freedom and perpetuates the suppression of Palestinian voices.”
In The Harvard Crimson, the more revealing concerns of some editors who favoured preventing publication were noted. To publish the item would have put them at risk of a “public backlash or doxing” and that “these consequences would likely disproportionately fall on people of color at the Law Review.” Like censorship, a lack of courage is also manifold.
Within Israel itself, publications such as Haaretz are squarely within the government’s sights. Communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, drew up a proposal last month suggesting that official government notices would no longer be published in the paper. The proposal had not been vetted by the ministry’s legal advisor and would result in the halting of any payments to the paper from Israeli entities within his remit, including the cancellation of state employee subscriptions to the publication.
The reason was outlined in Karhi’s letter to Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs: “Since the beginning of the war, I have received many complaints that Haaretz has taken an offensive line which undermines the war’s goals and disparages the military effort and its social fortitude. It is possible that some of the paper’s publications even cross the criminal standard set in those far-flung sections of the penal code reserved for wartime only.”
The Israeli journalists’ union was unimpressed, pointing out that Karhi had spent much of his time in office trying to close the public broadcasting corporation. “His new proposal to end all government business with Haaretz is a populistic proposal devoid of any feasibility or logic, and its entire purpose is to garner likes among his political base at the expense of dedicated journalists who are working night and day right now to cover the war.” Despite possessing some momentum at this point, we can only hope that Karhi, and his ilk, will eventually stall before the blood-drenched realities of this conflict. Some hard-headed, brave news coverage would also be welcome.
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Roswell
Return to home pageI like to think that the Zionist lobby has not got into “our ABC”, but I realise that this cancer is all over the place.
Last night the systematic ethnic cleansing of the Palestine people, by the Jews, was given a token hearing on the news.
This is the most appalling situation enabled by our dubious Aukus partner.
So ,in prime time last night, they ran a film showing some kindly old Jew making sure the Nurenburg trials happened.
A Total blatant whitewashing event by our trusted ABC.
Enough to make you puke.
(I also checked out a Republic senator speaking in congress about the US war powers act on 7/12/23 making it clear that The US forces in the Middle East are NOT there with Congress authority, but some stray decision that only the Yanks can make.
Without the US forces backing, the murderous actions of Israel would not be allowed to go on).
Douglas, you are spot on, its already gripped by fear. If they put any palestinian story on, the zionist lobby will be straight into the chairman’s ear and dutton will make a song and dance about the abc being an infestation of left wing terrorists sympathisers . They are trying so hard to not offend that neutrality becomes an endorsement. Listen ABC, two wrongs dont make a right. Israel is just as culpable as the palestinians. Report it as it is and ride the criticism.
Its been the most successful propaganda pull of all time. The haulocast has given israel the green light to do as it pleases. Its already indoctrinated its people, “this is our land that god gave us, palestinians should just move on, palestinians want to kill us all, they are taught from an early age to hate us, see what they did to us..we will take our revenge, palestinians are terrorists, ……………” And they cant see the symmetry in their vocabulary? man that dissonance is full on 130db in your face.
Even the phrase ” from the river to the sea ” has been hyjacked. Its now termed a terrorist sympathy call. I know a bit about history and Bibi himself also used that phrase…….in israel, you cant even talk about it without going to gaol.
Its been an ongoing project from israel to stem criticism from abroad. Its pretty obvious if you have followed the papers as long as i have. Same as their killing of journalists, pretty blatant attempts to intimidate. Any criticsm of israel instantly becomes an anti jew comment. And the response is always the same…..the talking points i already outlined. And havent they got to the top of US politics too! No president will openly attack the israeli government’s agenda. that lobby group has been so successful.
To any jewsish person reading this, you have my sympathies. You are caught in a religion that has been hyjacked…….AGAIN. To any palestinian reading this , you have my sympathy. Remember, peace is always on the table…….. a lot of people hope you get there.
in the end, one has to say, talking with the other side can bring peace. But as the israeli government has shown, turning your back and ignoring the other side creates problems. Does that mean only violence can bring them back face to face? Unfortunately, that seems to be the lesson. And there in lays the solution.
A56,
I was guilty , the other day, of watching our attorney general of giving a serving to a journalist, and laughing my tits off.
This was just a naked display of Gods chosen, claiming the high ground, and showing contempt for those not in the cult.
We are conditioned to accept this shite, being mere mortals.
Good post. The part about Axel Springer and the ‘We are Germans and we need to do this’ line caught my attention. So it seems the top levels of German media are pro-Zionist.
In the 1930’s, the Nazis wanted all the Jews out of Europe. The Zionists wanted a Jewish Homeland. So, they created something called The Transfer Agreement. 50,000 of the fairly well-off German Zionists (“the pure main stem of Judaism” as they called themselves) were allowed to emigrate to Palestine. It was also part of a ploy by the Nazis to end the German Jewish Boycott.
However, some millions of their co-religionists (and others) were left behind to die in the Holocaust. Perhaps that was “needed”, also?
History reveals the craven politicians of the Anglosphere and Europe did appalling things to the Jews, and have sought to steal from and subjugate the Arabs and others from the Orient. From the time of the Great War onwards, they have sought to cover-off their horrendous greed and race-hate-filled blood-curdling bigotry. The Jewish reverse-diaspora, the ‘mandate’ and the holocaust gave them the cover they needed to pretend the dysfunctional UN Resolution 101 was a heartfelt restorative act of noblesse oblige, when it would appear that it was more of a ‘devil’s alternative’ collaboration to embed all religious Jews in the ‘Holy Land’ (all expenses paid), and to ensure the ‘allies’ obtained the balance of power in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly over the Palestinians and Saracens.
And from there, the blackmail, the BS and the blood-bath has continued just like in all other forms of structural colonialism.
Cowardice, hubris and expedience has ensured that it has now reached a breaking point that risks a world conflagration.
And DP, I noticed in the ABC soft-soap show on Nuremberg, the pronouncement that the ICC’s objective was (at the threat of prosecution) to ensure that before violence, dialogue would be the resolution to impasse as opposed to war. It is interesting to note who hasn’t signed / ratified the Rome Treaty, and moreso the almost complete absence of voice from the ICC since before 7 October
How refreshing it is to have commentators discussing the topic, without somebody barging in to have a swipe at Palestine, or tell us how wrong it was that such and such wasn’t done last week, last month, last year or last century, or to express condemnation on us for not raising such and such irrelevant point, or a deflection like “what about Russia”, or that umpires gave Collingwood a free ride in 2013 (as true as it might be), or that Pocahontas rode the wrong coloured horse, or that Laika shouldn’t have been the first dog in space (it should have been Rin Tin Tin) or his neighbour has an ugly roof and it’s the union’s fault etc etc.
Thank you, all.
I have never seen a full, detailed description of the 7th October attack.
How many & what type of vehicles were used by Hamas; where and how did they cross the border without being detected (I saw an early report that Isreal “admitted” there had been a gross failure of Isreal intelligence); how long did the attack take; how did they transport 200 hostages back to Gaza?
The answers, my friends are “Blowing in the Wind”, a song the could have been written for this disgusting piece of ethnic cleansing.
But how much more disgusting if, as has been suggested, it turns out that Isreal intelligence was NOT asleep at the wheel?
Here’s an example of “news” reporting…
Yesterday ABC News reported that people were cutting down telegraph poles for firewood in Gaza, as it is winter.
There was a guy in a tee shirt in the background and the temperature in Gaza that day was 11 to 22°
Really??
Gutless, is a word that comes to mind in relation to the overarching reportage of the war being conducted against the Palestinians. Clakka’s use of words such as craven, cowardly [sic], hubristic [sic], and expedient are also pertinent. With limited exception the voices calling for a rigorous condemnation of Israeli aggression that has seen thousands of Palestinian civilians blown to bits by American & European supplied weapons & armaments are muted. People who have the capacity – either judicial or political – are demonstrably unwilling to use those capacities to rein in the Israeli bloodbath against their territorial neighbour.
Germany along with other countries would serve the cause of betterment for humanity by doing whatever is necessary to get the IDF out of Palestinian territories. Acknowledging the rights of Palestinians to have autonomous existence on their own lands and to exist unchallenged by Jewish aggressors would be a start. As would be the full and frank admission of the nature of the formation of the Israeli state in the mid-twentieth century, as alluded to in a previous post.
Whilst also acknowledging the Levant to be an area of high geopolitical significance doesn’t per se extend rights to one people over another, nor excuse the manifestly egregious actions of former governments and state actors in extending privilege to that ‘one people,’ it’s always a possibility that previous wrongs can be admitted and action taken to assuage the historical and current damages that have been caused by those earlier actions. Courage to admit wrongdoings is necessary, willingness to elevate truth over lies, to call out the propaganda, to stop sweeping the ugliness under carpets and to pretend that only one side of the argument has right on its side.
Current global response to this ugliness does not give one much hope that this will be the case. Madness would seem an appropriate descriptor in light of Carl Sagan’s observation that we all of us are living on this little blue dot in the vastness of the cosmos, reliant on its beneficial and benevolent resources for our very survival; yet riven by the adherence to ideological and theocratic differences.
I read that the ABC is dropping the daily current affairs show The Drum due to falling audiences – the last program will be this Friday.
At one stage I had been an avid follower of The Drum as one of the few remaining current affairs shows on the ABC after they dropped Lateline with Emma Alberici.
I had noticed that The Drum had become very politically correct in recent times and I was finding it less relevant although, to be fair, Ellen Fanning was prepared to tackle controversial issues. There is also talk that Q&A may not be coming back in 2024.
ABC needs to revamp its current affairs approach and not be afraid to buy into controversial issues : that’s what good journalism is all about.
AC they were chopping down telegraph poles for firewood for cooking stoves not just to keep warm.
Andy56/Clakka/Canguro, you guys are on fire. ✊
MT: Your accolades – hear hear, but “what about Russia” – there is plenty of mileage to go. 🙂
Good article which has synergy with articles documenting the rise of neoliberalism. As a baby boomer I’m disgusted by the number of wars during my lifetime, the routine “white/green/whatever washing” of serious issues, and the branding of any disapproval of Israel’s actions/war-crimes in Gaza as “antisemitic”.
I wonder how long Israel has been sitting on it’s “get rid of Hamas/systematic destruction of Gaza/genocide of the Palestinians” plan waiting for/covertly inciting a suitable trigger? Warning the Palestinians that they should move south, thereby concentrating the population in area without the infrastructure to support the massive swarm, and then bombing them must qualify as a war crime.
Mind you as parts of the world face an existential crisis due to sea level rise, having the chair of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company as president of COP 28 it is unsurprising that the outcome will be half-arsed and a setback to net zero.
The Nakba involved not only the expulsion of Palestinians but, the mass murder of Palestinians.
Tantura, Dair Yasin and many more.
Young James Paterson, the boy senator and member of the far right Liberal faction has criticized the Albanese government for voting in favour of the United Nations resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. [at 11.00 am per linked article]
Let the killing continue, seems to be his position. Without actually giving voice to his position, the unspoken message would be that he is indifferent to the slaughter of the Palestinians. Isn’t this so typical of the position taken by the LNP on almost every matter where people’s lives are at stake? The heartlessness that lies at the core of LNP philosophy and world-view is a prima facie reason to never ever entrust these thugs in suits with the reins of power. Never again. We see the face of evil, and it is called Liberal.
And, predictably, Israeli ambassadors and diplomats are tripping over themselves concocting word salads to condemn all nations who also voted for the ceasefire resolution. Let the killing continue, they say, for they are merely goyim, cockroaches, and undeserving of a right to exist, unlike us Jews who are God’s chosen people.
They shot Shireen Abu Akleh to avoid scrutiny.
Talking to friend yesterday got me riled up. “Palestinian deaths are an unfortunate side show” seemed to the attitude. He couldn’t see the deaths of innocents as anything other than ” that’s what they want to do, kill all Jews.”
As an American he seemed surprised that Bibi has been playing the West Bank over the Gazza. He didn’t believe me when I said Quatr has been funding Hamas with Bibi’s blessings? He was more willing to believe in UFOs.
As I said in previous post, unless Israeli people ask themselves ” why do they hate us” peace is an illusion.
For too long they have talked the talk but have been super aggressive doing the opposite. They don’t believe there is symmetry of language between the two sides. It’s pretty clear from where I stand.
They are showing sever symptoms of being in a Cult. Harri krishna
to you too
Spot on article once again Binoy. Congratulations. And very perceptive perspective from Andy56 and others. I’ve been quite stunned by the power and effectiveness of the ‘Israel Lobby’ and its ‘Zionist Running Dogs’ How effective they (and Netanyahu as well) have been in distracting us from
1. Continuing Israeli atrocities in The West Bank
2. The fact that Bibi and co had been trying to politicise and remove the impartiality of the Israeli Supreme Court for the past couple of years.
3. The fact that Bibi has been PM on 2 occasions.
4. The fact that Bibi had been up in front of the ISC on serious corruption charges.
5. The fact that a huge percentage of the Israeli public had been protesting and striking for months and months before October against Bibi and co.
6. A poll taken this week in Israel shows that amongst Jewish Israelis Bibi has a popularity rating (as PM) of 4%…. Yes 4 percent.
7.The huge toll of life in Gaza (civilian casualties of 17,000 two thirds women and children).
8. The ‘political wing’ of Hamas was negotiating with the Israeli Government in Qatar, with intermediaries of Red Cross and Qatari authorities regarding the ‘pause/ceasefire’. 9. Israels total disregard/disrespect for the UN and its associated bodies.
10. Its tactic (as you pointed out Binoy) of labelling any contrary view to Israels as being antisemitic. They used this to largely dispose of Jeremy Corbyn as British Labour Party leader. ie. humanitarian sympathy towards Palestinians is antisemitic.
11. Killings of civilians, doctors,nurses, ambos, etc at hospitals in Gaza.
12. Deliberate Israeli blocking of realistic basic necessities for civilians in Gaza (water, food, medicine,fuel, shelter-continuous bombing and forced movements of civilians to areas also being bombed and attacked by IDF snipers).
We say that the first casualty of war is truth.
I think that the second casuality of war is choice.
It’s not and will not be the only time, there are other salient issues that sail under the radar including how media has become unfit for purpose, more for political PR or spin reigns, inc, geopolitics, and most people lack knowledge of history and skills of analysis, while Oz, like US & UK, is so far away…..? What are the future solutions in the region for Palestinians, Israelis and neighbours, no go area?
Media has become hollowed out, shallow and narrow, maybe fit for political PR but not long term ongoing complexity & open to being ‘gamed’; see climate science denial, immigration dog whistling, economics/finance, Brexit, Trump, Syria, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine etc. which cannot be explained by sound bites, anecdotes, polls etc., while long term expert journalists and analysts are no longer employed?
So many details in the background inc, Putin’s relationship with both Netanyahu and Hamas regime, while like Ukraine invasion much RW media acknowledge initial incident(s) then reporting zooms out mixing up timelines and events.
There is ‘codependent narcissism’ (Sam Vaknin) between Netanyahu’s corrupt regime vs. Hamas’ corrupt regime, but the media give both a free kick by zooming out to more generic long term Israel – Palestine conflict, contestable histories, astroturfing etc. but ignoring the current ‘leadership’ issues; both have to go.
Another example, former journalist Tony Abbott, now a ‘researcher’ at an Atlas or Koch Heritage linked institute in Hungary, while RW ‘normies’ Anne Applebaum, Bill Cristol et al. have been calling out Heritage and Hungary’s PM Orban (ally of Netanyahu) for becoming clearly anti-Ukraine, anti-EU and pro-Putin (allegedly supported by Orban) and Trump et al while using the Koch’s own Freedom Caucus &/or CNP Christians to block funding in the House.
Days ago there was a Murdoch WSJ Live event presenting new House Speaker Johnson, where a sole audience member meekly squeaked a question i.e. maybe Ukraine should be funded by US vs. Russia, and not thrown under a bus by the GOP, FoxNews, Koch think tanks etc., of course it was Tony Abbott…. surely not running protection for Anglo right & grifters caught in Putin’s web while ignoring who he works for?
https://x.com/WSJLive/status/1734566293703999993?s=20
Who is still under the delusion that the carnage in Israel, Gaza & the West Bank is anything other than a slow-kill genocide guided by the Zionists, both against Palestine and the Israeli people? The public is treated to daily gas-lighting by msm that keeps on dragging in the ‘Holocaust boogie-man’ as the culprit, not today’s military mad-men in corporate camouflage. The 3 Israeli hostages murdered this week by the IDF highlights the Israeli agenda – any homo-sapiens moving in northern Gaza or other land destined to be occupied are legitimate targets, shoot to kill, no questions asked. Collateral damage, accidental or not, serves the purpose of generating damaged psyches, creating future criminals – terrorists, mass murderers and even comparatively low-level domestic abusers who kill their own family members. Traumatize individuals and what do you expect? This world. Its pointless having a war and only killing combatants. Those who seek to gain from war understand this principle well.
Interesting things happening in the media today. A competition to see which side can deliver the worst news to discredit the other.
Israeli media proclaims ” the biggest tunnel…” ………see see see………
Global media reports on three white shirt waving hostages being gunned down by israeli troops. Global media then trumps it again. Mother and daughter shot by israeli sniper in church yard, pope is not pleased.
Israel by its own hands has shredded any credibility it ever had. If it cant see that three guys waving white shirts are not fighters, what hope do palestinians have? Just read the story about how these 3 got mowed down by trigger happy frightened israeli soldiers. Then to top it off, sniper fire onto a woman and then her daughter trying to drag her to safety. In a church compound. What kind of blood thristy animals do they train in the israeli army? Are they so brutalised?
The irony is lost on the israeli government. All their bluster about palestinian blood lust suddenly gets put in perspective. Who in the end is the bigger monster?
Shakespeare would struggle to write the script
Israel is flat out writing it’s own obituary.For anyone interested, check out all those old, discredited biblical prophecies.
The article header appearing below appeared in The New Yorker on Dec 9th.
In the Shadow of the Holocaust – How the politics of memory in Europe obscures what we see in Israel and Gaza today.
It resonates with those words of Orwell in 1946: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
I am watching the next disastrous situation developing.
On a daily basis we are guided through the genocide of Palestinian people, at the hands of the Jews.
This appalling affront to everything civilized is being sponsored by the US forces hanging around to see their best mate carry on their criminal aspirations. Us taxpayers are almost completely ignorant of how they are contributing..
Of course neighboring countries are not happy with this, so they are reverting to targeting shipping needed to keep the Jews fed and watered. Maybe the Jews need to be humbled for a change.
So Australia is being invited to join the next US sponsored war which is vaguely directed to “cocking a snook” at the Middle east as a whole, and escorting ships through the short cut.
Of course we are going to feel the blowback from the Palestine bid for freedom, But if we forget the history of USA “Peace keeping efforts”,
Just have a look at Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and the need to pause and draw a breath.
Like voting in the UN, we CAN tell the world that WE stand for common sense, and a peaceful resolution.
Terence, rumor has it The Drum is returning under a new banner – Leftist Echo Chamber.
Douglas:
You’ve crossed the line from fair criticism of the Israeli government and the IDF to outright anti-semitism. It is the extremist Zionists that are the problem in Israel, not Jewish people.
Lefe,
Think about it. This is the core of the disinformation campaign, and its very effective, but so hypocritical.
If a Jew kills you when you carry a white flag, does he then become a Zionist.
Or does he become an Isaeli,
Or does he become a settler ,and they cannot be disciplined.
If you are to live a free life, in Israel, its essential to be Jewish, but you can slip in and out of different disguises depending on if you are ethnic cleansing, exercising apartheid, or whitewashing.
And you can rest assured that their intelligence gathering ability is second to none, as they are keen to demonstrate when the chips are down.
Jewish people can be Zionists, but not all Jewish people are. Failing to distinguish between the two is the same thing the Israeli government, the IDF and the extremist Zionists are doing with regard to Hamas and the Palestinian people.
The so-called settlers – ie, the people pushing into the West Bank and taking Palestinian land and homes, are Zionists and should be stopped. They should have been stopped decades ago. But there are plenty of Jewish people who don’t do that and don’t support that and don’t support the actions of the government or the IDF.
Hamas =/= Palestine and extremist Zionists =/= Israel. They are subsets, not the whole.
I note that Newscorp are criticising Albanese for not joining the naval patrols of the Red Sea : nothing unusual about that.
Interesting to note that those joining this coalition of the willing is made up of the U.S., United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
Other nations who have declined participation include regional interests Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait and Djibouti.
Egypt, the largest naval power in the Middle East and the top financial beneficiary of Red Sea-Suez shipping, is also conspicuously missing.
Stay away from this , Albo !
Leffe: Out of interest, what do you call a Jew that is seeing the systematic destruction of Palestine and slow genocide of the Palestinians, whether by bombing, sniping, starvation, lack of water, lack of sanitation, lack of medical facilities, etc., that turns a blind eye and does nothing to demand the Zionists cease and desist? (The word “complicit” or ==Zionist comes to mind, but I’ll defer to you as you’re the one defining the data sets.)
Fun fact: Only one Israeli was killed during the hostage rescue operation at Entebbe airport, Uganda in 1976.
His name was Yonatan Netanyahu. The older brother of the war-mongering prime minister, Benjamin.
Wikipedia tells me you are correct.
You doubted me?!
What a stunning admission.