The Flour Massacre, IDF War Crimes against desperate and starving Palestinians, and the escalating Humanitarian crisis in Gaza

It's 1938 all over again...

The children of Gaza (and the West Bank) are going to need a Sir Nicholas Winton because the IDF, Likud Government, and illegal West Bank Settlers are planning on exterminating every Palestinian they can.

Besides the bombardment and slaughter of children, The IDF and War Criminal Netanyahu are creating multiple human catastrophes in Gaza.  For instance, reduce many in the population to the brink of starvation and then machine-gun down the starving people when they rush to get some of the meager food supplies the Israelis are letting through.

According to the Gaza health ministry, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) killed at least 104 people and injured at least 750 others as they were congregating in Nabulsi Square near Gaza City, hoping to access flour that was expected to come through in aid trucks. Troops shot at the crowd with tanks and drones, and ran tanks over injured and dead people as they fired, according to Al Jazeera.

Indiscriminate firing into a crowd of starving people and running over the wounded with tanks are crimes so monstrous, even the United States didn't do it during the long Iraqi Occupation.  It's what the villainous Fascist Future Government in The Running Man did at the beginning of the film.  However, the Israeli war criminals know that after each and every one of their war crimes they merely have to say wasn't our fault, our soldiers always avoid civilian casualties, and anyway those killed were Hamas Rapists & Terrorists.

I don't recommend or watch War Porn videos, I've seen enough real shit.  But, even The New York Times stated, The Israeli Military released a heavily edited video to deflect blame...

Commit War Crime - Repeat IDF excuses - Accuse others of Anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas...

Commit War Crime - Repeat IDF excuses - Accuse others of Anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas...

Commit War Crime - Repeat IDF excuses - Accuse others of Anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas...

Commit War Crime - Repeat IDF excuses - Accuse others of Anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas...

Commit War Crime - Repeat IDF excuses - Accuse others of Anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas...

Commit War Crime - Repeat IDF excuses - Accuse others of Anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas...

Commit War Crime - Repeat IDF excuses - Accuse others of Anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas...

The death toll in Gaza is reportedly 30,000 but, the IDF counters its' killed 10,000 Hamas fighters and blames any other deaths on Hamas using Palestinians as "human-shields".  In their latest indefensible war crime the IDF blamed Hamas for rushing to steal the food, and claimed their soldiers only shot people who posed a threat, and most of the deaths were the result of looters who drove the trucks through the crowds.

Netanyahu and the IDF are going to kill as many people as possible and there's not much anyone is willing to do or can do to stop this.  Whenever this ends, Israel has destroyed their moral credibility for the next 50 years but, it matters little to the leadership of Likud or Hamas.  They see this war as beneficial and absolutely in line with their goals.  I fear the Israelis and Palestinians are doomed.

Plagiarism and the Bad Faith rightwing attacks on American higher education

In PraegerU history this fictional Bodega
was actually burned down by BLM because,
"George Floyd, a black man who resisted 
arrest and was held under the knee of a
Police Officer, died while in custody."

I'm questioning my education

Is my education who I am now? 

- Pearl Jam (2003)

Heather Digby Parton has a better post about Christoper Rufo and the coordinated rightwing attack on Claudine Gay and the "liberal" media continued willingness and eagerness to adopt the rightwing framing of the issue of Plagiarism.

“It's time that Gaza Ends. The 2 million people who live there, they are clever assassins. They need to be removed from that land. That land needs to be turned into a national park." @MicheleBachmann Dean at @RegentU. 

Bachmann's call for the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Gaza did not earn her even the slightest rebuke from the Corporate Media let alone her former Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives.

The completely disingenuous House "investigation" led by Elise Stefanik continues to pay dividends to the Republican attacks on Education in general and any educator who does not bow down to the nascent Fascist agenda the GOP is rapidly advancing.

Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned.  She's the second of the three women brought up before the Republican Inquisitors on December 5th, former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned before Christmas but Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth has yet to bow down before the rightwing witch hunt.

Say whatever you want about the woeful answers these three gave to the House committee, a public relations nightmare from three people who should already have a baseline pro-level PR game.  But, I have to wonder if the law firm which prepped them wasn't actually paid to undermine their preparation and set them up to be slaughtered.

Former Harvard President Gay came from a. fairly well-to-do background but, that still doesn't mean to Republicans she's nothing more than her black skin and aggressively shaved head.  A scalp they yearned to take.  Gay, of course, received death threats and was called the N-word numerous times by conservatives before wealthy Harvard benefactors like billionaire racist Bill Ackman demanded her resignation, often in violent racist tirades.

The allegations of plagiarism are overwrought.  To the rabid rightwing drones plagiarism means copying and pasting entire sections of text which isn't what Gay did but, in America some people are afforded Zero-Margin for error.   It would be fascinating if Josh Hawley's Yale degree work or Ted Cruz's time at Harvard but, we all know that even if it was shown to be plagiarized, as with Neil Gorsuch unattributed copying, Republicans wouldn't care one whit.  In fact, Republicans get extra credit for undermining every institution they besmirch and for breaking rules others have to follow.

For a long time, Republicans have accused liberals, higher education, and the Dept of Ed of indoctrinating young people.  The truth is when people are educated and exposed to new ideas they more often than not turn away from Reactionary dogma and Republican propaganda.  This angers Republicans to no end.  

Republicans have hated the Department of Education ever since the Federal Government decided to make sure minorities had access to higher education.  What they want is to funnel taxpayer dollars to Fascist fundamentalist schools, but they also want to gain control of what is taught.  The still shot from the PraegerU "lesson" on George Floyd is one of a series of kids cartoons aimed at instilling racist, homophobic, bigoted hatred, and anti-class consciousness in young people.   

Republicans have a long list of enemies; teachers are some of the top targets.  It's a non-stop barrage of marching fascism now.  Giving in and appeasing Republicans is a short and long term losing strategy.  We are on a collision course with whether or not a Nation can remain half free and half MAGA.

Update:

Neri Oxman ❤️Jeffrey Epstein

Remember slimly hedge fund Billionaire Bill Ackman, who demanded Claudine Gay resign over Plagiarism?  Well his wife Neri Oxman is an Epstein client and <drum roll> a Plagiarist.

An analysis by Business Insider found a similar pattern of plagiarism by Ackman's wife Neri Oxman, who became a tenured professor at MIT in 2017.  Oxman plagiarized multiple paragraphs of her 2010 doctoral dissertation, Business Insider found, including at least one passage directly lifted from other writers without citation.

Any chance Bill Ackman demands his wife resign from MIT?

(No) Ceasefire in Gaza

A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine: 

The court awards it, and the law doth give it. - The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1

A fragile 5 day ceasefire in Gaza appears imminent .  This comes as welcome news.  According to The WaPo reporting the deal;

A detailed, six-page set of written terms would require all parties to the conflict to freeze combat operations for at least five days while an initial 50 or more hostages are released in smaller batches every 24 hours. It was not immediately clear how many of the 239 people believed to be in captivity in Gaza would be released under the deal. Overhead surveillance would monitor movement on the ground to police the pause.

The stop in fighting is also intended to allow a significant increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance, including fuel, to enter the besieged enclave from Egypt.

I am grateful for the efforts of President Biden and Secretary’s Blinken and Lloyd Austin and all the administration officials working on to contain this situation.  It matters having competent and trusted people running the US State Department.

The Israeli forces at the behest of their Extremist government have exacted 10 times the pound of flesh taken by the Hamas fighters on 10/07.  Netanyahu, of course, claimed the IDF killed “thousands and thousands” of Hamas terrorists.  He could hardly have claimed otherwise because that would have been a blatant admission of his failures and reckless policy positions.

I don’t agree with the conventional wisdom that Hamas goal was to draw the surrounding Arab nation and wider Islamic world into conflict with Israel.  That’s an out-of-date idea from 60 years ago.  The disproportionate and frankly criminal Israeli response to the brutal attack 50 days ago has harmed Israel internationally in a way not seen for decades.  This is the end of Netanyahu’s political cater and has turned a large focus on the vile Settler violence in the West Bank.

Of course, the bloodthirsty extremists on both sides will not be placated but that lends more credence and urgency for the Israeli people to work with the Palestinian Authority and other moderate groups to reach a longer lasting 1 state solution in the region.

The US response to the IDF War in Gaza

Zap him again

There were always ample warnings
There were always subtle signs
And you would have seen it coming
But we gave you too much time

Zap the son of a bitch again - Coma, Guns N' Roses (1991)

It's important to try and maintain a grasp on the truth in both in a fundamental metaphysical way and the day-to-day visceral reality during a War.

Wolf Blitzer repeatedly asked IDF Spokesman Richard Hecht about the IDF decision to bomb the Jabalya Refugee Camp, when the IDF knew there were innocent civilians there; 

“But you know that there are a lot of refugees, a lot of innocent civilians—men, women, and children—in that refugee camp as well, right?

“This is the tragedy of war, Wolf. We as you know, we’ve been saying for days, move south..." 

“Yeah I’m just trying to get a bit more information. You knew there were civilians there, you knew there were refugees, all sorts of refugees, but you decided to still drop a bomb on that refugee camp attempting to kill this Hamas commander.”

A day this interview and the bombing to supposedly get the Hamas Leader hiding in the Jabalya refugee camp the IDF struck it again.  Perhaps, one attack could be justified as a military operation but, the second attack?  And apparently the IDF struck it a third time...  The "Tragedy of War" or a deliberate choice?

Former Tea Party Republican Justin Amash said relatives of his were killed in Gaza.  Amash's relatives were apparently sheltering in the 1000 year old Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius, which the IDF bombed earlier this month.

I mean at some point We, and more importantly President Biden, Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austen, are going to have to publicly call for the IDF and Israeli Government to stop killing people in Gaza, right?

Whomever, is leading the G-2 in CENTCOM has done a fantastic job of providing President Biden with proper analysis of individual acts occurring in Gaza.  Hamas leadership lied egregiously about the Baptist Hospital, grossly exaggerating the fatalities and worse still lying about the cause of the explosion.  But, the Jabalya refugee camp bombings has resulted in over a 1000 casualties.

How can we justify this?  How can the Israeli government?  Right now, any condemnation of Israel, the IDF, or the current violence in Gaza is met with rapid charges of Anti-Semitism and invocations of the Simchat Torah Massacre.  Every fresh IDF atrocity and the daily violence being meted out by IDF forces is met with 10/07 as a justification.

At some point this has to stop.  At some point I guess the US is going to have to exert itself to stop the apparent IDF campaign to displace or kill everyone in Gaza and annex the land while the Palestinians who weren't indiscriminately killed live in refugee camps.

For whatever it is worth here is the Marine Corps orders distributed to Marines preparing to invade Saipan in 1944;

We must... be absolutely sure in our own minds that a civilian is fighting us or harming out installations before we shoot him.  International law clearly demands that civilians who do not fight back at us - whether they are Japanese or Korean civilians working as laborers or noncombatants in the armed forces, like doctors or nurses, or ordinary civilians - must whenever possible be take alive and must not be injured or have their possessions taken from them except after a due trial by competent authorities.  Neither such a person nor his property are the property of any of us who captures him.  It is one thing kill a Japanese soldier in battle; it is an entirely different thing to kill civilians who have not fought against us, whether they are Japanese or not.  The latter is murder, nothing more nor less.

The 40 Beheaded Babies will be the Rallying Cry for the Genocide of Gaza

Israel's 9/11

That's a terrible analogy and one we shouldn't ignore because the horrific assault by Hamas Militants on October 7th is not going to be met by targeted retaliation but by an open-ended War against every Palestinian and multiple Muslim nations while the people invoking the Terrorist attacks of 9/11 are following the invocation with blood-thirsty calls to eradicate every Muslim.  "Flatten Gaza"...

Also, Republicans are getting real mad they can't proclaim Biden is Responsible because he didn't say the MAGIC WORDS of 

🎩Radical Islamic Terrorism🎩

the cry Faux News and the Republican Party led against President Barack HUSSEIN Obama!  Barack HUSSEIN Obama! Barack HUSSEIN Obama!

Israel has bombed Syrian locations.  Israel has bombed the border between Egypt and Gaza.  The IDF itself reports it has dropped 6000 in 6 days.  I mean how many more do they get to drop?  10,000?  50,000? 2,200,000 one bomb for everyone in Gaza?  Is the Israeli response unlimited? Yep, because 40 Beheaded Babies.

I'm afraid the retaliation and violence won't have any defined end other than, "Defeat the Terrorists".  The Global War on Terror returns for another open-ended run.  The US is already shipping 250lb "precision" bombs and JDAM conversion kits to upgrade older munitions into so-called smart bombs.

Any time anyone states perhaps the aerial bombardments obliterating entire city blocks should stop, on-line trolls and blood-thirsty keyboard killers will declare you are in league with Hamas and support beheading babies.  There is a large contingent which apparently believes Israel gets to drown Gaza in blood and Israel also gets to decide when enough blood has been shed.

And now Israel has ordered over 1 Million people to move out of North Gaza inside the next 24 hours.  The UN response correctly points out this is an impossible demand and declared it will cause an unspeakable humanitarian crisis.  To which Israel says too bad.

"Now, instead of standing by Israel, whose citizens were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists... it preaches to Israel.  It is better for the UN to focus now on returning the hostages, condemning Hamas, and supporting Israel's right to defend itself,” Gilad Erdan, Israel's ambassador to the UN.

How is this acceptable? Because 40 Beheaded Babies.  How can anyone expect the people to grab enough food, water, medicine, clothing in 24 hours?  Because 40 Beheaded Babies.  What happens to the people who don't leave?  Who cares because 40 Beheaded Babies.  Israel's Right-to-Defend Itself and the 40 Beheaded Babies is going to be an all-time Trump card to commit open-ended Genocide against the Palestinian people.

The absolute Righteousness of the Israeli cause will justify everything that follows.

The War in Palestine/Israel and Warnings ignored by Netanyahu and Trump's illegal classified document dumps fueling danger throughout the World

Apparently, 9 U.S. citizens are among the dead from the October 23 War.  An unknown number are  unaccounted for and presumed dead or kidnapped.  The US Navy has dispatched the Task Force built around the Aircraft Carrier Gerald R. Ford.

Right now world opinion is squarely on the side of the Israeli people and government.  But, there is a staunch disagreement over the role of Iran in this latest attack and the release of the $6 Billion in captured Iranian funds the Biden Administration negotiated.  The IDF has already declared Iran responsible which of course seems a ridiculous assertion seeing as the Israeli security apparatus and military was caught completely unawares by this attack.  But, then there is no downside for Israel to blame Iran and attempt to enlarge the scope of this War.

And make no mistake, Israel intends to go into Gaza with ground forces after softening up the region with the Blockade/Siege of over 2,000,000 non-combatants.  

“We are putting a complete siege on Gaza … No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed.  We are fighting human animals and we will act accordingly,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a video statement.

Animals...  the dehumanization of Gaza residents makes the upcoming war crimes easier...  IDF turned Gaza into an open-air prison in 2007, with continual low-level violence directed at the inhabitants punctuated by occasional spurts of open warfare.  What's been going on in Gaza is probably best described as a slow ethnic cleansing.  This current development is an indiscriminate statement of collective punishment which is against the Geneva conventions as is not allowing the people to leave.  But, Israel has world opinion on their side and is operating under the belief that everything they do in Gaza (not without reason) will be defended by rightwing extremists.

Former Skokie resident and South African Apartheid devotee
calls for a Holocaust to begin today

It's one of the counterfactuals of modern realpolitik, extremists in the Islamic world, Republicans in the United States, bigoted warmongers in the West and Israel all denounce each others actions/beliefs but all need each other to continue to espouse those beliefs, make inflammatory statements, engage in violent rhetoric, and the occasional attack or bombing in order to remain in power.  And they all know this.  So, when something does happen well then extremists and provocateurs advocate for war crimes and genocide.  The Extremists throughout the world do not want rapprochement and will sabotage every effort made at peace.

As always Trust Republicans to make any and every situation worse.  In typical disingenuous Anti-American fashion Republican assholes are using the blood of innocents to advance the rightwing agenda of oppression and hatred.  Republican interests are exactly aligned with the extremists of Hamas and the Israel Likud Party and other extremists.  So, Traitor Trump and the Republican gadfly's supposed running for President couldn't rush fast enough into the loving arms of their Corporate Media allies to Blame Biden.  Besides saying Biden is literally at fault for the Hamas/Israel War, Republicans are also using the Obama didn't say Terrorist Act but Acts of Terror therefore, he's in league with the Terrorists to attack multiple Democrats.

Of course, reality has a liberal bias and the facts don't align with Republican lies, but that's never stopped Republicans before.  Traitor Tump destroyed so many international situations, and now the damage is playing out across the globe.  One of the early questions revolves around the failure of the "Iron Dome" to intercept the rocket attacks launched by Hamas.  Israelis knew earlier this year the trove of classified documents Trump kept in his toilet, probably sold to Saudi Arabia, and Trump bragged about to show off his importance definitely damaged Israel's security.

And so, many innocents will die, and those who might have wanted or worked for a solution will be side-lined, hearts will be hardened, and the Extremists will get what they want, continued hatred, continued war crimes, continued terrorism, and continued power for themselves.

Update:

An Egyptian intelligence official reported that Abbas Kamel, Director of the General Intelligence Directorate of Egypt, called Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to alert him about "something fierce will happen from Gaza," ten days ago. According to the Egyptian source, Netanyahu seemed unbothered, said the IDF is "swamped" in dealing with terror from the West Bank. Obviously, if this is true and Netanyahu blew off this warning 2 weeks before the attack he won't survive the political blowback because the Israelis are not going to rally around him the way the Corporate Media demanded everyone support George W. Bush for ignoring the 'Bid Laden determined to Attack America' Presidential Memo of August 6th.