Please do all you can to object to the genocide of Palestinians (Thread 2)

It’s terrible, isn’t it? I read somewhere that this may be for Israel to attack Lebanon? No idea and it’s wrong and disgusting no matter where.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/29/us-approves-weapons-bombs-israel

With one hand "we won't actively veto a request for a ceasefire this time... oh, and here's some air drops".

With the other... billions of dollars worth of arms to further slaughter innocent people.

I'm not surprised. Just disgusted.

Not surprising given the Irish experience of famine in the 1840s when over 1 million people died and 1 million emigrated reducing the population by 25%. While the English estates in Ireland still exported grains and livestock from Ireland as the population starved.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/27/gaza-ireland-joins-battle-to-include-the-blocking-of-vital-aid-in-definition-of-genocid

https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1732916386534486426?s=61&t=nilGqPeurpC5xVqZAZdZog

Just came across this lovely little girl being interviewed. It’s from November and I hate to think what she has been through since and if she is even still alive 💔

It is scary how detached they appear to be from the fact they have just ended the lives of two people. All their hopes and dreams completely taken away from them in that moment. Treated like absolutely nothing, as if they never mattered, as if there aren’t most likely somebody’s everything. Somebody’s son, father, husband, friend. I wonder who is left to miss them, and how they will cope with all the trauma and unfairness and heartbreak.
These soldiers are criminals, murderers, the fact that it’s been implicitly allowed by their government and that they are wearing a uniform doesn’t detract from that.

They shouldn't be allowed to come back and carry on where they left off when they have been carrying out a genocide. They should be arrested just like they will be in South Africa

I totally agree with you @Scirocco. In the footage, they are just standing there casually watching as 2 humans like them are just being bulldozed into the sand after being shot at. How can you stand there and watch that and be so cold?

And what's scary/worrying is that I read a few hundred members of the IDF are returning home in the UK, Leeds and North London I believe, and some are teachers and professionals. I wouldn't want people with zero morals and disregard to human life to be teaching my kids. I also read that a lot are returning with post war trauma so imagine what their frame of mind would be like. One member who returned home in Israel, murdered his friend in cold blood. How awful is that.

It is, and I struggle to understand how a person's heart can become so hard that they can do that.

I understand the need for detachment in combat and in strategy/weapons design, that in combat it can be necessary to see targets not people otherwise you hesitate too much and get yourself and your colleagues killed. But this is more than that. People I worked with were able and willing to switch in and out of that state of mind, and it was a professional, almost clinical state of mind. They maintained empathy and compassion, reflected on what they were doing, and it wasn't fun. It was work, a duty, a professional obligation to keep others safe. They took no pleasure in it.

This is different. The footage coming out is showing a casual disregard for life, because those lives don't really matter to the people ending them. There's footage of cheering, gratuitous violence and signs/admissions of torture, etc. The footage above looks orderly in a way that really suggests it's far from the first time that's happened. For that, I look at the wider culture within the IDF, the education system, societal factors (eg the influence of the far-right in government), etc and see a lot of things which could contribute.

@Scirocco what makes them think they're above them and better than them? It's just so awful. I

I suspect they don't see their victims as human beings anymore. I recall someone telling me years ago how they received orders referring to someone as "it". And that was a long time ago now.

That's horrendous and so upsetting to watch. How can another human stand there and treat another in such a despicable way? I live for the day they get their just deserts.

No problem @Silence1 , just be mindful that they are also a part of the system, so sometimes their reports/articles can be biased towards the current status quo. Another good site om Geopolitics is https://responsiblestatecraft.org/

Thanks @BelleHathor I find their articles very good. So much to learn.

That's an important article. The Carnegie Institute is one of the top think tanks in the world. Politicians all over the world use it to inform domestic policies. It indicates that there is a greater divide "behind closed doors" and some powerful people may be looking for an off ramp.

This was written before the US decided to abstain on the UN ceasefire resolution. Strong words.
"So, the United States has the means to prevent Israel from continuing the war in Gaza, but has done nothing to stop them. It has the latitude to withhold arms shipments to Israel and compel the Israelis to accept a ceasefire, but instead has blocked all permanent ceasefire proposals. It has the leverage to push Israel to implement the ICJ’s interim decision, but instead has chosen to discredit the court’s ruling. It has acknowledged that Israel is, at the very least, limiting the entry of food into Gaza, which even Israeli organizations have identified as a policy of starvation, but has persisted in publicly supporting those responsible for this outrage.
And the United States has behaved in this way knowing that Israel, from the very beginning, has carried out war crimes and crimes against humanity, such as targeting civilians and seeking to ethnically cleanse the Gaza population. Therefore, even if the accusation is harsh, the Americans must think through whether they are willing to carry on with this policy of passive permissiveness, and perhaps one day even face a legal accusation that they were participants in the mass killings in Gaza."
Partners in Crime? - Carnegie Middle East Center - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (carnegie-mec.org)

Arnaud is a great follow, especially on Geopolitics.

On this he is entirely right. We are witnessing the collapse of the Old World Order enforced by might, people are openly noticing the hypocritical do as I say not as I do elite and saying no more.

So do a lot of UK politicians and ex military who are calling for a military embargo.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/27/mps-peers-sign-letter-urging-uk-government-ban-arms-sales-israel#:~:text=The%20letter%2C%20coordinated%20by%20the,Jeremy%20Corbyn%20and%20the%20Conservative

Basically the UK is complicit in carrying out war crimes if it sell military parts to Israel.
Arms exports were paused temporarily during previous conflict.
This is the only way to really influence Isral- “um schmum” is the attitude to the UN

Surely now the world must come together to put in an international team of peacekeepers? I really know nothing of how it works but this seems to be the best solution.

Peacekeepers to forcibly remove the settlers keeping the borders shut and ensure all future aid gets through, a no fly zone over Gaza, etc?