Netanyahu got what he has wanted for a long time - a war with Hamas, and perhaps the excuse he craves to attack Iran. But this will be his undoing. The extent and brutality of the Hamas attack exposed Netanyahu, claimant to be the only one standing between Israel and its enemies, as an incompetent leader, less interested in real threats than in pursuit of his personal agenda. An agenda that, on the one hand is to stay out of prison, and on the other hand to push the Palestinians out of Palestine. Like the Bush Administration before 9/11 he was so focused on his agenda that he ignored multiple warnings that something was coming and was coming from Gaza. This should end his reign of error in Israel once and for all. We shall see. Yesterday the Washington Post printed an excellent piece by Yuval Noah Harari "The Hamas horror is also a lesson in the price of populism" It is a cautionary tale for us as much as an explanation for the current war. Well worth a read. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/11/netanyahu-populism-weakened-israeli-security/
Thank you Ruth. In times like this when emotions run high and lives hang in the balance we need our best scholars and thought leaders to provide clarity and context. Thank you.
Jimmy Carter used the word 'apartheid' many years ago in regards to the Israeli/Palestinian dilemma. He was slammed for it but I don't think he was ever accused of siding with terrorists.
Ruth, it was great that you mentioned "former Northern Command head General Amiran Levin denounced West Bank 'apartheid' policies and charged that the IDF was 'rotting from the inside' by its participation in war crimes and normalized repression." After watching settler rampages against the Palestinians on the West Bank supported by the IDF, I wondered how Netanyahu could permit such a thing. Your article underscores the rot in Netanyahu's administration. Good to know General Levin shares my outrage.
I pity the innocent civilians on both sides. You can only repress an entire population for so long before it erupts back violently into the oppressor’s camp ….thank you Ruth for the insightful article !
I've always wondered why Arab nations have never extended any help to Palestinians, such as immigration, or re-settlement. I've presumed that it is to their advantage to have a volatile population as part of the Israeli landscape. Thoughts?
Diane: You asked, “… why Arab nations have never extended any help to Palestinians, such as immigration, or resettlement.” When one’s home is occupied by strangers who want us to leave, abuse us, steal, kill and wound our family, damage our property, how likely will our neighbors see as a solution us moving in with them or suggest we ‘resettle’ elsewhere? Would our good neighbors see ‘immigration’ & ‘resettlement’ (neocolonialist solutions) as merely adding insult over injury on the victims for the benefit of the perpetrators? While Arab nations are corrupt, they are cognizant that offending Palestinians is likely to trigger disturbance at home. Hence they choose to merely appear to be in solidarity with the victims as we do here in the U.S. These Arab nations are often co-opted by the same nations that created & co-opted Israel, a state Arabs consider illegitimate.
I take your point, but I don't think that offering the option after all these years, without coercion, would be offensive. Also, is there economic help? Saudi Arabia gives money extensively throughout the middle-east and beyond. I'm receptive to your remarks, but not persuaded.
Diane, offering indigenous people the option to leave their homeland so that White settlers can steal their patrimony, where several generations of their ancestors lived—the very concept is not only offensive, but also traumatic and a nonstarter. This is why many Palestinians would rather die, than leave, even while White supremacist try to force them to out. These are values, loving the land where one was born, having roots in one’s birthplace, are difficult for some in our peripatetic Western culture—that sees land as a commodity to invest in and extract wealth from— to empathize with. Hence, a deadly confrontation occurs in which we willingly eradicate the obstacle to “Progress” to make room for our kind of people; the only kind we treat as human beings. Yet we act surprise when they fight back. We usually have more weapons, but as they say, might is not right. In the Americas some estimate Europeans settlers or invaders, depending on your point of view, eradicated up to 100m people with a thriving 12k year civilization/culture that was in sync in nature.
Our civilization, ephemeral compared that of Indigenous people, has been remarkable for willingly risking extinction of Life on Earth due to hubris, greed and inability to learn from rather than conquer other cultures. Hence, our penchant for war, directly or by proxy.
I don’t expect expect to persuade, especially nowadays. These are times when people are less open to different point of views, regardless of facts. Frankly, I’m grateful that we have been able to share our respective point of views with civility. Thank you.
It seems to be the only answer, that keeping the Palestinians in dire circumstances benefits the desire for maintaining and increasing the power of the Arab nations. It's easy to have made the Israelis the enemy. I've always wondered about this. Where have the Arab nations been? It's obviously stirring the pot of depravation and hate. This is tragic.
Blogpost to come, but I hope readers might like this presentation - The YouTube presentation with Keynote slides is at “Treating America’s #1 Addiction: Abusive Power” – a presentation by Dr. Ravi Chandra, also available as a podcast (with added music and intros and outros by me) on Soundcloud and Apple Podcasts. It's about America, specifically, but about psychological aspects of power. I do refer to Ruth's work as well as the work of Steve Hassan and Felicia Pratto
Outrage at Hamas crimes, while perfectly justifiable, has an emotional appeal with political power that will allow political leaders both in the U.S. and Israel to condemn any consideration of the political, economic, and social plight of the Palestinians as contributors to the situations as only making excuses for terrorists and criminals. Already a total blockade of Gaza is in place likely leading to massive suffering of the population in a blatant act of collective punishment, which will be justified and criticism of which will be condemned by politicians both here and in Israel. The problem of course is that their is no end game here, as there are no military solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Power and the will to apply it is the only thing operating here and will lead Israel to a dead end, much like our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan did after 9/11.
If we espouse the universal principles of human rights: equality before the law, freedom, liberty, and security. Then how can we justify Israel's existence, without doing the same for the Palestinians? "Oppression breeds retaliation, and violence begets more violence." There seems greater forces keeping this negative feedback loop going and not enough work towards neogotian, reconciliation, and peace. In our lifetimes we saw an end to Apartheid, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the USSR. We have also witnessed Rwanda, Bosnia, Chechnya, Sudan, Somallia, 911, Iraq, Afghanistan, War in Georgia, Myanmar, and in Ukraine, and this ongoing violence in Israel. Surely we can do better.
1/5 Kevin: you said: “The problem of course is that their is no end game here, as there are no military solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Power and the will to apply it is the only thing operating here and will lead Israel to a dead end, much like our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan did after 9/11.” Kevin, well said—worth repeating—w/minor changes for brevity; after, I’ll point to where I differ.
Kevin rightfully said: “Justifiable outrage at Hamas crimes has an emotional appeal that will allow leaders in US/Israel to condemn consideration of plight of Palestinians as only making excuses for terrorists. A total blockade of Gaza is now in place…leading 2 more suffering in an act of illegal collective punishment which will be justified & criticism of which will be condemned.”
2/5 In my view, the ultimate goal (end game) is apparent/Machiavellian; hegemony in the Middle East for European neocolonial settlers & increase profits for Western oligarchs; messianic cultural intrusion & dominance (consumerism); access to and exploitation & theft of (extraction) resources at the expense of the Indigenous people valued only—if cheap and servile—labor.
3/5 Israel serves as a White supremacist proxy to promote Western ideology, that requires suppression of the Indigenous, except for tourist venues. This endgame has been & still is pursued by China, Russia, Europe and the U.S. It’s a subtle form of imperialism & the neo-colonialism it depends on.
“Power and the will to apply it” is also an intricate part of the endgame and may be “the only thing operating here.’ “ I suspect greed, the obsessive compulsive addiction to hoarding wealth/power, are at play.
Military solutions are seen as viable tools, for those w/no moral scruples. It worked in China, et al, as long as the military was/is willing to shoot pesky unarmed civilians.
4/5 It worked in the U.S., eradicating indigenous people, obstacles to fascist, White supremacists definition of ‘progress,’ (an Orwellian euphemism) reducing their population to about 1%.
It ‘worked’ in the Americas where up to 100m native people were slaughtered in the name of the cross & royalty, most if not all psychopaths/sociopaths; thieves and murderers operating with impunity; handsomely rewarded for their evil work.
5/5 “Zero Degree of Empathy: A New Theory on Human Cruelty” (2011) is the title of a book by Simon Baron-Cohen, an expert in autism and developmental psycho pathology; a new and lucid definition for “evil.” It focuses, rightfully, on empathy instead of evil.
Thank you, Ruth, for the clarity of your perspective. Iran and Hamas are ultimately responsible for these atrocities but, as you point out, Netanyahu's "...self-interested attempt at a judicial coup was taking a toll on the armed forces' morale, focus, and combat readiness."
And the problem with all "strongmen," is that they are not emotionally strong nor morally strong. The only "strength" they have is the use of violence, and threats of annihilation because their central concern at all times is their own, personal, aggrandizement... not the welfare of the people.
Reports have surfaced Egyptian intelligence notified Netanyahu personally 10 days in advance of the threat. Netanyahu did nothing with that information.
He is incompetent at best. Israel pays a heavy price for it.
Thank you for your excellent current summary, Ruth, which I have been looking for.
The long-term crisis plus the brewing and now-underway war in Israel and its immediate Middle East region—which has been prodded on by terrorist Hamas leaders and by Israel's current "Strongman" head of state (Netanyahu) PLUS the violent groups and heads of state who are backers and funders of both— is a failure of the entire region and our world community LIKE MANY WARS AND MASS SUFFERING EVENTS THAT ARE CURRENTLY HAPPENING.
We global people and our societies and alliances MUST therefore find the ways to faster and more permanently overcome the destructive people and forces who work so hard to create hate and apathy among our people nationally, regionally and globally for selfish and fanatical reasons.
I believe that starts by refusing to allow each other to try to justify the inexcusable acceptance and tolerance for the inhumanity that people are suffering in so many places on Earth with irresponsible thoughts and behavior such as defeatist excuses that it's just certain people's unfortunate fate to be repressed and oppressed and that there is nothing our world community can "legally" do to stop those hurting others. This is still part of groupthink, even in a supposed modern and civilized world with ratified human rights for all which ARE international human rights law.
IT IS EVERY NATION'S RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS DAY AND AGE TO BETTER PROTECT GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS WHICH WE PROUDLY AND MIRACULOUSLY FINALLY RATIFIED WORLDWIDE AFTER WORLD WAR TWO. THEY MATTER MORE THAN ANYTHING!
We as supportive public citizens must therefore insist WORLDWIDE that our governments and international institutions do the urgent work required to collectively overcome terrorists and other criminal networks plus murderous dictators and their regimes through steadfast international group planning and missions organized by benevolent national and international leaders and institutions. This will require proper funding of EFFECTIVE coalition peace-keeping forces and defensive militaries plus purposeful crime-fighting organizations, all supported by more humanistic political parties that are transformed by WE THE GLOBAL PUBLIC.
If we don't ALL better demand and act for human rights and world stability now, we won't be able to stop 1) a very destructive World War Three this early 21st Century which is already underway nor 2) the unfair and continued suffering of so many worldwide in repressive and war-torn regions which no one deserves to suffer in and that must not be tolerated.
Some of the other highly-probably intelligent life in the universe has most certainly found many ways to live and coexist together, and we human beings on Earth should certainly be doing far more to try to achieve much more joyful coexistence and cooperation at this stage in our human history. And that should be not only with each other, but also with so many other species we were so fortunate enough to evolve among on such a spectacular, nature-filled planet. Human populations CAN stabilize with more rights and life opportunities for all, and animal and plant populations CAN rebound with our immediate care.
AGAIN: WE MUST NOT BE INSULAR AND COMPLACENT ANYWHERE IN OUR INCREASINGLY INTERCONNECTED WORLD WHICH IS ALSO FACING A DELIBERATELY-CREATED AND GROWING CLIMATE CHANGE CATASTROPHE AND BIODIVERSITY CRISIS THAT WE ALL HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO OVERCOME AS WELL, INCLUDING BY TAKING ON THOSE WHO WANT TO CONTINUE TO MAKE IT WORSE FOR THEIR OWN SHORT-TERM PERSONAL PROFIT!
NEVER FORGET to RESIST collective violence and madness in order to protect ourselves and each other as social and interdependent beings (among many on Earth). Prioritize the most important possessions we have: our ethics and life today AND in the future. It must be a collective human goal and top priority to safeguard our planet and societies for all who should be able to exist and thrive BEYOND US on our diverse and beautiful planet Earth.
Thank you, Ruth, for another informative and thoughtful interpretation of authoritarian developments in Israel. I would like to comment one of your observations which I quote here: "With a two-state solution off the table for Netanyahu, repression of Palestinian human and political rights has been the default solution, along with giving Palestinians some limited economic benefits." It seems to me that repression of Palestinian "human and political rights" has not been a DEFAULT solution. Rather, in the West Bank, as well as other areas, Israeli governments for many, many years have employed a SYSTEMATIC approach to displacing Palestinians with the goal of taking over all of Palestine. The Israeli government has supported these land takeovers both militarily and economically. They have allowed and enabled organized Jewish thugs to terrorize West Bank Palestinians in the work of stealing Palestinian land. You are, of course, correct Ruth: Netanyahu's authoritarian measures will hasten this process of Israel's taking over all of Palestine. He is stoking further racist attitudes toward Palestinians. For a long time, I think the two-state solution has been an Israeli government lie to placate American citizens as well as citizens of other countries. Palestinians throughout Israel are trapped, fearful and in mortal danger.
This is a stark and tragic example of how autocratic governance is harmful to national security, as well as in so many different ways. Personally, I fear that we may experience a terrorist attack on our US soil, as there would be so many willing facilitators among Hamas' dark supporters, also autocracies, who would benefit in their desire to restore Trumpkin, through attacks in the US.
I was wondering about that, too. When a single US Senator is holding up nominations of top brass, and the House rendered impotent without a Speaker, the US is impaired in its ability to respond to crisis. Meanwhile an unknown number of military has been corrupted by Fox News and Trump’s poison.
The world today is like a ticking time bomb! Not sure who’ll survive, including Bibi!
Netanyahu got what he has wanted for a long time - a war with Hamas, and perhaps the excuse he craves to attack Iran. But this will be his undoing. The extent and brutality of the Hamas attack exposed Netanyahu, claimant to be the only one standing between Israel and its enemies, as an incompetent leader, less interested in real threats than in pursuit of his personal agenda. An agenda that, on the one hand is to stay out of prison, and on the other hand to push the Palestinians out of Palestine. Like the Bush Administration before 9/11 he was so focused on his agenda that he ignored multiple warnings that something was coming and was coming from Gaza. This should end his reign of error in Israel once and for all. We shall see. Yesterday the Washington Post printed an excellent piece by Yuval Noah Harari "The Hamas horror is also a lesson in the price of populism" It is a cautionary tale for us as much as an explanation for the current war. Well worth a read. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/11/netanyahu-populism-weakened-israeli-security/
Yes Harari's piece is good and aligns with mine
Thank you Ruth. In times like this when emotions run high and lives hang in the balance we need our best scholars and thought leaders to provide clarity and context. Thank you.
Ruth, thank you so much for your excellent summary of this multi-faceted and so unexpected Israeli, Hamas, Palestinian tragic event!!! 🫶🙏
Thank you for the link to Amiram Levin's statement. So many are saying the Rep. Tlaib must be "pro Hamas" because she used the word "apartheid."
No, Rep Tlaib has “Palestinian” roots on both sides of her family!
I have Irish roots but I'm not pro IRA. Everyone is citing her actual statement. One can identify with a country without approving its terrorists.
Jimmy Carter used the word 'apartheid' many years ago in regards to the Israeli/Palestinian dilemma. He was slammed for it but I don't think he was ever accused of siding with terrorists.
That's why it is so important to recognize that an Israeli general also used it.
That is correct
Ruth, it was great that you mentioned "former Northern Command head General Amiran Levin denounced West Bank 'apartheid' policies and charged that the IDF was 'rotting from the inside' by its participation in war crimes and normalized repression." After watching settler rampages against the Palestinians on the West Bank supported by the IDF, I wondered how Netanyahu could permit such a thing. Your article underscores the rot in Netanyahu's administration. Good to know General Levin shares my outrage.
I pity the innocent civilians on both sides. You can only repress an entire population for so long before it erupts back violently into the oppressor’s camp ….thank you Ruth for the insightful article !
I've always wondered why Arab nations have never extended any help to Palestinians, such as immigration, or re-settlement. I've presumed that it is to their advantage to have a volatile population as part of the Israeli landscape. Thoughts?
Read The Haj by Leon Uris. I found it eye opening. The tribalism in the Middle East is ancient, potent and ongoing.
Thank you. I love his work, and I have to be pretty much be spoonfed complicated history.
In the Arab world, tribal identity is more important than national identity.
Diane: You asked, “… why Arab nations have never extended any help to Palestinians, such as immigration, or resettlement.” When one’s home is occupied by strangers who want us to leave, abuse us, steal, kill and wound our family, damage our property, how likely will our neighbors see as a solution us moving in with them or suggest we ‘resettle’ elsewhere? Would our good neighbors see ‘immigration’ & ‘resettlement’ (neocolonialist solutions) as merely adding insult over injury on the victims for the benefit of the perpetrators? While Arab nations are corrupt, they are cognizant that offending Palestinians is likely to trigger disturbance at home. Hence they choose to merely appear to be in solidarity with the victims as we do here in the U.S. These Arab nations are often co-opted by the same nations that created & co-opted Israel, a state Arabs consider illegitimate.
I take your point, but I don't think that offering the option after all these years, without coercion, would be offensive. Also, is there economic help? Saudi Arabia gives money extensively throughout the middle-east and beyond. I'm receptive to your remarks, but not persuaded.
Diane, offering indigenous people the option to leave their homeland so that White settlers can steal their patrimony, where several generations of their ancestors lived—the very concept is not only offensive, but also traumatic and a nonstarter. This is why many Palestinians would rather die, than leave, even while White supremacist try to force them to out. These are values, loving the land where one was born, having roots in one’s birthplace, are difficult for some in our peripatetic Western culture—that sees land as a commodity to invest in and extract wealth from— to empathize with. Hence, a deadly confrontation occurs in which we willingly eradicate the obstacle to “Progress” to make room for our kind of people; the only kind we treat as human beings. Yet we act surprise when they fight back. We usually have more weapons, but as they say, might is not right. In the Americas some estimate Europeans settlers or invaders, depending on your point of view, eradicated up to 100m people with a thriving 12k year civilization/culture that was in sync in nature.
Our civilization, ephemeral compared that of Indigenous people, has been remarkable for willingly risking extinction of Life on Earth due to hubris, greed and inability to learn from rather than conquer other cultures. Hence, our penchant for war, directly or by proxy.
I don’t expect expect to persuade, especially nowadays. These are times when people are less open to different point of views, regardless of facts. Frankly, I’m grateful that we have been able to share our respective point of views with civility. Thank you.
It seems to be the only answer, that keeping the Palestinians in dire circumstances benefits the desire for maintaining and increasing the power of the Arab nations. It's easy to have made the Israelis the enemy. I've always wondered about this. Where have the Arab nations been? It's obviously stirring the pot of depravation and hate. This is tragic.
You write, “ The sense of a vacuum of leadership that privileges collective welfare…”. Isn’t collective welfare harmed by a lack of leadership?
Yes that sentence was not clear, I was trying to say that Bibi is showing he is not interested in collective good
Blogpost to come, but I hope readers might like this presentation - The YouTube presentation with Keynote slides is at “Treating America’s #1 Addiction: Abusive Power” – a presentation by Dr. Ravi Chandra, also available as a podcast (with added music and intros and outros by me) on Soundcloud and Apple Podcasts. It's about America, specifically, but about psychological aspects of power. I do refer to Ruth's work as well as the work of Steve Hassan and Felicia Pratto
https://youtu.be/9q4jQdb4jYg?si=c_ir4rj8ElF_xB_l
https://soundcloud.com/user-126410489-146515446/ep-34-treating-americas-1-addiction-abusive-power?in=user-126410489-146515446/sets/pacific-heart-podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pacific-heart/id1307692139?i=1000630462977
Outrage at Hamas crimes, while perfectly justifiable, has an emotional appeal with political power that will allow political leaders both in the U.S. and Israel to condemn any consideration of the political, economic, and social plight of the Palestinians as contributors to the situations as only making excuses for terrorists and criminals. Already a total blockade of Gaza is in place likely leading to massive suffering of the population in a blatant act of collective punishment, which will be justified and criticism of which will be condemned by politicians both here and in Israel. The problem of course is that their is no end game here, as there are no military solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Power and the will to apply it is the only thing operating here and will lead Israel to a dead end, much like our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan did after 9/11.
If we espouse the universal principles of human rights: equality before the law, freedom, liberty, and security. Then how can we justify Israel's existence, without doing the same for the Palestinians? "Oppression breeds retaliation, and violence begets more violence." There seems greater forces keeping this negative feedback loop going and not enough work towards neogotian, reconciliation, and peace. In our lifetimes we saw an end to Apartheid, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the USSR. We have also witnessed Rwanda, Bosnia, Chechnya, Sudan, Somallia, 911, Iraq, Afghanistan, War in Georgia, Myanmar, and in Ukraine, and this ongoing violence in Israel. Surely we can do better.
We can do better only if we can enlarge our moral and political imaginations beyond our own needs and passions.
Yup. I think it takes risk for leaders each side of the conflict.
Yes, this endless quid pro quo cycle between Palestine and Israel needs to be broken. Without compromise, it will never happen.
1/5 Kevin: you said: “The problem of course is that their is no end game here, as there are no military solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Power and the will to apply it is the only thing operating here and will lead Israel to a dead end, much like our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan did after 9/11.” Kevin, well said—worth repeating—w/minor changes for brevity; after, I’ll point to where I differ.
Kevin rightfully said: “Justifiable outrage at Hamas crimes has an emotional appeal that will allow leaders in US/Israel to condemn consideration of plight of Palestinians as only making excuses for terrorists. A total blockade of Gaza is now in place…leading 2 more suffering in an act of illegal collective punishment which will be justified & criticism of which will be condemned.”
2/5 In my view, the ultimate goal (end game) is apparent/Machiavellian; hegemony in the Middle East for European neocolonial settlers & increase profits for Western oligarchs; messianic cultural intrusion & dominance (consumerism); access to and exploitation & theft of (extraction) resources at the expense of the Indigenous people valued only—if cheap and servile—labor.
3/5 Israel serves as a White supremacist proxy to promote Western ideology, that requires suppression of the Indigenous, except for tourist venues. This endgame has been & still is pursued by China, Russia, Europe and the U.S. It’s a subtle form of imperialism & the neo-colonialism it depends on.
“Power and the will to apply it” is also an intricate part of the endgame and may be “the only thing operating here.’ “ I suspect greed, the obsessive compulsive addiction to hoarding wealth/power, are at play.
Military solutions are seen as viable tools, for those w/no moral scruples. It worked in China, et al, as long as the military was/is willing to shoot pesky unarmed civilians.
4/5 It worked in the U.S., eradicating indigenous people, obstacles to fascist, White supremacists definition of ‘progress,’ (an Orwellian euphemism) reducing their population to about 1%.
It ‘worked’ in the Americas where up to 100m native people were slaughtered in the name of the cross & royalty, most if not all psychopaths/sociopaths; thieves and murderers operating with impunity; handsomely rewarded for their evil work.
5/5 “Zero Degree of Empathy: A New Theory on Human Cruelty” (2011) is the title of a book by Simon Baron-Cohen, an expert in autism and developmental psycho pathology; a new and lucid definition for “evil.” It focuses, rightfully, on empathy instead of evil.
Thank you, Ruth, for the clarity of your perspective. Iran and Hamas are ultimately responsible for these atrocities but, as you point out, Netanyahu's "...self-interested attempt at a judicial coup was taking a toll on the armed forces' morale, focus, and combat readiness."
And the problem with all "strongmen," is that they are not emotionally strong nor morally strong. The only "strength" they have is the use of violence, and threats of annihilation because their central concern at all times is their own, personal, aggrandizement... not the welfare of the people.
Reports have surfaced Egyptian intelligence notified Netanyahu personally 10 days in advance of the threat. Netanyahu did nothing with that information.
He is incompetent at best. Israel pays a heavy price for it.
Similar to Bush warning prior to 9-11, which also was ignored! Why is, and always will be the question!!
Yes the Egyptian intelligence reports emerged 10 days BEFORE the Hamas Attack and Netanyahu personally did nothing!!! Corruption and lawlessness!!!
Netanyahu is denying this report that he personally was informed by the head of Egypt Intel
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/egypt-spy-chief-warned-netanyahu-of-gaza-assault-was-ignored-report/
But GOP lawmaker McCaul appears to confirm today that Egypt notified Israel days in advance
https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-us-lawmaker-affirms-cairo-warned-israel-days-before-onslaught/amp/
And the world stands by and watches the train wrecks happening around the world.
Thank you for your excellent current summary, Ruth, which I have been looking for.
The long-term crisis plus the brewing and now-underway war in Israel and its immediate Middle East region—which has been prodded on by terrorist Hamas leaders and by Israel's current "Strongman" head of state (Netanyahu) PLUS the violent groups and heads of state who are backers and funders of both— is a failure of the entire region and our world community LIKE MANY WARS AND MASS SUFFERING EVENTS THAT ARE CURRENTLY HAPPENING.
We global people and our societies and alliances MUST therefore find the ways to faster and more permanently overcome the destructive people and forces who work so hard to create hate and apathy among our people nationally, regionally and globally for selfish and fanatical reasons.
I believe that starts by refusing to allow each other to try to justify the inexcusable acceptance and tolerance for the inhumanity that people are suffering in so many places on Earth with irresponsible thoughts and behavior such as defeatist excuses that it's just certain people's unfortunate fate to be repressed and oppressed and that there is nothing our world community can "legally" do to stop those hurting others. This is still part of groupthink, even in a supposed modern and civilized world with ratified human rights for all which ARE international human rights law.
IT IS EVERY NATION'S RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS DAY AND AGE TO BETTER PROTECT GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS WHICH WE PROUDLY AND MIRACULOUSLY FINALLY RATIFIED WORLDWIDE AFTER WORLD WAR TWO. THEY MATTER MORE THAN ANYTHING!
We as supportive public citizens must therefore insist WORLDWIDE that our governments and international institutions do the urgent work required to collectively overcome terrorists and other criminal networks plus murderous dictators and their regimes through steadfast international group planning and missions organized by benevolent national and international leaders and institutions. This will require proper funding of EFFECTIVE coalition peace-keeping forces and defensive militaries plus purposeful crime-fighting organizations, all supported by more humanistic political parties that are transformed by WE THE GLOBAL PUBLIC.
If we don't ALL better demand and act for human rights and world stability now, we won't be able to stop 1) a very destructive World War Three this early 21st Century which is already underway nor 2) the unfair and continued suffering of so many worldwide in repressive and war-torn regions which no one deserves to suffer in and that must not be tolerated.
Some of the other highly-probably intelligent life in the universe has most certainly found many ways to live and coexist together, and we human beings on Earth should certainly be doing far more to try to achieve much more joyful coexistence and cooperation at this stage in our human history. And that should be not only with each other, but also with so many other species we were so fortunate enough to evolve among on such a spectacular, nature-filled planet. Human populations CAN stabilize with more rights and life opportunities for all, and animal and plant populations CAN rebound with our immediate care.
AGAIN: WE MUST NOT BE INSULAR AND COMPLACENT ANYWHERE IN OUR INCREASINGLY INTERCONNECTED WORLD WHICH IS ALSO FACING A DELIBERATELY-CREATED AND GROWING CLIMATE CHANGE CATASTROPHE AND BIODIVERSITY CRISIS THAT WE ALL HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO OVERCOME AS WELL, INCLUDING BY TAKING ON THOSE WHO WANT TO CONTINUE TO MAKE IT WORSE FOR THEIR OWN SHORT-TERM PERSONAL PROFIT!
NEVER FORGET to RESIST collective violence and madness in order to protect ourselves and each other as social and interdependent beings (among many on Earth). Prioritize the most important possessions we have: our ethics and life today AND in the future. It must be a collective human goal and top priority to safeguard our planet and societies for all who should be able to exist and thrive BEYOND US on our diverse and beautiful planet Earth.
Thank you, Ruth, for another informative and thoughtful interpretation of authoritarian developments in Israel. I would like to comment one of your observations which I quote here: "With a two-state solution off the table for Netanyahu, repression of Palestinian human and political rights has been the default solution, along with giving Palestinians some limited economic benefits." It seems to me that repression of Palestinian "human and political rights" has not been a DEFAULT solution. Rather, in the West Bank, as well as other areas, Israeli governments for many, many years have employed a SYSTEMATIC approach to displacing Palestinians with the goal of taking over all of Palestine. The Israeli government has supported these land takeovers both militarily and economically. They have allowed and enabled organized Jewish thugs to terrorize West Bank Palestinians in the work of stealing Palestinian land. You are, of course, correct Ruth: Netanyahu's authoritarian measures will hasten this process of Israel's taking over all of Palestine. He is stoking further racist attitudes toward Palestinians. For a long time, I think the two-state solution has been an Israeli government lie to placate American citizens as well as citizens of other countries. Palestinians throughout Israel are trapped, fearful and in mortal danger.
The 2nd largest terrorist organization in the world is Israel, thanks for all you do Ruth!!
This is a stark and tragic example of how autocratic governance is harmful to national security, as well as in so many different ways. Personally, I fear that we may experience a terrorist attack on our US soil, as there would be so many willing facilitators among Hamas' dark supporters, also autocracies, who would benefit in their desire to restore Trumpkin, through attacks in the US.
I was wondering about that, too. When a single US Senator is holding up nominations of top brass, and the House rendered impotent without a Speaker, the US is impaired in its ability to respond to crisis. Meanwhile an unknown number of military has been corrupted by Fox News and Trump’s poison.
Meanwhile our enemies quietly watch our infighting.