Far-right protesters, soldiers, and MKs rallied for guards suspected of raping a Palestinian detainee. Once fringe, they’re now the public face of the state.
Some 9,700 Palestinian security detainees were being held captive in Israeli prisons in May, according to Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner rights organization. Some 3,380 were administrative detainees, meaning Israel holds them without charge or trial.
The numbers do not include prisoners from Gaza. The Post reports that Israeli authorities will not reveal exactly how many have been detained or where they are held.
‘Guantanamo-Like’ Conditions in Israeli Torture Camps: Report
“Join Us in Supporting Israel’s Defense,” read the text on the Xtend-Support-Israel.com website, directly above a large “DONATE” button. All donations would be “used for the immediate production & deployment of life saving systems for our IDF troops on the frontlines.” The site included a dazzling marketing montage of XTEND robots zooming across buildings, smashing through windows, and dropping what appears to be an explosive device from the air, “enabling soldiers to perform accurate maneuvers in complex combat scenarios.”
Who Does AIPAC support but Project 25“Christians, get out and vote. Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore, you know what? Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”
– Donald Trump, July 27, 2024, Speech to a gathering of religious conservatives sponsored by the conservative advocacy group Turning Point Action.
Blueprints for Authoritarianism: Mein Kampf and Project 25
I am not arguing that “Project 2025” is directly comparable to Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto “Mein Kampf,” but there are some similarities in their political ideology and their political plans for the United States and Germany, respectively. Both documents are “blueprints for authoritarianism.” As the saying goes, often you need to be forewarned in order to be forearmed.
Just days after American conservatives lost their minds over a brief section of the Olympic opening ceremony, French officials have told them that the Statue of Liberty, gifted to America in 1884, originally identified as a man.
Israel lobby groups have increased efforts to silence those accusing the nation of genocide in Gaza.
The United States makes much of the role of the Iranian Council of Guardians selecting acceptable candidates for political office but ignores the role of its own Council of Guardians, AIPAC, which decides on suitable candidates for office.
U.S. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, once a recipient of lobby largesse, after seeing reality in Palestine on a J Street-funded excursion, called Gaza a genocide and said boycotts were legitimate.
Israeli lobby groups spent $9.9 million in a Democrat primary to get rid of him in favour of a supporter of Israel.
The scare campaign around rising anti-Semitism, which conflates criticism of Israel’s mass atrocities with prejudice against Jews, is a feature of most of the old colonial countries.
Mary Kostakidis, one of Australia’s most respected journalists, who speaks truth to power, has written regarding the Israeli genocide in Gaza:
‘In an effort to silence me, the Zionist Federation have filed a complaint with the [Australian Human Rights Commission] for racial vilification, aided by a reporter who can’t do his own research.’
The lobby levelled another case of harassment and suspicious accusations against a Palestinian Australian engaged in anti-genocide activity
Hash Tayeh, who had to present himself to the police over alleged anti-Semitic comments, was not charged and his matter has been referred to the Office of Public Prosecutions.
His Caulfield Burgertory outlet was set on fire, allegedly by two men, on 10 November, an attack he claimed was linked to his involvement in a pro-Palestine rally and thus a hate crime.
Then we witnessed the arrest of a Palestinian activist in the Prime Minister’s electoral office.
Sarah Shaweesh, who was asking about the delay in visas for her family in Gaza, was arrested.
The office refused to help her.
She is a key organiser of the 24/7 Gaza sit-in protest in front of the PM’s office.
The large number of Palestinians – men, women, children, doctors, journalists, human rights defenders – detained since 7 October, most of them without charges or trial and in conditions that raise concerns of the abuse of administrative detention, along with reports of torture and other ill-treatment and violation of due process, raises serious concerns regarding the arbitrariness and punitive nature of such arrests and detention. Many of those detained and subsequently released have reported being subject to forms of torture or other ill-treatment, including severe beatings, electrocution, being forced to remain in stress positions for prolonged periods, or waterboarding. At least 53 detainees from Gaza and the West Bank have died in Israeli detention since 7 October.
In an open letter, Veterans For Peaces asks the vice president to call for a permanent ceasefire and emergency food and medical aid now, while she is campaigning for president.
July 31, 2024
As lethal as those Islamist fighters have been, however, another “enemy” has proven far more deadly for American forces: themselves. A recent Pentagon study found suicide to be the leading cause of death among active-duty U.S. Army personnel.
These assassinations reinforce the bond between political-military organizations and the broader society within which they are enmeshed. . . Instead of weakening their opponents, such tactics can unintentionally solidify unity and resolve.
The real reason for Israel’s current policy of assassinations serves more as a mechanism to galvanize its own society rather than genuinely altering the political or military stance of its adversaries.
Israel’s history and policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders
Israel needs to start a war to end the war by dragging America in. With friends like Israel who needs enemies?
Since Iran has not shown any inclination towards starting a direct war with Israel, the next best scenario for Israel is to trap it in an untenable position. Assassinating the leader of an ally, particularly in Tehran in the evening of the day in which a new administration took the oath of office, is that trap. It has put President Pezeshkian and his allies in an extremely difficult situation
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made headlines this week after suggesting the 2024 election could be the last U.S. election if he wins in November. We look at a secret organization of wealthy Christians called Ziklag that is backing Trump’s efforts by working to purge more than a million voters from the rolls in battleground states and mobilize Republican voters to back Trump. The news outlets ProPublica and Documented obtained thousands of Ziklag’s internal files and found the group has divided its 2024 activities into three different operations: Steeplechase, which uses churches to get out the vote; Watchtower, which aims to rally voters around opposition to transgender rights; and Checkmate, which is focused on funding so-called election integrity groups, explains ProPublica investigative reporter Andy Kroll.
StoryJul 30, 2024
Nagham Abu Samrah was 24 years old Palestinian karate champion from Gaza. She had the potential to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympic games. Unfortunately, an Israeli attack on her home killed her sister and left her seriously wounded . Unconscionably, Israeli authorities delayed her permission to leave Gaza for treatment, and when she finally reached an Egyptian hospital, she died soon thereafter.
“1.5°C is bad. 2°C would be significantly worse. 3°C would be catastrophic. Every extra increment matters, and every action to reduce emissions reduces the risk of dangerous climate change.”
After ten months of relentless genocidal war, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that both the Israeli state and society are partners in the genocide. The picture that emerges is a genocide from above and below.
Will Israel Declare war on Lebanon and attack troops trained by the USA?
“U.S. security assistance to Lebanon has been quite extensive — one of the largest assistance programs in the world.”
U.S. Poured Billions of Military Aid Into Lebanon. Now Israel Threatens to Invade.
The strike on the Khadija School, near Deir al-Balah, killed at least fifteen children, officials reported. Their bodies were sent to al-Aqsa Hospital nearby, along with people who were injured in the attack. The Associated Press reported seeing a dead toddler loaded into an ambulance after the attack.
The accusations of abuses by the Israel Defense Forces against Palestinian detainees in Sde Teiman are growing more gruesome. Last month: dozens of deaths. This week: gang rape.
07.30
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that on Monday, military police raided the Sde Teiman detention center where Palestinian prisoners […
They added: “Instead of absolute condemnation, some Israeli far-right leaders have rallied to support the suspects of abuse, which is emblematic of the root causes that enable such abuse to happen in the first place.”
Zionism has become for some people a sort of ethnic superiority which denies equal claims to recognition by Palestinians. If we are unable to talk about this within the Jewish community we are doing a great disservice to both Palestinians and Israelis, writes Dennis Altman.
Forget the genocide of Palestinians, writes Jonathan Cook. Only when Israel exploits the deaths of Syrians living under its military occupation are there “consequences”to worry about.
July 30, 2024
Hamas also had ulterior motives of winning a propaganda war by treating their hostages verifiably well while Israeli forces are well known to brutalize Palestinian prisoners. If Hamas is able to survive the war, which they will (Israel claims to have killed around 12k Hamas militants, experts estimate the real number at 6-7k, and Hamas had 40k+ soldiers prior to this war and there are now many more angry young men radicalized by Israeli war planes and terrorism to join their cause) as eradicating a group like them is next to impossible, then they will claim victory regardless of the outcome.
Yesterday’s officials are today’s arms sales consultants. The defence sector, notably for such countries as France, is simply too lucrative and important to be cleansed of its unscrupulousness. Even as these investigations are taking place to ruffle Thales, the Brazilian military establishment, by way of example, has happily continued doing business with the French weapons giant.
Wesley Bell, who’s challenging Cori Bush in Missouri, dropped out of a race against Republican Josh Hawley to take on the Democratic congresswoman. Apparently, punching left with AIPAC’s support is a more appealing career booster than challenging the Right
07.30
A long-standing member of the European Parliament has been recruited by a secretive pro-Israel group.
Antonio López-Istúriz, the lawmaker in question, agreed to join what has been described as an “exclusive advisory body” for the Israel Economic Forum (IEF).
The IEF describes itself as “an invitation-only group” bringing together “deeply committed pro-Israel CEOs, business executives, and world leaders who leverage their success and influence to ensure the future of the Jewish people and the state of Israel.”
Such framing is problematic as it implies that Israel is synonymous with Jews around the world, large numbers of whom object to that state’s crimes and its racist ideology Zionism.
David Cronin 30 July 2024
The TV rights bonanza has stalled, the frenzy to secure hosting rights is a thing of the past, and the Olympic’s political relevance has been reduced to who can be the most outraged over the artistic merits of the opening ceremony.
by Kim Wingerei | Jul 30, 2024
Imagine what we could achieve if we engaged in collective and consultative decision-making to meet the pressing needs and the greatest global challenges of our time as opposed to opting for what Toynbee coined the “Great Refusal” that would inevitably result in carnage and devastation on a scale never before seen.
The United Nations says 86 percent of the besieged Gaza Strip is now under Israeli evacuation orders as 33 more Palestinians are killed in yet another day of attacks and displacement.
UN says 86 percent of Gaza now under Israeli evacuation orders
How Israel wants to replace the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Dr Perlmutter also provided a chilling account of children being targeted by snipers. “I have children that were shot twice,” he said. When asked if children in Gaza were being shot by snipers, he responded definitively: “Definitively. I have two children that I have photographs of that were shot so perfectly in the chest I couldn’t put my stethoscope over their heart more accurately and directly on the side of the head in the same child. No toddler gets shot twice by mistake by the world’s best sniper and they’re dead centre shots.”
“All of the disasters I’ve seen, combined — 40 mission trips, 30 years, Ground Zero, earthquakes, all of that combined — doesn’t equal the level of carnage that I saw against civilians in just my first week in Gaza…. I’ve seen more incinerated children than I’ve ever seen in my entire life, combined. I’ve seen more shredded children in just the first week … missing body parts, being crushed by buildings, the greatest majority, or bomb explosions, the next greatest majority. We’ve taken shrapnel as big as my thumb out of 8-year-olds.
And then there’s sniper bullets. I have two children that I have photographs of that were shot so perfectly in the chest, I couldn’t put my stethoscope over their heart more accurately, and directly on the side of the head, in the same child. No toddler gets shot twice by mistake by the ‘world’s best sniper.’ And they’re dead-centre shots.”
Let me ask our erstwhile Prime Minister, and Foreign Secretary, some pertinent questions:
Finally, Pearls & Irritations has agreed to make a commitment to publish any answers to those questions by the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary or either of them. We look forward to receiving and reading those answers.
As Kamala Harris steps up to take on Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Election, political realities will determine who her running mate will be.
Netanyahu was only too willing to play along with Johnson’s game as he has long viewed the Republican Party (especially the 40% of the party who are right-wing “born-again” Christians) as a more reliable partner for Israel than the more liberal-leaning American Jewish community. This is why for the past several decades he has courted Republican leaders and accepted three other GOP invitations to challenge Democratic presidents—Clinton (over the Oslo Process) in 1995, and Obama in 2011 (over the 1967 borders) and in 2015 (over the Iran nuclear deal). Another factor in Netanyahu’s eagerness to speak to Congress was to demonstrate his mastery over US politics to an Israeli public that has turned against his rule.
Netanyahu’s visit to Washington was to end on a sour note. Instead of the warm embrace he was used to receiving from Biden, Harris’ reception was more restrained….
While affirming Israel’s right to defend itself, she added that it was how Israel went about defending itself that mattered. She then went to great lengths to describe the horrible costs to human life and suffering resulting from the war in Gaza. And made it clear that the conflict had to end, and Palestinians needed a future that ensured them freedom and self-determination
(With that he ran to Papa)
With that, Netanyahu left Washington and made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the one presidential candidate who shares his belief in “total victory,” Donald Trump.
On the fantasy worlds of Democrats trying to free Palestine from the river to the sea and Republicans trying to turn the White House into a puppet regime of Moscow, writes Caitlin Johnstone.
July 29, 2024
Why is Keir Starmer’s Labour Party reportedly agreeing not to introduce reforms to British media in exchange for the support of right-wing media baron Rupert Murdoch?
Zionism is a 19th Century Colonizing Settler Mindset just as Australia once was and is today without Genocide
Sarajevo (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In his seminal work “Animal Farm,” George Orwell astutely observed, “All animals are equal, but some animals are
“Our people have endured over 230 years of Genocide and Ecocide on this Stolen Land,” declared Uncle Robbie. “The so-called Commonwealth government of Australia is illegitimate, built on the theft and destruction of our lands and lives. It is time for the government to face justice for these ongoing atrocities.”
Key Points:
The ongoing high-tech genocide in Palestine is a harbinger of what is to come for the rest of the world.
olddogthoughts 
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