Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked
articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For
anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering
seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/.
Note: in my “from the news” posts, quotes are shown italicised and blue, my comments are in a different shade of blue, and “good” items are shown in green.
I have loosely grouped the posts where such seemed reasonable, but that
is subjective (i.e., my opinion - others are free to disagree), and
challenging, as some posts belong in multiple “groups”.
Reporting
on recent and currently ongoing tragic events in West Asia, in Israel,
Gaza, and adjoining nations, includes the following:
- The
whole situation has been changed - morally, and possibly legally - by
South Africa filing a complaint of genocide against Israel, lodged at
the ICJ. An expedited hearing has been requested, and will likely be
ignored by Israel and the USA, but will make continued US support more
vulnerable. See: “South Africa launches case at UN court accusing Israel of genocide” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/29/south-africa-accuses-israel-of-committing-genocide-in-gaza “Nation
asks international court of justice to issue provisional measures
ordering ceasefire; Israel describes case as ‘blood libel’ ... In March
2022, the ICJ ordered Russia to halt its offensive in Ukraine, an order
which was supposed to be legally binding, but Moscow ignored it
anyway. ... Last year, the court ruled that the Gambia could bring a
genocide claim against Myanmar. The court also ruled in a case between
Croatia and Serbia that depriving a people of food, shelter, medical
care and other means of subsistence constitutes genocidal acts. ...
The international criminal court (ICC) is already investigating possible
war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by both _____ and
Israel” and “S. Africa files case at ICJ alleging Israel has violated Genocide Convention in Gaza” https://youtu.be/JK_drm0Incs?si=1KuGqsnddMl7KyaK and “South Africa launches case at UN court accusing Israel of breaching Genocide Convention” https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/south-africa-launches-case-at-un-court-accusing-israel-of-breaching-genocide-convention/m010o9el7 and “South Africa launches case at top UN court accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza” https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-israel-un-court-palestinians-genocide-ffe672c4eb3e14a30128542eaa537b21 and “South Africa launches case at top UN court accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/south-africa-launches-case-at-top-un-court-accusing-israel-of-genocide-in-gaza and “South Africa files genocide case against Israel at World Court” https://www.reuters.com/world/south-africa-seeks-international-court-justice-genocide-order-against-israel-2023-12-29/
When
I look at what Israel is doing in Gaza, and the ineffective response of
the world as a whole, I think Israel and _____ could not have more
thoroughly destroyed a workable, constructive world order if they had
actively collaborated (which, to be clear, they have not).
I also consider Israel’s actions in the last few months in Gaza have put that nation and Jewish people everywhere
at risk - and I fear the massive increase in antisemitic attacks is
just a start ... In my opinion, this creation of elevated risk for
Jewish people - combined with racism against Jewish people of colour -
creates doubt as to whether Israel’s foundational reason for existence
is being met - and that reason is: to ensure that the world has a safe
place of refuge for Jewish people ...
In
addition, the clear continuance of abuses of hostages - including of
children - by _____ is something that should be drawing world concern,
sympathy, and caring, but Israel’s actions and apparent limited care for the hostages means that is being lost.
On that, anyone who thinks that Israel driving all Palestinians out of Gaza (which is allegedly one of the covert goals of this operation) would mean an end to conflict in that region is incompetent and/or blinded by bias/anything-goes-loyalty and/or amathia - after all, remember that expulsion (see here, here, here, here, and especially here but also here, as fault could be argued to exist on both sides) failed to bring peace back in the 1940s ...
Another point to keep in mind here is that Israel’s unquestioned past military supremacy (albeit with US help) has been changing. This site now ranks Israel’s military strength at 18th, which is below that of Egypt (14th) and Iran (17th),
and makes US military support even more critical. If political support
in the USA for Israel declines too far, that military support could be
put at risk - already, in my opinion, Israel’s loss of support exceeds
the loss of support for Palestinians that _____ caused on 7th October ...
on peace/ceasefires:
on human rights and human suffering (on both sides) aspects:
on military aspects:
regionally:
internationally:
Note:
as with other mass murderers/serial killers/and the like, violent extremists crave publicity, so I
refuse to give that to them - I will avoid using their names (which is a
policy adopted by good law enforcement and media for other mass
murderers), and I will not give them the satisfaction of being described
with the T word.
Note also that the genocidal intent of the VEs I refuse to name is clear, according to this from experts in that topic.
My links for activism post may aid any activism you may decide to do on any/all of these.
Assumptions / basis
In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following:
- this
blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights
matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume
readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the
post header;
Possible flaws
Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:
- there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan
Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”;
- I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post.
If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below.
Remember:
we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all
misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+
lives at risk
& accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor
comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.