Thursday, 11 April 2024

On Gaza and possible Iranian actions [Note: Content Warning - links to reports on oppression/bigotry/hate, violence/abuse/war. Reader discretion is advised]

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”.

From the coming weekly news post on Gaza: 

  • “Facing enormous pressure at home and abroad, how much longer can Israel continue its war in Gaza?”   https://theconversation.com/facing-enormous-pressure-at-home-and-abroad-how-much-longer-can-israel-continue-its-war-in-gaza-227350   This is a sound assessment of the current situation in terms of “winning” vs. “losing”   “Netanyahu government faces growing opposition • FRANCE 24 English”   https://youtu.be/6DX2Xym-Hpg?si=79jTuZ6dxIcxJAeD      It is also instructive to recall the following:   “The USA used to Stand up to Israeli Expansionism: Time for Biden to Show Eisenhower’s Spine”   https://www.juancole.com/2024/04/israeli-expansionism-eisenhowers.html   “The relationship between the two countries was rocky at times. For instance, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, President Harry Truman slapped an arms embargo on both Israel and the Arab countries as he saw the conflict as a source of instability that might give aid the spread of Communism in the region.   President Dwight Eisenhower was even more stern, when Israel invaded Egypt in October 1956. Eisenhower warned, “Should a nation which attacks and occupies foreign territory in the face of United Nations disapproval be allowed to impose conditions on its withdrawal?”. Eisenhower threatened to call in US loans to Israel and crash its economy if Tel Aviv did not immediately withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, which it had seized from Egypt. The Israelis completely caved to the angry demands of the former Supreme Allied Commander who had vanquished the Third Reich.”      and subsequently:   “Netanyahu making a ‘mistake’ on Gaza, says Biden, as he urges Israel to push for ceasefire”   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/10/benjamin-netanyahu-joe-biden-gaza-mistake-ceasefire-israel-war-palestine   “US president gives some of his strongest criticism of Israeli PM yet, saying he needs to ‘empower’ Israel’s negotiators to call for a truce”   

  • “Germany, Gaza and the World Court: Broadening the Scope of Genocide”   https://theaimn.com/germany-gaza-and-the-world-court-broadening-the-scope-of-genocide/   “... the case may well chart a line about third party responsibilities on preventing genocide in international humanitarian law. At this point, the momentum towards some clarity on the point seems inexorable.”   I think broadening (in the heading) is not the best word - the scope was already there, IMO: this will clarify and define the actuality of application, perhaps   
  • “Security Council urged to ‘end the bloodshed’ in Gaza”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148356   “The President of the UN General Assembly appealed ... for “all those with leverage” to use their power to bring an end to the six-month-long war in Gaza.”  

It is the second dot point I wish to particularly note - the dot point where the USA commits to protecting Israel from the consequences of Israel’s actions.  

Whatever one thinks of that, it  shows that the USA will not allow Israel to cease to exist. All efforts to go back to how things used to be before 1948 are a waste of time, energy, and resources, and ultimately will only prolong everyone’s suffering - it would be like trying to drive everyone who isn’t 100% Indigenous out of Australia. 

Israel’s existence is colonialism writ large, together with western nations’ guilt over allowing the holocaust to occur, and allowing it to continue is the worst of the realpolitik that the infamous Kissinger made notorious.

But trying for idealpolitik will not work for at least two, maybe three generations - generations which will shrivel in hate and barbarity if the idealpolitik approach is tried.

There HAS to be a two state solution - as was originally proposed, imperfect, flawed, and wrong as it is.

The USA MUST keep pressuring Israel - and I hope, for Israel’s sake, that it is found guilt of genocide (which I consider it is committing), as that is most likely to get it back to a rational state of being/acting.

But when the USA fears what Iran might do - irrespective of whether those fears are valid or not, there will be no abatement is US support, and that Israel’s genocide will continue. 

Stop trying to go back to 1947 - for everyone’s sake. Much as Gandhi brought the campaign for an independent India to a pause when things got out of hand (riots and killings), the injustice of continued war and genocide (on both sides) now must be balanced against the injustice of colonialism and dispossession, and attempts to remedy the latter deferred - and that is the legacy not only of the colonialism behind Israel’s creation, but also of what _____ did on 7th October. 

 

This also applies to Iran: do not escalate the situation! Ultimately, Iran will lose more than the USA - or Israel, if it does ... 

 

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”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/  

 

 

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