The calculated evil of the Israeli government and their AIPAC-funded US puppets is truly soul-shattering. Thank you for using your voice and your platform.
Dear Sir: I don't think Israel is committing genocide by invading Rafah. I think it is legitimate and an act of war against its own attacker. Hamas is not a legitimate governing body. They are not interested in Palestinian welfare at all otherwise they wouldn't use human shields. They would prepare a space underground for Palestinian civilians just as they did for themselves. The Jews did this in ancient times when they were attacked by the Romans. However, Hamas doesn't give a d for the children. Israel has the right to war defensively against Hamas. Yes, civilians will be killed. 8 million Germans were killed in Allied invasion of Germany and Germany had not invaded our country. The one thing I am critical of Israel about is the siege of Gaza, the starving of the population. I agree that that is a war crime. But Hamas in using rape as a weapon against Israel is also committing a war crime and Hamas is the one that started this war. I consider Hamas to be totally illegitimate. And whatever you think about Israel, I will NOT allow an entity to inflict an Islamic totalitarian government on me. PERIOD> American is democratic and religiously free. And it is staying that way. Israel does NOT kill Muslims 20% of its people are Muslims. In GAZA what percent are Jewish? Can a Gazan child convert to Judaism if he wants to? OR Christianity??? You can in Israel. Regards, Maria
I think you missed the point Maria, but I know words won’t convince you and I won’t bother to try. Israel’s vengeance comes at a price. People won’t forget, support is fading. Hamas is a terrorist movement; people expect Israel to act like a Nation-State, not to match Hamas atrocity for atrocity.
The New York Times story claiming systematic rape by Hamas was discredited but used to drum up support for the slaughter to continue as Western countries started to become alarmed by the soaring death toll and the decapitated babies story was debunked. When the supporters of this war are called on to justify the ferocity of their response, again and again they will talk about babies and rapes:
60+ journalism professors demand investigation into the above New York Times "Screams Without Words" New York Times front page story alleging mass rape as a weapon of war:
"Estimates of German civilians killed only by Allied strategic bombing have ranged from around 350,000 to 500,000. Estimates of civilian deaths due to the flight and expulsion of Germans, Soviet war crimes and the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union are disputed and range from 500,000 to over 2.0 million."
We have all been forced and Bullied to give the Israeli government every benefit of the doubt. What is the excuse for their destruction now? I'm sick to my stomach about what is happening to the people of Palestine.
Thank you for prividing clarity to the situation. Sometimes it's hard to see through the smoke of all the biased and/or diversionary commentary assaulting us daily.
I was very grateful to a reader who restacked my recent piece about the inaccuracies in a popular post on Substack about Publishing and Antisemitism. My comment to my reader:
As it stands now, we here in the US get most of the images of what’s happening in Gaza from social media, specifically TikTok (which got them banned in the US). Mainstream news shies away from this graphic material, as if seeing it is more offensive that what’s actually happening.
Although our phone screens are small, there’s something very intimate about holding the sum total of the destruction in your hands. Phone cameras are so good, you can see so much detail, and even zoom in for a closer look. It’s no wonder protests are happening on US college campuses. How do you look away when you are holding a dead child in your hand?
"My hope then, amid all of the diversion and spectacle, is that we do not succumb to the engineered distractions meant to sedate our vigilance. They—those who hold the reins of power—are trying with relentless fervor to strip away our channels of truth, to mute the narratives that challenge their dominance. Yet, it is precisely in this attempt to close our eyes that we must strive to see more clearly, to seek out those truths that are barricaded behind mainstream narratives."
Hamas agreed to release no more than 33 hostages including dead bodies. They not once agreed to return all 133. If Hamas does not want Israel to enter Rafah they should return all the hostages immediately and the ceasefire will begin right away!
The calculated evil of the Israeli government and their AIPAC-funded US puppets is truly soul-shattering. Thank you for using your voice and your platform.
Thank you for using your gift for writing to keep us focused on what harms us all.
Dear Sir: I don't think Israel is committing genocide by invading Rafah. I think it is legitimate and an act of war against its own attacker. Hamas is not a legitimate governing body. They are not interested in Palestinian welfare at all otherwise they wouldn't use human shields. They would prepare a space underground for Palestinian civilians just as they did for themselves. The Jews did this in ancient times when they were attacked by the Romans. However, Hamas doesn't give a d for the children. Israel has the right to war defensively against Hamas. Yes, civilians will be killed. 8 million Germans were killed in Allied invasion of Germany and Germany had not invaded our country. The one thing I am critical of Israel about is the siege of Gaza, the starving of the population. I agree that that is a war crime. But Hamas in using rape as a weapon against Israel is also committing a war crime and Hamas is the one that started this war. I consider Hamas to be totally illegitimate. And whatever you think about Israel, I will NOT allow an entity to inflict an Islamic totalitarian government on me. PERIOD> American is democratic and religiously free. And it is staying that way. Israel does NOT kill Muslims 20% of its people are Muslims. In GAZA what percent are Jewish? Can a Gazan child convert to Judaism if he wants to? OR Christianity??? You can in Israel. Regards, Maria
I think you missed the point Maria, but I know words won’t convince you and I won’t bother to try. Israel’s vengeance comes at a price. People won’t forget, support is fading. Hamas is a terrorist movement; people expect Israel to act like a Nation-State, not to match Hamas atrocity for atrocity.
The New York Times story claiming systematic rape by Hamas was discredited but used to drum up support for the slaughter to continue as Western countries started to become alarmed by the soaring death toll and the decapitated babies story was debunked. When the supporters of this war are called on to justify the ferocity of their response, again and again they will talk about babies and rapes:
https://theintercept.com/2024/02/28/new-york-times-anat-schwartz-october-7/
https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/new-york-times-intercept-hamas-rape/tnamp/
60+ journalism professors demand investigation into the above New York Times "Screams Without Words" New York Times front page story alleging mass rape as a weapon of war:
Democracy Now:
https://youtu.be/Y6G9PQXXUr0?si=J1efdmqWG-3iGOMQ
The repeated Big Lie of 40 Beheaded Babies:
“Hamas has already said publicly that they plan on attacking Israel again like they did before, to where they were cutting babies’ heads off”
President Joe Biden, November 16, 2023
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/11/16/remarks-by-president-biden-in-a-press-conference-woodside-ca/
https://theintercept.com/2023/12/14/israel-biden-beheaded-babies-false/
Violations against Palestinian women and girls, including rape:
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/israelopt-un-experts-appalled-reported-human-rights-violations-against
"Estimates of German civilians killed only by Allied strategic bombing have ranged from around 350,000 to 500,000. Estimates of civilian deaths due to the flight and expulsion of Germans, Soviet war crimes and the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union are disputed and range from 500,000 to over 2.0 million."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_casualties_in_World_War_II#:~:text=Estimates%20of%20German%20civilians%20killed,500%2C000%20to%20over%202.0%20million.
Beautiful piece
Agree!
We have all been forced and Bullied to give the Israeli government every benefit of the doubt. What is the excuse for their destruction now? I'm sick to my stomach about what is happening to the people of Palestine.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you so very much for this. We mustn’t look away. ❤️
A wonderful read. Thank you for this eloquent call to action.
Beautifully said. Thank you ❤️
Thank you for prividing clarity to the situation. Sometimes it's hard to see through the smoke of all the biased and/or diversionary commentary assaulting us daily.
Well-written piece that needed to be said. Thank you.
Well-written piece that needed to be said. Thank you.
Well-written piece that needed to be said. Thank you.
Thank you for this important story!
I was very grateful to a reader who restacked my recent piece about the inaccuracies in a popular post on Substack about Publishing and Antisemitism. My comment to my reader:
As it stands now, we here in the US get most of the images of what’s happening in Gaza from social media, specifically TikTok (which got them banned in the US). Mainstream news shies away from this graphic material, as if seeing it is more offensive that what’s actually happening.
Although our phone screens are small, there’s something very intimate about holding the sum total of the destruction in your hands. Phone cameras are so good, you can see so much detail, and even zoom in for a closer look. It’s no wonder protests are happening on US college campuses. How do you look away when you are holding a dead child in your hand?
"My hope then, amid all of the diversion and spectacle, is that we do not succumb to the engineered distractions meant to sedate our vigilance. They—those who hold the reins of power—are trying with relentless fervor to strip away our channels of truth, to mute the narratives that challenge their dominance. Yet, it is precisely in this attempt to close our eyes that we must strive to see more clearly, to seek out those truths that are barricaded behind mainstream narratives."
Powerful and difficult. Thank you for this essay.
Hamas agreed to release no more than 33 hostages including dead bodies. They not once agreed to return all 133. If Hamas does not want Israel to enter Rafah they should return all the hostages immediately and the ceasefire will begin right away!