May 15 2024 On This 76th Anniversary of Nakba Day, Choose Love Over Hate and Solidarity Over Division

     With last year’s United Nations declaration of Nakba Day, the historic trauma of the Palestinians and Israel’s kleptocratic imperial conquest and dominion and wars of ethnic cleansing and genocide belong not only to both sides of a divided people, but to all humankind.

     Herein we bear witness and I hope heed its warning, for fascisms of blood, faith, and soil are universal to humans as failures of solidarity and interdependence driven by fear, especially when generalized and overwhelming fear and existential threats are shaped by authority in service to power and the carceral state of force and control through division and falsification.

     No matter where you begin with hierarchies of elite belonging and exclusionary otherness, you always end up at the gates of Auschwitz.

     Why recreate a hell you have escaped from?

      Israel has learned the wrong lessons from the Nazis. Seizure of power as autonomy and self-determination, yes; but why not change the systems of unequal power, instead of trading places as tyrants rather than prisoners?

     Why has the state of Israel reconstructed not the dream of Sepharad in which all are equal regardless of faith, race, or national identity, but the nightmare of its destroyer the Spanish Empire and its ideology of limpieza enforced by Conquest and Inquisition?

      With the Inquisition and the Holocaust as the twin poles of its historical identity, and as imposed conditions of struggle, Israel has achieved a space of relative safety at the cost of becoming a wholly militarized society united by blood and faith. But security is an illusion, because state terror and fear beyond hope create their own counterforce as resistance and revolution.

      Fear is not the only means of exchange, nor power the only thing which has meaning.

      Palestine and Israel are one people divided by history. Of memory, history, and the struggle between the masks that others make for us as authorized identities in service to power by those who would enslave us and those we make for ourselves, of falsification versus truths written in our flesh, this I say; only the redemptive power of love can free us from the Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force.   

     There are no Israelis, no Palestinians; only people like ourselves and the choices we make about how to be human together.

      On this Nakba Day, let us mourn the collapse of moral vision and the brotherhood of all humankind which unleashed it as the Defining Moment of both Palestinian and Israeli identity, dream a better future than we have the past, and act as a United Humankind to make it real.

     Let us choose love over hate and solidarity over division.

      As written by Hamas last year, before the October 7 events engineered by Israel through IDF infiltration and subversion agent networks within Hamas disrupted the Israel-Palestinian peace and unification movement and provided Netanyahu and his criminal settler regime a casus belli for the genocide of the Palestinians now ongoing and the imperial conquest and dominion of the whole region in a generalized conflict with Iran; “The 75th anniversary of the al-Nakba (the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people) anniversary, which comes in the aftermath of the Israeli occupation forces’ most recent aggression against the besieged Gaza strip, brings back painful memories.

     Seventy-five years have passed since the Israeli occupation of Palestine, during which the occupation forces perpetrated the most horrific crimes and massacres against the Palestinian people, who have been holding on to their land and rights.

     On this anniversary, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas salutes the Palestinian heroic martyrs, who fell in their quest for freedom, wishes the injured speedy recovery, and hails the detainees in Israeli occupation jails. The movement states the following:

     First: The Joint Operations Chamber has consolidated the unity of the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation against the Israeli occupation.

     Second: The Israeli occupation will never have any legitimacy or sovereignty over historic Palestine and the occupation’s endeavours to obliterate the historic features and identity of Palestine are bound to fail.

     Third: We will remain loyal to the Palestinians languishing in Israeli occupation jails and we will continue to work towards releasing them by all available means.

     Fourth: The main reason behind the great suffering of the millions of Palestinian refugees is the Israeli occupation. The Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their land, from which they were forcibly evicted, is inalienable.

     Fifth: The 75-year-long Israeli occupation of Palestine is a stain on those who remained silent and have not lifted a finger to expose the occupation’s crimes and put an end to its aggression against our people, land, and holy places.

     Sixth: We call on the international community, Arab and Muslim Ummah, and the free peoples of the world to side with the just Palestinian cause and take swift action to end all forms of aggression against the Palestinian people until they regain their rights.”

     As written by Armani Syed in Time, in an article entitled Why the U.N. Is Commemorating Palestinian Displacement This Year; “For the first time ever, the U.N. will commemorate the Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic, in which at least 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forcibly expelled from their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948.

     On May 15, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will deliver a keynote speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, as part of a high-level special meeting to mark Nakba Day. In a statement outlining the event, the U.N. said the occasion aims to “highlight that the noble goals of justice and peace require recognizing the reality and history of the Palestinian people’s plight and ensuring the fulfillment of their inalienable rights.”

    As the 75th anniversary of the Nakba approached, the 193-member General Assembly voted in November on whether to host a commemoration event; the plan was approved by a vote of 90-30 with 47 abstentions. The U.S., a longtime military and financial supporter of Israel, voted against the event and confirmed that no American diplomats would be present.

     For many others, the U.N.’s decision is an acknowledgement of the central role played by the intergovernmental organization in the partition of the Mandate for Palestine.

     “It’s acknowledging the responsibility of the U.N. of not being able to resolve this catastrophe for the Palestinian people for 75 years,” said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, according to the Associated Press.

     Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, described the commemoration as “abominable” and called it a “blatant attempt to distort history.”

    From the early 1900s, a growing number of Zionist settlers escaping antisemitism in Europe arrived in the Mandate for Palestine. During the 1920s and 1930s, Palestinians resisted displacement that had been enabled by the British colonial presence. British forces eventually tasked the U.N. with finding a solution.

     In 1947, the U.N. General Assembly, formed of 57 member states at the time, passed a resolution to divide the Mandate for Palestine into a Jewish state and a Palestinian one. The plan allocated more than half the country to the Jewish state at a time when Jews formed around one-third of the population. The plan would also have left around 500,000 Palestinians living in a future Jewish state with a drastic choice: remain a minority in a Jewish state or leave.

     Palestinians rejected the proposal and when the British mandate expired in 1948, Israel declared its independence.

     Fighting broke out and 5 Arab countries—Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria—deployed forces to stem the flow of Palestinian refugees. The aftermath of the fighting saw Israel conquer additional land that the U.N. plan had earmarked for a Palestinian state, while Egypt and Jordan each retained control over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, respectively.

     Over time, the Israel took control of more land that was formerly designated by the U.N. as part of a future Palestinian state. After the June 1967 War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

     In recent decades, Israeli settlements in the West Bank have expanded under successive governments, with the settler population surpassing half a million people earlier this year. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, and much of the international community see them as an obstacle to peace and a future Palestinian state.

     This year, Nakba Day is being observed on the heels of a round of violence between Israel and Palestinian militant groups. Israeli airstrikes which intended to target key figures from Islamic Jihad, the second-largest Palestinian armed group in Gaza, claimed at least 33 Palestinian lives. Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups fired as many as 800 rockets toward Israel, leading to the death of two people in Israel.

     “The catastrophe to the Palestinian people is still ongoing,” Mansour said, adding that Palestinians are still being “forcibly removed” from their homes.”

Arabic

15 مايو 2024 يوم النكبة

      مع إعلان الأمم المتحدة يوم النكبة ، فإن الصدمة التاريخية للفلسطينيين وغزو إسرائيل للتطهير العرقي لا تخص كلا الجانبين من الشعب المنقسم فحسب ، بل للبشرية جمعاء.

      هنا نشهد وآمل أن ألتفت إلى تحذيره ، لأن فاشية الدم والإيمان والتربة عالمية للبشر كفشل في التضامن والاعتماد المتبادل مدفوعًا بالخوف ، خاصةً عندما يتشكل الخوف المعمم والشامل والتهديدات الوجودية من خلال السلطة في خدمة القوة والحالة الجسدية للقوة والسيطرة من خلال الانقسام والتزوير.

      بغض النظر عن المكان الذي تبدأ فيه التسلسلات الهرمية من الانتماء النخبوي والآخر الإقصائي ، ينتهي بك الأمر دائمًا عند أبواب أوشفيتز.

      لماذا تعيد خلق الجحيم الذي هربت منه؟

       لقد تعلمت إسرائيل الدروس الخاطئة من النازيين. نعم ، الاستيلاء على السلطة باعتباره استقلالية وتقرير مصير ؛ ولكن لماذا لا نغير أنظمة القوة غير المتكافئة ، بدلاً من تداول الأماكن على أنها طاغية لا أسرى؟

      لماذا لم تعيد دولة إسرائيل بناء حلم سيفاراد الذي يتساوى فيه الجميع بغض النظر عن العقيدة أو العرق أو الهوية الوطنية ، ولكن كابوس مدمرها الإمبراطورية الإسبانية وأيديولوجية ليمبيزا التي فرضها الفتح ومحاكم التفتيش؟

       مع محاكم التفتيش والهولوكوست كقطبين مزدوجين لهويتها التاريخية ، وكشروط كفاح مفروضة ، حققت إسرائيل مساحة من الأمان النسبي على حساب أن تصبح مجتمعًا عسكريًا بالكامل متحدًا بالدم والإيمان. لكن الأمن وهم ، لأن إرهاب الدولة والخوف الذي يفوق الأمل يخلقان قوتهما المضادة كمقاومة وثورة.

       ليس الخوف هو الوسيلة الوحيدة للتبادل ، ولا القوة الشيء الوحيد الذي له معنى.

       في يوم النكبة هذا ، دعونا نحزن على انهيار الرؤية الأخلاقية والأخوة بين البشرية جمعاء ، الأمر الذي أطلق العنان لها باعتبارها اللحظة المحددة للهوية الفلسطينية والإسرائيلية ، ونحلم بمستقبل أفضل مما كان لدينا في الماضي ، ونتصرف كإنسان موحد. لجعلها حقيقية.

Hebrew

15 במאי 2024 יום הנכבה

      עם הכרזת יום הנכבה של האו”ם, הטראומה ההיסטורית של הפלסטינים וכיבוש הטיהור האתני של ישראל שייכים לא רק לשני הצדדים של עם מפולג, אלא לכל המין האנושי.

      כאן אנו מעידים ואני מקווה להקשיב לאזהרתה, שכן פשיזם של דם, אמונה ואדמה הם אוניברסליים לבני אדם ככישלונות של סולידריות ותלות הדדית המונעים על ידי פחד, במיוחד כאשר פחד מוכלל ומכריע ואיומים קיומיים מעוצבים על ידי סמכות בשירות למען כוח ומצב קרסראלי של כוח ושליטה באמצעות חלוקה וזיוף.

      לא משנה היכן אתה מתחיל עם היררכיות של השתייכות עילית ואחרות מדריגה, אתה תמיד מגיע בשערי אושוויץ.

      למה לשחזר גיהנום שממנו נמלטת?

       ישראל למדה את הלקחים הלא נכונים מהנאצים. תפיסת השלטון כאוטונומיה והגדרה עצמית, כן; אבל למה לא לשנות את מערכות הכוח הלא שוויוניות, במקום לסחור במקומות כרודן ולא שבוי?

      מדוע מדינת ישראל לא שיחזרה את החלום של ספרד שבו כולם שווים ללא הבדל אמונה, גזע או זהות לאומית, אלא את הסיוט של ההורסת שלה את האימפריה הספרדית ואת האידיאולוגיה של לימפיזה שנאכפת על ידי הכיבוש והאינקוויזיציה?

       עם האינקוויזיציה והשואה כצמד הקטבים התאומים לזהותה ההיסטורית, וכתנאי מאבק מוטלים, ישראל השיגה מרחב של ביטחון יחסי במחיר של הפיכתה לחברה צבאית לחלוטין המאוחדת בדם ואמונה. אבל ביטחון הוא אשליה, כי טרור המדינה ופחד מעבר לתקווה יוצרים כוח נגדי משלהם כהתנגדות ומהפכה.

       פחד אינו האמצעי היחיד להחלפה, ולא כוח הדבר היחיד שיש לו משמעות.

       ביום הנכבה הזה, הבה נתאבל על קריסת החזון המוסרי ואחוות האנושות כולה ששחררו אותו כרגע המכונן של הזהות הפלסטינית והישראלית כאחד, ונחלום עתיד טוב יותר ממה שהיה לנו בעבר, ונפעל כמין אנושי מאוחד. כדי שזה יהיה אמיתי.

The continuous Nakba’: Palestinians decry perpetual suffering

Farha film trailer/Netflix

Nakba Day: What happened in Palestine in 1948? | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/15/nakba-mapping-palestinian-villages-destroyed-by-israel-in-1948

Seventy+ Years of Suffocation | Amnesty International

https://nakba.amnesty.org/en/

Why the U.N. Is Commemorating the Palestinian Nakba | Time

https://time.com/6279800/united-nations-nakba-palestinians/

Why the Director of Netflix’s Farha Depicted the Murder of a Palestinian Family

https://time.com/6238964/darin-sallam-farha-netflix-interview/

The Palestinian Nakba: What Happened in 1948 and Why It Still Matters | Middle East Institute

https://www.mei.edu/events/palestinian-nakba-what-happened-1948-and-why-it-still-matters

Ten Facts You Need To Know About The Palestinian Nakba | BDS Movement

https://bdsmovement.net/news/ten-facts-you-need-know-about-palestinian-nakba

Jeremy Corbyn: Unite to end the Nakba | Progressive International

https://progressive.international/wire/2023-05-15-jeremy-corbyn-unite-to-end-the-nakba/en

Remembering the Nakba: Israeli group puts 1948 Palestine back on the map

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/02/nakba-israel-palestine-zochrot-history

The Nakba’s Coming Stages: Patterns, Process, and Predictability

May 14 2024 America Falls With Our Failure of Empathy, Abandonment of Our Universal Human Rights, Cowardice in Confronting Evil, and Complicity in Genocide: Israel’s Rafah Assault Begins

     Genocide Joe has sent his billion dollar arms gift to Israel back to congress for review, having admitted the true purpose of the two thousand pound city destroying bombs, but seems to imagine the tanks as defensive weapons, having forgotten the Blitzkrieg.

     This as Israel invades Rafah in defiance of his Red Line against sending aid for the mass murders of the Palestinian refugees Israel has herded there, while in America the brutal repression of dissent on universities by student peace and divestiture protesters unfolds as state terror in recapitulation of the Vietnam War, though as yet we have no parallel with the Kent State Massacre.

      If nothing else, the atrocities of the Gaza War have exposed the truths and  monstrosities behind America’s historical role as patron of Israel’s imperial conquest and dominion of Palestine and its seventy years of genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and the unchecked power of a rapacious and kleptocratic state of theocracy and racism which we have authorized.

     America Falls with our failure of empathy, abandonment of our universal human rights, cowardice in confronting evil, and complicity in genocide.

      As Tolstoy and Lenin asked with such very different results, What is to be done?

      As written by Osita Nwanevu in The Guardian, in an article entitled US students, once again, have led the way. Now we must all stand up for Palestinians: Campus protests in solidarity with the people of Gaza have braved abuse and police raids but history will be kinder; “he student left is the most reliably correct constituency in America. Over the past 60 years, it has passed every great moral test American foreign policy has forced upon the public, including the Vietnam war, the question of relations with apartheid South Africa, and the Iraq war. Student activists were at the heart of the black civil rights movement from the very beginning. To much derision and abuse, they pushed for more rights, protections and respect for women and queer people on their campuses than the wider world was long willing to provide. And over the past 20 years in particular, policymakers have arrived belatedly to stances on economic inequality, climate change, drug policy and criminal justice that putative radicals on campus took up long before them.

     They have not always been right; even when right, their prescriptions for the problems they’ve identified and their means of directing attention to them have not always been prudent. But time and time and time again, the student left in America has squarely faced and expressed truths our politicians and all the eminent and eloquent voices of moderation in the press, in all of their supposed wisdom and good sense, have been unable or unwilling to see. Straining against an ancient and immortal prejudice against youth, it has made a habit of telling the American people, in tones that discomfit, what they need to hear before they are ready to hear it.

     Only later, after the teargas clears and the leering and laughter subside, do we sit puzzled, in the filth of our own entirely avoidable mistakes, and look regretfully backward. Books are written. Documentaries are made. Plaques are installed. At Kent State, a plaza overlooking the university’s commons was constructed to honor the four students the Ohio national guard killed there in 1970. It’s bounded, the university’s website says, by “a jagged, abstract border symbolic of disruptions and the conflict of ideas.” There are daffodils. “Inquire, Learn, Reflect,” an inscription reads. One thing visitors might reflect on is that a Gallup poll taken not long after the shootings found that 58% of Americans believed that anti-war activists had, perhaps in the unrest of the preceding days, brought the deaths at Kent State upon themselves. Today, more than half a century after the fact, we mourn them. We have regrets.

     What will we regret the most about the last few weeks? Which responses to the Gaza protests will linger the longest in our minds? CNN’s comparison of the campus protests to the persecution of Jews “during the 1930s in Europe”, perhaps? The University of Virginia changing its policy on tents to justify the deployment of more force against its students than it called for against the actual Nazis who marched on its campus and killed a woman seven years ago? The New York police department presenting to the press, as proof that outside agitators had organized the occupation of a building at Columbia, a book about the causes of terrorism written by a historian and a bike chain Columbia had been selling to its students? The outside funding actually raised by pro-Israel counter-protesters at UCLA who beat up and threw fireworks at students and faculty as campus and LAPD officers stood by?

     Whenever all of this ends ⁠– whenever we find ourselves ready to survey what’s left of Gaza and its people and ask whether we could have done more to prevent the use of our weapons and our money in their destruction ⁠– what will we have to say for ourselves? When the talking heads are assembled to offer voiceovers atop footage of police grappling and tackling students and faculty whose voices, it will be painfully obvious to most by then, should have been heeded, what words of useless contrition will be offered?

     There have been real instances of antisemitism on campuses since the protests began; here and there we’ve seen real instances of malevolence and idiocy. But to believe, on the basis of anecdata, that hatred and ignorance have motivated the vast majority of students who’ve set up encampments and other pro-Palestinian protests over the last month ⁠– in their many thousands at well over 100 colleges and universities in all but four states ⁠– is to believe what can only be described as an extraordinary propaganda campaign, one pushed by critics in the press and in office who can’t seem to agree on what the protesters are like. These students, we’ve been told, are both popular and unpopular among their peers. They are both ugly and chic. They are fragile and cold-blooded, pathetically soft and remarkably violent. They hate Jews. They are Jews who hate themselves. They’ve exercised both too little message discipline and too much caution with the press at demonstrations that are both laughably chaotic and suspiciously organized. And whoever they are and whatever’s spurred them into action, the students are, clearly, in need of either a good sock to the mouth or a good lay ⁠– the better to focus their attention away from politics and on their studies, on political matters close to home rather than halfway across the world, or political matters halfway across the world more deserving of their attention, like the plight of the suffering in China, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Iran or Azerbaijan.

     No one with their eyes on Gaza denies that there are many bad things happening in the world at any given time. None of those who’ve troubled law- and opinion-makers so with their insistence that the Palestinians are people would argue that the Palestinians are the only suffering people on the globe. But they are suffering largely as a consequence of American foreign policy. On Wednesday, President Biden announced that the United States will freeze the supply of offensive weaponry to Israel if it continues with the full invasion of Rafah, an announcement that follows admissions that the campaign being waged in Gaza, with our bombs, has thus far been waged with dubious military objectives and with insufficient regard for civilian life.

     The guilty parties here include not only our political leaders but our private institutions, our colleges among them

What the White House has yet to admit, though, is that the nearly 35,000 Palestinians who have been killed and the 1.9 million Palestinians who have been displaced over the last seven months are the victims not only of this particular war and the logic of collective responsibility for the massacres of 7 October being deployed by Israeli leaders, but the willingness of this country to sanction Israel’s denial of Palestinian human rights for decades. And the guilty parties here include not only our political leaders but our private institutions, our colleges among them, which, through the investments they have sustained in Israel and the arms manufacturers supplying its war, have rendered themselves complicit in wrongs that should trouble us as deeply as apartheid in South Africa now does. Nothing should surprise us about the fact that Israel now faces similar divestment campaigns; after weeks of moaning and groaning that the demands of student protesters have been unexpressed, unclear or impossible to meet, multiple colleges have, in fact, made certain concessions to them and announced plans to take further demands into consideration. Encampments at Brown, Northwestern, Rutgers and the University of Minnesota were voluntarily disbanded on that basis.

     But it should also be unsurprising that far more colleges have responded to student demonstrators by calling in the authorities ⁠– an authorization of force prefigured by the remarkable crackdowns on pro-Palestinian speech we’ve seen at institutions across the country since October. One of the perversities of the situation is that despite all this, we probably haven’t heard the last about our “woke universities” ⁠– as they have for more than a hundred years, the right and centrists who share their contempt for college students will, against all available evidence, continue insisting that American campuses have been ideologically captured by the very people we’ve just witnessed campus administrators go to war against. They will do all they can to obscure it, but it should be plain now that all the shallow representation most visible to pundits⁠ – the diversity and equity teams, the minorities in high positions ⁠– hasn’t changed the fact that the majority of American universities are largely beholden to donors, trustees and, increasingly, politicians, well to the right of the most progressive voices on campus.

     In the months ahead, many on the left will surely call upon universities to hold true to their commitments to open discourse and redress the censorship and harassment of Israel’s critics. They should. But we should also resist the flight to abstraction ⁠– dishwatery invocations of free speech, murky and lukewarm, that no one ever seems to really mean and that function chiefly as bulwarks against substantive debate. The dignity of the Palestinian people and their right to resist their oppression plainly aren’t chief among the dangerous and controversial ideas we’ve heard so much about protecting over the last decade; we cannot rely upon the putatively neutral authorities and institutions that have done so much to suppress them to act now in their defense on abstract grounds. So it goes. The job now, as the Israelis press into Rafah, is to change public opinion ⁠on the actual matter at hand – to make urgent arguments to the American public not about the plight of Palestine’s defenders on campus but the plight of the Palestinians. The students have done their part; they will be recognized in time. Now it’s up to the rest of us.”  

US students, once again, have led the way. Now we must all stand up for Palestinians

US advances $1bn Israel weapons package amid Rafah tensions

Package in congressional review process after Biden delayed shipment of bombs over fears they would be used to attack Rafah

Israeli tanks reach residential areas as IDF pushes further into Rafah

Witnesses report clashes in streets after seeing tanks cross strategically important Salah al-Din road

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/14/israeli-tanks-residential-areas-idf-push-further-rafah

At least eight Israeli strikes on Gaza aid groups since October, says report

Human Rights Watch says warnings were not issued before attacks, which have killed or injured dozens

‘Man-made starvation’: the obstacles to Gaza aid deliveries – visual guide

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/22/obstacles-to-gaza-aid-deliveries-visual-guide

‘A new abyss’: Gaza and the hundred years’ war on Palestine – podcast

While much has changed since 7 October, the horrific events of the past six months are not unique, and do not stand outside history

Losing the Fight for a Better World Takes a Toll

https://jacobin.com/2024/05/defeat-politics-burnout-book-review/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0nMHK_yDG3KDDmyXRQk4dAd5cVtDYSrd7NsDruegBRauypKgR_cIqaE68_aem_AalP_OeW2MH-KMbwFVAHpxHbeZLgDDtb3T8peu3Ru4L7U-PESHASCM5EOrtk6Al7T2rFwtO6fSucGRwOAhTuUNL9

Arabic

14 مايو 2024 أمريكا تسقط بفشلنا في التعاطف، والتخلي عن حقوقنا الإنسانية العالمية، والجبن في مواجهة الشر، والتواطؤ في الإبادة الجماعية: بدء الهجوم الإسرائيلي على رفح

      أرسل جو هدية الأسلحة التي تبلغ قيمتها مليار دولار إلى إسرائيل إلى الكونجرس لمراجعتها، بعد أن اعترف بالغرض الحقيقي لتدمير القنابل في المدينة التي يبلغ وزنها ألفي رطل، ولكن يبدو أنه يتخيل الدبابات كأسلحة دفاعية، بعد أن نسي الحرب الخاطفة.

      يأتي هذا في الوقت الذي تغزو فيه إسرائيل رفح في تحدٍ لخطه الأحمر ضد إرسال المساعدات لعمليات القتل الجماعي للاجئين الفلسطينيين الذين تحشدهم إسرائيل هناك، بينما يتكشف في أمريكا القمع الوحشي للمعارضة في الجامعات من خلال السلام الطلابي والمتظاهرين على سحب الاستثمارات باعتباره إرهاب دولة في تلخيص لإسرائيل. حرب فيتنام، على الرغم من أنه ليس لدينا حتى الآن أي تشابه مع مذبحة ولاية كينت.

       إذا لم يكن هناك شيء آخر، فقد كشفت الفظائع التي ارتكبت في حرب غزة عن الحقائق والفظائع الكامنة وراء الدور التاريخي الذي لعبته أمريكا كراعية للغزو الإمبريالي الإسرائيلي لفلسطين وهيمنتها وسبعين عامًا من الإبادة الجماعية والتطهير العرقي والجرائم ضد الإنسانية، والقوة غير المقيدة لإسرائيل. حالة الثيوقراطية والعنصرية الجشعة والكلبتوقراطية التي سمحنا بها.

      إن أميركا تسقط بفشلنا في التعاطف، والتخلي عن حقوقنا الإنسانية العالمية، والجبن في مواجهة الشر، والتواطؤ في الإبادة الجماعية.

       وكما تساءل تولستوي ولينين بنتائج مختلفة تمامًا، ما الذي يجب فعله؟

Hebrew

14 במאי 2024 אמריקה נופלת עם כישלוננו באמפתיה, נטישת זכויות האדם האוניברסליות שלנו, פחדנות בהתמודדות עם הרוע ושותפות ברצח עם: התקפת ישראל ברפיח מתחילה

      רצח העם ג’ו שלח את מתנת הנשק שלו של מיליארד דולר לישראל בחזרה לביקורת בקונגרס, לאחר שהודה במטרה האמיתית של עיריית אלפיים לירות השמדת פצצות, אבל נראה שהוא מדמיין את הטנקים כנשק הגנתי, לאחר ששכח את הבליצקריג.

      זאת כאשר ישראל פולשת לרפיח בהתרסה לקו האדום שלו נגד שליחת סיוע לרציחות ההמוניות של הפליטים הפלסטינים שישראל עדרה שם, בעוד שבאמריקה הדיכוי האכזרי של מחלוקות על האוניברסיטאות על ידי מפגיני שלום סטודנטים ומפגיני ביטול ביטול מתגלה כטרור ממלכתי בסיכום של מלחמת וייטנאם, אם כי עדיין אין לנו מקבילה לטבח במדינת קנט.

       אם שום דבר אחר, הזוועות של מלחמת עזה חשפו את האמיתות והמפלצות שמאחורי תפקידה ההיסטורי של אמריקה כפטרונית של הכיבוש הקיסרי והשליטה של ישראל על פלסטין ושבעים שנות רצח עם, טיהור אתני, פשעים נגד האנושות והכוח הבלתי מבוקש של מצב דורס וקלפטוקרטי של תיאוקרטיה וגזענות שאישרנו.

      אמריקה נופלת עם כישלון האמפתיה שלנו, נטישת זכויות האדם האוניברסליות שלנו, פחדנות בהתמודדות עם הרוע ושותפות ברצח עם.        כפי ששאלו טולסטוי ולנין בתוצאות כה שונות, מה יש לעשו

May 12 2024 Shireen Abu Aqla, Martyr in Witness and Journalism as a Sacred Calling in Pursuit of Truth

On this anniversary of the assassination of beloved journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, possibly as our devils whisper by a sniper belonging to a rogue black ops unit of IDF Reconnaissance in Gaza, Sayaret Haruv, refounded under the command of Lt. Col. Yaniv Barut, Kfir Brigade, and operating in coordination with elements of the infamous Duvdevan, Counter Terrorism Unit 217 of the 89th Commando Brigade, whose history has been fictionalized in the Israeli telenovela Fauda available on Netflix, other special operations agents and most importantly the deniable paramilitary assets and settler militias which now threaten to wag the dog and seize power from the civilian government of Israel, let us bring a Reckoning.

    For many years teaching high school my mother would hold up the crooked finger broken by a nun with a ruler to silence her questions as a child, whereupon she walked out of the school and the Catholic Church and never looked back, and announce to the class her first principle of action and of education; “We are not silent.”

    Our best reply to the murder of a journalist by any state is to ask questions and speak in witness, and to do so together as mass action and solidarity across all divisions of faith, race, gender, and national identity as liberation struggle. This is how we set each other free; by truths which delegitimize authority, by solidarity of action which forges a United Humankind, and by seizures of power.

    In the context of the Israeli Occupation and the campaign of terror against the people of Palestine, a friend has offered her witness of history as to why she no longer wears the Star of David in the wake of the 1967 Six Day War, and wrote of the 1995 assassination of Rabin, who like Gandhi was killed by an ultranationalist in the first action of the capture of the state by a totalitarian and imperial colonialist regime, as a lost hope of democracy in Israel.

    To this I have replied; Yes, but remember always my friend, that though the state of Israel now unfolds from its unique history, its failures are not those of Jewish identity or faith but universal to humankind. Tyranny is a predictable phase of anticolonial struggle, and determined by its imposed conditions. So seductive, to be the arbiter of virtue in pursuit of security. But security is an illusion, and use of social force subversive to democracy and the values and goals of a society in which we are each other’s guarantors of universal human rights, and not our jailors.

     My friends and I fought for a long time for the freedom to wear the Star of David without fear; seize and own it as a power paid for in blood. One day the citizens of Israel will liberate themselves; until then all I can do is try to buy time for that future to unfold, and shield those I can from its costs as tyranny and terror. I offer for your consideration the premise that Rabin was among the 36 Good Men upon whom the fate of the world depends, and the hope that we may live up to his example.

     Cede nothing to the enemy; not symbols or histories, nor abandon anything to capture and subversion of meaning in service to power and authorized identities as falsification. Identity is a ground of struggle, where liberty or tyranny begin.

     Always there remains the struggle between the masks others make for us and those we make for ourselves. This is the first revolution in which we all must fight; the seizure of power as ownership of ourselves.

     As written by Bethan McKernan in The Guardian, in an article entitled Shireen Abu Akleh: friends and family call for justice on anniversary of killing:

Israeli forces admit ‘high possibility’ Al Jazeera reporter was shot by sniper at West Bank refugee camp; “Family members, friends and colleagues of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was almost certainly fatally shot by an Israeli sniper, have renewed calls for justice on the first anniversary of her killing, during a week of memorials and events celebrating her life.

     Abu Akleh, a household name in the Arab world who worked for Qatar-based Al Jazeera, was shot in the head in the slumlike refugee camp on the outskirts of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on 11 May last year while covering an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) raid. International outrage at the reporter’s death was fuelled by scenes of violence at her funeral in Jerusalem, when Israeli police attacked pallbearers, almost causing them to drop the coffin.

     The IDF eventually admitted there was a “high possibility” Abu Akleh was killed by a soldier, but maintains the shooting was accidental and a criminal investigation is not warranted.

     In the year since, international efforts at accountability have moved painfully slowly. But at a concert honouring the Jerusalemite in Ramallah earlier this week, hundreds of people gathered to remember a remarkable trailblazer and her legacy.

     “Years of seeing justice not being served for Palestinians tells me we shouldn’t expect much [from officials]. But if we focus on whatever silver lining there is, I’d never seen anything like the turnout at her funeral … It showed how loved and respected she was,” said Dalia Hatuqa, Abu Akleh’s friend and former colleague.

     “Shireen has inspired a whole generation of young women and men who admire her and her work and want to follow in her footsteps.”

     Tributes from Abu Akleh’s family and colleagues at Tuesday’s concert spoke of her dedication to showing the world the harsh realities of Israeli occupation, as well as moments of happiness and resilience. A Jerusalem girls’ choir, and young women from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, performed several pieces composed in her memory.

     A raft of universities have announced awards and scholarships in Abu Akleh’s name, a street in Ramallah has been renamed after her, and her name will also live on in the form of a media museum scheduled to open in the city in 2025.

     For Palestinians, and much of the rest of the world, it is clear who bears responsibility for Abu Akleh’s death. Several journalistic investigations as well as a UN probe have concluded that Israeli forces killed the well-known journalist. Some findings suggest the small group of journalists she was with were deliberately targeted, even though they were wearing helmets and protective vests clearly marked “Press”.

     While the Biden administration has largely embraced Israel’s version of events, and resisted launching an independent investigation into the killing of a US citizen, pressure from Congress forced it to agree to an FBI inquiry last November, which for now appears to be the most promising avenue for justice – although Israel has said it will not cooperate. Abu Akleh’s family and Al Jazeera have also referred the case to the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague, but proceedings typically take years, and Israel is not a member.

     Abu Akleh is far from the only Palestinian journalist killed in recent years whose death has gone unpunished. A new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), released this week to coincide with the anniversary of Abu Akleh’s death, found that Israel has never charged or found any soldier accountable for the killings of at least 20 journalists, 18 of whom were Palestinian, since 2001.

     “Israeli officials discount evidence and witness claims, often appearing to clear soldiers for the killings while inquiries are still in progress … When probes do take place, the Israeli military often takes months or years to investigate killings and families of the mostly Palestinian journalists have little recourse inside Israel to pursue justice,” the report said.

     In the year that has passed since the reporter’s death, violence in the region has risen substantially. Tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have soared over the past year: more than 116 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in 2023 so far, leading to fears of a return to full-scale fighting.

     About half of this year’s Palestinian death toll are civilians, according to media tallies. But according to army data analysed by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organisation, the IDF has near-total impunity from prosecution in cases in which Palestinians and their property were harmed by soldiers.

     Between 2017 and 2021, only 21.4% of complaints led to an investigation – and of the 248 investigations, just 11 resulted in an indictment, making the rate 0.87%.

     The IDF says it opens initial operational investigations in all cases in the West Bank in which a Palestinian is killed, unless the death occurred in a combat environment. Based on those findings, the military advocate decides whether a criminal investigation is merited.

     “I thought when they killed Shireen, if they can kill her, then they can kill any of us,” said Amira, a 20-year-old student at the Ramallah concert. “But we need to continue resisting and we need to have hope.”

    On this day two years ago I wrote; May 12 2022, Reflections of the Third Intifada Part 3: In the Shadow of the Israeli Assassination of Truthteller and Journalist Shireen Abu Aqla;  During a military raid on the Jenin Palestinian refugee camp in which Israeli provocateurs created confusion and pretexts for the use of deadly force by the state, an Israeli sniper assassinated iconic and beloved Palestinian journalist and American citizen Shireen Abu Aqla, who was wearing her unmistakable blue press jacket, in order to silence her witness of history. Hers was a fearless and heroic life of truth telling, and she was a role model for a generation of women who grew up with the implicit understanding that silence is complicity. 

    Our world is a Wilderness of Mirrors, distorted funhouse images, rewritten histories, filled with surfaces which capture and reflect, in which the witness of history and the sacred calling to pursue the truth must be beyond the power of the state, the elite, or of anyone to silence and erase, or we become simulacra, forgeries of ourselves and shadow puppets of authority. Our authenticity and uniqueness, our ownership of ourselves, is put at risk and in question by propaganda and thought control, repression of dissent, dehumanization, and subjugation.

     We need what Foucault called truth tellers, not merely as guarantors of our liberty, but also of our humanity and the inviolability of our souls.

     Al Jazeera has written of this; “In a blatant murder, violating international laws and norms, the Israeli Occupation Forces assassinated in cold blood Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Palestine, Shireen Abu Aqla, targeting her with live fire early this morning… while conducting her journalistic duty.”

     The network called on the international community to hold the Israeli government and military accountable for the “intentional targeting and killing” of a journalist.

     Qatar – which funds Al Jazeera – said it considered the killing a “heinous crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a blatant infringement on freedom of media and expression”.

     Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the shooting of Abu Aqla and Samoudi and alleged that it was “part of the occupation’s policy of targeting journalists to obscure the truth and commit crimes silently”.

     As I wrote in my post of January 16 2021, Silence Is Complicity: No One Gets to Sit This One Out; A post in which I quote Adam Parkhomenko elicited an interesting reaction from someone, one which makes me question how the rhetoric of fascist and racist privilege creates complicity; the quote is in reference to the massive responsibility avoidance and denial on the part of the Republican lawmakers who refuse to join the call impeach our Clown of Terror, Traitor Trump, and his rabble of murderous barbarians.

     Here is the quotation; “I have a very simple message for Republicans calling for unity without accountability: the United States does not negotiate with terrorists.”

     This was the reaction; first, repetition of the very call for unity without accountability, which I would characterize as granting permission through failure to consequent behaviors, which the quote calls out; “These words are just creating more divisions!”

     Second, an attempt at silencing dissent; “Please Stop!” 

     Third, an attempt at blame shifting; “Whenever one person thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong you are the problem!”

    And Fourth, the very worst of the apologetics of historical fascism, a claim of moral equivalence; “Everyone just needs to stop all of these posts because there are good people on both sides!”

     And this last I cannot let pass, for on the last occasion of its general use this propagandistic lie and rhetorical device led directly to the Holocaust and the global devastation of total war.

     I am unclear which good people she could be referring to; the ones who were going to capture and hang or guillotine members of Congress, the ones who murdered a police officer and attempted to bomb both the Democratic and Republican offices, the white supremacist terrorists who have rallied to the cause of treason and armed sedition, or the mad tyrant who commanded them?

     To this I replied; You are wrong. Treason, terror, and the murder of police officers has no excuse. You are either with us as American patriots or against us; no one gets to sit this one out and be counted among the honorable, the moral, and the loyal.

     Silence is complicity.

     Such is the Talmudic principle, “Shtika Kehoda”, famously paraphrased by Einstein in his 1954 speech to the Chicago Decalogue Society as “If I were to remain silent, I’d be guilty of complicity”, and referenced by Eli Weisel as “the opposite of love is not only hate, it is also indifference.”

     Martin Luther King said it this way in Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story; “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

     John Stuart Mill expressed a related idea in his 1867 Inaugural Address to the University of St. Andrews; “Let not anyone pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”

     Leonardo da Vinci formulated it as resistance to tyranny, with which he was very familiar in the wars of dominion between the princes of Renaissance Italy; “Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.”

     Silence is complicity.

      Should this concept require further clarification, please refer to the following recording and transcript of Elie Wiesel’s Millennium Lecture at the White House, on April 12 1999, hosted by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton:

Mr. President, Mrs. Clinton, members of Congress, Ambassador Holbrooke, Excellencies, friends: Fifty-four years ago to the day, a young Jewish boy from a small town in the Carpathian Mountains woke up, not far from Goethe’s beloved Weimar, in a place of eternal infamy called Buchenwald. He was finally free, but there was no joy in his heart. He thought there never would be again.

Liberated a day earlier by American soldiers, he remembers their rage at what they saw. And even if he lives to be a very old man, he will always be grateful to them for that rage, and also for their compassion. Though he did not understand their language, their eyes told him what he needed to know — that they, too, would remember, and bear witness.

And now, I stand before you, Mr. President — Commander-in-Chief of the army that freed me, and tens of thousands of others — and I am filled with a profound and abiding gratitude to the American people.

Gratitude is a word that I cherish. Gratitude is what defines the humanity of the human being. And I am grateful to you, Hillary — or Mrs. Clinton — for what you said, and for what you are doing for children in the world, for the homeless, for the victims of injustice, the victims of destiny and society. And I thank all of you for being here.

We are on the threshold of a new century, a new millennium. What will the legacy of this vanishing century be? How will it be remembered in the new millennium? Surely it will be judged, and judged severely, in both moral and metaphysical terms. These failures have cast a dark shadow over humanity: two World Wars, countless civil wars, the senseless chain of assassinations — Gandhi, the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Sadat, Rabin — bloodbaths in Cambodia and Nigeria, India and Pakistan, Ireland and Rwanda, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Sarajevo and Kosovo; the inhumanity in the gulag and the tragedy of Hiroshima. And, on a different level, of course, Auschwitz and Treblinka. So much violence, so much indifference.

What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means “no difference.” A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil.

What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one’s sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?

Of course, indifference can be tempting — more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person’s pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction.

Over there, behind the black gates of Auschwitz, the most tragic of all prisoners were the “Muselmanner,” as they were called. Wrapped in their torn blankets, they would sit or lie on the ground, staring vacantly into space, unaware of who or where they were, strangers to their surroundings. They no longer felt pain, hunger, thirst. They feared nothing. They felt nothing. They were dead and did not know it.

Rooted in our tradition, some of us felt that to be abandoned by humanity then was not the ultimate. We felt that to be abandoned by God was worse than to be punished by Him. Better an unjust God than an indifferent one. For us to be ignored by God was a harsher punishment than to be a victim of His anger. Man can live far from God — not outside God. God is wherever we are. Even in suffering? Even in suffering.

In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.

Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor — never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees — not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity we betray our own.

Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment. And this is one of the most important lessons of this outgoing century’s wide-ranging experiments in good and evil.

In the place that I come from, society was composed of three simple categories: the killers, the victims, and the bystanders. During the darkest of times, inside the ghettoes and death camps — and I’m glad that Mrs. Clinton mentioned that we are now commemorating that event, that period, that we are now in the Days of Remembrance — but then, we felt abandoned, forgotten. All of us did.

And our only miserable consolation was that we believed that Auschwitz and Treblinka were closely guarded secrets; that the leaders of the free world did not know what was going on behind those black gates and barbed wire; that they had no knowledge of the war against the Jews that Hitler’s armies and their accomplices waged as part of the war against the Allies.

If they knew, we thought, surely those leaders would have moved heaven and earth to intervene. They would have spoken out with great outrage and conviction. They would have bombed the railways leading to Birkenau, just the railways, just once.

And now we knew, we learned, we discovered that the Pentagon knew, the State Department knew. And the illustrious occupant of the White House then, who was a great leader — and I say it with some anguish and pain, because, today is exactly 54 years marking his death — Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April the 12th, 1945, so he is very much present to me and to us.

No doubt, he was a great leader. He mobilized the American people and the world, going into battle, bringing hundreds and thousands of valiant and brave soldiers in America to fight fascism, to fight dictatorship, to fight Hitler. And so many of the young people fell in battle. And, nevertheless, his image in Jewish history — I must say it — his image in Jewish history is flawed.

The depressing tale of the St. Louis is a case in point. Sixty years ago, its human cargo — maybe 1,000 Jews — was turned back to Nazi Germany. And that happened after the Kristallnacht, after the first state sponsored pogrom, with hundreds of Jewish shops destroyed, synagogues burned, thousands of people put in concentration camps. And that ship, which was already on the shores of the United States, was sent back.

I don’t understand. Roosevelt was a good man, with a heart. He understood those who needed help. Why didn’t he allow these refugees to disembark? A thousand people — in America, a great country, the greatest democracy, the most generous of all new nations in modern history. What happened? I don’t understand. Why the indifference, on the highest level, to the suffering of the victims?

But then, there were human beings who were sensitive to our tragedy. Those non-Jews, those Christians, that we called the “Righteous Gentiles,” whose selfless acts of heroism saved the honor of their faith. Why were they so few? Why was there a greater effort to save SS murderers after the war than to save their victims during the war?

Why did some of America’s largest corporations continue to do business with Hitler’s Germany until 1942? It has been suggested, and it was documented, that the Wehrmacht could not have conducted its invasion of France without oil obtained from American sources. How is one to explain their indifference?

And yet, my friends, good things have also happened in this traumatic century: the defeat of Nazism, the collapse of communism, the rebirth of Israel on its ancestral soil, the demise of apartheid, Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt, the peace accord in Ireland. And let us remember the meeting, filled with drama and emotion, between Rabin and Arafat that you, Mr. President, convened in this very place. I was here and I will never forget it.

And then, of course, the joint decision of the United States and NATO to intervene in Kosovo and save those victims, those refugees, those who were uprooted by a man whom I believe that because of his crimes, should be charged with crimes against humanity. But this time, the world was not silent. This time, we do respond. This time, we intervene.

Does it mean that we have learned from the past? Does it mean that society has changed? Has the human being become less indifferent and more human? Have we really learned from our experiences? Are we less insensitive to the plight of victims of ethnic cleansing and other forms of injustices in places near and far? Is today’s justified intervention in Kosovo, led by you, Mr. President, a lasting warning that never again will the deportation, the terrorization of children and their parents be allowed anywhere in the world? Will it discourage other dictators in other lands to do the same?

What about the children? Oh, we see them on television, we read about them in the papers, and we do so with a broken heart. Their fate is always the most tragic, inevitably. When adults wage war, children perish. We see their faces, their eyes. Do we hear their pleas? Do we feel their pain, their agony? Every minute one of them dies of disease, violence, famine. Some of them — so many of them — could be saved.

And so, once again, I think of the young Jewish boy from the Carpathian Mountains. He has accompanied the old man I have become throughout these years of quest and struggle. And together we walk towards the new millennium, carried by profound fear and extraordinary hope.

Elie Wiesel – April 12, 1999”

     As I wrote in my post of May 12 2021, Day Three of the Third Intifada: Israel Launches its Final Solution in a General Campaign Against the People of Palestine; As Hamas defends the people of Palestine in an exchange of rocket fire with Israel, Israel launches a general campaign of state terror in its Final Solution to the Palestinian Problem, unleashing the deniable assets of militarized hate groups with which it provoked this conflict in coordination with military conquest. This is a program of ethnic cleansing which echoes that of the Nakba, the 1948 expulsion and genocide of the Palestinians.

      Fire, explosions, screams; the night is filled with the horror of erasure and annihilation, mass murder and the wailing of the families of the dead. Here is a hellscape out of Dante but for one thing; the victims are innocents, caught in the jaws of a fascist tyranny which denies their humanity.

     And in America, President Joe Biden responds to the news of Israeli Blitzkrieg and Kristallnacht against Palestine, in which hundreds of civilian noncombatants are now dead including children, with the words; “Israel has the right to defend itself.”

     Tell that to the dead children, America. Their blood is on your hands.

     And the judgement of history will hold you responsible.

     What of the right of Palestine to defend itself from Israeli terror and war?   

     There is no right of defense against a people you are Occupying.

     Why does America subsidize a fascist tyranny of blood, faith, and soil in the state of Israel? This is about wealth and power, and oil as a strategic resource which confers it.

     If the nations who own the oil unite in solidarity with the people of Palestine against the Israeli conquest and Occupation, America will have no choice but to disavow and abandon our colony and proxy state.

     If we can expose the monster behind the Israeli mask of virtue conferred by its historical legacies of victimization, and hold America and its other sponsors and partner states complicit in its crimes against humanity as a rogue state, the community of nations will abandon their policies of collaboration.

     Let us dream a new world, wherein all humankind are equal and the guarantee of universal human rights is real and not an illusion of lies which serve power.

     In America we need only ask, do we really hold that all human beings are created equal, and endowed with equal and inalienable rights? If we answer yes, then we must repudiate and renounce the state of Israel, until it can be reimagined and transformed as a free society of equals.

     We must pursue a policy of exposure of the state of Israel’s crimes against humanity, and unite as an international community in the Boycott, Divestiture, and Sanction of Israel and in political action in our respective nations.

     And it is crucial to do so in partnership with the citizens of Israel who welcome their Palestinian brothers and sisters in a free society of equals, wherein divisions of faith, blood, language, and history are without meaning under the law.

     We must forge a new Israel free of tyrannies of force and control and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil, free of its toxic military culture and carceral state, for along with the Palestinians who are enslaved under its Apartheid regime, its own citizens are also slaves of an unjust and unequal system.

     Let us liberate Palestine and Israel, and let us liberate America from her complicity in evil.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/11/shireen-abu-akleh-friends-and-family-call-for-justice-on-anniversary-of-killing?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/11/gaza-strip-fighting-enters-third-day-despite-egypt-ceasefire-efforts-israel-palestine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/12/israel-treats-palestinian-territories-like-colonies-says-un-rapporteur?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/12/gaza-fighting-fourth-day-hopes-raised-truce?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-61417304

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/business/abu-akleh-memorial-ramallah-intl/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2021/may/12/israel-gaza-violence-intensifies-in-pictures

Hebrew

12 במאי 2023 שירין אבו עקל’ה, שהיד בעדות ובעיתונות כקריאה קדושה במרדף אחר האמת

       ביום השנה לרצח העיתונאית האהובה שירין אבו עקל’ה, אולי כשהשדים שלנו לוחשים על ידי צלף השייך ליחידת מבצעים שחורים נוכלים של סיירת צה”ל בעזה, סיירת חרוב, בפיקודו של סא”ל יניב בארות, כפיר. החטיבה, ופועלת בתיאום עם גורמי דובדבן הידועה לשמצה, יחידה 217 ללוחמה בטרור של חטיבת הקומנדו 89, שההיסטוריה שלה הומצאה בטלנובלה הישראלית “פאודה” הזמינה בנטפליקס, סוכני מבצעים מיוחדים אחרים והכי חשוב הנכסים החצי-צבאיים הניתנים להכחשה שכיום. לאיים לכשכש בכלב ולתפוס את השלטון מהממשלה האזרחית של ישראל, בואו נביא חשבון נפש.

     במשך שנים רבות מלמדת תיכון אמי הייתה מרימה את האצבע העקומה שנשברה על ידי נזירה עם סרגל כדי להשתיק את שאלותיה בילדותה, ואז היא יצאה מבית הספר ומהכנסייה הקתולית ולא הביטה לאחור, והודיעה לכיתה עקרון הפעולה והחינוך הראשון שלה; “אנחנו לא שותקים.”

     התשובה הטובה ביותר שלנו לרצח של עיתונאי על ידי כל מדינה היא לשאול שאלות ולדבר לעדות, ולעשות זאת יחד כפעולה המונית וסולידריות על פני כל חטיבות האמונה, הגזע, המגדר והזהות הלאומית כמאבק שחרור. כך אנו משחררים אחד את השני; על ידי אמיתות המוציאות דה-לגיטימציה לסמכות ולא בכוח.

     רצח רבין ב-1995, שכמו גנדי נהרג על ידי אולטרה-לאומי בפעולה הראשונה של כיבוש המדינה על ידי משטר קולוניאליסטי טוטליטרי ואימפריאלי, כתקווה אבודה לדמוקרטיה בישראל.

     על כך השבתי; כן, אבל זכור תמיד ידידי, שלמרות שמדינת ישראל מתגלה כעת מההיסטוריה הייחודית שלה, כישלונותיה אינם של זהות יהודית אלא אוניברסליים למין האנושי. עריצות היא שלב צפוי של מאבק אנטי-קולוניאלי, ונקבע על פי התנאים המוטלים עליו. כל כך מפתה, להיות פוסק המידות במרדף אחר הביטחון. אבל ביטחון הוא אשליה, ושימוש בכוח חברתי החתרן לדמוקרטיה ולערכים ולמטרות של חברה שבה אנחנו ערבים זה לזה לזכויות האדם האוניברסליות, ולא הסוהרים שלנו.

      אני וחברי נלחמנו זמן רב למען החופש לענוד מגן דוד ללא חשש; לתפוס ולהחזיק בו ככוח ששולם בדם. יום אחד אזרחי ישראל ישחררו את עצמם; עד אז כל מה שאני יכול לעשות הוא לנסות לקנות זמן כדי שהעתיד הזה יתפתח, ולגונן על אלה שאני יכול מפני העלויות שלו כעריצות ואימה. אני מציע לשיקולך את הנחת היסוד שרבין היה בין 36 האנשים הטובים שגורל העולם תלוי בהם, ואת התקווה שנוכל לעמוד בדוגמה שלו.

      לא לוותר דבר לאויב; לא סמלים או היסטוריות, ולא לנטוש שום דבר כדי ללכוד ולחתר את המשמעות בשירות לשלטון וזהויות מורשות כזיוף. זהות היא קרקע של מאבק, שבו מתחילות חירות או עריצות.

      תמיד נשאר המאבק בין המסכות שאחרים עושים לנו לבין אלה שאנחנו עושים לעצמנו. זו המהפכה הראשונה שבה כולנו חייבים להילחם; תפיסת השלטון כבעלות על עצמנו.

 Arabic

  في هذه الذكرى السنوية لاغتيال الصحفية المحبوبة شيرين أبو عقله ، ربما بينما يهمس شياطيننا على يد قناص تابع لوحدة العمليات السوداء المارقة التابعة لوحدة الاستطلاع التابعة للجيش الإسرائيلي في غزة ، سيارت حاروف ، التي أعيد تأسيسها تحت قيادة المقدم يانيف باروت ، كفير. اللواء ، ويعمل بالتنسيق مع عناصر من Duvdevan سيئ السمعة ، وحدة مكافحة الإرهاب 217 من لواء الكوماندوز 89 ، الذي تم تخيل تاريخه في Telenovela Fauda الإسرائيلي المتاح على Netflix ، وعملاء العمليات الخاصة الآخرين ، والأهم من ذلك الأصول شبه العسكرية التي يمكن إنكارها والتي أصبحت الآن يهددون بهز الكلب والاستيلاء على السلطة من الحكومة المدنية لإسرائيل ، دعونا نجلب الحساب.

     لسنوات عديدة أثناء التدريس في المدرسة الثانوية ، كانت والدتي ترفع إصبعها الملتوي المكسور بواسطة راهبة مع حاكم لإسكات أسئلتها عندما كانت طفلة ، وعندها خرجت من المدرسة والكنيسة الكاثوليكية ولم تنظر إلى الوراء أبدًا ، وتعلن للصف. مبدأها الأول في العمل والتعليم ؛ “نحن لسنا صامتين.”

     أفضل رد لدينا على مقتل صحفي على يد أي دولة هو طرح الأسئلة والتحدث بشهادة ، والقيام بذلك معًا كعمل جماهيري وتضامن عبر جميع الانقسامات الدينية والعرقية والجنس والهوية الوطنية كنضال من أجل التحرر. هذه هي الطريقة التي نحرر بها بعضنا البعض. بالحقائق التي تنزع الشرعية عن السلطة وليس بالقوة.

     في سياق الاحتلال الإسرائيلي وحملة الإرهاب ضد الشعب الفلسطيني ، قدّمت صديقة لها شهادتها في التاريخ حول سبب عدم ارتدائها لنجمة داود في أعقاب حرب الأيام الستة عام 1967 ، وكتبت عن اغتيال رابين عام 1995 ، الذي قُتل مثل غاندي على يد قوميين متطرفين في أول عمل للاستيلاء على الدولة من قبل نظام استعماري شمولي واستعماري ، كأمل ضائع في الديمقراطية في إسرائيل.

     لقد أجبت على هذا. نعم ، لكن تذكر دائمًا يا صديقي ، أنه على الرغم من أن دولة إسرائيل تتكشف الآن من تاريخها الفريد ، فإن إخفاقاتها ليست فشل الهوية اليهودية بل عالمية للبشرية. الاستبداد هو مرحلة متوقعة من النضال المناهض للاستعمار ، وتحدده شروطه المفروضة. من المغري أن أكون حكم الفضيلة في السعي وراء الأمن. لكن الأمن وهم ، واستخدام القوة الاجتماعية المخربة للديمقراطية وقيم وأهداف مجتمع نكون فيه ضامنين لبعضنا البعض لحقوق الإنسان العالمية ، وليس سجناءنا.

      كافحنا أنا وأصدقائي لفترة طويلة من أجل حرية ارتداء نجمة داود دون خوف. الاستيلاء عليها وامتلاكها كسلطة مدفوعة بالدم. في يوم من الأيام سيحرر مواطنو إسرائيل أنفسهم. حتى ذلك الحين ، كل ما يمكنني فعله هو محاولة كسب الوقت حتى يتكشف هذا المستقبل ، وحماية أولئك الذين أستطيع من تكاليفه مثل الاستبداد والرعب. أعرض عليكم فرضية أن رابين كان من بين 36 رجلاً صالحًا يعتمد عليهم مصير العالم ، ونأمل أن نرتقي إلى قدوته.

      لا تتنازل عن أي شيء للعدو. لا رموز أو تواريخ ، ولا تتخلى عن أي شيء لالتقاط وتخريب المعنى في خدمة السلطة والهويات المصرح بها كتزوير. الهوية هي أرض الصراع ، حيث تبدأ الحرية أو الاستبداد.

      لا يزال هناك دائمًا صراع بين الأقنعة التي يصنعها الآخرون لنا وتلك التي نصنعها لأنفسنا. هذه هي الثورة الأولى التي يجب أن نقاتل فيها جميعًا. الاستيلاء على السلطة كملكية لأنفسنا.                  

May 10 2024 Anniversary of the Third Intifada of 2021, Now Ongoing In the Tenth Theatre of World War Three Which Contains and Supersedes the Gaza War

       Both visitors to the Holy Land seeking signs of the Invisible manifest in its Disneyland of conflicted faiths and those trapped within its nightmare of walls, checkpoints, razor wire, pervasive surveillance, universalized violence, identitarian politics, and the tyranny and terror of one of our world’s most horrific regimes of force and control are here become the ghosts of the Holocaust; Israel echoes with the silent screams of stolen voices and the devouring shadows of a history weaponized in service to power as narratives of victimization and security as power, a strategy designed to first break our solidarity with division and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil as falsification and then dehumanize and subjugate us as masters and slaves and as genocide and ethnic cleansing.

     Israel as a dream of refuge and of universal brotherhood and love has been betrayed and subverted by Israel as a xenophobic theocracy, military empire, and slave camp; here Auschwitz has been institutionalized on a national scale, its former prisoners now its guards.

     Why would anyone choose to recreate a hell they had escaped from, even as its masters rather than its slaves?

     I understand all too well the seduction of power as security in a world of hostile and chaotic forces, and how overwhelming and generalized fear can be shaped by authority to centralize power by offering us loaned power over Others as figures of existential threats; to be the arbiter of virtue through force and control. But security is an illusion, the state as embodied violence obeys Newton’s Third Law of Motion and creates its own Resistance, and our common pain unites us in ways which transcend the Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force, which only love can free us from.

     Love as solidarity in action can redeem the flaws of our humanity and the brokenness of the world, Tikkun Olam in Hebrew, and liberate us to live as guarantors of each other’s humanity.

      As I wrote on the first anniversary of the Third Intifada on this night two years ago; This must be the most written about, studied, debated, experimented with and fought over issue in global politics since the Second World War of which it is a result, this nation wherein one people are divided by history as Israelis and Palestinians, and a measure of our humanity, as the classic example of the double minority; what do you do with one city and one nation claimed by two historical communities, as a basis of identity as faith and nationality and the consequences and praxis of identity politics as violence?

     Here a nation and a people are riven by dissociative identity disorder, conflicted and locked in titanic struggle as with the fragmentation of identity, memory, and consciousness of multiple personalities, madness on a national and civilizational scale born of the legacies of history and life disruptive events, epigenetic trauma, grief, terror, guilt, and despair.

     In the duality of Israel and Palestine are made plain the origins of evil as violence and tyranny in the recursive and interdependent Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force, as overwhelming and generalized fear and existential threats are weaponized in service to power by authority, which forms carceral states of force and control as unequal power and embodied violence, through elite hierarchies and divisions of belonging and otherness and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil.

     Here fascism as a systemic evil operates as possession and theft of the soul. What can we do about it?  As Lenin asked in his essay of 1902; “What is to be done?” How free ourselves of the systemic forces of our subjugation to authority, elites, and those who would enslave us?

    We must first recognize and be cautious of those who claim to speak for us and act in our name, for this is a primary strategy of fascism. To free ourselves of the lies and illusions, falsification and rewritten histories, conspiracy theories and alternate realities through which we become dehumanized, we must be truthtellers engaged in the pursuit of truth as a sacred calling, and perform the Four Primary Duties of a Citizen; Question Authority, Expose Authority, Mock Authority, and Challenge Authority.

    We must second seize our self-ownership and autonomy in refusal to submit to authority, for the great secret of power is that it is empty and hollow, and is delegitimized through refusal to trust and believe authority, and of force that it is brittle and finds its limit at the point of disobedience. Simple acts, but also inherent powers of human being which cannot be taken from us; for who refuses to submit is free, and becomes Unconquerable.

     Always there remains the struggle between the masks that others make for us, and those we make for ourselves. This is the first revolution in which we all must fight; the struggle for self-ownership and for freedom of identity.

     There is no just authority.

      Tonight I sit at home among the vast darkness of my hills, a night which follows days of rain and filled with the songs of frogs and birds, a serenity disturbed only by the chiaroscuro of my memories of this night one year ago, in the defense of al Aqsa. Like flashes of lightning, the hand of the past can bring the Chaos and reach out to seize and shake us, destabilizing us and our constructions of normality with unpredictable and sudden disruptive events unmoored from their anchorages in time.

      But Chaos is also a measure of the adaptive range of a system, which brings both the terror of our nothingness and the joy of total freedom in our reimagination and transformative rebirth of ourselves and our limitless possibilities of becoming human.

      Guillermo del Toro, in his magnificent epic of migration and racial equality Carnival Row, has a scene in which two young successors to leadership of traditionally rival factions find themselves in love and in need of allies in a subplot which reimages Romeo and Juliet; the rebellious hellion Jonah Breakspear asks his Machiavellian lover Sophie Longerbane, “Who is chaos good for?” To which she replies, “Chaos is good for us. Chaos is the great hope of the powerless.”

     One may think of Bringing the Chaos in terms of the redemptive power of love, of solidarity, of our duty of care for others, of seizures of power as the restoration of balance, of Resistance and revolutionary struggle as placing our lives in the balance with those of the powerless and the dispossessed, the silenced and the erased, and as tikkun olam or healing the brokenness of the world.

     In Jerusalem and al Quds, we are betrayed by the normality of submission to authority and the divisions of unequal power, dehumanized by those who commit atrocities in our name, and made complicit in crimes against humanity through narratives of victimization which as Voltaire teaches us permit anything.

     Gott mitt uns; it is an ancient terror. And this we must resist.

     Old myths, and old grievances, woven into the fabric of our psyche and our civilization. And like all history, memory, and authorized identity, mimetic forces from whose legacies we must emerge.

     In this moment I turn once again to the brilliant diagnosis of the illness of power as captured identity as written by Alon Ben-Meirin in Huffpost, though his prescription of a two state system is debatable and for myself must be superseded in time with a secular state with one law for all and no official divisions of tribe, language, or faith, in an article entitled In The Grip Of Powerful Illusions; “The deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process appears to be illogical and unsettling as a majority of Israelis and Palestinians realize that coexistence, whether under conditions of enmity or friendship, is a fact that neither side can change short of a catastrophe.

     The deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process appears to be illogical and unsettling as a majority of Israelis and Palestinians realize that coexistence, whether under conditions of enmity or friendship, is a fact that neither side can change short of a catastrophe. Both sides understand that the general parameters of a sustainable peace agreement must rest on a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders with some land swaps. However, both sides choose to revel in illusions and live in defiance of time and circumstances. They seem to prefer continuing violent clashes and bloodshed over peaceful coexistence, while blaming each other for the unending destructive path that tragically both have chosen to travel.

     There are fundamental imperatives, coupled with long-term mutual security measures, which represent what was on the negotiating table in 2000 at Camp David and in 2010/2011 and 2013/2014 under the Obama administration’s auspices in Jerusalem and Ramallah. Each round, with various degrees of progress, aimed at finalizing an agreement and yet ultimately failed to do so. The question is: why?

     Biased and selective perceptions, reinforced by historical experiences, religion, and incompatible ideologies, have locked both sides into immobile positions. The factors that maintain and enhance these patterns include emotions such as fear, distrust, and insecurity. The psychological outcome is mutual denial of the narrative of the other and mutual delegitimization.

     Put together, the operative result is stagnation and polarization. What is therefore needed is a consensus-oriented dialogue at the leadership level by both officials and non-officials, and people-to-people interactions, to resolve the issue of perception – a tall order given the current environment that buttresses rather than ameliorates prejudiced perceptions.

     There are certain psychological concepts which are relevant to understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the concept of illusion is an essential one. In The Future of an Illusion, Freud offers the following definition: “…we call a belief an illusion when a wish-fulfillment is a prominent factor in its motivation, and in doing so we disregard its relations to reality, just as the illusion itself sets no store by verification.”

     What is characteristic of illusions is that: 1) they are derived from deep human wishes, and 2) the belief is held (or would be held) in the absence of any compelling evidence, or good rational grounds, on its behalf.

     It is impossible to deny that both Israelis and Palestinians are in the grip of very powerful illusions which only serve to prolong the conflict and prevent any mutual understanding. In particular, the belief shared by many Israelis that they have a biblical right to the land (including Judea and Samaria) and that God gave it to the Jews in perpetuity is undoubtedly an illusion of yesterday.

     This belief is not affirmed because there is real evidence that God deemed it to be (although two Jewish kingdoms did exist–the first in the tenth century BCE and the second beginning in 539 BCE–on the same land), but because it satisfies a deep-seated psychological need for a God-given Jewish homeland.

     The belief that by expanding the settlements Israel will augment its national security and maintain its hold on the entire land is an illusion of tomorrow, which generally ignores the presence of Muslims in the same land for more than 1,300 years.

     It is important to note how these illusions sustain and reinforce one another, and constitute a psychological barrier which is much more impervious to critical reflection. Israel’s illusions have served to create the logic for occupation.

     The Palestinians, for their part, are not without their own illusions. They also believe that God has reserved the land for them, and appeal to the fact that they had inhabited the land for centuries. From their perspective, the presence of the al-Aqsa Mosque, which was built in 705 AD in Jerusalem, attests to their historical and religious affinity to the Holy City.

     They also cling to the idea that they will someday return to the land of their forbearers, as they have and continue to insist on the right of return of the Palestinian refugees, even though this has become a virtual impossibility.

     The Palestinians hold fast to their illusions of yesterday and tomorrow just as blindly and desperately as the Israelis, which leads to resistance to and fear of change. As such, unless both sides change course and accept each other’s affinity to the same land, specifically because it is religiously-based, the situation is bound to lead to a catastrophe.

      This has contributed to making the Israeli-Palestinian conflict both chronic and intractable, as the various illusions are continuously and consciously nurtured by daily hostile and often violent encounters between the two sides.

     In seeking to bridge concepts that could link between the domains of psychology and politics in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it could be proposed that a collective mutual resistance to change (both conscious and deliberate, and inner unconscious) protects a vulnerable identity.

     Compared, for example, to the stable and mature political identities of the American, British, and French nations, the political identities of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples are, in a way, in their adolescence.

     Identities in this setting are more vulnerable, and the protagonists are naturally more defensive and resistant to change. By its very nature, the players must find it difficult (if not impossible) to articulate this publicly, as to do so is to admit to this vulnerability.

     The concept of psychological resistance to change may well affect the political setting in general and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular; it is closely connected to perceptions at many levels and provides protection for vulnerable identity formation.

     It is this mindset, strengthened by historical experiences, which transcends the more than seven decades since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began. Individuals and groups, Israelis and Palestinians alike, have and continue to interpret the nature of the discord between them as “you versus me” in a prejudiced and selective way.

     In turn, this has stifled any new information and enabled the continuing resistance to change, which could shed new light on the nature and substance of the conflict and help advance the peace process.

     The concept of unconscious resistance to change in this setting links well to the view of perceptions driving the polarization in the conflict. Historical experience, which formulates perceptions, serves among other things to enhance the sense of identity of “who we really are,” a formative collective assumption that sits at the bedrock of both key players and drives functional and dysfunctional behavior.

     In principle, such a mindset prevents either side from entertaining new ideas that might lead to compromises for a peaceful solution. The paradox here is that majorities on both sides do want and seek peace, knowing full well that this would require significant concessions, but are unable to reconcile the required concessions with imbedded perceptions that have precluded these compromises as a result of resistance to and fear of change.

     Therefore, any framework for peace must include provisions that would dramatically increase the odds in favor of a solution. First, both sides need to commit to reaching an agreement based on a two-state solution out of the conviction that change, which translates to coexistence, is inevitable. Therefore, they ought to adjust to each other’s requirements, which of necessity requires them to make significant concessions.

     Second, to facilitate that, they must undertake reconciliatory people-to-people social, economic, cultural, and security interactions to mitigate their resistance to change, which must begin, at a minimum, one year before the negotiations commence to create the psychological and political atmosphere to cultivate the trust necessary for substantive and successful peace negotiations.

     The resumption of peace talks will go nowhere unless Israelis and Palestinians change their prejudiced perception and resistance to and fear of change, and finally come to the realization that their fate is intertwined and neither can live in peace and security without the other.

     I feel compelled to conclude my last article for the year with a dire warning that both Israelis and Palestinians alike will do well to ponder upon as they approach the end of the seventh decade of their tragic conflict.

     Every Israeli extremist and Palestinian militant, those who want it all must stop and think where Israel and the Palestinians will be in ten years if the current situation persists?

     Your illusions of today will not become a reality of tomorrow, and what tomorrow will bring is nothing but more pain, tears, and agony.

     Your conflict is evolving ever faster into a religious war. A Muslim-Jewish Armageddon is in the making that will set the whole region on unfathomable fire.

     If you are true believers, dare not defy God’s will, for he has thrust you together to put you to the test–you must either live in peace and harmony, or you will be condemned to oblivion and despair.

     You possess the power to choose your own destiny. Will it be self-destruction or will it be the fulfilment of a glorious dream?

     Rise up and pass a legacy of hope to every Israeli and Palestinian child, for they have the God-given right to grow up and prosper and none should die for your illusions in vain.”

     As I wrote in my post of November 9 2023, A Mirror of Our Darkness: Kristallnact; Israel is commemorating this tragedy which opened a door to an even greater tragedy in the Holocaust by doing exactly the same thing to the Palestinians, one people divided by history and faith weaponized in service to power. And this too will open doors to greater state terror and tyranny, unless both peoples can unite against authorities who commit atrocities in their name as a strategy of subjugation and liberate each other from those who would enslave them.

     If you think of nations as children who are survivors of abuse, much becomes clear; for once they have seized power they are far more likely to become abusers themselves. This is how fear works, why it is the true basis of exchange, why politics is the Art of Fear, and why states are embodied violence. Both Israelis and Palestinians have been savaged by existential threats long before they began savaging, brutalizing, and dehumanizing each other.

     That predatory regimes on both sides have used division and identity politics to centralize power and legitimize authoritarian dominion is a predictable phase of liberation struggle, especially of anti-colonial revolution.

      The trick of becoming human, friends, is to embrace ones own darkness in struggle as well as one’s enemies, and emerge from the legacies of our history which shadow us like an invisible crocodile tail.

      There is a line spoken by the villain in the series The Magicians, a survivor of childhood abuse and tyrant known as The Beast for his horrific crimes, once the powerless and terrified boy Martin Chatwin and now a monstrous god; “You know, when I was a boy, a man who was meant to care for me bent me over his desk and had me over and over every time I was alone with him. It helps me understand a truth. You’re powerful or you’re weak. “

      Here is the original lie of the tyrant and the fascist in the apologetics, self-justification, and psychopathy of power; the lie that only power has meaning and is real, that there is no good or evil. How we use power is of equal importance as who holds it. Fear and force are a primary means of human exchange, but not the only means; love, membership, and belonging are as important.

      It’s a line which captures perfectly the inherent contradictions of the  Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force as an origin of evil; for the use of social force is subversive of its own values. Yet the imposed conditions of revolutionary struggle often require violence, and until the gods of law and order have been cast down from their thrones I must agree with the famous dictum of Sartre in his 1948 play Dirty Hands, quoted by Frantz Fanon in his 1960 speech Why We Use Violence, and made immortal by Malcolm X; “by any means necessary.”

     As written by Walter Rodney in The Groundings with my Brothers; “We were told that violence in itself is evil, and that, whatever the cause, it is unjustified morally. By what standard of morality can the violence used by a slave to break his chains be considered the same as the violence of a slave master? By what standards can we equate the violence of blacks who have been oppressed, suppressed, depressed and repressed for four centuries with the violence of white fascists. Violence aimed at the recovery of human dignity and at equality cannot be judged by the same yardstick as violence aimed at maintenance of discrimination and oppression.”

     And here is the passage he references from Leon Trotsky in Their Morals and Ours: The Class Foundations of Moral Practice; “A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains – let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!”

     Yet in reflection I think of those great figures who have been both heroes of liberation and villains of tyranny; my teenage role model Napoleon, Washington who is central to our family history and coined the motto on our coat of arms in the passcode during the Battle of Trenton, Victory or Death, when the whole Revolution was wagered on a forlorn hope, of the tragic drama of fallen heroes like Robert Mugabe, the monstrous tyrants Stalin and Mao, the list is a near endless litany of woes and failures of vision wherein Brave New Worlds became hells and carceral states. In evidence I offer the American and Napoleonic Revolutions become Empires, the Soviet Union, the Chinese Communist Party, India where the glory of liberation come hand in hand with the tragedy of Partition and is now under the boot of Hindu Nationalism, nearly all anticolonial revolutions which with the first period of liberty as new nations became dreadful tyrannies, and above all the state of Israel, a dream of refuge forged in the terror of the Holocaust whose victims learned the wrong lessons from the Nazis and assumed their role in the Occupation of Palestine. The dangers of Idealism are very real; but so are the dangers of submission to authority and the complicity of silence in the face of evil.

     I am a hunter of fascists, and mine is a hunter’s morality. For me there is a simple test for the use of force; who holds power?

     A great many wise people have written beautifully of the horrors of fascisms of blood, faith, and soil and of hierarchies of elite belonging and exclusionary otherness, as does Paul Oestreicher in the article which follows; herein I wish only to signpost that the forces which lie both within us and without as social conditions and epigenetic trauma, of atavisms of barbarism and systems of oppression, are universal to human beings as imposed conditions of struggle and operate continually even when obscured from view, beyond the horror and abjection of points of fracture of the human soul like those of Kristallnacht and the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

     I write to you as one who has lived by the battle cry of Never Again! for over forty years now, and it is of deep and vital importance to apply this principle of action not only in Resistance to fascism as an intrusive enemy of all that is human in us, but also to ourselves and our own use of violence and social force toward others.

    In the end, all that matters is what we do with our fear, and how we use our power.

     No matter where you begin with divisions and hierarchies of elite belonging and exclusionary otherness, you always end up at the gates of Auschwitz.

    As Nietzsche teaches us in Beyond Good and Evil; “Those who hunt monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

     In the dark mirror of Gaza, with its monstrous reflections of Kristallnacht and of Auschwitz, do you like what you see, O Israel?

     As I wrote in my post of May 10 2021, The Defense of al Aqsa: Liberty versus Tyranny in Jerusalem;  We may have witnessed the advent of a Third Intifada this night, in the Defense of al Aqsa and the street fighting in Gaza which followed, ignited by the perfidy and imperial conquest of a xenophobic and fascist state of Israel which regards no one but their own tribe and faith as truly human, and which has perpetrated an unprovoked and deadly attack as an act of state terror and a crime against humanity on the peaceful worshippers at one of the most sacred mosques in the Islamic world, a demonstration of power and dominion which follows weeks of provocations, assaults, and acts of propagandistic dehumanization against the people of Palestine.

      Like the Second or al Aqsa Intifada which lasted four years from 28 September 2000 to 8 February 2005, unresolved issues of an Occupation now in its fifty fourth year since the June 7 1967 Conquest of Old Jerusalem by Israel, which the State of Israel celebrated according to the Hebrew calendar as Jerusalem Day today by attacking al Aqsa, and a Catastrophe ongoing now for seventy three years since Nakba Day May 15 1948, have coalesced around the symbolic value of al Aqsa, which has a contested dual identity as the Temple Mount in Judaism.

     Chances of de-escalation and averting a war depend now not on local factors but on the response of the international community, for history has here become a trap which collapses to ensnare us in its jaws, and outside forces must liberate us from the failures of our system’s internal contradictions.

     Will America disavow and renounce its colony of Israel, Queen of her imperial policy in the Middle East and control of the strategic resource of oil? Can international unity and the pressure of Boycott, Divestiture, and Sanction free us from the tyranny and terror of an Apartheid regime as it did in South Africa?

     Or is war the only reckoning humankind can offer, or will accept?

     As written by Ishaan Tharoor in The Washington Post; “On Monday night, militants in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military exchanged rocket fire and airstrikes amid a deadly escalation of violence. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, armed groups based in blockaded Gaza, launched a barrage of rockets that landed near Jerusalem and in parts of southern Israel, injuring at least one person. Israeli airstrikes in retaliation killed at least 20 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, including nine children.

     Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “terrorist groups” in Gaza had “crossed a red line” with their rocket attacks. But the latest explosion of hostilities has a long tail, following numerous aggressive actions by both Israeli security forces and far-right Jewish supremacist groups in Jerusalem. Two weeks ago, bands of Jewish extremists, including some settlers from the West Bank, marched through Palestinian-populated areas of the holy city, chanting “Death to Arabs,” attacking bystanders and damaging Palestinian property and homes. Israeli attempts to evict a number of Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah — a microcosm of what Palestinians view as part of a long history of dispossession and erasure at the hands of the Israeli state — had stirred Palestinian solidarity protests in various parts of the occupied territories and Israel proper.

     It also raised tensions ahead of the commemoration of Jerusalem Day on Monday, an official Israeli holiday celebrating the capture of the city during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. A planned annual march by far-right ultranationalist Israelis was called off after authorities rerouted its path at the last minute.    Large numbers still made their way to the Western Wall and sang an extremist vengeance song against Palestinians.

     “The Hamas rocket attacks, which included the first strikes against Jerusalem in several years, came after running clashes among Israeli police, Palestinian protesters and far-right Jewish Israelis around the Old City,” my colleagues reported. “Among the hundreds injured were seven who were hospitalized in serious condition, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Video footage circulated on social media of Israeli police officers brutally beating a detained Palestinian man.”

      How can America support the state of Israel in tyranny and terror, conquest and plunder? It’s a question asked in tones of outrage, sorrow, and bafflement since the advent of the Nakba on May 15 1948, the Day of Catastrophe which began the Occupation of Palestine and the systematic enslavement and genocide of its people in the wake of the Israeli conquest of Jerusalem. How is this legitimized?

      A friend has recently reframed this question for me; “I loved and embraced the Jewish tradition, joining a synagogue and working alongside its Rabbi. When I witness the treatment of Palestinians by the Jewish government of Israel, I am overwhelmed by feelings of confusion and anger. Unable to reconcile this immorality, I question the very foundation of my faith. Where is the good and moral uprising of international Jewish voices condemning the government’s path? I’ve lost faith in being Jewish.”

     What is clear to me is that this crisis of faith is also an existential crisis of identity, a situation of utmost gravity and danger which also holds the potential for reimagination and transformative rebirth, a personal echo of a parallel civilizational crisis from which humankind and the global community of nations must find a way to emerge and free ourselves of the legacies of our history. Here is my reply:

     The state of Israel is not identical with the Jewish faith, though the fascist-imperialist faction which Netanyahu represents would like everyone to think so. 

    A nation based on the assignment of its citizens to a tribal identity, the sectarian weaponization of faith in service to power and an authorized national identity, a military society with universal compulsory service and a pervasive fetishization of myths of martial valor and its symbols including guns, and a reconstructed Hebrew language of national unity has used identity politics to subjugate its citizens to the centralized power of tyranny; Israel is a fascist state of blood, faith, and soil no less than that of the Nazis.

     Add to this toxic mix a kleptocratic regime which has propagandized narratives of historical victimization to legitimize massive theft and imperial conquest of other people’s nations and one thing is clear; Israel has learned the wrong lessons from the Nazis.

     You may know from my many references to the incident in my writing that I am an antifascist, sworn to the Oath of the Resistance by Jean Genet in 1982 in Beirut, during our fight against the Israeli invasion and siege. In the 39 years after, I have been a hunter of Nazis and a revolutionary of democracy engaged in struggle for the liberation of humankind against tyranny and authoritarian regimes of force and control.

      A Palestinian homeland, and justice for its people, has been among my goals since that summer so long ago. Like the goal of liberation of Ireland from British colonial rule, it remains to be achieved. In question is the idea of freedom and citizenship as the sovereignty and independence of peoples from foreign colonialism and authoritarian tyranny, and the primacy of a nonsectarian state free from divisions and hierarchies of faith, for who stands between each of us and the Infinite serves neither.

     I also support the idea of an Israeli homeland, and see no reason these two states, Palestine and Israeli, should be mutually exclusive or antagonistic. Some Israelis who would disagree with me on the question of Palestine and militarism in imperial conquest and regional dominion have been allies in the cause of hunting Nazis and fascists generally throughout the world, but are blind to their own complicity in this evil due to seeing themselves as victims rather than perpetrators of crimes against humanity. This is about fear, and the destructive cycle of abuse and violence.

     When faith is appropriated by authority for legitimation in identity politics, identity itself becomes confused and ambiguous. To become free, we must seize ownership of ourselves as self-created and autonomous beings.

     This is why the primary duties of a citizen are to question authority, expose authority, mock authority, and challenge authority.

     Always there remains the struggle between the masks others make for us and those we make for ourselves; this is the first revolution in which we all must fight.

     I think of the problem of human evil and its cycle of fear, power, and force in the case of states which become the tyrannies they fought to liberate themselves from, and this is true of anticolonial revolutionary states generally because of the historical legacies of victimization, in this way; victims often become abusers because their identity is organized around power as the only means of escape in a world wherein no one can be trusted.

     When trust has been abrogated and proven empty and without meaning, when the capacity to bond with and feel the pain of others in empathy has been broken and one is without pity or remorse, when fear is overwhelming and generalized and has been shaped by authority to the service of power, victims learn that only power has meaning and is real. We must not allow our abusers to become our teachers.

     While every such issue has its own unique origins and history, the problem itself is universal, and relates to what one fears, and how that fear is shaped by authority as identity. From our perspective as Americans interpreting events in the classic problem of the double minority typified by Israel and Palestine, how we perceive issues has much to do with how they are framed by our informing and motivating sources.

      In the end we are defined by what we do with our fear, and how we use our power.

      The first question to ask of any story, and the most important, is simple; whose story is this?

      We are lost in a Wilderness of Mirrors, of lies and illusions, falsifications of ourselves, distorted images and reflections, echoes and authorized identities which disfigure, disempower, and steal our souls.

      How shall we answer those who would enslave us? Our authenticity and autonomy is realized through seizure of power, and the reimagination and transformation of ourselves and humankind as a free society of equals.

      We Americans tend to see things in terms of white hats and black hats, as in the Western films which serve as origin myths and archetypes of our national character. Once victim status has been conferred, such groups and persons become white hats and good guys, incapable of evil and diametrically opposed to whomever must then be black hats. It’s a terrible way of choosing national policy.

     Sadly, we humans can be good and evil at once, the flaws of our humanity echo and reflect the brokenness of the world. It is a truth proven once again tonight in al Quds or Jerusalem depending on to whom one is speaking and in what language, as Gaza burns from the onslaught of an Israeli Defense Forces run amok much the same as the night almost four decades ago in Beirut when they tried to burn Genet and I alive in our café, as a dozen human beings from whom everything but hope has been stolen swear vows to each other to hold a position covering the escape of the women and children trapped by the Israeli attack until all are safe, in a final defense not of al Aqsa Mosque, magnificent and beautiful and filled with significance, monument to the human impulse to reach beyond ourselves and to the limitless possibilities of becoming human, a stage fit for the glorious deaths of heroes, but of the disembodied screams of strangers among the nameless warrens of a derelict antiquity.

     Against the chasms of emptiness and nihilistic barbarism of a world of darkness and fire, of fear and force, I have only words to offer, and I write to you what I have said to my comrades who have chosen to stand with me; I’ve lost count of Last Stands, but I’ve risked everything against impossible odds and survived more times than I can remember, and all that matters is that we abandon neither ourselves nor one another, that we refuse to submit, for this is the moment of our freedom, and it can never be taken from us.

      From this night, Palestine is free, for we can be killed, but we cannot be conquered.

 On the Origins of Evil and Our Monstrosity: a portrait of Hitler and Netanyahu in the character of Martin Chatwin in The Magicians

 Violence: Six Sideways Reflections, by Slavoj Žižek

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2638701-violence

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/11/shireen-abu-akleh-friends-and-family-call-for-justice-on-anniversary-of-killing?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/09/discord-in-israel-threatens-benjamin-netanyahus-hold-on-power?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/27/netanyahu-national-guard-deal-with-ben-gvir-raises-fears-of-violence?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/10/militants-in-gaza-fire-60-rockets-following-israeli-airstrikes-palestine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/09/israel-bombs-gaza-strip-killing-three-islamic-jihad-leaders?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/in-the-grip-of-powerful-i_b_8818032

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/03/israel-strikes-gaza-as-unrest-continues-after-death-of-hunger-striker-khader-adnan?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/10/jerusalem-seethes-as-the-rockets-begin-on-day-of-rising-tension

https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/what-is-happening-in-sheikh-jarrah-of-east-jerusalem-past-and-present

https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/al-aqsa-violence-why-palestinians-jews-have-often-clashed-at-this-holy-site-in-jerusalem/655579/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/10/world-reacts-after-israeli-forces-wound-hundreds-in-al-aqsa-raid

Arabic

10 مايو 2024 ذكرى الانتفاضة الثالثة لعام 2021، الجارية الآن في المسرح العاشر للحرب العالمية الثالثة التي تحتوي وتحل محل حرب غزة

        يسعى كل من زوار الأرض المقدسة إلى ظهور علامات غير مرئية في ديزني لاند التي تضم أديانًا متضاربة وأولئك المحاصرين داخل كابوس الجدران ونقاط التفتيش والأسلاك الشائكة والمراقبة المنتشرة والعنف العالمي وسياسات الهوية والطغيان والإرهاب في أحد بلداننا. إن أفظع أنظمة القوة والسيطرة في العالم أصبحت هنا أشباح الهولوكوست؛ تردد صدى إسرائيل مع الصرخات الصامتة للأصوات المسروقة والظلال المفترسة لتاريخ تم تسليحه في خدمة السلطة كسرديات عن الإيذاء والأمن كقوة، وهي استراتيجية مصممة أولاً لكسر تضامننا مع الانقسام وفاشية الدم والعقيدة والتربة كما التزوير ومن ثم تجريدنا من إنسانيتنا وإخضاعنا كأسياد وعبيد وإبادة جماعية وتطهير عرقي.

      لقد تعرضت إسرائيل، باعتبارها حلم اللجوء والأخوة والمحبة العالمية، للخيانة والتخريب من قبل إسرائيل باعتبارها دولة دينية كارهة للأجانب، وإمبراطورية عسكرية، ومعسكرًا للعبيد؛ وهنا تم إضفاء الطابع المؤسسي على أوشفيتز على نطاق وطني، وأصبح سجناؤه السابقون الآن حراسه.

      لماذا يختار أي شخص إعادة خلق الجحيم الذي هرب منه، حتى لو كان أسياده وليس عبيده؟

      إنني أفهم جيدًا إغراء القوة كأمن في عالم مليء بالقوى المعادية والفوضوية، وكيف يمكن تشكيل الخوف الساحق والمعمم من خلال السلطة لمركزية السلطة من خلال منحنا سلطة معارة على الآخرين كرموز للتهديدات الوجودية؛ ليكون حكم الفضيلة من خلال القوة والسيطرة. لكن الأمن وهم، والدولة كعنف متجسد تطيع قانون نيوتن الثالث للحركة وتخلق مقاومتها الخاصة، وألمنا المشترك يوحدنا بطرق تتجاوز حلقة فاغنر من الخوف والقوة والقوة، والتي لا يمكن أن يحررنا إلا الحب. من.

      الحب كتضامن في العمل يمكن أن يخلص عيوب إنسانيتنا وانكسارات العالم، تيكون أولام بالعبرية، ويحررنا لنعيش كضامنين لإنسانية بعضنا البعض.

       وكما كتبت في الذكرى الأولى للانتفاضة الثالثة في مثل هذه الليلة قبل عامين؛ يجب أن تكون هذه هي القضية الأكثر كتابةً ودراسةً ومناقشةً وتجريبًا وخوضًا حولها في السياسة العالمية منذ الحرب العالمية الثانية التي كانت نتيجة لها، هذه الأمة التي يقسم فيها التاريخ شعبًا واحدًا إلى إسرائيليين وفلسطينيين، ومقياسًا إنسانيتنا، كمثال كلاسيكي للأقلية المزدوجة؛ ماذا تفعل بمدينة واحدة وأمة واحدة يطالب بها مجتمعان تاريخيان، كأساس للهوية كإيمان وجنسية وعواقب وممارسة سياسات الهوية كعنف؟

      هنا أمة وشعب يمزقهما اضطراب الهوية الانفصامية، متضاربان ومنغلقان في صراع هائل كما هو الحال مع تجزئة الهوية والذاكرة والوعي لشخصيات متعددة، والجنون على المستوى الوطني والحضاري المولود من تراث التاريخ ومعطل الحياة الأحداث، والصدمة اللاجينية، والحزن، والرعب، والشعور بالذنب، واليأس.

      في ازدواجية إسرائيل وفلسطين، تتضح أصول الشر كالعنف والطغيان في حلقة فاغنري المتكررة والمترابطة من الخوف والقوة والقوة، حيث يتم استخدام الخوف الساحق والمعمم والتهديدات الوجودية كسلاح في خدمة السلطة عن طريق السلطة. والتي تشكل حالات القوة والسيطرة الجسيمية كقوة غير متكافئة وعنف متجسد، من خلال التسلسلات الهرمية النخبوية وتقسيمات الانتماء والغيرية وفاشية الدم والإيمان والتربة.

      هنا الفاشية كشر نظامي تعمل كحيازة وسرقة للروح. مالذي يمكننا فعله حيال هذا؟ وكما سأل لينين في مقالته عام 1902؛ “ما الذي يجب عمله؟” كيف نحرر أنفسنا من القوى النظامية لخضوعنا للسلطة والنخب وأولئك الذين يريدون استعبادنا؟

     يجب علينا أولاً أن ندرك ونحذر من أولئك الذين يدعون أنهم يتحدثون باسمنا ويتصرفون باسمنا، فهذه هي الإستراتيجية الأساسية للفاشية. لتحرير أنفسنا من الأكاذيب والأوهام، والتزييف وإعادة كتابة التاريخ، ونظريات المؤامرة والحقائق البديلة التي من خلالها نصبح مجردين من إنسانيتنا، يجب أن نكون رواة للحقيقة ونشارك في السعي وراء الحقيقة باعتبارها دعوة مقدسة، ونؤدي الواجبات الأساسية الأربعة للمواطن؛ سلطة السؤال، وسلطة الكشف، وسلطة المحاكاة، وسلطة التحدي.

     يجب علينا ثانيًا أن نستغل ملكيتنا الذاتية واستقلالنا في رفض الخضوع للسلطة، لأن السر الأعظم للسلطة هو أنها فارغة وجوفاء، ويتم فقدان شرعيتها من خلال رفض الثقة في السلطة والتصديق بها، والقوة هي هشة وهشة. ويجد حدوده عند نقطة العصيان. أفعال بسيطة، ولكنها أيضًا قوى متأصلة في الإنسان لا يمكن أن تؤخذ منا؛ لأن من يرفض الخضوع فهو حر، ولا يُقهر.

      دائمًا يبقى الصراع بين الأقنعة التي يصنعها الآخرون لنا، وتلك التي نصنعها لأنفسنا. هذه هي الثورة الأولى التي نحن جميعا فيها

جب أن يقاتل؛ النضال من أجل الملكية الذاتية وحرية الهوية.

      لا توجد سلطة عادلة.

       الليلة أجلس في منزلي وسط الظلام الدامس لتلالي، ليلة تتبع أيامًا من المطر ومليئة بأغاني الضفادع والطيور، هدوء لا يزعجه إلا ضوء الضوء في ذكرياتي عن هذه الليلة قبل عام، في الدفاع. الأقصى. مثل ومضات البرق، يمكن ليد الماضي أن تجلب الفوضى وتمتد لتسيطر علينا وتهزنا، وزعزعة استقرارنا واستقرارنا وبنياتنا الطبيعية من خلال أحداث مدمرة مفاجئة وغير متوقعة غير مربوطة بمرتكزاتها في الوقت المناسب.

       لكن الفوضى هي أيضًا مقياس للمدى التكيفي للنظام، الذي يجلب كلاً من الرعب من عدمنا ومتعة الحرية الكاملة في إعادة تصورنا وإعادة ميلادنا التحويلي لأنفسنا وإمكانياتنا اللامحدودة في أن نصبح بشرًا.

       لدى غييرمو ديل تورو، في ملحمته الرائعة عن الهجرة والمساواة العرقية كرنفال رو، مشهد يجد فيه شابان خلفاء لقيادة الفصائل المتنافسة تقليديًا نفسيهما في حالة حب وبحاجة إلى حلفاء في حبكة فرعية تعيد تصوير روميو وجولييت؛ يسأل الجحيم المتمرد جونا بريكسبير عشيقته المكيافيلية صوفي لونجيربان: “لمن تصلح الفوضى؟” فأجابت: “الفوضى جيدة لنا. الفوضى هي الأمل العظيم للضعفاء.”

      قد يفكر المرء في جلب الفوضى من حيث القوة الخلاصية للحب، والتضامن، وواجبنا في رعاية الآخرين، والاستيلاء على السلطة كاستعادة للتوازن، والمقاومة والنضال الثوري كوضع حياتنا في التوازن مع أولئك الذين لا حول لهم ولا قوة والمحرومين، والمُسكتين والممحيين، وtikkun olam أو شفاء انكسار العالم.

      في القدس والقدس، نتعرض للخيانة بسبب طبيعة الخضوع للسلطة والانقسامات غير المتكافئة للسلطة، ويتم تجريدنا من إنسانيتنا من قبل أولئك الذين يرتكبون الفظائع باسمنا، ويصبحون متواطئين في جرائم ضد الإنسانية من خلال روايات الإيذاء التي يسمح بها كما يعلمنا فولتير. أي شئ.

      حصلت على قفاز غيرنا. إنه إرهاب قديم. وهذا يجب أن نقاومه.

      الأساطير القديمة، والمظالم القديمة، منسوجة في نسيج نفسيتنا وحضارتنا. ومثل كل التاريخ والذاكرة والهوية المعتمدة، تحاكي القوى التي يجب أن نخرج من تراثها.

      في هذه اللحظة، أعود مرة أخرى إلى التشخيص الرائع لمرض السلطة باعتبارها هوية مستولى عليها، كما كتب ألون بن ميرين في هافبوست، على الرغم من أن وصفه لنظام الدولتين مثير للنقاش، وبالنسبة لي يجب استبداله بمرور الوقت بنظام علماني. دولة بقانون واحد للجميع وبدون تقسيمات رسمية للقبيلة أو اللغة أو العقيدة، في مقال بعنوان “في قبضة الأوهام القوية”؛ “يبدو أن الطريق المسدود الذي وصلت إليه عملية السلام الإسرائيلية الفلسطينية غير منطقي ومثير للقلق، حيث أن غالبية الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين يدركون أن التعايش، سواء في ظل ظروف العداء أو الصداقة، هو حقيقة لا يمكن لأي من الطرفين تغييرها إلا بحدوث كارثة.

      يبدو أن الطريق المسدود الذي وصلت إليه عملية السلام الإسرائيلية الفلسطينية غير منطقي ومثير للقلق، حيث أن أغلبية من الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين يدركون أن التعايش، سواء في ظل ظروف من العداء أو الصداقة، يشكل حقيقة لا يستطيع أي من الطرفين أن يغيرها إلا بالكارثة. ويدرك الجانبان أن المعايير العامة لاتفاق سلام مستدام يجب أن ترتكز على حل الدولتين على أساس حدود 1967 مع بعض تبادل الأراضي. لكن كلا الطرفين اختار الاستمتاع بالأوهام والعيش في تحدي الزمن والظروف. ويبدو أنهما يفضلان استمرار الاشتباكات العنيفة وإراقة الدماء على التعايش السلمي، في حين يلقي كل منهما اللوم على الآخر في المسار المدمر الذي لا ينتهي والذي اختار كل منهما أن يسلكه بشكل مأساوي.

      هناك ضرورات أساسية، مقرونة بتدابير أمنية متبادلة طويلة الأمد، تمثل ما كان على طاولة المفاوضات في عام 2000 في كامب ديفيد وفي 2010/2011 و2013/2014 تحت رعاية إدارة أوباما في القدس ورام الله. وكانت كل جولة، بدرجات متفاوتة من التقدم، تهدف إلى وضع اللمسات النهائية على الاتفاق، لكنها فشلت في نهاية المطاف في القيام بذلك. السؤال هو: لماذا؟

      وكانت التصورات المتحيزة والانتقائية، والتي عززتها التجارب التاريخية، والدين، والإيديولوجيات غير المتوافقة، سبباً في حبس كلا الجانبين في مواقف جامدة. وتشمل العوامل التي تحافظ على هذه الأنماط وتعززها المشاعر مثل الخوف وعدم الثقة وانعدام الأمن. والنتيجة النفسية هي الإنكار المتبادل لسردية الآخر ونزع الشرعية المتبادلة.

      والنتيجة العملية مجتمعة هي الركود والاستقطاب. ولذلك فإن ما نحتاج إليه هو حوار موجه نحو الإجماع على مستوى القيادة بين المسؤولين وغير المسؤولين، والتفاعلات بين الناس، لحل مسألة التصور – وهي مهمة صعبة نظراً للبيئة الحالية التي تدعم التحيز بدلاً من تحسينه. التصورات.

      هناك بعض المفاهيم النفسية ذات الصلة بفهم العلاقة الإسرائيلية الفلسطينية

فلكت؛ مفهوم الوهم هو مفهوم أساسي. في كتابه مستقبل الوهم، يقدم فرويد التعريف التالي: “… نحن نسمي الاعتقاد وهمًا عندما يكون تحقيق الرغبة عاملاً بارزًا في دوافعه، وبذلك نتجاهل علاقاته بالواقع، تمامًا كما الوهم في حد ذاته لا يشكل أي أهمية للتحقق.”

      ما يميز الأوهام هو: 1) أنها مستمدة من رغبات إنسانية عميقة، و2) الاعتقاد قائم (أو سيتم الاعتقاد به) في غياب أي دليل مقنع، أو أسس عقلانية جيدة، لصالحه.

      من المستحيل إنكار أن كلا من الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين يقعون في قبضة أوهام قوية للغاية لا تؤدي إلا إلى إطالة أمد الصراع ومنع أي تفاهم متبادل. وعلى وجه الخصوص، فإن الاعتقاد الذي يتقاسمه العديد من الإسرائيليين بأن لديهم حق كتابي في الأرض (بما في ذلك يهودا والسامرة)، وأن الله أعطاها لليهود إلى الأبد، هو بلا شك وهم من وهم الأمس.

      لم يتم تأكيد هذا الاعتقاد لأن هناك دليل حقيقي على أن الله اعتبره كذلك (على الرغم من وجود مملكتين يهوديتين – الأولى في القرن العاشر قبل الميلاد والثانية في بداية عام 539 قبل الميلاد – على نفس الأرض)، ولكن لأنه يرضي حاجة نفسية عميقة الجذور لوطن يهودي وهبه الله.

      والاعتقاد بأن إسرائيل من خلال توسيع المستوطنات سوف تعزز أمنها القومي وتحافظ على قبضتها على الأرض بالكامل هو وهم الغد، وهو وهم يتجاهل عموماً وجود المسلمين في نفس الأرض لأكثر من 1300 عام.

      من المهم أن نلاحظ كيف تدعم هذه الأوهام وتعزز بعضها البعض، وتشكل حاجزًا نفسيًا أكثر مناعة للتفكير النقدي. لقد ساهمت أوهام إسرائيل في خلق منطق الاحتلال.

      الفلسطينيون، من جانبهم، لا يخلو من أوهامهم. كما يعتقدون أن الله قد حفظ لهم الأرض، ويحتجون بحقيقة أنهم سكنوا الأرض لعدة قرون. ومن وجهة نظرهم فإن وجود المسجد الأقصى الذي بني عام 705م في القدس يشهد على ارتباطهم التاريخي والديني بالمدينة المقدسة.

      كما أنهم يتمسكون بفكرة أنهم سيعودون يوماً ما إلى أرض أسلافهم، كما فعلوا وما زالوا يصرون على حق العودة للاجئين الفلسطينيين، على الرغم من أن ذلك أصبح مستحيلاً فعلياً.

      يتمسك الفلسطينيون بأوهام الأمس والغد بشكل أعمى ويائس مثل الإسرائيليين، الأمر الذي يؤدي إلى مقاومة التغيير والخوف منه. وعلى هذا النحو، ما لم يغير الجانبان مسارهما ويقبلا انتماء كل منهما إلى نفس الأرض، خاصة لأنها قائمة على أساس ديني، فمن المحتم أن يؤدي الوضع إلى كارثة.

       وقد ساهم ذلك في جعل الصراع الإسرائيلي الفلسطيني مزمناً وعصياً على الحل، حيث تتغذى الأوهام المختلفة بشكل مستمر وواعي من خلال المواجهات العدائية اليومية والعنيفة في كثير من الأحيان بين الجانبين.

      في السعي إلى سد المفاهيم التي يمكن أن تربط بين مجالات علم النفس والسياسة في الصراع الإسرائيلي الفلسطيني، يمكن اقتراح أن المقاومة الجماعية المتبادلة للتغيير (سواء الواعي أو المتعمد، أو اللاوعي الداخلي) تحمي الهوية الضعيفة.

      فمقارنة، على سبيل المثال، بالهويات السياسية المستقرة والناضجة للدول الأمريكية والبريطانية والفرنسية، فإن الهويات السياسية لكل من الشعبين الإسرائيلي والفلسطيني، بطريقة ما، في مرحلة المراهقة.

      تكون الهويات في هذا السياق أكثر عرضة للخطر، والأبطال بطبيعة الحال أكثر دفاعية ومقاومة للتغيير. بحكم طبيعتها، يجب على اللاعبين أن يجدوا صعوبة (إن لم يكن من المستحيل) في التعبير عن ذلك علنًا، لأن القيام بذلك يعني الاعتراف بهذه الثغرة الأمنية.

      إن مفهوم المقاومة النفسية للتغيير قد يؤثر على الوضع السياسي بشكل عام وعلى الصراع الإسرائيلي الفلسطيني بشكل خاص. فهو يرتبط ارتباطًا وثيقًا بالتصورات على العديد من المستويات ويوفر الحماية لتكوين الهوية الضعيفة.

      وهذه العقلية، التي تعززها التجارب التاريخية، هي التي تتجاوز أكثر من سبعة عقود منذ بدأ الصراع الإسرائيلي الفلسطيني. وما زال الأفراد والجماعات، الإسرائيليون والفلسطينيون على حد سواء، يفسرون طبيعة الخلاف بينهم على أنه “أنت ضدي” بطريقة متحيزة وانتقائية.

      وهذا بدوره أدى إلى خنق أي معلومات جديدة ومكن من استمرار مقاومة التغيير، الأمر الذي يمكن أن يلقي ضوءا جديدا على طبيعة وجوهر الصراع ويساعد في دفع عملية السلام.

      يرتبط مفهوم المقاومة اللاواعية للتغيير في هذا الإطار جيدًا بوجهة نظر التصورات التي تحرك الاستقطاب في الصراع. إن الخبرة التاريخية، التي تصوغ التصورات، تعمل من بين أمور أخرى على تعزيز الإحساس بالهوية “من نحن حقًا”، وهو افتراض جماعي تكويني يقع في حجر الأساس لكل من اللاعبين الرئيسيين ويحرك السلوك الوظيفي والمختل.

ومن حيث المبدأ، فإن مثل هذه العقلية تمنع أياً من الطرفين من طرح أفكار جديدة قد تؤدي إلى تنازلات من أجل التوصل إلى حل سلمي. والمفارقة هنا هي أن الأغلبية على كلا الجانبين تريد السلام وتسعى إليه، وهي تعلم جيداً أن ذلك يتطلب تنازلات كبيرة، لكنها غير قادرة على التوفيق بين التنازلات المطلوبة والتصورات المتأصلة التي حالت دون هذه التنازلات نتيجة المقاومة والخوف من ذلك. يتغير.

      ولذلك، فإن أي إطار للسلام يجب أن يتضمن بنوداً من شأنها أن تزيد بشكل كبير من احتمالات التوصل إلى حل. أولاً، يتعين على الجانبين الالتزام بالتوصل إلى اتفاق على أساس حل الدولتين انطلاقاً من الاقتناع بأن التغيير، الذي يترجم إلى التعايش، أمر لا مفر منه. ولذلك، يتعين عليهم أن يتكيفوا مع متطلبات بعضهم البعض، الأمر الذي يتطلب منهم بالضرورة تقديم تنازلات كبيرة.

      ثانياً، لتسهيل ذلك، يجب عليهم إجراء تفاعلات تصالحية اجتماعية واقتصادية وثقافية وأمنية بين الناس للتخفيف من مقاومتهم للتغيير، والتي يجب أن تبدأ، على الأقل، قبل عام واحد من بدء المفاوضات لخلق الحالة النفسية والاجتماعية. مناخ سياسي لبناء الثقة اللازمة لمفاوضات سلام موضوعية وناجحة.

      إن استئناف محادثات السلام لن يؤدي إلى أي نتيجة ما لم يغير الإسرائيليون والفلسطينيون تصوراتهم المتحيزة ومقاومتهم للتغيير وخوفهم منه، ثم يدركون أخيراً أن مصيرهم متشابك ولا يستطيع أي منهما أن يعيش في سلام وأمن دون الآخر.

      أشعر بأنني مضطر إلى اختتام مقالتي الأخيرة لهذا العام بتحذير شديد من أنه من الأفضل للإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين على حد سواء أن يفكروا فيه مع اقترابهم من نهاية العقد السابع من صراعهم المأساوي.

      يجب على كل متطرف إسرائيلي ومتشدد فلسطيني، أولئك الذين يريدون كل ذلك، أن يتوقفوا ويفكروا أين ستكون إسرائيل والفلسطينيون بعد عشر سنوات إذا استمر الوضع الحالي؟

      أوهامك اليوم لن تصبح حقيقة غدًا، وما سيأتي به الغد ليس سوى المزيد من الألم والدموع والعذاب.

      صراعكم يتطور بشكل أسرع من أي وقت مضى إلى حرب دينية. إن هرمجدون بين المسلمين واليهود يجري الإعداد له الآن، وهو ما من شأنه أن يشعل المنطقة بأكملها على نار لا يمكن تصورها.

      إذا كنتم مؤمنين حقيقيين، فلا تجرؤوا على تحدي مشيئة الله، لأنه جمعكم معًا ليضعكم في الاختبار – يجب عليكم إما أن تعيشوا في سلام ووئام، أو سيحكم عليكم بالنسيان واليأس.

      لديك القدرة على اختيار مصيرك. هل سيكون تدميرًا ذاتيًا أم سيكون تحقيقًا لحلم مجيد؟

      انهضوا ومرروا إرثًا من الأمل لكل طفل إسرائيلي وفلسطيني، لأن لديهم الحق الذي منحه الله لهم في أن يكبروا ويزدهروا ولا ينبغي لأحد أن يموت من أجل أوهامكم عبثًا”.

      كما كتبت في رسالتي بتاريخ 9 نوفمبر 2023، مرآة ظلامنا: كريستالناكت؛ إن إسرائيل تحيي ذكرى هذه المأساة التي فتحت الباب أمام مأساة أكبر في المحرقة من خلال فعل الشيء نفسه بالضبط مع الفلسطينيين، شعب واحد منقسم بسبب التاريخ والدين الذي تم استخدامه كسلاح في خدمة السلطة. وهذا أيضاً سيفتح الأبواب أمام المزيد من إرهاب الدولة وطغيانها، ما لم يتمكن الشعبان من الاتحاد ضد السلطات التي ترتكب الفظائع باسمهما كإستراتيجية لإخضاع وتحرير بعضهما البعض من أولئك الذين يستعبدونهما.

      إذا كنت تفكر في الأمم باعتبارها أطفالًا ناجين من سوء المعاملة، يصبح الكثير واضحًا؛ لأنه بمجرد استيلائهم على السلطة، فمن المرجح أن يصبحوا هم أنفسهم مسيئين. هذه هي الطريقة التي يعمل بها الخوف، ولماذا هو الأساس الحقيقي للتبادل، ولماذا السياسة هي فن الخوف، ولماذا تتجسد الدول في العنف. لقد تعرض كل من الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين للتهديدات الوجودية بوحشية قبل وقت طويل من بدء ممارسة الوحشية والوحشية وتجريد بعضهم البعض من إنسانيتهم.

      إن استخدام الأنظمة المفترسة على كلا الجانبين لسياسات الانقسام والهوية لمركزية السلطة وإضفاء الشرعية على الهيمنة الاستبدادية هي مرحلة يمكن التنبؤ بها من النضال من أجل التحرير، وخاصة الثورة المناهضة للاستعمار.

       إن الحيلة في أن نصبح بشرًا، وأصدقاء، هي أن نحتضن ظلامنا في النضال وكذلك أعداءنا، ونخرج من تراث تاريخنا الذي يظللنا مثل ذيل تمساح غير مرئي.

       هناك سطر يتحدث به الشرير في مسلسل The Magicians، وهو أحد الناجين من إساءة معاملة الأطفال والطاغية المعروف باسم The Beast لجرائمه المروعة، وكان في السابق الصبي الضعيف والمرعوب مارتن شاتوين والآن إله وحشي؛ “كما تعلم، عندما كنت صبيًا، كان الرجل الذي كان من المفترض أن يعتني بي، يثنيني على مكتبه ويحتضنني مرارًا وتكرارًا في كل مرة كنت وحدي معه. إنه يساعدني على فهم الحقيقة. أنت قوي أو أنت ضعيف. “

       وهنا تكمن الكذبة الأصلية للطاغية والفاشي في الدفاعيات وتبرير الذات وسيكوباتية السلطة؛ الكذبة القائلة بأن القوة وحدها هي التي لها معنى وهي حقيقية، وأنه لا يوجد خير أو شر. إن كيفية استخدامنا للسلطة لا تقل أهمية عن من يملكها. الخوف والقوة هما الوسيلة الأساسية للتبادل البشري، ولكن

ليست الوسيلة الوحيدة؛ الحب والعضوية والانتماء لا تقل أهمية.

       إنه خط يجسد بشكل مثالي التناقضات المتأصلة في حلقة فاغنر من الخوف والقوة والقوة كأصل للشر؛ لأن استخدام القوة الاجتماعية هو أمر تخريبي لقيمه الخاصة. ومع ذلك، فإن الظروف المفروضة للنضال الثوري غالبا ما تتطلب العنف، وإلى أن يتم إسقاط آلهة القانون والنظام من عروشهم، يجب أن أتفق مع القول المأثور الشهير لسارتر في مسرحيته “الأيدي القذرة” عام 1948، والتي اقتبسها فرانتز فانون في خطابه عام 1960. لماذا نستخدم العنف، والذي جعله خالدًا مالكولم إكس؛ “بأي وسيلة ضرورية.”

      كما كتب والتر رودني في The Groundings with my Brothers؛ “لقد قيل لنا أن العنف في حد ذاته شر، وأنه، مهما كان سببه، فهو غير مبرر أخلاقيا. بأي معيار أخلاقي يمكن اعتبار العنف الذي يستخدمه العبد لكسر أغلاله مثل عنف سيد العبد؟ بأي معايير يمكننا أن نساوي عنف السود الذين تعرضوا للاضطهاد والقمع والاكتئاب لمدة أربعة قرون مع عنف الفاشيين البيض. ولا يمكن الحكم على العنف الذي يهدف إلى استعادة الكرامة الإنسانية والمساواة بنفس مقياس العنف الذي يهدف إلى الحفاظ على التمييز والقمع.

      وهذا هو المقطع الذي يشير إليه من ليون تروتسكي في كتابه “أخلاقهم وأخلاقنا: الأسس الطبقية للممارسة الأخلاقية”؛ “مالك العبيد الذي من خلال المكر والعنف يقيد عبدًا مقيدًا بالسلاسل، والعبد الذي يكسر القيود من خلال المكر أو العنف – لا تدع الخصيان المحتقرين يخبروننا أنهم متساوون أمام محكمة الأخلاق!”

      ومع ذلك، أفكر في تلك الشخصيات العظيمة التي كانت أبطال التحرير وأشرار الطغيان؛ قدوتي المراهقة نابليون، واشنطن، الذي يعد محوريًا في تاريخ عائلتنا وصاغ الشعار على شعار النبالة الخاص بنا في رمز المرور خلال معركة ترينتون، النصر أو الموت، عندما كانت الثورة بأكملها تراهن على أمل بائس، من المأساوية دراما الأبطال الذين سقطوا مثل روبرت موغابي، والطغاة المتوحشين ستالين وماو، والقائمة عبارة عن سلسلة لا نهاية لها تقريبًا من الويلات وإخفاقات الرؤية حيث تحولت عوالم جديدة شجاعة إلى جحيم وحالات جنونية. في الدليل الذي أقدمه، أصبحت الثورات الأمريكية والنابليونية إمبراطوريات، والاتحاد السوفييتي، والحزب الشيوعي الصيني، والهند حيث يأتي مجد التحرير جنبًا إلى جنب مع مأساة التقسيم، وهي الآن تحت حذاء القومية الهندوسية، وجميع الثورات المناهضة للاستعمار تقريبًا. والتي أصبحت، مع الفترة الأولى من الحرية كأمم جديدة، أنظمة استبدادية مروعة، وقبل كل شيء دولة إسرائيل، حلم اللجوء الذي نشأ في إرهاب المحرقة التي تعلم ضحاياها الدروس الخاطئة من النازيين وتولوا دورهم في احتلال إسرائيل. فلسطين. إن مخاطر المثالية حقيقية للغاية؛ ولكن كذلك مخاطر الخضوع للسلطة والتواطؤ في الصمت في وجه الشر.

      أنا صياد الفاشيين، وأخلاقي هي أخلاق الصياد. بالنسبة لي هناك اختبار بسيط لاستخدام القوة؛ من يملك السلطة؟

      لقد كتب عدد كبير من الحكماء بشكل جميل عن أهوال فاشية الدم والإيمان والتربة والتسلسلات الهرمية للانتماء النخبوي والاختلاف الإقصائي، كما يفعل بول أوستريشر في المقالة التالية؛ أود هنا فقط أن أشير إلى أن القوى التي تكمن في داخلنا وخارجها، مثل الظروف الاجتماعية والصدمات اللاجينية، والحركات الرجعية للهمجية وأنظمة القمع، هي قوى عالمية بالنسبة للبشر كشروط مفروضة للنضال وتعمل باستمرار حتى عندما تكون محجوبة عن الأنظار. أبعد من الرعب والإذلال الناتج عن نقاط الانكسار في الروح الإنسانية مثل تلك التي حدثت في ليلة الكريستال والتطهير العرقي في غزة.

      أكتب إليك كشخص عاش صرخة معركة “لن يحدث مرة أخرى أبدًا”! منذ أكثر من أربعين عامًا، ومن الأهمية العميقة والحيوية تطبيق مبدأ العمل هذا ليس فقط في مقاومة الفاشية كعدو متطفل على كل ما هو إنساني فينا، ولكن أيضًا على أنفسنا واستخدامنا للعنف والوسائل الاجتماعية. القوة تجاه الآخرين.

     في النهاية، كل ما يهم هو ما نفعله بمخاوفنا، وكيف نستخدم قوتنا.

      بغض النظر عن المكان الذي تبدأ فيه بالانقسامات والتسلسلات الهرمية للانتماء النخبوي والاختلاف الاستبعادي، فإنك دائمًا ينتهي بك الأمر عند أبواب أوشفيتز.

     كما يعلمنا نيتشه في كتابه ما وراء الخير والشر؛ “أولئك الذين يصطادون الوحوش يجب أن ينتبهوا لئلا يصبح وحشًا. وإذا حدقت طويلا في الهاوية، فإن الهاوية ستحدق فيك أيضا.”

      في مرآة غزة المظلمة، بانعكاساتها الوحشية على ليلة الكريستال وأوشفيتز، هل يعجبك ما تراه يا إسرائيل؟

      وكما كتبت في رسالتي بتاريخ 10 مايو 2021، الدفاع عن الأقصى: الحرية مقابل الاستبداد في القدس؛ ربما شهدنا قدوم الانتفاضة الثالثة هذه الليلة، دفاعًا عن الأقصى ومعارك الشوارع في غزة التي أعقبت ذلك، والتي أشعلها الغدر والغزو الإمبراطوري لدولة إسرائيل الفاشية والكارهة للأجانب والتي لا تنظر إلا إلى أحد.

قبيلتهم ودينهم كإنسان حقيقي، والذي ارتكب هجومًا مميتًا غير مبرر كعمل من أعمال إرهاب الدولة وجريمة ضد الإنسانية على المصلين المسالمين في أحد أكثر المساجد قدسية في العالم الإسلامي، وهو استعراض للقوة والقوة. الهيمنة التي تأتي بعد أسابيع من الاستفزازات والاعتداءات وأعمال الدعاية التجريدية من الإنسانية ضد شعب فلسطين.

       مثل انتفاضة الأقصى الثانية التي استمرت أربع سنوات من 28 سبتمبر 2000 إلى 8 فبراير 2005، فإن القضايا التي لم يتم حلها للاحتلال هي الآن في عامها الرابع والخمسين منذ احتلال إسرائيل للقدس القديمة في 7 يونيو 1967، والذي احتفلت به دولة إسرائيل وفقًا لـ إلى التقويم العبري باعتباره يوم القدس اليوم من خلال مهاجمة الأقصى، والكارثة المستمرة الآن منذ ثلاثة وسبعين عامًا منذ يوم النكبة في 15 مايو 1948، تضافرت حول القيمة الرمزية للأقصى، الذي له هوية مزدوجة متنازع عليها مثل جبل الهيكل في القدس. اليهودية.

      إن فرص التهدئة وتجنب الحرب لا تعتمد الآن على العوامل المحلية، بل على استجابة المجتمع الدولي، لأن التاريخ هنا أصبح فخًا ينهار ليوقعنا في شركه، ويجب على القوى الخارجية أن تحررنا من إخفاقات الغرب. التناقضات الداخلية لنظامنا.

      فهل ستتنصل أمريكا وتتخلى عن مستعمرتها إسرائيل، ملكة سياستها الإمبراطورية في الشرق الأوسط وسيطرتها على المورد الاستراتيجي للنفط؟ هل يمكن للوحدة الدولية وضغوط المقاطعة وسحب الاستثمارات وفرض العقوبات أن تحررنا من طغيان وإرهاب نظام الفصل العنصري كما حدث في جنوب أفريقيا؟

      أم أن الحرب هي الحساب الوحيد الذي يمكن للبشرية تقديمه أو قبوله؟

      كما كتب إيشان ثارور في صحيفة واشنطن بوست؛ ليلة الإثنين، تبادل المسلحون في قطاع غزة والجيش الإسرائيلي إطلاق الصواريخ والغارات الجوية وسط تصعيد مميت للعنف. أطلقت حماس والجهاد الإسلامي، الجماعتان المسلحتان المتمركزتان في غزة المحاصرة، وابلًا من الصواريخ التي سقطت بالقرب من القدس وفي أجزاء من جنوب إسرائيل، مما أدى إلى إصابة شخص واحد على الأقل. وأدت الغارات الجوية الإسرائيلية ردا على ذلك إلى مقتل ما لا يقل عن 20 شخصا في غزة، وفقا لوزارة الصحة في غزة، من بينهم تسعة أطفال.

      وقال رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتنياهو إن “الجماعات الإرهابية” في غزة “تجاوزت الخط الأحمر” بهجماتها الصاروخية. لكن الانفجار الأخير للأعمال العدائية له ذيل طويل، في أعقاب العديد من الأعمال العدوانية التي قامت بها قوات الأمن الإسرائيلية والجماعات اليهودية اليمينية المتطرفة في القدس. قبل أسبوعين، قامت مجموعات من المتطرفين اليهود، بما في ذلك بعض المستوطنين من الضفة الغربية، بمسيرة عبر المناطق المأهولة بالسكان الفلسطينيين في المدينة المقدسة، وهم يهتفون “الموت للعرب”، وهاجموا المارة وألحقوا أضرارًا بالممتلكات والمنازل الفلسطينية. أثارت المحاولات الإسرائيلية لطرد عدد من العائلات الفلسطينية في حي الشيخ جراح بالقدس الشرقية – وهو نموذج مصغر لما يعتبره الفلسطينيون جزءًا من تاريخ طويل من السلب والمحو على يد الدولة الإسرائيلية – احتجاجات التضامن الفلسطيني في أجزاء مختلفة للأراضي المحتلة وإسرائيل.

      كما أثارت التوترات قبيل إحياء يوم القدس يوم الاثنين، وهو يوم عطلة إسرائيلية رسمي يحتفل بالاستيلاء على المدينة خلال الحرب العربية الإسرائيلية عام 1967. تم إلغاء مسيرة سنوية كان من المقرر أن يقوم بها إسرائيليون من اليمين المتطرف بعد أن غيرت السلطات مسارها في اللحظة الأخيرة. ولا تزال أعداد كبيرة تشق طريقها إلى حائط المبكى وتغني أغنية انتقامية متطرفة ضد الفلسطينيين.

      أفاد زملائي أن “هجمات حماس الصاروخية، والتي تضمنت الضربات الأولى ضد القدس منذ عدة سنوات، جاءت بعد اشتباكات بين الشرطة الإسرائيلية والمتظاهرين الفلسطينيين والإسرائيليين اليهود اليمينيين المتطرفين حول المدينة القديمة”. ومن بين مئات الجرحى سبعة نقلوا إلى المستشفى في حالة خطيرة، بحسب الهلال الأحمر الفلسطيني. وتم تداول مقطع فيديو على وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي يظهر ضباط شرطة إسرائيليين يضربون بوحشية رجلاً فلسطينيًا معتقلًا.

       فكيف يمكن لأمريكا أن تدعم دولة إسرائيل في الطغيان والإرهاب والغزو والنهب؟ إنه سؤال يُطرح بلهجة الغضب والأسى والحيرة منذ حلول النكبة في 15 مايو/أيار 1948، يوم النكبة التي بدأ فيها احتلال فلسطين والاستعباد الممنهج والإبادة الجماعية لشعبها في أعقاب الغزو الإسرائيلي. القدس. كيف يتم إضفاء الشرعية على هذا؟

       لقد أعاد أحد الأصدقاء صياغة هذا السؤال لي مؤخرًا؛ “لقد أحببت التقليد اليهودي واعتنقته، وانضممت إلى كنيس يهودي وعملت جنبًا إلى جنب مع حاخامه. عندما أشاهد معاملة الحكومة اليهودية في إسرائيل للفلسطينيين، تغمرني مشاعر الارتباك والغضب. ولأنني غير قادر على التوفيق بين هذا الفجور، فإنني أشكك في أساس إيماني. أين الانتفاضة الطيبة والأخلاقية للأصوات اليهودية العالمية المنددة بمسار الحكومة؟ لقد فقدت الثقة في كوني يهودية”.

      ما هو واضح بالنسبة لي هو أن أزمة الإيمان هذه هي أيضًا أزمة هوية وجودية

ن الوضع في غاية الخطورة والخطر والذي يحمل أيضًا إمكانية إعادة التصور والولادة التحويلية، وهو صدى شخصي لأزمة حضارية موازية يجب على البشرية والمجتمع العالمي للأمم أن يجدوا منها طريقة للخروج وتحرير أنفسنا من تراث الحضارة الإنسانية. تاريخنا. وهنا ردي:

      دولة إسرائيل ليست متطابقة مع الديانة اليهودية، على الرغم من أن الفصيل الإمبريالي الفاشي الذي يمثله نتنياهو يرغب في أن يعتقد الجميع ذلك.

     أمة تقوم على تخصيص مواطنيها لهوية قبلية، والتسليح الطائفي للعقيدة في خدمة السلطة والهوية الوطنية المصرح بها، ومجتمع عسكري مع خدمة إلزامية عالمية، وصنم منتشر لأساطير الشجاعة العسكرية ورموزها بما في ذلك البنادق. واستخدمت لغة الوحدة الوطنية العبرية المعاد بناؤها سياسات الهوية لإخضاع مواطنيها لسلطة الاستبداد المركزية؛ إسرائيل دولة فاشية من الدم والإيمان والأرض لا تقل عن دولة النازيين.

      أضف إلى هذا المزيج السام النظام الكليبتوقراطي الذي روج لسرديات الإيذاء التاريخي لإضفاء الشرعية على السرقة الجماعية والغزو الإمبراطوري لشعوب أخرى، وهناك شيء واحد واضح؛ لقد تعلمت إسرائيل الدروس الخاطئة من النازيين.

      ربما تعلمون من إشاراتي العديدة إلى الحادثة في كتاباتي أنني مناهض للفاشية، وقد أقسمت قسم المقاومة على يد جان جينيه عام 1982 في بيروت، أثناء معركتنا ضد الغزو والحصار الإسرائيلي. وفي الأعوام التسع والثلاثين التي تلت ذلك، كنت صائدًا للنازيين وثوريًا للديمقراطية منخرطًا في النضال من أجل تحرير البشرية ضد الطغيان والأنظمة الاستبدادية التي تعتمد على القوة والسيطرة.

       لقد كان الوطن الفلسطيني، والعدالة لشعبه، من بين أهدافي منذ ذلك الصيف منذ فترة طويلة. ومثله كمثل هدف تحرير أيرلندا من الحكم الاستعماري البريطاني، فلا يزال يتعين تحقيقه. موضع التساؤل هو فكرة الحرية والمواطنة باعتبارها سيادة واستقلال الشعوب عن الاستعمار الأجنبي والطغيان الاستبدادي، وأولوية دولة غير طائفية خالية من الانقسامات والتسلسلات الهرمية للإيمان، لأن من يقف بين كل واحد منا وبين اللانهائي لا يخدم أيًا منهما. .

      كما أنني أؤيد فكرة إقامة وطن إسرائيلي، ولا أرى أي سبب يجعل هاتين الدولتين، فلسطين وإسرائيل، متنافيتين أو متعارضتين. بعض الإسرائيليين الذين يختلفون معي حول قضية فلسطين والنزعة العسكرية في الغزو الإمبراطوري والسيطرة الإقليمية كانوا حلفاء في قضية مطاردة النازيين والفاشيين عمومًا في جميع أنحاء العالم، لكنهم غافلون عن تواطؤهم في هذا الشر بسبب رؤيتهم لأنفسهم. كضحايا وليس كمرتكبي جرائم ضد الإنسانية. يتعلق الأمر بالخوف والدورة المدمرة للإساءة والعنف.

      عندما تستولي السلطة على الإيمان لإضفاء الشرعية على سياسات الهوية، تصبح الهوية نفسها مشوشة وغامضة. لكي نصبح أحرارًا، يجب علينا أن نمتلك ملكية أنفسنا ككائنات مخلوقة ذاتيًا ومستقلة.

      ولهذا السبب فإن الواجبات الأساسية للمواطن هي مساءلة السلطة، وكشف السلطة، والسخرية من السلطة، وتحدي السلطة.

      دائمًا يبقى الصراع بين الأقنعة التي يصنعها الآخرون لنا وتلك التي نصنعها لأنفسنا؛ هذه هي الثورة الأولى التي يجب علينا جميعا أن نقاتل فيها.

      أفكر في مشكلة الشر البشري ودورة الخوف والقوة والقوة في حالة الدول التي أصبحت أنظمة استبدادية قاتلت من أجل تحرير نفسها منها، وهذا ينطبق على الدول الثورية المناهضة للاستعمار بشكل عام بسبب الموروثات التاريخية من الإيذاء. ، في هذا الطريق؛ غالبًا ما يصبح الضحايا مسيئين لأن هويتهم منظمة حول السلطة باعتبارها الوسيلة الوحيدة للهروب في عالم لا يمكن الوثوق فيه بأحد.

      عندما يتم إلغاء الثقة وإثبات أنها فارغة وبلا معنى، عندما تنكسر القدرة على الارتباط بالآخرين والشعور بألمهم في التعاطف، ويصبح المرء بلا شفقة أو ندم، عندما يكون الخوف طاغيًا ومعممًا وتشكله السلطة على التعامل مع الآخرين. وفي خدمة السلطة، يتعلم الضحايا أن القوة وحدها هي التي لها معنى وهي حقيقية. يجب ألا نسمح للمسيئين أن يصبحوا معلمينا.

      وفي حين أن كل قضية من هذا القبيل لها أصولها وتاريخها الفريد، فإن المشكلة في حد ذاتها عالمية، وتتعلق بما يخشاه المرء، وكيف يتشكل هذا الخوف من خلال السلطة كهوية. من وجهة نظرنا كأميركيين يفسرون الأحداث في المشكلة الكلاسيكية المتمثلة في الأقلية المزدوجة التي تمثلها إسرائيل وفلسطين، فإن كيفية إدراكنا للقضايا لها علاقة كبيرة بكيفية تأطيرها من خلال مصادرنا الإعلامية والمحفزة.

       في النهاية، يتم تعريفنا بما نفعله بخوفنا، وكيف نستخدم قوتنا.

       السؤال الأول الذي يجب طرحه في أي قصة، والأهم، هو سؤال بسيط؛ من هذه القصة؟

       نحن ضائعون في برية المرايا، من الأكاذيب والأوهام، وتزييف أنفسنا، والصور والانعكاسات المشوهة، والأصداء والهويات المرخصة التي تشوه وتشوه.

مكين، وسرقة أرواحنا.

       فكيف نجيب أولئك الذين يستعبدوننا؟ يتم تحقيق أصالتنا واستقلالنا من خلال الاستيلاء على السلطة، وإعادة تصور وتحويل أنفسنا والبشرية كمجتمع حر متساوين.

       نحن الأمريكيون نميل إلى رؤية الأشياء من منظور القبعات البيضاء والقبعات السوداء، كما هو الحال في الأفلام الغربية التي تعتبر بمثابة أساطير أصلية ونماذج أولية لشخصيتنا الوطنية. بمجرد منح مكانة الضحية، تصبح هذه المجموعات والأشخاص من القبعات البيضاء والأخيار، غير قادرين على الشر ومعارضين تمامًا لأي شخص يجب أن يكون من القبعات السوداء. إنها طريقة فظيعة لاختيار السياسة الوطنية.

      للأسف، نحن البشر يمكن أن نكون خيرًا وأشرارًا في الوقت نفسه، فعيوب إنسانيتنا تتردد وتعكس انكسار العالم. إنها حقيقة تم إثباتها مرة أخرى الليلة في القدس أو القدس اعتمادًا على من يتحدث وبأي لغة، بينما تحترق غزة من هجوم قوات الدفاع الإسرائيلية المسعورة تمامًا كما حدث في الليلة التي مضت قبل أربعة عقود تقريبًا في بيروت. عندما حاولوا حرقي أنا وجينيه أحياء في المقهى الخاص بنا، كعشرات البشر الذين سُرق منهم كل شيء ما عدا الأمل، أقسموا لبعضهم البعض أن يتخذوا موقعًا يغطي هروب النساء والأطفال المحاصرين بالهجوم الإسرائيلي حتى النهاية. نحن آمنون، في دفاع أخير ليس عن المسجد الأقصى، رائع وجميل ومليء بالأهمية، نصب تذكاري للدافع البشري للوصول إلى ما هو أبعد من أنفسنا والإمكانيات اللامحدودة لأن نصبح بشرًا، مرحلة مناسبة للموت المجيد للأبطال، ولكن من صرخات الغرباء بلا جسد بين المحاربين المجهولين في العصور القديمة المهجورة.

      في مواجهة هوة الفراغ والهمجية العدمية في عالم من الظلام والنار، من الخوف والقوة، ليس لدي سوى الكلمات لأقدمها، وأنا أكتب إليكم ما قلته لرفاقي الذين اختاروا الوقوف معي؛ لقد فقدت عدد مرات الوقوف الأخيرة، لكنني خاطرت بكل شيء ضد احتمالات مستحيلة ونجوت مرات أكثر مما أستطيع أن أتذكر، وكل ما يهم هو أننا لا نتخلى عن أنفسنا ولا عن بعضنا البعض، وأن نرفض الاستسلام، لأن هذا هو لحظة حريتنا، ولا يمكن أن تؤخذ منا أبدا.

       من هذه الليلة تتحرر فلسطين، يمكن أن نقتل ولكن لا يمكن أن نفتح.

Hebrew

10 במאי 2024 יום השנה לאינתיפאדה השלישית של 2021, מתקיים כעת בתיאטרון העשירי של מלחמת העולם השלישית המכיל ומחליף את מלחמת עזה

        הן המבקרים בארץ הקודש המחפשים סימנים של הבלתי נראה המתגלים בדיסנילנד של אמונות מסוכסכות והן אלה שנלכדו בתוך הסיוט של חומות, מחסומים, תיל תער, מעקבים נרחבים, אלימות אוניברסלית, פוליטיקה זהותית, והעריצות והטרור של אחד מאיתנו. משטרי הכוח והשליטה הנוראיים ביותר בעולם הפכו כאן לרוחות הרפאים של השואה; ישראל מהדהדת עם הצרחות השקטות של הקולות הגנובים והצללים הטורפים של היסטוריה שנושקה בשירות לשלטון כנרטיבים של קורבנות וביטחון ככוח, אסטרטגיה שנועדה לשבור תחילה את הסולידריות שלנו עם פילוג ופשיזם של דם, אמונה ואדמה. זיוף ולאחר מכן דה-הומניזציה והכניעתנו כאדונים ועבדים וכרצח עם וטיהור אתני.

      ישראל כחלום מקלט ושל אחווה ואהבה אוניברסליים נבגדה וחתרנה על ידי ישראל כתיאוקרטיה שנאת זרים, אימפריה צבאית ומחנה עבדים; כאן אושוויץ התמסד בקנה מידה לאומי, אסיריה לשעבר עכשיו השומרים שלה.

      מדוע שמישהו יבחר לשחזר גיהנום ממנו נמלט, אפילו כאדוניו ולא כעבדיו?

      אני מבין היטב את הפיתוי של כוח כביטחון בעולם של כוחות עוינים וכאוטיים, וכיצד ניתן לעצב פחד מוחץ ומוכלל על ידי סמכות לרכז כוח על ידי הצעת לנו כוח מושאל על אחרים כדמויות של איומים קיומיים; להיות פוסק המידות באמצעות כוח ושליטה. אבל ביטחון הוא אשליה, המדינה כאלימות מגולמת מצייתת לחוק התנועה השלישי של ניוטון ויוצרת התנגדות משלה, והכאב המשותף שלנו מאחד אותנו בדרכים שמתעלות מעל הטבעת הווגנרית של פחד, כוח וכוח, שרק אהבה יכולה לשחרר אותנו מ.

      אהבה כסולידריות בעשייה יכולה לגאול את פגמי אנושיותנו ואת שברו של העולם, תיקון עולם בעברית, ולשחרר אותנו לחיות כערבים לאנושיותו של זה.

       כפי שכתבתי ביום השנה הראשון לאינתיפאדה השלישית בלילה הזה לפני שנתיים; זה חייב להיות הנושא הנכתב ביותר, הנלמד, התווכח, התנסה בו ונלחם בנושא בפוליטיקה הגלובלית מאז מלחמת העולם השנייה שהוא תוצאה ממנה, העם הזה שבו עם אחד מחולק לפי ההיסטוריה כישראלים ופלסטינים, ומדד של האנושות שלנו, כדוגמה הקלאסית של המיעוט הכפול; מה עושים עם עיר אחת ואומה אחת שתיבעות על ידי שתי קהילות היסטוריות, כבסיס לזהות כאמונה ולאום וההשלכות והפרקסיס של פוליטיקת זהויות כאלימות?

      כאן אומה ועם נקרעים על ידי הפרעת זהות דיסוציאטיבית, מסוכסכים ונעולים במאבק טיטאני כמו עם פיצול הזהות, הזיכרון והתודעה של מספר אישים, טירוף בקנה מידה לאומי וציוויליזציוני שנולד ממורשת ההיסטוריה והחיים משבשים אירועים, טראומה אפיגנטית, אבל, אימה, אשמה וייאוש.

      בדואליות של ישראל ופלסטין מתבררים מקורות הרוע כאלימות ועריצות בטבעת הווגנרית הרקורסיבית והתלויה הדדית של פחד, כוח וכוח, כאשר פחד סוחף ומוכלל ואיומים קיומיים מופעלים בנשק בשירות לשלטון על ידי הסמכות. היוצר מצבי כוח ושליטה קרסראליים ככוח לא שוויוני ואלימות מגולמת, באמצעות היררכיות עילית וחלוקות של שייכות ואחרות ופשיזם של דם, אמונה ואדמה.

      כאן פועל הפשיזם כרע מערכתי כהחזקה וגניבה של הנשמה. מה אנחנו יכולים לעשות לגבי זה? כפי ששאל לנין במאמרו משנת 1902; “מה יש לעשות?” איך להשתחרר מהכוחות המערכתיים של ההכנעה שלנו לסמכות, לאליטות ולאלה שישעבדו אותנו?

     ראשית עלינו להכיר ולהיזהר מאלה המתיימרים לדבר בשמנו ולפעול בשמנו, שכן זוהי אסטרטגיה ראשית של הפשיזם. כדי לשחרר את עצמנו מהשקרים והאשליות, הזיוף וההיסטוריה המשוכתבת, תיאוריות הקונספירציה והמציאות החלופית שבאמצעותן אנו הופכים לדה-הומניזציה, עלינו להיות דוברי אמת העוסקים במרדף אחר האמת כקריאה קדושה, ולבצע את ארבע החובות העיקריות של אזרח; רשות שאלה, רשות חשיפה, רשות מדומה ורשות אתגר.

     שנית עלינו לתפוס את הבעלות העצמית והאוטונומיה שלנו בסירוב להיכנע לסמכות, שכן הסוד הגדול של הכוח הוא שהוא ריק וחלול, והוא עובר דה-לגיטימציה דרך סירוב לסמוך ולהאמין בסמכות, ושל כוח שהוא שביר ו מוצא את הגבול שלו בנקודה של אי ציות. מעשים פשוטים, אבל גם כוחות טבועים של האדם שלא ניתן לקחת מאיתנו; שכן מי שמסרב להיכנע הוא חופשי, והופך לבלתי ניתן לכיבוש.

      תמיד נשאר המאבק בין המסכות שאחרים עושים לנו, לבין אלה שאנחנו עושים לעצמנו. זו המהפכה הראשונה שבה כולנו

חייב להילחם; המאבק לבעלות עצמית ולחופש הזהות.

      אין סמכות צודקת.

       הלילה אני יושב בבית בין החושך העצום של גבעותיי, לילה שעוקב אחרי ימים של גשם ומלא בשירי צפרדעים וציפורים, שלווה המופרעת רק בגלל הכירוסקורו של זיכרונותיי מהלילה הזה לפני שנה, בהגנה. של אל אקצא. כמו הבזקים של ברק, יד העבר יכולה להביא את הכאוס ולהושיט יד לתפוס ולטלטל אותנו, ולערער אותנו ואת מבני הנורמליות שלנו עם אירועים בלתי צפויים ופתאומיים משבשים שנפרמו מעגןיהם בזמן.

       אבל הכאוס הוא גם מדד לטווח ההסתגלותי של מערכת, שמביאה הן את אימת האין שלנו והן את השמחה על החופש המוחלט בדמיון המחודש שלנו והלידה מחדש המשנה של עצמנו ושל האפשרויות הבלתי מוגבלות שלנו להפוך לאנושות.

       לגיירמו דל טורו, באפוס המפואר שלו של הגירה ושוויון גזעי קרנבל רואו, יש סצנה שבה שני ממשיכים צעירים להנהגה של פלגים יריבים מסורתיים מוצאים עצמם מאוהבים וזקוקים לבעלי ברית בעלילת משנה המדמה מחדש את רומיאו ויוליה; הגיהנום המורד, ג’ונה ברייקספיר, שואל את אהובתו המקיאוולית, סופי לונגרבין, “למי כאוס טוב?” על כך היא משיבה, “כאוס טוב לנו. כאוס הוא התקווה הגדולה של חסרי הכוח”.

      אפשר לחשוב על הבאת הכאוס במונחים של כוח הגאולה של אהבה, של סולידריות, של חובת הדאגה שלנו לזולת, של תפיסות כוח כהחזרת האיזון, של התנגדות ומאבק מהפכני כמו העמדת חיינו באיזון עם אלה של חסרי הכוח והמנושלים, המושתקים והנמחקים, וכתיקון עולם או ריפוי שברו של העולם.

      בירושלים ובאל קודס, אנו נבגדים על ידי הנורמליות של כניעה לסמכות וחלוקת הכוח הלא שוויוני, דה-הומניזציה על ידי אלה שמבצעים זוועות בשמנו, ונעשים שותפים לפשעים נגד האנושות באמצעות נרטיבים של קורבנות, כפי שוולטר מלמד אותנו מאפשרים. כל דבר.

      Gott mitt uns; זה טרור עתיק יומין. ולכך עלינו להתנגד.

      מיתוסים ישנים, ותלונות ישנות, שזורים במרקם הנפש שלנו והציוויליזציה שלנו. וכמו כל היסטוריה, זיכרון וזהות מורשית, כוחות מימטיים שממורשתם עלינו לצאת.

      ברגע זה אני פונה שוב לאבחנה המבריקה של מחלת הכוח כזהות שנתפסה כפי שכתב אלון בן-מאירין בהאפפוסט, אם כי המרשם שלו למערכת שתי מדינות שנוי במחלוקת ובשבילי יש להחליפו בזמן עם חילוני. מדינה עם חוק אחד לכולם וללא חטיבות רשמיות של שבט, שפה או אמונה, במאמר שכותרתו In The Grip Of Powerful Illusions; “המבוי הסתום בתהליך השלום הישראלי-פלסטיני נראה לא הגיוני ומטריד, שכן רוב הישראלים והפלסטינים מבינים שדו-קיום, בין אם בתנאי איבה או ידידות, הוא עובדה שאף צד לא יכול להשתנות מלבד קטסטרופה.

      המבוי הסתום בתהליך השלום הישראלי-פלסטיני נראה לא הגיוני ומטריד, שכן רוב הישראלים והפלסטינים מבינים שדו-קיום, בין אם בתנאי איבה ובין אם בתנאי ידידות, הוא עובדה שאף אחד מהצדדים אינו יכול להשתנות מלבד קטסטרופה. שני הצדדים מבינים שהפרמטרים הכלליים של הסכם שלום בר קיימא חייבים להישען על פתרון שתי מדינות המבוסס על גבולות 1967 עם כמה חילופי קרקעות. עם זאת, שני הצדדים בוחרים להתענג על אשליות ולחיות בהתרסה לזמן ולנסיבות. נראה שהם מעדיפים המשך התנגשויות אלימות ושפיכות דמים על פני דו-קיום שליו, תוך שהם מאשימים זה את זה בדרך ההרסנית הבלתי נגמרת, שבאופן טרגי שניהם בחרו לעבור.

      ישנם ציווי יסוד, יחד עם אמצעי ביטחון הדדיים ארוכי טווח, המייצגים את מה שהיה על שולחן המשא ומתן בשנת 2000 בקמפ דיוויד ובשנים 2010/2011 ו-2013/2014 בחסות ממשל אובמה בירושלים וברמאללה. כל סבב, עם דרגות שונות של התקדמות, נועד להשלים הסכם ועם זאת בסופו של דבר לא הצליח לעשות זאת. השאלה היא: למה?

      תפיסות מוטות וסלקטיביות, שמחוזקות על ידי חוויות היסטוריות, דת ואידיאולוגיות לא תואמות, נעלו את שני הצדדים בעמדות חסרות תנועה. הגורמים המשמרים ומעצימים דפוסים אלה כוללים רגשות כמו פחד, חוסר אמון וחוסר ביטחון. התוצאה הפסיכולוגית היא הכחשה הדדית של הנרטיב של האחר ודה-לגיטימציה הדדית.

      ביחד, התוצאה האופרטיבית היא סטגנציה וקיטוב. לכן, מה שנדרש הוא דיאלוג מכוון קונצנזוס ברמת המנהיגות של פקידים ולא פקידים כאחד, ואינטראקציות בין אנשים, כדי לפתור את סוגיית התפיסה – סדר גבוה בהתחשב בסביבה הנוכחית שמתבססת ולא משפרת דעות קדומות. תפיסות.

      ישנם מושגים פסיכולוגיים מסוימים הרלוונטיים להבנת השיתוף הישראלי-פלסטיני

 מושג האשליה הוא מושג חיוני. ב”עתידה של אשליה”, פרויד מציע את ההגדרה הבאה: “…אנו קוראים לאמונה אשליה כאשר הגשמת משאלות היא גורם בולט במוטיבציה שלה, ובכך אנו מתעלמים מיחסיה למציאות, בדיוק כפי שה האשליה עצמה אינה מגדירה אימות”.

      מה שמאפיין אשליות הוא ש: 1) הן נגזרות משאלות אנושיות עמוקות, ו-2) האמונה מוחזקת (או תוחזק) בהעדר כל ראיה משכנעת, או נימוקים רציונליים טובים, מטעמה.

      אי אפשר להכחיש שהן הישראלים והן הפלסטינים נמצאים באחיזת אשליות חזקות מאוד שרק משמשות להארכת הסכסוך ולמנוע כל הבנה הדדית. בפרט, האמונה המשותפת לישראלים רבים שיש להם זכות מקראית על הארץ (כולל יהודה ושומרון) ושאלוהים נתן אותה ליהודים לנצח היא ללא ספק אשליה של אתמול.

      אמונה זו אינה מאושרת משום שיש ראיות אמיתיות לכך שאלוהים ראה אותה (למרות ששתי ממלכות יהודיות אכן קיימות – הראשונה במאה העשירית לפנה”ס והשנייה החלה בשנת 539 לפנה”ס – על אותה אדמה), אלא משום שהיא מספק צורך פסיכולוגי עמוק במולדת יהודית שניתנת לאלוהים.

      האמונה שבאמצעות הרחבת ההתנחלויות ישראל תגביר את ביטחונה הלאומי ותשמור על אחיזתה בכל הארץ היא אשליה של המחר, שמתעלמת בדרך כלל מנוכחותם של מוסלמים באותה אדמה במשך יותר מ-1,300 שנה.

      חשוב לציין כיצד אשליות אלו מקיימות ומחזקות אחת את השנייה, ומהוות מחסום פסיכולוגי שהוא הרבה יותר אטום לרפלקציה ביקורתית. אשליותיה של ישראל שימשו ליצירת ההיגיון לכיבוש.

      הפלסטינים, מצדם, אינם חפים מאשליות משלהם. הם גם מאמינים שאלוהים שמר להם את הארץ, ופונים לעובדה שהם ישבו את הארץ במשך מאות שנים. מנקודת המבט שלהם, נוכחותו של מסגד אל-אקצא, שנבנה בשנת 705 לספירה בירושלים, מעידה על זיקתם ההיסטורית והדתית לעיר הקודש.

      הם גם נאחזים ברעיון שהם יחזרו מתישהו לאדמת אבותיהם, כפי שיש להם וממשיכים להתעקש על זכות השיבה של הפליטים הפלסטינים, למרות שזה הפך לבלתי אפשרי כמעט.

      הפלסטינים נאחזים באשליותיהם מאתמול ומחר באותה עיוורון ונואש כמו הישראלים, מה שמוביל להתנגדות ופחד משינויים. ככזה, אלא אם שני הצדדים ישנו מסלול ויקבלו את הזיקה של זה לאותה ארץ, במיוחד בגלל שהיא מבוססת דתית, המצב צפוי להוביל לאסון.

       זה תרם להפיכת הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני לכרוני ובלתי פתיר כאחד, שכן האשליות השונות ניזונות באופן רציף ומודע ממפגשים עוינים ולעתים קרובות אלימים בין שני הצדדים.

      בניסיון לגשר בין מושגים שיכולים לקשר בין תחומי הפסיכולוגיה והפוליטיקה בסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני, ניתן להציע שהתנגדות הדדית קולקטיבית לשינוי (הן מודעת ומכוונת, והן בלתי מודעת פנימית) מגינה על זהות פגיעה.

      בהשוואה, למשל, לזהות הפוליטית היציבה והבוגרת של האומות האמריקאיות, הבריטיות והצרפתיות, הזהות הפוליטית של העם הישראלי והפלסטיני כאחד נמצאת, במידה מסוימת, בגיל ההתבגרות.

      זהויות בסביבה זו פגיעות יותר, והגיבורים באופן טבעי מתגוננים יותר ועמידים בפני שינויים. מעצם טבעו, על השחקנים להתקשות (אם לא בלתי אפשרי) לבטא זאת בפומבי, שכן לעשות זאת הוא להודות בפגיעות זו.

      הרעיון של התנגדות פסיכולוגית לשינוי עשוי בהחלט להשפיע על המסגרת הפוליטית בכלל ועל הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני בפרט; הוא קשור קשר הדוק לתפיסות ברמות רבות ומספק הגנה על גיבוש זהות פגיעה.

      הלך הרוח הזה, המחוזק על ידי חוויות היסטוריות, הוא שמתעלה על יותר משבעת העשורים מאז החל הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני. ליחידים ולקבוצות, ישראלים ופלסטינים כאחד, יש וממשיכים לפרש את אופי המחלוקת ביניהם כ”אתה נגדי” בצורה דעות קדומות וסלקטיביות.

      בתורו, זה חנק כל מידע חדש ואפשר את ההתנגדות המתמשכת לשינוי, מה שיכול לשפוך אור חדש על מהות הסכסוך ומהותו ולעזור לקדם את תהליך השלום.

      הרעיון של התנגדות לא מודעת לשינוי במסגרת זו מתקשר היטב לתפיסה של תפיסות המניעות את הקיטוב בקונפליקט. התנסות היסטורית, המגבשת תפיסות, משמשת בין היתר להגברת תחושת הזהות של “מי שאנחנו באמת”, הנחה קולקטיבית מעצבת היושבת בסלע של שחקני מפתח כאחד ומניעה התנהגות תפקודית ולא מתפקדת.

באופן עקרוני, חשיבה כזו מונעת משני הצדדים לבדר רעיונות חדשים שעלולים להוביל לפשרות לפתרון של שלום. הפרדוקס כאן הוא שהרוב משני הצדדים אמנם רוצים ומחפשים שלום, ביודעים היטב שהדבר ידרוש ויתורים משמעותיים, אך אינם מסוגלים ליישב את הוויתורים הנדרשים עם תפיסות טבועות שמנעו את הפשרות הללו כתוצאה מהתנגדות וחשש מפני שינוי.

      לכן, כל מסגרת לשלום חייבת לכלול הוראות שיגדילו באופן דרמטי את הסיכויים לטובת פתרון. ראשית, שני הצדדים צריכים להתחייב להגיע להסכם המבוסס על פתרון שתי מדינות מתוך אמונה ששינוי, שמתורגם לדו-קיום, הוא בלתי נמנע. לכן, עליהם להתאים את עצמם זה לדרישותיו של זה, מה שמחייב אותם בהכרח לעשות ויתורים משמעותיים.

      שנית, כדי להקל על כך, עליהם לבצע אינטראקציות חברתיות, כלכליות, תרבותיות וביטחוניות פייסות בין אנשים, כדי למתן את התנגדותם לשינוי, אשר חייבת להתחיל, לפחות, שנה אחת לפני תחילת המשא ומתן ליצירת הפסיכולוגיות וה אווירה פוליטית כדי לטפח את האמון הדרוש למשא ומתן לשלום מהותי ומוצלח.

      חידוש שיחות השלום לא יוביל לשום מקום אלא אם ישראלים ופלסטינים ישנו את תפיסתם הדעות הקדומות ואת התנגדותם לשינוי ופחדם משינוי, ולבסוף יגיעו להכרה שגורלם שזור זה בזה ואינם יכולים לחיות בשלום ובביטחון ללא השני.

      אני מרגיש נאלץ לסיים את המאמר האחרון שלי לשנה באזהרה חמורה שישראלים ופלסטינים כאחד יעשו אם להרהר בה כאשר הם מתקרבים לסוף העשור השביעי לסכסוך הטראגי שלהם.

      כל מיליטנט ישראלי קיצוני ופלסטיני, מי שרוצה הכל חייב לעצור ולחשוב היכן יהיו ישראל והפלסטינים בעוד עשר שנים אם המצב הנוכחי יימשך?

      אשליותיך של היום לא יהפכו למציאות של מחר, ומה שהמחר יביא אינו אלא עוד כאב, דמעות ויסורים.

      הסכסוך שלך מתפתח מהר יותר למלחמת דת. מתקיים ארמגדון מוסלמי-יהודי שיעלה את כל האזור באש בלתי נתפסת.

      אם אתם מאמינים אמיתיים, אל תעזו להתריס נגד רצונו של אלוהים, כי הוא דחף אתכם יחד כדי להעמיד אתכם במבחן – עליכם לחיות בשלום ובהרמוניה, או שתיגזרו על שכחה וייאוש.

      יש לך את הכוח לבחור את הגורל שלך. האם זה יהיה הרס עצמי או שזה יהיה הגשמת חלום מפואר?

      קום והעביר מורשת של תקווה לכל ילד ישראלי ופלסטיני, כי יש להם את הזכות הנתונה מאלוהים לגדול ולשגשג ואף אחד לא צריך למות על האשליות שלך לשווא”.

      כפי שכתבתי בפוסט שלי מ-9 בנובמבר 2023, מראה של החושך שלנו: בדולח; ישראל מנציחה את הטרגדיה הזו שפתחה דלת לטרגדיה גדולה עוד יותר בשואה בכך שהיא עושה בדיוק את אותו הדבר לפלסטינים, עם אחד המחולק על ידי ההיסטוריה והאמונה המזוהה עם נשק בשירות לשלטון. וגם זה יפתח דלתות לטרור ועריצות מדינות, אלא אם כן שני העמים יוכלו להתאחד נגד רשויות המבצעות זוועות בשמם כאסטרטגיה של הכנעה ולשחרר זה את זה מאלה שישעבדו אותם.

      אם אתה חושב על עמים כילדים שהם ניצולי התעללות, הרבה מתברר; שכן ברגע שהם תפסו את השלטון יש סיכוי גבוה יותר שהם יהפכו למתעללים בעצמם. כך פועל הפחד, מדוע הוא הבסיס האמיתי לחילופי דברים, מדוע פוליטיקה היא אמנות הפחד, ומדוע מדינות מגולמות באלימות. הן הישראלים והן הפלסטינים נפגעו מהאיומים הקיומיים הרבה לפני שהחלו לחבל, להתאכזר ולעשות דה-הומניזציה אחד את השני.

      העובדה שהמשטרים הדורסניים משני הצדדים השתמשו בפוליטיקת פילוג וזהות כדי לרכז כוח ולהעניק לגיטימציה לשליטה אוטוריטרית היא שלב צפוי של מאבק השחרור, במיוחד של מהפכה אנטי-קולוניאלית.

       הטריק של להיות אנושי, חברים, הוא לאמץ את החושך של עצמך במאבק, כמו גם את אויביו, ולצאת מהמורשת של ההיסטוריה שלנו שמצלה עלינו כמו זנב תנין בלתי נראה.

       יש קו שאמר הנבל בסדרה הקוסמים, ניצול של התעללות בילדות ועריץ הידוע בשם החיה על פשעיו הנוראיים, פעם הילד חסר הכוח והמבועת מרטין צ’טווין וכיום אל מפלצתי; “אתה יודע, כשהייתי ילד, גבר שנועד לטפל בי כופף אותי מעל השולחן שלו וקיבל אותי שוב ושוב בכל פעם שהייתי איתו לבד. זה עוזר לי להבין אמת. אתה חזק או שאתה חלש. “

       הנה השקר המקורי של העריץ והפשיסט באפולוגטיקה, בהצדקה העצמית ובפסיכופתיה של הכוח; השקר שרק לכוח יש משמעות והוא אמיתי, שאין טוב או רע. אופן השימוש בכוח הוא בעל חשיבות שווה למי שמחזיק בו. פחד וכוח הם אמצעי עיקרי לחילופי בני אדם, אבל

לא האמצעי היחיד; אהבה, חברות ושייכות חשובים לא פחות.

       זהו קו אשר לוכד בצורה מושלמת את הסתירות הטבועות בטבעת הוואגנרית של פחד, כוח וכוח כמקור של הרוע; שכן השימוש בכוח חברתי הוא חתרני לערכיו שלו. עם זאת, התנאים המוטלים של מאבק מהפכני מצריכים לעתים קרובות אלימות, ועד שאלי החוק והסדר יופלו מכסאותיהם אני חייב להסכים עם הכתבה המפורסמת של סארטר במחזהו “ידיים מלוכלכות” מ-1948, שצוטט על ידי פרנץ פאנון בנאומו מ-1960. למה אנחנו משתמשים באלימות, והפכו לאלמוות על ידי מלקולם אקס; “בכל דרך אפשרית.”

      כפי שכתב וולטר רודני ב-The Groundings with my Brothers; “אמרו לנו שאלימות כשלעצמה היא רוע, ושלא משנה מה הסיבה, היא לא מוצדקת מבחינה מוסרית. לפי איזה סטנדרט של מוסר יכולה האלימות שבה משתמש עבד כדי לשבור את שלשלאותיו להיחשב זהה לאלימות של אדון עבדים? לפי אילו אמות מידה נוכל להשוות את האלימות של שחורים שדוכאו, מדוכאים, מדוכאים ומדוכאים במשך ארבע מאות שנים עם אלימותם של פאשיסטים לבנים. לא ניתן לשפוט אלימות שמטרתה החזרת כבוד האדם ושוויון לפי אותו קנה מידה כמו אלימות שמטרתה לשמור על אפליה ודיכוי”.

      והנה הקטע שאליו הוא מתייחס מפי ליאון טרוצקי ב-Their Morals and Ours: The Class Foundations of Moral Practice; “בעל עבדים שבאמצעות ערמומיות ואלימות כובל עבד בשלשלאות, ועבד שבאמצעות ערמומיות או אלימות שובר את השלשלאות – שלא יאמרו לנו הסריסים הבזויים שהם שווים בפני בית דין מוסר!”

      אולם בהשתקפות אני חושב על אותן דמויות גדולות שהיו גם גיבורי השחרור וגם נבלי העריצות; המודל לחיקוי בגיל ההתבגרות שלי נפוליאון, וושינגטון, שהוא מרכזי בהיסטוריה המשפחתית שלנו וטבע את המוטו על הסמל שלנו בקוד הסיסמה במהלך קרב טרנטון, ניצחון או מוות, כאשר המהפכה כולה התנהלה על תקווה עזובה, של הטרגי דרמה של גיבורים שנפלו כמו רוברט מוגאבה, העריצים המפלצתיים סטלין ומאו, הרשימה היא אוסף כמעט אינסופי של צרות וכישלונות חזון שבהם עולמות חדשים אמיצים הפכו לגיהנום ולמדינות קרסרליות. לראיה אני מציע למהפכות האמריקניות והנפוליאון להפוך לאימפריות, ברית המועצות, המפלגה הקומוניסטית הסינית, הודו, שם תהילת השחרור באה יד ביד עם הטרגדיה של החלוקה וכעת היא תחת מגף הלאומיות ההינדית, כמעט כל המהפכות האנטי-קולוניאליות. שעם תקופת החירות הראשונה כאומות חדשות הפכו לעריצות איומה, ובעיקר למדינת ישראל, לחלום מקלט שנרקם באימת השואה שקורבנותיו למדו את הלקחים הלא נכונים מהנאצים ונטלו על עצמם את תפקידם בכיבוש פלשתינה. הסכנות של האידיאליזם הן אמיתיות מאוד; אבל כך גם הסכנות שבכניעה לסמכות ובשותפות השתיקה מול הרוע.

      אני צייד של פשיסטים, ושלי הוא מוסר של צייד. מבחינתי יש מבחן פשוט לשימוש בכוח; מי מחזיק בכוח

      הרבה מאוד אנשים חכמים כתבו יפה על זוועות הפשיזם של דם, אמונה ואדמה ועל היררכיות של השתייכות עילית ואחרות מוציאה מהכלל, כפי שעושה פול אוסטרייכר במאמר שלאחר מכן; כאן ברצוני רק להצביע על כך שהכוחות הטמונים בתוכנו ובחוץ כתנאים חברתיים וטראומה אפיגנטית, של אטאביסטים של ברבריות ומערכות דיכוי, הם אוניברסליים לבני אדם כתנאי מאבק כפויים ופועלים ללא הרף גם כשהם מעורפלים מהעין. , מעבר לאימה ולמחסור של נקודות השבר של נפש האדם כמו אלו של ליל הבדולח והטיהור האתני של עזה.

      אני כותב לך כמי שחיה לפי קריאת הקרב של לעולם לא שוב! כבר למעלה מארבעים שנה, ויש חשיבות עמוקה וחיונית ליישם את עקרון הפעולה הזה לא רק בהתנגדות לפשיזם כאויב חודרני של כל מה שאנושי בנו, אלא גם לעצמנו ולשימוש שלנו באלימות ובחברתי. כוח כלפי אחרים.

     בסופו של דבר, כל מה שחשוב הוא מה אנחנו עושים עם הפחד שלנו, ואיך אנחנו משתמשים בכוח שלנו.

      לא משנה היכן אתה מתחיל עם פילוגים והיררכיות של השתייכות עילית ואחרות מדריגה, אתה תמיד מגיע בשערי אושוויץ.

     כפי שמלמד אותנו ניטשה במעבר לטוב ולרע; “מי שצד מפלצות עשוי לדאוג שלא יהפוך בכך למפלצת. ואם אתה מסתכל זמן רב לתוך תהום, התהום מביטה גם בך.”

      במראה האפלה של עזה, עם ההשתקפויות המפלצתיות של ליל הבדולח ושל אושוויץ, אתה אוהב את מה שאתה רואה, הו ישראל?

      כפי שכתבתי בפוסט שלי מ-10 במאי 2021, ההגנה על אל אקצא: חירות מול עריצות בירושלים; ייתכן שהיינו עדים להופעת האינתיפאדה השלישית הלילה, בהגנת אל-אקצא ובקרבות הרחוב בעזה שבאו בעקבותיה, שהוצתו בעקבות הבגידה והכיבוש האימפריאלי של מדינת ישראל שנאת זרים ופשיסטית שאינה מתייחסת לאיש מלבד

השבט והאמונה שלהם כאנושיים באמת, ואשר ביצעו מתקפה בלתי מעוררת וקטלנית כמעשה טרור ממלכתי ופשע נגד האנושות על המתפללים השלווים באחד המסגדים הקדושים ביותר בעולם האסלאמי, הפגנת כוח ו שלטון שבא בעקבות שבועות של פרובוקציות, תקיפות ופעולות של דה-הומניזציה תעמולתית נגד העם הפלסטיני.

       כמו אינתיפאדת אל-אקצא השנייה או אל-אקצא שנמשכה ארבע שנים מה-28 בספטמבר 2000 עד ה-8 בפברואר 2005, נושאים לא פתורים של כיבוש שנמצא כעת בחמישים וארבעה שנים מאז כיבוש ירושלים העתיקה ב-7 ביוני 1967 על ידי ישראל, שמדינת ישראל חגגה על פי ללוח העברי כיום ירושלים היום על ידי תקיפת אל אקצא, ואסון הנמשך כבר שבעים ושלוש שנים מאז יום הנכבה ה-15 במאי 1948, התלכדו סביב הערך הסמלי של אל אקצא, בעל זהות כפולה שנויה במחלוקת כהר הבית ב. יַהֲדוּת.

      סיכויי הסלמה ומניעת מלחמה תלויים כעת לא בגורמים מקומיים אלא בתגובת הקהילה הבינלאומית, שכן ההיסטוריה הפכה כאן למלכודת שמתמוטטת כדי ללכוד אותנו במלתעותיה, וכוחות חיצוניים חייבים לשחרר אותנו מהכישלונות של הסתירות הפנימיות של המערכת שלנו.

      האם אמריקה תתנער ותתנער ממושבה ישראל, מלכת המדיניות האימפריאלית שלה במזרח התיכון והשליטה במשאב האסטרטגי של הנפט? האם האחדות הבינלאומית והלחץ של חרם, ביטול וסנקציה יכולים לשחרר אותנו מהעריצות והטרור של משטר אפרטהייד כפי שעשה בדרום אפריקה?

      או שמא מלחמה היא ההתחשבנות היחידה שהמין האנושי יכול להציע או לקבל?

      כפי שנכתב על ידי ישאן ת’ארור בוושינגטון פוסט; “ביום שני בלילה, חמושים ברצועת עזה והצבא הישראלי החליפו ירי רקטות ותקיפות אוויריות על רקע הסלמה קטלנית של האלימות. חמאס והג’יהאד האיסלאמי, ארגונים חמושים שבסיסם בעזה המצוררת, שיגרו מטח רקטות שנחתו ליד ירושלים ובחלקים מדרום ישראל, ופצעו לפחות אדם אחד. תקיפות אוויריות ישראליות בתגמול הרגו לפחות 20 בני אדם בעזה, לפי משרד הבריאות של עזה, כולל תשעה ילדים.

      ראש ממשלת ישראל בנימין נתניהו אמר כי “קבוצות הטרור” בעזה “חצו קו אדום” עם התקפות הרקטות שלהם. אבל לפיצוץ הלחימה האחרון יש זנב ארוך, בעקבות פעולות תוקפניות רבות הן של כוחות הביטחון הישראליים והן של ארגוני עליונות יהודים מהימין הקיצוני בירושלים. לפני שבועיים צעדו להקות של קיצונים יהודים, כולל כמה מתנחלים מהגדה המערבית, דרך אזורים מאוכלסים בפלסטינים בעיר הקדושה, קראו “מוות לערבים”, תקפו עוברי אורח ופגעו ברכוש ובבתים פלסטינים. ניסיונות ישראלים לפנות מספר משפחות פלסטיניות בשכונת שייח ג’ראח במזרח ירושלים – מיקרוקוסמוס של מה שהפלסטינים רואים כחלק מהיסטוריה ארוכה של נישול ומחיקה בידי מדינת ישראל – עוררו מחאות סולידריות פלסטיניות בחלקים שונים. של השטחים הכבושים וישראל עצמה.

      היא גם העלתה את המתיחות לקראת ציון יום ירושלים ביום שני, חג ישראלי רשמי שחוגג את כיבוש העיר במהלך מלחמת ערב-ישראל ב-1967. צעדה שנתית מתוכננת של ישראלים אולטרה-לאומיים מהימין הקיצוני בוטלה לאחר שהרשויות ניתבו את דרכה ברגע האחרון. מספרים גדולים עדיין עשו את דרכם לכותל ושרו שיר נקמה קיצוני נגד הפלסטינים.

      “התקפות הרקטות של חמאס, שכללו את התקיפות הראשונות נגד ירושלים מזה מספר שנים, הגיעו לאחר עימותים בין משטרת ישראל, מפגינים פלסטינים וישראלים יהודים מהימין הקיצוני ברחבי העיר העתיקה”, דיווחו עמיתיי. “בין מאות הפצועים היו שבעה שאושפזו במצב קשה, כך לפי הסהר האדום הפלסטיני. קטעי וידאו שהופצו ברשתות החברתיות של שוטרים ישראלים מכים באכזריות גבר פלסטיני עצור”.

       איך אמריקה יכולה לתמוך במדינת ישראל בעריצות ובטרור, בכיבוש ובגזל? זו שאלה שנשאלת בטונים של זעם, צער ותמיהה מאז הופעת הנכבה ב-15 במאי 1948, יום הקטסטרופה שהחל את כיבוש פלסטין והשעבוד השיטתי ורצח העם של אנשיה בעקבות הכיבוש הישראלי. של ירושלים. איך זה מקבל לגיטימציה?

       חבר ניסח לי לאחרונה מחדש את השאלה הזו; “אהבתי ואימצתי את המסורת היהודית, הצטרפתי לבית כנסת ועבדתי לצד רבו. כשאני עד ליחס של ממשלת ישראל היהודית לפלסטינים, אני מוצף ברגשות של בלבול וכעס. אני לא מצליח ליישב את חוסר המוסריות הזה, אני מטיל ספק בעצם היסוד של אמונתי. היכן ההתקוממות הטובה והמוסרית של הקולות היהודיים הבינלאומיים המגנה את דרכה של הממשלה? איבדתי את האמון בלהיות יהודי”.

      מה שברור לי הוא שמשבר האמונה הזה הוא גם משבר קיומי של זהות

מצב של כובד ראש וסכנה אשר טומן בחובו גם פוטנציאל לדמיון מחודש ולידה מחדש טרנספורמטיבית, הד אישי למשבר ציוויליזציוני מקביל ממנו על המין האנושי וקהילת האומות העולמית למצוא דרך לצאת ולשחרר את עצמנו מהמורשת של ההיסטוריה שלנו. הנה תשובתי:

      מדינת ישראל אינה זהה לאמונה היהודית, אם כי הפלג הפשיסטי-אימפריאליסטי שנתניהו מייצג היה רוצה שכולם יחשבו כך.

     אומה המבוססת על הקצאת אזרחיה לזהות שבטית, נשק עדתי של אמונה בשירות לשלטון וזהות לאומית מורשית, חברה צבאית עם שירות חובה אוניברסלי ופטישיזציה נרחבת של מיתוסים של חיל לחימה וסמליה כולל רובים , ושפה עברית משוחזרת של אחדות לאומית השתמשה בפוליטיקת זהויות כדי להכפיף את אזרחיה לכוח הריכוזי של העריצות; ישראל היא מדינה פשיסטית של דם, אמונה ואדמה לא פחות מזו של הנאצים.

      הוסיפו לתמהיל הרעיל הזה משטר קלפטוקרטי שהפיץ נרטיבים של קורבנות היסטורית כדי לתת לגיטימציה לגניבה מסיבית וכיבוש אימפריאלי של מדינות אחרות ודבר אחד ברור; ישראל למדה את הלקחים הלא נכונים מהנאצים.

      אתה אולי יודע מההתייחסויות הרבות שלי לתקרית בכתיבתי שאני אנטי-פשיסט, שנשבע לשבועת ההתנגדות על ידי ז’אן ז’נה ב-1982 בביירות, במהלך מאבקנו נגד הפלישה והמצור הישראלים. ב-39 השנים שאחרי, הייתי צייד נאצים ומהפכן של דמוקרטיה העסוק במאבק לשחרור המין האנושי נגד עריצות ומשטרים אוטוריטריים של כוח ושליטה.

       מולדת פלסטינית, וצדק לאנשיה, היו בין המטרות שלי מאז אותו קיץ לפני כל כך הרבה זמן. כמו המטרה של שחרור אירלנד מהשלטון הקולוניאלי הבריטי, עוד נותרה להשיגה. מדובר ברעיון החירות והאזרחות כריבונות ועצמאות של עמים מקולוניאליזם זר ועריצות אוטוריטרית, והקדימות של מדינה לא-כתתית נקייה מפילוגים והיררכיות של אמונה, שכן מי שעומד בין כל אחד מאיתנו לבין האינסופי אינו משרת אף אחד מהם. .

      אני גם תומך ברעיון של מולדת ישראלית, ולא רואה סיבה ששתי המדינות הללו, פלסטין וישראלית, יהיו סותרות זו את זו או אנטגוניסטיות. כמה ישראלים שלא יסכימו איתי בשאלת פלסטין ומיליטריזם בכיבוש אימפריאלי ובשליטה אזורית היו בעלי ברית במטרת ציד הנאצים והפשיסטים בדרך כלל ברחבי העולם, אבל הם עיוורים לשותפותם שלהם ברוע זה בגלל שהם רואים את עצמם כקורבנות ולא כמבצעי פשעים נגד האנושות. מדובר בפחד, ובמעגל ההרסני של התעללות ואלימות.

      כאשר האמונה מנוכסת על ידי סמכות ללגיטימציה בפוליטיקת זהויות, הזהות עצמה הופכת מבולבלת ומעורפלת. כדי להיות חופשיים, עלינו לתפוס בעלות על עצמנו כיצורים שנוצרו בעצמנו ואוטונומיים.

      זו הסיבה שהתפקידים העיקריים של האזרח הם להטיל ספק בסמכות, לחשוף סמכות, ללעוג לסמכות ולערער על סמכות.

      תמיד נשאר המאבק בין המסכות שאחרים עושים לנו לבין אלה שאנחנו עושים לעצמנו; זו המהפכה הראשונה שבה כולנו צריכים להילחם.

      אני חושב על בעיית הרוע האנושי ומעגל הפחד, הכוח והכוח שלו במקרה של מדינות שהופכות לעריצות מהן נלחמו כדי להשתחרר מהן, וזה נכון לגבי מדינות מהפכניות אנטי-קולוניאליות בדרך כלל בגלל המורשת ההיסטורית של הקורבנות , בדרך זו; קורבנות הופכים לעתים קרובות למתעללים מכיוון שזהותם מאורגנת סביב כוח כאמצעי המילוט היחיד בעולם שבו לא ניתן לסמוך על איש.

      כאשר האמון בוטל והוכח כריק וללא משמעות, כאשר היכולת להתחבר ולהרגיש את כאבם של אחרים באמפתיה נשברה ואדם ללא רחמים או חרטה, כאשר הפחד הוא מכריע ומוכלל ועוצב על ידי סמכות בשירות הכוח, הקורבנות לומדים שרק לכוח יש משמעות והוא אמיתי. אסור לנו לאפשר למתעללים שלנו להפוך למורים שלנו.

      בעוד שלכל נושא כזה יש מקורות והיסטוריה ייחודיים משלו, הבעיה עצמה היא אוניברסלית, וקשורה למה שחוששים, ואיך הפחד הזה מעוצב על ידי סמכות זהות. מנקודת המבט שלנו כאמריקאים המפרשים אירועים בבעיה הקלאסית של המיעוט הכפול האופיינית על ידי ישראל ופלסטין, האופן שבו אנו תופסים נושאים קשורים רבות לאופן שבו הם ממוסגרים על ידי מקורות המידע והמניעים שלנו.

       בסופו של דבר אנחנו מוגדרים לפי מה אנחנו עושים עם הפחד שלנו, ואיך אנחנו משתמשים בכוח שלנו.

       השאלה הראשונה שיש לשאול על כל סיפור, והחשובה ביותר, היא פשוטה; של מי הסיפור הזה

       אנחנו אבודים במדבר של מראות, של שקרים ואשליות, זיופים של עצמנו, דימויים והשתקפויות מעוותים, הדים וזהויות מורשות שמעוותות, משבשות.

להעצים ולגנוב את נשמתנו.

       איך נענה למי שישעבד אותנו? האותנטיות והאוטונומיה שלנו מתממשות באמצעות תפיסת כוח, ודמיון מחדש והפיכתנו של עצמנו ושל המין האנושי כחברה חופשית של שווים.

       אנו האמריקאים נוטים לראות דברים במונחים של כובעים לבנים וכובעים שחורים, כמו בסרטי המערבון המשמשים כמיתוסים וארכיטיפים של המקור הלאומי שלנו. ברגע שהוענק מעמד של קורבן, קבוצות ואנשים כאלה הופכים לכובעים לבנים ולחבר’ה טובים, חסרי יכולת לרוע ומנוגדים בתכלית למי שחייבים להיות כובעים שחורים. זו דרך איומה לבחור במדיניות לאומית.

      למרבה הצער, אנו בני האדם יכולים להיות טובים ורעים בבת אחת, פגמי האנושות שלנו מהדהדים ומשקפים את השבר של העולם. זו אמת שהוכחה שוב הלילה באל קודס או בירושלים תלוי למי מדברים ובאיזה שפה, בעוד עזה בוערת מהסתערות של צבא הגנה ישראלי משתוללת בדומה ללילה לפני כמעט ארבעה עשורים בביירות. כשניסו לשרוף את ג’נט ואני בחיים בבית הקפה שלנו, כתריסר בני אדם שנגנב מהם הכל מלבד התקווה נשבעים נדרים זה לזה להחזיק בתפקיד שיכסה את בריחת הנשים והילדים שנלכדו בתקיפה הישראלית עד שכל בטוחים, בהגנה סופית לא על מסגד אל אקצא, מפואר ויפה ומלא במשמעות, אנדרטה לדחף האנושי להגיע אל מעבר לעצמנו ולאפשרויות הבלתי מוגבלות להפוך לאנושיות, במה המתאימה למותם המפואר של גיבורים, אבל של צרחות חסרות גוף של זרים בין המלחמות חסרות השם של עתיקות נטושה.

      אל מול תהום הריקנות והברבריות הניהיליסטית של עולם של חושך ואש, של פחד וכוח, יש לי רק מילים להציע, ואני כותב לך את מה שאמרתי לחבריי שבחרו לעמוד איתי; איבדתי את ספירת היציעים האחרונים, אבל סיכנתי הכל כנגד סיכויים בלתי אפשריים ושרדתי יותר פעמים ממה שאני יכול לזכור, וכל מה שחשוב הוא שאנחנו לא נוטשים לא את עצמנו ולא אחד את השני, שאנחנו מסרבים להיכנע, כי זה רגע החופש שלנו, ולעולם לא ניתן לקחת אותו מאיתנו.

       מהלילה הזה, פלסטין חופשית, כי אנחנו יכולים להיהרג, אבל אי אפשר לכבוש אותנו.

May 8 2024 On this Victory Over Fascism Day, As World War Three Rages in Ukraine and Palestine, Let Us Liberate All of Humankind From Fascisms of Blood, Faith, and Soil and the Imperial Conquest and Dominion of Mad Tyrants

     Victory Europe Day, Victory Over Fascism Day; what do such holidays mean to us now, when fascism has once again seized and shaken us in its jaws with the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the most disruptive events of our world order among several theatres of World War Three which has engulfed the world and threatens the global subversion of democracy and the nuclear extinction of humankind?

    Netanyahu and his theocratic and kleptocratic settler regime has orchestrated the October 7 tragedy as a casus belli for the Final Solution of the Palestinians and the generalization of conflict to the conquest of the whole Middle East, and in Biden has a cheerleader of state terror who has made us all complicit in crimes against humanity, a secondary purpose of Israel’s in the sabotage and delegitimation of democracy and the principle of universal human rights as the foundations of our world order.

     As Israel prepares the annihilation of Rafah and the world’s future ruling elites at universities rise up to challenge our dehumanization in solidarity with the powerless and the dispossess, the silenced and the erased, all those whom Frantz Fanon called The Wretched of the Earth, Genocide Joe Biden gave a speech last night at a Holocaust remembrance event in which he weaponized the idea of antisemitism against students protesting the genocide of the Palestinians, fellow semites with Jews and one people divided by faith and history, to silence dissent as police thugs raid campuses in brutal repression. We have freedom of speech in America as co-owners of the state, but only when and if it serves power.

     Democracy has already fallen in America, with the Stolen Election of 2016 by Russian spy and puppet ruler Traitor Trump, and those we elected as champions of our liberty to enact the Restoration of America have betrayed us, and have instead continued Trump’s sabotage of our institutions and principles in the centralization of power to a carceral state of force and control. We ordered peace and are fed war.   

     We are confronted with a dilemma in our elections; vote for Trump and sacrifice democracy as the Fourth Reich emerges, or vote for Biden and abandon our humanity. Either way, the Age of Tyrants begins, and as civilization falls humankind begins an irreversible path to extinction.

    Both Netanyahu and Putin now wage wars of terror and imperial conquest  modeled on the doctrine of Total War as designed by Hitler and Franco and first tested at Guernica, which now finds echoes and reflections in Gaza and Mariupol.

    While in America and throughout Europe, a dark tide rises to engulf us all. Meloni is now the de facto ruler of Europe, leading the original Fascist Party of Mussolini which seized power in the 1922 March on Rome. And at her back marches Europe; as written by Jon Henley in The Guardian of this June’s upcoming vote to choose the future of the European Union, entitled Anti-European’ populists on track for big gains in EU elections; “Populist eurosceptic parties are likely to come first in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia, and second or third in Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden.”

    Where the Gaza War is the tipping point of tyranny and democracy for the fate of humankind, it is but one of ten theatres of World War Three which include America, Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Africa, and the nation with two faces, Israel and Palestine.

    Putin and his puppet tyrant Traitor Trump are figureheads of the Fourth Reich and patrons of both white supremacist terror and theocratic patriarchal sexual terror who have perpetrated vast war crimes and the Russian imperial conquest and dominion of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, as well as in central Asia, Africa, and Europe. Poland knows it is next on Putin’s list of conquests along with Finland, Moldova, Romania, and then all of Eastern Europe and finally Berlin, where Putin once reigned as the lord of the criminal underworld east of the Iron Curtain. Putin has threatened to annihilate the British Isles and turn Warsaw into a city of ghosts and ruins like Mariupol. In all of this his puppet tyrant Traitor Trump is complicit in providing political cover and a free hand in the invasion of Ukraine, while Putin has provided Trump vast dark money through the real estate empire he operates as a money laundry for criminal syndicates and oligarchs.

      And yet we have not purged our destroyers and predators from among us.

     To a Wall Street Journal article about Russia bombing a school where children were sheltering I wrote this paragraph in commentary; Russia always bombs children first. This is a policy of terror, designed to manufacture helplessness, despair, and submission, but as in the Rape of Nanking actually creates resistance as a counterforce. The Calculus of Fear obeys Newton’s Third Law of Motion, and the people of Ukraine will resist beyond all reason, beyond hope of victory or survival, and while one Ukrainian yet lives and remembers who they are, are unconquerable.

     Who cannot be compelled is free; this too is a truth demonstrated by Mariupol, and a gift of those who die for the freedom of us all. This we must witness and remember until the end of the world, and one thing more; Resist! To fascism and tyranny, to imperial conquest and dominion, to subjugation and dehumanization there can be but one reply; Never Again! On this Victory Over Fascism Day, let us unite in solidarity and liberation struggle to free ourselves from those who would enslave us.

     What of those not killed but captured ? Of their fate Dean Kirby of Inews has written; “An investigation by i analysing Russian local news reports has identified 66 camps for Ukrainians in a network of former Soviet sanatoriums and other sites – and reveals how an underground network of Russians is helping people escape.

     Thousands of Ukrainians have been sent to remote camps up to 5,500 miles from their homes as Vladimir Putin’s officials follow Kremlin orders to disperse them across Russia, i can reveal.

     They include survivors from the besieged port city of Mariupol, where civilians remain trapped at the Azovstal steel plant as Russian forces make a final push to subdue to city’s last defenders.

     An investigation by i analysing Russian local news reports has identified 66 camps in a network of former Soviet sanatoriums and other sites in regions including Siberia, the Caucasus, the Arctic Circle and the Far East.

    i has also spoken to human rights activists in Russia who developed an underground grassroots network to help Ukrainians who want to leave the camps.

     The Russians are taking people into their own homes, buying train tickets, and directing them to other groups who can help them get to the border.

     One activist told i: “The state treats them as a labour force, as objects, moving them around without taking care of what they need. The state is unable to look after them. They are vulnerable and need help.”

     i‘s investigation marks the first evidence of a major operation to spread them across a country gripped by a historic post-Cold War population decline.

     It comes after i exclusively revealed last month that Moscow had ordered towns and cities across the Russian Federation to prepare for the arrival of nearly 100,000 “refugees”. Russia now claims it has “evacuated” one million people from the war zone.

     Tanya Lokshina, associate director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch, told i: “There is ample evidence that thousands of Ukrainians were taken to Russia under duress.

     “When people are only given a choice to stay under increasingly heavy shelling or to enter the territory of an occupying power, it constitutes forced transfer under international humanitarian law.

     “We are extremely concerned this is happening. People who seek evacuation to safer areas in Ukraine are shuttled off to Russia instead – in some cases to remote areas very far from Ukrainian or European borders.

     “They are vulnerable, destitute, often without identification documents and find themselves at the mercy of the occupying power.”

     The sites identified by i by cross-checking local news reports with Russian mapping websites are known in Russia as Temporary Accommodation Points (TAP). They include dozens of sanatoriums and former children’s wilderness camps, at least one “patriotic education” centre and even a former chemical weapons dump.

     They stretch across the vast Russian Steppes and across 11 time zones over the Ural Mountains from Belgorod in the west to the remote Kamchatka Peninsula on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and Vladivostok at the end of the Trans-Siberian railroad.

     With names that belie the misery being suffered by their occupants after surviving two months of war, they include the Little Prince in Perm, the Santa in Tatarstan, the Friendly Guys in Omsk, the Forest Fairy Tale in Chuvashia, the Blue Lakes in Pskov and the Pine Forest in Ulyanovsk.

     i has identified 6,250 people in 38 of the camps, including 621 children. If full, the 66 camps could contain about 10,800 people, including 1,000 children, with more than a third of the camps containing citizens of Mariupol. Some are yet to house Ukrainians despite being prepared by local officials.

     With an average of 162 people in each, our analysis suggests Russia could need about 6,000 camps to house the total number of people it claims have crossed the border.

     While Ukrainians are able to walk out of the camps, their remoteness and a lack of money, phones or documentation means those wanting to leave the country face an almost impossible task.

     But Russian activists are trying to help.

     “There is an impressive grassroots organisation on several levels – people collecting money for train tickets, helping with clothes and toys for children, letting people stay in their homes for a few nights,” one activist told i on condition of anonymity.

     “They are sharing messages and passing people on to groups in other cities, who are helping them get to the border.”

     Some Ukrainians are known to have escaped to countries including Poland and Georgia, while there have been reports of others trying to escape through Kazakhstan. One Russian news report said Ukrainians being taken to one city south east of Moscow had failed to board the train.

     Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova accused Russia of genocide and of breaching the Geneva Convention, which prevents forced deportations during wartime.

     Calling for the UN to investigate reports that 200,000 children are among those that have been taken from Ukraine to Russia, she said: “They have been deported to all regions of Russia. The conditions of their stay and their health is currently unknown.”

     Putin’s camps revealed

     i can reveal in detail how a vast network of former Soviet sanatoriums, children’s wilderness camps, hostels and orphanages is being used to move Ukrainian children and adults hundreds and thousands of miles from the border of their homeland.

     On the wild Kamchatka peninsula at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, 10 people including children from Kherson were placed in a dormitory of the Kamchatka Industrial College in Yelizovo on 26 April following an eight-hour flight. About 200 people are expected in the region.

     In Russia’s far eastern Maritime Territory, which is closer to Tokyo than it is to Moscow, a local newspaper reported in late April how 300 people, including 86 children, pregnant women and pensioners, arrived in Vladivostok after an exhausting seven-day journey on the Trans-Siberian Express from Taganrog.

     The new arrivals, including survivors of the Mariupol siege, were taken to the Vostok hotel complex on the coast near Nakhodka. It was the third train to arrive in a number of days, with one report saying 14 TAPs were being opened in four neighbouring cities to accommodate up 1,350 people.

     While Russian media claimed they had “chosen” to live in the Far East, adding that “almost everyone notes the beauty of the sea”, the advisor to the mayor of Mariupol said in a Telegram message seen by i he had learned they had no documents or money and were being promised only low paid jobs in the “arse of the world”.

     Twenty people have so far arrived in the far eastern islands of Sakhalin, which contain the Kuril Islands contested by Japan, despite officials expecting 600. One report said: “The Sakhalin region, as we can see, is not very popular with them. This is understandable.”

     Other reception points identified by i as housing survivors of the Mariupol siege include the Vanguard Patriotic Education Centre near Ivanovo in Ulyanovsk, a city beside the River Volga.

     The centre, which has a focus on “military-patriotic work” and promoting a “commitment to serving ones Motherland”, opened at the site of a former orphanage in February as part of a national “education” project instigated by Putin to create nearly 40 similar centres including one in Russia-controlled Crimea.

     It is one of two military-linked sites identified by i after this newspaper exclusively revealed last month that up to 600 Ukrainians including Mariupol survivors had been taken to a former chemical weapons dump at Leonidovka, near the Russian city of Penza, which played a former role in dismantling the country’s arsenal of nerve agents.

    In Murmansk, in the Arctic Circle, officials have set up 20 TAPs at venues including a hotel named the Northern Lights in the town of Nickel and the Lapland sanatorium in Murmashi.

     At a go-kart track in Belgorod, where people are staying in tents, a journalist reported having to go through two check points with armed men whose faces were covered with balaclavas.

     In Ufa, the location of the TAPs was described by officials as “classified information”, but one report of a site in a university hostel said it was fenced and access was only allowed with security passes “so people will be safe”.

     More than 530 people including 120 children from Mariupol have also been taken to the remote Tsaritsyno Lake boarding camp complex in the Leningrad Oblast, a three-hour drive from St Petersburg. A Russian archbishop who visited the site said several people told him they want to go home.

     He said: “There are people who have lost their documents. Without them, they cannot buy tickets for trains or buses.”

     In some places though, Ukrainians have already started to leave. At Nerekhta in Kostroma, numbers have dropped from 120 to 90, with reports of people travelling to Poland, while 15 have left a site in Narerezhnye Chelny.”

      Terrible though it is, this network of slave labor camps and hostages throughout Russia which contain both Russian dissidents and Ukrainian and other civilians captured as war plunder conceals crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Russian state as a key factor of its campaign of terror simply because it can. This includes a system of sex trafficking and military brothels where torture is sold in at least one known incident; also torture as a sporting event with betting in arenas which recall gladiatorial combat of the Roman Empire, spectacles of savagery wherein human beings are torn apart or devoured alive by wild animals with the betting being how long it takes and how many can be killed within the time limit. This has been reported both by our allies within the Russian Army and by the Underground Railroad operated by the Wolf of Mariupol, a network of Ukrainian women freedom fighters who infiltrate  groups of women captured by the Butterfly Collectors, set them free, and guide them out of Russia to safety. Some of the things the Wolf Maidens and those whom they rescue report are disturbing even beyond this.

     A friend and I had an interesting conversation the other day, among the commentary on a photo with the caption “Exactly 77 years ago, on April 30, 1945, Soviet soldiers hoisted the banner of Victory over the Reichstag! A victory for all humanity.”

      Writing in reaction to the first comment, by someone unknown to me, which misinterpreted the context of the post as referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and not the victory over the Nazis, which read; “I didn’t know this group was for supporters of fascism and genocidal dictators, ie Putin; not for me, this”, I replied with the following:

     I was at Mariupol, and escaped as the city was sealed off on the 18th. I have written many times of the war crimes I witnessed there, which include torture, organized rape and abduction for trafficking, executions, cannibalism using mobile factories and erasure of evidence of torture with mobile crematoriums. But do not confuse the Russian fascist oligarchy committing these crimes with the ordinary Russians now waging revolutionary struggle against this criminal regime, or with the Russian soldiers now engaged in peace resistance by mutiny and joining their Ukrainian brothers in solidarity to defeat the invasion, or with the Red Army which liberated Europe, and which I have fought alongside to liberate South Africa from Apartheid. Putin’s is no Red Army.

   “WTF? Cannibalism?”  Was the reply from a friend, not the author of the comment confusing Putin’s shameful imperial conquest today with the glorious Red Army of 1945.

    To this I wrote in answer; This was Russia’s solution to outrunning their supply lines; eat the killed in action. To be fair, they did this to their own fellow soldiers too, which caused an entire Russian unit to mutiny, kill their officers, and join the Ukrainian resistance, but its part of the terror campaign, like the Butterfly Collectors, the criminal syndicate of human traffickers within the Russian Army which kidnaps young girls and sometimes boys for use in Russian military brothels. The mobile factories for canning the dead as food for the soldiers operate with the crematorium trucks to erase evidence of torture.

     My guide in Mariupol was Oleksandr, a boy who had been chained to a post, his arm secured to a log, and a gun put in his hand pointing at another boy who had been surgically skinned, leaving the head and neck untouched so his agony could be conveyed by his expressions and screams and he would survive for hours or days in torment. After he shot his friend who was begging to die to end the pain the Russians just let him go, laughing; their idea of a joke. They didn’t even make bets on it, as has happened here when torture becomes a sporting event. His sister Kateryna we found hanging from a post; I believe she hanged herself after escaping her captors. She was eleven.

       And the reply to this was; “I am having a hard time believing this.”

      Here is my reply to him; I have difficulty with this also, and this too is a purpose of states which use atrocities beyond comprehension to subjugate us. I spent a day throwing up and working through the stages of shock a few days before leaving Mariupol, not from injury but because of something I witnessed. Not the torture or rapes, nor the feeding of the dead into the machines of the cannery while those filled with shrapnel or rotting were cremated, nor the usual burned and shredded bodies of aerial and artillery bombardment; all this I have seen before and will again, for with the exception of industrialized cannibalism among the horrors of war such crimes are normal. Have I mentioned that normality is deviant, and to be resisted? But some things are beyond the limits of the human, and for this there are no words.

      My friend’s final position in this conversation was this; “I am against wars, but for the soldiers who must fight them for the profit of others. All Russian soldiers cannot be this barbaric. Like the American soldiers who committed war crimes in Vietnam and Iraq, the criminals should be tried for their crimes and punished. But as a whole, those who send and command armies are the common enemy of those who are doomed to do the fighting.”

      My answer here follows; On this we agree; such acts are usually committed by elite units chosen and trained for loyalty and brutality, as were the death camp units of the SS. No normal person does such things, and most of Putin’s invasion force are conscripts and fellow victims of tyranny, many of whom are members of the peace movement which like the soldier’s strike that ended America’s war in Vietnam are the best real chance for peace. Most professional soldiers fight because if they do not, men who rely on them will die, regardless of the motives that brought them into battle.

     And as I’ve said, I have fought alongside Russian soldiers against Apartheid in South Africa and Angola, and other causes and places, in the eighties prior to the end of the Soviet Union, and they were not the same army as that in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere which serves no grand ideals, no vision of a united humankind free of the profit motive and of divisions of blood, faith, and soil, but its mirror image, an army of slaves sent by a tyrant to conquer a free people. 

     Many of those slaves unite in solidarity with those they were sent to conquer, and such heroes of solidarity and liberation must be welcomed and celebrated. This, and only this, will defeat war in the end.

    On this Victory Over Fascism Day, let us liberate Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, America and Europe, and the future of humankind from the tyranny of war criminals wherever they may be, and from fascisms of blood, faith, and soil.

    Now as then, let us confront the would-be conqueror of Europe as a united front, and purge our destroyers from among us.

    To fascism there can be but one reply; Never Again!

                 Europe in World War Two In Film

Band of Brothers series trailer

The Longest Day film montage

Saving Private Ryan film trailer

Churchill’s speech in Darkest Hour: You Cannot Reason With a Tiger When Your Head Is In Its Mouth

Enemy at the Gates trailer

Come and See trailer

The Guns of Navarone

Life is Beautiful

The Painted Bird

     Politics is the Art of Fear, as my father taught me; here is a brilliant map of our fears in Europe and how they will determine the future of the EU in this June’s vote

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/17/crises-have-split-european-voters-into-five-tribes-survey-suggests

Which ‘crisis tribe’ do you belong to? These five factions will define Europe in 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/22/crisis-tribe-europe-2024-european-elections

‘Anti-European’ populists on track for big gains in EU elections, says report

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/24/anti-european-populists-on-track-for-big-gains-in-eu-elections-says-report

        A Hobson’s Choice in the Nation With Two Faces, Israel and Palestine; one people divided by history. Who do we want to become, we Americans, we human beings?

      In the end all that matters is what we do with our fear, and how we use our power.

Biden warns against ‘surge of antisemitism’ at Holocaust event

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/07/biden-israel-commitment-pro-palestine-protests?CMP=share_btn_url

Joe Biden’s ‘red line’ is an invasion of Rafah. So what happens if Israel attacks?

Why have student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza gone global?

Thousands rally across Israel calling for Netanyahu to accept ceasefire deal

The Guardian view on hope and despair in Gaza: attacking Rafah will compound this disaster

     Trump and Biden are like the bear and man in the woods dilemma; we know Trump will destroy us, but Biden uses lies and deception to hide his intent to subjugate us, dehumanize us and subvert our universal human rights, and use our taxes for genocide and surveillance, censorship and repression of dissent.  

     Either way, we lose either democracy or our universal human rights;  America falls, and with us the global civilization of humankind..

‘Blood is on your hands, Biden

Joe Biden’s Backing of Israel’s War Is Making a Mockery of the “Rules-Based World Order”

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/joe-biden-israel-palestine-gaza-rules-based-international-order?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0zMTFLzYALdcz0VMDlJwun0RD3-Ti4wlBnJk_BKurd89LhX9x5s4WT8y8_aem_AYZat-FRspKrQIGqKgMWgTplKCM5j9Juf-gVyF3LjSzGeBqxhjfKKMPmnzw2FZ2hXXJLa3Y86e0fsah0nnMIwrY-

The War on Gaza Is the Result of Decades of Extreme Israeli Policy

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/gaza-israel-palestine-history-geopolitics-interview-hamas

Israel’s Western Allies Have Done Everything Possible to Criminalize Nonviolent Resistance

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/israel-western-allies-bds-palestine-nonviolent-resistance-opposition

                World War Two in Europe, a reading list

                 General Histories

     The Second World War: A Complete History, Martin Gilbert

     The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War, Andrew Roberts

     The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed History, May-October 1940, Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege 1940-43, Together We Stand: Turning the Tide in the West, Sicily ’43: The First Assault on Fortress Europe, Normandy ’44: D-Day and the Epic 77-Day Battle for France, James Holland

              Britain and Churchill

     The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, Erik Larson

     Churchill: Walking with Destiny, Andrew Roberts

     Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat, Giles Milton

    The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965, William Manchester, Paul Reid

             France

    The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940, France: The Dark Years 1940-1944, A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle, Julian T. Jackson

     Paris at War: 1939-1944, David Drake

     The Resistance: The French Fight Against the Nazis, Matthew Cobb

     Outwitting the Gestapo, Lucie Aubrac

     The Saboteur: The Aristocrat Who Became France’s Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando, Paul Kix

     Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler, Lynne Olson

     The Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, de Gaulle, and von Choltitz Saved the City of Light, Jean Edward Smith

              Italy

     Mussolini Warlord: Failed Dreams of Empire, 1940-1943, H. James Burgwyn

     The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944, Rick Atkinson

     Bitter Victory: The Battle For Sicily, July August 1943, Carlo D’Este

     Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell, Peter Caddick-Adams

     Anzio: Italy and the Battle for Rome 1944, Lloyd Clark

     Naples ’44: A World War II Diary of Occupied Italy, Norman Lewis

           Spain

     Picasso’s War, Russell Martin

     Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell

     The Spanish Civil War, Hugh Thomas

     The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War, Giles Tremlett

          Russia

      Russia’s War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945, Richard Overy

     Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–1943, Antony Beevor 

          Jewish Peoples

     Night, Elie Wiesel

      Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, Ariel Burger

     Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spiegelman

      Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi

     Primo Levi’s Resistance: Rebels and Collaborators in Occupied Italy, Sergio Luzzatto

     The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, Every Day Remembrance Day: A Chronicle of Jewish Martyrdom, The Murderers Among Us, Krystyna: The Tragedy of the Polish Resistance, Simon Wiesenthal

    Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto: The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Moshe Arens

     Auschwitz, Laurence Rees

    Treblinka, Jean-François Steiner, Simone de Beauvoir (Preface), Terrence Des Pres (Introduction

     The Origins of Totalitarianism, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt

     Hannah Arendt, Julia Kristeva

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/explainer-why-victory-day-in-russia-is-different-this-year/ar-AAWWlnR?ocid=uxbndlbing

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/06/how-victory-day-became-central-to-putin-idea-of-russian-identity

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/07/putin-choices-are-filled-with-peril-on-the-eve-of-victory-day-parade-russia-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/08/ukraine-will-prevail-as-europe-did-in-1945-scholz-says-in-ve-day-speech?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/03/europe/russia-victory-day-explainer-intl/index.html

Here is the Wall Street Journal article on the Russian bombing of a school where children were sheltering

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-airstrike-kills-villagers-taking-shelter-at-school-ukraine-says-11651999227?fbclid=IwAR10eLnflERsJIU0gdMG4RQr8-wdzerrkNF02xDN8pDzuU8GeexvGxiN-Mg

This article reports on the network of 66 camps for abducted hostages, slave labor, and sex trafficking in Russia

                 World War Three in Ukraine as it unfolds:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/08/surrender-is-not-an-option-azov-battalion-commander-in-plea-for-help-to-escape-mariupol?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/07/odesa-missiles-ukraine-sunk-russian-ship-drone-claims?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/06/ukraine-photos-poland-border-refugees-rape-atrocities?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/05/kharkiv-catalogues-war-toll-on-architectural-gems-historic-buildings-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10779451/Civilians-fleeing-Mariupols-Azovstal-steel-works-tell-horrors-constant-Russian-bombing.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10779783/Mariupol-refugees-subjected-humiliating-interrogation-Russian-soldiers-release.html

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/russia-ukraine-war_n_62720a0ee4b0cca6755b93e9

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/men-and-boys-among-alleged-victims-by-russian-soldiers-in-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/04/evacuees-tell-of-horror-weeks-inside-azovstal-steel-plant-mariupol-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/russias-war-in-ukraine-causing-36bn-of-building-damage-a-week?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61249158

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/30/how-the-barbaric-lessons-learned-in-syria-came-to-haunt-one-small-ukrainian-village?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61285178

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/russia-offensive-slower-planned_n_626cf88ce4b029505df296f9

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/photographer-seth-herald-captures-local-and-displaced-ukrainians-working-together-to-fight-invasion_n_624c99b2e4b098174506f4a0

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/zelenskyy-russian-soldiers-charged-bucha_n_626b110de4b0cca67553dbcb

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/28/ukraine-names-10-russian-soldiers-in-alleged-human-rights-abuses-in-bucha

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/28/russia-kyiv-cruise-missile-strike-biden-guterres

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61217528

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/politics/mark-milley-interview-cnntv/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/europe/ukraine-kharkiv-paramedics-intl/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/26/russia-accused-of-shelling-mariupol-humanitarian-corridor

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/24/crimes-against-history-mapping-the-destruction-of-ukraines-culture?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/23/putin-ignited-new-anti-colonial-struggle-this-time-moscow-target?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/22/ukraine-south-occupation-russian-military-chief-rustam-minnekayev

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/22/fears-civilians-trapped-mariupol-steel-plant-azovstal-russia-ukraine-war?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/20/jewish-ukrainian-refugees-warsaw-passovers-message?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/20/humanitarian-corridor-out-of-mariupol-agreed-with-russia-says-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-61157670

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/19/russia-deployed-20000-mercenaries-ukraine-donbas-region?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/18/russia-begins-large-scale-military-action-to-seize-eastern-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/16/up-to-3000-ukraine-troops-killed-since-russia-invaded-says-zelenskiy-as-battle-rages-in-mariupol?CMP=share_btn_link

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/ukraine-one-long-nightmare-mariupol

https://www.ft.com/content/af7996a9-8c16-4421-a5b3-390315d3c7dc

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-edf7240a9d990e7e3e32f82ca351dede

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/apr/17/russia-ukraine-war-russian-deadline-for-mariupol-defenders-to-surrender-or-die-passes-live

     This brings us to the time of my escape from Mariupol to Warsaw, with my own team and a few hundred of her defenders, as the nucleus of a new direct action network with the mission to take the fight to the enemy within Russia.

    Here are my journals of Mariupol and the First General History of World War Three:

April 27 2024 This Passover, Stand Against Genocide. This Passover, Stand With the Children: the Passover Peace and Divestiture Protests and Occupations

      Throughout America and the world courageous students protest and occupy their universities in refusal to be silenced or made complicit in genocide, either by institutional profiteering on crimes against humanity through investments or by state sponsorship of war, tyranny, and terror..

     Much of this rage is directed at Genocide Joe, who has betrayed us and abandoned our ideals of universal human rights as our tax dollars buy the deaths of children and their families in Israel’s Gaza War and imperial conquest of her neighbors.

     But American complicity in Israeli war crimes and state terror and tyranny did not begin with Biden’s sock puppet Netanyahu in games of imperial dominion with Iran and Russia; it began generations ago in the wake of the Holocaust at the founding of the nation which was intended to protect us all from fascism, and has now has come round to become all that it once feared, reproducing the conditions of Auschwitz and the concentration camps throughout Israel itself and wherever its power can reach.

    Tonight at the White House Correspondent’s Ball the tyrant himself and his apologists of genocide and dehumanization will laugh and roast each other with clever jibes, while in Gaza real human beings will roast in cities become vast crematoriums.

      In the words of the magnificent character of Lt Aldo Raine in Inglorious Basterds; “I can’t abide it. Can you abide it?”

                Hope and a Prayer

      This Passover, stand against genocide.

      This Passover, stand with the children.

      This Passover, turn not the Stranger from your door.

      This Passover, chose love and not fear.

Can You Abide It? Inglorious Basterds final scene

Bernie Calls Out Netanyahu On Genocide

     (In stark contrast with Genocide Joe, here is an American politician with heart, moral vision, and the courage to speak truth to power. Who will stand with us?)

Sanders hits back at Netanyahu: ‘It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/27/bernie-sanders-benjamin-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war?CMP=share_btn_url

A new generation at UC Berkeley pitches its tents

     (I was nine years old, holding my mother’s hand in the front line of the divestiture protest against the Occupation of Palestine when Reagan ordered the police to open fire on the students on Bloody Thursday May 15 1969 in People’s Park Berkeley, the most terrible incident of state terror in American history since Wounded Knee.

     Fifty five years, and we have learned nothing, changed nothing. There is but one rule in American politics; nobody messes with the grift.)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/27/university-california-berkeley-palestine-protest?CMP=share_btn_url

US faculty speak up and stand alongside student Gaza protesters

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/27/us-faculty-university-students-campus-protests-gaza?CMP

Open Letter to College and University Presidents on Student Protests | ACLU

Four students on why they’re protesting against war in Gaza: ‘Injustice should not be accepted’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/26/college-protests-israel-gaza?CMP

Columbia University calls for inquiry into leadership as student protests sweep 40 campuses

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/26/pro-palestinian-protests-college-campuses?CMP=share_btn_url

Chaotic and thrilling: Columbia’s radio station is live from the student protests

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/26/columbia-protests-student-reporters-radio-station-wkcr?CMP

Hebrew

7 באפריל 2024 בפסח הזה, עמוד נגד רצח עם. בפסח הזה, עמוד עם הילדים: מחאות ועיסוקים של שלום פסח והסרה

       ברחבי אמריקה והעולם סטודנטים אמיצים מוחים וכובשים את האוניברסיטאות שלהם בסירוב להשתיק או להיות שותפים לרצח עם, אם על ידי רווח ממוסד על פשעים נגד האנושות באמצעות השקעות או על ידי חסות מדינה למלחמה, עריצות וטרור.

      חלק גדול מהזעם הזה מופנה לרצח העם ג’ו, שבגד בנו ונטש את האידיאלים שלנו לגבי זכויות אדם אוניברסליות, כאשר כספי המס שלנו קונים את מותם של ילדים ומשפחותיהם במלחמת עזה של ישראל ובכיבוש האימפריאלי של שכנותיה.

      אבל שותפות אמריקאית בפשעי מלחמה ישראלים ובטרור המדינה ועריצות לא התחילה עם בובת הגרב של ביידן נתניהו במשחקי שליטה אימפריאלית עם איראן ורוסיה; זה התחיל לפני דורות בעקבות השואה עם הקמת האומה שנועדה להגן על כולנו מפני הפשיזם, וכעת הפך לכל מה שפחדה ממנו פעם, משחזר את תנאי אושוויץ ומחנות הריכוז לאורך כל הדרך. ישראל עצמה ולכל מקום שכוחה יכול להגיע.

     הערב בנשף הכתב של הבית הלבן, העריץ עצמו ומתנצליו על רצח עם ודה-הומניזציה יצחקו ויצלו זה את זה בג’יבס חכם, בעוד שבעזה בני אדם אמיתיים יצלו בערים יהפכו למשרפות עצומות.

       במילותיה של דמותו המפוארת של סגן אלדו ריין ב-Inglory Basterds; “אני לא יכול לעמוד בזה. אתה יכול לעמוד בזה?”

       בפסח הזה, עמוד נגד רצח עם.

       בפסח הזה, עמדו עם הילדים.

       בפסח הזה, אל תפנו את הזר מדלתכם.

       פסח זה, בחר באהבה ולא בפחד.

Arabic

27 أبريل 2024 في عيد الفصح هذا، قف ضد الإبادة الجماعية. في عيد الفصح هذا، قف مع الأطفال: سلام عيد الفصح واحتجاجات الاحتلال وسحب الاستثمارات

       في جميع أنحاء أمريكا والعالم يحتج الطلاب الشجعان ويحتلون جامعاتهم رفضًا لإسكاتهم أو جعلهم متواطئين في الإبادة الجماعية، إما عن طريق التربح المؤسسي من الجرائم ضد الإنسانية من خلال الاستثمارات أو عن طريق رعاية الدولة للحرب والطغيان والإرهاب.

      إن قسماً كبيراً من هذا الغضب موجه نحو منظمة الإبادة الجماعية جو، التي خانتنا وتخلت عن مُثُلنا بشأن حقوق الإنسان العالمية، بينما تشتري دولارات ضرائبنا وفاة الأطفال وأسرهم في حرب إسرائيل على غزة والغزو الإمبراطوري لجيرانها.

      لكن التواطؤ الأميركي في جرائم الحرب الإسرائيلية وإرهاب الدولة وطغيانها لم يبدأ مع نتنياهو، دمية بايدن، في ألعاب الهيمنة الإمبريالية مع إيران وروسيا؛ لقد بدأت منذ أجيال في أعقاب الهولوكوست عند تأسيس الأمة التي كان الهدف منها حمايتنا جميعًا من الفاشية، وقد أصبحت الآن كل ما كانت تخشاه ذات يوم، وتعيد إنتاج ظروف أوشفيتز ومعسكرات الاعتقال في جميع أنحاء العالم. إسرائيل نفسها وأينما يمكن أن تصل قوتها.

     الليلة في حفلة مراسلي البيت الأبيض، سوف يضحك الطاغية نفسه والمدافعون عنه عن الإبادة الجماعية والتجريد من الإنسانية ويشوون بعضهم البعض بسخرية ذكية، بينما في غزة، سيتم شواء البشر الحقيقيين في المدن ليصبحوا محارق جثث ضخمة.

       على حد تعبير الشخصية الرائعة للملازم ألدو رين في فيلم Inglorious Basterds؛ “لا أستطيع تحمل ذلك. هل يمكنك تحمل ذلك؟”

       في عيد الفصح هذا، قفوا ضد الإبادة الجماعية.

       في هذا الفصح، قفوا مع الأطفال.

       في هذا الفصح، لا تُخرج الغريب من بابك.

       هذا الفصح اختار المحبة وليس الخوف.

April 7 2024 Things Fall Apart: Six Months of War in Gaza

     In six months of Israel’s war of genocide and ethnic cleansing, both the state of Israel and the American Empire of which it is a proxy have become delegitimized and begun to unravel as complicity in crimes against humanity shadow our authority, and like the British Empire which fell with the repression of Gandhi’s Salt Tax Protest we lose the moral high ground and are left with mere force and control as brutality and state terror, which crumble to nothing when challenged by disobedience and disbelief.

     There is a stain of cruelty on our shining armor, and it now stands exposed to the witness of history.

     This I celebrate as a victory for all humankind, and a lever of change in liberation struggle for both Israeli and Palestinian peoples, though the cost in human life is unimaginably horrific and an atrocity beyond comprehension for which its perpetrators on all sides must one day face a Reckoning.

     There are no good guys in this story, but sadly there are many innocent who bear the true costs of this war, for nearly all its victims have been noncombatants and civilian women and children, war crimes against all ideas of human rights. Our humanity is among the greatest of such costs; the degradation of who we are.

     Why was such a war begun by Hamas, and waged by Israel as genocide and ethnic cleansing? Because Israelis and Palestinians were forging a new identity together as one people united as guarantors of each other’s universal human rights, which threatened the narratives of victimization, division, and national identity by which authority centralizes and enforces power, on both sides of this conflict and generally.

     Netanyahu’s colonialist-imperial settler regime, subverted and corrupted by fascisms of blood, faith, and soil into a mirror image of the death camps Israel  was long ago intended to protect us all from, collaborated with elements of Hamas and with an unknown third party in the design and operation of the October 7 atrocities.

      In this there is nothing new; Israel, Hamas, and countless other entities have for generations now multiply infiltrated each other, and Israel has a recon unit which specializes in impersonating Islamic jihadists and committing atrocities against actual Islamic groups to sow division and prevent the people they are Occupying from creating a united front. On October 7, this Byzantine system of alliances and rivalries sabotaged itself and exploded in horrific violence and detestable crimes, much like the assassination of Franz Ferdinand set off World War One.

      I say again; IDF and Israeli intelligence agencies have been infiltrated by more than one enemy, which worked to create October 7, and unrelated to this Israel created its own network within Hamas which planned October 7 as a just cause of war and a pretext for the Final Solution of the Palestinians.

      Some of the Israeli hostages, though not all, are now captives of IDF soldiers masquerading as jihadists in quasi-independent networks within Hamas. This is why Netanyahu is not pursuing the rescue of hostages, nor even the capture of their abductors; it is by design in service to genocide and imperial conquest and dominion.

     All of this is made complex, relative, and ambiguous in geopolitical terms because Iran, which controls five nations including Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, and her international nonstate organization Hezbollah, reacted immediately with solidarity of action with the people of Palestine, which accelerated Israel’s timetable for the conquest of the whole Middle East in retaliation, and because Russia is Iran’s partner in the Assad regime of Syria, transformed a seventy year old regional sectarian conflict into a theatre of World War Three.  

      Where does this leave us now?

      Humankind must choose between theocratic tyranny and secular democracy, imperial conquest and dominion and the sovereignty and independence of all nations and all human beings, between equality and subjugation to elite hegemonies of wealth, power, and privilege, and between  fear and love.

    Who do we want to become, we humans; masters and slaves, or a free society of equals?

     The United Nations as our first world government and an emergent United Humankind must now act swiftly and decisively to bring respect for our universal human rights to the rogue state of Israel, and help her peoples to  reimagine and transform their nation.

      America has been made complicit in genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by our colony and proxy Israel, evils we must own as ours and take responsibility for, immediately in opening the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid and enforcing a total ceasefire, and ongoing in bringing regime change to Israel, a Reckoning to her war criminals, and restorative justice to her victims.   

      Gaza is in ruins and must be totally rebuilt; reparations and reconciliation process will consume a generation and define the ideas of Israel and Palestine for a century. Israel will never live this down and if Netanyahu’s criminal regime is not purged and a true democracy founded from the ashes of Zionism, the name of Israel will become a cautionary tale whispered in the darkness.  

    One people divided by history, Israel and Palestine; I hope that one day they may awaken from the lies of those who would enslave them, and become a free society of equals who are each other’s guarantors of our universal human rights.

               The Hamas-Israel War Week One, a reading list

Israel-Hamas war escalates – in pictures

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2023/oct/09/israel-hamas-palestinian-gaza-war-escalates-in-pictures?CMP=share_btn_link

Israel-Hamas war: first seven days in maps, video and satellite images

The Hamas Attacks and Israeli Response: An Explainer/ Jewish Currents

A rolling explainer answering readers’ questions about the current situation in Israel/Palestine.

International Reactions to the Hamas Attack on Israel

https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/international-reactions-hamas-attack-israel

Hamas may have pushed Israelis into a far darker place than Netanyahu ever dreamed of, Dahlia Scheindlin

Oppose the outlawing of solidarity protests in defense of Gaza! /WSWS

Yes, This Is Israel’s 9/11: Both the U.S. and Israel were stunned to experience the ultraviolence they mete out to others/ The Intercept

ISRAEL RESPONDS TO HAMAS CRIMES BY ORDERING MASS WAR CRIMES IN GAZA: Years of impunity for Israeli crimes against civilians have bred a culture of disregard for international law./ The Intercept

Israel Orders The Evacuation Of 1.1 Million People From The Northern Part Of Gaza, The UN Says

Here in the West Bank, Palestinians are expecting awful reprisals. Such is the cycle of adversity | Fatima AbdulKarim

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/10/west-bank-palestinians-hamas-humanity-israel?CMP=share_btn_link

You’re not going to like what comes after Pax Americana

Welcome to the jungle, Noah Smith

The universal rules of war that emerged after 1945 are being broken – and not just in the Middle East, Martin Kettle

     The Hamas-Israel War, Week of the Six Month Anniversary

Since 7 October, my therapy patients have asked themselves: who are our people?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/apr/07/israel-gaza-identity-october-7?CMP=share_btn_url

Six Months Into The Israel-Hamas War, Here’s A Look At Gaza’s Destruction By The Numbers

Six months in, the war in Gaza has dramatically shifted – and Israel is running out of road | Nesrine Malik

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/07/six-months-war-in-gaza-israel-allies?CMP=share_btn_url

Tens of thousands of Israelis rally against Netanyahu as Gaza war reaches six month mark

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/07/tens-of-thousands-of-israelis-rally-against-netanyahu-as-gaza-war-reaches-six-month-mark?CMP=share_btn_url

Chef José Andrés says Israel engaging in ‘war against humanity itself’ in Gaza

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/07/israel-gaza-strike-aid-workers-chef-jose-andres?CMP=share_btn_url

What Is Hamas Thinking Now?

Isolated at home and abroad, but Netanyahu isn’t about to go quietly

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/07/isolated-at-home-and-abroad-but-netanyahu-isnt-about-to-go-quietly?CMP

The new world disorder: how the Gaza war disrupted international relations

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/06/world-disorder-israel-gaza-war-international-relations?CMP

Only a ceasefire in Gaza can save Israel from its worst-ever crisis | Observer editorial

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/07/observer-view-only-ceasefire-save-israel-from-crisis?CMP=share_btn_url

Arabic

أبريل 2024 الأمور تتداعى: ستة أشهر من الحرب في غزة

      خلال ستة أشهر من حرب الإبادة الجماعية والتطهير العرقي التي شنتها إسرائيل، أصبحت كل من دولة إسرائيل والإمبراطورية الأمريكية التي تعمل بالوكالة عنها، غير شرعيتين وبدأتا في الانهيار حيث ظل التواطؤ في جرائم ضد الإنسانية يخيم على سلطتنا، ومثلما حدث مع الإمبراطورية البريطانية التي فعندما سقطنا مع قمع احتجاج غاندي على ضريبة الملح، فقدنا المكانة الأخلاقية العالية ولم يبق لنا سوى القوة والسيطرة مثل الوحشية وإرهاب الدولة، اللذين ينهاران إلى لا شيء عندما يتحدىهما العصيان والكفر.

      إن هناك وصمة عار من القسوة على درعنا اللامع، وهي الآن مكشوفة أمام شهادة التاريخ.

      إنني أحتفل بهذا باعتباره انتصارًا للبشرية جمعاء، ورافعة تغيير في النضال من أجل التحرير لكل من الشعبين الإسرائيلي والفلسطيني، على الرغم من أن التكلفة في حياة الإنسان مروعة بشكل لا يمكن تصوره وفظاعة تفوق الفهم يجب على مرتكبيها من جميع الأطراف أن يواجهوها يومًا ما. حساب.

      لا يوجد أشخاص أخيار في هذه القصة، ولكن للأسف هناك العديد من الأبرياء الذين يتحملون التكاليف الحقيقية لهذه الحرب، لأن جميع ضحاياها تقريبًا كانوا من غير المقاتلين والمدنيين من النساء والأطفال، وهي جرائم حرب ضد جميع أفكار حقوق الإنسان. إن إنسانيتنا هي من بين أعظم هذه التكاليف؛ تدهور من نحن.

      لماذا بدأت حماس حرباً كهذه، وشنّتها إسرائيل باعتبارها إبادة جماعية وتطهيراً عرقياً؟ لأن الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين كانوا يشكلون هوية جديدة معًا كشعب واحد متحد كضامنين لحقوق الإنسان العالمية لكل منهما، الأمر الذي هدد روايات الإيذاء والانقسام والهوية الوطنية التي من خلالها تقوم السلطة بمركزية السلطة وفرضها، على جانبي هذا الصراع و عمومًا.

      إن نظام نتنياهو الاستيطاني الاستعماري الإمبراطوري، الذي تم تخريبه وإفساده بواسطة فاشية الدم والإيمان والتربة، وتحويله إلى صورة مرآة لمعسكرات الموت التي كانت إسرائيل تهدف منذ فترة طويلة إلى حمايتنا منها جميعاً، تعاون مع عناصر من حماس ومع طرف ثالث غير معروف في إسرائيل. تصميم وتنفيذ فظائع 7 أكتوبر.

       وليس هناك جديد في هذا؛ لقد تسللت إسرائيل وحماس وعدد لا يحصى من الكيانات الأخرى على مدى أجيال إلى بعضها البعض، ولدى إسرائيل وحدة استطلاع متخصصة في انتحال شخصية الجهاديين الإسلاميين وارتكاب الفظائع ضد الجماعات الإسلامية الفعلية لزرع الفرقة ومنع الشعب الذي تحتله من إنشاء دولة موحدة. أمام. في 7 أكتوبر، خرب هذا النظام البيزنطي من التحالفات والمنافسات نفسه وانفجر في أعمال عنف مروعة وجرائم مقيتة، مثلما أدى اغتيال فرانز فرديناند إلى إشعال الحرب العالمية الأولى.

       أقول مرة أخرى؛ لقد تم اختراق جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي وأجهزة المخابرات الإسرائيلية من قبل أكثر من عدو عمل على خلق 7 أكتوبر، وبعيداً عن ذلك أنشأت إسرائيل شبكتها الخاصة داخل حماس التي خططت لـ 7 أكتوبر كسبب عادل للحرب وذريعة للحل النهائي للقضية الفلسطينية. الفلسطينيين.

       بعض الرهائن الإسرائيليين، ولكن ليس جميعهم، أصبحوا الآن أسرى لدى جنود من جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي يتنكرون في هيئة جهاديين في شبكات شبه مستقلة داخل حماس. ولهذا السبب لا يسعى نتنياهو إلى إنقاذ الرهائن، ولا حتى القبض على خاطفيهم؛ إنه عن قصد خدمة للإبادة الجماعية والغزو والهيمنة الإمبراطورية.

      كل هذا أصبح معقداً ونسبياً وغامضاً من الناحية الجيوسياسية لأن إيران، التي تسيطر على خمس دول بما في ذلك العراق ولبنان وسوريا واليمن، ومنظمتها الدولية غير الحكومية حزب الله، ردت على الفور بالتضامن مع الشعب الفلسطيني. الأمر الذي أدى إلى تسريع الجدول الزمني لإسرائيل لغزو الشرق الأوسط بأكمله انتقاما، ولأن روسيا شريك إيران في نظام الأسد في سوريا، فقد حول الصراع الطائفي الإقليمي المستمر منذ سبعين عاما إلى مسرح للحرب العالمية الثالثة.

       أين يتركنا هذا الآن؟

       يجب على البشرية أن تختار بين الطغيان الثيوقراطي والديمقراطية العلمانية، والغزو الإمبراطوري والسيطرة وسيادة واستقلال جميع الأمم وجميع البشر، وبين المساواة والخضوع لهيمنة النخبة من الثروة والسلطة والامتياز، وبين الخوف والحب.

     من نريد أن نصبح نحن البشر؟ السادة والعبيد أم مجتمع حر متساوٍ؟

      يجب على الأمم المتحدة، باعتبارها أول حكومة عالمية لنا والبشرية المتحدة الناشئة، أن تتصرف الآن بسرعة وحسم لجلب الاحترام لحقوقنا الإنسانية العالمية إلى دولة إسرائيل المارقة، ومساعدة شعبها على إعادة تصور أمتهم وتحويلها.

       لقد أصبحت أمريكا متواطئة في الإبادة الجماعية والتطهير العرقي وجرائم الحرب والجرائم ضد الإنسانية من قبل مستعمرتنا ووكيلنا إسرائيل، وهي شرور يجب أن نعتبرها شرورنا ونتحمل المسؤولية عنها، فور فتح الحصار الإسرائيلي للمساعدات الإنسانية وفرض وقف كامل لإطلاق النار. ، ومستمرة في تغيير النظام في إسرائيل، ومحاسبة مجرمي الحرب، وتحقيق العدالة التصالحية لضحاياها.

       إن غزة في حالة خراب ويجب إعادة بنائها بالكامل؛ الجبر

وسوف تستهلك عملية المصالحة جيلاً كاملاً وستحدد أفكار إسرائيل وفلسطين لمدة قرن من الزمان. لن تتخلى إسرائيل عن هذا الأمر أبدًا، وإذا لم يتم تطهير نظام نتنياهو الإجرامي وتأسيس ديمقراطية حقيقية على رماد الصهيونية، فإن اسم إسرائيل سيصبح حكاية تحذيرية تهمس في الظلام.

     شعب واحد قسمه التاريخ، إسرائيل وفلسطين؛ آمل أن يستيقظوا ذات يوم من أكاذيب أولئك الذين يريدون استعبادهم، وأن يصبحوا مجتمعًا حرًا من متساوين الذين يضمن كل منهم الآخر حقوق الإنسان العالمية.

Hebrew

7 באפריל 2024 דברים מתפרקים: שישה חודשים של מלחמה בעזה

      בשישה חודשים של מלחמת רצח העם והטיהור האתני של ישראל, הן מדינת ישראל והן האימפריה האמריקנית שהיא נציגתה הפכו לדה-לגיטימציה והחלו להיפרם כששותפות לפשעים נגד האנושות מצילה על סמכותנו, וכמו האימפריה הבריטית אשר נפל עם הדיכוי של מחאת מס המלח של גנדי, אנו מאבדים את הקרקע המוסרית ונשארים עם כוח ושליטה בלבד כאכזריות וטרור ממלכתי, שמתפוררים לכלום כאשר מאותגרים על ידי אי ציות ואי אמון.

      יש כתם של אכזריות על השריון הבוהק שלנו, והוא עומד כעת חשוף לעד ההיסטוריה.

      את זה אני חוגג כניצחון לכל המין האנושי, וכמנוף של שינוי במאבק השחרור עבור עמים ישראלים ופלסטינים כאחד, אף על פי שהמחיר בחיי אדם הוא איום בצורה בלתי נתפסת וזוועה מעבר להבנה שבגינה ייאלצו מבצעיה מכל הצדדים להתמודד יום אחד. חשבון.

      אין בחורים טובים בסיפור הזה, אבל למרבה הצער יש הרבה חפים מפשע שנושאים את המחיר האמיתי של המלחמה הזו, שכן כמעט כל קורבנותיה היו לא לוחמים ונשים וילדים אזרחיים, פשעי מלחמה נגד כל הרעיונות של זכויות אדם. האנושיות שלנו היא בין העלויות הגדולות ביותר; השפלה של מי שאנחנו.

      מדוע החלה מלחמה כזו על ידי חמאס, וניהלה ישראל כרצח עם וטיהור אתני? מכיוון שישראלים ופלסטינים יצרו יחד זהות חדשה כעם אחד המאוחד כערבים זה לזכויות האדם האוניברסליות של זה, מה שאיים על הנרטיבים של קורבנות, פילוג וזהות לאומית שבאמצעותם הסמכות מרכזת ואוכפת את הכוח, משני הצדדים של הסכסוך הזה. בדרך כלל.

      משטר המתנחלים הקולוניאליסטי-אימפריאלי של נתניהו, שהושחת והושחת על ידי פשיזם של דם, אמונה ואדמה לתמונת מראה של מחנות ההשמדה שישראל נועדה מזמן להגן על כולנו מפני, שיתף פעולה עם גורמי חמאס ועם צד שלישי לא ידוע. התכנון והתפעול של הזוועות ב-7 באוקטובר.

       בזה אין שום דבר חדש; ישראל, חמאס ואינספור גופים אחרים הסתננו במשך דורות רבים זה לזה, ולישראל יש יחידת סיור המתמחה בהתחזות לג’יהאדיסטים איסלאמיים ובביצוע מעשי זוועה נגד קבוצות איסלאמיות בפועל כדי לזרוע פילוג ולמנוע מהעם שהם כובשים ליצור איחוד מאוחד. חֲזִית. ב-7 באוקטובר, המערכת הביזנטית הזו של בריתות ויריבויות חיבלה בעצמה והתפוצצה באלימות איומה ופשעים מתועבים, ממש כמו ההתנקשות בפרנץ פרדיננד שהחלה את מלחמת העולם הראשונה.

       אני אומר שוב; לצה”ל ולסוכנויות המודיעין הישראליות הסתננו יותר מאויב אחד, שפעל ליצירת ה-7 באוקטובר, וללא קשר לכך ישראל יצרה רשת משלה בתוך חמאס שתכננה את ה-7 באוקטובר כעילה צודקת למלחמה ועילה לפתרון הסופי של הפלסטינים.

       חלק מבני הערובה הישראלים, אם כי לא כולם, שבויים כעת של חיילי צה”ל המתחזות לג’יהאדיסטים ברשתות מעין עצמאיות בתוך חמאס. זו הסיבה שנתניהו לא רודף אחר חילוץ בני ערובה, ואפילו לא לכידת חוטפיהם; זה מתוכנן בשירות רצח עם וכיבוש אימפריאלי ושליטה.

      כל זה נעשה מורכב, יחסי ומעורפל במונחים גיאופוליטיים מכיוון שאיראן, השולטת בחמש מדינות כולל עיראק, לבנון, סוריה ותימן, והארגון הבינלאומי הלא-מדינתי שלה חיזבאללה, הגיבה מיד בסולידריות של פעולה עם העם הפלסטיני. מה שהאיץ את לוח הזמנים של ישראל לכיבוש המזרח התיכון כולו כנקמה, ומכיוון שרוסיה היא שותפתה של איראן במשטר אסד בסוריה, הפך סכסוך עדתי אזורי בן שבעים שנה לתיאטרון של מלחמת העולם השלישית.

       איפה זה משאיר אותנו עכשיו?

       על המין האנושי לבחור בין עריצות תיאוקרטית ודמוקרטיה חילונית, כיבוש ושליטה אימפריאלית לבין ריבונות ועצמאות של כל העמים וכל בני האדם, בין שוויון וכפיפות להגמוניות עילית של עושר, כוח וזכות, ובין פחד ואהבה.

     למי אנחנו רוצים להיות, אנחנו בני האדם; אדונים ועבדים, או חברה חופשית של שווים?

      האומות המאוחדות כממשלת העולם הראשונה שלנו והמין האנושי המאוחד המתהווה חייבות כעת לפעול במהירות ובנחישות כדי להביא כבוד לזכויות האדם האוניברסליות שלנו למדינת ישראל הנוכלת, ולעזור לעמיה לדמיין מחדש ולשנות את האומה שלהם.

       אמריקה נעשתה שותפה לרצח עם, טיהור אתני, פשעי מלחמה ופשעים נגד האנושות על ידי המושבה שלנו וישראל, הרשעים שאנו חייבים להיות שלנו ולקחת אחריות עליהם, מיד בפתיחת המצור הישראלי של סיוע הומניטרי ואכיפת הפסקת אש מוחלטת , ומתמשכת בהבאת שינוי המשטר לישראל, התחשבנות לפושעי המלחמה שלה, וצדק מחזיר לקורבנותיה.

       עזה בהריסות ויש לבנות אותה מחדש לחלוטין; פיצוי

תהליך הפיוס ותכלס דור ויגדיר את הרעיונות של ישראל ופלסטין במשך מאה שנה. ישראל לעולם לא תחיה זאת, ואם משטר הפשע של נתניהו לא יטהר ודמוקרטיה אמיתית תקום מאפר הציונות, שמה של ישראל יהפוך לסיפור אזהרה שנלחש בחושך.      עם אחד מחולק לפי היסטוריה, ישראל ופלסטין; אני מקווה שיום אחד הם יתעוררו מהשקרים של אלה שישעבדו אותם, ויהפכו לחברה חופשית של שווים שהם ערבים זה לזה לזכויות האדם האוניברסליות שלנו



April 3 2024 Echoes of Guernica in Israel’s Total War: Case of the Aid Worker Bombing

Fast on the heels of the two week Israeli orgy of destruction of al Shifa hospital with its brutal murders, rapes, and torture of both doctors and patients, comes the twin horrors of Israel’s bombing of the World Central Kitchen food convoy and deaths of seven humanitarian aid workers and the bombing of a foreign consulate.

      This is Israel’s response to our victorious Red Sea Campaign of counter-blockade versus the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which was a total failure for them both in military and political terms despite American drone bombings of liberation forces sites in Yemen.

    Here Genocide Joe tried and failed to kill us in defense of Israel’s blockade and policy of using famine and denial of medical aide in this campaign of genocide and ethnic cleaning of Palestine.

     This makes Biden the second American President who has tried to kill me personally, though Reagan was only Governor of California when he ordered the police to open fire on the students protesting the Occupation of Palestine and the University’s investments in Israel, Bloody Thursday May 15 1969 in People’s Park Berkeley.

     Though the American airstrikes on our drone launch sites did nothing whatever to discourage us and destroyed abandoned and unmanned locations (you didn’t think I’d use the same trick twice now did you?), one did blow up a shed where some lads had stored the spray paints they’d been using to decorate the local urinals with images of Biden and Netanyahu. We know who the enemy is.

     And because the enemies of humanity could not silence us and others who stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine as guarantors of our universal human rights, enemies who speak with the only language they understand, that of terror, cruelty, dehumanization, erasure, and brutal repression of dissent, they murdered a convoy of humanitarian aid workers bringing food to starving children. This was by design, and had the intended effect as World Central Kitchen has withdrawn from Gaza.

     Where did Israel learn the use of such terror?

     From Hitler and Franco, who tested and codified their new model of conquest named Total War and characterized by crimes against civilian populations in the destruction of Guernica, and both the Spanish Civil War and all the horrors that came afterward.

    O Israel, is this how you bring Tikkun Olam, Repair of the World?

    America, is this how we stand in solidarity and liberation struggle with the “huddled masses yearning to be free”?  

       As written by Sam Jones in The Guardian, in an article entitled Gaza aid convoy strike: what happened and who were the victims? Seven World Central Kitchen workers died after a strike on their vehicle in Deir al-Balah; “What do we know about what happened outside the Deir al-Balah warehouse in Gaza?

Seven aid workers trying to deliver much-needed food to Gaza were killed in an Israeli strike in the city of Deir al-Balah on Monday night. The Israeli government confirmed its military had carried out “an unintended strike”, hours after World Central Kitchen (WCK), an international charity that has brought hundreds of tonnes of food aid into Gaza, said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were responsible.

     WCK said the workers – three Britons, a Palestinian, a US-Canadian dual citizen, a Pole and an Australian – had been travelling in two armoured cars bearing the charity’s logo, and a “soft-skin vehicle”.

     “Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tonnes of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route,” the charity said in a statement.

     Israeli defence sources told Haaretz that the aid workers’ vehicles had been hit three times by missiles fired from a drone because of erroneous suspicions that a terrorist was travelling with the convoy.

     Haaretz also reported that some of the passengers left their vehicle after it was hit by the first missile and climbed into another car, which was then hit by a second missile. The third car in the convoy, which approached to pick up the occupants of the second car, was hit by a third missile. The strike killed all of the WCK workers in the convoy.

     WCK has paused its operations in the region while it decides on future activities.

    Who were the victims?

     The Guardian understands two of the three British aid workers to be James Henderson, 33, from Penryn, Cornwall, and John Chapman, 57, who was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. The BBC reported the third Briton as James Kirby.

     The Australian government named one of those killed as Zomi Frankcom, a 43-year-old Melbourne-born aid worker. It said it confirmed her death with “overwhelming sadness”, adding that “her tireless work to improve the lives of others should never have cost Ms Frankcom her own”.

     Frankcom’s family described her as “a kind, selfless and outstanding human being [who] travelled the world helping others in their time of need”.

     The Polish victim was named by the country’s foreign minister as Damian Sobol.

     “Our brave compatriot, Damian Sobol from the city of Przemyśl helped those in need in Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis is taking place,” Radosław Sikorski said in a video published on X.

     “He was killed in an attack for which the Israeli army claimed responsibility,” Sikorski added, saying he would hold a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz.

     Saif Issam Abu Taha, 25, was identified by relatives and hospital workers as the Palestinian aid worker killed.

     His brother, Ahmed Abu Taha, confirmed he had worked for World Central Kitchen as a driver since the beginning of the year. “He was a dedicated young man,” his brother said.

     Another brother described Taha to the New York Times as an enterprising man who spoke good English and had worked in his father’s business.

     The last time he saw his brother, he told the newspaper, he and others were so excited to about getting to unload the desperately needed food, it was “like they were going to a wedding.”

     On Tuesday, WCK named US-Canada dual citizen Jacob Flickinger as the final member of the group who was killed in the attack.

     What is World Central Kitchen and what has it been doing in Gaza?

     WCK was founded by a Spanish-American chef, José Andrés, in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. It has since grown into a global charity that has provided food to refugees at the US border as well as working in Venezuela and Ukraine.

    Over the past few weeks, WCK has brought about 600 tonnes of food and aid to northern Gaza using a maritime aid corridor that was opened last month. The charity says it has so far provided Palestinians facing starvation with more than 43m meals that have been delivered by land, air and sea.

     How bad is the aid situation for Palestinians in Gaza?

     At the end of February, the UN said at least 576,000 people in Gaza – a quarter of its population – were “one step away from famine”. In mid-March, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification – a group that includes the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization – said 1.1 million people, half of Gaza’s population, were facing famine.

     Martin Griffiths, the UN’s top relief coordinator, said on X at the time: “The international community should hang its head in shame for failing to stop it … We know that once a famine is declared, it is way too late.”

     Aid agencies’ efforts to get humanitarian assistance to where it is most needed have been severely hampered by a combination of logistical obstacles, a breakdown of public order and lengthy bureaucracy imposed by Israel. The number of aid trucks entering the territory by land over the past five months has been far below the 500 a day that entered before the war.

     How have people reacted?

     In a statement on Tuesday, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “Unfortunately over the last day there was a tragic incident of an unintended strike of our forces on innocent people in the Gaza Strip.” He continued: “This happens in wartime. We are thoroughly looking into it … and will do everything to ensure it does not happen again.”

     The IDF said it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident”.

     Andrés said he was heartbroken by his colleagues’ death and called on the Israeli government to “stop this indiscriminate killing … [and] stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon”.

     The British government summoned the Israeli ambassador over the deaths, which the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said were “completely unacceptable”.

     Cameron added: “Israel must urgently explain how this happened and make major changes to ensure safety of aid workers on the ground.”

     The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the death of any aid worker was “outrageous and unacceptable” and said the government was seeking “a thorough and expeditious review” as well as “full accountability for these deaths” from the Israeli government.

     The Polish foreign ministry expressed its condolences to Sobol’s family, adding: “Poland does not agree to the lack of compliance with international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers.”

     The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said American diplomats had already spoken to the Israeli government and urged “a swift, thorough and impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened”.

     Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said she had been “horrified” to hear of the deaths, which included a dual Canadian-US citizen.

     “Canada expects full accountability for these killings and we will convey this to the Israeli government directly,” she said. “Strikes on humanitarian personnel are absolutely unacceptable.”

     Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he was appalled by the deaths and called on the Israeli government to “clarify the circumstances of this brutal attack as soon as possible”.

     As written by Bethan McKernan in The Guardian, in an article entitled Israel accused of targeting aid convoy ‘car by car’ as pressure grows over Gaza tactics; “Israel is facing mounting international pressure to justify its conduct in the war in Gaza as the bodies of six foreign aid workers killed in a drone attack were repatriated to their families.

     Seven members of World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed when a drone repeatedly hit their convoy of three cars, which were clearly identified as belonging to the charity, after it left an aid warehouse in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Monday night.

     WCK’s founder, the chef José Andrés, said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had targeted the convoy “systematically, car by car”, even though they were in touch with WCK and were aware of the aid workers’ movements.

     “This was not a bad luck situation where, ‘oops’, we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” he told Reuters. “Even if we were not in coordination with the IDF, no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians.”

     Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the IDF have apologised for the killings, and said that an investigation was under way. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Tuesday that Israel would open a “joint situation room” with international groups to enable better coordination of aid distribution.

     The circumstances surrounding the killings have renewed scrutiny of Israel’s targeting methods and decision-making process in ordering air and drone strikes. According to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the convoy did not contain any suspected militants and had been travelling along a route pre-approved and coordinated with the Israeli military.

     More than 200 aid workers in the territory have been killed in nearly six months of conflict, along with scores of medical staff, journalists and civil response workers. The Guardian reported on Wednesday that IDF officials had permitted large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed in “dumb” bomb strikes targeting even low-level Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants, based on what intelligence sources said was an AI-driven system that in many cases risked “attacking by mistake”.

    The Palestinian death toll in the conflict reached 33,000 people on Wednesday, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. With many bodies still trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings, the true figure is likely to be higher.

     WCK named the seven victims as the Palestinian driver Saif Issam Abu Taha, 25; Britons John Chapman, 57, James Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, who were working for the charity’s security team; and aid workers Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, 43, an Australian national; Jacob Flickinger, 33, a dual American-Canadian citizen; and Damian Sobol, 35, a Polish national.

     Abu Taha’s remains were handed over to his family for burial in Gaza on Wednesday, and the other bodies were driven into Egypt through the Rafah crossing, now the Palestinian territory’s sole connection to the outside world, to be flown home.

     The victims’ governments, as well as Palestinian officials and Spain, Andrés’s birthplace, have demanded a full and transparent investigation, with some voicing particular anger at Netanyahu’s explanation that “this happens in wartime’’.

     All of the foreign victims come from countries friendly to Israel. WCK also deployed teams to help thousands of displaced Israelis in the wake of the 7 October attack by Hamas in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 250 abducted, triggering the war.

     Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called Netanyahu’s remarks “unacceptable and insufficient”. He said: “We are awaiting a much stronger and more detailed clarification, after which we’ll see what action to take.”

     Poland is understood to have launched its own investigation into Sobol’s death. Donald Tusk, the country’s prime minister, addressed Netanyahu and Yacov Livne, the Israeli ambassador to Poland, in a post on X, which said: “The vast majority of Poles showed full solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack (on Oct 7).

     “Today you are putting this solidarity to a really hard test. The tragic attack on volunteers and your [Netanyahu’s] reaction arouse understandable anger.”

     Joe Biden, who has provided strong diplomatic and military backing for Israel’s offensive, also offered a stern rebuke on Tuesday. The US president told reporters Israel had not done enough to protect aid workers and civilians.

     US rhetoric on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has strengthened of late, but critics say Biden has opted not to use Washington’s leverage as Israel’s principal arms supplier and most important international ally to bring it to the negotiating table, or get it to increase the flow of aid to the territory’s desperate population of 2.3 million.

     Famine is “projected and imminent” in the northern half of Gaza, a UN-backed report said last month, and according to Oxfam the number of people facing catastrophic levels of hunger across the territory as a whole has nearly doubled since December.

     At least 27 children have died of malnutrition, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

     Getting assistance to where it is needed most, particularly the northern half of the territory, has been made difficult by damaged roads, a lack of fuel, a breakdown of public order and what aid agencies have described as unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles imposed by Israel. The number of aid trucks entering the territory by land over the past six months has been far below the 500 a day that entered before the conflict.

     The UN said on Wednesday it had suspended movements at night in Gaza for at least 48 hours to evaluate security issues after the killing of the WCK staff.

     Israel has barred Unrwa, the main UN agency in Gaza, from making deliveries to the north after claiming several of its employees were involved in the Hamas attack that triggered the war. Other aid groups say sending truck convoys north has been too dangerous because of the military’s failure to ensure safe passage.

     Negotiations intended to establish a second truce and the release of the remaining hostages have faltered repeatedly since a week-long ceasefire at the end of November.

     The UN’s human rights council is expected to consider a draft resolution on Friday calling for an arms embargo on Israel, citing the “plausible risk of genocide in Gaza”. If adopted, it would mark the first time that the body has taken a position on the war.”

     And this is not merely one atrocity among countless others wherein the idea of our universal human rights is degraded and subverted by state terror and tyranny, especially as imperial conquest and dominion as it is in the Occupation of Palestine in its entire seventy year history and in the horrific Gaza War now; for Israel has done this by taking mercy, compassion, our duty of care for others and the human element in decision making out of the loop in the Calculus of Fear that is war, and handed it over to artificial intelligences which are encumbered by none of these things, a glimpse of the world to come.

     As written by Bethan McKernan Harry Davies in The Guardian, in an article entitled ‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets: Israeli intelligence sources reveal use of ‘Lavender’ system in Gaza war and claim permission given to kill civilians in pursuit of low-ranking militants; “The Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza used a previously undisclosed AI-powered database that at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets based on their apparent links to Hamas, according to intelligence sources involved in the war.

     In addition to talking about their use of the AI system, called Lavender, the intelligence sources claim that Israeli military officials permitted large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed, particularly during the early weeks and months of the conflict.

    Their unusually candid testimony provides a rare glimpse into the first-hand experiences of Israeli intelligence officials who have been using machine-learning systems to help identify targets during the six-month war.

     Israel’s use of powerful AI systems in its war on Hamas has entered uncharted territory for advanced warfare, raising a host of legal and moral questions, and transforming the relationship between military personnel and machines.

     “This is unparalleled, in my memory,” said one intelligence officer who used Lavender, adding that they had more faith in a “statistical mechanism” than a grieving soldier. “Everyone there, including me, lost people on October 7. The machine did it coldly. And that made it easier.”

     Another Lavender user questioned whether humans’ role in the selection process was meaningful. “I would invest 20 seconds for each target at this stage, and do dozens of them every day. I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval. It saved a lot of time.”

     The testimony from the six intelligence officers, all who have been involved in using AI systems to identify Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) targets in the war, was given to the journalist Yuval Abraham for a report published by the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call.

     Their accounts were shared exclusively with the Guardian in advance of publication. All six said that Lavender had played a central role in the war, processing masses of data to rapidly identify potential “junior” operatives to target. Four of the sources said that, at one stage early in the war, Lavender listed as many as 37,000 Palestinian men who had been linked by the AI system to Hamas or PIJ.

     Lavender was developed by the Israel Defense Forces’ elite intelligence division, Unit 8200, which is comparable to the US’s National Security Agency or GCHQ in the UK.

     Several of the sources described how, for certain categories of targets, the IDF applied pre-authorised allowances for the estimated number of civilians who could be killed before a strike was authorised.

     Two sources said that during the early weeks of the war they were permitted to kill 15 or 20 civilians during airstrikes on low-ranking militants. Attacks on such targets were typically carried out using unguided munitions known as “dumb bombs”, the sources said, destroying entire homes and killing all their occupants.

     “You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people – it’s very expensive for the country and there’s a shortage [of those bombs],” one intelligence officer said. Another said the principal question they were faced with was whether the “collateral damage” to civilians allowed for an attack.

     “Because we usually carried out the attacks with dumb bombs, and that meant literally dropping the whole house on its occupants. But even if an attack is averted, you don’t care – you immediately move on to the next target. Because of the system, the targets never end. You have another 36,000 waiting.”

     According to conflict experts, if Israel has been using dumb bombs to flatten the homes of thousands of Palestinians who were linked, with the assistance of AI, to militant groups in Gaza, that could help explain the shockingly high death toll in the war.

     The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict in the past six months. UN data shows that in the first month of the war alone, 1,340 families suffered multiple losses, with 312 families losing more than 10 members.

     Responding to the publication of the testimonies in +972 and Local Call, the IDF said in a statement that its operations were carried out in accordance with the rules of proportionality under international law. It said dumb bombs are “standard weaponry” that are used by IDF pilots in a manner that ensures “a high level of precision”.

     The statement described Lavender as a database used “to cross-reference intelligence sources, in order to produce up-to-date layers of information on the military operatives of terrorist organisations. This is not a list of confirmed military operatives eligible to attack.

     “The IDF does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist,” it added. “Information systems are merely tools for analysts in the target identification process.”

     Lavender created a database of tens of thousands of individuals

In earlier military operations conducted by the IDF, producing human targets was often a more labour-intensive process. Multiple sources who described target development in previous wars to the Guardian, said the decision to “incriminate” an individual, or identify them as a legitimate target, would be discussed and then signed off by a legal adviser.

     In the weeks and months after 7 October, this model for approving strikes on human targets was dramatically accelerated, according to the sources. As the IDF’s bombardment of Gaza intensified, they said, commanders demanded a continuous pipeline of targets.

     “We were constantly being pressured: ‘Bring us more targets.’ They really shouted at us,” said one intelligence officer. “We were told: now we have to fuck up Hamas, no matter what the cost. Whatever you can, you bomb.”

     To meet this demand, the IDF came to rely heavily on Lavender to generate a database of individuals judged to have the characteristics of a PIJ or Hamas militant.

     Details about the specific kinds of data used to train Lavender’s algorithm, or how the programme reached its conclusions, are not included in the accounts published by +972 or Local Call. However, the sources said that during the first few weeks of the war, Unit 8200 refined Lavender’s algorithm and tweaked its search parameters.

     After randomly sampling and cross-checking its predictions, the unit concluded Lavender had achieved a 90% accuracy rate, the sources said, leading the IDF to approve its sweeping use as a target recommendation tool.

     Lavender created a database of tens of thousands of individuals who were marked as predominantly low-ranking members of Hamas’s military wing, they added. This was used alongside another AI-based decision support system, called the Gospel, which recommended buildings and structures as targets rather than individuals.

     The accounts include first-hand testimony of how intelligence officers worked with Lavender and how the reach of its dragnet could be adjusted. “At its peak, the system managed to generate 37,000 people as potential human targets,” one of the sources said. “But the numbers changed all the time, because it depends on where you set the bar of what a Hamas operative is.”

     They added: “There were times when a Hamas operative was defined more broadly, and then the machine started bringing us all kinds of civil defence personnel, police officers, on whom it would be a shame to waste bombs. They help the Hamas government, but they don’t really endanger soldiers.”

     Before the war, US and Israeli estimated membership of Hamas’s military wing at approximately 25-30,000 people.

     In the weeks after the Hamas-led 7 October assault on southern Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped about 240 people, the sources said there was a decision to treat Palestinian men linked to Hamas’s military wing as potential targets, regardless of their rank or importance.

     The IDF’s targeting processes in the most intensive phase of the bombardment were also relaxed, they said. “There was a completely permissive policy regarding the casualties of [bombing] operations,” one source said. “A policy so permissive that in my opinion it had an element of revenge.”

     Another source, who justified the use of Lavender to help identify low-ranking targets, said that “when it comes to a junior militant, you don’t want to invest manpower and time in it”. They said that in wartime there was insufficient time to carefully “incriminate every target”.

     “So you’re willing to take the margin of error of using artificial intelligence, risking collateral damage and civilians dying, and risking attacking by mistake, and to live with it,” they added.

     ‘It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home’

     The testimonies published by +972 and Local Call may explain how such a western military with such advanced capabilities, with weapons that can conduct highly surgical strikes, has conducted a war with such a vast human toll.

     When it came to targeting low-ranking Hamas and PIJ suspects, they said, the preference was to attack when they were believed to be at home. “We were not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives only when they were in a military building or engaged in a military activity,” one said. “It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations.”

     Such a strategy risked higher numbers of civilian casualties, and the sources said the IDF imposed pre-authorised limits on the number of civilians it deemed acceptable to kill in a strike aimed at a single Hamas militant. The ratio was said to have changed over time, and varied according to the seniority of the target.

     According to +972 and Local Call, the IDF judged it permissible to kill more than 100 civilians in attacks on a top-ranking Hamas officials. “We had a calculation for how many [civilians could be killed] for the brigade commander, how many [civilians] for a battalion commander, and so on,” one source said.

     “There were regulations, but they were just very lenient,” another added. “We’ve killed people with collateral damage in the high double digits, if not low triple digits. These are things that haven’t happened before.” There appears to have been significant fluctuations in the figure that military commanders would tolerate at different stages of the war.

     One source said that the limit on permitted civilian casualties “went up and down” over time, and at one point was as low as five. During the first week of the conflict, the source said, permission was given to kill 15 non-combatants to take out junior militants in Gaza. However, they said estimates of civilian casualties were imprecise, as it was not possible to know definitively how many people were in a building.

     Another intelligence officer said that more recently in the conflict, the rate of permitted collateral damage was brought down again. But at one stage earlier in the war they were authorised to kill up to “20 uninvolved civilians” for a single operative, regardless of their rank, military importance, or age.

     “It’s not just that you can kill any person who is a Hamas soldier, which is clearly permitted and legitimate in terms of international law,” they said. “But they directly tell you: ‘You are allowed to kill them along with many civilians.’ … In practice, the proportionality criterion did not exist.”

     The IDF statement said its procedures “require conducting an individual assessment of the anticipated military advantage and collateral damage expected … The IDF does not carry out strikes when the expected collateral damage from the strike is excessive in relation to the military advantage.” It added: “The IDF outright rejects the claim regarding any policy to kill tens of thousands of people in their homes.”

     Experts in international humanitarian law who spoke to the Guardian expressed alarm at accounts of the IDF accepting and pre-authorising collateral damage ratios as high as 20 civilians, particularly for lower-ranking militants. They said militaries must assess proportionality for each individual strike.

     An international law expert at the US state department said they had “never remotely heard of a one to 15 ratio being deemed acceptable, especially for lower-level combatants. There’s a lot of leeway, but that strikes me as extreme”.

     Sarah Harrison, a former lawyer at the US Department of Defense, now an analyst at Crisis Group, said: “While there may be certain occasions where 15 collateral civilian deaths could be proportionate, there are other times where it definitely wouldn’t be. You can’t just set a tolerable number for a category of targets and say that it’ll be lawfully proportionate in each case.”

     Whatever the legal or moral justification for Israel’s bombing strategy, some of its intelligence officers appear now to be questioning the approach set by their commanders. “No one thought about what to do afterward, when the war is over, or how it will be possible to live in Gaza,” one said.

     Another said that after the 7 October attacks by Hamas, the atmosphere in the IDF was “painful and vindictive”. “There was a dissonance: on the one hand, people here were frustrated that we were not attacking enough. On the other hand, you see at the end of the day that another thousand Gazans have died, most of them civilians.”

     In Gaza, Israel has perfected the science of Total War by removing the human capacity for mercy and empathy from its cold equations in ways which their models Hitler and Franco could only have dreamed.

Gaza aid convoy strike: what happened and who were the victims?

Israel accused of targeting aid convoy ‘car by car’ as pressure grows over Gaza tactics

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/pressure-grows-on-israel-over-gaza-tactics-after-foreign-aid-worker-deaths

‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets

Israeli intelligence sources reveal use of ‘Lavender’ system in Gaza war and claim permission given to kill civilians in pursuit of low-ranking militants

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/israel-gaza-ai-database-hamas-airstrikes

Aid groups demand Israel improve measures to keep their workers safe

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/04/aid-groups-demand-israel-improve-measures-to-keep-their-workers-safe

Israeli troops end Al-Shifa hospital raid, leaving behind bodies and trail of destruction

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israeli-troops-end-al-shifa-hospital-raid-leaving-behind-bodies-and-trail-of-destruction/ar-BB1kRWd5

Hebrew

3 באפריל 2024 הדים של גרניקה במלחמה הכוללת של ישראל: מקרה הפצצת עובד הסיוע

       בעקבות אורגיית ההרס הישראלית לשבועיים של בית החולים אל שיפא עם רציחות אכזריות, אונס ועינויים של רופאים וחולים כאחד, מגיעות תאומי הזוועות של הפצצת ישראל על שיירת המזון המרכזית של המטבח העולמי ומותם של שבעה הומניטריים. עובדי סיוע והפצצת קונסוליה זרה.

       זוהי תגובתה של ישראל לקמפיין המנצח שלנו בים סוף של מצור נגד מול המצור הישראלי של סיוע הומניטרי לעזה, שהיה כישלון מוחלט עבורם הן במונחים צבאיים והן במונחים פוליטיים למרות הפצצות המל”טים האמריקאיות על אתרי כוחות השחרור בתימן.

     כאן רצח העם ג’ו ניסה ולא הצליח להרוג אותנו בהגנה על המצור והמדיניות של ישראל של שימוש ברעב ושלילת סיוע רפואי במסע הזה של רצח עם וניקוי אתני של פלסטין.

      זה הופך את ביידן לנשיא האמריקני השני שניסה להרוג אותי באופן אישי, אם כי רייגן היה רק מושל קליפורניה כשהורה למשטרה לפתוח באש על הסטודנטים המוחים על כיבוש פלסטין וההשקעות של האוניברסיטה בישראל, יום חמישי הדמים 15 במאי 1969 בפארק העם בברקלי.

      למרות שהתקיפות האוויריות האמריקניות על אתרי שיגור המל”טים שלנו לא עשו שום דבר כדי להרתיע אותנו והרסו מקומות נטושים ובלתי מאוישים (לא חשבת שאני אשתמש באותו טריק פעמיים, נכון?), אחת פוצצה סככה שבה כמה בחורים אחסנו את צבעי הריסוס שבהם השתמשו כדי לקשט את המשתנות המקומיות בתמונות של ביידן ונתניהו. אנחנו יודעים מי האויב.

      ומכיוון שאויבי האנושות לא יכלו להשתיק אותנו ואחרים העומדים בסולידריות עם העם הפלסטיני כערבים לזכויות האדם האוניברסליות שלנו, אויבים שמדברים בשפה היחידה שהם מבינים, זו של טרור, אכזריות, דה-הומניזציה, מחיקה, דיכוי אכזרי של התנגדות, הם רצחו שיירה של עובדי סיוע הומניטריים שהביאו מזון לילדים מורעבים. זה היה בתכנון, והיה לו את האפקט המיועד שכן World Central Kitchen נסוג מעזה.

      היכן למדה ישראל את השימוש בטרור כזה?

      מהיטלר ופרנקו, שבדקו ותיקדו את מודל הכיבוש החדש שלהם בשם Total War ומאופיין בפשעים נגד אוכלוסיות אזרחיות בהשמדת גרניקה, וגם במלחמת האזרחים בספרד וכל הזוועות שבאו לאחר מכן.

     הו ישראל, ככה מביאים את תיקון עולם, תיקון עולם?

     אמריקה, האם כך אנו עומדים במאבק סולידריות ושחרור עם “ההמונים המצטופפים המשתוקקים להיות חופשיים”?

וזו לא רק זוועה אחת בין אינספור אחרות שבה הרעיון של זכויות האדם האוניברסליות שלנו מושפל ומתערער על ידי טרור ועריצות המדינה, במיוחד כפי שהכיבוש והשליטה האימפריאלית היא בכיבוש פלסטין בכל שבעים שנות ההיסטוריה שלה וב. מלחמת עזה הנוראה עכשיו; שהרי ישראל עשתה זאת על ידי נטילת רחמים, חמלה, חובת הזהירות שלנו לזולת והיסוד האנושי בקבלת החלטות מחוץ ללולאה בחשבון הפחד שהיא מלחמה, ומסרה אותו לבינה מלאכותית שאף אחד מהם אינו משועבד לו. הדברים האלה, הצצה לעולם הבא.

          בעזה, ישראל שיכללה את מדע המלחמה הטוטאלית על ידי הסרת היכולת האנושית לרחמים ואמפתיה מהמשוואות הקרות שלה בדרכים שהמודלים שלהם היטלר ופרנקו יכלו רק לחלום.

Arabic

3 أبريل 2024 أصداء غرنيكا في حرب إسرائيل الشاملة: حالة تفجير عمال الإغاثة

       وفي أعقاب العربدة الإسرائيلية التي استمرت لمدة أسبوعين لتدمير مستشفى الشفاء، بما رافقها من عمليات قتل وحشية واغتصاب وتعذيب للأطباء والمرضى على حد سواء، تأتي الفظائع المزدوجة المتمثلة في قصف إسرائيل لقافلة الغذاء التابعة للمطبخ المركزي العالمي ومقتل سبعة من العاملين الإنسانيين. عمال الإغاثة وتفجير قنصلية أجنبية.

       هذا هو رد إسرائيل على حملتنا المنتصرة في البحر الأحمر لمكافحة الحصار مقابل الحصار الإسرائيلي للمساعدات الإنسانية لغزة، والذي كان بمثابة فشل ذريع بالنسبة لهم من الناحيتين العسكرية والسياسية على الرغم من قصف الطائرات الأمريكية بدون طيار لمواقع قوات التحرير في اليمن.

     هنا حاول جو الإبادة الجماعية وفشل في قتلنا دفاعًا عن الحصار الإسرائيلي وسياسة استخدام المجاعة والحرمان من المساعدات الطبية في حملة الإبادة الجماعية والتطهير العرقي لفلسطين.

      وهذا يجعل بايدن ثاني رئيس أمريكي يحاول قتلي شخصيا، مع أن ريغان كان حاكما لولاية كاليفورنيا فقط عندما أمر الشرطة بفتح النار على الطلاب المحتجين على احتلال فلسطين واستثمارات الجامعة في إسرائيل، الخميس الدامي 15 مايو 1969. في بيبولز بارك بيركلي.

      على الرغم من أن الغارات الجوية الأمريكية على مواقع إطلاق الطائرات بدون طيار لم تفعل شيئًا على الإطلاق لتثبيط عزيمتنا ودمرت المواقع المهجورة وغير المأهولة (لم تعتقد أنني سأستخدم نفس الخدعة مرتين الآن؟) قاموا بتخزين رذاذ الطلاء الذي كانوا يستخدمونه لتزيين المبولات المحلية بصور بايدن ونتنياهو. نحن نعرف من هو العدو.

      ولأن أعداء الإنسانية لم يتمكنوا من إسكاتنا والآخرين الذين يتضامنون مع شعب فلسطين كضامنين لحقوقنا الإنسانية العالمية، الأعداء الذين يتحدثون باللغة الوحيدة التي يفهمونها، لغة الإرهاب والقسوة والتجريد من الإنسانية والمحو والإبادة. من خلال القمع الوحشي للمعارضة، قتلوا قافلة من عمال الإغاثة الإنسانية الذين كانوا ينقلون الطعام إلى الأطفال الذين يعانون من الجوع. لقد كان ذلك مقصودًا، وكان له التأثير المقصود حيث انسحب المطبخ المركزي العالمي من غزة.

      ومن أين تعلمت إسرائيل استخدام هذا الإرهاب؟

      من هتلر وفرانكو، اللذين اختبروا وقنّنوا نموذجهم الجديد للغزو المسمى “الحرب الشاملة” والذي اتسم بالجرائم ضد السكان المدنيين في تدمير غرنيكا، وكل من الحرب الأهلية الإسبانية وجميع الفظائع التي جاءت بعد ذلك.

     يا إسرائيل، هل هذه هي الطريقة التي تحضر بها تيكون أولام، إصلاح العالم؟

     أمريكا، هل هذه هي الطريقة التي نقف بها في النضال التضامني والتحرري مع “الجماهير المحتشدة التي تتوق إلى الحرية”؟

هذه ليست مجرد فظائع واحدة من بين فظائع أخرى لا تعد ولا تحصى، حيث يتم تدهور فكرة حقوق الإنسان العالمية وتخريبها من خلال إرهاب الدولة وطغيانها، لا سيما في ظل الغزو والهيمنة الإمبراطوريين كما هو الحال في احتلال فلسطين طوال تاريخه الذي يمتد لسبعين عامًا وفي حرب غزة المروعة الآن؛ لأن إسرائيل فعلت ذلك من خلال إخراج الرحمة والرأفة وواجبنا في رعاية الآخرين والعنصر البشري في صنع القرار من حلقة حساب التفاضل والتكامل للخوف الذي هو الحرب، وسلمتها إلى الذكاء الاصطناعي الذي لا يعيقه أي شيء. هذه الأشياء، لمحة عن العالم الآتي.

          وفي غزة، أتقنت إسرائيل علم الحرب الشاملة من خلال إزالة القدرة البشرية على الرحمة والتعاطف من معادلاتها الباردة على نحو لم يكن لنموذجيهما هتلر وفرانكو إلا أن يحلموا به.

March 23 2024 On Purim: What Do We Mean When We Use the Phrase; “Never Again!”

     On this holiday of Purim which begins at sunset today and ends with the fall of night tomorrow, the Jewish peoples of the world celebrate their salvation from genocide in 5th century Persia as written in the Book of Esther, and all of humankind may celebrate the triumph of love over hate, solidarity over division, and resistance over tyranny which it commemorates.

     As we are confronted in the news with images of terrible violence and crimes against humanity in two wars which challenge our world order; the Israeli invasion of Gaza which has made America complicit in genocide and calls into question the idea of human rights, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a war of total destruction unlike anything Europe has seen since the Second World War which echoes its atrocities and uses thermobaric weapons as mobile crematoriums against civilians, I think of these things today in terms of the historical legacies of resistance to tyranny, slavery, wars of imperial conquest and dominion, and genocide.  

      How shall we defend the peoples of Palestine and Ukraine from the horrific war crimes of Netanyahu’s theocratic fascism of blood, faith, and soil and Putin’s mad imperial conquest, without ourselves becoming an empire?

     The seduction of power begins with fear, especially overwhelming and generalized fear given forms of Otherness by authority in service to power; to find safety and security in becoming the arbiter of virtue. This too we must resist.

     Moreover such strategies of force and control must always fail and come to ruin, for security is an illusion, and the use of social force creates its own resistance.

      Never Again! is a phrase I have used often as a reply to tyranny and fascism, both in my writing and to my comrades personally as a call to total resistance without limits, and herein I wish to interrogate its meaning and consequences.

      How can we use Never Again! as a principle of direct action which preserves and empowers the wellbeing and autonomy of others, without such action becoming a point of moral fracture, subversion of ideals, and the cascade failure of unequal power?

      For myself the history of its use is connected to a category of my Defining Moments which I call Last Stands, the stories of which I have told many times. These include only moments in which I chose solidarity and refusal to submit over personal survival; refusing to step aside from the child behind me when ordered to surrender by the police bounty hunters in Brazil 1974, when soldiers set fire to the house Jean Genet and I were in, surrounded and unarmed, in Beirut 1982 when he swore me to the Oath of the Resistance, a forlorn hope at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola 1988 for the liberation from Apartheid, and numberless others beyond my accounting.

      Last Stands are choices of refusal to surrender our humanity and universal human rights, our duty of care and stewardship of one another, regardless of the consequences as lines we cannot cross without becoming something less than human.

    In the ongoing Gaza War and genocide of the Palestinians, this is also a refusal to abandon the cause of “freedom of faith for all humankind” as the legend on the monument of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden’s 1631 victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld which secured this right declares, the principle of a nonsectarian state on which America is founded and of the inherent right of independence and sovereign self-determination of all peoples, and solidarity with all those whom Frantz Fanon called the Wretched of the Earth against  force and control, state terror and tyranny, war and imperial conquest.

      Among my personal role models in antifascism and revolution is the fictional character of Harry Tuttle played by Robert de Niro in the film Brazil, whose line “we’re all in this together,” echoes through forty some years of my life and adventures.

     Let me place this in context; Brazil was my first solo foreign travel experience, flying to Sao Paulo when I was fourteen, in the summer of 1974, to train with some fellow fencers for the Pan American Games which were planned to be held there, though later the venue was moved to Mexico. I had some newly learned conversational Portuguese, an invitation to stay at the home of a boy my age I knew from the fencing tournament circuit with whom I could discover the local mischief, and visions of beach parties.

     So it was that I entered a world of courtly manners and white-gloved servants, gracious and brilliant hosts who were local luminaries and threw a magnificent formal ball to introduce me, and a friend with whom I shared a mad passion for martial and equestrian sports, but also a world of high walls and armed guards.

     My first view beyond this illusion came with the sounds of rifle fire from the guards; when I looked from my balcony to see who was attacking the front gate I discovered the guards were firing into a crowd of beggars, mostly children, who had mobbed a truck carrying the weekly food supplies. That day I made my first secret excursion beyond the walls, from which I have never truly returned.

     What truths are hidden by the walls of our palaces, beyond which it is Forbidden to look? It is easy to believe the lies of authority when one is a member of the elite in whose interest they claim to wield power, and to fail to question one’s own motives and position of privilege. Terrifyingly easy to believe lies when we are the beneficiaries of hierarchies of exclusionary otherness, of wealth and power disparity and inequalities systemically manufactured and weaponized in service to power, and of white and patriarchal privilege, genocide, slavery, conquest, and imperialism. 

     Always pay attention to the man behind the curtain. For there is no just authority, and as Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz, he’s “just an old humbug”, and his lies and illusions, force and control, serve no interests but his own.

     Being a naïve American boy, I felt it was my duty to report the incident; but at the police station I had difficulty making myself understood, not because of language but of implicit systems of oppression. They thought I was there to place a bet on my guard in an ongoing monthly contest for which police officer bagged the most street children; there was a chalkboard on the station wall for this, and a jar of tagged ears to prove the count. This was how the elites of Brazil had chosen to solve the problem of abandoned street children, fully ten per cent of the national population. Another betting game called “the Big One”, was for which policeman kicked the most pregnant girls in the stomach and ranked among the top ten causes of death in Brazil for teenage girls, invariably living within slum zones containing the most impoverished and most Black of citizens; this in a city founded by escaped African slaves as a free republic.

     I learned much in the weeks that followed; above all I learned who is responsible for these inequalities; we are, if we do not challenge and defy tyranny and unjust systems.

     During the nights of my adventures beyond the walls and actions to help the bands of child beggars and to obstruct the police bounty hunts I had a traumatic near death experience, similar to the mock executions of Maurice Blanchot by the Nazis in 1944 as written in The Instant of My Death and Fyodor Dostoevsky by the Czar’s secret police in 1849 as written in The Idiot; fleeing pursuit through a warren of tunnels with an injured child among others and trapped in the open by two police riflemen who took flanking positions and aimed at us while the leader called for surrender beyond the curve of a tunnel. I stood in front of a boy with a twisted leg who could not run while the others scattered and escaped or found hiding places, and refused to stand aside when ordered to do so. This was reflexive and a decision of instinct beneath the level of conscious thought or volition, where the truths of ourselves written in our flesh are forged and revealed. Asked to let someone die to save myself, I simply said no. When thought returned to me from this moment of panic or transcendence of myself, I asked how much to let us walk away, whereupon he ordered his men to fire. But there was only one shot instead of a demonstration of crossfire, and that a wide miss; he had time to ask “What?” before falling to the ground.

       And then our rescuers revealed themselves, having crept up on the police from behind; the Matadors, who might be described as vigilantes, a criminal gang, a revolutionary group, or all three, founded by Brazil’s notorious vigilante and criminal Pedro Rodrigues Filho, infamous for avenging his mother’s savage murder by killing his father and eating his heart, who had been arrested the previous year after a spectacular series of one hundred or more revenge killings of the most fiendish and monstrous of criminals, powerful men beyond the reach of the law or who were the law and who had perpetrated atrocities on women and children. Into this fearsome brotherhood I was welcomed, with the words; “You are one of us, come with us” and in the streets of Sao Paulo that summer I never again stood alone.

    “We can’t save everyone, but we can avenge”; so they described themselves to me, and this definition of solidarity as praxis or the action of values remains with me and shadows my use of the battle cry Never Again! As Shakespeare wrote in The Merchant of Venice, Act III, scene I; “If you wrong us, shall we not avenge?”

     From the moment I saw the guards of the aristocratic family with whom I was a guest firing on the crowd of homeless children and beggars swarming the food supply truck at the manor gate, naked and skeletal in starvation, scarred and crippled and misshapen with diseases unknown to any people for whom healthcare and basic nutrition are free and guaranteed preconditions of the universal right to life, desperate for a handful of food which could mean one more day of survival; in that moment I chose my side, and my people are the powerless and the dispossessed, the silenced and the erased; all those whom Frantz Fanon called the Wretched of the Earth.  

    Second is the day when Jean Genet set me on my life’s path with the Oath of the Resistance in Beirut during the summer of 1982.

     Israeli soldiers had set fire to the houses on my street, and called for people to come out and surrender. They were blindfolding the children of those who did and using them as human shields.

     We had no other weapon than the empty bottle of champagne we had just finished with our breakfast of strawberry crepes; I asked “Any ideas?”, at which he shrugged and said “Fix bayonets?”

     And then he gave me a principle of action by which I have lived for forty two years now; “When there is no hope, one is free to do impossible things, glorious things.”

     He asked me if I was going to surrender, and I said no; he smiled and replied, “Nor will I.” And so he swore me to the Oath he devised in 1940 in Paris at the beginning of the Occupation for such friends as he could gather, reworded from the oath he had taken as a Legionnaire in 1918. He said it was the finest thing he ever stole; “We swear our loyalty to each other, to resist and yield not, and abandon not our fellows.”

     So it was that I became the bearer of a tradition now over eighty years old and forged in the most fearsome and terrible conflict the world has ever known, shortly before I expected to be burned alive in the second of many Last Stands.

     This was the moment of my forging, this decision to choose death over subjugation, and ever since being struck by it I have been a bell, ringing. And like the Liberty Bell, I am broken open to the suffering of others and the flaws of our humanity. This has been the greatest gift I have ever been given, this empathy borne of a sacred wound, and I shall never cease the call to liberty, nor hesitate to answer as I am able the call for solidarity with others.

     Of the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the largest battle ever fought in Africa, even more vast than El Alamein; this was where the system of Apartheid was broken. In a massive campaign involving over 300,000 Cuban volunteer soldiers between December 1987 and March 1988, in coordination with Angolan and other indigenous forces, international volunteers, and with Soviet aid and advisors, defeated the far larger and technologically superior South Africa and their UNITA and American allies and mercenaries in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, an Angolan military base which South Africa had failed to capture with five waves of assaults.

     While the spectacle of this grand final battle in a decades long liberation struggle was unfolding, I was making mischief behind enemy lines in the bush. Here I discovered a lost unit, mainly Zulu, which was encircled by Apartheid forces. After reporting what I knew of the area to the command group and a brief conference in several languages, an old fellow who had heretofore been silent stood up from the shadows of the tent, whose shirtless form displayed a fearsome and magnificent scar from a lion’s claws, and said; “We are surrounded and outnumbered with no ammunition and worse, no water, and no one is coming to help us. We must attack.”

    The sergeant smiled at this as if he had been given a marvelous gift, strode outside, and gave the order which if you are lucky you will never hear; “Fix bayonets!”

     And the men about to die erupted in song. “Usuthu! Umkhonto wami womile!” The first is a universal Zulu battle cry, which asks the spirits of ones ancestors to awake and bear witness to the glorious acts of heroism one is about to perform. “My spear is thirsty”, that last.

   And we were victorious, though the cost was terrible. No such costs are too great to bear compared to the costs of submission to slavery, commodification, falsification, and dehumanization; for in refusal to submit we become Unconquered and free, and this power of self-ownership as victory in the struggle for our humanity cannot be taken from us. As Max Stirner wrote; “Freedom cannot be granted; it must be seized.”

    Long ago I lost count of Last Stands; these have become truths written in my flesh, and I bear such marks without number. As doubtless will those who now stand with Palestine, Ukraine, or any people under threat of annihilation.

     In all of this what matters is that in refusal to submit to authority and to force we become Unconquered and free; this is victory as a condition of being which cannot be taken from us, much like the heroic Ukrainian soldier guarding a desolate island who refused to surrender to a Russian warship with the words; “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.” Such a man cannot be conquered, and his immortal words speak for his whole nation.

     The secret of force, power, and authority is that these things are hollow and fragile, and fail when met with disobedience and the simple refusal to believe and to submit.

     How do we find the will to do these things, to claw our way out of the ruins and make yet another Last Stand, beyond hope of victory or even survival?

     The truth is we need nothing beyond ourselves and our moment of decision to do such things; no great universal principles, not even the negative space of a heroic figure to inhabit and perform before the stage of the world. All we need is this; that others who rely on us will die if we do not.

     This is what makes us human, and its something we must continue to affirm no matter what the cost.

     There may be one more thing that can help us in such moments of decision; if we remember who we are, and not how others imagine us.

     Are we not the stories we tell about ourselves, to ourselves and to others?

      History, memory, identity; we are a prochronism, a history expressed in our form of how we have solved problems of adaptation across vast gulfs of time, like the shell of a fantastic sea creature.

     Always there remains the struggle between the masks that others make for us, and those we make for ourselves. This is the first revolution in which we all must fight; the struggle for ownership of ourselves.

      We have begun to remember who we are, we Americans, after the long spell of falsification cast by Traitor Trump and his Fourth Reich propagandists; we have now called for a ceasefire in Gaza, after half a year of secretly arming Israel’s Gaza War at the orders of Genocide Joe. Europe too is reawakening as NATO coheres its resistance to the imperial conquest of Ukraine and to the threat of a Russian conquest of Europe. As yet America has done nothing to bring regime change to either outlaw nation, nor silenced the bombs, nor liberated Ukraine or Palestine, nor opened the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid; but all of this remains possible, if we all help as we can.

     At moments of doubt such as this I read again Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus, Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, Henley’s Invictus, I.F. Stone’s The Trial of Socrates; myths, stories, poetry, and history of the grandeur of resistance which confers freedom.

      Here too, in a moment which parallels that of Spain in 1936 and Poland in 1939, we must say Never Again!

      As I defined the phrase in my post of March 6 2022, How if Vladimir Putin Should Be Assassinated? An Interrogation of the Origins of Evil and the Social Use of Force, and of the State as Embodied Psychopathy and Violence; “I cannot be complicit in silence with these crimes against humanity, to which as with fascism there can be but one reply: Never Again! A rallying cry complicated by its popularization in the title of founder of the Jewish Defense League Meir Kahane’s book “Never Again!: A Program for Survival, its origin is in Isaac Lambdan’s 1926 poem Masada; “Never shall Masada fall again”; it first appeared  in its current form on signs written by the prisoners of Buchenwald after its liberation.

     Elie Wiesel defines the phrase in his novel Hostage; “Never again” becomes more than a slogan: It’s a prayer, a promise, a vow. There will never again be hatred, people say. Never again jail and torture. Never again the suffering of innocent people, or the shooting of starving, frightened, terrified children. And never again the glorification of base, ugly, dark violence. It’s a prayer.”

    As written in the article The Persistence of Genocide at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University: “According to the great historian of the Holocaust, Raul Hilberg, the phrase “Never Again” first appeared on handmade signs put up by inmates at Buchenwald in April, 1945, shortly after the camp had been liberated by U.S. forces.”

     As written by Emily Burack in the Jerusalem Post; “After a gunman took the lives of 17 students and staff at their high school in Parkland, Florida, students there launched a national campaign to promote gun control. They called for a major protest in Washington, DC, on March 24, and are encouraging similar protests and student walkouts across the country.

     And they took a name for their campaign, #NeverAgain, that has long been linked to Holocaust commemoration.

     Parkland junior Cameron Kasky is credited with coining the hashtag. A Twitter account for the movement, NeverAgainMSD, is described as “For survivors of the Stoneman Douglas Shooting, by survivors of the Stoneman Douglas Shooting.”

     Some supporters of the students’ efforts are put off by their use of Never Again. Lily Herman, writing in Refinery29, said “it’s very uncomfortable to watch a term you’ve used to talk about your family and people’s own heritage and history be taken away overnight.”

     Malka Goldberg, a digital communications specialist in Maryland, tweeted, “When I saw they’re using #NeverAgain for the campaign it bothered me, b/c many Jews strongly [associate] that phrase w/ the Holocaust specifically. For a second it felt like cultural appropriation, but I doubt the kids knew this or did it intentionally.”

     Hasia Diner, a professor of American Jewish history at New York University, is unfazed by the students’ use of the phrase. While some may object to the phrase Never Again being reappropriated for gun control, it “does not mean that reaction is appropriate or reasonable,” she told JTA.

     While some have traced the phrase to the Hebrew poet Isaac Lambdan’s 1926 poem “Masada” (“Never shall Masada fall again!”), its current use is more directly tied to the aftermath of the Holocaust. The first usage of Never Again is murky, but most likely began in postwar Israel. The phrase was used in secular kibbutzim there in the late 1940s; it was used in a Swedish documentary on the Holocaust in 1961.

     But the phrase gained currency in English thanks in large part to Meir Kahane, the militant rabbi who popularized it in America when he created the Jewish Defense League in 1968 and used it as a title of a 1972 book-length manifesto. As the president of the American Jewish Committee, Sholom Comay, said after Kahane’s assassination in November 1990, “Despite our considerable differences, Meir Kahane must always be remembered for the slogan Never Again, which for so many became the battle cry of post-Holocaust Jewry.”

     For Kahane, Never Again was an implicitly violent call to arms and a rebuke of passivity and inactivity. The shame surrounding the alleged passivity of the Jews in the face of their destruction became a cornerstone of the JDL. As Kahane said, “the motto Never Again does not mean that ‘it’ [a holocaust] will never happen again. That would be nonsense. It means that if it happens again, it won’t happen in the same way. Last time, the Jews behaved like sheep.”

     Kahane used Never Again to justify acts of terror in the name of fighting antisemitism. In the anthem of the Jewish Defense League, members recited, “To our slaughtered brethren and lonely widows: Never again will our people’s blood be shed by water, Never again will such things be heard in Judea.”

     Later, however, Kahane’s violent call for action was adapted by American Jewish establishment groups and Holocaust commemoration institutions as a call for peace, tolerance and heeding the warning signs of genocide.

     These days, when the phrase is used to invoke the Holocaust, it can be either particular or universal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tends toward the particular when he uses it to speak about the need for a strong Jewish state in the wake of the Holocaust.

     “I promise, as head of the Jewish state, that never again will we allow the hand of evil to sever the life of our people and our state,” he said in a speech at the site of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp marking International Holocaust Memorial Day in 2010.

     But Netanyahu has also used the phrase in its universal sense of preventing all genocides. After visiting a memorial to the victims of the Rwanda genocide in 2010, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, wrote in the guestbook, “We are deeply moved by the memorial to the victims of one history’s greatest crimes — and reminded of the haunting similarities to the genocide of our own people. Never again.”

     Then-President Barack Obama also used the phrase in its universal sense in marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2011. “We are reminded to remain ever-vigilant against the possibility of genocide, and to ensure that Never Again is not just a phrase but a principled cause,” he said in a statement. “And we resolve to stand up against prejudice, stereotyping, and violence – including the scourge of anti-Semitism – around the globe.”

     That’s similar to how the US Holocaust Memorial Museum uses the phrase. In choosing the name Never Again as the theme of its 2013 Days of Remembrance, its used the term as a call to study the genocide of the Jews in order to respond to the “warning signs” of genocides happening anywhere.

     And Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and author who came to be associated with the phrase, also used it in the universal sense. ”Never again’ becomes more than a slogan: It’s a prayer, a promise, a vow …  never again the glorification of base, ugly, dark violence,” the Nobel  laureate wrote in 2012.

     Never Again is a phrase that keeps on evolving. It was used in protests against the Muslim ban and in support of refugees, in remembrance of Japanese internment during World War II and recalling the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. And now the phrase is taking on yet another life: in the fight for gun control in America.

     Shaul Magid, a professor of Jewish studies at Indiana University who is presently a visiting scholar at the Center for Jewish History in New York, told JTA, “For [Kahane], Never Again was not ‘this will not happen again because we will have a country’ but ‘we Jews will never be complacent like we were during the war.’ That is, for Kahane, Never Again was a call to militancy as the only act of prevention. In Parkland it is a call for gun control. In a way, a call for anti-militancy.”

     So the dialectical forces of history have unfolded Never Again! Like an origami Moebius Loop toward Infinity, from the defense of victims as our duty of care for others to general principles of action. I am uncomfortable with such abstractions; for they begin again a recapitulation of the cycle of centralization of authority and the Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force which makes genocides possible. Gott Mitt Uns; it is an ancient evil.

     As Voltaire has written; “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

     Let us send no armies to enforce virtue. To protect and defend others from harm, our universal human rights, and democracy as a free society of equals, yes. Resistance and solidarity in the struggle against tyranny and fascism, always, and by any means necessary.

     But we must never legitimize the use of social force because some of us are less human than others. No matter where you begin in authorizing identities, normalities, or the tyranny of imposed ideas of virtue, with elite hierarchies of belonging and exclusionary otherness, with fascisms of blood, faith, and soil, you always end up at the gates of Auschwitz.

     And now I will ask the same questions as in the beginning of my dialog herein, but I will reverse the order of the questions.

     So, how can we use Never Again! as a principle of direct action which preserves and empowers the wellbeing and autonomy of others, without such action becoming a point of moral fracture and unequal power?

     How shall we defend the peoples of Palestine and Ukraine from the horrific war crimes of Israeli and Russian imperial conquest and genocide, without ourselves becoming an empire?

         As written by David Rieff in The Persistence of Genocide; “According to the great historian of the Holocaust, Raul Hilberg, the phrase “Never Again” first appeared on handmade signs put up by inmates at Buchenwald in April, 1945, shortly after the camp had been liberated by U.S. forces. “I think it was really the Communists who were behind it, but I am not sure,” Hilberg said in one of the last interviews he gave before his death in the summer of 2007. Since then, “Never Again” has become kind of shorthand for the remembrance of the Shoah.  

     At Buchenwald, the handmade signs were long ago replaced by a stone monument onto which the words are embossed in metal letters. And as a usage, it has come to seem like a final word not just on the murder of the Jews of Europe, but on any great crime against humanity that could not be prevented. “Never Again” has appeared on monuments and memorials from Paine, Chile, the town with proportionately more victims of the Pinochet dictatorship than any other place in the country, to the Genocide Museum in Kigali, Rwanda. The report of conadep, the Argentine truth commission set up in 1984 after the fall of the Galtieri dictatorship, was titled “Nunca Mas” — “Never Again” in Spanish. And there is now at least one online Holocaust memorial called “Never Again.”

     Since 1945, “never again” has meant, essentially, “Never again will Germans kill Jews in Europe in the 1940s.”

     There is nothing wrong with this. But there is also nothing all that right with it either. Bluntly put, an undeniable gulf exists between the frequency with which the phrase is used — above all on days of remembrance most commonly marking the Shoah, but now, increasingly, other great crimes against humanity — and the reality, which is that 65 years after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, “never again” has proved to be nothing more than a promise on which no state has ever been willing to deliver. When, last May, the writer Elie Wiesel, himself a former prisoner in Buchenwald, accompanied President Barack Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel to the site of the camp, he said that he had always imagined that he would return some day and tell his father’s ghost that the world had learned from the Holocaust and that it had become a “sacred duty” for people everywhere to prevent it from recurring. But, Wiesel continued, had the world actually learned anything, “there would be no Cambodia, and no Rwanda and no Darfur and no Bosnia.”

     Wiesel was right: The world has learned very little. But this has not stopped it from pontificating much. The Obama administration’s National Security Strategy Paper, issued in May 2010, exemplifies this tendency. It asserts confidently that “The United States is committed to working with our allies, and to strengthening our own internal capabilities, in order to ensure that the United States and the international community are proactively engaged in a strategic effort to prevent mass atrocities and genocide.” And yet again, we are treated to the promise, “never again.” “In the event that prevention fails,” the report states, “the United States will work both multilaterally and bilaterally to mobilize diplomatic, humanitarian, financial, and — in certain instances — military means to prevent and respond to genocide and mass atrocities.”

     Of course, this is not strategy, but a promise that, decade in and decade out, has proved to be empty. For if one were to evaluate these commitments by the results they have produced so far, one would have to say that all this “proactive engagement” and “diplomatic, financial, and humanitarian mobilization” has not accomplished very much. No one should be surprised by this. The U.S. is fighting two wars and still coping (though it has fallen from the headlines) with the floods in Pakistan, whose effects will be felt for many years in a country where America’s security interests and humanitarian relief efforts are inseparable. At the same time, the crisis over Iran’s imminent acquisition of nuclear weapons capability is approaching its culmination. Add to this the fact that the American economy is in shambles, and you do not exactly have a recipe for engagement. The stark fact is that “never again” has never been a political priority for either the United States or the so-called international community (itself a self-flattering idea with no more reality than a unicorn). Nor, despite all the bluff talk about moral imperatives backed by international resolve, is there any evidence that it is becoming one.

     And yet, however at variance they are with both geopolitical and geoeconomic realities, the arguments exemplified by this document reflect the conventional wisdom of the great and the good in America across the “mainstream” (as one is obliged to say in this, the era of the tea parties) political spectrum. Even a fairly cursory online search will reveal that there are a vast number of papers, book-length studies, think tank reports, and United Nations documents proposing programs for preventing or at least halting genocides. For once, the metaphor “cottage industry” truly is appropriate. And what unites almost all of them is that they start from the premise that prevention is possible, if only the “international community” would live up to the commitments it made in the Genocide Convention of 1948, and in subsequent international covenants, treaties, and un declarations. If, the argument goes, the world’s great powers, first and foremost of course the United States, in collaboration with the UN system and with global civil society, would act decisively and in a timely way, we could actually enforce the moral standards supposedly agreed upon in the aftermath of the Holocaust. If they do not, of course, then “never again” will never mean much more than it has meant since 1945 — which, essentially, is “Never again will Germans kill Jews in Europe in the 1940s.”

     The report of the United States Institute for Peace’s task force on genocide, chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, is among the best of these efforts. As the report makes clear, the task force undertook its work all too painfully aware of the gulf between the international consensus on the moral imperative of stopping genocide and the ineffectiveness to date of the actual responses. Indeed, the authors begin by stating plainly that 60 years after the United Nations adopted the Genocide Convention and twenty years after it was ratified by the U.S. Senate, “The world agrees that genocide is unacceptable and yet genocide and mass killings continue.” To find ways to match words and “stop allowing the unacceptable,” Albright and Cohen write with commendable candor, “is in fact one of most persistent puzzles of our times.”

     Whether or not one agrees with the task force about what can or cannot be done to change this, there can be no question that sorrow over the world’s collective failure to act in East Pakistan, or Cambodia, or Rwanda is the only honorable response imaginable. But the befuddlement the authors of the report confess to feeling is another matter entirely. Like most thinking influenced by the human rights movement, the task force seems imbued with the famous Kantian mot d’ordre: “Ought implies can.” But to put the matter bluntly, there is no historical basis to believe anything of the sort, and a great deal of evidence to suggest a diametrically opposing conclusion. Of course, history is not a straitjacket, and the authors of the report, again echoing much thinking within the human rights movement, particularly Michael Ignatieff’s work in the 1990s, do make the argument that since 1945 there has been what Ignatieff calls “A revolution of global concern” and they call a “revolution in conscience.” In fairness, if in fact they are basing their optimism on this chiliastic idea, then one better understands the degree to which the members of the task force came to believe that genocide, far from being “A Problem From Hell,” as Samantha Power titled her influential book on the subject, in reality is a problem if not easily solved then at least susceptible to solution — though, again, only if all the international actors, by whom the authors mean the great powers, the un system, countries in a region where there is a risk of a genocide occurring, and what they rather uncritically call civil society, make it a priority.

     Since it starts from this presupposition, it is hardly surprising that the report is upbeat about the prospects for finally reversing course. “Preventing genocide,” the authors insist, “is a goal that can be achieved with the right institutional structures, strategies, and partnerships — in short, with the right blueprint.” To accomplish this, the task force emphasizes the need for strengthening international cooperation both in terms of identifying places where there is a danger of a genocide being carried out and coordinated action to head it off or at least halt it. Four specific responses are recommended, one predominantly informational (early warning) and three operational (early prevention, preventive diplomacy, and, finally, military intervention when all else has failed). None of this is exactly new, and most of it is commonsensical from a conceptual standpoint. But one of the great strengths of the report, as befits the work of a task force chaired by two former cabinet secretaries, is this practical bent — that is to say, its emphasis on creating or strengthening institutional structures within the U.S. government and the un system and showing how such reforms will enable policymakers to respond effectively to genocide.

     However, this same presupposition leads the authors of the report to write as if there were little need for them to elaborate the political and ideological bases for the “can do” approach they recommend. Francis Fukuyama’s controversial theory of the “End of History” goes unmentioned, but there is more than a little of Fukuyama in their assumptions about a “final” international consensus having been established with regard to the norms that have come into force protecting populations from genocide or mass atrocity crimes. It is true that there is a body of such norms: the Genocide Convention, the un’s so-called Responsibility to Protect doctrine, adopted by the World Summit (with the strong support of the Bush administration) in 2005, and various international instruments limiting impunity, above all the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court. And, presumably, it is with these in mind that the report’s authors can assert so confidently that the focus in genocide prevention can now be on “implement[ing] and operationalizing the commitments [these instruments] contain.”

     It is here that doubt will begin to assail more skeptical readers. Almost since its inception, the human rights movement has been a movement of lawyers. And for lawyers, the establishment of black-letter international law is indeed the “end of the story” from a normative point of view — an internationalized version of stare decisis, but extended to the nth degree. On this account such a norm, once firmly established (which, activists readily admit, may take time; they are not naifs), can within a fairly short period thereafter be understood as an ineradicable and unchallengeable part of the basic user’s manual for international relations. This is what has allowed the human rights movement (and, at least with regard to the question of genocide, the members of the task force in the main seem to have been of a similar cast of mind) to hew to what is essentially a positivist progress narrative. However, the human rights movement’s certitude on the matter derives less from its historical experience than it does from its ideological presuppositions. In this sense, human rights truly is a secular religion, as its critics but even some of its supporters have long claimed.

     Of course, strategically (in both polemical and institutional terms) the genius of this approach is of a piece with liberalism generally, of which, in any case, “human rights-ism” is the offspring. Liberalism is the only modern ideology that will not admit it is an ideology. “We are just demanding that nations live up to the international covenants they have signed and the relevant national and international statutes,” the human rights activist replies indignantly when taxed with actually supporting, and, indeed, helping to midwife an ideological system. It may be tedious to have to point out in 2010 that law and morality are not the same thing, but, well, law and morality are not the same thing. The problem is that much of the task force report reads as if they were.

     An end to genocide: It is an attractive prospect, not to mention a morally unimpeachable goal in which Kantian moral absolutism meets American can do-ism, where the post-ideological methodologies (which are anything but post-ideological, of course) of international lawyers meet the American elite’s faith, which goes back at least to Woodrow Wilson if not much earlier in the history of the republic, that we really can right any wrong if only we commit ourselves sufficiently to doing so. Unfortunately, far too much is assumed (or stipulated, as the lawyers say) by the report’s authors. More dismayingly still, far too many of the concrete examples either of what could have been done but wasn’t are presented so simplistically as to make the solutions offered appear hollow, since the challenge as described bears little or no resemblance to the complexities that actually exist.

     The calls for an intervention in Darfur reached their height after the moral imperative for intervention had started to dissipate.

     Darfur is a good example of this. The report mentions Darfur frequently, both in the context of a nuts and bolts consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of various states and institutions such as the UN and the African Union, which have intervened, however unsatisfactorily, over the course of the crisis, and as an example of how the mobilization of civil society can influence policy. “In today’s age of electronic media communication,” the report states, “Americans are increasingly confronted in their living rooms — and even on their cell phones — with information about and images of death and destruction virtually anywhere they occur. . . . The Internet has proven to be a powerful tool for organizing broad-based responses to genocide and mass atrocities, as we have seen in response to the crisis in Darfur.”

     The problem is not so much that this statement is false but rather that it begs more questions than it answers, and, more tellingly still, that the report’s authors seem to have no idea of this. There is no question that the rise in 2005 and 2006 of a mass movement calling for an end to mass killing in Darfur (neither the United Nations nor the most important relief groups present on the ground in Darfur agree with the characterization of what took place there as a genocide) was an extraordinarily successful mobilization — perhaps the most successful since the anti-Apartheid movement of the 1970s and 1980s. Beginning with the activism of a small group of college students who in June 2004 had attended a Darfur Emergency Summit organized by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and addressed by Elie Wiesel, and shortly afterwards founded an organization called Save Darfur, the movement rapidly expanded and, at its height, included the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, right-wing evangelicals, left-leaning campuses activists, mainline human rights activists, and American neoconservatives. But nowhere does the task force report examine whether the policy recommendations of this movement were wise, or, indeed, whether the effect that they had on the U.S. debate was positive or negative. Instead, the report proceeds as if any upsurge in grassroots interest and activism galvanized by catastrophes like Darfur is by definition a positive development.

     In reality, the task force’s assumption that any mass movement that supports “more assertive government action in response to genocide and mass atrocities” is to be encouraged is a strangely content-less claim. Surely, before welcoming the rise of a Save Darfur (or its very influential European cousin, sos Darfour), it is important to think clearly not just about what they are against but what they are for. And here, the example of Save Darfur is as much a cautionary tale as an inspiring one. The report somewhat shortchanges historical analysis, with what little history that does make it in painted with a disturbingly broad brush. Obviously, the task force was well aware of this, which I presume is why its report insists, unwisely in my view, that it was far more important to focus on the present and the future more than on the past. But understanding the history is not marginal, it is central. Put the case that one believes in military intervention in extremis to halt genocide. In that case, intervening in late- 2003 and early-2004, when the killing was at its height, would have been the right thing to do. But Save Darfur really only came into its own in late 2005, that is, well after the bulk of the killing had ended. In other words, the calls for an intervention reached their height after the moral imperative for such an intervention had started to dissipate. An analogy can be made with the human rights justification for the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein. As Kenneth Roth, the head of Human Rights Watch, has pointed out, had this happened during Baghdad’s murderous Anfal campaign against the Kurds in 1988, there would have been a solid justification for military intervention, whether or not Human Rights Watch would have agreed with it. But to intervene fifteen years later because of the massacre was indefensible on human rights grounds (though, obviously, there were other rationales for the war that would not have been affected by such reasoning).

     If you want to be a prophet, you have to get it right. And if Save Darfur was wrong in its analysis of the facts relevant to their call for an international military intervention to stop genocide, either because there had in reality been no genocide (as, again, the un and many mainstream ngos on the ground insisted) or because the genocide had ended before they began to campaign for intervention, then Save Darfur’s activism can just as reasonably be described in negative terms as in the positive ones of the task force report. Yes, Save Darfur had (and has) good intentions and the attacks on them from de facto apologists for the government of Sudan like Mahmood Mamdani are not worth taking seriously. But good intentions should never be enough.

     In fairness, had the task force decided to provide the history of the Darfur, or Bosnia, or Rwanda, in all their frustrating complexity, they would have produced a report that, precisely because of all the nuance, the ambiguity, the need for “qualifiers,” doubtless would have been of less use to policymakers, whose professional orientation is of necessity toward actionable policies. But when what is being suggested is a readiness for U.S. soldiers (to be sure, preferably in a multilateral context) in extreme cases to kill and die to prevent genocide or mass atrocity crimes, then, to turn human rights Kantianism against them for a change, it is nuance that is the moral imperative. Again, good intentions alone will not do. Qui veut faire l’ange, fait la bete, Pascal said. Who wishes to act the angel, acts the beast.

     History, in all its unsentimentality, is almost always the best antidote to such simplicities. And yet, if anything, the task force’s report is a textbook case of ahistorical thinking and its perils. The authors emphasize that, “This task force is not a historical commission; its focus is on the future and on prevention.” The problem is that unless the past is looked at in detail, not just conjured up by way of illustrations of the West’s failures to intervene that the task force hopes to remedy, then what is being argued for, in effect, are, if necessary, endless wars of altruism. To put it charitably, in arguing for that, I do not think the authors have exactly established their claim to occupying the moral high ground. If they had spent half the time thinking about history in as serious a way as they did about how to construct the optimal bureaucratic architecture within the U.S. government, then what the task force finally produced would have been a document that was pathbreaking. Instead, they took the conventional route, and, in my view, will simply add their well-reasoned policy recommendations to the large number that came before and, indeed, as in the case of the recent initiative of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies on the so-called Will to Intervene, have already begun to come after.

      With the best will in the world, what is one to make of arguments made at the level of generalization of the following?

     Grievances over inequitable distribution of power and resources appear to be a fundamental motivating factor in the commission of mass violence against ethnic, sectarian, or political groups. That same inequality may also provide the means for atrocities to be committed. For example, control of a highly centralized state apparatus and the access to economic and military power that comes with it makes competition for power an all-or-nothing proposition and creates incentives to eliminate competitors. This dynamic was evident in Rwanda and Burundi and is serious cause for concern in Burma today.

The fact is that, vile as they are, there is actually very little likelihood of the butchers in Rangoon committing genocide — their crimes have other characteristics. It is disheartening that the members of the task force would allow the fact that they, like most sensible people, believe that Burma is one of the worst dictatorships in the world, to justify their distorting reality in this way, when they almost certainly know better. And since they do precisely that, it is hard not to at least entertain the suspicion — whose implications extend rather further than that and beg the question of what kind of world order follows from the task force’s recommendations — that consciously or (and this is worse, in a way) unconsciously they reasoned that if they could identify the Rangoon regime as genocidal, this would make an international intervention to overthrow it far more defensible. If this is right, then, if implemented, the report (again, intentionally or inadvertently) would have the effect of helping nudge us back toward a world where the prevention of genocide becomes a moral warrant for other policy agendas (as was surely the case with Saddam Hussein in 2003, and was the case with General Bashir in Khartoum until the arrival of the Obama administration).

     I write this in large measure because the task force’s description of why mass violence and genocide occur could be a description of practically the entire developing world. Analysis at that level of generalization is not just useless, it is actually a prophylactic against thought.

     It gets worse. The authors write:

     “It is equally important to focus on the motivations of specific leaders and the tools at their disposal. There is no genocidal destiny. Many countries with ethnic or religious discrimination, armed conflicts, autocratic governments, or crushing poverty have not experienced genocide while others have. The difference comes down to leadership. Mass atrocities are organized by powerful elites who believe they stand to gain from these crimes and who have the necessary resources at their disposal. The heinous crimes committed in Nazi-occupied Europe, Cambodia, and Rwanda, for example, were all perpetrated with significant planning, organization, and access to state resources, including weapons, budgets, detention facilities, and broadcast media.

     There are also key triggers that can tip a high-risk environment into crisis. These include unstable, unfair, or unduly postponed elections; high-profile assassinations; battlefield victories; and environmental conditions (for example, drought) that may cause an eruption of violence or heighten the perception of an existential threat to a government or armed group. Sometimes potential triggers are known well in advance and preparations can be made to address the risk of mass atrocities that may follow. Poorly planned elections in deeply divided societies are a commonly cited example, but deadlines for significant policy action, legal judgments, and anniversaries of highly traumatic and disputed historical events are also potential triggers that can be foreseen.”

     I tax the reader’s patience with such a long quotation to show how expertise can produce meaninglessness. For apart from the mention of poorly planned elections — a reference to Rwanda that is perfectly correct as far as it goes — the rest of this does not advance our understanding one iota. To remedy or at least alleviate these vast social stresses, the task force recommends “effective [sic] early prevention”! The authors themselves were obliged to admit that, “Such efforts to change underlying social, economic, or political conditions are difficult and require sustained investment of resources and attention.” Really, you think? But about where these resources, as opposed to institutional arrangements, are to come from, they are largely silent, apart from emphasizing the need to target with both threats and positive inducements leaders thought likely to choose to commit such crimes. But the authors know perfectly well that, as they themselves put it, “early engagement is a speculative venture,” and that “the watch list of countries ‘at risk’ can be long, due to the difficulty of anticipating specific crises in a world generally plagued by instability.” Surely, people like Secretary Albright and Secretary Cohen know better than anyone that such ventures are never going to be of much interest to senior policymakers, just as the global Marshall Plan that would be required to effectively address the underlying causes of genocidal wars is never going to be on offer.

    To a great power, and to the citizens of great power, powerlessness is simply an unconscionable destiny. The task force report, with its strange imperviousness to viewing historical tragedy as much more than an engineering problem, is a perfect illustration of this. Unsound historically, and hubristic morally, for all its good intentions, the task force report is not a blueprint for a better future but a mystification of the choices that actually confront us and between which we are going to have to choose if we are ever to prevent or halt even some genocides. My suspicion is that the reason that the very accomplished, distinguished people who participated in the task force did not feel obliged to face up to this is because the report gives as much weight to the national interest basis for preventing or halting genocide as it does to the moral imperative of doing so. As the report puts it:

    “ First, genocide fuels instability, usually in weak, undemocratic, and corrupt states. It is in these same types of states that we find terrorist recruitment and training, human trafficking, and civil strife, all of which have damaging spillover effects for the entire world.

     Second, genocide and mass atrocities have long-lasting consequences far beyond the states in which they occur. Refugee flows start in bordering countries but often spread. Humanitarian needs grow, often exceeding the capacities and resources of a generous world. The international community, including the United States, is called on to absorb and assist displaced people, provide relief efforts, and bear high economic costs. And the longer we wait to act, the more exorbitant the price tag. For example, in Bosnia, the United States has invested nearly $ 15 billion to support peacekeeping forces in the years since we belatedly intervened to stop mass atrocities.

     Third, America’s standing in the world — and our ability to lead — is eroded when we are perceived as bystanders to genocide. We cannot be viewed as a global leader and respected as an international partner if we cannot take steps to avoid one of the greatest scourges of humankind. No matter how one calculates U.S. interests, the reality of our world today is that national borders provide little sanctuary from international problems. Left unchecked, genocide will undermine American security.

     A core challenge for American leaders is to persuade others — in the U.S. government, across the United States, and around the world — that preventing genocide is more than just a humanitarian aspiration; it is a national and global imperative.”

     Again, apologies for quoting at such length. but truthfully, is one meant to take this seriously? There is absolutely no evidence that terrorist recruiting is more promising in failed states than, say, in suburban Connecticut where the (very middle-class) Faisal Shahzad, son of a retired Pakistani Air Force vice-marshal, plotted to explode a car bomb in Times Square. Nor, in the U.S. case is there any basis for concluding that the main source of immigration is from places traumatized by war. To the contrary, most of our immigrants are the best and the brightest (in the sense not of the most educated but most enterprising) of Mexico, the Philippines, India, and China. The proportion of migrants from Sudan or Somalia is small by comparison. As for the costs of peacekeeping, are the authors of the report serious? Fifteen billion dollars? The sum barely signifies in the rubric of the military budget of the United States. And lastly, the report’s claim that the U.S. won’t be viewed as a global leader and respected as an international partner if it doesn’t take the lead to stop genocide is absurd on its face. Not respected by whom, exactly? Hu Jintao in Beijing? Merkel in Berlin? President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City? To put it charitably, the claim conjures up visions of Pinocchio, rather than Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson.

     The report calls for courage, but courage begins at home. Pressed by Armenian activists at one of the events held to launch the report as to why they had both earlier signed a letter urging the U.S. not to bow to Armenian pressure and formally recognize the Armenian genocide, Secretary Cohen and Secretary Albright refused over and over again to characterize the Armenian genocide as, well, a genocide. It is true that the Armenian activists had come looking for a confrontation. But there can be little question that both secretaries did everything they could to avoid committing themselves one way or the other. “Terrible things happened to the Armenians,” Secretary Albright said, refusing to go any further. The letter, she explained, had been primarily about “whether this was an appropriate time to raise the issue.” For his part, Secretary Cohen, emphasized that angering the Turks while the Iraq war was raging could lead to Turkish reactions that would “put our sons and daughters in jeopardy.” And, in any case, the task force was not “a historical commission.”

     This is a perfectly defensible position from the perspective of prudential realpolitik. The problem is that what the task force report constantly calls for is political courage. And whatever else they were, Secretaries Albright and Cohen’s responses were expedient, not courageous. There will always be reasons not to intervene — compelling pressures, I mean, not trivial ones. Why should a future U.S. government be less vulnerable to them than the Bush or Obama administrations? About this, as about so many other subjects, the task force report is as evasive as Secretary Albright and Secretary Cohen were at the press conference at which the Armenian activists confronted them. Doubtless, they had to be. For the solutions they propose are not real solutions, the history they touch on is not the actual history, and the world they describe is not the real world.”

Schindler’s List: What The Girl In The Red Coat Represents, Explained

https://screenrant.com/schindlers-list-girl-red-coat-meaning-explained/#When%20The%20Girl%20in%20The%20Red%20Coat%20Is%20Seen

Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur, Ben Kiernan

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Never-Again-From-a-Holocaust-phrase-to-a-universal-phrase-544666

https://www.hoover.org/research/persistence-genocide

The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Instant of My Death / Demeure: Fiction and Testimony, by Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Derrida

The Wretched of the Earth, by Frantz Fanon, Jean-Paul Sartre (Preface),

Never Again! A Program for Survival, by Meir Kahane

Hostage, by Elie Wiesel

The Myth of Sisyphus, by Albert Camus

The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway

The Trial of Socrates, by I.F. Stone

Invictus, by William Ernest Henley

The Painted Bird, by Jerzy Kosiński

The Origins of Totalitarianism, by Hannah Arendt

Robert De Niro as Harry Tuttle in Brazil

Hebrew

23 במרץ 2024 בפורים: למה אנחנו מתכוונים כשאנחנו משתמשים בביטוי; “לעולם לא שוב!”

      בחג פורים זה שמתחיל היום בשקיעה ומסתיים עם סתיו הלילה מחר, חוגגים עמי העולם את ישועתם מרצח העם בפרס המאה ה-5 כפי שכתוב במגילת אסתר, וכל האנושות עשויה לחגוג את הניצחון. של אהבה על שנאה, סולידריות על פילוג והתנגדות על עריצות שהיא מנציחה.

      כאשר אנו מתמודדים בחדשות עם תמונות של אלימות נוראה ופשעים נגד האנושות בשתי מלחמות המאתגרות את סדר העולם שלנו; הפלישה הישראלית לעזה שהפכה את אמריקה לשותפה ברצח עם ומעמידה בספק את רעיון זכויות האדם, והפלישה הרוסית לאוקראינה, מלחמת הרס מוחלט שלא דומה לשום דבר שאירופה ראתה מאז מלחמת העולם השנייה, המהדהדת את הזוועות והשימושים שלה. נשק תרמברי כמשרפות ניידות נגד אזרחים, אני חושב על הדברים האלה היום במונחים של המורשת ההיסטורית של התנגדות לעריצות, עבדות, מלחמות כיבוש ושליטה אימפריאלית ורצח עם.

       איך נגן על עמי פלסטין ואוקראינה מפני פשעי המלחמה הנוראיים של הפשיזם התיאוקרטי של נתניהו של הדם, האמונה והאדמה והכיבוש האימפריאלי המטורף של פוטין, מבלי שעצמנו נהיה אימפריה?

      פיתוי הכוח מתחיל בפחד, במיוחד פחד מוחץ ומוכלל הנתון בצורות של אחר על ידי סמכות בשירות לכוח; למצוא ביטחון ובטחון בהפיכתו לבורר המידות. גם לזה עלינו להתנגד.

      יתרה מכך, אסטרטגיות כאלה של כוח ושליטה חייבות תמיד להיכשל ולהתקלקל, שכן ביטחון הוא אשליה, והשימוש בכוח חברתי יוצר התנגדות משלו.

       לעולם לא שוב! הוא ביטוי שהשתמשתי בו לעתים קרובות כתשובה לעריצות ולפשיזם, הן בכתיבתי והן לחבריי באופן אישי, כקריאה להתנגדות מוחלטת ללא גבולות, ובזה אני מבקש לחקור את משמעותו והשלכותיו.

       איך נוכל להשתמש ב- Never Again! כעיקרון של פעולה ישירה המשמר ומעצים את הרווחה והאוטונומיה של אחרים, מבלי שפעולה כזו תהפוך לנקודת שבר מוסרית, חתרנות לאידיאלים וכישלון מפל של כוח לא שוויוני?

       עבורי, ההיסטוריה של השימוש בו קשורה לקטגוריה של הרגעים המגדירים שלי, שאני קורא להם עמודים אחרונים, שאת סיפוריהם סיפרתי פעמים רבות. אלה כוללים רק רגעים שבהם בחרתי בסולידריות ובסירוב להיכנע על פני הישרדות אישית; מסרב לזוז הצידה מהילד שמאחורי כשציידי הראשים של המשטרה קיבלו פקודה להיכנע בברזיל 1974, כאשר חיילים הציתו את הבית בו ז’אן ז’נה ואני היינו, מוקפים ולא חמושים, בביירות 1982 כשהשביע אותי בשבועה. של ההתנגדות, תקווה עזובה בקרב Cuito Cuanavale באנגולה 1988 לשחרור מהאפרטהייד, ועוד אינספור אחרים מעבר לחשבון שלי.

       עמדות אחרונות הן בחירות של סירוב לוותר על האנושות שלנו וזכויות האדם האוניברסליות שלנו, חובת הזהירות והניהול שלנו זה בזה, ללא קשר להשלכות כקווים שאנו לא יכולים לחצות מבלי להפוך למשהו פחות אנושי.

     במלחמת עזה המתמשכת ורצח העם של הפלסטינים, זהו גם סירוב לנטוש את מטרת “חופש האמונה לכל המין האנושי” כאגדה על האנדרטה של ניצחונו של גוסטבוס אדולפוס משבדיה ב-1631 בקרב ברייטנפלד, שהבטיחה זאת. הימין מצהיר, העיקרון של מדינה לא עדתית שעליה מושתתת אמריקה ושל הזכות הטבועה לעצמאות והגדרה עצמית ריבונית של כל העמים, וסולידריות עם כל אלה שפרנץ פאנון כינה עלובי כדור הארץ נגד כוח ושליטה, מדינה טרור ועריצות, מלחמה וכיבוש אימפריאלי.

       בין המודלים האישיים שלי לחיקוי באנטי-פשיזם ובמהפכה היא דמותו הבדיונית של הארי טאטל בגילומו של רוברט דה נירו בסרט ברזיל, שהשורה שלו “כולנו בזה ביחד”, מהדהדת לאורך ארבעים שנים מהחיים וההרפתקאות שלי.

      תן לי לשים את זה בהקשר; ברזיל הייתה חווית הסולו הראשונה שלי בנסיעות חוץ, טסתי לסאו פאולו כשהייתי בן ארבע עשרה, בקיץ 1974, כדי להתאמן עם כמה סייפים אחרים לקראת המשחקים הפאן אמריקאים שתוכננו להתקיים שם, אם כי מאוחר יותר הועבר המקום ל מקסיקו. הייתה לי קצת פורטוגזית שיחה חדשה שלמדתי, הזמנה להתארח בביתו של ילד בגילי שהכרתי ממעגל טורנירי הסייף שאיתו יכולתי לגלות את השובבות המקומית, וחזיונות של מסיבות חוף.

      אז נכנסתי לעולם של נימוסים חצרניים ומשרתים עם כפפות לבנות, מארחים אדיבים ומבריקים שהיו מאורות מקומיים וזרקו כדור פורמלי מפואר כדי להציג אותי, וחבר שאיתו חלקתי תשוקה מטורפת לספורט לחימה ולספורט סוסים. , אבל גם עולם של חומות גבוהות ושומרים חמושים.

      המבט הראשון שלי מעבר לאשליה זו הגיע עם קולות של ירי רובה מהשומרים; כשהסתכלתי מהמרפסת שלי לראות מי תוקף את החזית

בשער גיליתי שהשומרים יורים לתוך קהל של קבצנים, בעיקר ילדים, שהסתערו על משאית שהובילה את אספקת המזון השבועית. באותו יום עשיתי את הטיול הסודי הראשון שלי מעבר לחומות, שממנו מעולם לא חזרתי באמת.

      אילו אמיתות מסתתרות בחומות הארמונות שלנו, שמעבר להן אסור להביט? קל להאמין לשקרי הסמכות כשאדם חבר באליטה שבאינטרס שלה הם טוענים שהוא מחזיקים בכוח, ולא להטיל ספק במניעים ובעמדת הפריבילגיה של עצמו. קל להחריד להאמין בשקרים כאשר אנו הנהנים מהיררכיות של אחרות מוציאה מהכלל, מפערי עושר וכוח ואי-שוויון המיוצרים באופן מערכתי ומיוצרים נשק בשירות לשלטון, ומפריבילגיות לבנים ופטריארכליים, רצח עם, עבדות, כיבוש ואימפריאליזם.

      תמיד שימו לב לאיש שמאחורי הווילון. כי אין סמכות צודקת, וכפי שדורותי אומרת בקוסם מארץ עוץ, הוא “רק זקן זקן”, והשקרים והאשליות שלו, הכוח והשליטה שלו, אינם משרתים אינטרסים מלבד שלו.

      בהיותי נער אמריקאי נאיבי, הרגשתי שחובתי לדווח על התקרית; אבל בתחנת המשטרה התקשיתי להפוך את עצמי למובן, לא בגלל שפה אלא בגלל מערכות דיכוי מרומזות. הם חשבו שאני שם כדי להמר על המשמר שלי בתחרות חודשית מתמשכת שעבורה השוטר הכניס הכי הרבה ילדי רחוב; היה לוח גיר על קיר התחנה בשביל זה, וצנצנת עם אוזניים מתויגות כדי להוכיח את הספירה. כך בחרו האליטות של ברזיל לפתור את בעיית ילדי הרחוב הנטושים, עשרה אחוזים מהאוכלוסייה הלאומית. משחק הימורים נוסף שנקרא “הגדול”, היה בו השוטר בעט בבטן של הנערות ההריוניות ביותר ודורג בין עשרת גורמי המוות המובילים בברזיל עבור נערות מתבגרות, המתגוררות תמיד באזורי שכונות עוני המכילים את העניים והשחורים ביותר. אזרחים; זאת בעיר שהוקמה על ידי עבדים אפריקאים שנמלטו כרפובליקה חופשית.

      למדתי הרבה בשבועות שלאחר מכן; מעל הכל למדתי מי אחראי לאי השוויון הללו; אנחנו כן, אם לא נאתגר את העריצות ומערכות לא צודקות ומתריסות אותן.

      במהלך לילות הרפתקאותיי מעבר לחומות ופעולות כדי לעזור ללהקות הילדים הקבצנים ולחסום את ציד הראשים של המשטרה חוויתי חוויה טראומטית של כמעט מוות, בדומה להוצאות להורג המדומה של מוריס בלאנשו על ידי הנאצים ב-1944 כפי שנכתב ב” מיידי מותי ופיודור דוסטויבסקי על ידי המשטרה החשאית של הצאר ב-1849 כפי שנכתב ב”אידיוט”; נמלט מרדף דרך מערך מנהרות עם ילד פצוע בין היתר ונלכד בשטח הפתוח על ידי שני רובאי משטרה שתפסו עמדות אגפים וכיוונו אלינו בעוד המנהיג קרא להיכנע מעבר לעיקול של מנהרה. עמדתי מול נער עם רגל מעוותת שלא יכול היה לרוץ בזמן שהאחרים התפזרו ונמלטו או מצאו מקומות מסתור, וסירבתי לעמוד מהצד כשהצטוו לעשות זאת. זה היה רפלקסיבי והחלטה של אינסטינקט מתחת לרמה של מחשבה או רצון מודע, שבו האמיתות של עצמנו שנכתבו על בשרנו מזויפות ומתגלות. ביקשתי לתת למישהו למות כדי להציל את עצמי, פשוט אמרתי שלא. כשחזרה אלי המחשבה מרגע זה של בהלה או התעלות של עצמי, שאלתי כמה לתת לנו להתרחק, ואז הוא הורה לאנשיו לירות. אבל הייתה רק ירייה אחת במקום הפגנה של אש צולבת, והחטאה רחבה; היה לו זמן לשאול “מה?” לפני נפילה ארצה.

        ואז גילו את עצמם המצילים שלנו, לאחר שהתגנבו למשטרה מאחור; המטאדורים, שאפשר לתאר אותם כאנשי משמר, כנופיית פושע, קבוצה מהפכנית, או שלושתם, שהוקמה על ידי הכונן והפושע הידוע לשמצה של ברזיל פדרו רודריגס פילו, הידוע לשמצה בכך שנקם את הרצח הפראי של אמו על ידי הריגת אביו ואכילת ליבו, אשר נעצר בשנה הקודמת לאחר סדרה מרהיבה של מאה רציחות נקמה או יותר של הפושעים המטומטמים והמפלצתיים ביותר, גברים חזקים מעבר להישג ידם של החוק או שהיו החוק ושעשו זוועות בנשים וילדים. לתוך האחווה האימתנית הזו התקבלתי, עם המילים; “אתה אחד מאיתנו, בואי איתנו” וברחובות סאו פאולו באותו קיץ לא עמדתי שוב לבד.

     “אנחנו לא יכולים להציל את כולם, אבל אנחנו יכולים לנקום”; אז הם תיארו לי את עצמם, וההגדרה הזו של סולידריות כפרקסיס או פעולת ערכים נשארת איתי ומצללת את השימוש שלי בזעקת הקרב לעולם לא שוב! כפי שכתב שייקספיר ב”סוחר מוונציה”, מערכה שלישית, סצנה א’; “אם אתה טועה בנו, האם לא ננקום?”

      מהרגע שראיתי את השומרים של משפחת האצולה שאיתם התארחתי יורים על קהל הילדים חסרי הבית והקבצנים רוחשים את משאית אספקת המזון בשער האחוזה, עירומים ושלדיים ברעב, מצולקים ונכים ומשובשים במחלות לא ידועות. לכל אדם שעבורם שירותי בריאות ותזונה בסיסית א

מחדש תנאים מוקדמים חופשיים ומובטחים של הזכות האוניברסלית לחיים, נואשים לקומץ מזון שיכול להיות עוד יום אחד של הישרדות; באותו רגע בחרתי בצד שלי, ועמי הם חסרי הכוח והמנושלים, המושתקים והנמחקים; כל אלה שפרנץ פאנון כינה עלובי כדור הארץ.

     השני הוא היום שבו ז’אן ז’נה הוביל אותי למסלול חיי עם שבועת ההתנגדות בביירות בקיץ 1982.

      חיילים ישראלים הציתו את הבתים ברחוב שלי וקראו לאנשים לצאת ולהיכנע. הם כיסו את עיניהם של הילדים של אלה שעשו זאת והשתמשו בהם כמגן אנושי.

      לא היה לנו נשק אחר מלבד בקבוק השמפניה הריק שסיימנו זה עתה עם ארוחת הבוקר שלנו של קרפ תותים; שאלתי “יש רעיונות?”, והוא משך בכתפיו ואמר “לתקן כידונים?”

      ואז הוא נתן לי עקרון פעולה שלפיו אני חי כבר ארבעים ושתיים שנה; “כשאין תקווה, אדם חופשי לעשות דברים בלתי אפשריים, דברים מפוארים.”

      הוא שאל אותי אם אני מתכוון להיכנע, ואמרתי שלא; הוא חייך וענה, “גם אני לא.” וכך הוא השביע אותי לשבועה שהגה ב-1940 בפריז בתחילת הכיבוש עבור חברים שהוא יכול לאסוף, מנוסח מחדש מהשבועה שנשא כלגיונר ב-1918. הוא אמר שזה הדבר הטוב ביותר שהוא אי פעם. צָעִיף; “אנו נשבעים את נאמנותנו זה לזה, להתנגד ולא להיכנע, ולא לנטוש את חברינו.”

      אז הפכתי להיות נושאת מסורת בת למעלה משמונים שנה וחיצפתי בסכסוך המפחיד והנורא ביותר שידע העולם, זמן קצר לפני שציפיתי להישרף בחיים בדוכן האחרון מבין רבים.

      זה היה רגע הזיוף שלי, ההחלטה הזו לבחור במוות על פני כפיפות, ומאז שנפגעתי ממנו אני פעמון, מצלצל. וכמו פעמון החירות, אני פתוח לסבלם של אחרים ולפגמי האנושות שלנו. זו הייתה המתנה הגדולה ביותר שניתנה לי אי פעם, האמפתיה הזו שנושאת מפצע קדוש, ולעולם לא אפסיק את הקריאה לחירות, ולא אהסס לענות כפי שאני יכול לקריאה לסולידריות עם אחרים.

      מבין קרב Cuito Cuanavale, הקרב הגדול ביותר שנלחם אי פעם באפריקה, עצום אפילו יותר מאל עלמיין; זה היה המקום שבו נשברה שיטת האפרטהייד. במערכה ענקית שכללה למעלה מ-300,000 חיילים מתנדבים קובנים בין דצמבר 1987 למרץ 1988, בתיאום עם כוחות אנגולה וילידים אחרים, מתנדבים בינלאומיים, ועם סיוע ויועצים סובייטים, הביסו את דרום אפריקה הגדולה והעדיפה בהרבה מבחינה טכנולוגית ואת UNITA והאמריקאית שלהם. בעלי ברית ושכירי חרב בקרב Cuito Cuanavale, בסיס צבאי אנגולי שדרום אפריקה לא הצליחה לכבוש בחמישה גלי תקיפות.

      בעוד המחזה של הקרב האחרון הגדול הזה במאבק שחרור ארוך של עשרות שנים התגלגל, עשיתי שובבות מאחורי קווי האויב בשיח. כאן גיליתי יחידה אבודה, בעיקר זולו, שהוקפתה על ידי כוחות האפרטהייד. לאחר דיווח על מה שידעתי על האזור לקבוצת הפיקוד וכנס קצר במספר שפות, קם בחור זקן שעד כה שתק מצללי האוהל, שצורתו ללא חולצתו הראתה צלקת אימתנית ומרהיבה מציפורני אריה. , ואמר; “אנחנו מוקפים וחסרי מספרם בלי תחמושת וגרוע מכך, בלי מים, ואף אחד לא בא לעזור לנו. אנחנו חייבים לתקוף”.

     הסמל חייך על כך כאילו ניתנה לו מתנה נפלאה, פסע החוצה ונתן את הפקודה שאם יתמזל מזלך לעולם לא תשמע; “תקן כידונים!”

      והגברים שעומדים למות התפרצו בשירה. “אוסוטו! Umkhonto wami womile!” הראשון הוא קריאת קרב זולו אוניברסלית, המבקשת מרוחות אבותיו להתעורר ולהעיד על מעשי הגבורה המפוארים שעומדים לבצע. “החנית שלי צמאה”, זה האחרון.

    וניצחנו, למרות שהמחיר היה נורא. אין עלויות כאלה גדולות מכדי לשאת בהשוואה לעלויות הכניעה לעבדות, סחורה, זיוף ודה-הומניזציה; כי בסירוב להיכנע אנו הופכים לבלתי נכבשים וחופשיים, ואי אפשר לקחת מאיתנו את הכוח הזה של בעלות עצמית כניצחון במאבק על האנושיות שלנו. כפי שכתב מקס סטירנר; “לא ניתן להעניק חופש; יש לתפוס אותו.”

     מזמן איבדתי את ספירת היציעים האחרונים; אלה הפכו לאמיתות הכתובות על בשרי, ואני נושא סימנים כאלה ללא מספר. ללא ספק יהיו אלה שעומדים כעת לצד פלסטין, אוקראינה או כל עם שנמצא בסכנת השמדה.

      בכל זה מה שחשוב הוא שבסירוב להיכנע לסמכות ולכפות אנו הופכים לבלתי נכבשים וחופשיים; זהו ניצחון כתנאי הוויה שאי אפשר לקחת מאיתנו, בדומה לחייל האוקראיני הגיבור השומר על אי שומם שסירב להיכנע לספינת מלחמה רוסית במילים; “ספינת מלחמה רוסית, לך תזדיין.” אדם כזה אי אפשר לכבוש, ודבריו האלמותיים מדברים בעד כל האומה שלו.

      ט

סוד הכוח, הכוח והסמכות הוא שהדברים האלה חלולים ושבירים, ונכשלים כשהם נתקלים בחוסר ציות ובסירוב פשוט להאמין ולהיכנע.

      איך אנחנו מוצאים את הרצון לעשות את הדברים האלה, לצאת מהחורבות ולעשות עוד עמדה אחרונה, מעבר לתקווה לניצחון או אפילו הישרדות?

      האמת היא שאנחנו לא צריכים שום דבר מעבר לעצמנו ולרגע ההחלטה שלנו לעשות דברים כאלה; אין עקרונות אוניברסליים גדולים, אפילו לא המרחב השלילי של דמות גיבורה לאכלס ולהופיע לפני בימת העולם. כל מה שאנחנו צריכים זה זה; שאחרים שסומכים עלינו ימותו אם לא.

      זה מה שהופך אותנו לאנושיים, וזה משהו שאנחנו חייבים להמשיך לאשר לא משנה מה המחיר.

      יכול להיות שיש עוד דבר אחד שיכול לעזור לנו ברגעים כאלה של החלטה; אם נזכור מי אנחנו, ולא איך אחרים מדמיינים אותנו.

      האם אנחנו לא הסיפורים שאנו מספרים על עצמנו, לעצמנו ולאחרים?

       היסטוריה, זיכרון, זהות; אנחנו פרוכרוניזם, היסטוריה המתבטאת בצורתנו של האופן שבו פתרנו בעיות של הסתגלות על פני מפרצי זמן עצומים, כמו קונכייה של יצור ימי פנטסטי.

      תמיד נשאר המאבק בין המסכות שאחרים עושים לנו, לבין אלה שאנחנו עושים לעצמנו. זו המהפכה הראשונה שבה כולנו חייבים להילחם; המאבק לבעלות על עצמנו.

       התחלנו להיזכר מי אנחנו, אנחנו האמריקאים, אחרי התקף הארוך של הזיוף שהטילו הבוגד טראמפ ותעמולי הרייך הרביעי שלו; קראנו כעת להפסקת אש בעזה, לאחר חצי שנה של חימוש חשאי במלחמת עזה של ישראל בהוראת רצח העם ג’ו. גם אירופה מתעוררת מחדש כאשר נאט”ו מאחד את התנגדותה לכיבוש האימפריאלי של אוקראינה ולאיום של כיבוש אירופה הרוסי. עד כה אמריקה לא עשתה דבר כדי להביא שינוי משטר לאומה מחוץ לחוק, לא השתיקה את הפצצות, לא שחררה את אוקראינה או פלסטין, ולא פתחה את המצור הישראלי של סיוע הומניטרי; אבל כל זה נשאר אפשרי, אם כולנו נעזור ככל שנוכל.

      ברגעים של ספק כמו זה קראתי שוב את המיתוס של סיזיפוס של קאמי, את הזקן והים של המינגווי, את Invictus של הנלי, I.F. משפט סוקרטס של סטון; מיתוסים, סיפורים, שירה והיסטוריה של הוד של ההתנגדות המקנה חופש.        גם כאן, ברגע המקביל לזה של ספרד ב-1936 ופולין ב-1939, עלינו לומר לעולם לא ש

March 19 2024 Israel Unleashes the Third Horseman: Famine in Gaza

     Netanyahu now rides upon his black horse of famine, bringing his mad dream of the Final Solution of the Palestinian Problem with all of its attendant shadows lingering from the Holocaust.

    As the passage in Ezekiel 14:21 warns us when the Infinite unleashes the “Four disastrous acts of judgement” to bring a Reckoning against the Elders of Israel for crimes of idolatry, the use of social force obeys Newton’s Third Law of Motion and creates its own Resistance.

    Israelis and Palestinians are one people divided by history, divisions shaped in service to power by those who would enslave us.

    Perhaps Aynn Rand saw truly in this one prediction of the collapse of our civilization from the mechanical failures of its internal contradictions, as she is often paraphrased from her novel The Fountainhead; “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”

    If we wish to preserve our humanity, our reply must always be “All of us, in solidarity as guarantors of each other’s universal human rights and an emerging United Humankind.”

     The Gaza War has as its major theme the question of human rights, and if such an idea will have a place in whatever future we may choose. Here then is a retrospective of my witness of history of this conflict, and of its consequences for human being, meaning, and value, and of the choices we make about how to become human together.

     As I wrote in my post of January 25 2024, O Israel, Ask Not For Whom the Bell Tolls; We celebrate this glorious victory of solidarity over division in the Trial of Israel, with joy and dancing in the streets.

       O Israel, ask not for whom the bell tolls.

      Though for now it stops short of a call for ceasefire and a ruling of Israeli guilt in genocide, this judgement is a stunning and swift victory for the liberation of Palestine which finds Israel guilty of genocidal intent, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity in a way which delegitimates the state of Israel itself as a regime of tyranny and state terror and an outlaw nation of imperial dominion and colonial enslavement and theft, as well as the brutal Netanyahu settler regime which has made of the Holy Land a vast Auschwitz.

     And all of this plays out on the stage of the world as exposure and truthtelling of atrocities and calculated state terror perpetrated not against criminals who committed atrocities on October 7, but against civilian populations who had nothing to do with it; seventy percent of the victims of Israeli terror are women and children. How does a child being Palestinian hurt you?

    But of course to the fascists of the Netanyahu regime, only people like themselves are truly human, and this mass death and terror is what happens when you begin with such ideas of elite belonging and exclusionary otherness, identitarian politics, nationalism, theocratic tyranny, and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil. No matter where you begin along this spectrum of fear and hate, you always end up at the gates of Auschwitz.

     While South Africa leads the championing of our humanity, and has ignited a global anticolonial rebellion against the dominion of Europe and America, two parallel and interdependent storylines trace across the Trial of Israel like leprosy; the attack on the hospital at Khan Younis, and the complicity of Biden the Baby Killer and America along with the UK in Israeli ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

     In balance against such forces of darkness we now have two historic victories; the success of the Red Sea Campaign in counter-blockading the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the international solidarity of liberated colonies in calling out an emperor who has no clothes in the Trial of Israel.

     As I wrote in my post of November 29 2023 International Day of Solidarity With Palestine

    On this International Day of Solidarity with Palestine, I write to apply the Occam’s Razor of simplification to the complex and emotionally charged issue of Palestinian-Israeli relations and the problem of the double minority by asking a question; what best serves the joy of humankind?

      So many other ways to construct such a question, especially as principles of becoming human through revolutionary struggle and seizures of power under imposed conditions of struggle which include falsification, commodification, and dehumanization as systems of oppression; of death, learned helplessness, abjection, horror, and divisions of authorized identities?

     How best to create a free society of equals as a United Humankind through secular democracy and universal human rights?

     How to balance our uniqueness as individuals within a diverse and inclusive society?

      How to level all hierarchies of belonging and exclusionary otherness and annihilate all systems of unequal power?

      How to bring the Chaos, disruption, fracture, change, and democratization of elite hegemonies of wealth, power, and privilege, and escape the legacies of our history and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil?

      How to reimagine and transform the limitless possibilities of human being, meaning, and value?

      How to free ourselves and each other under imposed conditions of struggle which require violence and the use of social force in seizures of power, without becoming the authority we struggle against and using force and violence to enforce our own ideas of virtue?

      Israeli atrocities and war crimes in the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians has confronted us all with our complicity in evil, and the world is whiplashed in horror and abjection as our leaders betray us and abandon the principle of universal human rights by which our civilization is sustained, a civilization now in processes of collapse and subversion by fascism at the dawn of the Age of Tyrants. But this also means everything is in question, power can be seized, and new futures chosen, if we act in solidarity in times of chaos as a space of free creative play.

     As Guillermo del Toro teaches us in Carnival Row; “Chaos is the great hope of the powerless.”

     Clearly we must have true equality if our rights and liberties are to remain universal in the shadow of state force and control. So also are freedom and equality possible only when we are free of authorized divisions of exclusionary otherness and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil.

     What prevents us, here in America and throughout the world, from seeing this humanitarian disaster as it is? First are elite interests of wealth and power, which have created an American colony and imperialist military giant for the purposes of dominance of the Middle East and control of the strategic asset of oil, of which Traitor Trump’s diplomatic campaign on behalf of recognition of the state of Israel by her neighbors is among the most recent forms of the historic and perfidious Arab-American Alliance, another is Biden the Baby Killer’s hugging the war criminal Netanyahu and sending a Navy ship to help terrorize civilians rather than break the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid and silence the bombs of ethnic cleansing.

     That we have used the threat of Iranian influence and the ancient Sunni-Shia vendetta to divide and conquer the region, legitimize the conflicts in Yemen and Gaza as test cases of our hegemony, and destabilize democracy movements in Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran as well as perpetuate the disenfranchisement and ethnic cleansing of the people of Palestine by Israel speaks to America’s true motives; not to champion peace and freedom, but to secure wealth and power through war and tyranny.

     I believe the secondary cause of our blindness to the injustices of the Palestinian-Israeli situation is a legacy of the Holocaust and how we process historical narratives of victimization. Once anointed as a victim, and crowned with a white hat of blameless innocence, that figure in our imagination becomes incapable of wrongdoing in any other way. We think in terms of Good and Evil as a cosmic struggle of dichotomous forces, and of showdowns at high noon in the Westerns which are primary narratives of imperial colonialism and the apologetics of power, not in terms of the flaws of our humanity. Absolutes are simpler.

     Ambiguity and moral relativization disrupt authorized identities and systems of oppression; this is their great value in revolutionary stuggle.

     We are all capable of both good and evil actions, of misunderstandings, conflicted and nuanced feelings and responses, and failures of compassion. And we tend to ignore rather than confront things like moral grey areas which make us uncomfortable; this is called cognitive dissonance reduction, and it means we tend to keep doing things we know are wrong if we have a good story to justify our actions and the belief that God is on our side. The most terrible atrocities in history have been perpetrated in this way.

     Here I must say plainly that I support the creation of a secular democracy in which all human beings, Palestinian and Israeli alike, are exactly equal both in fact and under the law, that I support the Boycott, Divestiture, and Sanction of the state of Israel and the liberation of Palestine from Occupation and Blockade, and that Israel as presently constituted is a fascist tyranny of state terror which is guilty of crimes against humanity in the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

     A post has typified the bifurcated and dichotomous dialogs which have attached themselves to the war in Gaza; it says “If you have the power to turn off your enemy’s food, water, and energy, and attack them at your leisure, you are the bad guy.”

     To this someone relied; “If you have the power to attack, rape and kidnap over 200 hostages, and hide them in a hospital, you are the bad guy.”

     Here follows my reply, in one paragraph; Yes, we are all bad guys here. The use of social force has no justifications; but as resistance struggle against imposed conditions of unequal power, it may be necessary. The violence of the tyrant, the conqueror, the occupier, or the slave master cannot be compared to the violence used by the slave to break his chains. What has happened here is that both Hamas and the Netanyahu regime have delegitimated themselves in war crimes and unforgivable acts of terror which violate our universal rights. Both seek to subjugate the people in whose name they claim to act to make them complicit, a primary strategy of terror. And only love and solidarity of action against Hamas and the state of Israel by the people of Israel and Palestine together can overcome state tyranny and terror.

     This leaves us with the question asked by Tolstoy and Lenin in very different works, one which founded the principles of nonviolent resistance used by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, the other which began the Russian Revolution; What is to be done?

     For myself and my comrades, we have a clear and simple mandate of action in three parts; Unite the Israeli and Palestinian peoples as equal citizens in a democratic secular state wherein faith and ethnicity have no legal standing, defend all civilian noncombatants, their universal human rights, and their access to humanitarian aid, and bring a direct and personal Reckoning to all war criminals on both sides.

     As a child in 1969 at an event with my mother that began as a protest against the Occupation of Palestine and American responsibility for its injustices by investment of the University of California and other state institutions, in People’s Park Berkeley, Bloody Thursday May 15, I was in the front line when the police opened fire on the crowd; this was my first death and rebirth, by which I mean Most Sincerely Dead and without life signs for some while, when for a moment I stood outside of time and beheld the possible futures, timelines, and alternate realities which propagated from that moment, the limitless possibilities of becoming human and the terrible chance of a coming age of fascist tyranny, war, the fall of civilization, and the extinction of humankind which may yet come to pass if we cannot reimagine and transform ourselves and our society, and find healing for the flaws of our humanity, the origins of evil in the Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force, and the brokenness of the world.

    Over fifty years later, I fought in the defense of al Aqsa and the Third Intifada; will we still be fighting for our humanity and our liberty fifty years from now, or fifty thousand?

     My hope is that our successors in future generations will have forged a free society of equals and abandoned the use of social force, will have no tyranny or state terror to resist, and can live their lives in joy and love and not in struggle as have I.  

     We must dream better dreams, and stand together in solidarity of action to make them real.

     Who do we want to become, we humans?

     Let us choose one another and not the wealth, power, and privilege of hegemonic elites, equality, diversity, and inclusion and not the divisions and hierarchies of exclusionary otherness, liberty and not the centralization of power and authority to a carceral state owned by the wealthy, democracy and not tyranny, hope and not fear, love and not hate.

     As I wrote in my post of May 10 2021, The Defense of al Aqsa: Liberty versus Tyranny in Jerusalem; We may have witnessed the advent of a Third Intifada this night, in the Defense of al Aqsa and the street fighting in Gaza which followed, ignited by the perfidy and imperial conquest of a xenophobic and fascist state of Israel which regards no one but their own tribe and faith as truly human, and which has perpetrated an unprovoked and deadly attack as an act of state terror and a crime against humanity on the peaceful worshippers at one of the most sacred mosques in the Islamic world, a demonstration of power and dominion which follows weeks of provocations, assaults, and acts of propagandistic dehumanization against the people of Palestine.

      Like the Second or al Aqsa Intifada which lasted four years from 28 September 2000 to 8 February 2005, unresolved issues of an Occupation now in its fifty fourth year since the June 7 1967 Conquest of Old Jerusalem by Israel, which the State of Israel celebrated according to the Hebrew calendar as Jerusalem Day today by attacking al Aqsa, and a Catastrophe ongoing now for seventy three years since Nakba Day May 15 1948, have coalesced around the symbolic value of al Aqsa, which has a contested dual identity as the Temple Mount in Judaism.

     Chances of de-escalation and averting a war depend now not on local factors but on the response of the international community, for history has here become a trap which collapses to ensnare us in its jaws, and outside forces must liberate us from the failures of our system’s internal contradictions.

     Will America disavow and renounce its colony of Israel, Queen of her imperial policy in the Middle East and control of the strategic resource of oil? Can international unity and the pressure of Boycott, Divestiture, and Sanction free us from the tyranny and terror of an Apartheid regime as it did in South Africa?

     Or is war the only reckoning humankind can offer, or will accept?

     As written by Ishaan Tharoor in The Washington Post; “On Monday night, militants in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military exchanged rocket fire and airstrikes amid a deadly escalation of violence. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, armed groups based in blockaded Gaza, launched a barrage of rockets that landed near Jerusalem and in parts of southern Israel, injuring at least one person. Israeli airstrikes in retaliation killed at least 20 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, including nine children.

     Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “terrorist groups” in Gaza had “crossed a red line” with their rocket attacks. But the latest explosion of hostilities has a long tail, following numerous aggressive actions by both Israeli security forces and far-right Jewish supremacist groups in Jerusalem. Two weeks ago, bands of Jewish extremists, including some settlers from the West Bank, marched through Palestinian-populated areas of the holy city, chanting “Death to Arabs,” attacking bystanders and damaging Palestinian property and homes. Israeli attempts to evict a number of Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah — a microcosm of what Palestinians view as part of a long history of dispossession and erasure at the hands of the Israeli state — had stirred Palestinian solidarity protests in various parts of the occupied territories and Israel proper.

     It also raised tensions ahead of the commemoration of Jerusalem Day on Monday, an official Israeli holiday celebrating the capture of the city during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. A planned annual march by far-right ultranationalist Israelis was called off after authorities rerouted its path at the last minute.    Large numbers still made their way to the Western Wall and sang an extremist vengeance song against Palestinians.

     “The Hamas rocket attacks, which included the first strikes against Jerusalem in several years, came after running clashes among Israeli police, Palestinian protesters and far-right Jewish Israelis around the Old City,” my colleagues reported. “Among the hundreds injured were seven who were hospitalized in serious condition, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Video footage circulated on social media of Israeli police officers brutally beating a detained Palestinian man.”

      How can America support the state of Israel in tyranny and terror, conquest and plunder? It’s a question asked in tones of outrage, sorrow, and bafflement since the advent of the Nakba on May 15 1948, the Day of Catastrophe which began the Occupation of Palestine and the systematic enslavement and genocide of its people in the wake of the Israeli conquest of Jerusalem. How is this legitimized?

      A friend has recently reframed this question for me; “I loved and embraced the Jewish tradition, joining a synagogue and working alongside its Rabbi. When I witness the treatment of Palestinians by the Jewish government of Israel, I am overwhelmed by feelings of confusion and anger. Unable to reconcile this immorality, I question the very foundation of my faith. Where is the good and moral uprising of international Jewish voices condemning the government’s path? I’ve lost faith in being Jewish.”

     What is clear to me is that this crisis of faith is also an existential crisis of identity, a situation of utmost gravity and danger which also holds the potential for reimagination and transformative rebirth, a personal echo of a parallel civilizational crisis from which humankind and the global community of nations must find a way to emerge and free ourselves of the legacies of our history. Here is my reply:

     The state of Israel is not identical with the Jewish faith, though the fascist-imperialist faction which Netanyahu represents would like everyone to think so. 

    A nation based on the assignment of its citizens to a tribal identity, the sectarian weaponization of faith in service to power and an authorized national identity, a military society with universal compulsory service, and a reconstructed Hebrew language of national unity has used identity politics to subjugate its citizens to the centralized power of tyranny; Israel is a fascist state of blood, faith, and soil no less than that of the Nazis.

     Add to this toxic mix a kleptocratic regime which has propagandized narratives of historical victimization to legitimize massive theft and imperial conquest of other people’s nations and one thing is clear; Israel has learned the wrong lessons from the Nazis.

     You may know from my many references to the incident in my writing that I am an antifascist, sworn to the Oath of the Resistance by Jean Genet in 1982 in Beirut, during our fight against the Israeli invasion and siege. In the forty years after, I have been a hunter of fascists and a revolutionary engaged in struggle for the liberation of humankind against fascisms of blood, faith, and soil and against tyranny and authoritarian regimes of force and control, for democracy and its ideals of freedom, equality, truth, and justice, and for our universal human rights. In this cause I place my life in the balance with all those whom Frantz Fanon called the Wretched of the Earth; the powerless and the dispossessed, the silenced and the erased.

      A Palestinian homeland, and justice for its people, has been among my goals since that summer so long ago. Like the goal of liberation of Ireland from British colonial rule, it remains to be achieved. In question is the idea of freedom and citizenship as the sovereignty and independence of peoples from foreign colonialism and authoritarian tyranny, and the primacy of a nonsectarian state free from divisions and hierarchies of faith, for who stands between each of us and the Infinite serves neither.

     I also support the idea of an Israeli homeland, and see no reason these two states, Palestine and Israeli, should be mutually exclusive or antagonistic. Why must citizenship be bound by the limits of geography, or states by borders?

     Why must one people’s Return mean another’s Exile?

     To be clear, I am on the side of anyone threatened with hate crime regardless of any other factors; in riot and war my test for the use of force is simple; who holds power?

     I am on the side of all those whom Frantz Fanon named The Wretched of the Earth; the powerless and the dispossessed, the silenced and the erased. This applies equally to Jews and Muslims, Israel and Palestine, and any other human beings regardless of who they are, and especially without any moral burden of merit as Shaw teaches us with the character of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady.

     Let us send no armies to enforce virtue.

     Some Israelis who would disagree with me on the question of Palestine and militarism in imperial conquest and regional dominion have been allies in the cause of hunting Nazis, but are blind to their own complicity in this evil due to seeing themselves as victims and defenders of victims rather than perpetrators of crimes against humanity.

     This is about fear, and the destructive cycle of abuse and violence. Not membership in any group or authorized identities of belonging, hierarchies of the elite and the elect, and divisions of exclusionary otherness. The origins of violence and the social use of force are universal, historical, and systemic, and absolutely not in any mythical evil impulse, original sin, or inherent depravity of man.

     The Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force belongs to no one, but to apersonal systems of unequal power. I understand all too well how power makes us feel safe, the seductive beauty of weapons which make us arbiters of virtue, and how elite membership confers entitlement; this works the same for nations as for individuals, in the playground, prison yard, and contested public spaces like the Temple Mount which is also al Aqsa. 

     When faith is appropriated by authority for legitimation in identity politics, identity itself becomes confused and ambiguous. To become free, we must seize ownership of ourselves as self-created and autonomous beings.

     This is why the primary duties of a citizen are to question authority, expose authority, mock authority, and challenge authority.

     Always there remains the struggle between the masks others make for us and those we make for ourselves; this is the first revolution in which we all must fight.

     I think of the problem of human evil and its cycle of fear, power, and force in the case of states which become the tyrannies they fought to liberate themselves from, and this is true of anticolonial revolutionary states generally because of the historical legacies of victimization and the imposed conditions of struggle, in this way; victims often become abusers because their identity is organized around power as the only means of escape and survival in a world wherein no one can be trusted.

     When trust has been abrogated and proven empty and without meaning, when the capacity to bond with and feel the pain of others in empathy has been broken and one is without pity or remorse, when fear is overwhelming and generalized and has been shaped by authority to the service of power, victims learn that only power has meaning and is real. We must not allow our abusers to become our teachers.

     While every such issue has its own unique origins and history, the problem itself is universal, and relates to what one fears, and how that fear is shaped by authority as identity. From our perspective as Americans interpreting events in the classic problem of the double minority typified by Israel and Palestine, how we perceive issues has much to do with how they are framed by our informing and motivating sources.

      In the end we are defined by what we do with our fear, and how we use our power.

      The first question to ask of any story, and the most important, is simple; whose story is this?

      We are lost in a wilderness of mirrors, of lies and illusions, falsifications of ourselves, distorted images and reflections, echoes and authorized identities which disfigure, disempower, and steal our souls.

      How shall we answer those who would enslave us? Our authenticity and autonomy is realized through seizure of power, and the reimagination and transformation of ourselves and humankind as a free society of equals.

      We Americans tend to see things in terms of white hats and black hats, as in the Western films which serve as origin myths and archetypes of our national character. Once victim status has been conferred, such groups and persons become white hats and good guys, incapable of evil and diametrically opposed to whomever must then be black hats. It’s a terrible way of choosing national policy.

     Sadly, we humans can be good and evil at once, the flaws of our humanity echo and reflect the brokenness of the world. It is a truth proven once again tonight in al Quds or Jerusalem depending on to whom one is speaking and in what language, as Gaza burns from the onslaught of an Israeli Defense Forces run amok much the same as the night almost four decades ago in Beirut when they tried to burn Genet and I alive in our café, as a dozen human beings from whom everything but hope has been stolen swear vows to each other to hold a position covering the escape of the women and children trapped by the Israeli attack until all are safe, in a final defense not of al Aqsa Mosque, magnificent and beautiful and filled with significance, monument to the human impulse to reach beyond ourselves and to the limitless possibilities of becoming human, a stage fit for the glorious deaths of heroes, but of the disembodied screams of strangers among the nameless warrens of a derelict antiquity.

     Against the chasms of emptiness and nihilistic barbarism of a world of darkness and fire, of fear and force, I have only words to offer, and I write to you what I have said to my comrades who have chosen to stand with me; I’ve lost count of Last Stands, but I’ve risked everything against impossible odds and survived more times than I can remember, and all that matters is that we abandon neither ourselves nor one another, that we refuse to submit, for this is the moment of our freedom, and it can never be taken from us.

      From this night, Palestine is free, for we can be killed, but we cannot be conquered.         

          As I wrote in my post of November 4 2023, Stand With Humankind: On Today’s Global Rally For Palestine; Since the disruption and fracture of our ideas of universal human rights in the October 7 terror attack perpetrated by the Netanyahu regime of Israel and their partners in theocratic tyranny Hamas which delegitimized both and destabilized the world order, a great struggle between democracy and  tyranny, love and hate, hope and fear has been raging in Gaza, where the fate of humankind hangs in the balance and our future possibilities of becoming human are being chosen in the great game of chance that is war.

     Here, as in far too many times and places, a few unconquerable heroes and those who stand with them in solidarity as a band of brothers against the darkness of barbarian atavisms of brute fear and force and a nihilistic regime wherein only power has meaning and fear is the only means of exchange, die in the forlorn hope of buying with their lives time for civilization to awaken to the threat of fascist tyranny and imperial conquest.

      How will we answer the test of our humanity in this moment of existential threat? Who do we want to become, we humans? A free society of equals or a world of masters and slaves?

     For these are the stakes of this game in which we now play; liberty or tyranny.

    Today the Rally For Palestine throughout the world demonstrates our solidarity as guarantors of each other’s universal human rights, a glorious defiance of fear weaponized in service to power by authority and of the fascisms of blood, faith, and soil through which they divide and subjugate us.  

     For this time of darkness and sectarian violence ends only when both Israelis and Palestinians, one people divided by history, unite to liberate each other from those who claim to rule in their name and as mouthpieces for a god of universal brotherhood and love of which they have made instead an idol of cruelty and death.

     Who stands between each of us and the Infinite serves neither.

     When those who would enslave us come for us, as they always do, let them find not a people subjugated by learned helplessness nor divided by hierarchies of belonging and exclusionary otherness, but a United Humankind unconquerable in solidarity and refusal to submit.

     To tyranny and fascism there can be but one reply; Never Again!

     Why is it important to resist our dehumanization and those who would enslave us, and to reply to the terror of our nothingness with refusal to submit and solidarity with others, regardless of where or when such existential threats arise, who is under threat or any divisions of identitarian politics weaponized by conquerors to isolate their victims from help?

     How much of our humanity can we claw back from the darkness in refusal to submit to those who would enslave us, and in solidarity with each other?

     We must each of us face our own Gate of Fire, as did the Spartans at Thermopylae, and choose.

    What are we worth, if we permit ruthless bandit kings to commit atrocities, genocides, plunder and enslave others?

     What is western civilization worth, if we will not live up to our fine words?   And fine words they remain, such as these written by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence in 1776, a synthesis and revisioning of ideas from Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

     What is America, if not a guarantor of democracy and our universal human rights, and a beacon of hope to the world?

    To paraphrase America’s Pledge of Allegiance not as an oath to a nation but as the declaration of a United Humankind; We, the People of Earth, pledge ourselves to each other, as one humankind, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

    Let us reply to tyranny and terror with the words written by J.R.R. Tolkien between 1937 and 1955 in his luminous reimagination of the Second World War and the conflict of dominion which immediately followed it between tyranny and democracy, first against fascism and then between the allies who defeated it as spheres of dominion and systems of economic and political organization but both for different dreams of a free society of equals, in the iconic speech of Aragorn at the Black Gate in The Return of the King which unites ethos, logos, pathos, and kairos; “A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight.”

     War transforms the question of our authorship of ourselves with existential primacy; where do we ourselves end, and others begin? How may we negotiate this boundary of the Forbidden and interface with alien realms of human being, meaning, and value, with division and hierarchies of belonging and exclusionary otherness or with solidarity, diversity, and inclusion, with fear or with love?

     This is a war of tyranny and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil against democracy and a free society of equals, for the idea that we all of us have meaning and value which is uniquely ours and against enslavement and the theft of our souls.

     Within the limits of our form, of the flaws of our humanity and the brokenness of the world, we struggle to achieve the human; ours is a revolution of Tikkun Olam, a Hebrew phrase meaning repair of the world which refers to our interdependence and duty of care for each other as equals who share a common humanity.

     I’m sure all of us here know what Shlomo Bardin meant when he repurposed the phrase from the Kabbalah of Luria and the Midrash, but what do I mean by this?

     There are only two kinds of actions which we human beings are able to perform; those which affirm and exalt us, and those which degrade and dehumanize us.

     We live at a crossroads of history which may define the fate of our civilization and the future possibilities of becoming human, in the struggle between tyranny and liberty and between solidarity and division, and we must each of us choose who we wish to become, we humans; masters and slaves, or a free society of equals?

     In the end all that matters is what we do with our fear, and how we use our power.

      There are no Palestinians, no Israelis; only people like ourselves, and the choices they make about how to be human together.

     As I wrote in my post of October 24 2023, I Stand With Humankind Against Theocratic Tyranny and Terror: the Hamas-Israel War Unfolds As the Sacrifice of Innocents to Power; When Rome was once engulfed in famine riots, the Emperor was asked if the ships in Egypt should load grain to feed the people or sand for the arena to divert them. “Load sand” was the infamous reply; and it seems it is still true today.

      What can I say that has not already been said, what can I do that has not already been done, hundreds of times over across decades of Resistance to fascisms of blood, faith, and soil of every kind and description, to carceral states of force and control, to violations of our universal human rights and the idea central to democracy and our civilization that all human beings are equal and worth exactly the same, regardless of hierarchies of belonging and otherness, whether they are ours or different blood, faith, nationality?

     How can I demonstrate that it is better to be a free society of equals than a prison world of masters and slaves?

     Above the lands regarded as holy by three faiths a bone white moon like a dead fish eye regards us with implacable wrath in our horror and monstrosity, a rotten and poisonous holiness perverted by authorities who subjugate us by claiming to speak in the name of the Infinite and a ground of struggle not merely between them but also between humanity and dehumanization, barbarism, atavisms of instinct, and what madness and evil may together do as fear and faith are weaponized by those who would enslave us.

       In reference to an article entitled Biden says West Bank settlers ‘pouring gasoline on fire’ as Israel prepares for Gaza ground invasion, I wrote; Biden the Baby Killer sputters incoherent threats at people who resist their subjugation, dehumanization, brutal repression of dissent, and genocide by the Occupation. “Who are you to fight back, you slaves, you nonwhite filth”, Biden spits in fury at the glorious defiance of those who hunger to be free. American is a shameful and squalid factory of death.

     In reply to Lina Khatib’s article in The Guardian entitled Despite their rhetoric, neither Iran nor Hezbollah want an escalation of war in the Middle East. Here’s why, I wrote; I hope this has it right, but I fear our enemies wish to provoke massive death and destruction among their own peoples to forge unity and delegitimize western values. They will sacrifice anything to engineer a conflict of civilizations. And they have partners within the Israeli alt right and diaspora just as Hamas does, eager to perpetuate and secure their dominion and hegemony over their own Jewish people.

      This whole ritual breaking of taboos as war crimes by Hamas is a performance designed to provoke retaliation as war crimes by Israel, to dehumanize and criminalize Israelis caught between the lies and tyranny of the state and the fear of an enemy willing to demonize itself, fear weaponized in service to power by both Hamas and her partner in terror Israel. Yet there remains an escape clause in the Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force; the redemptive power of love.

      Let us unite to liberate each other, the Jews from the state of Israel and the Palestinians of Gaza from Hamas. For those who stand between each of us and the Infinite serve neither.

      And to the words of Queen Rania of Jordan as reported by Christiane Amanpour of CNN, I replied; Shocking to me as well, though sadly unsurprising. Our ideology of human rights is an apologetics of imperial and colonial power. This disruptive event of the shocking Hamas attack is designed to delegitimize Israel, America, and the whole ideology of democracy and human rights, and if we play this game by such rules of escalation and revenge the enemy wins, and our civilization falls.

     Why bomb Gaza, except to kill the children of others in trade for your own killed children? I very much doubt that the leaders of Hamas have trapped themselves in the killing box of Gaza, nor that if I were to say to Israel; I will bring you the heads of your enemies, in trade for the lives of the people of Palestine who have nothing to do with the criminals who abducted and murdered the children of Israel, that this offer would be accepted.

     For the Final Solution to the Palestinian Problem so long dreamed of by Netanyahu and his settler-thief regime of theocratic imperialists reveals the true intention of the regime as genocide, and I suspect the attack was planned jointly by Hamas and Israel or by an unknown third force whose interests are opaque but clearly inimical to the peace and democracy process that was thriving across sectarian lines before the attack. The sabotage of the anti-Netanyahu democracy movement in Israel and of the peace and solidarity movement to unite Palestine and Israel is the true purpose and primary result of the Hamas attack.

     Whose wealth and power is founded on selling arms to Israel? Now we see why Biden is pitching a Holocaust of the Palestinians rather than liberating Gaza from Hamas as the natural consequence of this humanitarian tragedy.

     As I wrote in my post of October 17 2023, Chaos Is the Great Hope of the Powerless: Case of the Hamas-Israel War;  A wise friend has questioned my valorization of Chaos as a principle of change in the context of Black Saturday, a term which describes the Hamas attack on Israel and the immense forces of terror, death, destruction, fracture, grief, rage, and revenge it unleashed, becoming a single tide of darkness.

     Thank you once again for your kindness and your wisdom.

     In this moment of tragedy I am thinking of Chaos as a disruptive force of fracture and change which has stripped us bare of our ideologies to reveal the fragile humanity beneath, and may be leveraged for liberty or tyranny by how we respond as a species and global civilization. As Guillermo del Toro writes in Carnival Row, Chaos is the great hope of the powerless.

     What do I hope for now, for the peoples of Israel and Palestine?  That both may unite to free each other, but first we will need universal humanitarian aid to any one on either side of these lines of division, and a Reckoning for the war crimes of both Hamas and Israel. For Israel took the bait, and gave Hamas the victory; they are now equal as war criminals without legitimacy.

    Israel took the bait, and the world is calling them out for war crimes; this may be end of the Netanyahu alt right regime and the dawn of a new Middle East. I was absolutely expecting Biden and allies to enable Israels Final Solution to the Palestinian Problem; in this I rejoice to be wrong about human nature. Maybe the idea of human rights is not dead. As my mother used to sing to students who asked her to make authorizing statements about anything, artifact of a Shakespeare in Thirty Minutes theatrical show that toured nationally with some of her students in it, bouncing her open hands left and right; Maybe, maybe not, Maybe, maybe not.

     No one seems to have noticed publicly that this means Israeli intelligence has been infiltrated. It is also possible that unknown puppetmasters have infiltrated and seized control of both Hamas and Israel, for purposes which are unclear and antithetical to the interests and well being of either. We wander lost in a Wilderness of Mirrors, friends.

      What Reckoning, for crimes against humanity by an organization of terror which has long been a vanguard of anticolonial revolutionary struggle under the imposed conditions of Occupation, slavery, and a genocidal Blockade?

      Not the totalization of the general population of Palestinians in a genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing as Netanyahu wishes and Hamas intends as a strategy of delegitimation of the Israel state in the moral equivalence of terror, for if Israel, her patron America, and the international community accept the terms of struggle offered by Hamas they too become organizations of terror, and Hamas wins.

     This is a decolonial revolution, and victory goes to the side who can establish the legitimacy and moral supremacy of their story. As my father taught me, Never play someone else’s game.

     Hamas also wishes in this provocation to weld the peoples of Gaza to them; this is a primary strategy of fascism and tyranny, to make the people in whose name you claim to act complicit in unforgiveable crimes. Always beware those who claim to speak and act in your name as a strategy of your subjugation.

     A third layer of meaning here is the ambiguity of the geopolitical and world-historical forces beyond the Holy Land; Russia, her ally Iran and the Iranian Dominion of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, especially the Assad regime of Syria which has sent forces into Israel as a client state of Russia and Iran, and Hezbollah, which offers many of the social services of a government and may be in the process of emergence as an independent state, or a true empire in the transnational sense like the Holy Roman Empire. The great question here is; has Russia opened a new front of her plan of global conquest and made this a theatre of World War Three?

      How does one answer all of this? How bring a Reckoning for the terror of Hamas without authorizing and becoming complicit in the greater terror of Israel’s looming genocide of the Palestinians?

       The forms that might take give me pause, for they will determine our future, and though I know what I myself must do I do not like it, and am calling out here in my journals, where I work through the consequences of my decisions before acting on them, for unknown possibilities I myself cannot envision.

     Yes, my friend, Chaos has profoundly destructive forms; death among them, ruin and civilizational collapse, the negation of all we have claimed as our identity, but all are also measures of the adaptive range of systems, and can give birth to new forms from this liberated energy. And as you point out, all forces operate in opposite directions at once, creating their own opposition. These are not moral forces in balance, but ambivalent forces which contain each other in recursion.

     So, while our nations try to shatter each other’s truths with overwhelming force and mass terror, I must find a path of least force to salvage what I can of our humanity, and I hope I will not fail as I did at Mariupol and Panjshir.

    This may be all we have as humans lost in chasms of darkness and a Wilderness of Mirrors, this refusal to abandon each other to dehumanization, but like our refusal to submit to authority it is a power which cannot be taken from us, even in imposed conditions of struggle designed to produce abjection and learned helplessness, or rage and tribalization as identity politics and the manufacture of consent to be fed into engines of death for the wealth, power, and privilege of hegemonic elites and tyrannies.

     Such ephemeral and insubstantial things, like whispered prayers to abyssal unknowns, figments of love, hope, faith, which belong to the shadows, the delusions of grandeur of beasts harnessed to systems of oppression by others who yet dream that we might become more.

    Dream with me.

     Embrace our absurdity as flawed things wrestling with immense forces of falsification, commodification, and dehumanization in a mad quest to become human, under imposed conditions of struggle typified by atrocities designed to produce abjection, learned helplessness, and despair, as we are consumed by the Wagnerian Ring of fear, power, and force in service to elite hegemonies of wealth, power, and privilege whose primary weapon is division and hierarchies of belonging and exclusionary otherness as identity politics and fascisms of blood, faith, and soil.

     Against all of this we have only our solidarity with each other, the redemptive power of love, our refusal to submit or to believe and trust authority which frees us as Unconquered and self created beings and Living Autonomous Zones, and our poetic vision in the reimagination and transformation of ourselves. Powers which cannot be taken from us, and which can seize the power of those who would enslave us.

     This is why I practice the art of believing impossible things, but only those I myself have chosen or created. And crucially, act to make them real. And in this case we must bring a Reckoning to the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity regardless of who they may be or in the name of what cause they act, and silence the drums of war.

     Dream with me, but act in solidarity to make it real.

     As the Mad Hatter says to Alice; “That is an excellent practice, but right now you might want to focus on the Jabberwock.” 

    Just so.

     As I wrote in my post of October 11 2023, Palestine Versus Israel Round Ad Nauseum In An Endless Litany of Woes, Atrocities, and Horrors; Forward: to my comrades in the Palestinian Resistance:

     Hello everyone;

    I have some thoughts on the recent events in Gaza, Gaza where I have fought  and lost someone I loved, and actions by Hamas whom I have fought alongside and count as my brothers in revolutionary struggle; actions which include the taking of hostages and murder of families, war crimes which have made peace impossible in the near future and have delegitimized the cause of liberation of Palestine by making it ambiguous with dehumanization and atrocities. Such is the nature of power, and of fear weaponized in service to power.

    This now is my Resistance in the cause of the peoples of Palestine and Israel, a people divided by history and sectarian theocratic terror. I question the origins and motives of such actions, which trade a tactical goal of demonstrating that Netanyahu’s alt-right monsters cannot deliver the security by which they subjugate Israel, for a strategic one of legitimacy, and will not only weld American support to the tyrant but grant him permission and immunity for the Final Solution of the Palestinian problem he has long dreamed of.

     How can we salvage something of our humanity from this?

     Herein I invite question, and dreams of a better future than we have the past.

     Thank you for hearing me.

     Hamas has brought the Chaos to the American Empire and disrupted the legitimation of Israel by the Arab American Alliance versus the Imperial Dominion of Iran, and in reaction to the relentless genocide of the Palestinians by the state of Israel now captured by Netanyahu and his alt right band of thieves.

     Here now is the fulcrum of change and reckoning for seventy years of Israeli state terror and imperial conquest in an amoral and loathsome apartheid regime which inverts the values of its founding by becoming the death camps its citizens escaped, and betrays the hope and ideal of a refuge from hate and sectarian division as a reflection of the nazis from whom they have internalized oppression as fascisms of blood, faith, and soil.

     Hamas has shattered all of this, potentially, with the myth of state surveillance and control as useful and effective means of subjugation of the slave castes of any state, and the myth of the invincibility and supremacy of Israeli intelligence and military hegemony of which it is a figure of the might of carceral states, tyrannies, and empires, and the calculated reprisals by Israel which will follow are designed by Hamas in this provocation to delegitimize Israel and fracture the solidarity of her allies and collaborators in terror, of which America remains the principal sponsor and villain.

     So many of the reactions to this tragedy both here among my friends and in the news media seem baffled, caught in the forks of a classic dilemma in which our heroes and our villains trade places, for in this stunning slave rebellion wherein the victims of genocide and erasure have attacked their masters, the Wretched of the Earth with whom we might normally empathize have violated two of our most cherished moral values and rules of conduct; they are not defending but attacking, which makes justifications for war and the use of social force irrelevant though this ahistorical interpretation of events ignores seventy years of oppression and authorizes the conqueror by classifying the liberation struggle of their victims as terrorism, an argument we can therefore nullify as pro Israeli misdirection and the apologetics of power, and a second and far more serious point; Hamas has taken hostages and killed civilians, war crimes which violate our universal human rights and place the perpetrators beyond all laws and all limits.

     A friend has written an apology for statements born of compassion which might be confused with support of Israel as a state rather than as a people, a distinction which makes all the difference; and to this I have written the following reply:

     There are no good guys in this story, just a people divided by history brutalizing each other with a savagery that threatens our humanity itself. I have fought in Gaza and lost someone there, and from my witness of history I say there is only one kind of truth which does not become a Rashomon Gate when faith is weaponized in service to power by those who would enslave us, and this is true of both sides in this or any war; Who is bleeding? Who is suffering? Who requires acts of grace and mercy? 

     Not who merits compassion, for often there are no innocent, and as Shaw teaches us in Pygmalion with the iconic speech of Alfred Doolittle this places a moral burden on victims which is unjust; merely who is suffering and needs our help, in this moment, always the only time we have.

     Solidarity of action, resistance, and liberation struggle all come after this; Tikkun Olam, a Jewish concept of reparative justice and praxis or the action of values, which I often describe as healing the flaws of our humanity and the brokenness of the world.

     You have nothing to apologize for; states work very hard to confuse and conflate legitimation of the state with narratives of victimization, for who wears the white hat is a hero and beyond question. All states do this, for it is the nature of power to become centralized as force and control. Among the true horrors of identity politics is awakening to realize that one is the beneficiary of a genocide, of slavery, of patriarchy, of unequal power in any form.

     So we are lost in Atherton’s Wilderness of Mirrors; lies, illusions, rewritten histories, falsification. But it is my fate to question all things, and many of them do not bear the test of unbelief.

     Always pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

     In this case I question the origins and motives of a blitzkreig which demonstrates the vulnerability of Israel, a tactical objective, at the cost of strategic goals; the immediate results include unifying global support of Israel and dividing the crucial solidarity between the anti-Netanyahu democracy and peace movements within Israel from the liberation struggle of their slave caste, the Palestinians.

     Cui Bono? Neither Palestinians nor Israelis, though in the imperial totalitarian state of Israel and its fascisms of blood, faith, and soil they share a common enemy. Netanyahu and his regime benefit, though his promise of security for the people of Israel has been proven illusory and the feared Israeli intelligence and military a paper tiger as Hamas intended; whether this weakens or strengthens his hand is yet to be seen.

     Security is an illusion, one convenient for tyrants in the manufacture of consent to be subjugated. In this area of liberation struggle the victory of Hamas in breaching the Wall has been an unambiguous good.

     Bring down the Wall, all the walls. Not only the walls of our borders and prisons, but the walls of ideas between peoples most of all. In the long run, only this will bring us peace and a United Humankind.

     To make an idea about a kind of people is an act of violence.

     No matter where you begin with divisions of belonging and exclusionary otherness, you always end up at the gates of Auschwitz.

     Why, O Israel, reproduce the conditions of your historic trauma as the prison guards, with others cast in your former role? Why, when we could be guarantors of each other’s universal human rights in a free society of equals?

     Let us emerge from the legacies of our history, and create ourselves anew.

     What happens next?

     Disruptive and polarizing events often confront us with a choice; who is your white hat and who your black hat in this story? Whose play will you back when they enter the arena at high noon? We will begin to become human when we free ourselves of this tyranny of good and evil, so vulnerable to the lies and misdirection of those who would enslave us and who claim to speak and act in our name, especially in theocracies. For as Voltaire wrote; “Those who can make us believe absurdities can make us commit atrocities”. Gott Mitt Uns; it is the most terrible battlecry, for it authorizes anything.

       Today the empire begins to strike back, as Biden declares that America will stand with Israel, with the state and not her people mind you, in the abominable reprisals Netanyahu promises, having been handed by his enemies immunity and sanction for the Final Solution to the Palestinian Problem he has so long dreamed of. Both this immediate trigger event of total war and the conditions which created it are consequences of American complicity, for we as a nation have failed to enact the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction policies against Israeli state terror and tyranny which might have prevented it, and if we are to be liberators and not conquerors we must at minimum now pressure Israel to lift the Blockade of Gaza and recognize Hamas as its legitimate government. Let us send humanitarian aid, not armies.

      Netanyahu and Biden have declared intentions to answer force and fear with greater force and fear, as Israel accepts the offer of the moral equivalence of terror by her partner in this dance, Hamas. This will bring not lesser but greater terror, not democracy and a free society of equals but the centralization of power to totalitarian states of force and control. From the perspective of Israel and America or of any state, this is the true purpose of external threats.

     As my father once said; “Politics is the art of fear, and fear is the basis of human exchange. Fear is an untrustworthy servant and a terrible master; so, whose instrument will it be?”

     Of the recursive forces of fear, power, and force which are the true origin of evil and of its forms as violence, war, police states, I say to you this one true thing; fear and force cannot answer fear and force. Only love can do this, and the redemptive power of love can free us from the Wagnerian Ring of Power, from falsification, commodification, and dehumanization.

     Why are we each others jailors, and not each others liberators?

       Here is the memorial I wrote for my friend, assassinated in Gaza by an Israeli sniper during the fighting over two years ago; June 21 2022, We Balance the Terror of Our Nothingness With the Joy of Total Freedom, the Flaws of Our Humanity With the Redemptive Power of Love, and the Brokenness of the World With Our Absurd Hope For the Limitless Possibilities of Becoming Human;    Death is the ultimate life disruptive event, the mirror image of Chaos as creative force and the adaptive potential of a system.

     This day I have re-enacted the stages of grief process as I relive an event of a year ago, caught in the labyrinth of its story, and as always with such complexes of memory, history, and identity I emerge through its passage with changed perspective.

     Some stories can shatter our lives, but also free us from the legacies of history and the limits of our former selves.

    This is a story which has become interwoven with my annual reading of Sartre’s works in celebration of his birthday, a juxtaposition which I find wholly appropriate, illuminating, and strangely hopeful.

    Are we not the stories we tell about ourselves, to ourselves and to others? 

     We choose our friends and lovers from among those reflections which embody qualities we wish to assimilate to ourselves or fully integrate into our consciousness and personality; and it is the interface between these two bounded realms, the Ideal and the Real, which I am driven to interrogate today.

     Here is where the art of questioning lives, at the intersection of Socratic method and classical rhetoric, the dialectics of history, and the problematization of our motives, feelings, and processes of ideation through the methods of psychotherapy.

      We speak of the juxtaposition of imaginal and actual realms of being as a form of Dadaist collage as pioneered by Tristan Tzara and instrumentalized as methodology by William S. Burroughs which creates the universe of our experience, of the discontiguous, relative, ambiguous, and ephemeral nature of truth described by Akutagawa in Rashomon Gate and the methods of fiction exemplified by Raymond Queneau  as applied to identity and self construal, and idealizations of masculine and feminine beauty as dyadic forces of the psyche which work themselves out through our relationships with ourselves and with others. These three parallel and interdependent processes shape who we become, and how we instrumentalize others in our self creation.

     We must first own the fact that dealing with our memories of someone is not the same as the lived experience of our history; it is all one sided and has been moved into an interior space of performance, and in which reimagination and transformation is ongoing. The map is not the territory, as Alfred Korzybski teaches us, nor is our idea of a person equal to the actual person themselves.

     What parts of myself do I embody as a figural space into which to grow in the character whom I have thought of as Cleopatra, with all of the ambivalence, power, legacies of cultural history, and liminality such an identification implies, how do I imagine her now, and what kind of story have I cast us in?

     I think of her now in terms of Rachel McAdams’ wily, sophisticated, and transgressive Irene Adler in Sherlock Holmes, as she became throughout the twelve years of our work in liberation struggle for the independence of Palestine, with elements of Millie Bobby Brown’s fearless, brilliant, and utterly without boundaries Enola Holmes as she began, bearing onward the colours of a beloved and presumed martyred family member in the course of investigating his disappearance. I am reasonably certain that this is not how she saw herself.

     For illumination as to how a Palestinian woman might imagine herself, the characters she may choose to play as role models and the stories she may embody as ritual enactments, even a highly unusual one such as she, we may look to the wonderfully rich culture of Palestine’s female film directors and authors; of auteurs Annemarie Jacir, Maysaloun Hamoud, Mai Masri, and Farah Nabulsi, and of novelists Susan Abulhawa, Liana Badr, Ghada Karmi, Sahar Khalifeh, Hala Alyan, and Sahar Mustafah.

     Bearing in mind that all such reading lists are nothing less than a set of authorized identities. As Margaret Atwood so splendidly demonstrates in her works, our intertexts are primary in the construction of our identities, including those of sex and gender, as mimesis and as dialectical processes of history.

     And this is where it never ceases to be fascinating, the study of human being, meaning, and value and the limitless possibilities of becoming human. For in the sphere of our relationships with others, parallel and interdependent with our relationships between the masculine and feminine halves of our psyche, each co-evolves with the other in recursive processes of growth and adaptation to change in the construction of identity.

     I say again; we interpret the actions of others and form relationships on the basis of our self-construal and ideas of ourselves, and we use our relations with real people to shape who we wish to become.

       How does this work out in real life? As a personal example of the discontiguous gaps of meaning in the interfaces between bounded realms of masculine and feminine personae, a free space of creative play, I offer the artifacts of memory of a figure which may or may not align with the martyr I know only by her Code Name: Cleopatra.

      Of the Last Stand in which we met and forged an alliance, betrayed and caught in a trap which we turned against our enemies who had trapped themselves in with us, which I think of as the final battle scene in the film  Mr & Mrs Smith, this operatic quest was set in motion by the conflict of dominion between Hamas and al Qaeda in Gaza during August of 2009, during which the forces of light prevailed over those of darkness in the victory of Hamas, with Israel playing each against the other through infiltration agents, spies, deniable assets, and use of a special Recon team masquerading as various Arab factions to commit atrocities against presumed rival Arab groups in a classic policy of divide and conquer. This space of play was complicated by clan vendettas such as hers, and the usual political and religious fragmentation, crime syndicates, mercenary forces, tribalism, corruption, and the shadow wars of foreign states.

     Our paths crossed several times over the next twelve years, always in memorable circumstances, sometimes as allies and others as rivals, often as both. Which of these is the real and true version of her, or of myself? Such iterations of our images are without number, like the captured and distorted selves in funhouse mirrors aligned to reflect into infinity.

     Wilderness of Mirrors, a phrase from T.S. Eliot’s Gerontin, is one I use to describe the pathology of falsification of ourselves through propaganda, lies and illusions, rewritten histories, state secrets, alternate realities, authoritarian faith which devours truths. This I contrast with its opposite, journalism and the witness of history as the sacred quest to pursue the truth. We are made counterfeits of ourselves by systems of elite hegemonic power such as patriarchy, and by those who would enslave us, through capture of our stories as theft of the soul.

     James Angleton, evil genius of the C.I.A.’s Counterintelligence Service on whom John Le Carre based his character of George Smiley, infamously used the phrase in this sense as well, and it has become universalized throughout the intelligence community he shaped and influenced during the Second World War and its aftermath the Cold War. Writing in reference to David Martin’s biography of himself entitled Wilderness of Mirrors, Angleton described it as a “myriad of stratagems, deceptions, artifices, and all the other devices of disinformation which the Soviet bloc and its coordinated intelligence services use to confuse and split the West … an ever fluid landscape where fact and illusion merge.” And of course, everything he ascribed to the Soviets was true of himself, his own agency, and America as well, and of all states, for all are houses of illusion.

     The Netflix telenovela Operation Mincemeat uses the phrase, in a story about the creation of a fictitious officer bearing documents designed to trick the Nazis into preparing for the invasion of Europe somewhere other than Sicily, a series I watched with rapt attention because each of us is created by our stories exactly like this false identity attached to the body of a derelict. Within each of us, a team of authors, archetypes and transpersonal figures like the anima which concerns us here, create our personae through stories, a network of memories, histories, and identity; and they do so for their own purposes, which we do not always understand.  

     As T. S. Eliot has written in Gerontin, “After such knowledge, what forgiveness? Think now

History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors

And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,

Guides us by vanities”

      We are such stuff as dreams are made on, as Shakespeare teaches us in Act IV, Scene 1 of The Tempest, a line spoken by Ariel. For if we are ephemeral and insubstantial beings, constructions of our stories, this also means that the ontological nature of human being is a ground of struggle which can be claimed by seizures of power.

      The first question to ask of a story is, whose story is this?

      Always there remains the struggle between the stories we tell about ourselves and those told about us by others; the masks we make for ourselves and those made for us by others.

      This is the first revolution in which we all must fight, the struggle for ownership of ourselves.

      Who then shall we become? Asks our self of surfaces, images, and masks which each moment negotiates our boundaries with others. 

     To which our secret self, the self of darkness and of passion, the self that lives beyond the mirror and knows no limits, unbound by time and space and infinite in possibilities, replies; Who do you want to become? 

     As I wrote in my post of June 21 2021, The Hope of Humankind: On Becoming Autonomous Zones as Agents of Chaos and Transformative Change;      A friend has written in despair of our significance and hope for the liberation of humankind, of the impactfulness of our lives and our struggles which balance the flaws of our humanity against the monstrous and vast forces of a system of dehumanization, falsification, and commodification; for to be human is to live in a state of existential crisis and struggle for the ownership of ourselves.

     Today is the birthday of Jean Paul Sartre, and so this event finds me reading once again his magnificent reimagination of Jean Genet in Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr; Genet who set me on my life’s path with the Oath of the Resistance in Beirut during the summer of 1982.

     Israeli soldiers had set fire to the houses on my street, and called for people to come out and surrender. They were blindfolding the children of those who did and using them as human shields.

     We had no other weapon than the empty bottle of champagne we had just finished with our breakfast of strawberry crepes; I asked “Any ideas?”, at which he shrugged and said “Fix bayonets?”

     And then he gave me a principle of action by which I have lived for thirty nine years now; “When there is no hope, one is free to do impossible things, glorious things.”

     He asked me if I was going to surrender, and I said no; he smiled and replied, “Nor will I.” And so he swore me to the Oath he devised in 1940 in Paris at the beginning of the Occupation for such friends as he could gather, reworded from the oath he had taken as a Legionnaire. He said it was the finest thing he ever stole; “We swear our loyalty to each other, to resist and yield not, and abandon not our fellows.” So it was that I became the bearer of a tradition now over eighty years old and forged in the most fearsome and terrible conflict the world has ever known, shortly before I expected to be burned alive in the first of many Last Stands.

     This was the moment of my forging, this decision to choose death over subjugation, and ever since being struck by it I have been a bell, ringing. And like the Liberty Bell with its iconic crack, I am broken open to the suffering of others and the flaws of our humanity. This has been the greatest gift I have ever been given, this empathy borne of a sacred wound, and I shall never cease the call to liberty, nor hesitate to answer as I am able the call for solidarity with others.

     This morning I awoke to a call to identify the body of a friend missing and believed killed in Gaza by Israeli terrorists in the savage street fighting which followed the rocket attacks of last week, which I was unable to do; I searched for my friend in this sad and ruined form, like the skin of a wild thing which has sung itself utterly away, and could recognize nothing.

    Where is my friend, agile, lithe, mercurial, fearless, insightful and quick witted, who always had four scenarios running and three escape routes, who survived against impossible odds through improvisation and leveraging chaos, whose vision could discern true motives within the secret chambers of the human heart and play them like an instrument as songs of rapture and terror, who chameleon-like and protean could shift identities as needed and behind their masks move among her enemies unseen?

      I never knew her true name; perhaps she no longer had one, as is true for so many of us who play the Great Game of futures and the possibilities of becoming human, a term popularized by Rudyard Kipling in the novel Kim. My own names are numberless as the stars, like those of an actor who has played multitudes of roles in films and theatres of many kinds.

     She first entered my orbit during the victorious struggle of Hamas against al Qaeda for dominion of Gaza in August of 2009 in Rafah, an Egyptian Palestinian drawn into the maelstrom of war like countless others by family duty and vendetta.

    Yet she said no to authority at great peril when she could have said yes and become a slave, stood in solidarity with others when she could have run; this was a choice, one which confers agency, autonomy, and self-ownership as a seizure of power in a limited and deterministic context. Refusal to submit is the primary human act, one which cannot be taken from us, wherein we become Unconquered and free, and able to liberate others.

     So it is that we may escape the wilderness of mirrors in which we wander, a realm of lies and illusions, captured and distorted images, falsification and the theft of the soul. For the authentic self, the image which we seize and claim as our own, flies free of its mad circus of seductions and traps. Hence we achieve our true selves and form, in rapture and exaltation as beings of our own uniqueness.

    Impossible that such grandeur could be reduced to its material form, like the abandoned shell of a fantastic sea creature which has grown beyond its limits and moved on, to realms unknown.

     The lines spoken by Hamlet while holding the skull of his friend Yorick came unbidden to my thoughts; “Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning?”

     For twelve years you danced with death, and danced away laughing, until today.

     Farewell, my friend; I’ll see you in the eyes of the defiant ones, who bear your fire onward into the unknown, and with it I hope your laughter. Our successors will need both fire and laughter, if the future we win for them is to be equal to its price, and worth living in.

     Our lives are like the dragon’s teeth sown in the earth by the Phoenician prince Cadmus from which warriors arise; from each, multitudes. For we live on as echoes and reflections in the lives of others, in the consequences and effects of our actions, in the good we can do for others which gathers force over time, and in the meaning, value, and possibilities we create.

     How can choosing death and freedom be better than submission to authority and its weaponization of fear and force?

     My experience of accepting death in confronting force and violence finds parallels in the mock executions of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Maurice Blanchot, and I’m not done challenging state terror and tyranny and forces of repression. I’m going to stand between people with guns and their victims in future, as I have many times in past, and here I find resilience among my motivating and informing sources; Sartre’s total freedom won by refusal to submit, and Camus’ rebellion against authority which renders force meaningless when met by disobedience, give me the ability to claw my way out of the ruins and make yet another Last Stand, beyond hope of victory or even survival.

     And all who are mortal share these burdens with me. In this all who resist subjugation by authority are alike as Living Autonomous Zones, bearing seeds of change; we can say with the figure of Loki; “I am burdened with glorious purpose.”

     We are all Nikolai Gogol’s hero in Diary of a Madman, caught in the wheels of a great machine he services, like Charlie Chaplin in his film Modern Times. But we know that we are trapped and enslaved, and we know how and why; we know the secrets of our condition which our masters would keep silent, and in refusing to be silent we can free ourselves and our fellows. This Michel Foucault called truth telling; a poetic vision of reimagination and sacred calling to pursue the truth which bears transformative power.

     So here I offer all of you words of hope for moments of despair, the horror of meaninglessness, the grief of loss, and the guilt of survivorship.

     Your voice has defied our nothingness, and resounds throughout the chasms of a hostile and dehumanizing world; gathering force and transformative power as it finds a thousand echoes, and begins to awaken refusal to submit to authority and to heal the pathology of our falsification and disconnectedness. 

    The voice of even one human being who bears a wound of humanity which opens him to the pain of others and who places his life in the balance with those whom Frantz Fanon called The Wretched of the Earth, the powerless and the dispossessed, the silenced and the erased, who in resistance to tyranny and terror, force and control, becomes unconquered and free, such a voice of liberation is unstoppable as the tides, an agent of reimagination and transformation which seizes the gates of our prisons and frees the limitless possibilities of becoming human.

    Despair not and be joyful, for we who are living Autonomous Zones help others break the chains of their enslavement simply by condition of being as well as action; for we violate norms, transgress boundaries of the Forbidden, expose the lies and illusions of authority, and render the forces of repression powerless to compel obedience.

      This is the primary revolutionary struggle which precedes and underlies all else; the seizure of ownership of ourselves from those who would enslave us.  

     Such is the hope of humankind.

Tear Down the Wall, by Pink Floyd

Middle East crisis: famine ‘imminent’ in northern Gaza, UN report says, as EU foreign policy chief calls area ‘open air graveyard’ – as it happened

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/18/middle-east-crisis-live-israel-gaza-palestine-al-shifa-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url

UN says Israeli restrictions on Gaza food aid may constitute a war crime

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/19/un-israeli-restrictions-gaza-food-aid-war-crime-hunger?CMP=share_btn_url

I asked colleagues about starvation in Gaza. They said there is no precedent for what is happening | Devi Sridhar

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/06/colleagues-starvation-gaza-no-precedent-famine?CMP=share_btn_url

The Guardian view on famine in Gaza: a human-made catastrophe | Editorial

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/19/the-guardian-view-on-famine-in-gaza-a-human-made-catastrophe?CMP=share_btn_url

Origin of the Ayn Rand paraphrase

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ayn-rand-quote

The third horseman: Famine, detail from The Apocalypse Tapestry, 1382

 Photo taken by Remi Jouan, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19130477

Ezekiel 1

References

Zazie in the Metro, by Raymond Queneau

Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories, by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Jay Rubin (Translator), Haruki Murakami (Introduction), Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Illustrator)

The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara & Lenin Play Chess, by Andrei Codrescu

Shift Linguals: Cut-Up Narratives from William S. Burroughs to the Present,

by Edward S. Robinson

Mosaic of Juxtaposition: William S. Burroughs’ Narrative Revolution,

by Micheal Sean Bolton

Word Cultures: Radical Theory and Practice in William S. Burroughs’ Fiction,

by Robin Lydenberg, William S. Burroughs

Charlie Chaplin in The Factory

Song: “Monster” – Imagine Dragons (cover by Runaground on youtube)

With film montage of Marvel’s Loki

Hamlet: Screenplay, Introduction And Film Diary, by Kenneth Branagh (introduction and screenplay), William Shakespeare

Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr, by Jean-Paul Sartre

The Wretched of the Earth, by Frantz Fanon, Jean-Paul Sartre (Preface)

Kipling’s Kim, a Longman Cultural Edition, by Tricia Lootens, Rudyard Kipling

Diary of a Madman and Other Stories, by Nikolai Gogol

Parrhesia

Discourse and Truth: The Problematization of Parrhesia, by Michel Foucault

The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, by Roberto Calasso

The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anna Brailovsky (Translator)

The Instant of My Death / Demeure: Fiction and Testimony, by Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Derrida

Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, by Alfred Korzybski

The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt, by Albert Camus

A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning, by Robert Zaretsky

Gerontin, by T.S. Eliot

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47254/gerontion

Wilderness of Mirrors: Intrigue, Deception, and the Secrets that Destroyed Two of the Cold War’s Most Important Agents, by David C. Martin

Operation Mincemeat Netflix trailer

The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

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