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"Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. A state, a people, a system which suppresses the truth or fears to publish it, deserves to collapse."

-- Kurt Eisner

News and Opinion

Here's a snippet of an interesting article to get you started, or you could just click the link now...

Israel Is Killing A Lot Of Civilians, But Is It Winning The War?

I’m going to quote retired Israeli general Yitzhak Brit at length:

Netanyahu knows that continuing this process will lead to the collapse of the State of Israel militarily, economically, politically and socially. Even if Hamas and Hezbollah continue to fight as they do today, without military surprises, the “state of Israel” will collapse .

Netanyahu knows full well that we have been in a military stalemate for the last twenty years . The chiefs of staff divided the army into six divisions based on their global vision that the major wars were over. They built a small ground army that could barely fight in one sector; in a regional war we would have to fight in six sectors at once.

Netanyahu also knows that this situation has led to dire consequences in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hamas returned to areas where the army had entered and left in the Gaza Strip . The army’s intention to continue the war of attrition against Hamas through raids does not bring any benefit, because these attacks are just a drop in the bucket that weakens Hamas.

Netanyahu is well aware that as long as the war of attrition against Hamas continues, Hezbollah will also continue to deplete our forces on the northern border , and this has very dangerous consequences. Netanyahu also understands that entering Rafah will not bring any results, but on the contrary, since it will worsen the problem tenfold. Our entry into Rafah will completely destroy our relations with the countries of the world and with the Arab countries with which we have peace.

This will have very dire consequences, first of all, the isolation of the “State of Israel” in the political and economic spheres and the arms embargo, which has already begun.

Hamas was already well prepared to enter the battle and prepared a strategic ambush for us with traps and explosives in the streets, squares and in the houses themselves. It will be months before reserve soldiers disobey orders to enlist, as has become the case in the paratroopers, where dozens of them refuse to re-enlist.

...

Israel invaded Gaza, pulled out almost entirely and is now going in again. Their casualty claims for Hamas killed are the same as the number of civilian males killed, and are thus laughable. They can’t beat Hamas, who won’t fight them straight up but relies on endless guerilla action and the civilian casualties are a near exact mirror of the Palestinian population in terms of percentages of men, women and children killed.

In other words, they’re just blowing shit up without any emphasis on destroying Hamas. ...

So we have the incursion into Rafah, where the majority of Palestinian civilians have been herded by Israel. The intent here is to kill as many civilians possible, and it backed by even more efforts to stop all food, water and medicine from entering Gaza. Israel’s strategy, such as it is, is to “drain the swamp.” Kill most of the civilians, and Hamas is finished. Israel’s killed a lot more people than the official stasticis: the Gaza Department of Health is no longer capable of counting even obvious deaths, and massive numbers of corpses haven’t been counted because they’re buried under rubble. There’s so much rubble that I’ve seen it estimated that it will take over twenty years to clear.

So there’s a race: can Israel finish its genocide, or will they be forced to stop due to military and economic exhaustion?

Chris Hedges on the moral corruption of Israel and the “savagery” of violence

Israel launches Rafah offensive it says is start of mission to ‘eliminate’ Hamas

Israel has launched a major military offensive against Hamas forces in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, seizing control of a key border crossing and cutting off most aid into the territory a day before indirect talks on a ceasefire deal are due to restart.

Images released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) showed tanks flying large Israeli flags driving through the post and crushing a concrete sign reading “I Love Gaza”.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the offensive would continue until Hamas forces in Rafah “and the entire Gaza Strip” were “eliminated” or the militant Islamist organisation begins to release hostages. A government spokesperson described the first stage of a wider effort targeting Hamas.

“This is the beginning of our mission to take out the last four Hamas brigades in Rafah. You should be in no doubt about that whatsoever,” the spokesperson said.

The Israeli operation was launched hours after an announcement by Hamas leaders on Monday night that they would accept a recent proposal for a ceasefire deal put forward by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

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

When Israeli troops paraded through the Rafah crossing with an oversized star of David on Tuesday morning, they were making a point to Hamas – and at the same time driving up to the very edge of Joe Biden’s “red line”. The Biden administration avoids that phrase at all costs. Its top officials also served Barack Obama, who drew a red line he did not enforce over Syria’s chemical weapons. But there is no hiding from the fact that they have clearly and repeatedly stated US opposition to a Rafah offensive, absent proper humanitarian provision for the more than 1 million people sheltering there.

Such provisions are still clearly lacking and there is general consensus among the US government, UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs that a Rafah offensive would create a humanitarian disaster, even by the dire standards already set in Gaza.

So there is no question an Israeli thrust into Rafah city itself would mark blatant defiance of the Biden administration, and US officials admit the coming days will be consequential for US-Israeli relations, to say the least. While watching Israel’s next move in Rafah, the state department is also due on Wednesday to deliver a formal assessment to Congress, under a national security memorandum Biden signed in February (NSM-20), assessing whether the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are conducting its campaign in accordance with humanitarian law – in other words, whether the IDF is committing war crimes.

It is a moment of truth for Biden’s policy on Israel and the Palestinians, or at the very least a moment when continued prevarication becomes much harder to disguise. ...

“Biden is in a strategic cul de sac,” Aaron David Miller, a former US negotiator on the Middle East and now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, arguing that a hostages–for-ceasefire deal is the only way out. In the absence of such a deal, Israel is likely to move on Rafah city, forcing Biden to choose between a historic rift with Israel, or humiliating acquiescence in potential war crimes. In both those scenarios, his Middle East policy would be rendered bankrupt, and bankruptcy comes in two ways, as Ernest Hemingway famously noted: “Gradually, then suddenly.”

Biden Holds Back Bombs for Israel, 33 ARRESTED at GWU

Biden Reportedly Holds Back Bombs for Israel

Anti-war voices on Tuesday welcomed Politico's reporting that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is delaying "shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel," which on Monday launched a long-awaited invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"The U.S. has yet to sign off on a pending sale of Boeing's Joint Direct Attack Munitions—both the munitions and kits that convert them to smart weapons—and Small Diameter Bombs," according to Politico, which cited unnamed congressional and industry sources. "While the Biden administration has not formally denied the potential sale, it is essentially taking action through inaction—holding off on approvals and other aspects of the weapons transfer process."

The piece followed Axios reporting Sunday that Israeli officials said the administration "last week put a hold on a shipment of U.S.-made ammunition" and The Wall Street Journal's Monday revelation that it "has held up delivery of Joint Direct Attack Munitions."

The White House has neither confirmed nor denied Politico's report, which came as Biden again conflated campus protests against Israel's war on Gaza with antisemitism. Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the U.S.-backed offensive in October, Biden has faced mounting pressure to cut off arms to the country and use his influence to end the bloodshed.

Biden HALTS IDF War Crime Report Amid Rafah INVASION

‘No safe place’: people in Rafah describe terror as Israeli assault begins

Aid agencies in Gaza have less than a day’s fuel for trucks and tankers that deliver vital food, medicine, water and diesel to millions across the territory, threatening an almost complete shutdown of operations including bakeries and hospitals, officials have warned. All main entry points to the south of Gaza are closed and there has been widespread looting of existing stocks in Rafah after aid agencies were forced to leave warehouses unguarded following warnings to evacuate the area from Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) ahead of the military offensive launched on the city on Tuesday morning.

“We are down to less fuel than in a single service station. It’s enough to last a day, basically,” said Georgios Petropoulos, head of the Gaza sub-office of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs. “After that, nothing will be moving, and the hospitals won’t be able to keep going for more than two or three days.”

Israeli tanks and special forces took control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt in Rafah at dawn on Tuesday after a second night of intense air strikes targeting eastern neighbourhoods of the city.

An Israeli government spokesperson said the long-threatened effort to destroy four battalions of Hamas fighters said to be based in Rafah had begun, as exhausted residents described widespread confusion and terror.

Tlaib Says 'No Coincidence' Israel Invaded Rafah After Congress Approved More Military Aid

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib said Tuesday that the Israeli government's decision this week to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah was directly connected to American lawmakers' recent approval of billions of dollars in additional military aid.

"It's no coincidence that immediately after our government sent the Israeli apartheid regime over $14 billion with absolutely no conditions on upholding human rights, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu began a ground invasion of Rafah to continue the genocide of Palestinians—with ammunition and bombs paid for by our tax dollars," Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in the U.S. Congress, said in a statement.

Tlaib was one of 37 House Democrats who voted against the foreign aid package that included military assistance for Israel, which has repeatedly used U.S. weaponry to commit atrocities in Gaza. U.S. President Joe Biden signed the package into law late last month.

Last week, Tlaib joined 56 fellow House Democrats in urging the Biden administration to suspend deliveries of offensive weapons that could be used in an Israeli assault on Rafah, which is currently home to more than half of Gaza's population—including around 600,000 children.

"Many of my colleagues are going to express concern and horror at the crimes against humanity that are about to unfold, even though they just voted to send Netanyahu billions more in weapons," Tlaib said Tuesday. "Do not be misled, they gave their consent for these atrocities, and our country is actively participating in genocide. For months, Netanyahu made his intent to invade Rafah clear, yet the majority of my colleagues and President Biden sent more weapons to enable the massacre."

Matt Hoh : Netanyahu’s War on the Press to Hide Genocide in Gaza

Blackout Imposed on Israeli Military Aircraft in U.K.

The British government has imposed a block on all information about Israeli military planes landing in the U.K. Amidst speculation that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is set to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers, the new blackout could be intended to protect British ministers from possible prosecution for complicity in war crimes, including defence secretary Grant Shapps.

Kenny MacAskill, Alba MP for East Lothian, asked last week how many Israeli Air Force (IAF) planes had landed and taken off from Britain since Oct. 7. Shapp’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) responded: “For operational security reasons and as a matter of policy, the MoD does not offer comment or information relating to foreign nations’ military aircraft movements or operations.”

However, this is a new policy. MacAskill had asked the same question in February and the MoD revealed that nine IAF planes had visited the U.K. over the previous four months. MacAskill told Declassified that the MoD had also now imposed a block on parliamentarians even asking questions about Israeli military operations involving U.K. territory.

60+ Journalism Profs Demand Investigation into Controversial NYT Article Alleging Oct. 7 Mass Rape

Media Scorn Gaza Protesters for Recognizing Corporate Reporters Aren’t Their Friends

An emerging complaint the corporate media have against the nationwide—and now international—peace encampments is that many student protesters won’t speak to them. The problem, pundits and reporters say, is that these encampments have designated media spokespeople, and other protesters often keep their mouths shut to the press.

Conservative pundit Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal, 5/2/24) said of her trip to the Columbia University encampment:

I was at Columbia hours before the police came in and liberated Hamilton Hall from its occupiers. Unlike protesters of the past, who were usually eager to share with others what they thought and why, these demonstrators would generally not speak or make eye contact with members of the press, or, as they say, “corporate media.”

I was on a bench taking notes as a group of young women, all in sunglasses, masks and kaffiyehs, walked by. “Friends, please come say hello and tell me what you think,” I called. They marched past, not making eye contact, save one, a beautiful girl of about 20. “I’m not trained,” she said. Which is what they’re instructed to say to corporate-media representatives who will twist your words. “I’m barely trained, you’re safe,” I called, and she laughed and half-halted. But her friends gave her a look and she conformed.

Peter Baker (Twitter, 5/4/24), the chief White House correspondent for the New York Times, supportively amplified the former Ronald Reagan speechwriter’s claim, saying the protests are “not about actually explaining your cause or trying to engage journalists who are there to listen.”

A reporter for KTLA (4/29/24) complained that his news team was not granted access to the encampment at UCLA, and Fox News (4/30/24) had a similar complaint about the New York University protest:

Fox News Digital was told that the outlet was not allowed inside, and only student press could access the gated lawn. A local ABC team and several independent reporters were also denied. However, Fox News Digital witnessed a documentary crew and a reporter from Al Jazeera reporting inside the area.

One has to wonder: What could make activists suspect that the network that produced “Anti-Israel Agitators: Signs of ‘Foreign Assistance’ Emerge in Columbia, NYU Unrest” (4/26/24), “Pressure Builds for Colleges to Close or Shut Down Anti-Israel Encampments Amid Death Threats Toward Jews” (4/26/24) and “Ivy League Anti-Israel Agitators’ Protests Spiral Into ‘Actual Terror Organization,’ Professor Warns” (4/21/24) wouldn’t give them a fair shake?

What is clear is that the student protesters across the country have organized a structure where many participants who are approached by media defer to appointed media liaisons (Daily Bruin, 4/27/24; KSBW, 5/3/24; Daily Freeman, 5/4/24; WCOS, 5/4/24).

For Baker and Noonan, this is evidence that the protests are at best not serious, and at worst not democratic. Indeed, corporate media, at every turn, have attempted to sully calls to halt a genocide as some kind of perverted anti-democratic extremism (Atlantic, 4/22/24; New York Times, 4/23/24, 5/2/24; Washington Post, 5/6/24, 5/6/24; Free Press, 5/6/24).

But why would such a communications structure even be considered unusual? Most organizations that corporate journalists cover have dedicated spokespeople to handle media inquiries, while others stay silent. Noonan’s experience is no different than how many street reporters interact with the cops; ask a cop for a comment and you’ll get sent over to the public information officer. You’ll rarely if ever see a news story that complains or even notes that a government or corporate employee directed a reporter to talk to the press office.

It’s true that in the worlds of business and bureaucracy, restrictions on employee speech can hamper investigative reporting  (FAIR.org, 2/23/24). But the media discipline at these encampments seems more like a way to keep the message clear. Vox-pop free-for-alls at these encampments could make it harder for news consumers to figure out what the protests are about; the demands and the aims of the movement might be muddled if every participant sounded off into the nearest reporter’s microphone.

With the current media strategy, Baker and Noonan really don’t have to wonder what the messages are: The encampments want their campuses to divest from Israel, and now students are protesting their administrations and the police violence against free speech and assembly. They are not entitled to the time of every individual protester.

It’s also all too easy for corporate reporters or right-wing commentators to find one loose cannon at a protest who can be prompted to go off-message during an interview, giving media outlets the ability to paint protesters generally as unhinged and ignorant. The fact that the Gaza encampment protesters have such a structure in place is a sign of political maturity, because they have found a way to keep the message simple and unified.

“The college kids are showing a precocious message discipline to reporters hostile to the substance of their protest,” Chase Madar, a New York University adjunct instructor, told FAIR.

Baker and Noonan don’t express alarm that student reporters covering the protests have been subjected to extreme violence by the police (CNN, 5/2/24, 5/2/24), a very real form of state censorship. Nevertheless, Noonan and Baker insinuate that an aversion to speak to the corporate press signifies the movement’s illiberalism.

Perhaps establishment media are a little bitter that student reporters at places like Columbia University’s WKCR are doing a better job of covering the unrest than some salaried professionals in the media class (AP, 5/3/24; Washington Post, 5/4/24; Axios, 5/4/24).

If anything, what Baker and Noonan are lamenting is that the discipline of the students is making it harder for corporate media to misrepresent, ridicule and embarrass students who are protesting the US-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. They’re telling on themselves.

Mistrial: Abu Ghraib Survivors Detail Torture in Case Against U.S. Military Contractor

The gang that couldn't shoot straight:

Judge blocks New York abortion rights amendment due to go before voters

A New York judge on Tuesday blocked a politically important abortion rights amendment from appearing before voters on the November ballot, dealing Democrats a setback as the party moved to focus battleground races in the state around abortion access.

State supreme court justice Daniel J Doyle found that state lawmakers failed to follow procedural rules around passing constitutional amendments, incorrectly approving the amendment before getting a written opinion on the language from the attorney general. ...

The ruling is a blow to Democrats in New York who have sought to spur voter turnout by framing key battleground House races around abortion access, betting that their base would be encouraged to cast a ballot to protect abortion rights following the overturning of Roe v Wade.

Scott Ritter : Russia's Next Move: Unpacking the Future of the Ukraine Conflict

Republican candidate loses US House primary in victory for pro-Israel lobbyists

Republican John Hostettler has lost his House primary in Indiana, delivering a victory to pro-Israel groups who sought to block the former congressman from returning to Washington. The groups attacked Hostettler as insufficiently supportive of Israel at a time when criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has hit new highs because of the war in Gaza. ...

The primary concludes a contentious race in which pro-Israel groups poured millions of dollars into the district to attack Hostettler, who served in the House from 1995 to 2007. The groups specifically criticized Hostettler’s past voting record on Israel and some comments he made that were deemed antisemitic.

In a book that he self-published in 2008 after leaving Congress, Hostettler blamed some of George W Bush’s advisers “with Jewish backgrounds” for pushing the country into the war in Iraq, arguing they were distracted by their interest in protecting Israel. Those comments, combined with Hostettler’s vote opposing a resolution expressing solidarity with Israel in 2000, after the start of the second intifada, outraged groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and United Democracy Project (UDP), a Super Pac affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

According to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, UDP spent $1.2m opposing Hostettler while the RJC Victory Fund invested $950,000 in supporting [Hostettler's opponent Mark] Messmer.

Even CNN BASHES Stormy Daniel's Testimony Against Donald Trump Despite SALACIOUS Details

UN expert attacks ‘exploitative’ world economy in fight to save planet

The race to save the planet is being impeded by a global economy that is contingent on the exploitation of people and nature, according to the UN’s outgoing leading environment and human rights expert. David Boyd, who served as UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment from 2018 to April 2024, told the Guardian that states failing to take meaningful climate action and regulating polluting industries could soon face a slew of lawsuits.

Boyd said: “I started out six years ago talking about the right to a healthy environment having the capacity to bring about systemic and transformative changes. But this powerful human right is up against an even more powerful force in the global economy, a system that is absolutely based on the exploitation of people and nature. And unless we change that fundamental system, then we’re just re-shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.”

The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment was finally recognised as a fundamental human right by the United Nations in 2021-22. Some countries, notably the US, the world’s worst historic polluter, argue that UN resolutions are legally influential but not binding. The right to a healthy environment is also enshrined into law by 161 countries with the UK, US and Russia among notable exceptions.

Boyd, a Canadian environmental law professor, said: “Human rights come with legally enforceable obligations on the side of states, so I believe that this absolutely should be a game-changer – and that’s why states have resisted it for so long.

“By bringing human rights into the equation, we now have institutions, processes and courts that can say to governments this isn’t an option for you to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions and phase out fossil fuels. These are obligations which include regulating businesses, to make sure that businesses respect the climate, the environment and human rights.

Renewable energy passes 30% of world’s electricity supply

Renewable energy accounted for more than 30% of the world’s electricity for the first time last year following a rapid rise in wind and solar power, according to new figures. A report on the global power system has found that the world may be on the brink of driving down fossil fuel generation, even as overall demand for electricity continues to rise.

Clean electricity has already helped to slow the growth in fossil fuels by almost two-thirds in the past 10 years, according to the report by climate thinktank Ember. It found that renewables have grown from 19% of electricity in 2000 to more than 30% of global electricity last year.

“The renewables future has arrived,” said Dave Jones, Ember’s director of global insights. “Solar, in particular, is accelerating faster than anyone thought possible.”

Solar was the main supplier of electricity growth, according to Ember, adding more than twice as much new electricity generation as coal in 2023. It was the fastest-growing source of electricity for the 19th consecutive year, and also became the largest source of new electricity for the second year running, after surpassing wind power.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Ukraine SitRep: Eating The Seed Corn - Intervention Threats And Responses

Remembering A Day the West Wants to Forget

I spent 43 days in Gaza’s now-destroyed hospitals. My mind is still there.

Palestinian Casualties in Gaza Mount

Conservative catastrophe. Labour unpopular

A Little Night Music

Junior Parker - I Wanna Ramble

Little Junior Parker - Mystery Train

Junior Parker – Sittin' At My Window (Please Baby Blues)

Junior Parker – You Can Make It If You Try

Little Junior Parker – Driving Wheel

Junior Parker – (Ooh Wee Baby) That's The Way You Make Me Feel

Junior Parker – Way Back Home

Junior Parker – Feelin' Good

Junior Parker – Hey Lawdy Mama

Junior Parker - Taxman