DONATE: I am hosting a Facebook fundraiser for Tikun Olam. It reports on the war in Gaza, exposing stories the mainstream media misses or avoids. It peels away the bias and prejudice in pro-war reporting. It analyzes events and conveys the full story of this tragedy. Our only support is our readers. You. You are here because you are as enraged as I am by Israeli genocide. My act of resistance is to cover the conflict and give voice to the victims and expose perpetrators.
Please share my fundraiser on your own timeline and urge your Friends to donate.
Israel has now withdrawn 90% of its forces which invaded Gaza after 10/7. For the past three days, it permitted more aid deliveries than in the past six months. But the aid is delivered in small trucks, not tractor trailers, which is what is needed. Those vehicles permitted entry are kept in holding pens pending Israel inspection. These only happen six hours each day. If the inspection and off-loading does not happen within that window, it waits until the following day. In addition, Israel still maintains a cordone sanitaire around northern Gaza. No food is entering there.
Israel’s claim it would open the Erez crossing is also bogus. It was always a passenger crossing, not a vehicle crossing. So aid tracks cannot enter there. Not to mention that the buildings were destroyed on 10/7 and remain so. No effort has been made to make them functional.
The notion that Israel is permitting increased levels of aid is misleading and bogus. It is spreading false claims and the world is buying it.
Netanyahu took all these actions this week, after Pres. Biden reamed him a new asshole, warning him that continued refusal to agree to a ceasefire and the restoration of humanitarian relief, would lead to an arms cutoff.
Despite huffing and puffing that he would not take orders from anyone, Netanyahu realized the game was up. This week’s developments are the result. They are an improvement. But an improvement over genocide is an awfully low bar.
Both of these leaders failed in almost all of their objectives regarding the War. The Israeli leader vowed to destroy Hamas; to prevent it from being able to mount another major terror attack against Israel; and to free the hostages. He failed on every count:
1. Hamas retains two-thirds of the fighters it had at the onset of hostilities. While it may not mount a major attack on Israel for some time, it has by no means been eradicated as a potent enemy.
2. There are over 100 Israeli hostages (most appear to be dead–killed by the IDF during its attacks) who remain in captivity. They will not be freed any time soon. There is little chance of negotiating a ceasefire, which would facilitate a prisoner exchange of the Israelis and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
3. He repeatedly boasted that the IDF would invade Rafah. Yesterday, he even claimed a date has been set (which his defense minister almost immediately contradicted). But actions always speak louder than words. And the withdrawal of almost all IDF ground troops from Gaza virtually eliminates the possibility of such a massive operation.
This war was to be the final one against Hamas. The war to end all wars. Palestinian resistance was to be obliterated, once and for all. Instead, the war ended not with a bang, but a whimper. Nothing was resolved. The only difference is that life for Gazans, even after it returns closer to normal, will be that much worse. Israel will permanently occupy a “buffer zone” constitution 20% of its territory. It will attempt, when the world stops paying attention, to squeeze ever more life, vitality and dignity out of Gazans.
Netanyahu also failed to achieve some unstated goals: Israeli leaders advocated the expulsion of Palestinians from the enclave. Some advocated dumping them in the Sinai; some in the Negev. After which, it would be developed and settled by Israeli Jews. These plans went hand in hand with a terror campaign in the West Bank which resulted in the expulsion of thousands of Palestinians there from their villages by settler terrorists. Writ large, the genocides in Gaza and the West Bank were an attempt to eradicate Palestinians as a people. That has failed.
Netanyahu succeeded in only one thing: he took vengeance on Hamas for 10/7. But in doing so, he has alienated most of the western nations who were Israel’s allies. He did achieve some unstated “goals”: the murder 0f 33,000 Gazans–over 25,000 women and children; a famine which has killed hundreds of babies, children and adults; the eradication of almost all of the housing and infrastructure in Gaza. Universities, stores, schools, power plants, offices–all pulverized into oblivion. There is literally nothing remaining. That is a “goal” that would only please a mass murderer.
Israelis view their prime minister as the primary party responsible for the security failure that led to 10/7. They are even more angered by his failure to acknowledge responsibility for the tragedy. Nor has he held the IDF chief of staff or Shin Bet chief accountable. These failures almost guarantee he will be ousted from power in the next election, not scheduled for another two years. But if four MKs bolt from his coalition, he will fall. Polls say that he is among the most unpopular prime minister’s in Israeli history. The headlines call him “the most hated man in Israel.” In the next election, Likud could lose half the seats it currently holds in the Knesset.
The Opposition coalition led by Benny Gantz would win in a landslide. But it will not bring any significant change in Israeli policy. He will not permit a Palestinian state, nor will the US pressure him to do so. He will not pursue a more pragmatic approach to Israel’s primary rivals, Hezbollah and Iran. The only positive is less provocation and incitement against Israeli Palestinians and Occupied Palestinians. Less likelihood of a repeat of this mass slaughter.
The outlook for Hamas
Hamas took a huge gamble when it launched its 10/7 attack. The immediate outcome was, from its point of view, immensely successful. It destroyed the image of Israeli omnipotence and invincibility. It provoked the worst security failure in the country’s history since 1973. It humbled Israel and exploded all of its myths. It struck a major blow in response to massive Israeli terror attacks in the West Bank, which had killed hundreds of Palestinians in the year prior.
Hamas surely knew the Israeli response would be massive. But I doubt it expected full-fledged genocide. In that sense, the Palestinian people suffered an immense tragedy. But few, if any Palestinians blame Hamas. In fact, they applaud 10/7 as a legitimate, even heroic, act of armed resistance. So whatever the price paid (and it is immense) afterward, Hamas is not viewed as the culprit. Rather, Israel is.
Hamas had lost nearly half of the fighting force it had before 10/7. That is certainly a serious blow. But it by no means puts it out of business. In fact, Hamas has mounted fierce resistance to Israeli forces. It has killed 600 IDF soldiers. This is the largest loss of life by the army in such a six-month period since the 1973 War.
Not only Palestinians view this as a badge of pride, but Arab and Muslim states in the region do as well. For example, the states which joined the Abraham Accords have been studiously silent as the War progressed. Their leaders know that the vast majority of their citizens support Hamas resistance.
As I’ve written here months ago, Hamas only had to survive to win. And it has done more than survive. It has lived to fight another day. And another day there will be, unfortunately. The war decided nothing. Both sides lost. But because Israel had more to lose, it was the bigger loser.
Biden’s failures
Pres. Biden also staked out goals for the war in his statements over the past six months. At first, he announced an ironclad commitment to Israel: to pour billions in weapons into the pipeline. He supported the goal of destroying Hamas. He rejected calls for a ceasefire.
Conversely, he also rejected any Israeli attempt to permanently expel Gazans from their homes. and any Israeli claim to permanently occupy territory within Gaza. Israel has defied him on both counts.
In the past few weeks, as the death toll mounted into the tens of thousands, he finally began calling for a ceasefire. Last week, he added that he expected full restoration of humanitarian aid, and protection of both aid workers and Palestinian civilians receiving it. He added that he expected the result of the war to lead to a Palestinian state.
Like Netanyahu, Biden has failed on almost every count. There is no ceasefire, nor any likelihood of one given Israel’s intransigence on key demands made by Hamas. Not to mention, that Israel’s murder yesterday of three of Ismail Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren has destroyed any chance, if there ever was any, for a ceasefire and hostage release. The murders (two other grandchildren had been murdered earlier in the conflict) were a sheer act of blood lust.
Though Israel is now permitting more aid into Gaza, the amount is a trickle compared to what is needed to stave off mass famine. Israel has permanently occupied 20% of Gaza: a buffer zone in the north and a strip bisecting the north and south. All homes inside these zones have been eradicated and no Palestinians will be permitted to return to them. Finally, there will be no Palestinian state. As long as Netanyahu is prime minister he will reject it out of hand. Even the “moderate” Opposition will reject it, though it will do so more politely.
Despite Biden’s serial failures, he hopes that the withdrawal of IDF troops and the lessening of the daily death toll will stave off turmoil within the ranks of the Democratic Party. He has been bleeding support in the primaries with nearly 1-million “uncommitted” votes protesting against his Gaza policy. Will voters forget between now and November? Undoubtedly some will. But he cannot afford to lose any support if he is to stave off defeat.
Currently, he is behind Trump in most polls by approximately 4%. The Party faithful are dissatisfied with his pro-war approach. They are also angered it took him six months to finally force Netanyahu to wind down the killing. Something he could have done months earlier, but refused to do.
Progressives and party activists would rather abstain and stay at home, than vote for the (slightly) lesser of two evils. He must win them back or his candidacy is doomed. Biden must run a perfect campaign and Trump must run a catastrophic one in order for the Democrat to win. The former’s performance regarding Gaza sets a bad precedent for the campaign to come.
It remains an open question whether a president has foreign policy authority to conspire in genocide.
If Biden leaves office, a Trump DOJ could arrest Biden:
1. to be tried for genocide,
2. almost certainly to be convicted, and
3. probably to be sentenced to death.
Biden could have potentially multitrillion-dollar liability in a civil genocide litigation under the Alien Tort Statute.
The Codepink supporter raising bloody hands evokes horrifying memories of the lynch and dismembering of two Israeli soldiers in the Ramallah police station in the 90s who lost their way.
The picture of a triumphant murderer holding up his bloodied hands at the window of the station surely cannot be inspiration for Codepink.
The IDF is a genocidal military that is even more sadistic than the Waffen-SS. (I am an expert in genocide studies,)
The IDF had been rampaging and murdering Palestinians around Ramallah for a week before Oct 12, 2000. I can’t fault Palestinians for killing an IDF soldier any more than I would have faulted my uncle for killing a Waffen-SS soldier in occupied Poland. My uncle killed many Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht soldiers.
The IDF snipers who shot and killed or wounded hundreds unarmed demonstrators inside the Gaza fence were acting so much more civilized. The two soldiers “who lost their way” were taken to be mista’aravim infiltrators and given the same illegal treatment. The difference between the two crimes is only a matter of scale and rhetoric.
Shmuel you are a pathetic Judeo Nazi. You remember 2 Israeli soldiers killed 30 years ago but don’t remember the children executed with a bullet to the back of the head in Al Shifa hospital or the other 400 dead patients and doctors, hands tied behind their backs with torture marks on their body.
What does it take to have such a selective memory?
The survivors of Auschwitz too their vengeance on the SS men who stayed behind when the Russians captured the camp. They kicked them to death and also treated them abominably but not surprisingly. No doubt you would have sympathised with those Nazis who remembered their dead comrades whilst forgetting the millions who died in Auschwitz
@Shmuel: Bullshit. Not to mention that you’re regurgitating a hasbara meme used for the past few months. Don’t bore us with rehashed hasbara.
The blood is Palestinian blood. Not Israeli blood. So your analogy is bogus. But I suppose you object the world seeing Palestinian blood shed even symbolically in Israel’s genocidal war.
There are a number or wire service reports that say the United Nations and Israel disagree by a large margin over the amount of aid being allowed into Gaza. Here is an example from Reuters/L’Orient Today:
“Israel counting half-full trucks of aid in ‘boost’ to Gaza” https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1409939/israel-and-un-disagree-over-gaza-aid-figures-.html
@ Haver: Yes, true. I’ve changed that passage to reflect this new information.
As usual Israel makes up numbers that appear to be credible. But when you examine them more closely they’re entirely bogus. It permitted 400 trucks (small ones, not tractor trailers) to enter Gaza. But then kept them in a holding pen until they are searched, which can only happen 6 hrs per day. Not to mention that no food aid is entering northern Gaza…still.
Are you taking Netanyahu or members of war cabinet at their word?
Netanyahu succeeded in only one thing: he took vengeance on Hamas for 10/7.
The infiltration plans by Hamas were known by Israeli leaders for over a year, weren’t they? Plenty of preparation time to define goals and hit hard with a fist of steel. With Gallant-Smotrich-Ben Gvir-Bennett and provocations for months, the ethnic cleansing and massacres were well planned.
Gaza will be uninhabitable for over a decade, the face of cantons throughout the West Bank will define the options for a State of Palestine … none. Erase Palestinians, its culture and education are a measure of success by Israel.
The ultimate goal was and is hitting the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxy Hezbollah. After the “unfortunate” hit destroying the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, enough provocation was done to be on the receiving end of some form of retaliation.
Latest from Joe: “Biden vows ’ironclad’ US commitment to Israel amid fears of Iran attack.”
Biden and Netanyahu have been inseparable friends for over 40 years, that bond remains. It’s mostly kabuki theater by the resident of the White House. Joe too seeks to correct the failures of Iraq, Syria and the rise of the Islamic State (Sunni).
The supreme goal of a Jewish State, military control from the Jordan River (and beyond) to the Sea has been much improved. Breaching the “security wall” by 700,000 illegal settlers proves it was about territory, not security or peace. Same with East Jerusalem. Read the lips of Benzion Netanyahu, like father, like son.
Netanyahu also failed to achieve some unstated goals: Israeli leaders advocated the expulsion of Palestinians from the enclave. Some advocated dumping them in the Sinai; some in the Negev.
For ethnic cleansing Gaza Strip, Netanyahu was applauded by the White House and U.S. Congress … the travels by Antony Blinken with the Israeli demands fell absolutely flat by the primary Arab States … Saudi Arabia held tight the basic Arab Peace Formula of 2002 … AND establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state.
Attempt to bribe client states Jordan and Egypt failed miserably … now the EU has bribed President Sisi … Insanity Thrives.
Last sixty years from President Lyndon Johnson forward, Israel got full support and impunity for war crimes, mirroring of US war on terror … worst were Trump and Biden promoting the dead-ended Abraham Accords w/o Palestinian voices. SHAMEFUL
As a geopolitical analyst educated as a geographer, I have a different perspective with less awareness of the actual politics and policies in Israel. However, what I have learned from the Israelis living in Israel rather than from the Zionist Jews in America has caused me to realize that we in America, since after World War during the 1940s, have been conditioned with propaganda, even on children’s radio programs or show, supporting the European Jewish people who were arriving in Palestine while vilifying the Arabs. What I learned recently from an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi is entirely different. Those Jews who were survivors of the Nazi death camps in eastern Europe and fled to Palestine received help from the Palestinians until the Jewish Zionists arrived and took their land. Today in Israel, Orthodox Jews are being persecuted and killed by Israeli Zionists almost in the same way Palestinians are being treated and killed by Jewish “settlers” on the West Bank.
Here in America, there is a Jewish woman anchor on a major TV network who, instead of reporting news in an objective as well as a professional way, has been supporting Netanyahu’s massive genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.
As for Biden, when my research revealed that most high-ranking U.S. officials are Jewish after the Massacre on October 7, 2023, I became concerned because they appeared to be kowtowing to Netanyahu. If my analysis is correct, this could be the reason why the Biden-Harris administration took so long before finally threatening to stop all further arms shipments to Israel if Netanyahu were to continue to halt all humanitarian aid to Gaza now when Iran may strike at Israel not only with Hezbollah, but possibly even with Iranian armed forces deployed in Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
Meanwhile, there is no ceasefire despite the withdrawal of most IDF military personnel from Gaza. There will probably never be any hope for the Israeli hostages ever being released alive or so many Palestinian children who do “survive” or continue to exist to become healthy adults with their injuries and wounds caused by the IDF and a death or lack of adequate nutrition due to the misanthropic policies of Netanyahu and his supporters in Israel as well as here in America.
Because Israelis have told me Israel is not a democracy due to the Israelis living under martial law, they are not conditioned to think about individual freedom as we once thought in America.
Due to Netanyahu being a demagogue as well as a friend of Orban and Putin, it is possible Hamas terrorists were trained by Spetsnaz forces in Russia and Israeli border guards along the frontier at Gaza were ordered to abandoned their posts while the entire sophisticated alarm security system was deliberately turned off so the Israelis were never warned during the attack when about 1,200 people in southern Israel were killed and so many taken as hostages. There are still questions related to the credibility related to the alleged beheaded and burned babies that were earlier reported.
Because America supported the atrocities committed by the IDF with military materiel and ordnance, we must correct our moral compass if it even still exists. Unfortunately, instead of the U.S. continuing to provide military support to Ukraine, it decided to provide support for the IDF atrocities that resulted in a massive genocide of mainly children and women.
Will Washington continue with its financial support for Israel while believing the myth they are providing “intelligence” for us while exchanging it with Moscow and Beijing. Israel’s Marxist government has deceived Evangelical Christians for so many decades. Although I have been a strong supporter of the Jewish people as well as all Israelis, for me to support Netanyahu and his gang of terror would not be helping in the long run.
It seems as if few people recall when Netanyahu sent many “suitcases of cash” to Hamas leaders in Gaza. Now he is still trying to remove all the Palestinians from Gaza with deaths of so many IDF soldiers. How is it going to be possible for the children in Gaza to become friends with those in Israel? Unfortunately, so few are able to look into such a dismal future without any winners.
Interesting observations … there are certainly readers who can respond on the Israeli anomaly. No, the Netanyahu government is not “Marxist” and has no “friends,” only clients for sharing tools of suppression, hacking and sophisticated instruments of war. The UAE as foremost example. Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia all share roots of Soviet era totalitarianism. Democracy is an alien concept. In times of uncertainty and threats, the leaders revert to what they know best. None of the Eastern European states have made the transition to full-fledged democracy. Western Europe founded the EEC, grew into the EU, but were forced by America under pressure from the NATO alliance, to speed-up expansion to the East. The result the EU and Western Europe are today less democratic, more right-wing populism and the racist undertone of colonialism has a revival. See FEAR Inc. and the propaganda promoting Islamophobia. As far as corporate media taken root in the US and Western Europe, the CIA and Operation Mockingbird is very much alive today. Repression and censorship … so much easier with Big Tech.
Small point of contention Richard in that you seem to be using the lowest estimate of the strength of the Qassam Brigades in general. Which is fine, but Qassam themselves claim to have 40k regulars plus trained reserves, so their real numbers could be upwards of 50k.
I only say this to drive home the point as to how badly the IDF has failed here– if we consider that Qassam brigades have more fighters than what’s generally accepted to be the lowest estimate of their manpower.
@ Mr. Frog: Yes, there are different estimates of the numbers of Hamas fighters. I was going by 30,000 since this was an estimate I heard fr a well-informed source. But there are other published estimates in the range you mentioned.