I was interviewed on 15 January 2024 by Alex Lo, the prominent columnist for the South China Morning Post (based in Hong Kong) on US-Israeli relations, especially as they relate to the Gaza War.
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Or owned by AIPAC since they really help fund their campaigns. Money talks and our representative listen. I think many people feel the door is now finally open and one can have a critical assessment of Israel without people claiming your's anti-Semitic. Many young people have access to the net and can see the truth without it buried in lies and propaganda, and our mainstream press has been doing for years.
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Well, I guess I will have to read some of the prior ICJ decisions on genocide to form an opinion on how the court might rule. Sure seems to me that Professor Mersheimer should address that, and maybe he has. If he understands the Israeli arguments, I see no evidence of this, and I would prefer to be lazy and let someone like him tell me.
Israel and the US and many European countries don't want to call it for what it is, a genocide. People don't realize the West Bank is also being "cleansed" of it's Palestinian population but in slow motion so to speak. Israel mostly controls that area, and Abbas is relegated to the side lines that makes life for the Palestinians unbearable as they watch Israel build huge Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. I think J. M. comes across in such an unemotional way and always with the half smile one might think nothing really bad is happening no matter his words.
I appreciate the calm fashion he responds. It drives me up the wall when commentators get emotional unless they have family members who have been hurt in which case, I understand. We, and even the leaders of Hamas, Israel and the PA are working with limited/imperfect information; at least usually; it doesn't help when someone is angry or puts out incorrect information as is inevitable at least to an extent.
I do not have enough information to call it genocide in the legal sense. In the moral sense, Israel has not crossed the line in my mind as I do not know how one deals with an organization that does not fight in uniforms, places tunnels under residential buildings and fires rockets from those areas too. It is not something that was contemplated when the rules were drafted after WW2 so it has to be developed by judges making decisions and interpreting the laws which do not address every situation.
I don't like the way Israel prevents movement on the West Bank or imprisons kids for throwing rocks (which are dangerous) but I really don't see an alternative if the PA doesn't prevent terrorism against Israeli citizens. At least the PA doesn't say they want kill all the Jews and does a reasonable job. When the terrorism stops, the limits on movement will stop but I can't say I think the anger will go away. Lots of issues, and I think problems are insoluble primarily due to Palestinian attitudes/actions as I think Israel is prepared to come down hard on the Ultra-Orthodox Jews causing problems but ordinary Israeli citizens are angry/do not trust PA/Hamas and I do not blame them one little bit.
My background is in science, and I was also a nurse, and worked in another area as well where there has to be a degree of emotional detachment and a wait and see attitude and not jump to conclusions. That being said, based on the number of dead, mostly children and women at this point, as well as the infrastructure of Gaza being destroyed, which includes their schools, hospitals, housing, as well as their cemeteries that are being plowed over, their dead dug up, and desecrated, as well as supplies not being allowed in, or held to a minimum like food, medicines, etc, I'm going to call it a genocide, especially in light of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in the past. Understand that the people who populate Gaza are restricted to an outdoor concentration camp which is what it is called, where people cannot leave. Know also that Netanyahu was the one who supported Hamas with plenty of money, actually made them more powerful, since neither wanted a two state solution.
Go to Aljazeera and see the degree of destruction and perhaps you will change your mind.
Gaza: who lives there and why it has been blockaded for so long?
Oh I've got a pretty good idea I know what the destruction looks like. I just disagree with what led to it, and I don't like that buildings in which US citizens provided much of the resources to build are now rubble.
I do agree that Netanyahu helped Hamas some, but I don't know the reasons and I know it was immaterial in the overall scheme of things. Netanyahu used to advocate for a single-state solution, and I tend to think that is the best solution with a right of return provided they buy the land and don't squat on it, kill people and it is a liberal government protecting property rights, but I'm pretty sure neither side would agree, so as I said, insoluble. Too bad.
Netanyahu wanted no state. The plan was to kill time until 2 states were no longer possible because of all the settlements and figure out how to get rid of Palestinians or keep them living under Apartheid. I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say "provided they buy the land and don't squat on it". Who? Palestinians? Because when Palestinians were ethnically cleansed and Israel was created, only something like 9% on the land was owned by the Jewish population. They didn't buy the land from Palestinians they expelled. They stole it and have been squat on it for 75+ years, so...
The rest of the world built them permenant homes and fed them since then. Society frequently breaks down in the face of such an open ended commitment and they have forgotten that many, many others have faced the very thing they are facing in this particular moment. I'm not sure that this is true of most Palestinians but it is certainly true of some.
Know about how the US wanted Israel to have a two state solution, and Clinton was one of it's biggest proponents? Rabin and Arafat did accept the deal, but Netanyahu just couldn't stand it. He had rallies and drew crowds of people who didn't want a two state solution either. His rhetoric was loud and condemning, and he even held a mock funeral for Rabin and followed behind his coffin. Sure enough he incited some crazy to shoot Rabin in the back, and killed him. Rabin's wife blamed Netanyahu for his death, and rightly so. See him stroll into the White House like he owned the place during the time Obama wanted to implement the Iran deal? He's a man who is being brought up on corruption charges, and he no doubt will wind up in jail, and I guess this genocide buys him time. No doubt that's a factor in prolonging this war. They were warmed three times an attack was coming. They had Hamas's plans a year before they implemented them, but they said it was just too complicated for Hamas to carry out. Egypt warmed them three days before there would be an attack. Guards repeatedly warned them of suspicious behavior being carried out in Gaza, ignored. Empowering Hamas, was no small thing. Hamas was able to infiltrate some 20 towns before there was any response on the part of Israel, slow response time for Israel. Lies were told to embellish their carnage, like 10 babies killed, women raped, etc, and many in the Israeli military killed their own people during this carnage by accident. To Netanyahu a one state solution means the people of Gaza and the West Bank have got to go, even if it means killing them, which is also going on in the West Bank that gets no coverage.
That is not my understanding (Clinton-Rabin-Arafat) but I do not know for certain.
A link to an old Natanyahu video follows below. Watch it if you are interested in seeing him as a young and exceptionally smart person. One of the things about being as smart as he is, is that you can twist things and sound quite reasonable but he did say several things that I have always thought as good old Golda Meir said them as well. (1) Jordan is a Palestinian state, (2) Arab nations have significant problems and I do not think Palestine, assuming a two-state agreement was reached would be any different. The best solution, is what Netanyahu said in the debate; a single state. Now he said it back then but I do not believe he would agree to it now that there are so many Palestinians. I support right of return which, as I said earlier, provided they paid for any land and lived peaceably and did not mess with liberal, capitalism and refuge for Jews which is not unreasonable but I would find offensive for any other group.
Netanyahu is responsible for the economic miracle in Israel which was founded by a bunch of socialists and I'd be happy to have him as a ruler (for awhile) but as with most politicians, I would not trust him.
Probably a lot of contradictions in the above. I do not feel the need to be an expert as it would take too much time and Palestenians have been treated reasonably well by the world, much of which hates Jews for reasons I do not understand but I'm an American. I wish all the Jews would have come to US after WW2 but they didn't and we are like the Borg; we assimilate everyone.
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My recollection is that the US is not a member of ICJ because they do not want US soldiers to be tried by ICJ courts. Some war crimes are inevitable and the US military court system does a reasonably good job in much the same way as Israeli military courts do. I am inclined to say the US should not join the ICJ, assuming my understanding is correct. George Bush made some terrible mistakes in leading up to 2nd Iraqi war and I think the better argument is that he violated international law but I don't think he thought he was doing so and that is usually an essential part of US criminal law. Someone shouldn't be prosecuted just because they are unpopular and that would happen to US citizens in my opinion.
I'm just wondering. There seems to be claims of ethnic cleansing. There is clearly people being killed in Gaza, if there's ethnic cleansing, are there people being physically moved out by air sea or land?
Egypt is not a willing participant in wanting to take in the people of Gaza. No one is. "If there is ethnic cleansing,..." A genocide is going on. in Gaza, and already some 25, 000 dead, and the genocide continues which targets the people of Gaza, their children, women and men. Supplies can't even get in which is another way of killing a people. They need, food, medicine, etc. Their part of town, so to speak, is being destroyed, both in the North and South. Their hospital, schools home, even their cemeteries are being destroyed, the bodies shoveled up from their resting places, their bodies defiled. Israel wants to make it completely theirs.
A reasonable question would be why is no one willing to take them. I can't speak for Abbas but I can say that wherever Arafat went, he wound up being an extremely bad person. Tried to overthrow Jordan's government, brought war to Lebanon and wound up evacuating to Tunisia, supported Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. The world (and Palestinians) would almost certainly be better off had he never been born. What I remember anyway.
A more reasonable question would be why should they be forced to go anywhere? Most of the people in Gaza are already displaced from 1948. Speaking about them like they should just get moved around, like it's no big deal if they're sent to a country that speaks a similar dialect of Arabic, is really callous. It's racist and dehumanizing. That's exactly the attitude that is to blame for where we are. If Israel didn't have enablers who didn't view Palestinians as lesser than, they could have be pressured into making tough choices to resolve the issue. Why aren't you suggesting Americans settlers just go back to the US, and all the dual citizens with European & Israeli passports? How does it even make sense to ethnically cleanse people twice? It's shocking how people so casually say these things like Palestinians aren't fully human and it's perfectly normal to just decide for them that they can just go elsewhere. I understand why most of the world resents western countries.. We're absolutely awful. And we're showing it in so many ways right now. And this is one of the ways. This attitude of superiority. How depressing.
But Arafat's been dead for awhile now. I can understand why neighbouring countries wouldn't want to help the Israelis clear out the Gazans. I think it's because they know that's exactly what the Israelis would want. As an aside, looking at your list of Arafat's actions, I'm surprised Langley didn't take him on as a consultant with that record.
The IDF is also destroying all the cemeteries and government records in Gaza. Palestinian history is being erased. The attack is on their past, present and future...an attempt to obliterate that will ultimately fail.
I see. It’s my understanding the Palestinians are trapped and I doubt the Israeli’s (or Netanyahu govt.) could secretly remove the population by boat. Where would they bring them?
That's what I'm wondering. Where could they pay someone to take them? I assume at least some number of them would decide to leave. 20 Billion dollars would be 10,000 dollars each, not an insignificant sum, but only one fifth of our so called "investment" in Ukraine. Guyana? Venezuela? Most of them might end up subsequently on the southern border, hoisting us on our own petard. When you look at the amount of cynicism going around, I don't think this is unimaginable. But if it was going to happen, I would think the Israelis would have been making some preparations somebody would have heard about. So if they haven't, it looks more like a genocide or a "punishment action" or just plain murder so far. Just to be clear, I wasn't the one saying it was ethnic cleansing, and I don't have any independent facts or knowledge, I'm just kind of thinking out loud here.
Anyone surprised by this? The US pays a very large portion of the UN support for Gaza, and they not only siphon off money for Hamas, they directly participate in killing Israeli citizens. Is it such a leap to believe that the UN refugee locations in Gaza are used to hide weapons and Hamas fighters? I'm complaining about UN but in the end, the US was right to pay these costs as without it, Gaza's children would likely starve or at least have more severe food security issues as the reality is that Israel cares more about Gaza's children than Hamas.
Provisional measures ruling is rumored to be made tomorrow. While I don't think the case is close based on existing evidence, I'll bet that a couple of judges will go with South Africa. Who knows, maybe they'll even win. I have no opinion on the quality of the judges but it will be interesting to see how they vote. Here are the current members on ICJ:
Second ICJ Case: Here is a link to the Croatia v Serbia case. What I found interesting is the standard of proof required which is "express policy" or "pattern of conduct has been established from which the only reasonable inference to be drawn..."
Provisional measures might be granted by the court, but ultimately any ruling holding that Israel is guilty of genocide would be a travesty barring identification of a "smoking gun" which was not in the South African complaint. Professor Mearsheimer is "all wet" when he says words of a politician are indication of policy. Words of politicians in politicians are not indication of official policy and Israel should ultimately prevail in Court but it is after all Israel so I do not claim that will be the final decision of the court; only what it ought to be based on previous holdings of the court.
Well, I finally got off my lazy "you know what" and I wanted to provide a couple of links that pertain to the provisional measures granted by the ICJ against Myanmar who is accused of genocide against the Rohingya. I do not know how the court will rule, but I do know that the Rohingya were not shooting rockets at the other parts of Myanmar and they were not committing terrorism (later is my opinion). It appears be basic Muslim hatred, not unlike the hatred of Jews by many people.
So, no opinion expressed and I'm going to read the decision now which is only six pages long so my expectation is that it does not address what, in my view, is the primary reason why the court should rule against South Africa; namely Hamas is using the territory as a base to attack Israeli (and Palestinians if the truth be told) citizens. You have the right to self-defense but you cannot shoot someone in self-defense unless you believe your life is in danger and Israeli citizens are definitely in that position even though the State of Israel itself is not in danger.
So here is the decision granting provisional measures:
I am admittedly shooting from the hip when I say it, but there is precious little case law to rely upon so I have no idea how the court will rule. I do think Israel should provide supplies to Gazan's but I also know Hamas will steal them so I'm stumped as to what I would require if I were the one making the decision but I do wish South Africa would demand that Hamas release the hostages.
Trump will not keep an Ukraine war going and neither will the MAGA republicans. Biden’s stupidity is in looking strategically at, not past the Israel lobby, resulting in Trump as the heir apparent. Desantis has given up on Trump V. Anderson being positive out of the corrupt Robert’s Court. Assuming the opposite Haley is not in MAGA appeal mode and a globalist so Ukraine’s will be armed but will it be in time? In your last interview you implied not.
I fully expect the Arabs living in Gaza to be driven from Gaza to live in other Arab speaking countries. There are around 50 of them. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rockets. Ethnic cleansing is more than mere forced exile: its murder and rape. I don't expect the filthy greedy lying dirty Jews to do much rape or murder as they force the Pals into exile. I do expect the apologists for Arab rapists and murderers to never tell you exactly what they really think of Jews.
Could you please list the approximately 50 "Arab speaking" countries around the world?
By "Arab speaking" did you mean Arabic speaking, the language of the Koran?
Do you perhaps think that, say, Pakistannis and Afghanni or Somali people all can speak Arabic? They certainly can't.
If they are observant Muslims, they may be able to READ Arabic well enough to get through the Koran. But 80% of Muslims world wide do not SPEAK Arabic.
You are using several sock puppet accounts. It's so embarrassing when people like you forget which account you're signed in on and use the wrong one to answer other (real) people's questions.
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Thank you John J. Mearsheimer. My sincere gratitude for every single interview you do.
Hello there,
I'm Nemanja Plotan, the creator behind WorldWatch Weekly, a newsletter dedicated to exploring topics such as Global Political Economy, Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, History, and Monetary and Fiscal policies.
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Warm regards,
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WorldWatch Weekly
In a nutshell. The US is owned by Israel!
Or owned by AIPAC since they really help fund their campaigns. Money talks and our representative listen. I think many people feel the door is now finally open and one can have a critical assessment of Israel without people claiming your's anti-Semitic. Many young people have access to the net and can see the truth without it buried in lies and propaganda, and our mainstream press has been doing for years.
Hello there,
I'm Nemanja Plotan, the creator behind WorldWatch Weekly, a newsletter dedicated to exploring topics such as Global Political Economy, Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, History, and Monetary and Fiscal policies.
Subscribers, both free and paid, will receive a warm welcome from me, complete with a treasure trove of free gifts in their inbox. Expect to find a complimentary short Handbook on International Relations, along with additional documents designed to enrich your understanding of our complex world.
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Warm regards,
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WorldWatch Weekly
Well, I guess I will have to read some of the prior ICJ decisions on genocide to form an opinion on how the court might rule. Sure seems to me that Professor Mersheimer should address that, and maybe he has. If he understands the Israeli arguments, I see no evidence of this, and I would prefer to be lazy and let someone like him tell me.
Israel and the US and many European countries don't want to call it for what it is, a genocide. People don't realize the West Bank is also being "cleansed" of it's Palestinian population but in slow motion so to speak. Israel mostly controls that area, and Abbas is relegated to the side lines that makes life for the Palestinians unbearable as they watch Israel build huge Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. I think J. M. comes across in such an unemotional way and always with the half smile one might think nothing really bad is happening no matter his words.
I appreciate the calm fashion he responds. It drives me up the wall when commentators get emotional unless they have family members who have been hurt in which case, I understand. We, and even the leaders of Hamas, Israel and the PA are working with limited/imperfect information; at least usually; it doesn't help when someone is angry or puts out incorrect information as is inevitable at least to an extent.
I do not have enough information to call it genocide in the legal sense. In the moral sense, Israel has not crossed the line in my mind as I do not know how one deals with an organization that does not fight in uniforms, places tunnels under residential buildings and fires rockets from those areas too. It is not something that was contemplated when the rules were drafted after WW2 so it has to be developed by judges making decisions and interpreting the laws which do not address every situation.
I don't like the way Israel prevents movement on the West Bank or imprisons kids for throwing rocks (which are dangerous) but I really don't see an alternative if the PA doesn't prevent terrorism against Israeli citizens. At least the PA doesn't say they want kill all the Jews and does a reasonable job. When the terrorism stops, the limits on movement will stop but I can't say I think the anger will go away. Lots of issues, and I think problems are insoluble primarily due to Palestinian attitudes/actions as I think Israel is prepared to come down hard on the Ultra-Orthodox Jews causing problems but ordinary Israeli citizens are angry/do not trust PA/Hamas and I do not blame them one little bit.
My background is in science, and I was also a nurse, and worked in another area as well where there has to be a degree of emotional detachment and a wait and see attitude and not jump to conclusions. That being said, based on the number of dead, mostly children and women at this point, as well as the infrastructure of Gaza being destroyed, which includes their schools, hospitals, housing, as well as their cemeteries that are being plowed over, their dead dug up, and desecrated, as well as supplies not being allowed in, or held to a minimum like food, medicines, etc, I'm going to call it a genocide, especially in light of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in the past. Understand that the people who populate Gaza are restricted to an outdoor concentration camp which is what it is called, where people cannot leave. Know also that Netanyahu was the one who supported Hamas with plenty of money, actually made them more powerful, since neither wanted a two state solution.
Go to Aljazeera and see the degree of destruction and perhaps you will change your mind.
Gaza: who lives there and why it has been blockaded for so long?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/07/gaza-who-lives-there-and-why-it-has-been-blockaded-for-so-long
Aljazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/israel-war-on-gaza/
Oh I've got a pretty good idea I know what the destruction looks like. I just disagree with what led to it, and I don't like that buildings in which US citizens provided much of the resources to build are now rubble.
I do agree that Netanyahu helped Hamas some, but I don't know the reasons and I know it was immaterial in the overall scheme of things. Netanyahu used to advocate for a single-state solution, and I tend to think that is the best solution with a right of return provided they buy the land and don't squat on it, kill people and it is a liberal government protecting property rights, but I'm pretty sure neither side would agree, so as I said, insoluble. Too bad.
Netanyahu wanted no state. The plan was to kill time until 2 states were no longer possible because of all the settlements and figure out how to get rid of Palestinians or keep them living under Apartheid. I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say "provided they buy the land and don't squat on it". Who? Palestinians? Because when Palestinians were ethnically cleansed and Israel was created, only something like 9% on the land was owned by the Jewish population. They didn't buy the land from Palestinians they expelled. They stole it and have been squat on it for 75+ years, so...
The rest of the world built them permenant homes and fed them since then. Society frequently breaks down in the face of such an open ended commitment and they have forgotten that many, many others have faced the very thing they are facing in this particular moment. I'm not sure that this is true of most Palestinians but it is certainly true of some.
Know about how the US wanted Israel to have a two state solution, and Clinton was one of it's biggest proponents? Rabin and Arafat did accept the deal, but Netanyahu just couldn't stand it. He had rallies and drew crowds of people who didn't want a two state solution either. His rhetoric was loud and condemning, and he even held a mock funeral for Rabin and followed behind his coffin. Sure enough he incited some crazy to shoot Rabin in the back, and killed him. Rabin's wife blamed Netanyahu for his death, and rightly so. See him stroll into the White House like he owned the place during the time Obama wanted to implement the Iran deal? He's a man who is being brought up on corruption charges, and he no doubt will wind up in jail, and I guess this genocide buys him time. No doubt that's a factor in prolonging this war. They were warmed three times an attack was coming. They had Hamas's plans a year before they implemented them, but they said it was just too complicated for Hamas to carry out. Egypt warmed them three days before there would be an attack. Guards repeatedly warned them of suspicious behavior being carried out in Gaza, ignored. Empowering Hamas, was no small thing. Hamas was able to infiltrate some 20 towns before there was any response on the part of Israel, slow response time for Israel. Lies were told to embellish their carnage, like 10 babies killed, women raped, etc, and many in the Israeli military killed their own people during this carnage by accident. To Netanyahu a one state solution means the people of Gaza and the West Bank have got to go, even if it means killing them, which is also going on in the West Bank that gets no coverage.
That is not my understanding (Clinton-Rabin-Arafat) but I do not know for certain.
A link to an old Natanyahu video follows below. Watch it if you are interested in seeing him as a young and exceptionally smart person. One of the things about being as smart as he is, is that you can twist things and sound quite reasonable but he did say several things that I have always thought as good old Golda Meir said them as well. (1) Jordan is a Palestinian state, (2) Arab nations have significant problems and I do not think Palestine, assuming a two-state agreement was reached would be any different. The best solution, is what Netanyahu said in the debate; a single state. Now he said it back then but I do not believe he would agree to it now that there are so many Palestinians. I support right of return which, as I said earlier, provided they paid for any land and lived peaceably and did not mess with liberal, capitalism and refuge for Jews which is not unreasonable but I would find offensive for any other group.
Netanyahu is responsible for the economic miracle in Israel which was founded by a bunch of socialists and I'd be happy to have him as a ruler (for awhile) but as with most politicians, I would not trust him.
Probably a lot of contradictions in the above. I do not feel the need to be an expert as it would take too much time and Palestenians have been treated reasonably well by the world, much of which hates Jews for reasons I do not understand but I'm an American. I wish all the Jews would have come to US after WW2 but they didn't and we are like the Borg; we assimilate everyone.
Hello there,
I'm Nemanja Plotan, the creator behind WorldWatch Weekly, a newsletter dedicated to exploring topics such as Global Political Economy, Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, History, and Monetary and Fiscal policies.
Subscribers, both free and paid, will receive a warm welcome from me, complete with a treasure trove of free gifts in their inbox. Expect to find a complimentary short Handbook on International Relations, along with additional documents designed to enrich your understanding of our complex world.
Join me on this enlightening journey by subscribing today!
Warm regards,
Nemanja Plotan
WorldWatch Weekly
The Court will not find on genocide because the US will boycott it. I am not even sure the US is part of the ICJ
My recollection is that the US is not a member of ICJ because they do not want US soldiers to be tried by ICJ courts. Some war crimes are inevitable and the US military court system does a reasonably good job in much the same way as Israeli military courts do. I am inclined to say the US should not join the ICJ, assuming my understanding is correct. George Bush made some terrible mistakes in leading up to 2nd Iraqi war and I think the better argument is that he violated international law but I don't think he thought he was doing so and that is usually an essential part of US criminal law. Someone shouldn't be prosecuted just because they are unpopular and that would happen to US citizens in my opinion.
Is there any evidence so far of Israel moving people out of Gaza? For example, by cruise ships taking people out by sea?
No, I don't think so, and I know of no one who will take them, since we're talking about some 2 million people.
Question: is this a current rumor or something that occurred to you?
I'm just wondering. There seems to be claims of ethnic cleansing. There is clearly people being killed in Gaza, if there's ethnic cleansing, are there people being physically moved out by air sea or land?
Egypt is not a willing participant in wanting to take in the people of Gaza. No one is. "If there is ethnic cleansing,..." A genocide is going on. in Gaza, and already some 25, 000 dead, and the genocide continues which targets the people of Gaza, their children, women and men. Supplies can't even get in which is another way of killing a people. They need, food, medicine, etc. Their part of town, so to speak, is being destroyed, both in the North and South. Their hospital, schools home, even their cemeteries are being destroyed, the bodies shoveled up from their resting places, their bodies defiled. Israel wants to make it completely theirs.
A reasonable question would be why is no one willing to take them. I can't speak for Abbas but I can say that wherever Arafat went, he wound up being an extremely bad person. Tried to overthrow Jordan's government, brought war to Lebanon and wound up evacuating to Tunisia, supported Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. The world (and Palestinians) would almost certainly be better off had he never been born. What I remember anyway.
A more reasonable question would be why should they be forced to go anywhere? Most of the people in Gaza are already displaced from 1948. Speaking about them like they should just get moved around, like it's no big deal if they're sent to a country that speaks a similar dialect of Arabic, is really callous. It's racist and dehumanizing. That's exactly the attitude that is to blame for where we are. If Israel didn't have enablers who didn't view Palestinians as lesser than, they could have be pressured into making tough choices to resolve the issue. Why aren't you suggesting Americans settlers just go back to the US, and all the dual citizens with European & Israeli passports? How does it even make sense to ethnically cleanse people twice? It's shocking how people so casually say these things like Palestinians aren't fully human and it's perfectly normal to just decide for them that they can just go elsewhere. I understand why most of the world resents western countries.. We're absolutely awful. And we're showing it in so many ways right now. And this is one of the ways. This attitude of superiority. How depressing.
But Arafat's been dead for awhile now. I can understand why neighbouring countries wouldn't want to help the Israelis clear out the Gazans. I think it's because they know that's exactly what the Israelis would want. As an aside, looking at your list of Arafat's actions, I'm surprised Langley didn't take him on as a consultant with that record.
People aren't being physically moved--yet.
But when you make people's homes uninhabitable, or destroy them completely, then "being physically moved" is a distinction without a difference.
The IDF is also destroying all the cemeteries and government records in Gaza. Palestinian history is being erased. The attack is on their past, present and future...an attempt to obliterate that will ultimately fail.
I see. It’s my understanding the Palestinians are trapped and I doubt the Israeli’s (or Netanyahu govt.) could secretly remove the population by boat. Where would they bring them?
That's what I'm wondering. Where could they pay someone to take them? I assume at least some number of them would decide to leave. 20 Billion dollars would be 10,000 dollars each, not an insignificant sum, but only one fifth of our so called "investment" in Ukraine. Guyana? Venezuela? Most of them might end up subsequently on the southern border, hoisting us on our own petard. When you look at the amount of cynicism going around, I don't think this is unimaginable. But if it was going to happen, I would think the Israelis would have been making some preparations somebody would have heard about. So if they haven't, it looks more like a genocide or a "punishment action" or just plain murder so far. Just to be clear, I wasn't the one saying it was ethnic cleansing, and I don't have any independent facts or knowledge, I'm just kind of thinking out loud here.
Anyone surprised by this? The US pays a very large portion of the UN support for Gaza, and they not only siphon off money for Hamas, they directly participate in killing Israeli citizens. Is it such a leap to believe that the UN refugee locations in Gaza are used to hide weapons and Hamas fighters? I'm complaining about UN but in the end, the US was right to pay these costs as without it, Gaza's children would likely starve or at least have more severe food security issues as the reality is that Israel cares more about Gaza's children than Hamas.
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3249979/israel-gaza-war-un-agency-sacks-staff-suspected-role-october-7-hamas-attacks?module=top_story&pgtype=homepage
Provisional measures granted seem very reasonable. Look forward to reading the order and the dissenting opinion(s).
Provisional measures ruling is rumored to be made tomorrow. While I don't think the case is close based on existing evidence, I'll bet that a couple of judges will go with South Africa. Who knows, maybe they'll even win. I have no opinion on the quality of the judges but it will be interesting to see how they vote. Here are the current members on ICJ:
https://www.icj-cij.org/current-members
Actually not a rumor. To be delivered at 1PM Netherlands time.
Professor Mearsheimer is just spot on!
Siding with barbarians isn't the win you think it is
Second ICJ Case: Here is a link to the Croatia v Serbia case. What I found interesting is the standard of proof required which is "express policy" or "pattern of conduct has been established from which the only reasonable inference to be drawn..."
Provisional measures might be granted by the court, but ultimately any ruling holding that Israel is guilty of genocide would be a travesty barring identification of a "smoking gun" which was not in the South African complaint. Professor Mearsheimer is "all wet" when he says words of a politician are indication of policy. Words of politicians in politicians are not indication of official policy and Israel should ultimately prevail in Court but it is after all Israel so I do not claim that will be the final decision of the court; only what it ought to be based on previous holdings of the court.
https://www.icj-cij.org/node/102120
Then again, what do I know? I'm just being manipulated by the incredibly talented Jewish lobby.
Well, I finally got off my lazy "you know what" and I wanted to provide a couple of links that pertain to the provisional measures granted by the ICJ against Myanmar who is accused of genocide against the Rohingya. I do not know how the court will rule, but I do know that the Rohingya were not shooting rockets at the other parts of Myanmar and they were not committing terrorism (later is my opinion). It appears be basic Muslim hatred, not unlike the hatred of Jews by many people.
So, no opinion expressed and I'm going to read the decision now which is only six pages long so my expectation is that it does not address what, in my view, is the primary reason why the court should rule against South Africa; namely Hamas is using the territory as a base to attack Israeli (and Palestinians if the truth be told) citizens. You have the right to self-defense but you cannot shoot someone in self-defense unless you believe your life is in danger and Israeli citizens are definitely in that position even though the State of Israel itself is not in danger.
So here is the decision granting provisional measures:
https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/178/178-20200123-PRE-01-00-EN.pdf
Here is a link to the web page providing information on the litigation which is on-going and no final decision reached:
https://www.icj-cij.org/case/178/press-releases
I am admittedly shooting from the hip when I say it, but there is precious little case law to rely upon so I have no idea how the court will rule. I do think Israel should provide supplies to Gazan's but I also know Hamas will steal them so I'm stumped as to what I would require if I were the one making the decision but I do wish South Africa would demand that Hamas release the hostages.
Trump will not keep an Ukraine war going and neither will the MAGA republicans. Biden’s stupidity is in looking strategically at, not past the Israel lobby, resulting in Trump as the heir apparent. Desantis has given up on Trump V. Anderson being positive out of the corrupt Robert’s Court. Assuming the opposite Haley is not in MAGA appeal mode and a globalist so Ukraine’s will be armed but will it be in time? In your last interview you implied not.
I fully expect the Arabs living in Gaza to be driven from Gaza to live in other Arab speaking countries. There are around 50 of them. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rockets. Ethnic cleansing is more than mere forced exile: its murder and rape. I don't expect the filthy greedy lying dirty Jews to do much rape or murder as they force the Pals into exile. I do expect the apologists for Arab rapists and murderers to never tell you exactly what they really think of Jews.
(Quote) Around 50 "Arab speaking countries"?
Could you please list the approximately 50 "Arab speaking" countries around the world?
By "Arab speaking" did you mean Arabic speaking, the language of the Koran?
Do you perhaps think that, say, Pakistannis and Afghanni or Somali people all can speak Arabic? They certainly can't.
If they are observant Muslims, they may be able to READ Arabic well enough to get through the Koran. But 80% of Muslims world wide do not SPEAK Arabic.
Easily 50% of countries are ISLAMIC.
They speak different languages and do not agree with each other a lot of the time.
Iran is Persian they speak Farci.
Indonesia. Bali is Buddhist./Malaya/Qatar etc are all Muslim countries.So many I can't list them all here, look it up.
@JennyStokes/Eric Engle
You are using several sock puppet accounts. It's so embarrassing when people like you forget which account you're signed in on and use the wrong one to answer other (real) people's questions.
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