The best clue you are dealing with a GENOCIDE COMMITTING sociopath is the pity play. Your illegal genocidal settler colony has as much right to exist on Palestinian soil as white SA did in Africa and was dismantled. That’s not genocide at all.
Where do you live? Whose land did you steal? Sadly we forget that Jews were there first, and the Jews are there last. Where you live was likely stolen from some real indigenous people. (Actually, this has nothing to do with "forgetting" and everything to do with "hate".)
Your lies will return to haunt you. Your very first illegal colony on Palestinian soil was on 31 July 1881. Jericho is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. 11,000 years old and you’re claiming to be on Palestinian soil first. Not worth wasting time on.
Read a Bible. Where are the Palestinians in the Bible. It was written 6000 years ago? 3000? When did recorded history first mention Palestine. I know when it mentioned the Jews. Forget the Bible. Let's go off Egyptians. I don't think Islam was created yet when Egyptians wrote about the Jews. When did the Egyptians write about Palestine?
Ancient Egyptians never mentioned Palestine unread unwashed white supremacist?
“The peoples of Palestine were belittled in ancient Egyptian texts precisely because they were known and feared.” - “Tutankhamun’s Trumpet: Ancient Egypt in 100 Objects From Boy-King’s Tomb” / Toby Wilkinson, 2022.
“Palestine conquers Egypt? c. 1730-1570 BC
We have ancient texts, including one from a participant in the civil wars that closed this period, that refer to the Delta's control of Thebes as an 'Asiatic' conquest and a foreign rule, which ended with expulsion. The earliest of these texts are to be attributed to the pharaoh Kamose, who ruled the central Nile Valley from Thebes just before the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty. Our texts are a pair of steles that were erected in the Temple of Karnak. Their style takes the form of monumental propaganda, written to celebrate Kamose's wars. He fought to unify Egypt after years of conflict between Egypt's three regions: the Delta of the north, Nubia of the south, and Thebes of the central Nile, thought of as Egypt proper by the writers of our texts. These monuments describe the onset of war against the 'Asiatics' of the Delta from the perspective of Thebes. The rulers of the Delta are called the 'Hyksos', a word that has been translated 'foreign princes'. Allegedly, they conquered 'Egypt' some 160 years earlier (1730 BCE). Kamose asserts that they had overthrown the dynasty of Thebes and had ruled Egypt illegitimately. The task fell to him to drive these 'foreigners' from Egyptian soil. They were finally defeated and expelled from the Egyptian homeland by Ahmose, the founder of the eighteenth dynasty.
All but a few modern scholars have accepted the conclusion uncritically that the Hyksos were originally Palestinians who conquered Egypt and, after nearly two centuries rule there, were expelled much as is recounted in the Egyptian texts cited above.”
The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology And The Myth Of Israel/ Thomas L. Thompson, 1999
Palestinians gave us CHRISTianity backward imbecile. You should read it yourself. It’s not a land deed for white illegal migrants.
The Bible said as much
"In the Biblical presentation of the invasion of Palestine two facts are clearly recognised. These are, firstly, that the Israelites took over a civilisation which others had created –“great and goodly cities, which thou buildedest not; and houses full of all the good things; which thou filledst not; and cisterns hewn out, which thou hewedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not.” (Deut 6:10-11).
In the second place, it is stated that the native Palestinians would not be driven out “in one year; lest the land become desolate”; but according to the ‘prophecy’, “little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land." (Deut 8:7-9).
In the eyes of the invaders, relatively few in numbers and coming from the desert, Palestine, brought by the Canaanites to an advanced stage of development, appeared as an altogether desirable and satisfying land. “ – “Nisi Dominus – A Survey of the Palestine Controversy” by Nevill Barbour (1946)
Who gathers the rubble in Gaza .? Where do they bury the long decayed bodies in the rubble?
Who pays for that ? I guess Israel thinks there is no possibility of another Oct7 or Intifida for a while , so they will have a pause which will give Trump a golden fig leaf ....for now. And then the genocide will resume.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar and UAE could find the money for rebuilding Gaza in their couch cushions!!!! It’s up to the Palestinians because now that we are in the Age of Natural Gas and America is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas the Saudis are finally seeing a future in which they don’t hold all of the cards.
“Where do they bury the long decayed bodies in the rubble?”
Children’s bones may be excellent filler for reinforced concrete!?
There must be at least 600,000 murdered civilians under the rubble with the unprecedented orgy of devastation, not the ridiculously low 62,000!
And half of them are CHILDREN.
Seems the World has begun condoning murder as a means of wealth creation. Very sad. We are driving our species to extinction with the ravenous greed for $$$
Every time there is a post to this Substack, I get excited (hope) for a written piece by Professor John. Not that the videos aren’t informative, but I just strongly prefer the written work.
What we need to do is start a third political party in the United States which isn’t beholden to special interest groups. The candidates (and the political party) need to use my “course” as their platform.
Until we muster up the will to do that we’ll be continuously talking about creeps running the show and continuously chasing our tails.
Of course Mearsheimer is against the 20-point peace plan. Anything that could be a positive for Israel — even if it also benefits Palestinians and the wider Arab world — automatically clashes with his worldview. His academic career has been built on the false premise that Israel is the root of the region’s problems. So when a plan comes along that promises stability, self-rule for Palestinians, normalization with Arab nations, and an end to terrorism, he opposes it on principle — not because it’s flawed, but because it works.
As for a Palestinian state, it’s up to the Palestinians, not Israel. For nearly 80 years, they’ve rejected every opportunity to have their own country. The conditions for peace are simple and fair:
1. Recognize the State of Israel.
2. Accept a demilitarized Palestinian state living peacefully beside Israel.
3. Acknowledge that any so-called “right of return” for so-called “refugees” applies only to the new State of Palestine — not to Israel.
That’s it. The choice is theirs. They can finally build their own country, or, as they’ve done for eight decades, continue to demand all of Israel “from the river to the sea” and claim it as their own. The 20-point plan gives them a clear path to peace and self-determination. Whether they take it or reject it will reveal what they truly want — a state of their own, or the destruction of Israel.
The Zionists will never accept any sovereign state within the bounds of "Greater Israel". That includes Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon.
This project will continue. Genocides will increase and accelerate as long as Zionist ideology remains at the controls.
Richard when are you going to get your history straight and not except false narratives that keep Israel in a positive light. Due to people like yourself who sell this lie has ultimately led to Israel now being considered a pariah state worldwide. You're responses at this point operate as a deficit to Israel, and not a plus. You put the sole onus on the Palestinians, and seem to forget that Israel implemented this genocide on a people they warehoused in a concentration camp they called Gaza. No coming and going as they pleased with limited resources as well, and no access to the Mediterranean Sea, not even as a source of food.
It was a colonial mindset of the Europeans and Zionist Jews which saw Palestine, then under the control of the Ottoman empire, as a land without a people. It only takes less then a few decades before the Nakba and the slaughter of the Palestinians, some seventy thousand or more killed, and seven hundred and eighty thousand displaced. Israel is now actively involved in removing Palestinians from the West Bank, and not to mention great swaths of their land is already under Israeli control.
Oh Fran. Your comment reads like a collage of propaganda slogans, not history. You’ve simply repeated decades-old distortions that collapse the entire story into a single villain: Israel. The facts — inconvenient as they may be — tell a very different story.
Israel didn’t “warehouse” Palestinians in Gaza; it withdrew completely in 2005, removing every soldier and settler. What followed wasn’t freedom-building — it was Hamas turning Gaza into a launchpad for terror, firing thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians and using its own people as human shields. The blockade exists not to punish Gazans, but to prevent Iran-backed militias from importing more weapons. Egypt, by the way, enforces the same border restrictions.
As for your revisionist history of “Palestine,” there was never a sovereign Palestinian state to be “colonized.” The Ottomans ruled the region for centuries, then the British. The UN offered partition in 1947 — two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jews said yes. The Arabs said no, choosing war instead. Since then, the Palestinians have rejected every subsequent offer of statehood — from 1948 to Camp David to Olmert’s 2008 proposal. Eighty years of “no.”
Your accusation of “genocide” is obscene. Israel, a democracy defending itself against an army of jihadists hiding behind civilians, has repeatedly paused fighting to deliver aid — something no genocidal regime has ever done.
You end by calling for AIPAC’s removal, as if silencing American Jews who support Israel will make your arguments any truer. It won’t. What has made Israel a “pariah” in some circles isn’t its actions — it’s the moral inversion of people who can’t tell the difference between a terrorist and a defender, between lies and history.
I understand that Palestine was under Ottoman rule, but nonetheless the dominant population were Palestinians, and more Christians then Jews. Basically at the time of WWI Europe had a colonial mindset that dominated their perspective. and one that was very prejudicial towards the Muslim world. The Palestinians engaged in trade, had a railroad system, and they constituted the majority, some 90 percent or so. That is the truth. As far as Israel implementing a genocide, well, lets just say most of the world perceives it that way, and I agree. Even if you don't. However, if you were honest you would acknowledge the barbarism that has been inflicted on a people including children and young people who never even voted for Hamas. Too young. Also remember that Israel was forewarned, and had Hamas's plans the year before, spotters who died during that assault had reported suspicious behavior by Hamas, but also were ignored, as was Egypt's warnings. Many of the deaths inflicted on the Jewish people that night were done by Israel. Not only because they implemented the Hannibal directive but dropping bombs, killing their own in the chaos. Hamas was able to hit 20 towns before anyone was there to help them. Israel lied about babies killed, women raped, etc. No one is calling for Jews to be silenced in America. I have cousins who are Jewish and none feel they are being silenced, and none are in support of what Israel is doing, and let me tell you they are loud about it. AIPAC has got to go and stop pretending they are doing grand things or are supportive of Jewish people, not ordinary Jewish people, maybe themselves and Israel and their agenda, and ask yourself where has all this gotten us?
You toss out half-truths and debunked claims with the confidence of someone who’s never questioned the propaganda they’re repeating.
Yes, Palestine was under Ottoman rule — which means it was never a sovereign “Palestinian” state. It was an imperial province, not a nation. And the term “Palestinian” didn’t even refer to a distinct national identity until the mid-20th century. The overwhelming majority of the land was uninhabited or sparsely populated — Mark Twain described it in 1869 as “a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds.” Jews, Christians, and Muslims all lived there — and the idea that there was some flourishing, unified Palestinian polity before Zionism is pure fantasy.
As for your “genocide” accusation — that word loses all meaning when applied to a war waged because Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, burned families alive, and dragged hostages into tunnels. Israel didn’t invade Gaza to erase a people; it went in to destroy a terror army that hides under hospitals and schools. The tragedy of civilian deaths lies squarely with Hamas, whose strategy is to ensure maximum Palestinian suffering for propaganda value. Calling that genocide isn’t moral outrage — it’s moral illiteracy.
Your claims about the “Hannibal directive,” Israel bombing its own civilians, and fabricated rape stories come straight from Hamas disinformation channels. They’ve been thoroughly investigated and debunked. To parrot them is to aid a terror organization that proudly films its atrocities.
You say your Jewish cousins oppose Israel — fine. There were always Jews who defended Stalin too; it doesn’t make them right. Dissent isn’t truth. And your swipe at AIPAC is predictable — the same tired trope that Jewish political advocacy is somehow sinister. AIPAC supports the U.S.-Israel alliance — the only democracy in the Middle East, the one that shares America’s values and fights the same Islamist extremists who would gladly kill you if given the chance.
So no, it’s not Israel that’s the problem here. It’s the willful ignorance of those who look at a terrorist massacre, a nation’s right to self-defense, and decades of rejected peace offers — and somehow find a way to blame the victims.
Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire until if fell and was occupied primarily by Palestinians, some Jews, some Christians, and as far as the jews are concerned, those that originally resided there went elsewhere, like Europe. It was no longer their homeland. It was nothing but a prejudicial mindset that saw it as a land without a people and a colonial mindset who thought they could hand it over to the Zionist Jews who lived in Europe. They had no claim to that land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! None!!!!!!!!!!! I never said my cousins oppose Israel, but oppose the genocide. No sense talking to you because you will twist and turn everything that everyone says and you're willing to support a genocide based on lies. Your not willing to have other's see your perspective but push your perspective down other people's throats.
You’re shouting exclamation points instead of facts. The Jewish connection to the land isn’t a “colonial mindset” — it’s 4,000 years of history, archaeology, and unbroken presence. Jews didn’t “go elsewhere”; they were driven out by conquering empires but never stopped praying, writing, and returning to Jerusalem. Every empire — Babylonian, Roman, Ottoman, British — came and went. The Jews came back. That’s not colonialism; that’s homecoming.
The idea that Europeans “handed over” the land is also false. The League of Nations Mandate recognized the Jewish historical claim and the right to reestablish a national home — long before Israel declared independence. Jews legally bought land, built towns, revived Hebrew, and defended themselves against repeated Arab attempts to annihilate them.
You accuse Israel of genocide while Hamas’s charter literally calls for exterminating Jews. You ignore that Israel withdrew from Gaza, that Hamas started every war since, and that Israel drops leaflets to warn civilians while Hamas forces them to stay and die for photo ops. That’s not twisting facts — that’s called knowing them.
You say there’s “no sense talking” because you’re right and everyone else is evil. That’s not moral clarity; it’s intellectual laziness. History isn’t erased because it’s inconvenient to your politics — and repeating “no claim to the land” doesn’t make 3,000 years of Jewish civilization disappear.
I think it’s important to remember there are two sides obstructing peace here, not just Israel. If we’re going to talk about whose “agenda” is the obstacle, it matters that large parts of the Palestinian movement still chant “From the river to the sea” — a slogan that, whatever one’s interpretation, clearly envisions a future without Israel existing at all. That’s not a vision of coexistence or two states; it’s the mirror image of the maximalism you’re accusing Israel of.
And it’s not as if Palestinian leadership has consistently accepted peace offers either — time and again, they’ve rejected deals that would have created a state because they wouldn’t even acknowledge Israel’s right to remain. That refusal undercuts the idea that one side is solely to blame for the lack of a “political horizon.”
None of that excuses policies that deny basic rights or perpetuate occupation. But it does mean that if we’re serious about understanding why peace remains elusive, we have to acknowledge that absolutism exists on both sides — and that self-determination requires mutual recognition, not just one-sided concessions.
When American Christians stop supporting the government of Israel things will change. Israel depends on the Old Testament connection but the younger generations see the hypocrisy and will not be fooled . Can’t happen soon enough!
Halted? No, it’s just a pause. Trump and Netanyahu are both politically desperate. This facade of a peace deal will help them score big points by getting hostages freed. The hostages were the only reason they didn’t drop even more bombs. I really don’t know why Hamas would enter into any deal with them; they must know that America and the Zionsits regime will never keep their word.
John, ceasefire is not peace. And it's definitely not part of a free Palestinian state recognition.
As I point out here https://vacuuum.substack.com/p/israel-hamas-deal-success-or-failure in this first stage of the deal, we’re shifting from a phase where the military dictated policy, to a new cycle of political negotiations. This is new. This could potentially shift the spotlight in Israel’s Cabinet from the Defence Minister to other less radical government figures.
And Israel shouldn't have the power to stop a Palestinian state. I don't think it does have the power. It is one state in the world and on its own it lacks power.
How would the teachings and principles found in this course work in practice?
The following example illustrates their application.
If the teachings in this course had been utilized immediately after the terrorist attack on October 7th, 2023—when Palestinians influenced by Hamas breached the Gaza border fence and murdered and kidnapped Israeli citizens—Israel’s reaction would have been much different.
The principles found in this course strongly advocate for applying the teachings of both Howard Zinn and the Dalai Lama to such situations.
Therefore, rather than seeking revenge, those in power would have asked themselves: Why would someone want to do this to us?
Instead of retaliating against Palestinians, the Israeli government would have attempted to help them.
The Israeli government and those affected by this tragedy would have paused for self-reflection. After asking themselves difficult questions and answering them honestly, they would have done what was in their power to help the people of Gaza rather than brutalizing them.
This approach recognizes that there are reasons Hamas acted as they did.
It also acknowledges that helping others makes one feel better about oneself.
Remember: kindness tends to beget more kindness, and cruelty tends to beget more cruelty.
So if you’re truly interested in breaking the cycle of violence, you must respond to cruelty with kindness.
This is what should have happened.
Beyond that, isn’t this what all of the world’s religions call for, including Christianity? Shouldn’t the religious right in the United States agree with this kind of stance?
Unless they’re hypocrites, the answer would be - yes.
But is This What Happened?
But is this what happened?
No…
The exact opposite happened.
And not only that, the US government went along with the brutalization of the Palestinians in Gaza. And all the while the Palestinians in the West Bank were continued to be bullied too.
It seems like those who once bullied are now the bullies.
How might one wrap their mind around that?
Is this the kind of thing the US should be a party to?
The answer is NO.
NO - NO - NO - NO - NO -NO.
It’s a despicable disgrace that the US government went along with this shit-show. It’s absolutely despicable. And we in the US should be ashamed of ourselves.
It’s truly despicable.
AND THIS IS WHY WE’RE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE AS A SPECIES.
And this is why this course makes for the basis of a very good political platform. It makes for a very good basis for a good non-religious religion. And it also makes for how best to try to train AI.
I would call this a beautiful dream of the evolution of human awareness and empathy, but we are deevolving and I see no chance whatsoever for this dream to become reality in America.
I think it’s also important to point out that it would have only taken one person on earth to prevent what’s happened to the Palestinians in Gaza since 10/7/23 and the person is Joe Biden. Instead of doing what I suggested, Biden did the exact opposite. He went and hugged Benjamin Netanyahu and gave him the green light to brutalize the Palestinians. He supported the Zionist regime in Israel with military support and diplomatic cover. And as a result of those actions, Joe and Kamala lost to The Donald. And now we have what we have.
Don’t isn’t out of the realm of possibility that we might be able to turn the ship around but it takes good leadership. And unfortunately we’ve had very poor leadership in the United States for a very long time. And that leadership has gotten markedly worse to the point to where we now have the worst person on the planet for the job running the show.
That’s why I wanted to run for president in 2016, 2020 and in 2024. But now with the release of my film, which makes for the platform of a third party in the US, I’m going to run in 2028. It might be too late by then to save our souls. …..Hopefully not…
Sadly I think you might be right. But I’d like to think that if people were given a clear explanation of how to best proceed, the majority of the American electorate would likely support it.
Won’t be peace until the uninvited genocidal settler colony is dismantled
Finally someone who gently mentions the real intended genocide.
The best clue you are dealing with a GENOCIDE COMMITTING sociopath is the pity play. Your illegal genocidal settler colony has as much right to exist on Palestinian soil as white SA did in Africa and was dismantled. That’s not genocide at all.
Where do you live? Whose land did you steal? Sadly we forget that Jews were there first, and the Jews are there last. Where you live was likely stolen from some real indigenous people. (Actually, this has nothing to do with "forgetting" and everything to do with "hate".)
Your lies will return to haunt you. Your very first illegal colony on Palestinian soil was on 31 July 1881. Jericho is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. 11,000 years old and you’re claiming to be on Palestinian soil first. Not worth wasting time on.
Read a Bible. Where are the Palestinians in the Bible. It was written 6000 years ago? 3000? When did recorded history first mention Palestine. I know when it mentioned the Jews. Forget the Bible. Let's go off Egyptians. I don't think Islam was created yet when Egyptians wrote about the Jews. When did the Egyptians write about Palestine?
Recorded history? Herodotus just the father of history travelled Palestine 5BC. Definitely need to read a book you are too dense for words.
Ancient Egyptians never mentioned Palestine unread unwashed white supremacist?
“The peoples of Palestine were belittled in ancient Egyptian texts precisely because they were known and feared.” - “Tutankhamun’s Trumpet: Ancient Egypt in 100 Objects From Boy-King’s Tomb” / Toby Wilkinson, 2022.
“Palestine conquers Egypt? c. 1730-1570 BC
We have ancient texts, including one from a participant in the civil wars that closed this period, that refer to the Delta's control of Thebes as an 'Asiatic' conquest and a foreign rule, which ended with expulsion. The earliest of these texts are to be attributed to the pharaoh Kamose, who ruled the central Nile Valley from Thebes just before the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty. Our texts are a pair of steles that were erected in the Temple of Karnak. Their style takes the form of monumental propaganda, written to celebrate Kamose's wars. He fought to unify Egypt after years of conflict between Egypt's three regions: the Delta of the north, Nubia of the south, and Thebes of the central Nile, thought of as Egypt proper by the writers of our texts. These monuments describe the onset of war against the 'Asiatics' of the Delta from the perspective of Thebes. The rulers of the Delta are called the 'Hyksos', a word that has been translated 'foreign princes'. Allegedly, they conquered 'Egypt' some 160 years earlier (1730 BCE). Kamose asserts that they had overthrown the dynasty of Thebes and had ruled Egypt illegitimately. The task fell to him to drive these 'foreigners' from Egyptian soil. They were finally defeated and expelled from the Egyptian homeland by Ahmose, the founder of the eighteenth dynasty.
All but a few modern scholars have accepted the conclusion uncritically that the Hyksos were originally Palestinians who conquered Egypt and, after nearly two centuries rule there, were expelled much as is recounted in the Egyptian texts cited above.”
The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology And The Myth Of Israel/ Thomas L. Thompson, 1999
Palestinians gave us CHRISTianity backward imbecile. You should read it yourself. It’s not a land deed for white illegal migrants.
The Bible said as much
"In the Biblical presentation of the invasion of Palestine two facts are clearly recognised. These are, firstly, that the Israelites took over a civilisation which others had created –“great and goodly cities, which thou buildedest not; and houses full of all the good things; which thou filledst not; and cisterns hewn out, which thou hewedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not.” (Deut 6:10-11).
In the second place, it is stated that the native Palestinians would not be driven out “in one year; lest the land become desolate”; but according to the ‘prophecy’, “little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land." (Deut 8:7-9).
In the eyes of the invaders, relatively few in numbers and coming from the desert, Palestine, brought by the Canaanites to an advanced stage of development, appeared as an altogether desirable and satisfying land. “ – “Nisi Dominus – A Survey of the Palestine Controversy” by Nevill Barbour (1946)
Who gathers the rubble in Gaza .? Where do they bury the long decayed bodies in the rubble?
Who pays for that ? I guess Israel thinks there is no possibility of another Oct7 or Intifida for a while , so they will have a pause which will give Trump a golden fig leaf ....for now. And then the genocide will resume.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar and UAE could find the money for rebuilding Gaza in their couch cushions!!!! It’s up to the Palestinians because now that we are in the Age of Natural Gas and America is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas the Saudis are finally seeing a future in which they don’t hold all of the cards.
“Where do they bury the long decayed bodies in the rubble?”
Children’s bones may be excellent filler for reinforced concrete!?
There must be at least 600,000 murdered civilians under the rubble with the unprecedented orgy of devastation, not the ridiculously low 62,000!
And half of them are CHILDREN.
Seems the World has begun condoning murder as a means of wealth creation. Very sad. We are driving our species to extinction with the ravenous greed for $$$
Every time there is a post to this Substack, I get excited (hope) for a written piece by Professor John. Not that the videos aren’t informative, but I just strongly prefer the written work.
The bottom line is that…
What we need to do is start a third political party in the United States which isn’t beholden to special interest groups. The candidates (and the political party) need to use my “course” as their platform.
Until we muster up the will to do that we’ll be continuously talking about creeps running the show and continuously chasing our tails.
Of course Mearsheimer is against the 20-point peace plan. Anything that could be a positive for Israel — even if it also benefits Palestinians and the wider Arab world — automatically clashes with his worldview. His academic career has been built on the false premise that Israel is the root of the region’s problems. So when a plan comes along that promises stability, self-rule for Palestinians, normalization with Arab nations, and an end to terrorism, he opposes it on principle — not because it’s flawed, but because it works.
As for a Palestinian state, it’s up to the Palestinians, not Israel. For nearly 80 years, they’ve rejected every opportunity to have their own country. The conditions for peace are simple and fair:
1. Recognize the State of Israel.
2. Accept a demilitarized Palestinian state living peacefully beside Israel.
3. Acknowledge that any so-called “right of return” for so-called “refugees” applies only to the new State of Palestine — not to Israel.
That’s it. The choice is theirs. They can finally build their own country, or, as they’ve done for eight decades, continue to demand all of Israel “from the river to the sea” and claim it as their own. The 20-point plan gives them a clear path to peace and self-determination. Whether they take it or reject it will reveal what they truly want — a state of their own, or the destruction of Israel.
You've accepted a framing that ignores reality.
The Zionists will never accept any sovereign state within the bounds of "Greater Israel". That includes Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon.
This project will continue. Genocides will increase and accelerate as long as Zionist ideology remains at the controls.
Based on nothing. Stupid comment.
I'll believe my own eyes and ears, thanks
Richard when are you going to get your history straight and not except false narratives that keep Israel in a positive light. Due to people like yourself who sell this lie has ultimately led to Israel now being considered a pariah state worldwide. You're responses at this point operate as a deficit to Israel, and not a plus. You put the sole onus on the Palestinians, and seem to forget that Israel implemented this genocide on a people they warehoused in a concentration camp they called Gaza. No coming and going as they pleased with limited resources as well, and no access to the Mediterranean Sea, not even as a source of food.
It was a colonial mindset of the Europeans and Zionist Jews which saw Palestine, then under the control of the Ottoman empire, as a land without a people. It only takes less then a few decades before the Nakba and the slaughter of the Palestinians, some seventy thousand or more killed, and seven hundred and eighty thousand displaced. Israel is now actively involved in removing Palestinians from the West Bank, and not to mention great swaths of their land is already under Israeli control.
P.S. AIPAC has got to go11111111111111111
Oh Fran. Your comment reads like a collage of propaganda slogans, not history. You’ve simply repeated decades-old distortions that collapse the entire story into a single villain: Israel. The facts — inconvenient as they may be — tell a very different story.
Israel didn’t “warehouse” Palestinians in Gaza; it withdrew completely in 2005, removing every soldier and settler. What followed wasn’t freedom-building — it was Hamas turning Gaza into a launchpad for terror, firing thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians and using its own people as human shields. The blockade exists not to punish Gazans, but to prevent Iran-backed militias from importing more weapons. Egypt, by the way, enforces the same border restrictions.
As for your revisionist history of “Palestine,” there was never a sovereign Palestinian state to be “colonized.” The Ottomans ruled the region for centuries, then the British. The UN offered partition in 1947 — two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jews said yes. The Arabs said no, choosing war instead. Since then, the Palestinians have rejected every subsequent offer of statehood — from 1948 to Camp David to Olmert’s 2008 proposal. Eighty years of “no.”
Your accusation of “genocide” is obscene. Israel, a democracy defending itself against an army of jihadists hiding behind civilians, has repeatedly paused fighting to deliver aid — something no genocidal regime has ever done.
You end by calling for AIPAC’s removal, as if silencing American Jews who support Israel will make your arguments any truer. It won’t. What has made Israel a “pariah” in some circles isn’t its actions — it’s the moral inversion of people who can’t tell the difference between a terrorist and a defender, between lies and history.
I understand that Palestine was under Ottoman rule, but nonetheless the dominant population were Palestinians, and more Christians then Jews. Basically at the time of WWI Europe had a colonial mindset that dominated their perspective. and one that was very prejudicial towards the Muslim world. The Palestinians engaged in trade, had a railroad system, and they constituted the majority, some 90 percent or so. That is the truth. As far as Israel implementing a genocide, well, lets just say most of the world perceives it that way, and I agree. Even if you don't. However, if you were honest you would acknowledge the barbarism that has been inflicted on a people including children and young people who never even voted for Hamas. Too young. Also remember that Israel was forewarned, and had Hamas's plans the year before, spotters who died during that assault had reported suspicious behavior by Hamas, but also were ignored, as was Egypt's warnings. Many of the deaths inflicted on the Jewish people that night were done by Israel. Not only because they implemented the Hannibal directive but dropping bombs, killing their own in the chaos. Hamas was able to hit 20 towns before anyone was there to help them. Israel lied about babies killed, women raped, etc. No one is calling for Jews to be silenced in America. I have cousins who are Jewish and none feel they are being silenced, and none are in support of what Israel is doing, and let me tell you they are loud about it. AIPAC has got to go and stop pretending they are doing grand things or are supportive of Jewish people, not ordinary Jewish people, maybe themselves and Israel and their agenda, and ask yourself where has all this gotten us?
You toss out half-truths and debunked claims with the confidence of someone who’s never questioned the propaganda they’re repeating.
Yes, Palestine was under Ottoman rule — which means it was never a sovereign “Palestinian” state. It was an imperial province, not a nation. And the term “Palestinian” didn’t even refer to a distinct national identity until the mid-20th century. The overwhelming majority of the land was uninhabited or sparsely populated — Mark Twain described it in 1869 as “a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds.” Jews, Christians, and Muslims all lived there — and the idea that there was some flourishing, unified Palestinian polity before Zionism is pure fantasy.
As for your “genocide” accusation — that word loses all meaning when applied to a war waged because Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, burned families alive, and dragged hostages into tunnels. Israel didn’t invade Gaza to erase a people; it went in to destroy a terror army that hides under hospitals and schools. The tragedy of civilian deaths lies squarely with Hamas, whose strategy is to ensure maximum Palestinian suffering for propaganda value. Calling that genocide isn’t moral outrage — it’s moral illiteracy.
Your claims about the “Hannibal directive,” Israel bombing its own civilians, and fabricated rape stories come straight from Hamas disinformation channels. They’ve been thoroughly investigated and debunked. To parrot them is to aid a terror organization that proudly films its atrocities.
You say your Jewish cousins oppose Israel — fine. There were always Jews who defended Stalin too; it doesn’t make them right. Dissent isn’t truth. And your swipe at AIPAC is predictable — the same tired trope that Jewish political advocacy is somehow sinister. AIPAC supports the U.S.-Israel alliance — the only democracy in the Middle East, the one that shares America’s values and fights the same Islamist extremists who would gladly kill you if given the chance.
So no, it’s not Israel that’s the problem here. It’s the willful ignorance of those who look at a terrorist massacre, a nation’s right to self-defense, and decades of rejected peace offers — and somehow find a way to blame the victims.
Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire until if fell and was occupied primarily by Palestinians, some Jews, some Christians, and as far as the jews are concerned, those that originally resided there went elsewhere, like Europe. It was no longer their homeland. It was nothing but a prejudicial mindset that saw it as a land without a people and a colonial mindset who thought they could hand it over to the Zionist Jews who lived in Europe. They had no claim to that land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! None!!!!!!!!!!! I never said my cousins oppose Israel, but oppose the genocide. No sense talking to you because you will twist and turn everything that everyone says and you're willing to support a genocide based on lies. Your not willing to have other's see your perspective but push your perspective down other people's throats.
You’re shouting exclamation points instead of facts. The Jewish connection to the land isn’t a “colonial mindset” — it’s 4,000 years of history, archaeology, and unbroken presence. Jews didn’t “go elsewhere”; they were driven out by conquering empires but never stopped praying, writing, and returning to Jerusalem. Every empire — Babylonian, Roman, Ottoman, British — came and went. The Jews came back. That’s not colonialism; that’s homecoming.
The idea that Europeans “handed over” the land is also false. The League of Nations Mandate recognized the Jewish historical claim and the right to reestablish a national home — long before Israel declared independence. Jews legally bought land, built towns, revived Hebrew, and defended themselves against repeated Arab attempts to annihilate them.
You accuse Israel of genocide while Hamas’s charter literally calls for exterminating Jews. You ignore that Israel withdrew from Gaza, that Hamas started every war since, and that Israel drops leaflets to warn civilians while Hamas forces them to stay and die for photo ops. That’s not twisting facts — that’s called knowing them.
You say there’s “no sense talking” because you’re right and everyone else is evil. That’s not moral clarity; it’s intellectual laziness. History isn’t erased because it’s inconvenient to your politics — and repeating “no claim to the land” doesn’t make 3,000 years of Jewish civilization disappear.
>”Israel didn’t “warehouse” Palestinians in Gaza; it withdrew completely in 2005”
You sounded like a holocaust denier. You talk BS. 😂
Another useless, inane comment from Coda. Why do you bother?
> Israel left Gaza in 2005.
It’s easy to spot a holocaust denier. They easily believe and spread BS. 😂
deleted/blocked
I think it’s important to remember there are two sides obstructing peace here, not just Israel. If we’re going to talk about whose “agenda” is the obstacle, it matters that large parts of the Palestinian movement still chant “From the river to the sea” — a slogan that, whatever one’s interpretation, clearly envisions a future without Israel existing at all. That’s not a vision of coexistence or two states; it’s the mirror image of the maximalism you’re accusing Israel of.
And it’s not as if Palestinian leadership has consistently accepted peace offers either — time and again, they’ve rejected deals that would have created a state because they wouldn’t even acknowledge Israel’s right to remain. That refusal undercuts the idea that one side is solely to blame for the lack of a “political horizon.”
None of that excuses policies that deny basic rights or perpetuate occupation. But it does mean that if we’re serious about understanding why peace remains elusive, we have to acknowledge that absolutism exists on both sides — and that self-determination requires mutual recognition, not just one-sided concessions.
When American Christians stop supporting the government of Israel things will change. Israel depends on the Old Testament connection but the younger generations see the hypocrisy and will not be fooled . Can’t happen soon enough!
Sam C
Halted? No, it’s just a pause. Trump and Netanyahu are both politically desperate. This facade of a peace deal will help them score big points by getting hostages freed. The hostages were the only reason they didn’t drop even more bombs. I really don’t know why Hamas would enter into any deal with them; they must know that America and the Zionsits regime will never keep their word.
Very strange!
Seems to me a precedent has been set, for land and property theft in very many parts of the world:
Just INVADE, rape and kill brutally, and many will want to leave. Those that remain are killed off by Genocide!
Then all the wealth of the land is yours for FREE!!!
This encourages many countries to massively strengthen their military, an arms race, ultimately acquiring Nuclear Missiles as the ultimate deterrent.
I do not believe there is any flaw in my argument.
🇮🇱 leads the world directly on a path of DESTRUCTION.
As such, we should have no need of an 🇮🇱
No flaw indeed.
Nuclear weapons might not exist, but the fear-based business-first attitude prevails regardless.
Who among us has fully negated that attitude?
No it’s a slow death campaign
John, ceasefire is not peace. And it's definitely not part of a free Palestinian state recognition.
As I point out here https://vacuuum.substack.com/p/israel-hamas-deal-success-or-failure in this first stage of the deal, we’re shifting from a phase where the military dictated policy, to a new cycle of political negotiations. This is new. This could potentially shift the spotlight in Israel’s Cabinet from the Defence Minister to other less radical government figures.
For the world.... waiting for the other shoe to drop.
https://heratreport.substack.com/p/the-attack-on-manchester-jews-is?r=607974
Why shouldn't Israel pay for the damage?
And Israel shouldn't have the power to stop a Palestinian state. I don't think it does have the power. It is one state in the world and on its own it lacks power.
Thanks for your great work!
We've shared this link on 'The Stacks'
https://askeptic.substack.com/p/the-stacks
Class 105
A Practical Example
How would the teachings and principles found in this course work in practice?
The following example illustrates their application.
If the teachings in this course had been utilized immediately after the terrorist attack on October 7th, 2023—when Palestinians influenced by Hamas breached the Gaza border fence and murdered and kidnapped Israeli citizens—Israel’s reaction would have been much different.
The principles found in this course strongly advocate for applying the teachings of both Howard Zinn and the Dalai Lama to such situations.
Therefore, rather than seeking revenge, those in power would have asked themselves: Why would someone want to do this to us?
Instead of retaliating against Palestinians, the Israeli government would have attempted to help them.
The Israeli government and those affected by this tragedy would have paused for self-reflection. After asking themselves difficult questions and answering them honestly, they would have done what was in their power to help the people of Gaza rather than brutalizing them.
This approach recognizes that there are reasons Hamas acted as they did.
It also acknowledges that helping others makes one feel better about oneself.
Remember: kindness tends to beget more kindness, and cruelty tends to beget more cruelty.
So if you’re truly interested in breaking the cycle of violence, you must respond to cruelty with kindness.
This is what should have happened.
Beyond that, isn’t this what all of the world’s religions call for, including Christianity? Shouldn’t the religious right in the United States agree with this kind of stance?
Unless they’re hypocrites, the answer would be - yes.
But is This What Happened?
But is this what happened?
No…
The exact opposite happened.
And not only that, the US government went along with the brutalization of the Palestinians in Gaza. And all the while the Palestinians in the West Bank were continued to be bullied too.
It seems like those who once bullied are now the bullies.
How might one wrap their mind around that?
Is this the kind of thing the US should be a party to?
The answer is NO.
NO - NO - NO - NO - NO -NO.
It’s a despicable disgrace that the US government went along with this shit-show. It’s absolutely despicable. And we in the US should be ashamed of ourselves.
It’s truly despicable.
AND THIS IS WHY WE’RE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE AS A SPECIES.
And this is why this course makes for the basis of a very good political platform. It makes for a very good basis for a good non-religious religion. And it also makes for how best to try to train AI.
This is the gospel truth.
I would call this a beautiful dream of the evolution of human awareness and empathy, but we are deevolving and I see no chance whatsoever for this dream to become reality in America.
I think it’s also important to point out that it would have only taken one person on earth to prevent what’s happened to the Palestinians in Gaza since 10/7/23 and the person is Joe Biden. Instead of doing what I suggested, Biden did the exact opposite. He went and hugged Benjamin Netanyahu and gave him the green light to brutalize the Palestinians. He supported the Zionist regime in Israel with military support and diplomatic cover. And as a result of those actions, Joe and Kamala lost to The Donald. And now we have what we have.
Don’t isn’t out of the realm of possibility that we might be able to turn the ship around but it takes good leadership. And unfortunately we’ve had very poor leadership in the United States for a very long time. And that leadership has gotten markedly worse to the point to where we now have the worst person on the planet for the job running the show.
That’s why I wanted to run for president in 2016, 2020 and in 2024. But now with the release of my film, which makes for the platform of a third party in the US, I’m going to run in 2028. It might be too late by then to save our souls. …..Hopefully not…
Sadly I think you might be right. But I’d like to think that if people were given a clear explanation of how to best proceed, the majority of the American electorate would likely support it.