PM urges students not to join pro-Palestinian protests on 7 October

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has urged students not to join pro-Palestinian protests on Tuesday, the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, warning of "rising antisemitism on our streets".

Sir Keir said it was "un-British to have little respect for others" by staging demonstrations on the anniversary, adding protests had been used by some as a "despicable excuse to attack British Jews".

I am neither young nor am I British, but I suspect if there’s one thing British students just love, it’s being tut-tutted by dickhead government geezers.

John MacArthur, pastor of the Grace Community Church megachurch and founder of Grace to You Ministries is dead at 86

Most of you who were not raised in American Evangelicalism probably don’t know who this bozo was, but for those who were, please celebrate with me!

My understanding is that Israel, as a nation, has completely shut down economically. No one is working, everyone is in bunkers and safe rooms. IF this is true, this is the most unsustainable aspect of the war. It cannot continue for much longer. Israel, as a much a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie as any western nation, will either have to sue for peace or force people out of the bunkers and back to work under fire.

David Harvey defines capitalism as “value in motion”. Motion is the process of producing something, selling it, then taking the proceeds and investing it in more production. Marx explicitly proves this at the end of volume 2 of Capital but really, the idea that capitalism must always be in motion and always be expanding saturates his works. Motion is the beating heart of capitalism. It’s not that a country can’t survive because there’s no economic activity. Under other economic systems yes, but the lack motion in capitalism will kill it.

In the US, we were always going to just let COVID rip. One reason is because neoliberalism has hollowed out the state’s ability to respond to crises. But just as much as that, capitalists cannot let everyone just stay home, even if the state reimbursed their losses.

I don’t think can go on for many more days, much less weeks. I expect we’ll hear stories about how Israelis need to “get back to work” to show Iran they’re not scared or whatever. But even Israelis are not above the whims of capital.

I am starting to wonder if the last 24 hours is actually good for Palestinian liberation. Trump's proposal for Gaza has been viewed in such negative terms by EVERYONE across the globe, since I don't think he will be able to implement it, I think it only further isolates Israel and makes them even more of a pariah.

The Saudis already pouring cold water on this plan.

I don’t doubt Trump wants to do this, he’s had Bibi whispering in his ear all day about it. Just like how he wants to take over Greenland, the Panama Canal, and fucking Canada. But operationally this plan is DOA. The Saudis aren’t on board, Sisi knows he will get coiled by the military if not murdered by his own people if he goes along. And I think most actually knowledgeable people in the deep state know how bad it’s gonna look when Qassam starts releasing videos of US soldiers getting got.

Trump wants a lot of things, but there is no way this happens. Honestly IMO I think even Bibi knows this and he’s only hyping this up to Trump to try and torpedo the ceasefire deal.

Israel has killed more journalists in Gaza in one year (170) than all the journalists killed in WW2 (67) and the Vietnam War (68) combined.

How Israel killed hundreds of its own people on 7 October

Excellent long-form analysis on this by Asa Winstanley.

Lebanon's National News Agency has reported that internationally banned white phosphorus bombs were deployed in the recent Israeli strike on #Beirut.

White phosphorus is notorious for its devastating effects on human flesh, as it is highly soluble in tissue and can inflict deadly thermal and chemical burns that reach deep into the bones.

Victims of white phosphorus exposure endure excruciating pain and may suffer long-term damage to internal organs. Even inhaling the vapor can lead to severe inflammation of the trachea, making the use of such weapons a grave violation of international law and human rights.

Source

I normally feel very ashamed to be an American, but today it feels exceptionally so. If you don’t live in a country that is actively supporting this genocide, then consider yourself fortunate. It feels like shit being from this shithole. Death to America.

Watching Hasan just now, he had a clip on that I think is perfect example of how Israeli / US propaganda seeps into the national consciousness (don't know how to link Youtube without trackers, but you can see the clip for yourself by searching for the account "CBS Mornings" and the title is "Breaking down the Middle East conflict: Israel's strikes on Hezbollah, U.S. troop movements".

First off, CBS Mornings is the kind of generic news program that my boomer parents watch. Like most of the non-cable news networks, the public sees it as "impartial", if maybe a little boring.

OK, so in this clip, you have 3 news anchors. In other countries there may be news anchors who know what they are talking about... but that's definitely not the case in the US. They're just... dumbasses with communications degrees who got where they are at because they are conventionally attractive, articulate, and can speak with authority. They don't actually know about or understand these issues. They ask dumbass questions that dumbass Americans themselves might ask someone, all done without any pushback or probing follow-through of interviewees. Because they themselves have no actual understanding the world around them.

The person they are asking their questions to - Samantha Vinograd - is NOT a dumbass. She is, however, a CIA/State Dept asset and not even shy about it. She knows the company line very well. So you have three dumbasses asking a real pro what to think about Israel. And she knows exactly how to play that fiddle and how to frame it. She doesn't even need to prepare for challenging questions because they will never come.

So your typical American watches this, and all they need to know is placed right in front of them, without having to do any sort of critical thought. It's people who are seemingly asking "good" questions even though they're not and have no idea what's going on, getting those questions answered by just the right person that the CIA/State Dept wants there.

Two tweets I thought were good:

From Rania Khalek (she lives in Lebanon):

At times like this we need this reminder.

Israel has never been more isolated, it’s unprecedented

Israel is going the way of apartheid South Africa & Rhodesia, two countries by the way that Israel was the last to support, even trying to get a nuclear weapon for South Africa.

Israel is going the way of all the British Colonies. Israel is going the way of Nazi Germany and of the slave owners across the Americas and the Caribbean.

There will come a day when Israeli apartheid falls. And historians will have plenty of documentation of who stood where when Israel carried out a holocaust in Gaza while terrorizing anyone who dared to intervene to stop a genocide.

I know I stand on the right side of history along with most of you.

And from Jason Hickel:

To sum up, Israel is conducting genocide in Gaza, ethnically cleansing the West Bank, and massacring civilians in Lebanon, all at the same time. The violence and chaos that the Zionist regime perpetrates is staggering in scale. It must be stopped and dismantled.

Hillary Clinton Suggests Posting Russian Propaganda Should Be A Crime

"I think it's important to indict the Russians, just as Muller indicted a lot of Russians who were engaged in direct election interference and boosting Trump back in 2016," Clinton said, referring to 2018 indictments against Russian individuals and companies accused of election tampering to boost support for Trump in the 2016 election.

"But I also think there are Americans who are engaged in this kind of propaganda. And whether they should be civilly or even in some cases criminally charged is something that would be a better deterrence, because the Russians are unlikely, except in a very few cases, to ever stand trial in the United States."

They really want to make saying “we should stop propping up Ukraine and pursue a peaceful end to the conflict” a crime, along with pretty much anything that challenges US hegemony, don’t they?