by James Corbett
corbettreport.com
December 27, 2016
From the way Israel is reacting, you would think that someone had dropped a nuke on Tel Aviv.
Prime Minister Netanyahu summoned the US ambassador to deliver an official diplomatic protest.
He went public with his attack, too, calling the recent actions against Israel “reckless and destructive” and excoriating John Kerry and President Obama for their own part in this fiendish skullduggery.
He ordered the Israeli diplomatic machinery to start curtailing their working ties with UN Security Council members, including minimizing diplomatic visits and denying foreign ambassadors access to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Not to be outdone, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch, turned the National Hanukkah Menorah lighting ceremony in Washington on Sunday into a weapon of diplomacy when he squeezed in a not-so-subtle dig about the “darkness” of the UN Security Council’s recent actions.
Even Newt Gingrich got in on the act, finding an excuse to blame the whole fiasco on (who else?) those dastardly Russkies.
So what unthinkable, egregious violation did the Security Council commit? Why, they dared to condemn ethnic cleansing, of course.
More specifically, the Security Council passed Resolution 2334 last week, condemning “all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions.”
For those not well versed in the subject, compare the resolution’s language to the literal dictionary definition of ethnic cleansing: “the expulsion, imprisonment, or killing of an ethnic minority by a dominant majority in order to achieve ethnic homogeneity.”
What countries on the planet could possibly object to a resolution condemning ethnic cleansing? Well, for a long time the only two countries on the planet that have objected to this type of resolution have been Israel and the United States, with the US specifically vetoing resolution after resolution on the crimes of Israel in occupied Palestine. But the US sat this one out, choosing to abstain from the vote rather than veto it; hence Netanyahu’s ire at the Obama administration.
The US’ abstention on this resolution is not just unorthodox; it is almost without precedent. As Jean Shaoul points out in a recent article on the resolution:
“According to a Security Council Report, the US has vetoed 30 resolutions relating to Israel and the Palestinians, and another dozen relating to Israel and Lebanon or Syria. Combined, these make up more than half of its 77 vetoes since the UN was established in 1946.”
So unusual is this inversion of the diplomatic status quo that we were just treated to the pinnacle of bizarro politics: a speech by US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power—humanitarian love bomber and wife of Cass “Cognitive Infiltration” Sunstein—that wasn’t complete nonsense.
“The total settler population in the West Bank and East Jerusalem now exceeds 590,000. Nearly 90,000 settlers are living east of the separation barrier that was created by Israel itself. And just since July 2016 – when the Middle East Quartet issued a report highlighting international concern about a systematic process of land seizures, settlement expansions, and legalizations – Israel has advanced plans for more than 2,600 new settlement units. Yet rather than dismantling these and other settler outposts, which are illegal even under Israeli law, now there is new legislation advancing in the Israeli Knesset that would legalize most of the outposts – a factor that propelled the decision by this resolution’s sponsors to bring it before the Council.”
Feel free to insert your own wisecrack about broken clocks being right twice a day here.
So what does all of this mean? Luckily for Israel, it means almost nothing.
The resolution itself is, needless to say, completely toothless, lacking any mechanism to compel Israel to enforce its own laws on the illegal settlements.
Sanctions, of course, are not an option, because as we all know even requiring labels for settlement-made Israeli goods is a heinous act that could (gasp!) delegitimize Israel.
And to top it all off, President-elect Trump has gone out of his way to make sure that his close personal friend, the “great great” Prime Minister Netanyahu, will have his way with America once again during the Trump administration.
Not only has Trump tweeted threats to the UN in retaliation for the resolution (right idea, wrong reason), but he has appointed David Friedman as Ambassador to Israel. Friedman has no diplomatic experience whatsoever, and his only qualification seems to be that he was Trump’s bankruptcy lawyer, but he is also a staunch supporter of the illegal settlements and opponent of a two-state solution.
And just last week Trump announced Jason Greenblatt as his special representative for international negotiations. Greenblatt, an ex-settler who previously worked guard duty at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, will be the Trump official overseeing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Still, even if the Security Council’s resolution is largely symbolic, it is now part of the official UNSC record and can be cited by the international community in future condemnation of illegal Israeli action. Individual symbolic resolutions may not amount to much, but the precedent of calling Israel out on its flagrantly illegal behavior, like their war crimes in Gaza in 2014, does add up in the long run. But that is small comfort to the people of occupied Palestine in the meantime.
As for Netanyahu, he gets to go on the outrage circuit, drumming up sympathy points from a soon-to-be President Trump, who has already declared himself a lifelong friend of Israel and perpetuated the 9/11 lies to blame that false flag event on Israel’s enemies rather than on the true perpetrators of the crime. And Netanyahu can also win sympathy points from his staunch supporters on the American right by blaming this whole event on Obama and the entire United Nations Security Council.
Strangely, though, amidst all the brouhaha of frayed diplomatic relations and curtailing of ties, there is no word yet out of Tel Aviv on whether Israel will be declining the record-setting $38 billion aid package the Obama administration promised earlier this year.
Thanks for writing this James.
I feel for the plight of the Palestinians who have been treated much like the Native Americans in American History.
But go figure…?…some in the alternative media are now extolling the virtues of the Zionists.
Examples:
http://www.infowars.com/the-un-security-council-has-just-officially-given-every-inch-of-east-jerusalem-to-the-palestinians/
http://www.infowars.com/10-times-that-god-has-hit-america-with-a-major-disaster-after-the-u-s-attempted-to-divide-the-land-of-israel/
Jones is an alternative media… person as much as I’m a fondue fork.
Aww, I see what you’re trying to do there. Worthy of a family guy cut-in.
At some future point Israel will become a pariah among nations, as South Africa became, as all injustices eventually are righted. There almost seems to be a force field around the expansionist policies of Israel, like some unmentioned threat that protects Israel from having to answer for its crimes. Does Israel have friends in high places like in the international banking cartel? The International Tribunal at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia convened and convicted Israel in November 2013 of committing the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people. The documentation is building.
UN had several “resolutions” regarding this matter, but Israel could rely on US to provide long distance veto support.
Well, these “resolutions” are not meant to stop anything. They are just expressing some feint sense of outrage of the so called international community. Which is basically just a bunch of no good, dime a dozen, bought sold, compromised politicians.
I’m not sure what’s this latest fare about, but it certainly isn’t about preventing Israel in doing anything. I’d expect to see this evolve into some sort of a false flag, where maybe US (due to Trump and all) will start to publicly take a tougher stance toward Israel (Bibi’s hissy fits complimentary) as to show to the public something is changing, while nothing really is.
That would be my best guess, anyway. All in all, nothing of any importance is going to happen following these decisions. It is so by design.
Thanks for the info James.
$38 BILLION DOLLARS in aid–WTF?–What is wrong with this picture?
It’s been over half a century of the US supporting Israel in every way shape and form. No exceptions. Netanyahu is a war monger. Now he’s stamping his little foot and making demands because the UNSC (for the first time EVER) wants him to stop murdering people? Don’t send the money and see what happens to Israel. Better yet, freeze his assets as has been done to Iraq, Syria and Iran.
And BTW for everyone reading this: “ethic cleansing” is a made-up soft phrase for GENOCIDE. The phrase was coined in the early 1990’s so that politicos could lessen the public impact of their participation in “genocide” by holding the act at arms length. That happened during the Yugoslav Wars when armed conflict took the form of organized armies going door-to-door murdering entire neighborhoods of Muslims and, eventually, visa-versa. It came into widespread use by the time of the Africa conflict between the Hutu/Tutsi. That was one of THE most bloody acts of genocide that piled bodies 30-feet high along the local river. The river ran red with the blood of innocents killed in the most horrific ways you can’t even image, all committed up-close-and-personal with machetes. Of course, no one in the USA cared about, Yugoslavia (when it was such) or Africa, just like Palestine today.
So, if you are using the horrid phrase “ethnic cleansing” to express TRUTH use the proper word, GENOCIDE. Ethnic cleansing was/is a phrase politicians use/used in public forums so they could/still can duck the fact they were/are supporting the GENOCIDE of various groups within humanity.
I actually grew up in that war and obviously fell for the hype of evil Serbs. Much atrocities have been committed in that war, but much more were a product of fantasy of psychopaths in charge, seeing “the big picture.”
Only later did I realize, once I managed to lift the shroud of nationalism from my eyes, that
a) there’s absolutely no perceivable reason for entire nations to be at war between each other, unless the ruling psychopaths wish that to be so
b) if you need to find out who started a conflict such as that one, just look who rushed in to accept independence of individual states. For Croatia and Slovenia it was Germany, later on US did it for Kosovo.
If you need to pinpoint your enemy, find the person who redraw the borders.
I have to point to a discrepancy at 15:33 between the narration and what’s shown on the screen and the translated text.
Narrator states:
“In reality, Yugoslavia, a unity of south Slavic peoples…”
The map shows several regions: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Voivodina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia.
Translation reads: “U suštini, Jugoslavija, unija četiri naroda…” which means, “In reality, Yugoslavia, a unity of four peoples…”
This only shows how deep rooted are the issues on this part of the Balkans, not even the most basic of translations can’t be done without applying a particular mindset. Also, gives true meaning to term Balkanization.
The irony in all this, is that Obama and Kerry, the 2 souls that Nethanhyu despise so much, have done more to protect Israel and secure its future, whereas Nethanhyu and his merry band of warmongering right wing mafia party lunatics are systematically putting Israel’s very existence at risk.
Kerry was imperative negotiating the P5+1 nuclear with Iran. If it wasn’t for this agreement, we’d still be in the dark not knowing what levels the Iranians were enriching their uranium, whereas now they are bound to inspections and retributions.
As far as UN Resolution 2334, the two state solution is the “ONLY” solution, yet Nethanhyu and the right wing mafia party in Israel and in the US, seem to believe that somehow they can incrementally build illegal settlements (ie steal), and somehow absorb Palestinians while remaining Jewish!!! This is absolutely ludicrous.
Furthermore, forget the occupied lands in Jerusalem and the West Bank, in 50 years or so, Arab Israeli’s will out breed the Jewish population and will be near 50% of Israel’s population, making it no longer a “Jewish” state!!!!
The only way to reverse this trend and to protect Israel’s future is with mass Jewish immigration, and no sane American Jew will want to uproot and relocate from NYC to Israel anytime soon, especially if warmongers control the Knesset and keep destabilizing their neighbors.
Peace is key to Israel’s survival, and time is running out.
Everybody deserves a place they can call home, and the state of Israel provides Jews a place where they can protect their culture without being subjected to assimilation. Same can be said about Palestinians, they too deserve a place that they can call home.
The trick is to find a way for both of them to share Jerusalem as their capital, much like the human heart 2 compartments share both the red blood and the blue blood. They could both learn something by simply watching how toddlers share their toys without throwing hissy fits.
Now, it’s true that the way the Zionists went about to create the state of Israel has caused way to much bloodshed worldwide over the years, however we live in the present, not the past. Do you really want the world to go through all that again? I don’t think so.
Would you ask Americans to give back to the Natives all of the land that was stolen from them many years ago? Of course not.
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Buddha
I think citizens of US should learn how to share Washington with the crony zionist elite. Or let them share Paris or London. These are the states supporting them, so why not go all the way.
Following your logic, all of these US wars of aggression and subversive occupations of so many countries around the world doesn’t really matter. Yes, lets look at the future and completely ignore the past. There’s nothing history can teach us, right?
Mourn for the past ≠ completely ignore the past
You need to learn how to read with understanding
(Thesaurus is your friend)
Buddha, according to your quote, stated “… not mourn for he past…”
I guess your advanced thesaurus laden reading techniques enable you to completely skip words which don’t fit. I hope I’ll stay on this toddler level which allows me to read what was written.
You’re reading comprehension is at a toddler level. So let me simplify it even more, just for you. So lets remove all wording from Buddha, and simply concentrate on two words…Mourn and Ignore
According to dictionary, the word Mourn: to feel or express sorrow or grief
According to dictionary, the word Ignore: to refrain from noticing or recognizing
Mourn for the past ≠ completely ignore the past
This is exactly the kind of word games the Israelis and Palestinians play …pathetic.
You are funny 😀
Remove buddha’s “words” from your initial comment and it makes *even less* sense.
If anything is pathetic here, it’s your Zionist apologeticism, which is in full frontal display right now. You want even more pathetic? Keep comparing a 300 year old genocide with an ongoing one.
Thumbs up.
I am a Zionist Apologist because I support a 2 state solution? Right, and that would make Nethanhyu and the far right anti-Zionist?
According to you the words “Mourn” and “Ignore” mean the exact same thing!!!
Honestly…
I think here it is required to create a distinction between Jews as God’s chosen people or Khazars to whom Judaism is more of a race than a religion and the other kind of Jews, the biblical ones, whom have lived among Arabs for a long long time.
Zionists tend to see “Arab Jews” as subhuman, they basically needed them just as filler. So, among other things, solicitation was required to get them to settle Palestine. There are many Jewish opponents of Israel worldwide, lets not forget that.
Well I don’t give a crap about PC, it’s just about using the proper terminology, that’s all. When I said “required” I meant logically, not due to whatever some people find to be appropriate.
When we typically discuss Jewry it’s assumed we’re talking about “those” Jews and it’s pretty evident who’s being discussed. However, you refereed to 3000 years of culture which to me seems a tad too inclusive. It is my understanding we’re dealing with a bunch of people whom were some 1500 years ago cast out of Asia, only to land in modern day Turkey. Later they took on Judaism blah blah blah fast forward to present day and here we are.
I prefer referring to these guys as European Jews, even if not spot on accurate, or Khazar when I need to make a distinction.
Zionists just refer to the elite bunch, they don’t even have to be Jewish, in any sense of the word.
I thought Jews on the middle east lived among Arabs relatively peacefully, newer dug that deep on this issue though.
The “persecution” mindset makes sense with Khazars especially, since, according to mythology, they have been cast out quite a few times for the disruptive influences, conniving behavior and usury. I guess the bit about teaching one’s kids from the early age about how everyone is out to get them would keep the gig up for a long time, provided you could count on strong generational projection of cultural values.
Instead of a fog of war, there’s a very serious war on language going on and the general public is left confused. Just look at the general state of affairs: the education and information services are failing miserably, people are overworked and underpayed, children are left to state for upbringing, there’s a zillion completely pointless distractions either way you look… it’s a wonder we are not right now in a trench eyeballing the big fat rat, fed on human eyeballs, for supper while hot depleted uranium shells fly inches away from our heads.
How to get people to see the truth about the current establishment? Maybe throw in some commercials in the Sunday game halftime or maybe we can start producing anti NWO toilet paper with facts about current state of affairs printed on it in 50 languages. Kidding aside, I have no idea.
Those are some fine articles, thanks for that.
— “The Jews have avoided assimilation for over 3000 years, almost all of that living “on the road”. —
Jews have avoided assimilation, mostly by being confined to ghettos and persecuted for almost 2000 years. It wasn’t until Napoleon emancipated Jews throughout Europe that they were finally free’d, and as a result, this new found freedom had the unforeseen consequence of assimilation, which then led to the creation of Zionism.
In addition, in a world of over 7 Billion people, in 3000 years they number only 12 million…how is that not assimilation?Furthermore, if everyone did a DNA test, there are high probabilities that most of us have traces of semitic blood.
Your hatred for Jews and how you use mental gymnastics to find ways to tarnish people like Obama and Kerry for having the guts to call out the far right that currently rule Israel is astounding…to say the least.
— Ahh, scratch the surface and we uncover a social justice warrior in our midst!–
Aren’t we all, why else are you here at the Corbett Report? And isn’t it the main reason why James started this website to begin with?
In regards to Zionism, does it really matter if it’s a racist ideology? I mean, it’s not like any of us will ever live there, so what’s it to you if Israel declares itself a Jewish State.
Furthermore, I could never understand the precondition recently imposed on the Palestinian leadership by Nethanhyu, after they had already recognized Israel existence more than 20 years ago. Now, all of a sudden, they must recognize Israel as “Jewish” http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.579701
Whether or not Israel decides to declare itself “Jewish” or not this is a domestic matter, to be decided by the Knesset and the Israeli people, it does not involve Palestinians whatsoever.
–As for Kerry and Obama, I think it’s a good thing that they did what they did in the last week, but it’s way too little way too late,…–
No, it isn’t to late. They are on the record supporting a two state solution, the Obama administration abstained on UN resolution 2334, because the illegal settlements impede the peace process. This is significant, because past administrations were always ambiguous on where they stood on this issue or Vetoed.
For the first time in decades, we seem to have a real divide when it comes American policy regarding settlements. The democratic party in on the record favoring a two state solution, whereas the Republicans seem to favor the status quo, maybe even favoring a one state solution (their position remains ambiguous regarding Israel becoming an apartheid state)
“It’s a totally, utterly obvious, undeniable statement about Israel, so we should somehow reward that low threshold of perception and honesty?”
They did so only because they needed to score some cheap political points, imo. Probably called in a favor from Benji, growled and wept for a few hours while kneeling on some dry corn after which the old crazy bastard gave them the green light to be “honest” for once in their wretched, putrid existences.
— This is a parting shot and that’s probably all it is. —
I respectfully disagree. As the far right in Israel keep pushing and pushing and pushing for more settlements in the coming months/years, the Obama/Kerry 2 state solution position will become even more ingrained into the democratic party platform.
— The only thing that’s changing is that Trump seems to be signaling an even more radically pro-Israel position, and that might actually serve to open up conversation on this in the US. —
Kerry’s speech has already generated debate in Israel. https://www.rt.com/news/372334-israel-referendum-west-bank-annexation/ The article states some Israeli MPs are now suggesting they hold a referendum to annex the West Bank.
I have to add, it will be interesting watching Trump’s administration in cahoots with Putin, Bibi and Brexit LeMay, how they plan on moving Israel’s Capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the coming months, while maintaining they support a 2 state state solution…yeah right!
Furthermore, assuming Britain (without Ireland and Scotland), the US and Russia move their embassies before Trump’s final year in 2020, how many countries will follow their lead, given that the entire world understands the 4th Geneva Convention applies to the territory Israel occupied in 1967, upheld by the recent UN resolution 2334? I think, not that many will follow.
— I don’t see what’s really changed here.–
Well, the change maybe subtle, you must read Trump’s Republican platform to understand
https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/media/documents/DRAFT_12_FINAL%5B1%5D-ben_1468872234.pdf
P.46 titled under “Our Unequivocal Support for Israel”
it states…
“We recognize Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state and call for the American embassy to be moved there in fulfillment of U.S. law”
Referencing Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (JEA), which calls to move the embassy within the first 6 months of taking office.
Now compare that wording to the democratic party’s platform regarding Jerusalem.
https://www.democrats.org/PARTY-PLATFORM#middle-east
it states…
“We will continue to work toward a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated directly by the parties that guarantees Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity.
While Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.
— Key words here …”work toward a two-state solution” and “final status negotiations”.
In other words, Trump plans on moving the US embassy to Jerusalem by June 2017, will then concentrate his support for Israel to annex East Jerusalem, and then tell Palestinians “too bad, so sad, guess you’ll have to find yourselves another city as your capital now…boo hoo!”
…and this, somehow, will bring about peace in the region? Man, 2017 is gonna be some kind of interesting.
I think this entire drama is only about restoring Obama’s lost patina as a man of peace and justice. After all, who is left to recover his political party from cynicism and defeat? After the war mongering, the creation of millions of refugees, the murderous drones, the record breaking financial and military support of the terrorizing, not to mention the scuttling of Saunder’s hopefuls? Also, please note the accompanying assertions that had Obama run in this election, Trump would have been defeated. Someone had to be elevated out of the ashes to restore any belief whatever in the Democratic Party This charade wipes out Obama’s Mideast war mongering complicity in the minds of the headline readers. And in the nick of time, too.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, wattscroft. I tend to agree with you. I immediately formed the same interpretation as you have on this ‘performance,’ as soon as I saw John Carey appear on the msm nightly news.
12th Grader interviews USS Liberty survivor – Late Dec 2016
USS Liberty Survivor Sergeant Bryce Lockwood Reveals Truth about the USS Liberty False Flag Attack
In this interview High School Senior Luke Marshall talks with Sergeant Bryce Lockwood who was aboard the USS Liberty on June 8th, 1967. They talk about whether the attack on the Liberty was a false flag, the role people such as LBJ and Robert Mcnamara played in the attack, and Zionism in politics. Luke states: “The lesson to be learned: the men who were on the Liberty and their families deserve justice. We must get Israel out of American foreign policy and put an end to Zionism and Israeli oppression of the Palestinians.”
VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6k7RQccuzU
Luke Marshall’s website
http://voluntaryist.com/fundamentals/introduction.html#.WGPHL68ixKY
It’s fun to see the kids try to damage their enemies property before they leave town using the car they’ve been joy riding for the last 8 years – and demolishing it in the process. Seems the Balfourian manner has its fallibilities after all 1st Earl.
Palestinians and the American Indians
I recently viewed Corbett’s re-release about Lysander Spooner which gives us insight into handling today’s issues by looking at History.
https://www.corbettreport.com/episode-255-shoulders-of-giants-lysander-spooner/
I think it behooves us to gain perspectives by looking at History when it comes to handling the “Bullies” of the world. Similar to the current situation with Israel and Palestine, I sometimes try to think of “what would have been viable solutions for the American Indian’s dilemma?”
After all, we “free men” are in a situation also.
Picking a specific time in History, the following is an interesting story about Native Americans.
Former officially ordained Indian Territory, Oklahoma, became a State in 1907.
– Elements of some Libertarian ideas –
Listen to this plight of its inhabitants following statehood: They want protection from the bankers, the railroads, big corporations and bring control back to the local level…
(short VIDEO clip)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6toRK8T7zBU&feature=youtu.be&t=3m23s
51 States, not 50 States
Ethically, in 1907 the United States should have had the “State of Sequoya” (Indian Territory which is currently the eastern half of Oklahoma).
Watch this short clip which contains some things not often found in history books. (e.g. Even in the 1800’s, Native Americans had their own bilingual newspapers, schools, well organized and efficient “white man type government”, etc.)
VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ7Cmr3MQ8A&feature=youtu.be&t=4m14s
Native Americans, citizenship and voting
On June 2, 1924, Congress granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S. Yet even after the Indian Citizenship Act, some Native Americans weren’t allowed to vote because the right to vote was governed by state law. Until 1957, some states barred Native Americans from voting.
1870’s It is wonderful that the U.S. killed off 30-60 million buffalo to help ward off climate change.
“Colorado School of Public Health” would support the annihilation of the buffalo.
(1 minute video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIrDuQMBdh0
– Green House Gases & Animals –
A cow or buffalo does on overage release between 70 and 120 kg of Methane per year. ~ Ten head = One tonne methane
One unit of methane is equivalent to 25 units of CO2.
So, ten American Bison would produce 25 tonnes of CO2 carbon tax credits yearly. (One head producing 2.5 tonnes of CO2 carbon credits)
Australia would have had to tax each head of buffalo at around $75.00 a year.
Imagine the carbon cost which Native Americans would have had to bear each year during the 1870’s. Billions of dollars!! Thank goodness we wiped out the buffalo. We did the Indians a big favor and also saved the planet while helping the fertilizer industry with bone meal.
Oh my gosh!…Don’t fart, don’t poop, don’t burp and kill all the animals which do in order to save the planet.
Links
CO2 equivalents – https://climatechangeconnection.org/emissions/co2-equivalents/
Once carbon pricing in Australia ($24 tonne)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_pricing_in_Australia
Penn State University studies this Buffalo methane issue – http://extension.psu.edu/animals/dairy/news/2011/wild-ruminants-burp-methane-too
Lets starve this planet for CO2!
I think you have a loose board there, there are many people taking part in this damned thing, not only Zionists. The lowest common denominator is not Zionism, but, in this specific case, the Jewish race. Once again, has nothing to do with religion.
Also it isn’t the same as saying that “all Jews are in it” or “all Jews are the same” which is immaterial, readily obvious and completely beside the point. That kind of reasoning is something conspiracy theory theorists would use to dismiss the whole matter in one slide.
More to the point: why so many Zionists don’t live in Israel, while all of the Jews are expected to live there?
I have deliberately and in no uncertain terms stated that not all of the X are the same, haven’t I? You’re reading the way you choose, that’s the lowest common denominator in this discussion.
“Jews as race” reflects what I find to be a probable description of this sort of people we’re dealing with today, the so called European Jews. Has nothing to to with Arabs nor the so called biblical Jews. If this account of events is correct, these people who adopted Judaism are from an Asian descent. But that’s also not that much important, what’s important is that Judaism for them is not a matter of religion, but something you’re (mostly) being born into.
The reasons why I am separating this from Zionism is that, based on the lowest common denominator, which for all effects and purposes is nationalism and or racism, we can understand why and how would people of certain origin work in unison to further their goals and project power by, among other things, holding cultural traits in high regard.
The Zionist elite may be the ones wielding this power and giving it direction, but on their own they couldn’t do shit. I don’t find any of these people to be evil by birth or anything of the sort, much of it is a product of conditioning and already mentioned cultural norms.
Good article, James. Unfortunately, as long as the US allows dual citizenship this will continue.
Zionists and AIPAC have near total control of the Senate and HoR. The election of Donald Trump appears to be continuing this.
This is not about Jews. It’s important to keep making the distinction. You leave yourself wide open to straw man Hasbara bullshit otherwise.
This is about Khazarian Zionist cabalists and the lies they have perpetrated on the Jewish people and the world since the 1800s. They have totally corrupted Israel and the Middle East. They continue to abominate the Palestinians. They are genocidal. They are not Jewish. They are scum.
I’d be much more inclined into thinking she simply lied about her origins. People are implanted with these ideas, one does not get born as a monster.
I guess psychopaths may have a gene or two missing or extra, but than that wouldn’t relate to being of Jewish descent. Maybe it could be argued these psycho genes could be pruned and made to stand out with proper breeding, but that’s a bit too much over the top for me.
I’ll side with what I find to be most probable: psychopaths raise psychopaths. Remove conscience and empathy and it becomes obvious how these people reason. 1 child or 500.000, what’s the difference.
I think James Corbett is an international treasure. However, his perspective on the Israel/Palestine issue is perplexing. James describes himself as an anarchist, but like most progressives he take a reflexive anti-Israel stance. Siding with the underdog is a powerful intoxicant for many, which allows one to gloat with moral righteousness. I am not a Jew or an apologist for Israel, but it does not take much examination to see that the Palestinians are not a morally righteous “cause” worth the hundreds of millions in aid and perennial international diplomatic efforts made on their behalf over the last half century.
Rather, the Palestinians are professional victims, and the UN is effectively their PR firm. From where I sit, the Palestinians are their own worst enemy, failing to embrace forward thinking ideals and effective governance, seemingly culturally unable to do what is in their own best interest and instead indulging their own dysfunctions, violence, and bigotry like common ghetto thugs rollicking in their nihilistic behaviors.
Palestine is the “hood” of the Middle East, and even the rest of the Middle East wants nothing to do with it (preferring to leave it to Israel to sort out, and cynically acting to preserve the status quo in order to keep constant pressure on Israel). To overlook these glaring failures and focus instead on the failings and cynicism of Israel’s policies is absurd, and deliberately misses the fundamental crux of the issue: culture.
Of course, progressive notions about cultural relativism and multiculturalism prevent any honest discussion about the essential importance of culture and a sober accounting of the features of successful versus failed cultures. Simple question: How is it that some small minority populations manage to persist and succeed anywhere they are found in the world, even surrounded by much larger, poorer populations? (Jews, Lebanese, Asians)
Seeing the tide of poor and dysfunctional masses surrounding them, I do not blame Israeli’s for building a wall and doing everything in their power to preserve their own cultural identity (which, by the way, is not racial).
The irony is that if Palestinians could take even a modest step toward rational and stable long-term cultural and political enlightenment, no doubt there would be enormous regional and international aid coming their way- not least of which would come from Israel directly, whose aim would be to help Palestine become a strong and stable trading partner of Israel.
But they refuse to take such steps, despite huge efforts to accommodate them. A rational person can only conclude that they are not actually interested in accommodation, compromise, or solutions. So why are they perpetually the “good guy” in this fight?
And to help bolster my assertions, this recent (stunning) confession from a progressive Muslim journalist published at the Daily Beast:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/30/why-did-obama-pander-to-the-un-s-stunning-anti-israel-bias.html
grbcpt,
I’m known as an Israeli apologist here, but common man, Palestinians basically want a country of their own, and to share Jerusalem as their Capital, that’s it.
It’s seems rather simple to me…the first thing that has to happen is for Israel to stop building settlements on Palestinian land!!!
Once they stop building settlements, then both can start negotiating land swaps (borders), Palestinian right of return (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt will have to be involved) and then a “united” Jerusalem as a shared Capital.
I don’t agree that successful negotiations hinge on Israel taking some first step. I think success is predicated on willingness for all parties to compromise, which has not been demonstrated but in a few select instances over the last 50 years. Setting preconditions is not going to achieve anything. And the simple political reality is that Israel is stronger and is not going anywhere, and so can live with the status quo. I think the Palestinians cannot accept this fact, and are instead hoping for some long shot event (Iran?) or simple demographic tidal wave to eventually overcome Israel. This is frankly pathetic, but such cynical nihilism seems to be a tradition in their culture (which helps explain suicide bombers and child soldiers).
“…preconditions is not going to achieve anything”
— Exactly, no need for Nethanhyu to demand Palestinians to recognize Israel as “Jewish” prior to negotiating, and as far as settlements are concerned, you’re correct, Palestinians should not wait until settlement building stops because Nethanhyu proved time and time again that he simply does not care.
“…Israel is stronger and is not going anywhere, and so can live with the status quo.”
— Hmmm, no. Is Israel military and economically stronger…yes obviously, however people all over the world are now very much aware of their delay tactic(s) in order to buy time so they can continue to build more settlements in and around Jerusalem. This awakening can be proven by movements such as the BDS movement and mass protest all over the world during the last Gaza war.
Furthermore, the status quo cannot work long term. Arab Israeli’s will become close to 50% of Israel’s population in 50 years or so, because
1- Arab Israelis have bigger families, and…
2- Israeli Jews are immigrating from Israel to Europe and America mainly for economic reasons.
No need for Palestinians to resort to Terrorism like they did in the past, (its counter productive) nor do they need to rely on Iran, all they need to do is breed and keep adding to the list of countries that recognize Palestine pre-1967 borders via the UN. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_the_State_of_Palestine
…time, isn’t on Israel’s side, sorry.
It seems your knowledge of this matter is relatively new. I have been witness from afar to this situation for several decades, now numbed by the whole spectacle.
Obviously, Netanyahu was not the first Israeli statesman to contend with the Palestinian issue. I might refer you to the several other Israeli statesmen who attempted in some semblance of good faith to negotiate with the Palestinians, beginning with Begin, including Rabin who was murdered for his role in seeking peace, up to the present and Netanyahu, who is decidedly a hard liner.
But his attitude and rise to power did not materialize in a vacuum. Let’s recall the Camp David Accords way back in the 70s all the way up to the Oslo Accords in the 90s, which could never have happened had the Israeli’s not been willing to compromise, and how over the course of these negotiations the PLO walked away from several opportunities for compromise, and instead called upon their constituency to riot (Intifadas 1 & 2), openly endorsing suicide bombings of Israeli civilians, and somehow sympathetically characterizing these bombers as “martyrs”.
You might recall that Muslim extremists murdered the president of Egypt (Sadat) in 1981 just for having the temerity to negotiate a peace deal with Israel (which, among other things, did not meet expectations for Palestinian statehood).
You might go back to the very beginning of Israel, and recall that the very day after Israel declared its statehood in 1948, it was attacked by four neighboring nations (Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria), and even before this was experiencing terror attacks from Palestinian gangs.
So we see a lot of recalcitrance and cynicism, but considering the long history of the conflict, it is absurd to paint the problems somehow onto Israel’s position, or onto Netanyahu and his recent tenure.
Demographics are indeed a challenge for Israel, but this assumes they are not also a time bomb for Palestine and Jordan (who, by the way, is not at all comfortable with a large, poor, and radical population brewing just over the border), or that Israel won’t continue to act in its own interest in securing its territory and culture.
And your remark that “people all over the world are now very much aware of [Israel’s] tactics..” is a massive exaggeration based on your obvious personal biases, no doubt influenced by the wildly progressive MSM and the ridiculous Israel-hating UN (which has since 1949 spent decades and billions on nursing the Palestinians, dwarfing any other UN initiative in the world in terms of time/money, as if the Palestinian situation were somehow more important/severe than any other- complete irrational nonsense).
If nothing else, time has shown these institutions to be ideologically corrupt and not representative of the thoughts of the average citizen. I include myself among these, who after years of witnessing the false hand wringing and gaming the victimization card all across the spectrum of progressive causes, have washed my hands of their nonsense- Palestine being one of their favorite nonsense narratives.
Let’s just try to keep to nominal “facts” and then re-engage on adult terms:
Genocide:
Palestine population growth:
http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/site/lang__en/881/default.aspx#Census
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Palestinian_territories
Around 3% per year pop growth across the territories going back over 15 years, where there are now around 10mm people (2016). Interesting statistics for a supposed “genocide”, no?
Settlements and the wall:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Barrier_route_July_2011.png
While there do appear to be breeches of Israeli settlements in the West Bank across the 1949 line, with the security wall following these contours, only a myopic reading of this map would avoid the more glaring conclusion: the vast amount of territory within the West Bank and the other territories, with border access to neighboring countries and even water access to the Mediterranean Sea.
By volume, the Israeli encroachments are trivial compared to the overall land mass of the Palestinian territories. By any dispassionate analysis, this does not appear to be an aggressive annexation of Palestine.
It is also obvious that Israel is far more developed economically despite the limited land and resources and weaker cultural ties and direct animosity with its neighbors. So one is driven to ask, what is preventing Palestinians from developing the enormous tracts of land within their present borders, and developing industry, infrastructure and sea ports for export, which would ultimately give them more political bargaining power within the region (and get them off the international dole and their perennial role as pathetic poster boy for Zionist victimization)?
Instead they appear to be arguing over crumbs and embracing failure instead of the challenge of development (although apparently doing just fine on population growth).
Israeli apartheid:
This is hyperbolic nonsense, silly propaganda meant to trigger the bogeyman of white racism. (Even apartheid in South Africa wasn’t what its impassioned opponents characterized it to be. A more complete study of the issue, including a history of SA, the Bantus, and the Afrikaners will give a more balanced perspective.) If your neighbors invade you militarily, and the locals launch rockets and commit terrorist bombings against you, you are going to react with paranoia and isolation. Nonetheless, we know that there are Arabs, Christians, and Jews (of different races) living in Israel, and many economic migrants daily coming in/out of the country. So where’s the apartheid?
In terms of the real cultural bigots, how can we avoid looking at the other countries in the Middle East? What is the ethnic and religious diversity of Saudi Arabia, for example? Is there freedom of worship? How many churches are standing in Iran? Can you point to any vibrant democracy in the region? It would seem the Muslim communities are self-isolating and are first at war with themselves, and only come to agreement on their mutual hate of Israel.
Please feel free to demonstrate otherwise (supporting facts are welcome; dismissive and ignorant attacks are not).
Thank you for bringing the discussion down to my level. I was trying to argue points with objective facts. This was my mistake and I have been properly schooled by your superior knowledge of opaque NWO dialectics. Had you not done this I would have been clinging to the stale idea that persecution of Jews in Europe and Nazi atrocities through WW2 had led to the creation of Israel, and that Muslims also deeply mistrusted/disliked Jews since the time of Mohammed’s command to kill all infidels. I am indebted to you and your sledge hammer theory. Bravo.
You are obviously a Western convert to Islam, which explains your incomplete and sterile understanding of Islam. Only a fool would ignore the obvious on the ground reality of Islam when it comes to Israel and Jews. As a start, you might research the position of the religious leadership of Iran when it comes to Israel and Jews. You might also refer to the various positions of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the PLO when it comes to Israel and Jews. Also check out the Muslim Brotherhood.
As a final exercise, please describe which extremist religious philosophy is behind nearly all the terrorist attacks in Europe, Turkey, and Middle East, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. For bonus points, please explain how these positions are reconciled with notions of tolerance, co-existence, and multiculturalism.
Please don’t pretend to school me. It’s pathetic.
grbcpt,
Each individual can have their own opinion. I respect your right to voice what your perspective is.
However, VoiceOfArabia is a friend of mine.
I can assure you that he is more aware than most of us about the general attitudes, values, cultures, propaganda and situations in the Middle East.
He speaks from direct interactive exposure along with an enlightened perspective. And he humbly always desires more awareness, but knows many things which most of us do not.
I follow his comments often.
We can learn a lot from what he has to say.
~~~~~~
My 2 cents:
Syria around 2009-2010 was the 5th safest nation in the world per a published poll.
Senator Richard Black talks about the harmony of different religions in Syria which once existed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeK4ubVvVWQ
“I have just lost a family member in Turkey shooting,…”
VoA, I’m stunned and saddened to learn this unspeakable evil fatally affected your family. Given your many enlightening contributions from your part of the world, I have often contemplated the dangers you face just to share them. This tragic development only compounds my concern for you. Please know you are in my thoughts and prayers.
VoiceOfArabia,
I am so saddened…and am lost for words.
VoA, without dealing too deep into your personal affairs, can you point to any objectively verifiable information regarding the events which transpired in Istanbul?
I’m stating this question simply because everything I have seen in the media related to this event is of very dubious nature with all the typical signs of meddling. Maybe that’s just another facet of propaganda, to spur conspiratorial discussions over an otherwise legit event.
“and hence, the state of Israel needed to be created,”
Divide and Conquer is a war tactic. The reason why Israel had to be created is rather a simple one…
Zionism is a political organization created in 1897 by Theodor Herzl, it was born out of European emancipation and assimilation, created as a way to protect and preserve the Jewish culture by establishing a Jewish nation.
Zion = Jerusalem
WW1 and WW2 were basically tools that were used to wrestle Palestine away from the Ottomans control, and then WW2 was used to speed up Jewish immigration to Palestine. In 1948 Palestine was partitioned in order to create the state of Israel, and by defacto Palestine was also created.
In summary, that’s “how” and “why” Israel needed to be created.
VoiceOfArabi,
My condolences to you and your family, its almost surreal to hear that someone here at the CorbettReport was directly affected by something like that.
I think we probably agree with each other more than is perceived. It’s never easy articulating complex thoughts in so many words. In addition, as we(people) research various topics we can’t help but to learn new things that will eventually change our understanding.
“including Rabin who was murdered for his role in seeking peace”
— and who do you think had him assassinated? Here’s a clue, it wasn’t Palestinians…here’s another clue…who replaced him?
— You should research who created HAMAS….and why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb3vF6Vcjr0
— Peace isn’t in Israel interest at this time as they need to continue building settlement in and around Jerusalem.
“And your remark that “people all over the world are now very much aware of [Israel’s] tactics..” is a massive exaggeration…”
— Really?? How else do you explain the growing BDS Movement?