Palestine

[stickdog99]

[stickdog99]

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/isr ... d-skirmish

Now that the West is on the brink, they may be going ‘all out’ to try and neuter Iran once and for all, which would have a domino effect on the entire region. Iran cut down would mean Syria’s fall, which would mean Russia booted out and its bases closed up, which would mean any Russian power projection to that region nullified, particularly now that the northern routes will be completely NATO dominated, with Finland and potentially Sweden joining.

Ultimately that would serve a much larger purpose—there are always designs within designs.

The ultimate grand scheme revolves around the Ukraine war, which itself revolves around the future China-Taiwan conflict.

There could be a variety of reasons to spark this conflict now, vis a vis Ukraine. One of the foremost things that comes to mind is to create a massive smokescreen to divert coverage of the Ukrainian conflict while the Biden administration quietly enacts its plan—which we discussed at length in the last report—to put Zelensky on ice and freeze the war.

Several recent articles denoted just how little media coverage Ukraine has been getting recently, charts showing the slow decline, particularly ever since the realities of the failed offensive set in. Now it’s bound to disappear entirely from the news cycle, replaced with the growing Israeli conflict and endless shrieks of outrage of committed atrocities—you know the same ones carried out daily by the AFU on Donbass, which somehow fail to garner the same media attention.

Someone had recently asked me—I forget if it was in the comments section or in one of the mailbags—how do I envision that they’ll be able to sweep the Ukrainian conflict under the rug in the future. I gave several potential methods, one of which was they can spark some other new global flashpoint to divert attention. I even gave some examples, like pushing the Azerbaijan-Armenia situation into something bigger, working up the Serbia-Kosovo hostilities, which have been simmering for some time now; but this is one I admittedly did not foresee.

In many ways, it’s the most brilliant one of all. Because nothing buys media outrage like attacks on Israel, or so it seems. The media doesn’t care about murdered Armenians, or any other country for that matter. So if your chief objective is to create the biggest media smokescreen to completely distract away Ukraine coverage, then this is the one.

But I know what you’re thinking. Israel may do a ‘quick’ clean up job on Hamas and be done with it, returning all the attention back on Ukraine.

That’s why for this theory to work, it would likely have to spark a wider conflict, perhaps involving Iran. Then the U.S. could even have an excuse to dump Ukraine, one that would actually pass muster with the most rabid pro-Ukrainian members of Congress. For instance: “We had to send all our money to help save Israel.” Certainly no one in U.S.-Israeli-owned Congress would pearl-clutch or hand-wring about U.S. blowing its Ukrainian ear-marked cash on Israel instead.

It could give the Biden administration a valid, defensible excuse to dump Ukraine. Keep in mind, I’m not yet fully supporting this theory as the main motivation for the current conflict, but am offering it up as a potential one. I myself am not yet totally decided, as I’m still gathering data and waiting for more events to transpire to furnish us with clues.

Are there any additional clues to support this?





We’re already witness to the media conditioning us for the reality that U.S. will have to use its preciously drained munitions stockpiles for Israel, prioritizing their first beloved over their second newly-christened one. You can easily imagine the consequent excuse in the future: “We had more pressing needs, so we couldn’t fund/supply Ukraine anymore!”

Absolution will be given because everyone in the U.S. establishment understands the inviolable sacredness of Israel. How can anyone ever be blamed for prioritizing Israel over Ukraine? That’s simply unthinkable in the U.S.

Much more at speculation at link:

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/isr ... d-skirmish?

[drstrangelove]

i tried gauging the situation on twitter but it was a bucket of vomit. bits and pieces of half digested snapshots of events. apparently hundreds were massacred at a music festival but the drone overview footage shows no bodies or even blood. just burnt out cars. the only piece of evidence is a tent full of bodies covered in blankets.
so in my uncertainty i turned to mainstream news to see if they've come up with any better verification, saw the headline "babies beheaded" and burst into laughter.

[Belligerent Savant]

@TheEyes2022

Inverted Clown World: The New Phase

A guide to killing innocent civilians:
Method 1: The despicable, unacceptable Hamas way.
Method 2: The brave, perfectly acceptable IDF way. (This method is identical to how US and UK troops operated in Iraq and Afghanistan etc. Good, harmless massacring.)
It's important to remember the clear distinction between these two methods, when choosing which way YOU want to see entirely innocent people killed.

Terminology:
* If Hamas shoot an Israeli woman dead, they 'killed' her.
* If the IDF shoot a Palestinian woman dead, she 'died'.
Again, it's important to remember this distinction.

Killing babies:
* If you hear unconfirmed, unevidenced, highly suspect reports of 40 babies being beheaded by Hamas (straight out of the warmongers' handbook), get REAL annoyed. Seethe.
* If you see ACTUAL videos of dead Palestinian babies being carried out of rubble by grieving fathers, convince yourself that that baby deserved it. That baby was probably a terrorist after all? Simple.

People are so bewildered by the brainwashing that they are now dividing the idea of killing innocent civilians into subcategories of 'more acceptable' and 'less acceptable'. Instead of just 'UNACCEPTABLE'. Brainless, fucking morons.

"Did you see that hundreds of children have already been killed in Gaza?"

" Yeah, BUT, at least the IDF didn't drive around in pickup trucks with their bodies! Hamas does that."

You can just see them struggling to rationalise it in their little slave, media-owned minds. Normal people, oblivious to their own racism and bloodlust. And you wonder why certain things have been allowed to happen throughout history. Terrible, terrible things.

Your current attitude towards Palestinian human beings is no different to the Nazis attitude towards the Jews. How Ironic is that? Does that mean that many Jews, with your full support, are now behaving exactly like the Nazis did? I guess it does?! Wow, that's weird. Better not think TOO hard though.

If you'd been in Rwanda in 1994, you'd have viewed the Tutsis as cockroaches, because 'the radio said', grabbed your machete and joined your closest Hutu militia. Many of you are THAT stupid. Your minds are like playdough. Easily moulded and frighteningly devoid of compassion.

This isn't a computer game you sad idiots. These are real people with stories, emotions, hopes and dreams. Living under brutal oppression and in unimaginable squalor. Many of you are cheering their annihilation. Do you think that Palestinian father loved that baby any less than you love yours? In your comfortable home, in your quiet middle-class neighbourhood? I don't give a solitary fuck who unfollows me at this point. And spare me your 'Unfollowing!' or 'Stick to the covid stuff!" bullshit.

We are governed by demonic lunatics and surrounded by unbearable simpletons. I hope the current slaughter of innocents in Gaza weighs real heavy on your minds going forward.

4:05 AM · Oct 11, 2023

https://x.com/TheEyes2022/status/171201 ... 91586?s=20

[Belligerent Savant]

@bobscartoons

We have definitely reached the stage where the morally bankrupt hypocrites begin to turn on each other.
It was inevitable.
We must stay true to the values they have all tried so hard to destroy while they double-think themselves into an oblivion of their own making.

10:56 AM · Oct 11, 2023

https://x.com/bobscartoons/status/17121 ... 56254?s=20

[liminalOyster]

“BEHEADED BABIES” REPORT SPREAD WIDE AND FAST — BUT ISRAEL MILITARY WON’T CONFIRM IT
“It’s been about four days since this incredible and tragic escalation of violence and the level of misinformation — even disinformation — seems near unprecedented.”


Alice Speri
October 11 2023, 4:34 p.m.
This article includes graphic images and depictions of death.

THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES could not confirm a horrific claim that Hamas beheaded babies during a weekend assault, a spokesperson for the military told The Intercept on Tuesday. The claim went viral, becoming a headline-grabbing aspect of a massacre that left more than 1,000 Israelis dead.

“Women, children, toddlers, and elderly were brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action and we are we are [sic] aware of the heinous acts Hamas is capable of,” the spokesperson wrote in response to questions from The Intercept about the viral reports. “We cannot confirm it officially, but you can assume it happened and believe the report,” she reiterated in a follow-up phone call.

Despite the IDF’s inability to confirm the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson Tal Heinrich repeated it on Wednesday — a window into how unverified reports become part of the historical record.

The claim about beheaded babies is the latest in a series of harrowing reports that have emerged over the last few days while Israeli forces regained control of communities attacked by Hamas militants. As Israeli officials responded by pledging vengeance and launching a mass bombing campaign over 2 million Palestinians living in the besieged Gaza Strip, reports of Hamas crimes against civilians fueled rage among the public, elected officials, and policymakers.


Claims that Hamas militants raped several Israeli women have also gone viral, though the allegation has not been thoroughly substantiated, and at least one news outlet has retracted a reference to it. In his remarks on Tuesday, President Joe Biden said that women had been “raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies.”

The viral spread of dubious information at the same pace as credible reports has become a staple of modern warfare, exacerbated over the last year by the transformation of Twitter under the ownership of Elon Musk. Once an important source for breaking news, Musk’s changes to the platform’s verification requirements have made it difficult to separate fact from fiction — making it all the more important for journalists and public officials to vet the information before repeating it.

Renée DiResta, research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, which tracks and studies how nonfactual narratives propagate online, said that viral lies and misconceptions tend to balloon during or in the wake of a war or other emergencies, reflecting a spike in concern and greater appetite for information. “People share content that they find compelling,” she said. “In crisis situations, often the viral content includes a lot of rumors — it’s unverified material right now, and it may turn out to be true.”

As uncorroborated reports are broadcast alongside legitimate, equally horrific ones, the consequences of the rapidly escalating rhetoric are all too real and dangerous.

“It’s been about four days since this incredible and tragic escalation of violence and the level of misinformation — even disinformation — seems near unprecedented,” media critic Sana Saeed told The Intercept. “We have seen journalists, in particular, spread unverified information that is being used to justify Israeli and even American calls and actions to annihilate an entire population.”

“From unsubstantiated accusations of Palestinian fighters raping Israeli women to unsubstantiated accusations of Palestinian fighters beheading babies: These claims have spread like wildfire especially thanks to many journalists who are repeating things without any semblance of critical thinking or journalistic caution.”

“What’s at stake here is literal human life,” Saeed added. “But Palestinian life matters so little, that spreading incendiary information that justifies Israeli war crimes isn’t a concern for those tasked to punch up to power by virtue of being journalists.”

KFAR AZA, ISRAEL - OCTOBER 10: Gunshots and blood stains are seen on a door and walls of a house where civilians were killed days earlier in an attack by Hamas militants on this kibbutz near the border with Gaza, on October 10, 2023 in Kfar Aza, Israel. Israel has sealed off Gaza and conducted airstrikes on Palestinian territory after an attack by Hamas killed hundreds and took more than 100 hostages. On October 7, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel from Gaza by land, sea, and air, killing over 700 people and wounding more than 2000. Israeli soldiers and civilians have also been taken hostage by Hamas and moved into Gaza. The attack prompted a declaration of war by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and ongoing retaliatory strikes by Israel on Gaza killing hundreds.(Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)Gunshots and blood stains are seen on a door and walls of a house where civilians were killed days earlier in an attack by Hamas militants on this kibbutz near the border with Gaza, on Oct. 10, 2023, in Kfar Aza, Israel. Photo: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Unverified Reports
The claim about beheaded babies, which spread quickly online and was repeated by prominent journalists and politicians, originated with reporters who visited the community of Kfar Aza on Tuesday, the site of a horrific massacre of civilians by Hamas. Reporters with i24NEWS, an Israeli TV network, were among the first to report the claim, which they attributed to soldiers who recovered the bodies of victims. The Turkish news agency Anadolu first reported on Tuesday that the IDF would not confirm the claim. The IDF later told other outlets that it would not confirm the reports because it is “disrespectful for the dead.”

According to Oren Ziv, a journalist who participated in the tour, “journalists were allowed to speak to the hundreds of soldiers on site, without the supervision of the army’s spokesperson team.”

The IDF spokesperson told The Intercept that a soldier told journalists “that this is what he saw” but that the military had not independently confirmed the claim.

“When we were there, all the bodies were in body bags. … We couldn’t see it with our own eyes, but obviously, it happened. We cannot confirm it officially from the military but you have seen, I guess, videos on social media, you’ve seen girls with blood over their thighs, it’s obvious that this stuff happens.”

“Specifically about the beheaded babies report, we cannot confirm the amount and specific place and everything like that,” the spokesperson added. “There have been so many horrible situations and we don’t have time, and we’re currently busy fighting and defending our country. We don’t have the time to check every report.”

3/5 Soldiers I spoke with in Kfar Aza yesterday didn't mention "beheaded babies”. The army's spokesperson stated: “We can not confirm at this point… we are aware of the heinous acts Hamas is capable of” pic.twitter.com/enXnHID66A

— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) October 11, 2023
Ziv also noted that while the scene was “horrific, with dozens of bodies of Israelis murdered in their homes,” he had not seen evidence of the beheaded babies. Other reporters on the ground said that an Israeli soldier told a BBC journalist that “some of the dead had been beheaded,” while at least two other journalists later deleted tweets referencing the reports.

“Just looked at today’s UK front pages and I am horrified by the headlines claiming ‘40 babies beheaded by Hamas’ in Kfar Aza,” Guardian reporter Bethan McKernan tweeted on Tuesday. “Yes, many children were murdered. Yes, there were several beheadings in the attack. This claim, however, is unverified and totally irresponsible.”

The uncorroborated reports were repeated by veteran journalists and politicians, from Fox News to CNN anchors, as well as U.S. politicians from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. Fox News reporters chased Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D- Mich., the only Palestinian American in Congress, saying that “Hamas terrorists have cut off babies’ heads” and asking her to comment on “terrorists chopping off babies’ heads.” On Wednesday, the reports continued to circulate, including on major news outlets like CNN.

New York Times reporter Sheera Frenkel wrote on BlueSky on Wednesday that reporters should approach such claims carefully, try to verify their origin and sourcing, and seek to corroborate them in other ways. “Save the IDF coming out with an official statement (and it hasn’t, it’s declined to confirm) or someone confirming they saw it with their own eyes,” she added, “it’s a rumor being widely shared.”

Palestinians, including some journalists, carry the bodies of two Palestinian reporters, Mohammed Soboh and Said al-Tawil, who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel Saturday, killing over 900 people and taking captives. Israel launched heavy retaliatory airstrikes on the enclave, killing hundreds of Palestinians. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)Palestinians, including some journalists, carry the bodies of two Palestinian reporters, Mohammed Soboh and Said al-Tawil, who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, on Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: Fatima Shbair/AP
Fog of War
Online disinformation has become ubiquitous in recent conflicts, including in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, firsthand accounts by journalists and others on the ground in Israel and Gaza were at times drowned out by verified users of dubious legitimacy. While some claims remain disputed, X is also awash in rapidly spreading incendiary posts that are patently false, many being used to justify increasingly violent rhetoric and potentially worsening an already grisly war.

Attempting to even measure the volume of viral falsehoods currently spreading throughout X has become difficult, if not impossible, due to changes implemented under the new ownership of Musk. “It’s very difficult for academic research teams to gauge the volume question on X at this point because many, including us, no longer have API access,” said DiResta, of the Stanford Internet Observatory. Under X’s prior ownership, when the company was still known as Twitter, it provided research organizations like Stanford’s with software access to track public user activity on the platform, which made it easier to track how a hoax or online myth spreads.

DiResta said that X’s decision to sell account verification, which previously indicated some official association with an organization or news outlet, has exacerbated the trade in wartime rumors. “As curation algorithms have changed on Twitter/X, current blue checks” — those who purchased verification — “are prioritized in the feed and in replies,” she explained. “The composition of the blue check community has also shifted. There are many commentators, but fewer journalists.”
Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat, has pointed out different examples of false information spreading on the platform over the last few days, including by “multiple blue tick accounts repeating an unverified claim that had no evidence to back it up.”

“Musk has created a fundamental issue with Twitter’s credibility in moments of crisis,” he wrote.

On Wednesday, Bellingcat published other examples of misinformation surging online, including viral social media posts presenting years-old footage, or footage from other countries, as depicting the latest Israeli bombing of Gaza. “Misinformation is particularly nefarious in this case as it often entwines authentic information with hearsay,” the outlet wrote, “and may lead to something genuinely worthy of record — such as a military strike in an urban area — becoming associated with a viral falsehood.”

Others echoed that frustration. “As a journalist, I’ve been using social for news since, well, since that became a thing,” the journalist Barry Malone noted. “And I cannot recall ever seeing disinformation spread with such lightning speed around a big story as it is right now.”

Meanwhile, in Gaza, as besieged residents lost access to electricity and at least six journalists were killed in bombings, local writers who regularly report on life in the strip reported being unable to do so.
“My phone and laptop have died. No electricity as we’re running out of fuel for the power generator, after Israel cut electricity and fuel supplies to Gaza,” one of them, Maha Hussaini, tweeted earlier this week. “I will be off until we find alternatives, This is what Israel wanted, to commit genocide against a silenced people.”

https://theintercept.com/2023/10/11/isr ... formation/

[stickdog99]

So they are actually trying to turn this into a dead baby joke?

[liminalOyster]

A+

[BenDhyan]

i tried gauging the situation on twitter but it was a bucket of vomit. bits and pieces of half digested snapshots of events. apparently hundreds were massacred at a music festival but the drone overview footage shows no bodies or even blood. just burnt out cars. the only piece of evidence is a tent full of bodies covered in blankets.
so in my uncertainty i turned to mainstream news to see if they've come up with any better verification, saw the headline "babies beheaded" and burst into laughter.

White House walks back Biden’s claim he saw children beheaded by Hamas

The White House has walked back President Joe Biden’s claim that he saw pictures of beheaded children following Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel.
The reversal came after Biden on Wednesday described seeing images of mutilated children during a meeting with Jewish leaders at the White House.
“A White House spokesperson later clarified that US officials and the president have not seen pictures or confirmed such reports independently,” The Post reported on Wednesday.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/white-house-walks-back-bidens-claim-he-saw-children-beheaded-by-hamas?traffic_source=rss

[JackRiddler]

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro on Monday compared Israel's targeting of Gaza in retaliation for deadly attacks by militant group Hamas to the Nazi persecution of Jews.

Replying to a statement by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announcing a "complete siege" of Gaza in a fight against "animals," Petro said: "This is what the Nazis said of the Jews."

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, the Colombian president added that "democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to reestablish itself in international politics."

He said Gallant's wording amounted to "hate speech" which, if allowed to continue, "will only bring a holocaust."

In a video message, Gallant announced Israel was "putting a complete siege" on the Gaza Strip and its 2.3 million people, which he said meant "no electricity, no food, no water, no gas."

"We are fighting animals and are acting accordingly," he said.

https://news.yahoo.com/colombias-petro- ... 27201.html

genocide

[liminalOyster]

der leyen tweet.jpg

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro on Monday compared Israel's targeting of Gaza in retaliation for deadly attacks by militant group Hamas to the Nazi persecution of Jews.

Replying to a statement by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announcing a "complete siege" of Gaza in a fight against "animals," Petro said: "This is what the Nazis said of the Jews."

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, the Colombian president added that "democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to reestablish itself in international politics."

He said Gallant's wording amounted to "hate speech" which, if allowed to continue, "will only bring a holocaust."

In a video message, Gallant announced Israel was "putting a complete siege" on the Gaza Strip and its 2.3 million people, which he said meant "no electricity, no food, no water, no gas."

"We are fighting animals and are acting accordingly," he said.

https://news.yahoo.com/colombias-petro- ... 27201.html

genocide

[Belligerent Savant]

Horrific.

Deeply troubling/volatile times, when vast swathes of humans can be manipulated/conditioned to support -- cheer on -- genocide. In any scenario.

Dr Gabor Maté on Palestine

[stickdog99]

[liminalOyster]

Horrific.

Deeply troubling/volatile times, when vast swathes of humans can be manipulated/conditioned to support -- cheer on -- genocide. In any scenario.

Dr Gabor Maté on Palestine

The amount of open pure bloodlust on this one is the worst I've ever seen pertaining to Israel/Palestine. That Israel can announce on all major news platforms its intention to commit war crimes and have those platforms discuss their plan strategically rather than in terms of its criminality is envelope-pusing IMO.

[Belligerent Savant]

.
Indeed. Concerning for a number of reasons as it sets a new precedent (for this and any future tangential scenarios).

Putting this here as it's a noteworthy exchange on Network News:

@KanekoaTheGreat

WATCH - Cornel West, Alan Dershowitz, and Sean Hannity get into a heated debate about Israel and Palestine.

WEST: "The words were Israel's policies of war crimes and collective punishment against Palestinians in context, and Hamas must take responsibility for killing innocent people... 545 Palestinian children died in August 2004. Not one American said a word. I believe a Palestinian baby has the same value as an Israeli baby."

DERSHOWITZ: "I complained when Palestinian children were killed, but I explained why they were killed. Here is one of the leaders of Hamas. 'For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry. The elderly excel at this, and so do the children. This is why we have formed human shields of women and children.' Hamas is the one responsible for the killing of Palestinian children."

WEST: "I have the same outrage when Palestinian babies are killed as when Israeli babies are killed. I want you to have the same indignation when Palestinians are killed."

DERSHOWITZ: "You're running for President of the U.S. What would you do if terrorists were firing at American children in America and the terrorists were hiding behind Palestinian children? Would you allow the killing of Americans to continue?"

WEST: "First, truth and morality tend to be two casualties in any context of war. I would want to tell the American people the truth. I will tell them what the context is and how we found ourselves in this situation. I would not jump to a military invasion and a genocidal attack on Gaza. This is like Warsaw 1943. Where do they go?"

DERSHOWITZ: "They go the UN. The UN has places in Gaza. They go to Egypt. The Israelis have said to get out of Gaza City. Go to Rafah. Go to Khan Yunis. And you know what Hamas is saying. Don't go."

WEST: "With no water. No electricity. No food. I'm not here to defend Hamas. Don't you ever lie on me like that, brother. I'm defending the suffering of Palestinians. Anybody who commits war crimes is barbaric. I'm saying that explicitly. But I want you to say, if the Israeli Defense Force is killing children, are they barbaric too?"

DERSHOWITZ: "Never in history have they ever targeted a child deliberately. Not purposely. You don't have to be pure not to kill a child."

WEST: "Have they ever targeted children? They've never ever targeted a child? Brother, you've got to get off the crack pipe."

2:23 AM · Oct 12, 2023

https://x.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/17 ... 98419?s=20