Tag Archives: defence

Israel tells troops to stop uploading video of themselves looting Palestinians’ property

The most IMmoral army in the world has finally received a wake-up call to the fact that filming its troops committing acts of depravity and posting the images online is not good for its image:

For the last four months the world’s social media feeds have been full of pictures and videos of Israeli soldiers looting Palestinian homes and carrying out depraved attacks on Palestinian civilians.

Israel has finally seemed to cotton onto the fact that this depravity is not good for their propaganda efforts, and makes a mockery of their laughable claims to be “the most moral army in the world”.

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We’ve seen Israeli soldiers posting videos of themselves vandalising and targeting Palestinian homes for no strategic purposedestroying civilian infrastructurerummaging through Palestinian women’s underwearwrecking children’s toysdestroying food, and larking around with the property of Palestinian civilians they’ve displaced and killed.

Now it seems the Chief of Staff of the Israeli occupation forces Herzi Halevi has issued an edict warning Israeli soldiers not to film “revenge videos” and stop otherwise documenting their war crimes.

The order comes a little late though, it seems:

This is one instance when “better late than never” won’t ring true.

But what will the Israeli government do about its private citizens who have been trolling Gazans with mocking video clips?

Source: Another Angry Voice | Substack


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Israelis are using Palestinians as human shields, video suggests

Human shield: it certainly looks as though the Israel Defence Force dressed up a Palestinian as one of their number and used him as a shield.

Will this be the end of Israel’s cheerleaders saying Hamas is using the people of Gaza as human shields and that this is shameful?

It’s not quite the same, in that Israel is accusing Hamas of using the entire population of Gaza; in fact what the Israel Defence Force have been doing is a more accurate application of the phrase.

Here’s the video:

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And here‘s a story about it from Middle East Eye, because the UK’s mainstream media apparently wouldn’t dream of reporting anything that makes Israel look like the bad guys:

A video broadcast by Al Jazeera appears to show Israeli soldiers using a detained man as a human shield during a military operation in the Qalandiya refugee camp near Ramallah.

The man is seen in chains, wearing a medical face mask, military body armour and a soldier’s helmet.

MEE can’t independently verify the video, and neither can This Site. But it certainly looks damning.


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Israel’s arch-liar is at it again

Eylon Levy: he’ll say whatever he thinks will get you to sympathise with his genocidal Israeli government and hate the almost defenceless Gazan people Israel is slaughtering.

Is he pathological? Is Eylon Levy unable to control his behaviour – stop himself from lying?

Of course, the answer is no. He’s perfectly capable of quoting genuine facts but his job is to mislead the rest of us. Or at least, it certainly seems that way.

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Consider his latest wheeze: claiming that serving members of the Israeli armed forces who were taken prisoner on October 7 are helpless hostages of Hamas, in danger of rape or other sexual crimes likely to be perpetrated by their captors:

Billel Boudouma’s response is accurate; I checked it with the “Bing Copilot” on my web browser. Before anybody whines about it, it’s the best that Levy deserves.

Here’s the response:

Yes, the Israeli soldiers who were taken prisoner by Hamas on October 7, 2023, are considered prisoners of war 1The Third Geneva Convention defines a prisoner of war as “any person belonging to one of the following categories, who has fallen into the power of the enemy: Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces” 1Since the Israeli soldiers were members of the Israeli Defense Forces, they fall under this definition and are therefore considered prisoners of war 1.

Feel free to check the sources yourself.

In the meantime, remember that Israeli spokespeople like Levy are habitual and constant liars – and, sadly, many of the UK’s mainstream media are colluding with them, whether consciously or not. Look at the report on the BBC’s recent behaviour.


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More than 1,000 English homes are flooded – because of Tory complacency?

Stormy weather: much of northern Europe has been battered by storms and heavy rainfall.

More than 1,000 homes in England have been flooded – and it could be argued that this is because the Conservative government doesn’t care about damage to your property.

According to the BBC, the flooding follows the arrival in the UK of Storm Henk, and a week of heavy rainfall.

At the time of writing there are more than 250 flood warnings and 275 flood alerts in place across England.

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UK prime minister “Rishi-Washy” Sunak defied reality by saying people should be reassured by the response to flooding in badly hit areas.

He said: “Hundreds of high volume pumps are in practice right now making a difference, and it is important that people follow the advice that has been given in local areas where there are flood warnings that have been given.”

He added: “The Environment Agency have people on the ground everywhere, and absolutely recognise the urgency of what is happening and they are responding appropriately and with all due haste.”

But he was criticised by the Liberal Democrats, who said he should be “meeting people affected by this annual carnage, then he might do something about it”.

“Annual carnage” just about sums it up. And the Liberal Democrats can’t complain because they did nothing about it when they were in a coalition government with the Tories.

This Site has been reporting on the more-or-less annual floods since 2012 (Vox Political was established in December 2011, so you can see that this is a regular problem that successive governments have done nothing to end).

It is government that is at fault, also – for allowing housing estates to be built on flood plains, in full knowledge that they will flood, filling homes with water and rendering residents’ belongings unusable, and for failing to install appropriate flood defences on rivers and other waterways.

The number of existing flood defences that are in disrepair has tripled since 2018. Who knows what the figure since 2012 might be?

This year there is the added issue of raw sewage that the government has allowed its privatised water companies to pump directly into rivers.

With high rainfall, these firms are unable to process drainwater properly and pumps much of it directly into the rivers, meaning more sewage is likely to have got into the environment and possibly – through flooding – into people’s homes.

Or am I mistaken about that?

Feargal Sharkey suggests I’m not:

The floods have affected cities, towns and villages across England. Take a look at some of the havoc that has been wreaked by Tory greed and incompetence:


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How does the IDF’s video clip prove al-Shifa hospital was a Hamas headquarters?

Invasion of the liars: IDF troops in al-Shifa hospital.

Is anybody else struggling to believe Israeli propaganda saying that a video clip showing Hamas hostages being escorted into al-Shifa hospital in Gaza means that place was a terrorist HQ.

According to the BBC,

The video showed two hostages being brought into the hospital, Gaza’s largest and most modern.

Armed men can be seen in the CCTV video which is date-stamped 7 October. One of the hostages appears to be resisting – the other is shown on a stretcher.

Here’s part of it:

Hamas has expressed surprise at the allegation – saying the organisation had made it clear that many hostages had been referred to hospitals:

“BREAKING: HAMAS OFFICIAL STATEMENT EXPOSING ISRAEL ON AL- SHIFA HOSPITAL Izzat Al-Rishq; “Regarding what the spokesman for the terrorist enemy army said about the arrival of prisoners of the occupation to Al-Shifa Hospital, we said early on that the resistance transferred many prisoners of the occupation to hospitals to receive treatment and undergo surgical operations, especially after some of them were injured as a result of the occupation’s aircraft bombing them. We risked our fighters to guarantee the injured prisoners the best treatment. Possible in hospitals in the Gaza Strip. We have published many pictures about this; Now their army spokesman presents it as if they have discovered something great. What the spokesman for the occupation army says completely condemns them. These are points that are recorded for us and not [against] us. Taking care of the prisoners, treating them, and giving them possible medical care is a point for us and not [against] us.””

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The line about some hostages being injured as a result of IDF airstrikes ties in with another Israeli claim – that Corporal Noa Marciano, 19, was killed after being taken into al-Shifa hospital with minor injuries.

From the BBC article:

“This morning we updated Noa’s family that according to our findings, she was kidnapped to a safe house near Shifa,” Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, IDF chief spokesperson told reporters.

“During IDF air strikes in the area, the Hamas terrorist who was holding Noa was killed and she was wounded in the air strike, but not a life-threatening injury. Noa was taken inside Shifa hospital, where she was murdered by another Hamas terrorist.”

Hamas has previously claimed Ms Marciano was killed in an Israeli air strike, which the IDF said occurred on 9 November.

Where is Israel’s proof that Cpl Marciano was killed by a Hamas terrorist?

And the IDF “released a video that it said showed a tunnel 10m (33ft) below ground that runs for 55m up to a closed and reinforced door. It said this was now part of the evidence that “clearly proves” numerous buildings in the hospital’s complex have been “used by Hamas as cover for terrorist infrastructure and activities”.”

But we knew tunnels under al-Shifa hospital were dug by the Israeli government itself, back in 1983 or thereabouts. Don’t we?

And yet, Israel’s outriders in the social media are crowing as if these unproven claims – the BBC has said it

has not been able to verify the video which was presented at a news briefing by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday.

The latest video is not yet the evidence that’s been promised of the sort of vast and intricate operation depicted in a computer simulation which the IDF previously released showing what it believes any Hamas base underground at al-Shifa could look like.

Believe it or not, the BBC has been slammed by the Israel apologists for this reality check (apologies for the language from Sussex Friends of Israel; it is what it is):

The reservations expressed by the BBC interviewer and interviewee seem entirely reasonable to This Writer.

But many of – sadly – the usual suspects seem ready and willing to accept the flimsiest claim if it comes from the Israeli government and/or the IDF.

Here’s what Israel is saying:

And here come the apologists:

What? Irrefutable evidence that al-Shifa hospital was the Hamas HQ and execution dungeon?

Has anybody – trustworthy – seen this irrefutable – evidence?

Al-Shifa is the best-equipped hospital in the Gaza strip, though; that’s most likely the reason for any hostages being taken there for treatment.

Now here’s Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy:

He was followed by eager supporters:

But it gets worse:

What does it mean? It means this:

Let’s see what happens. Expect an unrestricted Israeli onslaught, with absolutely no quarter given for UN representatives, non-governmental organisations, members of the World Health Organisation or anything else.

Meanwhile, let’s remind ourselves of some genuine facts:

Regev was inadvertently confirming the plentiful evidence that it was Israeli missiles, fired indiscriminately at cars and homes, that burned alive both Hamas fighters and Israeli hostages. The atrocity of burned bodies – blamed by the entire western political and media class on Hamas, and cited as justification for the current genocidal rampage in Gaza – were, in fact, Israel’s doing. What proportion of the 1,200 Israelis who died on Oct 7 were killed by Israel’s actions? We can assume Israel will not be forthcoming with that information. Will the western media start changing its simple-minded, genocide-justifying narrative of Oct 7? Don’t bet on it. Ali Abunimah’s story here: electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abun My story, What the BBC fails to tell you about October 7, here: jonathan-cook.net/blog/2023-11-0

Sadly, while Israel’s lies may kill many, the facts can’t bring anybody back to life.


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Israel should not have any support from us if it really killed its own civilians

Yasmin Porat: her interview casts doubt on everything we’ve been told about the Hamas raids – and now we have more evidence that Israeli armed forces are the greatest danger to civilians on both sides of the Israel/Gaza conflict.

Did you ever hear of the ‘Hannibal Directive’?

It compels the Israeli army to kill Israelis rather than let them be taken hostage. It usually applies to military personnel, and has been used a number of times in the past.

And there are plenty of indications to suggest it was applied as policy towards Israeli civilians during the Hamas attack on October 7. In other words, the army appears to have preferred to kill both the Israelis and Hamas militants holding them in communities near Gaza rather than try to negotiate a release.

That’s what prizewinning journalist Jonathan Cook fears, in a series of posts on ‘X’, starting here.

He refers to an article on the Mondo Weiss website, by a person labelled “Anonymous Contributor” as they are “fearing for their personal safety due to the intensification of fascist persecutions against critical voices in Israel”.

Let’s make a note of that. We’ve heard plenty about moves to silence people supporting Palestine/Gaza in the UK; it seems those within Israel who criticise its genocide are being silenced, possibly in a far more brutal way.

The article starts by referring to a Haaretz report of the Hamas attack on the Gaza division of the Israeli Defence Force [boldings mine]:

They advanced into the military base, killing and kidnapping the soldiers of the Civil Administration, though a few of them managed to return fire before being hit… Brig. Gen. Rosenfeld entrenched himself in the division’s subterranean war room together with a handful of male and female soldiers, trying desperately to rescue and organize the sector under attack. Many of the soldiers, most of them not combat personnel, were killed or wounded outside. The division was compelled to request an aerial strike against the base itself in order to repulse the terrorists.”

The author of the article draws a logical conclusion:

This dry, complimentary description of the high commander, hiding with a few soldiers in an underground bunker and ordering an aerial bombardment of “the base” where his soldiers were fighting against Hamas militants, maybe wounded and maybe taken as prisoners, has a lot to say about the Israeli psyche in these bloody times.

It is a well-documented official policy of the Israeli army, at least since 1986, known as the “Hannibal Directive,” the “Hannibal code,” or the “Hannibal doctrine.”

It may not have ended with General Rosenfeld ordering the bombing of his soldiers. It will take years until we may (or may not) have a full picture of what happened on October 7 and the following days. But in addition to military deaths, there are also some details regarding the Israeli role in Israeli civilian deaths that can already be found amid the heavy flow of propaganda around the events of the day.

We have already heard that deaths of civilians in Kibbutz Be’eri were caused by the IDF, from the interview with escaped hostage Yasmin Porat (which This Site covered here).

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The article states:

According to her account, the kidnappers treated her and other hostages “humanely,” believing they would be allowed to retreat safely to Gaza due to the protection of the Israeli captives. However, when the Israeli soldiers arrived, “they eliminated everyone, including the hostages. There was very, very heavy crossfire.”

Her testimony is complemented by evidence from Israeli soldiers who described how the Israeli military shot tank shells into buildings where militants and their hostages were hiding.

Another Haaretz article, available only in Hebrew for some reason, states as described in the article:

This testimony would seem to indicate that many Israeli captives were still alive on Monday, October 9, a full two days after the events of Saturday, October 7. While it might be understandable if captives had been killed in the hectic crossfire of an initial Israeli response to the attack on the 7th, this account would seem to indicate that the decision to assault the kibbutz and everyone inside was made as a clear military calculation.

It is clear Palestinian militants were hiding in these buildings with their Israeli captives as Israeli soldiers were blasting their way in with massive tank shells in close quarters. It deserves to be investigated who caused most of the death and destruction that took place. This is especially important as these deaths are now being used to justify the destruction of Gaza and the killing of thousands of civilians there.

And what about the implications for Gaza and the more-than-200 people Israel claims have been taken hostage there?

Israel, as it has proved many times in the past and as recent events may indicate, may be ready to put the lives of its soldiers and citizens at risk rather than witness the joy of freedom celebrated on both sides of the border.

Going back to Jonathan Cook, his ‘X’ thread refers to the release of two hostages last week by Hamas as an attempt to show the world that there is a willingness to talk:

Hamas knows all about the directive. It assumes Israel will choose to kill all the hostages rather than engage in negotiations for their return.

Hamas therefore also understands that Israel will make the case that there was no chance to bring the hostages home. Hamas is trying to show it is ready to release hostages and do a deal.

The problem for Hamas is that western media is in lockstep with Israeli spin that Hamas is a death cult like Islamic State and can’t be talked to. As a result, many of the hostages are likely to die unnecessarily.

And now we have evidence from another freed hostage that Hamas treated them humanely:

It seems clear that the greatest danger – not just to innocent civilians in Gaza, more than 5,000 of whom have been killed by Israel, but to innocent Israeli civilians as well (who knows how many of the 1,400 claimed deaths were caused by Israel’s armed forces?) – is Israel itself.

Why are western nations like the US, UK and (today) France still supporting these mass murderers?

Source: A growing number of reports indicate Israeli forces responsible for Israeli civilian and military deaths following October 7 attack – Mondoweiss


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Hospital horror: war criminals kill at least 500 in strike at Gaza. Were they Israelis?

The Al Ahli Hospital after the airstrike: will evidence be found in the rubble that indicates blame?

Funny how they always say they’re investigating how they managed to commit a war crime, isn’t it?

It seems the Israeli Air Force has performed an air strike on the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, with the death toll totalling 500 – so far. But 1,000 displaced people were said to be seeking refuge there and hundreds are said to be trapped under the rubble.

The Hamas government has called the strike a war crime – and this seems an accurate description:

An attack against a civilian person or object may constitute a war crime. A person or object can lose its civilian status if it starts making an effective contribution to military action, but this determination must be unequivocal: when in doubt as to whether a school or hospital has become a military objective, there is a presumption that it retains its civilian status.

Even attacks against legitimate military targets mustfollow two additional principles: proportionality – whereby an attack that would cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited – and precaution in attack – which states that constant care must be taken to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects. All feasible precautions must be taken to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.

Al Ahli hospital is funded by the Anglican Church – the Church of England. Richard Sewell, Dean of St George’s College, and one of the church’s top figures in Jerusalem, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the hospital took “a direct hit from an Israeli missile”.

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He called the act the “deliberate killing of vulnerable civilians” and stated: “The bombs must stop now. There can be no possible justification for this.”

And Israel? Israel has said a hospital is not an IDF target. It says the IDF is investigating the source of the explosion, “prioritising accuracy and reliability”.

The simple fact is that these people would have known immediately if their forces were responsible. They are far more likely to be cooking up an excuse that they believe may seem plausible. Two hours, and the clock is ticking…

UPDATE 8.51pm: And here it is: “An analysis of IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza, passing in close proximity to the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit. Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza.”

Do you believe a word of it?

UPDATE 9.38pm: From Reuters: “Daoud Shehab, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, told Reuters: “This is a lie and fabrication, it is completely incorrect. The occupation is trying to cover for the horrifying crime and massacre they committed against civilians.””


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Israeli forces shot their own civilians, kibbutz survivor says

Yasmin Porat: her interview casts doubt on everything we’ve been told about the Hamas raids.

Israeli claims about Hamas atrocities in the treatment of hostages and other Israeli civilians during the raids that started the current Israel/Gaza conflict may have been disproved decisively by an interview with a survivor.

Worse still – for the Israelis, Yasmin Porat said Israeli civilians were “undoubtedly” killed by their own security forces when they arrived at the scene.

The interview has appeared on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) – and has been translated by the Electronic Intifada:

Here it is, with a bit of preamble to provide context:

An Israeli woman who survived the Hamas assault on settlements near the Gaza boundary on 7 October says Israeli civilians were “undoubtedly” killed by their own security forces.

It happened when Israeli forces engaged in fierce gun battles with Palestinian fighters in Kibbutz Be’eri and fired indiscriminately at both the fighters and their Israeli prisoners.

“They eliminated everyone, including the hostages,” she told Israeli radio. “There was very, very heavy crossfire” and even tank shelling.

The woman, 44-year-old mother of three Yasmin Porat, said that prior to that, she and other civilians had been held by the Palestinians for several hours and treated “humanely.” She had fled the nearby “Nova” rave.

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A recording of her interview, from the radio program Haboker Hazeh (“This Morning”) hosted by Aryeh Golan on state broadcaster Kan, has been circulating on social media.

Yasmin Porat: For an hour they were banging – about 10 terrorists on the reinforced safe room. There were screams in Arabic and it was a very tense hour. And we felt great fear that’s indescribable. After an hour they managed to break in and they removed the four of us to a nearby house where there were already eight other additional hostages. We joined those eight and we were about 12 hostages with 40 terrorists that were guarding us. I’m keeping the story short.

Aryeh Golan: Did they abuse you?

Yasmin Porat: They did not abuse us. They treated us very humanely, meaning …

Aryeh Golan: Humanely? Really?

Yasmin Porat: Yes, by that I mean they guard us. They give us something to drink here and there. When they see we are nervous, they calm us down. It was very frightening but no one treated us violently. Luckily nothing happened to me like what I heard in the media.

Aryeh Golan: Horrible, horrific things occurred.

Yasmin Porat: True. But after two hours briefly at first there was no [Israeli] security force with us. We were the ones who called the police together with the abductors because the abductors wanted the police to arrive. Because their objective was to kidnap us to Gaza.

[SKIP OR CUT IN AUDIO]

Yasmin Porat: Meanwhile one of the terrorists decides to surrender, the terrorist I made a connection with. Over the course of those two hours I connected with some of the abductors, those that guarded the hostages.

Aryeh Golan: Yes

Yasmin Porat: And he decides to use me as a human shield. He decides to surrender. I am not aware of it in those moments it’s in retrospect. He starts to disrobe, he takes he calls to me and he starts to leave the house with me, under fire. At that time I yelled to the YAMAM [Israeli commandos] when we were already when they can hear me, to stop firing.

Aryeh Golan: Yes

Yasmin Porat: And then they hear me and stop firing. I see on the lawn, in the garden of the people from the kibbutz. There are five or six hostages lying on the ground outside, just like sheep to the slaughter, between the shooting of our [fighters] and the terrorists.

Aryeh Golan: The terrorists shot them?

Yasmin Porat: No, they were killed by the crossfire. Understand there was very, very heavy crossfire.

Aryeh Golan: So our forces may have shot them?

Yasmin Porat: Undoubtedly.

Aryeh Golan: When they tried to eliminate the abductors, Hamas?

Yasmin Porat: They eliminated everyone, including the hostages. Because there was very, very heavy crossfire. I was freed at approximately 5:30. The fighting apparently ended at 8:30. After insane crossfire, two tank shells were shot into the house. Its a small kibbutz house, nothing big. You saw it on the news.

Aryeh Golan: Yes

Yasmin Porat: Not a large place. And at that moment everyone was killed. There was quiet, except for one person limping, Hadas [Dagan], in the garden.

Aryeh Golan: How were they all killed?

Yasmin Porat: From the crossfire.

Aryeh Golan: Crossfire, so it could also be from our forces?

Yasmin Porat: Undoubtedly.

Aryeh Golan: Really?

Yasmin Porat: Thats what I believe.

Aryeh Golan: Oy it sounds so bad.

Yasmin Porat: Yes. And everyone died.

Aryeh Golan: And you, thanks to that terrorist who decided to give himself up …

Yasmin Porat: Exactly.

Aryeh Golan: And you survived and all the rest were killed there.

Yasmin Porat: Except for one other woman who survived, they found her later [trails off]. The person who dealt with the event checked her or something. They found her when she lifted her head, amongst all the bodies. And then, simply …

Aryeh Golan: And your partner, who was with you?

Yasmin Porat: Killed.

Aryeh Golan: He was killed too?

Yasmin Porat: Yes. Everyone was killed there. Just horrible.

Aryeh Golan: Have you returned to Kabri?

Yasmin Porat: I returned to Kabri and then the chaos started there.

Aryeh Golan: In the north?

Yasmin Porat: Yes. So now I’m a guest. I’m being hosted in a lovely way in Kibbutz Ein Harod. And I’m here for now.

Aryeh Golan: Youre in the [Jezreel] Valley now. Alright, Yasmin, you’ve undergone a horrific experience.

Yasmin Porat: True.

Aryeh Golan: You lost your partner, you saw people killed alongside you.

Yasmin Porat: And I …

Aryeh Golan: [INTERRUPTS] What happened to that terrorist who gave himself up?

Yasmin Porat: He is still arrested, and he was just called in for interrogation to help … You know, he will be interrogated about the accused. And sadly dozens more of my friends were killed because …

Aryeh Golan: [INTERRUPTS] Dozens of friends?

Yasmin Porat: Yes because its a community, the trance scene, we go to the same parties. It means that besides my partner, I knew dozens and hundreds [CUT OFF]

For a much more detailed article, visit the Electronic Intifada here.


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The news in tweets: Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Falling energy prices are not being passed on to customers and the government is doing nothing. Why?

Tory energy security minister Grant Shapps was grilled over the government’s failure to support cash-strapped households, by Martin Lewis on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. His answers were revealing:

So: we will receive no more money to help with energy bills, even though the energy companies are charging us far more than the cost of the energy itself. The government is supporting these firms as they rip us off.

Shapps’s comments about standing charges are also useful. He said these charges are for “all of the network costs, the maintenance costs and the things which happen before you get the live supply of energy to the household”. He said these costs were “not for nothing”.

This Writer certainly hopes that is true.

But let’s have a look at another privatised utility that forces you to pay standing charges: water. If standing charges on water are said to be for the same purpose as for energy – network costs, maintenance etc – then the water companies are guilty of fraud because we have learned that none of our money is being spent on infrastructure (maintenance). The pipe system still dates back to the Victorian era and some of it is made of lead, which is poison.

The water firms also borrow heavily to cover day-to-day costs. That leaves me asking what the standing charge supports. Is it just feeding into the profits of shareholders? If so, then these firms are lying to us about its purpose and should be prosecuted, forced to return that money to us and the charge abolished.

In fairness, I have read that the charge is for the cost of reading meters and sending out bills – but with smart meters installed that tell firms what you’ve used without anyone having to come to your home, and with the facility for people to receive bills by a new-fangled device called email, those costs now must be very low compared with times in even the recent past. Why are the standing charges not being reduced, then?

Taking the subject back to energy, if standing charges on water are a rip-off, how do we know that the energy firms aren’t also charging us far more than is reasonable?

Answer: we don’t.

One rule for them: MPs get up to £16,305 per year for up to three children, but restrict your child benefit to two kids and £2,080

Yes indeed.

Current salary for a backbench MP is around £84-5,000. They get expenses to pay for food, rent and bills (on the second homes they need in London, if I recall correctly), and they also receive £5,435 per year to pay bills related to their children, for a maximum of three children. That’s around £104.23 per week, per child, up to £312.69 – let’s round it up to £312.70.

If you have three children, you won’t receive any child benefit for one of them. You then get £24 per week for the eldest and £15.90 for the second child: £39.90 per week or around £2,080 per year.

Your MP thinks this is fair – even those in the Labour Party who should be demanding equality for everybody (possibly with a few exceptions).

This is why we need to think very carefully about who we allow into Parliament and what they should be elected to do.

Meanwhile, Substitute Tory (formerly Labour) Rachel Reeves can’t see how a UK government can fund free school meals for children who need them, so members of the public have been offering helpful suggestions:

Howard Beckett pointed out: “In Norway the sovereign fund stands at over $1.3trillion. Norway tax[es] fossil fuel Corporate giants at 78 per cent.”

She could also reverse some of the massive tax cuts that the Tories have handed to the richest members of UK society since 2010. There are plenty of ways to fund a better future.

One can only conclude that Pamela Fitzpatrick is right: “Reeves really cannot see where the moneys going to come from because she simply does not have the skills, talent or vision for the role she is in.”

There is a lighter side to this – if you have a certain sense of humour:

Keir Starmer was ‘consciously dishonest’ when he campaigned for the Labour leadership. Shouldn’t he be given the boot?

We may conclude from the information available to us that when Keir Starmer was telling Labour Party members that he would respect and continue the policies of his immediate forerunner Jeremy Corbyn, he was actually planning to throw away all the popular policies that Mr Corbyn had formed, as soon as possible.

He lied in order to be elected.

That is not acceptable.

He should be removed.

He won’t be – because Labour disciplinary procedures are a bad joke at the expense of rank-and-file party members. But voters should – and will – remember his betrayal, and the cynical, calculated way in which he planned it.

Defence spending rises by nearly one-third of what it was in 2019 – while all other spending falls. Why?

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has announced that the UK government will spend £50 billion on “defence”, for the first time in its history – more than £12 billion more than in 2019.

Jeremy Corbyn asked him about his priorities:

In response, Wallace said: “I am not out looking for war. We are all out here trying to defend our nation by avoiding war, but we do not avoid war by not investing in deterrence. Sometimes we have to invest in hard power, to complement soft power. We do not want to use it and we do not go looking for it. I know the right hon. Gentleman mixes with some people who always think this is about warmongering; it is not. But if countries are not taken seriously by their adversaries, that is one of the quickest ways to provoke a war.”

So he wants to avoid wars by rattling the sabre. This Writer isn’t sure that works – and I am encouraged to doubt him by his own prediction that the UK will be at war within seven years.

Mr Corbyn’s question was an opportunity for him to explain how his spending plan would prevent the UK from being at war within seven years. He did not answer that question.

What are these Tories planning to drag the rest of us into?

£500 million public money bribe to get Jaguar Land Rover owner to build electric car battery factory in Somerset

The Tory government is paying £500 million towards the creation of a £4 billion factory by Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata, building batteries for electric cars.

Is it really great news?

As migrant-housing barge arrives in Portland: how was the contract awarded and was it carried out corruptly?

Two tweets on this:

Is the illegal Tory “VIP lane” still operating, then?

Why is the government repeating consultation on wet wipe ban? Is it looking for a different response?


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BBC apologises after presenter CORRECTLY identifies Israel Defence Force murders of children

Do Israeli armed forces murder children? Well, here’s Muhammad Tamimi. His two-year-old life was ended after a member of the Israel Defence Forces raided his village and shot this defenceless toddler in the head.

There’s a meme going the rounds on the social media about the British Broadcasting Corporation.

It says when one person says it’s raining and another says it is sunny, it isn’t the BBC’s job to present a balance of the two viewpoints; the BBC’s job is to look out the window and see which of them is right.

Let’s apply this to a complaint made by the far-right, Israeli-government-supporting Board of Deputies of British Jews, that made a complaint to the BBC about this Newsnight sequence in which the attack on the refugee campaign in the Palestinian city of Jenin by the Israel Defence Force was questioned:

(I have no idea why Jimmy Hill’s face kept appearing in the clip; presumably it’s a comment by whoever made it about the veracity of Mr Bennett’s claims.)

The Board of Deputies made a complaint, which you can read below. And below that, you can find evidence refuting its claim:

Only last month, an IDF trooper shot two-year-old toddler Muhammad Tamimi in the head, in what is believed to have been a deliberate act of aggression against the child:

He died of his injury a short while later.

It therefore seems unsupportable that the Board of Deputies of British Jews can claim that it is “disgraceful” to say the IDF forces seem happy to kill children. The evidence is there, for all to see.

Sadly, it seems the BBC has not looked out of the window to check what the weather is actually doing.

In fairness, the BBC apology said the line of questioning was appropriate – it was just the language that was used that caused offence.

But that was enough for the Board of Deputies to crow about it.

Considering the way both organisations have responded to this incident, perhaps the BBC should look into the subject more deeply.

Perhaps Panorama could run a film examining the number of children the IDF have murdered and the frequency of these killings, alongside the after-the-event excuses for them, with analysis of whether the claims of the Israeli government actually stand up to scrutiny.

This Writer has a feeling the results would be illuminating – but I don’t think the BBC, under its shrinking-violet director general Tim Davie, would have the nerve.

For now, it seems the best advice possible for both parties in this dispute is to say that, if the Board of Deputies doesn’t want to see reports saying Israeli armed forces murder children…

Perhaps it should call on the Israeli armed forces to stop murdering children.


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