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https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-rotz-001&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=rotz&param1=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%3D&p=we+are+not+free+until+Palestine+is+free+nelson+manela&type=mdruc23e2fad8884c7e04e98#id=2&vid=465b7fbdc8c3ea2e22013d2765b357ca&action=click Nelson Mandela being questioned by an audience at City College, New York in 1990. He makes it clear that those he had named had fully supported South Africa’s struggle led by the ANC and stood by them as they had him and his Comrades. Now that Palestinians are in desperate need of support in their struggle the South African Government keeps faith with their founding Leader. John Tyrrell, 31/1/2024 https://uk.news.yahoo.com/south-africas-naledi-pandor-speaks-134041521.html Following the hearing at the Hague by the ICJ, South African Minister for Foreign Relations spoke with the press. To South Africa’s great credit they have acted in a world crisis where international law is being ignored. The actions are in accordance with Nelson Mandela’s declaration concerning those struggling for self determination in the face of neocolonial rule characterised by genocide and crimes against humanity.

Image: Etsy 31/1/2024

First the Fascist state of Israel bombed Gaza, then the West Bank, Yemen and now Syria. Who next? Iran, Serbia, Turkey. WE MUST STOP THESE MAD PERSONS OR THEY WILL, INDEED THEY ARE, DRIVING THE WORLD TO NUCLEAR ANNIHILATION. When is the United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly going to make clear to these mad men and women of Israel that they must stop the policy of mass slaughter as that pursued by Fascists of Germany against Socialist, Communists and Jews. I remember speaking at a meeting with Pastor Martin Niemoller, whose words are featured on the United States Holocaust Memorial. It’s time the United States President, its Senate and House of Representatives read those historic words and then think why is the USA supporting the mass killings by Israel. “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak ot because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.” For his opposition to the Nazis’ state control of the churches, Niemoller was imprisoned in Sachtenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1938 to 1945. He became an anti-war activist and Viec-chair of the War Resistance International for 1966. He was a committed campaigner for Nuclear Disarmament. Arthur Scargill, Socialist Labour Party 19/01/2024

https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1394506 People in the U.K. are suffering at a time when the Tory Government, supported by Starmer’s Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, are providing massive financial assistance to NATO-backed Fascist Ukraine, and togethre with the United States supporting the Fascist State of Israel. Now they have joined the U.S. in attacking the Houthis in the Yemen (whose “crime” is supporting the people of Palestine who are the victims of genocide.) As of today, 14th January, 2024, the U.K. Government has spent, or agreed to spend £6-9 billion pounds supporting these two fascist states, money which should have been provided to our NHS, education, care for our elderly and infirm and on over 9 million unemployed (described as “economically inactive”). People should remember these facts when voting in the forthcoming General Election and when Trade Unionists have to take Industrial Action. We need a Socialist future which would secure for all people the full fruits of their labour by hand or by brain and ensure that the billions currently being “taken” by the Multinationals is used for the benefit of all our people irrespective of Race, Religion or Ethnicity. Socialist Labour Party 14/01/2024

The Socialist Labour Party has signed the document supporting South Africa’s action in challenging the Israel Government’s continuing onslaughter on Gaza. This is in the light of failure of the United Kingdom Government and other leaders to back a call for a Cease Fire calling an immediate halt to continued bombing of civilians, causing wiespread death and destruction, along with withholding essentials for life: food, water, power, medicine and shelter included. Not only are powerful nations watching evident Genocide unfold, they are continuing to add to the conflict with the United States and United Kingdom bombing Yemen, another country that has endured years of suffering from the high tech apparatus available to wealthy nations. Neocolonialism continues apace with priority given to accumulating wealth over human life. PLEASE NOTE: THIS LETTER IS ONLY FOR ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS, UNIONS AND OTHER GROUPS, NOT FOR INDIVIDUALS TO SIGN. THANK YOU! A note for organizations: On December 30, a group of organizations including the Black Alliance for Peace, the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation, Popular Resistance, CODEPINK, Progressive International, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), the National Lawyers Guild, Samidoun, Veterans for Peace, Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (US Section), World Beyond War, The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center (CMMLK) Cuba, Project Enduring Peace, and others met urgently to support efforts to end the genocide of Palestinians. While there are many legal and human rights-focused groups working to end genocide using various legal interventions, we saw a need to build organizational support by human rights, anti-colonial, anti-imperialist and other groups as a way to increase public pressure. We invite your organization to sign this open letter calling for nations to submit Declarations of Intervention to the International Court of Justice in support of South Africa’s excellent case invoking the Genocide Convention against Israel. Such Declarations can be submitted at any time and will increase the likelihood that a finding of the crime of genocide by the Court is backed up by enforcement. At present, we are gathering organizational (not individual) endorsements. We urge you to share this internally with organizations that may be supportive of this effort. Once we have gathered a significant number of endorsements, the letter will be published. We appreciate your endorsement and any support you can provide to gather as many signing organizations as possible. SIGN-ON LETTER TEXT: We, the undersigned organizations, commend South Africa on its Application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) invoking the Genocide Convention against Israel. We now urge other countries to reinforce this strongly worded and well-argued complaint by immediately filing a Declaration of Intervention with the ICJ, also called the World Court.Many countries have rightly expressed their horror at the State of Israel’s genocidal actions, war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed against Palestinians. Israeli Occupying Forces have bombed hospitals, residences, United Nations refugee centers, schools, places of worship and escape routes, killing and injuring tens of thousands of Palestinians since October 7, 2023. More than half of the dead are women and children. Israeli leaders have made brazenly genocidal statements openly declaring their intention to permanently and completely displace Palestinians from their own land. South Africa is correct in charging that under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Israel’s actions “are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.” Parties to the Genocide Convention are obliged to act to prevent genocide; therefore, action must be immediate. A Declaration of Intervention filed with the ICJ in support of the South African case against Israel is one way to ensure that all acts of genocide are stopped and those responsible are held accountable. Israel’s killing, injuring, traumatizing, and displacing large numbers of Palestinians and denying water, food, medicine, and fuel to an occupied population meet the criteria for the crime of genocide. If a majority of the world’s nations call for a ceasefire, yet fail to press for prosecution of Israel – what is to stop Israel from ethnically cleansing all Palestinians? For that matter, what is to stop other nations from repeating a horror of this magnitude?We urge national governments to immediately file a Declaration of Intervention in support of the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice to stop the killing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Resources: Here is an example of a Declaration of Intervention by the Maldives in the Myanmar case. There are many other examples. See no 1232 Socialist Labour Party 13/01/2023

Picture of action from The Irish News Scargill refuses to cross Junior Doctors’ picket line Arthur Scargill, Socialist Labour Party member and former President of the National Union of Mineworkers, demonstrated his support for England’s junior doctors’ strike by cancelling an appointment at Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital on Monday, 8 January, the penultimate day of their current strike action. He says “I feel that all trade unions and their members should give full support to the junior doctors in their fight for a decent wage and working conditions:  their pay claim represents a fraction of the salaries paid to heads of hospital Trusts – and 70% less than Members of Parliament receive”. When Arthur contacted the hospital  explain why he couldn’t attend today, the Admissions Officer to whom he spoke said she understood his principled position and provided him with a new appointment date. (8 January 2024)

Israeli Teen Jailed for Refusing To Take Part in Army’s ‘Criminal Attack’ on Gaza https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-rotz-001&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=rotz&param1=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%3D&p=tal+mitnick&type=mdruc23e2fad8884c7e04e98#id=6&vid=ef2a45634f232f9344a22d6f67218a75&action=click December 27, 2023 by Brett Wilkins, a staff writer for U.S.-based news website Common Dreams. “I believe that slaughter cannot solve slaughter,” said 18-year-old Tal Mitnick, who was sentenced last Tuesday to 30 days behind bars for refusing to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces as it wages a genocidal assault on Gaza, a war the teen condemned as “a revenge campaign… not only against Hamas, but against all Palestinian people.” Tal Mitnick, an 18-year-old from Tel Aviv, entered the Tel Hashomer enlistment center with other members of the Mesarvot Network—a group of young conscientious objectors—and announced his refusal to enlist in the IDF, citing the war on Gaza and Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. “I believe that slaughter cannot solve slaughter,” he said outside the base. “The criminal attack on Gaza won’t solve the atrocious slaughter that Hamas executed. Violence won’t solve violence. And that is why I refuse.” The 30-day sentence imposed on Mitnick is exceptionally long; Israeli refuseniks are usually first jailed for 7 to 10 days, with the possibility of up to 200 additional days added for unrepentant resisters after their initial release. Numerous observers believe the teen is likely being punished for his outspoken criticism of Israeli government policies and practices. Mitnick expects to be imprisoned for an additional period after he serves out his month behind bars. In a statement shared Tuesday on social media, he slammed “the notion that this land belongs to only one people.” Mitnick wrote: “I refuse to believe that more violence will bring security, I refuse to take part in a war of revenge… We must recognize the fact that after weeks of the ground operation in Gaza, at the end of the day, negotiations, an agreement, brought back the hostages. It was actually military action that caused them to be killed. Because of the criminal lie that ‘there are no innocent civilians in Gaza,’ even hostages waving a white flag shouting in Hebrew were shot to death. I don’t want to imagine how many similar cases there were that were not investigated because the victims were born on the wrong side of the fence.” The path to peace, Mitnick argued, will not come from Israeli or Palestinian politicians, but rather “from us, the sons and daughters of the two nations.” Supporters accompanying Mitnick at Tel Hashomer held signs with slogans like “an eye for an eye and we all go blind” and “there is no military solution.” Last month, Mitnick told Turkish public broadcaster TRT World that “the army that we have in this area is the operational wing of Jewish supremacy in the area and it’s bent on the oppression of the Palestinian people, and I refuse to take part in that oppression and instead fight against it in my activism.” Mitnick said that the first day of the war was “defensive,” but after that, it “turned into a war of aggression against civilians in Gaza.” “I refuse to agree with the idea that killing civilians in Gaza would provide security for anyone,” he said. “It doesn’t bring security to anyone, neither to the people of Gaza nor to the people of Israel. I believe that the only path to security and peace lies in coexistence.” Another Israeli conscientious objector, 19-year-old Ariel Davidov, told TRT World: “I cannot take part in something that is so immoral, so unjust. This is a genocide that has been going on since the beginning of Zionism.” Davidov said that prior to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, largely through terrorism and ethnic cleansing, “there was settler colonialism,” and that Zionists—Jews seeking to establish a homeland in Palestine—”wanted to use this land and its people for their own interests.” “However,” he stressed, “this situation cannot continue like this.” Yet another resister, Ella Keidal, said: “I don’t wish to serve an army that is enacting an occupation, an apartheid regime.” “I don’t want to serve in an army that enforces the occupation, implements a racist regime, and plays a role in oppressing the Palestinian people in this exploitation project,” Keidal added. As the teens were speaking to TRT World, a group of Israelis physically and verbally assaulted them, calling them “terrorists” and “Hamas supporters,” forcing the interview to be cut short. The incident underscored the societal scorn and ostracization that Israeli conscientious objectors often face. Teens like Mitnick, Davidov, and Keidal made the decision to become conscientious objectors even before the current war on Gaza. They are part of a group of more than 200 high school students who announced in August that they would refuse to enlist due to Israel’s occupation of Palestine—which includes not just the West Bank and East Jerusalem but also Gaza under international law—and the anti-democratic judicial overhaul spearheaded by the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We truly fear for our own future, and for the future of all who live here. In view of this, we have no choice but to take extreme measures and refuse to serve in the army,” the teens said in a statement published over a month before the Gaza war began. “A government that destroys the judiciary is not a government that we can serve. An army that militarily occupies another people is not an army that we can join.” Earlier this year, 10,000 IDF reservists threatened to refuse service over the judicial overhaul. Hundreds of Israeli Air Force and cyberwarfare reservists went on strike over the legislation. There has been no such act of mass conscientious objection during the current Gaza onslaught, which has left more than 80,000 Palestinians—mostly women, children, and elders—dead, maimed, or missing over 82 days of near-relentless Israeli attacks. Military service is mandatory for most Israelis, including men and women. Exceptions include people with medical or psychological issues, certain criminal convictions, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Arab Muslims and Christians, Druze and Circassian women, and pregnant people and new mothers. The IDF does allow exemptions for some conscientious objectors, but these are almost exclusively granted on religious grounds, not political ideology or principle. from Nell Myers, SLP London Region 29/12/2024

From Code Pink When traditional news becomes a mouthpiece for genocide, it’s no surprise that viewership will fall. The latest Pew Research reports a third of US young adults get their news on TikTok, where sky-rocketing pro-Palestine hashtags are proving that it’s not only the young people’s platform of choice for news but also for global solidarity. According to TikTok’s official blog, this trend continues across platforms. Instagram reported 5.7M total posts tagged #FreePalestine compared to 214K total posts tagged #standwithIsrael. The BDS Movement is Alive and Kicking. Celebrating that German sportswear brand PUMA won’t be renewing its contract with the Israel Football Association (IFA), which includes teams based in Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Thanks to this boycott win, U.S. activists are determined to continue disrupting business as usual by holding genocide enablers and apartheid supporters accountable so that all Palestinians can live in peace, justice and equality. from Nell Myers, London Region 28/12/2023

Last week, the UAW became the largest union in the United States to call for a ceasefire, joining with other progressive unions December 05, 2023 by Natalia Marques One of the largest and most militant trade unions in the US, UAW, has recently endorsed the call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Photo: UAW Last week, one of the largest unions in the United States joined the Palestine solidaritymovement in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The United Auto Workers (UAW), with 400,000 active members and 580,000 retired members throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, is the largest union in the US to take this stance thus far. The UAW has joined several labor unions in calling for a ceasefire, chief among them being the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), which helped initiate the call for a ceasefire within labor back in October. Thus far, many unions and union locals have signed onto UE’s call, including the UAW, several teachers unions including the Boston and Chicago Teachers Unions, and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 3000. “We cannot bomb our way to peace,” reads the UE-initiated statement. “It’s the labor movement’s turn to make our voices heard and demand a ceasefire. Together, we can stand for peace, justice, and a better future for working people everywhere.” Some unions, such as the United Educators of San Francisco, have called for not only a ceasefire but an end to US aid to Israel. “UESF affirms that the goal of a ceasefire is to put an end to the killing of innocent civilians and an end to the suffering and trauma of the people of Gaza,” wrote the union in a statement released in November. “Calling for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine,” as UAW President Shawn Fain put it, may come off as a mild demand compared to the stances taken by trade unions in other countries. Transport unions in Europe have taken action to block weapons shipments to Israel, Indian trade unions have labeled Israeli actions as “genocidal” and have condemned their government’s efforts to Indian workers to Israel, and one of the largest industrial trade union on the African continent, the National Metalworkers Unions of South Africa (NUMSA) defended Palestinians’ right to resist occupation. “When Israel, the oppressor, brutalizes the oppressed, forces them from the land, maims and kills them indiscriminately and robs them of their dignity for decades, it is inevitable that there will be counter-violence from the oppressed. Justice is the only road to peace,” NUMSA wrote on October 13. Break from Democratic Party consensus However, in the context of the United States, the UAW’s stance is remarkable in the sense that it completely breaks from US labor’s decades-long legacy of toeing the line set by the Democratic Party. Not only did the union call for a ceasefire, it announced the creation of “a Divestment and Just Transition working group to study the history of Israel and Palestine, our union’s economic ties to the conflict, and explore how we can have a just transition for US workers from war to peace.” This indicates a willingness in the union’s leadership to begin divesting from Israel. The union’s position also indicates a new willingness from some of the most prominent labor voices to break from the Democratic Party consensus. Unions in the United States have for years faithfully backed the Democrats, who, although being one of the two major parties in the US that veers towards slightly more progressive politics, have failed to back pro-worker policies, such as a USD 15 minimum wage and universal healthcare. Unionized workers were en masse sent to canvas for establishment candidate Joe Biden during the 2020 election season. Now, three years later, it is evident that Biden’s presidency has overseen a vast decline in living standards for US workers, such as a vast decline in life expectancy. The Democratic Party establishment has staunchly condemned the ceasefire demand. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre labeled the calls for a ceasefire coming from progressives within her own party as “repugnant” and “disgraceful.” Instead, Democratic leaders have defended Israel through every massacre that has led to the nearly 16,000 dead in Gaza. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby has refused to call Israel actions “genocide”, saying “Israel is not trying to wipe the Palestinian people off the map. Israel’s not trying to wipe Gaza off the map. Israel is trying to defend itself against a genocidal terrorist threat.” Meanwhile, several Israeli officials and politicians have openly used genocidal rhetoric in relation to Gaza. Likud member Moshe Feiglin called for the complete destruction of Gaza. “There is one and only solution, which is to completely destroy Gaza before invading it. I mean destruction like what happened in Dresden and Hiroshima, without nuclear weapons,” he said. Several politicians have called for a repetition of the Nakba. Days after October 7, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Palestinians “human animals,” adding that “we will eliminate everything—they will regret it.” The UAW, under the new leadership of the progressive Fain, who won the presidency in 2023 in the first direct election in the union’s history, has in many ways deviated from the established political norm in the US labor movement. The UAW has yet to endorse Biden for the 2024 presidential election, with Fain saying that the union “expects actions, not words.” “Our endorsements are going to be earned. We’ve been very clear about that, no matter what politician,” Fain said, amidst the UAW’s strike battle against the three largest automakers in the country. “I am proud that the UAW International Union is calling for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine,” said Fain about the UAW joining the movement for a ceasefire. “From opposing fascism in WWII to mobilizing against apartheid South Africa and the CONTRA war, the UAW has consistently stood for justice across the globe.” Natalia Marques Peoples Dispatch 5/12/2023 (from Chris Butler SLP, Yorkshire Region)

Ronnie Kasrils, veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, and South Africa’s former Minister for Intelligence Services, activist and author, contributed the (slightly abridged) piece below  to the 19 December edition of  The Palestine Chronicle I support the right of all oppressed people to resist, and to resist armed oppression with armed resistance. My principles are universal, they apply in all situations. In the same way, I oppose all forms of racism. Naturally, this includes antisemitism, which is a form of racism. I oppose all forms of racism, support the right of all people living under military occupation to armed resistance and oppose and regret all loss of civilian life. I hold these principles without regard to the race of the oppressor or the oppressed. The 2017 Hamas Charter, which remains current, clearly states it is in conflict “with the Zionist project not with the Jews” and that it “rejects the persecution of any human being or the undermining of his or her rights on nationalist, religious or sectarian grounds.”  It correctly describes the Zionist project as a “racist, aggressive, colonial and expansionist project based on seizing the properties of others” and correctly asserts the right of the victims of Zionism to take up arms against their oppressors but does not, in anyway, call for attacks on Jewish people because they are Jewish people. The Hamas Charter reveals the Palestinian Struggle to be no different to the South African struggle which was waged against the abominations of the Apartheid system and colonial dispossession of land, not against Whites because they were White. My personal view is that there should be a single secular democratic state with rights for all – along the lines of post-apartheid South Africa – in the territory of historical Palestine but the 2017 Hamas charter does not call for the replacement of the Israeli ethno-state with a single inclusive state and clearly accepts a two state solution with a Palestinian state contiguous with the 1967 borders. Right to Resist In an address at a private meeting of approximately 40 trade unionists and activists on 24 November, my words on the success of the military raid on the Israeli Gaza Division undertaken by Hamas on 7 October, were as follows: “They swept on them and they killed them and damn good. I was so pleased and people who supported the resistance applauded, absolutely. If we had been able to spring a surprise on the Boers and knock down a hundred of them, the people would have been rejoicing on the rooftops. It’s the struggle, the armed struggle and in International Law, the occupied people are (justified). It’s accepted International Law that they have the right to that kind of resistance.” In the context of my talk and discussion, I was referring to the Israeli military garrison, cruelly imprisoning the people of Gaza for over sixteen years, having tormented and killed thousands in that period – “mowing the lawn” as the IDF phrase describes massacre after massacre. Palestinians have the same right to armed resistance as black South Africans had under apartheid, and as all oppressed people do. The October 7 raid penetrating  the militarized Gaza border followed 16 years of the brutal Gaza siege and a history of oppression going back to 1967, and indeed all the way back to 1947-48. Supporters of the oppressed will always rejoice in their achievements against the oppressor. At the same time, empathy for any civilian victim is felt. This is felt for civilians who died on October 7. Such rejoicing is no different to the way in which we celebrate military defeats against every oppressive state – from Nazi Germany to Apartheid South Africa – while regretting civilian casualties. Those who wish to say that all celebration of military success is perverse are silent about the fact that the Zionists of what was deemed a Jewish Resistance Movement celebrated foul atrocities committed in the founding of a state on land soaked with the blood and tears of its indigenous Palestinian population. They forget that the IDF and settler militias continuously celebrate their abhorrent undertakings growing more brutal by the day, as seen in the wild settler pogroms on the West Bank, in East Jerusalem as in the Gaza genocide. We may ask who has the true right to celebration, the oppressor or the oppressed? October 7 Operation The  October 7 incursion by Hamas and other resistance groups comprised two elements: The legal and justifiable military operation against the IDF and the illegal taking of civilian captives.   The latter admittedly a breach of international law but an action holding validity in terms of the intention to secure an exchange for detainees, including women and children, held in Israeli prisons without charge, with little chance of fair trial and under appalling conditions. The offer of an exchange of captives was extended by Hamas within 48 hours of the event. With regard to the tragedy of violent civilian deaths, completion of the initial phase of military attack was compromised by the music festival, an obstacle to access to  command centers. The ensuing carnage was exacerbated by the IDF’s chaotic arrival on the scene, which as the shooting of three Israeli hostages by Israeli soldiers on December 25 showed, is far from a model of military efficiency. Increasing witness accounts and information from IDF and Intelligence personnel reveal a need for independent investigation in the interests of equitable apportionment of blame among the IDF, al-Qassam Brigades, other armed groups and the crowd which poured through the breached Gaza fence. Unfortunately, much evidence has been lost or intentionally removed. But we do know that the Resistance fighters were armed with light arms, RPGs and grenades, weapons that could not destroy hundreds of vehicles or demolish buildings. Allegations of depravity committed against women in particular likewise require a measure of explanation. Claims of mass rape and disembowelment, along with accounts of 40 beheaded babies, a baby cooked in an oven, chopping off of limbs and bodies bound together for burning alive have been authoritatively dismissed as simple propaganda. Having suffered the humiliation of a serious military defeat during the initial phase of the incursion, Israel has elected to divert attention to the second phase during which the massacres occurred. However, disclosures to Israeli media reveal the carnage to have ensued by the actions of not only different groups of resistance fighters but particularly those of the IDF, who applied the Hannibal Directive in indiscriminate usage of missiles and shells fired from attack helicopters and tanks. It remains to be seen whether the self-proclaimed ‘most moral army in the world’ finds the modicum of courage required to admit to extensive culpability for the civilian deaths on October 7. Ongoing Genocide Israeli retaliation for the attack was inevitable. But the world has been left aghast at the disproportionate response, the ongoing genocide, ethnic cleansing, starvation, collective punishment, relentless bombing, obliteration of civilian infrastructure and residential areas, wilful destruction of hospitals overflowing with wounded who have to be treated under horrific conditions, extermination of healthcare workers and journalists, cold-blooded sniper fire and detention of individuals, hooded and stripped to their underwear, who become disappeared and subject to torture. The unprecedented global objection to the atrocities wrought against the Palestinians indicates the tectonic plates of geopolitics are shifting. In the United States most younger people, including very many younger Jews, no longer support Israel. The Palestinian Struggle is not waged against Zionism because Zionists are Jewish but against Zionism because it is the imposition of a  monstrous dispensation, which Jews of conscience around the world oppose. Israel’s claim to the right of an oppressor to defend itself perpetuates a singularly inhumane dispensation in the form of land seizures, military occupation, settlement expansion, vandalism, violence, expulsion, massacres, surveillance, arbitrary checkpoints, illegal detention, more than 65 discriminatory laws against Palestinians within the 1948 borders, the Apartheid Wall and constant harassment, intimidation and humiliation. As a Jew who grew up in the 1940s, my blood chills at comparative images of Nazi behavior. Anti-Semitism is racism. Zionism is racism. The Israeli state is a structurally and viciously racist state. Those who stand against racism, must simultaneously stand against anti-Semitism, Zionism and the Israeli state. Palestine Chronicle 19/12/2023