Fear and paranoia drive much of the current violence, but the fear and paranoia don't just emerge out of thin air. Turn on the TV and you get a good dose of the fear and paranoia. Read the newspaper, and you get the same. The dehumanization of "the other" is omnipresent in our so-called modern world, proving at the very least that we are not nearly as modern as we would like to think. Or at least our leaders are not. They seem completely disconnected from the people they are supposed to be representing. They have created all of the current crises, and they are dumping fuel on all of the fires.
The Holocaust is happening right now. People deny what is right in front of them.
Israel has murdered 3,300 Palestinian children. Those are only the confirmed dead. How many children lay trapped in bombed apartments? Think about your child. Or your grandchildren. Your great niece or nephew. Imagine it was your grandkid slowly dying crushed under rubble. These are real, confirmed, dead children but still Anericans want to talk about the beheaded babies THAT NEVER EXISTED.
How many will die of hunger or thirst on day 23 of the blockade? Can you imagine surviving these bombings and not even having clean water to pour on your wounds?
For 23 days Israel refuses to allow food or water or ANYTHING into Gaza. Why the hell does Israel have the authority to close these borders? Because the Western world gave/continues to give Israel legitimacy.
Meanwhile, Americans sit back and change the channel. I do not know a single person in my day to day life who is thinking about the Palestinians. As more and more details emerge about October 7, it is more and more obvious that the truth about Israeli casualties is not what the media said.
Why isn't it front page news that Israeli soldiers opened fire on Israeli houses in which Hamas had sheltered? Israeli civilians inside these homes were injured or killed by the Israeli military. The whole western mainstream media sphere insists that Palestinians must die because _____.
And every single excuse comes out as false. Every single one. And nobody cares.
At least there are people out in the streets against the Israel and U. S. atrocities, more than I thought there would be. There is a definite negative reaction to the sickening crimes that the U. S. has aided and abetted while Biden gives mumbled lip service to preventing civilian casualties.
Trump Promises VENGEANCE Against Hamas. Goes Full Warmonger!
Donald Trump opened his speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s conference by declaring, “I love Israel. I love Israel.” He then went on to say that if he’s elected president again he will pursue “vengeance” against Hamas in response to the group’s October 7 attacks.
Jimmy Dore discusses how Trump is declaring himself as much of a bloodthirsty warmonger marching the US into a global conflict as his fellow Republican candidates or Joe Biden. And Donald Trump does not give a shit about the US and only wants to please his Jewish donor class and AIPAC.
Just when I thought Trump would be good for the country, he too is all about helping Netanyahu fulfill his Bible prophecy. My allusion that Trump was an anti-interventionist blown to smithereens like buildings in Gaza. Good times ahead for-sure!
Everyone goes full warmonger when it comes to Israel.
re the 28 Oct 23 Bracing Views “What Gaza Needs Now Is Mercy”…:
What Gaza ~ more specifically, the Human Beings who are still alive in Gaza ~ actually, really NEEDS is quite simple.
They need for the American People ~ specifically, the Citizens/Taxpayers/Voters of this nation ~ to pull their individual and collective heads out of their collective and individual asses, and to DEMAND that their so-called “government” ORDER Israel to immediately cease and desist all offensive military action in Gaza, declare a Cease-Fire, and ensure that any and all Humanitarian Relief ~ as in Edible Food, Potable Water, Functioning Fuel, and Basic Medical and Surgical Supplies and Equipment for starters ~ be permitted to proceed unhampered and unmolested by the IDF into the War Zone.
Unfortunately, given the number of Americans who are directly and/or indirectly benefitting from Israel’s Rape of Gaza ~ be they elected politicians, entrenched civilian or military bureaucrats, anointed political appointees, the propagandists of that government’s so-called “media,” and all them MICC cogs [workers, supervisors, managers, executives, board members, and shareholders] ~ what the People of Gaza NEED is not going to happen.
It is not going to happen for the simple reason that Americans’ heads are too far jammed up and in for them to do anything effective for and meaningful to the People of Gaza. Just like they have been about America’s War with Russia in Ukraine since February 2022, and the People of that war-destroyed land, country, and nation. And meanwhile, that MICC is raking in record earnings and profits that promise only to get bigger and better.
But if nothing else, one thing this whole Goat Fuck has demonstrated is Biden’s re-election strategy.
America has a history of “not changing horses in the middle of the stream” when it is involved in a War [think FDR, LBJ, Nixon, Cheney, and Obama]. And on November 5, 2024, Team Biden is counting on America being wrapped up in at least two wars ~ Ukraine and Gaza [and the regional conflict it is headed toward] ~ if not a third with China. And maybe even a fourth with Mexico. And Team Biden is looking forward to all of them.
Of course, at this stage of The Game, there may not even be a national election in November 2024. What would happen if there was another 9/11? Or ~ as is all but guaranteed ~ another Pandemic [but one that predominately kills young and healthy Americans as opposed to old and medically compromised ones like the last one]? Or another 2008esque “Too Big To Fail” financial “¢risi$,” but orders of magnitude worse even to the point of the almighty Dollar being displaced as the world’s Reserve Currency and a Default on America’s $33.6 TRILLION national, sovereign Debt?
And even if there is that election, there may very well not be an Inauguration of the next President and seating of the new Congress in January 2025. And if that happens, the American People will have nobody to blame but themselves.
All of which leads to one of those “Most Important Questions” confronting Americans that nobody likes hearing asked: “Will the United States of America survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026? And if it does, will the American People be in any condition or mood to celebrate anything?”
Another way of phrasing that MIQ is: “CAN the USA survive?” And a better way of phrasing it is: “SHOULD the USA survive?”
Religion is a system of power and control like Politics. It is meant to regulate our thoughts to ensure that we follow rules and even laws. Religion, politics, and Corporations are used as weapons against our humanity. I believe that Religion is detached from God and Spirituality-- the true essence of our Identity that helps us create absolute freedom to advance into better beings..!
The Israeli government and the media are calling the Palestinians Nazis!! That is totally insane, first Israel does to them what the Nazis did to jews in WWII and then calls them Nazis. I think the residents of Israel have completely lost their minds. Well, not all of hem, there are some who are protesting the government behavior, but lets face it, the majority of Israelis voted for this government. What I want to know is why are WE promoting a government that is promoting insane ideas and is committing mass murder daily?! Apparently WE ARE INSANE TOO. If we were sane, we would be doing everything we can to stop mass murder.
This past week a crazy person in Maine shot and killed a lot of people and wounded many more. We immediately sent our police out and everyone else we could find to to stop him and also to provide medical care and emotional care to the people affected. Why aren't we doing that for the people of Gaza?? Are WE insane? Is our government insane that it is ENCOURAGING the insane murders in Israel to kill children and old people and bomb their homes? We re even sending them the bombs with which to do it. It certainly looks as though we are also insane. It looks like our country and its leaders have become insane under Biden and we need to stop it.
The following publication may be of interest to you.
"Psychological Operations" by Frank L Goldstein was published in 1996 by the US Air Force. It defines the reasoning and methods for achieving the goals of psychological indoctrination of hate of soldiers (and the public) for war. In Vietnam and Korea "slopes" and "gooks" we're the favored expressions used to dehumanize the enemy. Today it's "raghead" or "terrorist" or "human animals". Communism taking over the world and the loss of freedom and democracy was used as a means to instill fear and hate into the soldiers. Dehumanizing the enemy is the first step in conditioning a soldier for war. Now it's being practiced on the public by the mass media and governments.
The manual states that ".... the United States government does not not engage in public disinformation activities!" (pp 53). This is patently false. The mass media is responsible for the disinformation and elected officials parrot the media, and the public is not informed of the truth by omission due to "national security concerns". The hospital incident in Gaza is an example of omission. The only " proof" is a video showing a rocket explosion above the hospital which provides no proof of responsibility. The fact that the US has an aircraft carrier with AWACS aircraft, ground based radar and likely satellite data in real time would provide conclusive proof of responsibility. This has never been mentioned in the media. It's done to foster doubt and argument among the masses.
Being against the Zionist government and it's barbaric methods does not make one antisemitic but antisemitism is used by Zionists as a shield to hide behind. Much like Israel saying Hamas uses civilians for shields.
It seems quite obvious that this manual is being followed today to justify wars started by the US from at least the first Iraq war to today.
In 2000 the crisis was Y2K. The reasons given were a farce. It was then that the government tapped the communication lines and started monitoring the public. Then in 2001 September 11th happened and Homeland Security was created and shortly after Iraq was invaded for more military control of the Mideast.
One of the elements of a psyops operation is analysis of the results of the propaganda campaign and adjustment as needed as stated in the manual.
With the current enhanced computer capabilities and continuous surveillance monitoring of what should be private communications, the public can be controlled and led down whatever path the government chooses (pp 130). All this in the name of safety and security. Homeland Security was created explicitly for the threat of stopping terrorists in the US and yet can't stop children from crossing the border. Homeland Securities only function would seem to be monitoring the citizens of America for control. In short, military tactics are being used against American civilians ( pp 125). Now it's being practiced to justify genocide.
Consumer marketing techniques are used as a model for many of the methods utilized for military psyops (pp 51). Considering the merger of the government and corporations this isn't unexpected. The military industrial complex controls the government. If people can be controlled to buy certain products they can be convinced to follow government policies by the same methods.
Some people just ENJOY KILLING. Those are the leadership, the ones who lead others who don't enjoy killing into wars. For some reason they are not considered mentally ill, but are revered. Simply by justifying their actions through lies the sheep willingly follow to their demise. Goering and the Nazis knew this only too well. History is written by the winner. History repeats itself.
Agreed. Actions come first, often as a result of orders from someone higher up the chain. Rationalizations come second, to support the actions already taken.
Having faith is believing things without evidence.
There is nothing one cannot belief based on faith.
I have faith that fairies live in the bottom of my garden.
And I have just as much evidence for that as "the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors" - Joshua 21:43
"I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. … Faith, being belief that isn't based on evidence, is the principal vice of any religion." - Richard Dawkins 1997
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams, 1770 "The dangers of not thinking clearly are much greater now than ever before. It's not that there's something new in our way of thinking, it's that credulous and confused thinking can be much more lethal in ways it was never before."-- Carl Sagan
I'm an atheist, but I think it's important to steer people away from faith-based or religious-centered arguments re Israel/Palestine. Because the conflict isn't about Judaism or Islam. I may just be arguing terminology here since I'm quite sure you already know this already.
The way I see it, in 1948, the people who currently live in Israel stole the land, farms and homes of the Palestinian inhabitants. Most of these Palestinians were then evicted from Israel proper, except for a token population. Because democracy. (Eyeroll).
One group stole the land of the other group.
Now, some Israelis are justifying this theft with religion. But the main issue is the theft. If I were a Palestinian I wouldn't give a damn what religion Israelis have. I'd give many damns that Israel stole my land and kicked me out of the area (or locked me up in the concentration camp also known as Gaza.)
“Yahweh told Israel that he has identified "seven nations greater and stronger than yourself that you must put under curse of destruction,” and not “show them any pity.” As for their Kings, “you will blot out their names under heaven.”- Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 24:
Surely Rachel, you as a Palestinian, would give a damn that the Leader of the Israelis quoted an old book justifying, not just the stealing of your land, farms and homes and locked you up in a concentration camp - BUT THAT YOU BE EXTERMINATED!
In his speech, this atheist heard Netanyahu invoke the memory of what the Amalekites did when the Israelites left Egypt and quoted the biblical command to remember what the Amalekites did to the Israelites after the Exodus from Egypt. He said, “We remember and we are fighting”.
In 1 Samuel 15:2 Jehovah said, "I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they set themselves against them in the way as they came up out of Egypt."
In verse 3 Jehovah said to him, "Go now and strike the Amalekites; and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, oxen and sheep, camel and donkey."
Then Saul struck the Amalekites and captured Agag their king. Saul utterly destroyed all their people, but he "spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings, and the lambs and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; but everything that was despised and worthless, this they utterly destroyed"
Did Netanyahu call for genocide? YES, YES and YES!
"“Look at what you made me do!” is the justification held in common by Hamas and the Israeli militarists.
Fear and paranoia drive much of the current violence, but the fear and paranoia don't just emerge out of thin air. Turn on the TV and you get a good dose of the fear and paranoia. Read the newspaper, and you get the same. The dehumanization of "the other" is omnipresent in our so-called modern world, proving at the very least that we are not nearly as modern as we would like to think. Or at least our leaders are not. They seem completely disconnected from the people they are supposed to be representing. They have created all of the current crises, and they are dumping fuel on all of the fires.
"They seem completely disconnected from the people they are supposed to be representing."
You're so right, John. The disconnect seems surreal: leaders are on a totally different plane.
Those so very true words of the Nazi's wife, immediately took my mind to Edwin Muir's poem, "The Good town." And from that poem, these words:
What is the answer? Perhaps no more than this,
That once the good men swayed our lives, and those
Who copied them took a while the hue of goodness,
A passing loan; while now the bad are up,
And we, poor ordinary neutral stuff,
Not good nor bad, must ape them as we can,
In sullen rage or vile obsequiousness.
Say there’s a balance between good and evil
In things, and it’s so mathematical,
So finely reckoned that a jot of either,
A bare preponderance will do all you need,
Make a town good, or make it what you see.
But then, you’ll say, only that jot is wanting,
That grain of virtue. No: when evil comes
All things turn adverse, and we must begin
At the beginning, heave the groaning world
Back in its place again, and clamp it there.
Then all is hard and hazardous. We have seen
Good men made evil wrangling with the evil,
Straight minds grown crooked fighting crooked minds.
Our peace betrayed us;
we betrayed our peace.
Look at it well. This was the good town once.”
These thoughts we have, walking among our ruins.
The Holocaust is happening right now. People deny what is right in front of them.
Israel has murdered 3,300 Palestinian children. Those are only the confirmed dead. How many children lay trapped in bombed apartments? Think about your child. Or your grandchildren. Your great niece or nephew. Imagine it was your grandkid slowly dying crushed under rubble. These are real, confirmed, dead children but still Anericans want to talk about the beheaded babies THAT NEVER EXISTED.
How many will die of hunger or thirst on day 23 of the blockade? Can you imagine surviving these bombings and not even having clean water to pour on your wounds?
For 23 days Israel refuses to allow food or water or ANYTHING into Gaza. Why the hell does Israel have the authority to close these borders? Because the Western world gave/continues to give Israel legitimacy.
Meanwhile, Americans sit back and change the channel. I do not know a single person in my day to day life who is thinking about the Palestinians. As more and more details emerge about October 7, it is more and more obvious that the truth about Israeli casualties is not what the media said.
Why isn't it front page news that Israeli soldiers opened fire on Israeli houses in which Hamas had sheltered? Israeli civilians inside these homes were injured or killed by the Israeli military. The whole western mainstream media sphere insists that Palestinians must die because _____.
And every single excuse comes out as false. Every single one. And nobody cares.
At least there are people out in the streets against the Israel and U. S. atrocities, more than I thought there would be. There is a definite negative reaction to the sickening crimes that the U. S. has aided and abetted while Biden gives mumbled lip service to preventing civilian casualties.
Oh dear, I was so wrong!
Trump Promises VENGEANCE Against Hamas. Goes Full Warmonger!
Donald Trump opened his speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s conference by declaring, “I love Israel. I love Israel.” He then went on to say that if he’s elected president again he will pursue “vengeance” against Hamas in response to the group’s October 7 attacks.
Jimmy Dore discusses how Trump is declaring himself as much of a bloodthirsty warmonger marching the US into a global conflict as his fellow Republican candidates or Joe Biden. And Donald Trump does not give a shit about the US and only wants to please his Jewish donor class and AIPAC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2FDzFjQI9w
Just when I thought Trump would be good for the country, he too is all about helping Netanyahu fulfill his Bible prophecy. My allusion that Trump was an anti-interventionist blown to smithereens like buildings in Gaza. Good times ahead for-sure!
Everyone goes full warmonger when it comes to Israel.
It’s so frustrating 🤦♂️
Someone needs to tell Trump and Biden we need a President of and for America, not another president of and for Israel.
re the 28 Oct 23 Bracing Views “What Gaza Needs Now Is Mercy”…:
What Gaza ~ more specifically, the Human Beings who are still alive in Gaza ~ actually, really NEEDS is quite simple.
They need for the American People ~ specifically, the Citizens/Taxpayers/Voters of this nation ~ to pull their individual and collective heads out of their collective and individual asses, and to DEMAND that their so-called “government” ORDER Israel to immediately cease and desist all offensive military action in Gaza, declare a Cease-Fire, and ensure that any and all Humanitarian Relief ~ as in Edible Food, Potable Water, Functioning Fuel, and Basic Medical and Surgical Supplies and Equipment for starters ~ be permitted to proceed unhampered and unmolested by the IDF into the War Zone.
Unfortunately, given the number of Americans who are directly and/or indirectly benefitting from Israel’s Rape of Gaza ~ be they elected politicians, entrenched civilian or military bureaucrats, anointed political appointees, the propagandists of that government’s so-called “media,” and all them MICC cogs [workers, supervisors, managers, executives, board members, and shareholders] ~ what the People of Gaza NEED is not going to happen.
It is not going to happen for the simple reason that Americans’ heads are too far jammed up and in for them to do anything effective for and meaningful to the People of Gaza. Just like they have been about America’s War with Russia in Ukraine since February 2022, and the People of that war-destroyed land, country, and nation. And meanwhile, that MICC is raking in record earnings and profits that promise only to get bigger and better.
But if nothing else, one thing this whole Goat Fuck has demonstrated is Biden’s re-election strategy.
America has a history of “not changing horses in the middle of the stream” when it is involved in a War [think FDR, LBJ, Nixon, Cheney, and Obama]. And on November 5, 2024, Team Biden is counting on America being wrapped up in at least two wars ~ Ukraine and Gaza [and the regional conflict it is headed toward] ~ if not a third with China. And maybe even a fourth with Mexico. And Team Biden is looking forward to all of them.
Of course, at this stage of The Game, there may not even be a national election in November 2024. What would happen if there was another 9/11? Or ~ as is all but guaranteed ~ another Pandemic [but one that predominately kills young and healthy Americans as opposed to old and medically compromised ones like the last one]? Or another 2008esque “Too Big To Fail” financial “¢risi$,” but orders of magnitude worse even to the point of the almighty Dollar being displaced as the world’s Reserve Currency and a Default on America’s $33.6 TRILLION national, sovereign Debt?
And even if there is that election, there may very well not be an Inauguration of the next President and seating of the new Congress in January 2025. And if that happens, the American People will have nobody to blame but themselves.
All of which leads to one of those “Most Important Questions” confronting Americans that nobody likes hearing asked: “Will the United States of America survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026? And if it does, will the American People be in any condition or mood to celebrate anything?”
Another way of phrasing that MIQ is: “CAN the USA survive?” And a better way of phrasing it is: “SHOULD the USA survive?”
Nice to have you back, Jeff.
Is Netanyahu calling for genocide? YES, YES and YES!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCFjrbjcb94
"Religion poisons everything!" - Christopher Hitchens.
Religion is a system of power and control like Politics. It is meant to regulate our thoughts to ensure that we follow rules and even laws. Religion, politics, and Corporations are used as weapons against our humanity. I believe that Religion is detached from God and Spirituality-- the true essence of our Identity that helps us create absolute freedom to advance into better beings..!
The Israeli government and the media are calling the Palestinians Nazis!! That is totally insane, first Israel does to them what the Nazis did to jews in WWII and then calls them Nazis. I think the residents of Israel have completely lost their minds. Well, not all of hem, there are some who are protesting the government behavior, but lets face it, the majority of Israelis voted for this government. What I want to know is why are WE promoting a government that is promoting insane ideas and is committing mass murder daily?! Apparently WE ARE INSANE TOO. If we were sane, we would be doing everything we can to stop mass murder.
This past week a crazy person in Maine shot and killed a lot of people and wounded many more. We immediately sent our police out and everyone else we could find to to stop him and also to provide medical care and emotional care to the people affected. Why aren't we doing that for the people of Gaza?? Are WE insane? Is our government insane that it is ENCOURAGING the insane murders in Israel to kill children and old people and bomb their homes? We re even sending them the bombs with which to do it. It certainly looks as though we are also insane. It looks like our country and its leaders have become insane under Biden and we need to stop it.
The following publication may be of interest to you.
"Psychological Operations" by Frank L Goldstein was published in 1996 by the US Air Force. It defines the reasoning and methods for achieving the goals of psychological indoctrination of hate of soldiers (and the public) for war. In Vietnam and Korea "slopes" and "gooks" we're the favored expressions used to dehumanize the enemy. Today it's "raghead" or "terrorist" or "human animals". Communism taking over the world and the loss of freedom and democracy was used as a means to instill fear and hate into the soldiers. Dehumanizing the enemy is the first step in conditioning a soldier for war. Now it's being practiced on the public by the mass media and governments.
The manual states that ".... the United States government does not not engage in public disinformation activities!" (pp 53). This is patently false. The mass media is responsible for the disinformation and elected officials parrot the media, and the public is not informed of the truth by omission due to "national security concerns". The hospital incident in Gaza is an example of omission. The only " proof" is a video showing a rocket explosion above the hospital which provides no proof of responsibility. The fact that the US has an aircraft carrier with AWACS aircraft, ground based radar and likely satellite data in real time would provide conclusive proof of responsibility. This has never been mentioned in the media. It's done to foster doubt and argument among the masses.
Being against the Zionist government and it's barbaric methods does not make one antisemitic but antisemitism is used by Zionists as a shield to hide behind. Much like Israel saying Hamas uses civilians for shields.
It seems quite obvious that this manual is being followed today to justify wars started by the US from at least the first Iraq war to today.
In 2000 the crisis was Y2K. The reasons given were a farce. It was then that the government tapped the communication lines and started monitoring the public. Then in 2001 September 11th happened and Homeland Security was created and shortly after Iraq was invaded for more military control of the Mideast.
One of the elements of a psyops operation is analysis of the results of the propaganda campaign and adjustment as needed as stated in the manual.
With the current enhanced computer capabilities and continuous surveillance monitoring of what should be private communications, the public can be controlled and led down whatever path the government chooses (pp 130). All this in the name of safety and security. Homeland Security was created explicitly for the threat of stopping terrorists in the US and yet can't stop children from crossing the border. Homeland Securities only function would seem to be monitoring the citizens of America for control. In short, military tactics are being used against American civilians ( pp 125). Now it's being practiced to justify genocide.
Consumer marketing techniques are used as a model for many of the methods utilized for military psyops (pp 51). Considering the merger of the government and corporations this isn't unexpected. The military industrial complex controls the government. If people can be controlled to buy certain products they can be convinced to follow government policies by the same methods.
Some people just ENJOY KILLING. Those are the leadership, the ones who lead others who don't enjoy killing into wars. For some reason they are not considered mentally ill, but are revered. Simply by justifying their actions through lies the sheep willingly follow to their demise. Goering and the Nazis knew this only too well. History is written by the winner. History repeats itself.
So you say in a shallow way.
Having faith means you know the sun come up in the morning as a aspect of the eternal that goes on whether your alive or dead.
I Have no faith in human hubris and I suppose that’s what your referring to.
Should Israel accept Palestinian refugees from war-torn Gaza?
It was Israeli TERRORISM in 1948 that forced Palestinians to flee to Gaza under Egyptian control for refuge.
There is no escape from the Jewish controlled Gaza Ghetto BIGGEST Concentration Camp in the World post WWII since 2007
Agreed. Actions come first, often as a result of orders from someone higher up the chain. Rationalizations come second, to support the actions already taken.
Two ancient laws: do no harm, and seek truth.
Either or, both deny war.
Propaganda, misinformation further condemn war.
Hamas went off the reservation, Israel/US murderous response is wrong.
Motives of US wrong. In Mid East, Europe and Indo-PAC.
Well if the Holocaust has happened down through history it means it’s one aspect of our nature.
Can’t have anything to do with faith!
Having faith brings the dimension of the eternal into our lives, yet hate is so short lived bringing nothing but cruel misery.
How can one have faith in hate to solve issues??
Having faith is believing things without evidence.
There is nothing one cannot belief based on faith.
I have faith that fairies live in the bottom of my garden.
And I have just as much evidence for that as "the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors" - Joshua 21:43
"I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. … Faith, being belief that isn't based on evidence, is the principal vice of any religion." - Richard Dawkins 1997
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams, 1770 "The dangers of not thinking clearly are much greater now than ever before. It's not that there's something new in our way of thinking, it's that credulous and confused thinking can be much more lethal in ways it was never before."-- Carl Sagan
, 1996
I'm an atheist, but I think it's important to steer people away from faith-based or religious-centered arguments re Israel/Palestine. Because the conflict isn't about Judaism or Islam. I may just be arguing terminology here since I'm quite sure you already know this already.
The way I see it, in 1948, the people who currently live in Israel stole the land, farms and homes of the Palestinian inhabitants. Most of these Palestinians were then evicted from Israel proper, except for a token population. Because democracy. (Eyeroll).
One group stole the land of the other group.
Now, some Israelis are justifying this theft with religion. But the main issue is the theft. If I were a Palestinian I wouldn't give a damn what religion Israelis have. I'd give many damns that Israel stole my land and kicked me out of the area (or locked me up in the concentration camp also known as Gaza.)
“Yahweh told Israel that he has identified "seven nations greater and stronger than yourself that you must put under curse of destruction,” and not “show them any pity.” As for their Kings, “you will blot out their names under heaven.”- Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 24:
Oh dear! Old Yahweh stirring up sh*t again eh
Well, you know what they say, Dennis: "Yahweh or the highway."
Surely Rachel, you as a Palestinian, would give a damn that the Leader of the Israelis quoted an old book justifying, not just the stealing of your land, farms and homes and locked you up in a concentration camp - BUT THAT YOU BE EXTERMINATED!
In his speech, this atheist heard Netanyahu invoke the memory of what the Amalekites did when the Israelites left Egypt and quoted the biblical command to remember what the Amalekites did to the Israelites after the Exodus from Egypt. He said, “We remember and we are fighting”.
In 1 Samuel 15:2 Jehovah said, "I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they set themselves against them in the way as they came up out of Egypt."
In verse 3 Jehovah said to him, "Go now and strike the Amalekites; and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, oxen and sheep, camel and donkey."
Then Saul struck the Amalekites and captured Agag their king. Saul utterly destroyed all their people, but he "spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings, and the lambs and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; but everything that was despised and worthless, this they utterly destroyed"
Did Netanyahu call for genocide? YES, YES and YES!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCFjrbjcb94
Am I all confused? Did I get this right? Oh dear!