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Wednesday, May 28, 2025

28: Israel

The Flashing Signals That I Just Saw in Israel .... the grinding Gaza war continues to grind ...... more Israelis, from the left to the center and to even parts of the right, are concluding that continuing this war is a disaster for Israel: morally, diplomatically or strategically. ......... “The government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success,” Olmert argued. “What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of extermination: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians.” His conclusion: “Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.” ......... “This war is a deception. They lied to us about its achievements.” Israel has “been fighting a war for 20 months with failed plans” and it “is not succeeding in destroying Hamas.” .......... “Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country. A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set itself the aim of expelling populations.” ............ he was not blaming the military, but rather the politicians who were extending the war for reasons that no longer have anything to do with Israel’s national security needs. ......... Virtually no independent foreign journalists have been allowed to report firsthand from Gaza — unescorted by the Israeli army. When this war is over and Gaza is saturated with international reporters and photographers free to roam, the level of death and destruction is going to be fully reported and pictured — and that is going to be a very bad time for Israel and world Jewry. ............... stop now, forge a cease-fire, get the hostages back, get an international and Arab force into Gaza and deal with the remnants of Hamas later. ........... he can bomb Hamas into giving up its remaining 20 or so living Israeli hostages — and because the religious-nationalist members of his coalition have essentially told him if he stops the war, they will topple him. So, the Israeli military is going after more and more secondary targets, and the result is Gazan civilians being killed every day. ......... “Many bombing runs are actually assassination attempts against Hamas leaders, often when they’re with their families. And these officials no longer live in private houses or apartment buildings — they’re usually in the crowded tent camps with thousands of civilians. Even when the army declares multiple steps of caution, these attacks result in massive killing.” ..........

the war has worn down the whole society

............. “an increasing number of suicides (which the army doesn’t report) to families that are breaking up and businesses that are collapsing. ......... If many Israelis feel trapped by their own leaders, many Gazans clearly feel the same. Polling in Gaza is obviously difficult, but the antiwar movement there seems to be stirring as well — although

there you can get killed by Hamas for protesting.

........... 48 percent supported the anti-Hamas demonstrations that erupted in several places in recent weeks. .......... They attacked Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, 2023, and, when Israel predictably retaliated, they essentially offered up Gaza’s civilians as a collective human sacrifice to win global sympathy for their cause — while Hamas’s leaders hid in tunnels and abroad. ........... Hamas is still operating, but now Gaza is unlivable. And yet, Hamas’s leadership is still stubbornly saying it will not turn over all its remaining live hostages unless Israel agrees to leave Gaza and return to an open-ended cease-fire. ........... — losing tens of thousands of fighters and civilians and having few buildings in Gaza left intact — ........... in order to get back to exactly what Hamas had on Oct. 6, 2023: a cease-fire and Israel out of Gaza. ............. a rout of the Iran-led “resistance network.” .............. As a result of Netanyahu’s military operations, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah — not to mention Saudi Arabia — are all now much freer to join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel to a degree they never were when Iran’s regional mercenary network was so powerful. ............. a two-state solution with a reformed Palestinian Authority. ......... No wonder Donald Trump doesn’t want to waste time with Netanyahu — he can’t make any money from him and Netanyahu won’t allow Trump to make any history with him. ........... — the more they would ask me: “Do you think Trump can save us?” That question is the ultimate sign that your democracy is in trouble. .............. Trump goes to countries that give him things — cash, 747s, $Trump meme coin and Official Melania Meme sales, arms purchases, hotel deals, golf courses, A.I. data centers — and not countries that ask him for things, like Israel. ............... Even many American Jews don’t understand how big and powerful the ultra-Orthodox and religious-settler-nationalist community in Israel has grown and how much it sees Gaza as a religious war. ............... “You tell them Israel could have peace with Saudi Arabia and they will shrug and tell you that they are waiting for the Messiah. You tell them they could have peace with Syria, and they will tell you the Jewish people already own Syria — it’s part of Greater Israel. You tell them about international law, they will tell you biblical law. You will tell them Hamas, they will tell you Amalek” (a biblical enemy of the Israelites). ............ “It’s between the Jewish tribe and the democratic tribe. And the Jewish tribe is now winning. If Zionism was originally the triumph of secular nationalism over religious Judaism, what is happening to today is the resurgence of religious-nationalist Judaism over democracy.” ......... It is eerie to watch how Trump and Netanyahu are using a similar playbook to undermine their respective democracies. My only question is whose authoritarian impulses will trigger a full-blown constitutional crisis first. ................... Each leader stands accused of trying to undermine his country’s courts and the “deep state’’ — i.e., all the institutions that uphold the rule of law. In Trump’s case, it’s effectively to enrich himself personally and shift wealth in the country from the least privileged to the most privileged. In Netanyahu’s case, it’s effectively to escape the many corruption charges against him and shift power and money away from the democratic, moderate Israeli center to the settlers and the ultra-Orthodox. That group will keep Netanyahu’s coalition in office as long as he excuses the ultra-Orthodox from fighting in Gaza and allows the settlers to continue their march to annex the West Bank today and Gaza tomorrow. .............. Those committed to democracy and decency in both countries have one job between now and then: organize, organize, organize to win power.

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AOC 2028: : The Future of American Progressivism

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Rethinking Trade: A Blueprint for a Just and Thriving Global Economy
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Trump’s Trade War
Peace For Taiwan Is Possible
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AOC 2028: : The Future of American Progressivism

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Rethinking Trade: A Blueprint for a Just and Thriving Global Economy
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AOC 2028: : The Future of American Progressivism

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