Don’t Listen To That Person!

The following is a transcript of a podcast I stumbled upon after waking up from a horrible nightmare. Read at your own risk. --C. A. Matthews*

Hi! It’s me, your favorite social media influencer of all time, Ima Queen, here with the news you really shouldn’t know. I mean it—you really should not know any of these details if you want to remain my friend or make friends with my well-connected friends in Tel Aviv. Got it? Good.

First off, we have a quick rundown from a recent lecture given by a first-class traitor of Israel, Miko Peled. You really shouldn’t listen to that man because he says so many stupid things. For instance:

“I grew up in a colony.” While Peled was growing up as the son of a IDF general in Jerusalem he says he learned that the “Arabs” in Israel were an inherently backwards people because they didn’t have electricity and running water and live in a European-styled city like he did. Only much later did he come to realize the reality of why Palestinians lived the way they did. He says it’s because Palestinians are being oppressed. (As if!)

(...) 

Our second example is a young woman you definitely should not listen to if you know what’s good for you. You may remember her as an adorable teenager sitting in front of the Swedish Parliament “Striking for the Climate” or some other such nonsense. Now she’s all grown up and has attempted not one but two illegal invasions of Israeli territorial waters. How criminal can you get!

(...) 

This last item is one that you definitely should not listen to, although actually it’s a book. If you ever find an audio version of it, do not listen to it! If you find a printed or electronic copy, get rid of it at once!

 

*To read more of this satire piece about who you shouldn't listen to (if you know what's good for you), please copy or click on the following link: 

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This article is the 542nd blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

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Unite for Peace! (Or Die)

by C. A. Matthews

Last September, the United Nations gave the apartheid state of Israel one year to comply with the rulings of the International Court of Justice to end the genocide in Gaza or face the consequences.

That year ends on September 18, 2025. It’s high time for the war criminals’ day of reckoning!

On September 18 (or even before), the United Nations can start imposing serious sanctions on Israel. This include a military embargo as well as establishing a war crimes tribunal. Israel can also be stripped of its credentials as a member state in the General Assembly. The UN then can send in a protective force to distribute food and medical aid and protect Palestinian civilians from further harm at the hands of genocidal Zionists. More than two-thirds of the General Assembly supports creating such measures—it was more than a ten to one ratio for the September 2024 vote—and there’s nothing the US, even with its Security Council veto, can do about these measures.

So, what’s stopping this overwhelming majority of member nations in the United Nations from ending the genocide of the Palestinian people today? The US can’t stop the General Assembly vote or prevent sanctions against Israel from taking effect. Israel can’t prevent itself from being kicked out of the UN if enough member states vote to do so. The time to take decisive action to end this ethnic cleansing is now.

But let’s say that Canada feels pressured by the US not to vote yes on the UN’s Uniting for Peace process. Are there other countries so terrified of the US that they’d be willing to ignore the vast majority of their own people who want to stop the genocide in Gaza? Could the oligarchs of other colonizing countries in particular want to keep their ties with the US and its corporate oligarchs intact? Could they instruct their UN representatives to vote no or abstain on the initiative? Could US allies such as the UK, Germany, France, Canada, or Australia actually vote against Uniting for Peace?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes. But it’s still worth a shot even if there’s only a remote possibility to save lives, right? (...)

 

To read more about how we can start the Uniting for Peace process and how to become a part of the Lifeline for Palestine, please copy or click on this link: 

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And watch this video for a short explanation of Uniting for Peace:  https://youtu.be/79m9MSYH3kU 

This article is the 536th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

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How Can We Make Reparations to Palestine?

by C. A. Matthews

There will come a day when the genocidaires of Israel and its mostly Western allies will be forced to make reparations to the Palestinian people. Justice demands that fair and proper restitution be made to the victims of Israeli war crimes. But what will these reparations look like? How will they be enacted? Who will oversee the implementation of these reparations?

I’ve pondered these questions and came up with an outline of what all should be covered in a reparations plan. I believe reparations should be made to the Palestinian people in the following categories:

1. Financial-Material Reparations

2. Cultural-Historical-Educational Reparations

3. Political-Judicial Reparations

4. Spiritual-Physical Reparations

Israel will have to make reparations to Lebanon, Syria, and Iran in addition to Gaza and the West Bank. In this article, I’m concentrating on reparations to be made to the Palestinian people, although this outline could be used as a pattern to help develop a reparations plan for other peoples Israel and its allies have committed war crimes against.

Financial-Material Reparations

Financial-material reparations are the most obvious ones that Israel and its allies will need to make. All buildings Israel has destroyed in its genocide of Gaza, as well as in its attempt to takeover the West Bank, must be repaired or replaced. This includes public edifices such as hospitals, schools, universities, churches, mosques, and community centers. It will also include restoring parks, beaches, tourist attractions, museums, theaters, and other public gathering places. Bridges, roads, port facilities, utilities, water treatment plants, power plants, and any other infrastructure damaged or destroyed will also need to be repaired or rebuilt and paid for by the war criminals.

Private homes, apartment buildings, business offices, shopping areas, and individual stores or kiosks must also be repaired or rebuilt in a timely manner. And because Israelis have deprived Palestinians of their livelihoods and homes, they would need to make good on the income Palestinians have lost during the commission of their war crimes. Israelis must continue to repay all Palestinians lost income during this period of rebuilding Gaza and the destroyed and stolen homes and villages of the West Bank.

I know what’s going through your head at this point: How will the state of Israel be able to afford the restoration of all the buildings and infrastructure it has destroyed? How will it afford to give financial support to the Palestinian families it has harmed? Who will be the workers to fulfill this plan?

I will discuss the worker situation later, but for now notice that I added “and allies” at the start when I mentioned who all have committed war crimes against the Palestinian people. Israel won’t be the only country that will be making good on these reparations. All of Israel’s allies that have provided funding, bombs, jets, tanks, munitions, mercenaries, military support and surveillance, etc., to attack Gaza will need to make restitution as well. No country that aided or abetted Israel’s war crimes gets to walk free under this reparations plan. All who are guilty will pay to restore the damages their activities and support of the state of Israel have caused. No exceptions...

 

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We Won’t Get Fooled Again

by C.A. Matthews

There’s always a little light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Perhaps this is it.

I’ve actually seen ordinary persons making remarks online (and in-person) in very ordinary, non-political spaces that state they’re not buying into the status quo’s narrative spin anymore. They actually express opinions that the two biggest political parties in the US are (gasp!) just two factions of the same party. They see no real difference between them, nothing that really matters to the health and safety of ordinary people in the long run. Both the “Red and Blue Teams” take plentiful money from billionaires, billionaires who don’t give a damn about how they’re ruining the lives of the ordinary people worldwide.

Whenever I hear folks express these kinds of views, I want to cry tears of joy!

The people are at last catching on to what I’ve been writing about for almost a decade now. They’re finally getting it that the members of the US duopoly are not their friends. They understand how billionaires aren’t working for them and that they actually have had their labor stolen. They’re actually realizing that they’ve been had all along. They’re not buying into the propagandists’ lies any longer.

They’re saying, to paraphrase the 1971 classic rock anthem by The Who, “We won’t get fooled again.”

Now, that is a ray of hope in these dark days...

 

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A Congress Of Criminals

 

A Congress of Criminals

by C.A. Matthews

 

• A gaggle of geese.

• A dazzle of zebras.

• A parliament of owls.

• A bloat of hippos.

• A tower of giraffes.

• A skulk of foxes.

• A confusion of wildebeests.

• A conspiracy of lemurs.

• A destruction of (feral) wild cats.

A Congress of criminals. War criminals, that is.

You might think I made up these collective groups' terms, but I didn’t. Well, maybe that last one I did. The closest I could come to a name for a grouping of criminals was “a cowardice of curs.” It definitely needs updating.

I dare you to tell me who has acted more criminal than the members of the Congress of the United States of America recently. They invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, a leader with an arrest warrant for genocide on his head, to come and speak before them. They actually wanted to listen to a war criminal gloat about the mass murders of Palestinians by the IOF and how they plan to use the land they’ve stolen once they’ve removed all the rubble and dead bodies from it.

Why is Congress such a bunch of bloodthirsty ghouls? Why did they find Netanyahu, this terrible excuse of a human being, an acceptable guest? Did they take a good long look in a collective mirror and see themselves?

Well, it takes one to know one. Like attracts like. [Insert your favorite aphorism here to compare the criminal and cooperative actions of Biden and Congress to Netanyahu’s genocidal government.]

In case you’ve been following mainstream media and haven’t heard, Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged with the following crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC)...

 

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The Quiet Part

 “...We will continue to actively engage in the hard work of direct diplomacy on the ground until we reach a final solution.” --Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the UN Security Council Stakeout Following a Vote on the Situation in the Middle East  

“I am happy to be a fascist!”--Israeli Minister of Culture Miri Regev  

“[Palestinians] are beasts, they are not human.” --Israeli Deputy Defense Prime Minister Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan (2013)

"There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.” — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant

Biden Repeatedly Confuses Ukraine & Russia & Iraq https://rumble.com/v4f44no-biden-repeatedly-confuses-ukraine-and-russia-and-iraq.html

The Quiet Part

by C.A. Matthews

Some days you have to pinch yourself. Did she really say that? (Yes, she did.) Did he really say those dehumanizing and racist things? (Yes, he did.) Did our president confuse Ukraine and Russia and Iraq? (Yes, he has mixed up these sorts of things on several occasions, but it has nothing to do with his cognitive decline issues we're told.)

Why are they saying  (or acting) the “quiet part” out loud?

It hit me about eight years ago that the corrupt American status quo doesn’t waste time on niceties anymore. They don’t try to hide the fact that they couldn’t care less about the working classes. They don’t care if their mindless “puppet-president” is just that obvious nowadays. Our electeds don’t even pretend to be on our side as they take yet another wad of cash from AIPAC and send billions of dollars in bombs to Israel to assist with a genocide of the Palestinian people.

The smug establishment is saying the “quiet part” out loud. For this reason alone we should take them at their word. Push all those doubts out of your mind. The US is gladly helping Israel with their “Final Solution to the Palestinian Question.” Our UN ambassador just said it out loud, didn’t she?

No doubts about it at all—the US government doesn’t care if the Israelis wipe out the entirety of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to take their land, natural gas and oil resources. And why should it? We’ve done it ourselves before, haven’t we?

Whose land do you live on, “American”? The original inhabitants’ land—not the white settlers’ stolen parcel. Don’t give me that, “I paid for it—it’s my property!” nonsense. All property is theft. You did not create the land out of thin air, did you? It belonged to someone else before you. And probably before them as well if they were of European heritage. Wiping out entire indigenous peoples and language groups and replacing them with white Anglo-Saxon culture is as American as Dutch apple pie and German frankfurters, a.k.a. hot dogs.

Don’t grieve if this makes you look complicit with genocide by association. The quiet part needs to be said out loud from time to time to keep us honest. So kudos goes out to United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield for keeping it real. Even if it was a faux pas on her part or a poorly worded statement she read without editing first, she still made it. Now the world knows exactly why the US continues to veto a ceasefire in Gaza in the UN Security Council. We’re helping the Israelis with their “Final Solution” according to a senior US official, so that makes it official.

The term “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” was a euphemism used by Nazi Germany’s leaders  according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Most of us know enough history to understand what the Nazis were up to at their concentration camps during the 1940s. They weren’t holiday camps. They didn’t expect the people who walked in through their gates to walk out ever again. “Final” meant just that. No more problems can be expected from people who aren’t breathing any longer.

“It’s all so...shocking, isn’t it?” I’ve heard this line many times over the past four months. “The US is openly supporting a genocide in Gaza and turning a blind eye to the war crimes their ally Israel is proudly committing. Who would have thought this was possible in the year 2024? I blame [insert villain of the week the duopolists are shouting about here].”

My response to this line of nonsense is this: “I don’t know where you’ve been most of your life, but what is so shocking about how the US has never learned its lesson and has decided to support white settler-colonialism on their ‘world’s largest aircraft carrier in the Middle East’? How long did legal chattel slavery of Africans exist in the US? We slaughtered Native Americans both before and after our blessed independence from Great Britain in the 18th century, did we not? Please stop trying to blame others for the war crimes Americans have done, continue to do and condone others for doing.”

When the US government spends massive amounts of their tax payer dollars on military budgets, it expects to win after all. You can’t expect the US to “win” if it doesn’t have the best in armaments and locations to launch its military strikes from, can you? Israel has been the site of many American operations in that corner of the world, operations to secure and steal petroleum resources. Iraq, Kuwait,  Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq again… We’re in it together! Why should Americans worry about brown-skinned “human animals” getting wiped out in our journey to gain control over more of the Earth’s black gold? The Israelis certainly don’t act squeamish about it.

Sure, being painted with the same brush as Adolf Hitler and friends makes our consciences (what’s left of them) twinge a bit, but this genocide is all in a good cause. What cause is that? Well, our cause, of course! Saying the quiet part out loud should be of no concern to Westerners who have come to depend upon petroleum-powered vehicles and plastics, plastics, and more plastics to maintain their high standard of living.

The choice is simple: It’s our lavish lifestyles or the lives of strangers dying under tons of rubble in an open air concentration camp called the Occupied Territories. How many Westerners are going to give up their BMWs or Cadillac Escalades for the sake of saving little children from having their bomb-damaged arms and legs amputated without anesthesia? 

Hands up all those willing to give up their lifestyle to save others? Anyone? Hmm, yeah, I thought so.

The quiet part said out loud recently in the West has been known by the vast majority of non-Western humans on this planet for decades now. They are not surprised at all. Ask a Cambodian or a Vietnamese person about how Agent Orange dropped from American aircraft in the 1970s changed their lives and the lives of their loved ones forever with its mutative effects. 

Southeast Asians understand white settler-colonialism even if the whites didn’t come and take their land away from them directly. Destroying their villages and their health with cancer-causing chemicals pretty much made the point clear: Americans didn’t and still don’t give a shit about anyone’s health and safety. It should come as no surprise to you that the Global South sympathizes wholly with the Palestinians and not at all with the Israeli occupiers and their allies.

That’s the funny thing about saying the quiet part out loud. It’s only “shocking” to those who have benefited materially, financially, and socially from not hearing the words said out loud before. To everyone else it’s just, “Oh, yeah, we knew that all along. Why didn’t you know about it?”

So, why didn’t you know? Why have you been keeping the quiet part quiet in your own conscience? What do you have to lose by admitting out loud to others that your country is taking part in a genocide? What do you have to gain by being honest and acknowledging the truth of the matter? Will others expect you to fight back against it if you admit it’s a bona fide genocide? Will they expect you to give up your white settler-colonialist privileges (even if you’re not considered officially white in your Western society) in order to bring about an end to this genocide and the occupation of an indigenous people’s land and resources?

Will you have to *gulp!* actually change the way you think, speak, and act from here on out?

Change can be scary. But so is a genocide for the innocent civilians suffering through it. Why should you be allowed to remain quiet and unchanging, uncaring while others are dying in Gaza, Congo, Sudan...?

Say the quiet part out loud and take action against it. Today.

The biggest insult to the memory of the Holocaust is not denying it but using it to commit genocide against the Palestinian people. --Norman Finkelstein

 

Rest In Power, Aaron Bushnell 

Active duty US airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire outside of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC on February 25 protesting Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. He has since died from his injuries. He is the second person to have self-immolated in extreme protest to bring awareness to the genocide in Gaza. A woman on December 2, 2023, self-immolated outside an Israeli consulate in Atlanta. Aaron’s last message on social media explains why he was protesting:

His last words spoken were "Free Palestine!"

Caitlin Johnstone summed up Aaron's protest in this way: "I would never do what Bushnell did, and I would never recommend anyone else does either. That said, I also can’t deny that his action is having its intended effect: drawing attention to the horrors that are happening in Gaza." from Aaron Bushnell Burned Himself Alive To Make You Turn Your Eyes To Gaza

Rest in power, Aaron. May your sacrifice not be in vain. #FreePalestine

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the UN Security Council Stakeout Following a Vote on the Situation in the Middle East https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-by-ambassador-linda-thomas-greenfield-at-the-un-security-council-stakeout-following-a-vote-on-the-situation-in-the-middle-east/

YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Here's What The West Actually Stands For  https://rumble.com/v4focxn-yanis-varoufakis-heres-what-the-west-actually-stands-for.html

 

Aaron Bushnell Burned Himself Alive To Make You Turn Your Eyes To Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/aaron-bushnell-burned-himself-alive 

 

"Free Palestine!" US Airman Self-Immolates Before Israeli Embassy
https://www.wewillbearwitness.org/p/free-palestine-us-airman-self-immolates 

 

Scott Ritter--A Reflection on Duty and Conscience: Aaron Bushnell

https://youtu.be/bWUjRDEm2bw?si=B6DDfQuPN_I3fR1B

 

The Root of All Evils https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com/p/the-root-of-all-evils

 

Rafah Attack Escalates “Most Transparent Genocide of All Time,” Scholar Says https://truthout.org/articles/rafah-attack-escalates-most-transparent-genocide-of-all-time-scholar-says/

Israel Supporters Are Some Of The Worst People In The World https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-supporters-are-some-of-the

Hitler Is Giddy About His New Buddies! https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-hitler-is-giddy-about-his

While on trial for occupation, Israel is entrenching its military in Gaza – Day 137 https://israelpalestinenews.org/while-on-trial-for-occupation-israel-is-entrenching-its-military-in-gaza-day-137/

US kills 4th UN call for peace in Gaza, helping Israel violate Hague's genocide ruling https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/us-veto-un-resolution-gaza-israel-hague

As Israeli Forces Fire on Starving Palestinians, US Again Vetoes UN Cease-Fire Resolution https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-vetoes-ceasefire

Exclusive: Israeli forces fired on food convoy in Gaza, UN documents and satellite analysis reveals https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/21/middleeast/un-food-convoy-gaza-israel-strike-cmd-intl/index.html

Israel-Palestine Isn't 'Complicated', You Just Support Killing Palestinians https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-palestine-isnt-complicated

Israel Demolishing Buildings to Construct Road in Gaza to Cut the Strip Into Two  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/02/20/israel-demolishing-buildings-to-construct-road-in-gaza-to-cut-the-strip-into-two/

The Wire: Genocide is a Bad Investment https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2024/02/22/genocide-is-a-bad-investment/

Netanyahu’s Post-War Plans for Gaza Call for Military Occupation ‘Without Time Limit’  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/02/23/netanyahus-post-war-plans-for-gaza-call-for-military-occupation-without-time-limit/

Why Is the US Producing More Oil and Natural Gas Than Ever Under Biden? https://truthout.org/articles/why-is-the-us-producing-more-oil-and-natural-gas-than-ever-under-biden/

Chris Hedges: Julian Assange’s Day in Court https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/21/chris-hedges-julian-assanges-day-in-court/

Chris Hedges: Julian Assange’s Grand Inquisitor https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/22/chris-hedges-julian-assanges-grand-inquisitor/

Assange Appeal Hearing Plagued By Media Access Issues https://thedissenter.org/assange-appeal-hearing-plagued-by-media-access-issues/

UK High Court Finally Hears Assange's Request For An Appeal
https://thedissenter.org/high-court-hears-assange-request-for-appeal/

Immigrants Are Not Hurting US-Born Workers https://popularresistance.org/immigrants-are-not-hurting-us-born-workers/

Climate Cases Against Big Oil Are Merging Into One Super Suit https://popularresistance.org/climate-cases-against-big-oil-are-merging-into-one-super-suit/

Just Keep Bringing Awareness To The Depravity Of The Empire In As Many Ways As Possible  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/just-keep-bringing-awareness-to-the

Biden White House prepares Trump-style anti-immigrant executive order barring asylum claims https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/02/23/nocq-f23.html

No, Immigrants Aren’t Taking US Jobs https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/25/no-immigrants-arent-taking-us-jobs/

Ukraine’s Maidan Coup: The Evidence, 10 Years Later (w/ Ivan Katchanovski) https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/22/ukraines-maidan-coup-the-evidence-10-years-later-w-ivan-katchanovski/

Twenty-Five US Universities Face Calls To Cancel Starbucks Contracts https://popularresistance.org/twenty-five-us-universities-face-calls-to-cancel-starbucks-contracts/

The Rent Is Still Too High https://otherwords.org/the-rent-is-still-too-high

Jill Stein interview on "Arab Talk": https://youtu.be/VeEjhhEQ2Hg?si=_jgQpViWMQcnpyxY

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Keeping Up With The Jen O'Syders

Keeping Up With The Jen O’Syders

by C.A. Matthews

From time to time, we at The Revolution Continues blog like to get out in the community and see how people are coping and dealing with life in this challenging century. This week we stopped by a local park, and I had a chat on a park bench with a mother of two school-aged sons while her kids played on the playground. Our guest calls herself “an All-American Soccer Mom.” Meet Jennifer O’Syder or “Jen” for short.

TRC: Thanks for chatting with us today, Jen.

Jen: You’re welcome. I must admit when you walked over to me that I was intrigued by your t-shirt’s slogan. What does “Not in our name” mean?

TRC: This shirt was given to me at a peace demonstration held by JVP*. It means we don’t want Israel to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people from their land. We are against the genocide in Gaza and the attacks against Palestinians and others living in the West Bank. We demand that the bombing stop, especially the bombing of hospitals, places of worship, refugee camps, and schools.

Jen: (Wrinkling her nose up and looking rather perplexed.) But...um… I thought those Ay-rabs Philistines were the “bad guys”.

TRC: Do you mean the Palestinians? The are a Semitic people native to the region that is now called Israel. They were forced out of their homes and off their land by Zionist terrorists such as the Stern Gang in 1948.

Jen: Terrorists? The Palestinians have been terrorists for that long?

TRC: No, they have been victimized by Zionist terrorists for more than 80 years now. Some of Zionist terrorist actions against the natives of Palestine started during the time of the Ottoman Empire occupation before World War I. But in 1948 it got much worse. Zionists, mostly from Europe, forced over 700,000 Palestinians off their farms and olive groves and out of their homes and villages. These Israeli terrorists literally stole the natives’ houses and marched the Palestinians, the old and the young, men, women and children, into the desert at gun point.

Jen: But I thought the Israelites have always lived in Israel. Our Bible study teacher told us so.

TRC: The “Israelites” were an ancient Middle Eastern people who claimed that their patriarch Abraham migrated from the east, from the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley region or from what we would call modern-day Iraq. Abraham settled his family in the ancient land of Canaan, and it wasn’t exactly empty—it was full of many native peoples living there. There seems to have been a lot warring with the Israelites claiming God had given them Canaan, and that they had the right to slaughter all its original inhabitants.

Jen: The Israelites were Iraqis? Like that Saddam Hussein guy? (She sticks out her tongue.) Ugh.

TRC: Not quite, but yes, the Israelites were related to the Iraquis and the peoples they intermarried with in what would later become known as Palestine during the Roman Empire times. The Israelites as a group fought and lost a war against their Roman occupiers in the year 70 A.D. and were dispersed. Most migrated to others places within the Roman world and began to intermarry with the people in those lands.

Jen: But if they’re not living in Israel today, then why do we still have Israelites?

TRC: Technically we don’t. The “Israelis” of today are basically Caucasian European peoples who practice the religion of Judaism or those whose family members did, as many younger Israelis claim to be atheists. They started to migrate in numbers to what became the British Mandate of Palestine starting in the 1920s under the banner of Zionism, or the political viewpoint that persons of Jewish ancestry had the right to take back the land of their distant ancestors. 

Jen: So a few Israelites, uh, Israelis, returned home? No problem.

TRC: It became a bigger problem after World War II when ever larger numbers of Jewish persons, who held to the tenets of Zionism, left war-torn Europe and settled in Palestine against the wishes of the British ruling the territory. The British tried their best to keep the peace between these colonizers and the native peoples, but the Zionist newcomers had a lot of weaponry and rich backers overseas. They blew up the King David Hotel in 1946 and killed at least 90 persons, including dozens of British diplomats. Then the Zionists launched a series of terrorist attacks against the Palestinians that built up to the 1948 Nakba, which translates to “catastrophe” or “holocaust,” forcing the Palestinians from their homes at the cost of many lives.

Jen: So, the Jews started their own holocaust against the Ay-rabs? Guess they’d be experts at that sort of thing, huh? (Snorting and chuckling.) But I thought they were all supposed to go and live in Israel anyways.

TRC: Uh, no, people who practice the religion of Judaism can and do live all over the world today. They aren’t confined to one country. Some even live in our town. For example, there’s a synagogue not too far from this park.

Jen: Yeah, I’ve driven past it, but it’s not a proper temple like the real Jews are supposed to worship in. Our preacher told us that the Jews are all supposed to go to Jerusalem to worship at the big temple there. Once they all get there and do that, then the End Times begin, and Jesus will come and take us, his chosen people, to heaven and send the rest of you to hell.

TRC: Okay… So, you’re saying that the fate of the world rests on one religious group moving to a particular city in the Middle East to perform a particular style of worship in order for your religious group to reach the afterlife?

Jen: No, not the afterlife—heaven. It’s really important that all those Jews who rejected Jesus be corralled together in one spot called Israel so he can zap them and send them to hell for having him crucified.

TRC: Hmm...Interesting. It was actually the Romans who had Jesus crucified. Does that mean all the citizens living in modern-day Rome will get “zapped” too?

Jen: (Shrugging.) Well, maybe. I don’t know. If they’re Jewish, they’ll all be in Israel anyway and can get zapped there. But what’s the big deal? We tell all the Jews in the world to go live in Israel. It’ll get them out our cities here where all they do is cheat people at banking and jewelry sales.

TRC: (Sighing) And open up more acting jobs and stand-up comedy gigs for non-Jewish persons?

Jen: Now you’re getting it!

TRC: But the Palestinian people also live in the modern state of Israel and deserve to have homes where their ancestors lived too, right? Some of them are Christian. The Israelis bombed the third oldest church in Christendom, St. Porphyrius, recently and destroyed it, killing and injuring many people. Don’t you as a practicing Christian find that upsetting?

Jen: Maybe if they were “real Christians” that didn’t worship Mary and their graven idols and paintings on the ceilings so much, I’d find it upsetting. But they’re fakes, so if they get bombed, then so be it. The Israelites—I mean Israelis have got to have more room to squish in all the Jews from around the world into one place so Jesus can come again to rule with grace and mercy.

TRC: How “merciful” is it to bomb hospitals, schools, and refugee camps where children and their families are located? Do little children who may or may not be “real Christians” deserve to die such horrible deaths?

Jen: Jesus did say something along the lines of “suffer the little children” so perhaps that’s what he meant. (Shrugging.) I don’t know. They’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time so they get to suffer. Besides, if they’re Ay-rabs they’re not going to amount to much in the long run really, are they? They’re not as smart as white people because they can’t make their letters right. Their writing looks like so many squiggles.

TRC: (Sighing.) Yeah, it’s not like they were smart enough to invent the Arabic numerals that we all use alongside the Roman alphabet, is it?

Jen: Huh? (A commotion draws her attention to the playground.) Hey! Jimmy! Get off that thing right now!

Jimmy: (Shouting back) But we’re swinging together! We can go faster and higher together!

Jen: Not with that wetback, you don’t! Billy—go get your brother off that swing pronto!

Billy: But Mom… They’re having fun. They ain’t doing anything wrong.

Jen: I don’t need to tell you that we don’t mess around with people with skin the color of mud. It might rub off on us. (Curling her hand into a fist.) Get your little brother off that swing right now before I make you regret the day you were born!

TRC: “Suffer the little children,” right Jen?

Jen: Hey, I don't mean to sound crass, but people die all the time. Some just get to die younger than others. If Israelis want to bomb a bunch of Ay-rabs kids into the dust and wipe them off the face of the earth, who am I to tell them they’re wrong? For Jews, they at least got the right idea about not mixing the races. If their ancestors hadn’t slept with all those filthy Canaanites, they probably wouldn’t have killed Jesus. Our preacher says there’s more than a grain of truth in that.

TRC: (Nodding.) I’m sure he or she does.

Jen: He, of course. Women shouldn’t be leading others in worship. They’re not good enough to in God’s eyes. Not smart enough to interpret scripture for themselves.

TRC: (Rising from the park bench.) I sort of figured you’d say that. It’s been interesting talking with you today, Jen O’Syder. Take care.

Jen: You’re welcome. Where you going now?

TRC: I’m going to go over to swing with that little boy who was enjoying his double swing with Jimmy. Maybe we can swing together high enough to reach a low Earth orbit. I feel like leaving the planet about now.

 

*JVP stands for “Jewish Voice for Peace,” an anti-war, pro-Palestinian group of Jewish persons and their allies. Learn more about them at: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

*  *  *

November 20 was World Children's Day.

World Children’s Day, celebrated annually on November 20, is a global initiative promoting children’s rights, safety, education, health and happiness.

It comes this year amid Israel’s war on Gaza. About half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people are children.

Since October 7, Israeli attacks have killed at least 5,500 children, according to Palestinian officials. That is one Palestinian child killed every 10 minutes, or about one out of every 200 children in the Gaza Strip.

An additional 1,800 children are missing under the rubble, most of them presumed dead. A further 9,000 children have been injured, many with life-changing consequences. Many of these children have lived through the trauma of multiple wars.

This infographic online at Al Jazeera lists the names and ages of less than half of those children killed over the past six weeks.

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links 

Fifteen Things You Should Never Have To Say To A Country https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/fifteen-things-you-should-never-have

 

Israel Propaganda Vs Palestine Propaganda https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-propaganda-vs-palestine-propaganda

 

WATCH: Israeli children sing, "We will annihilate everyone" in Gaza, against a background of destruction

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/watch-israeli-children-sing-we-will-annihilate-everyone-gaza

Poll Shows American Support for Israel Is Cratering Amid Its Violent Siege https://truthout.org/articles/poll-shows-american-support-for-israel-is-cratering-amid-its-violent-siege/

Poll: Majority of Americans Support a Ceasefire in Gaza
https://news.antiwar.com/2023/11/15/poll-majority-of-americans-support-a-ceasefire-in-gaza/

***MUST READ: Don’t blame Israel, blame a “weak” Washington https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/dont-blame-israel-blame-a-weak-washington

Panic as Gaza’s al-Shifa evacuates, Israel army denies ordering it to do so https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/18/israel-gives-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-one-hour-to-evacuate

Israel-Hamas war live: ‘At least 50’ dead in Israeli strike on Gaza school https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/11/18/israel-hamas-war-live-conditions-worsen-as-another-baby-dies-at-al-shifa

Is History Repeating Itself in Israel-Palestine? https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/is-history-repeating-itself-in-israel

Probe Shows 126+ Civilians Killed by Israeli Airstrike Targeting 'Just One Guy' https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-bomb-refugee-camp

The US Has A Standing Policy Of Ignoring The Human Rights Violations Of Its Allies https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-us-has-a-standing-policy-of-ignoring    

Tone Policing Opposition To Genocide https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/tone-policing-opposition-to-genocide

PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Banality of Propaganda https://consortiumnews.com/2023/11/14/patrick-lawrence-the-banality-of-propaganda/

Israelis Keep Hurting Their Own PR Interests By Talking https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israelis-keep-hurting-their-own-pr

NYT Runs Interference for IDF as It Bombs Jabalia Refugee Camp https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/17/nyt-runs-interference-for-idf-as-it-bombs-jabalia-refugee-camp/ 

They're Just Insulting Our Intelligence At This Point
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/theyre-just-insulting-our-intelligence

My tense exchange on a train with Sen. Chris Coons over Gaza
https://www.aaronmate.net/p/a-tense-exchange-on-a-train-with

Canada/US' quiet motive for backing Israel's genocide
https://truthb.substack.com/p/canadaus-quiet-motive-for-backing

Don’t be fooled. Biden is fully signed up to genocide in Gaza https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/dont-be-fooled-biden-is-fully-signed

Over 1,200 ‘Educators for Palestine’ Sign Open Letter Demanding Ceasefire https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/16/over-1200-educators-for-palestine-sign-open-letter-demanding-ceasefire/

GAZA ON THE BRINK - LIVE WITH LOWKEY AND AARON MATÉ https://chroniclesofhaiphong.substack.com/p/gaza-on-the-brink-live-with-lowkey

Criminalization of First Amendment-Protected Pro-Palestinian Speech Is Spreading https://truthout.org/articles/criminalization-of-first-amendment-protected-pro-palestinian-speech-is-spreading

With more than 10,000 Palestinians killed in the last month, Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of refugee camps, and an ever-widening ground invasion in Gaza, it’s critical that student activists and people at large can gather, protest and exercise their right to speak freely.

When political speech is criminalized, it renders the First Amendment meaningless. Collectively, we must demand that universities and colleges continue to honor student organizations’ right to freedom of expression, and we must demand the same from our elected officials and law enforcement. Now is not the time for silence.  

Official Israeli Investigation Determines IDF Helicopters Killed Civilians on October 7 https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/1725958732113162579

Israel Doesn't Have A Gen-Z Problem, It Has A Morality Problem https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-doesnt-have-a-gen-z-problem

America Inc. with Lee Camp: Top 11 Companies Supporting Israel’s Crimes  https://youtu.be/Jvz5_yvfwLE?si=UR85uo7TtgWK0433

Israel Is Shutting Down Its Human Laboratory In Gaza https://popularresistance.org/israel-is-shutting-down-its-human-laboratory-in-gaza/

Meet The Activists Fighting Zionism With Direct Action

https://popularresistance.org/meet-the-activists-fighting-zionism-with-direct-action/

Palestinians File Emergency Motion to Block US Aid for Israel’s Genocide in Gaza https://truthout.org/articles/palestinians-file-emergency-motion-to-block-us-aid-for-israels-genocide-in-gaza/