There is a real fucking humanitarian crisis in Gaza. For the past two months, as always funded and armed by United States taxpayers, Israel has waged a relentless, ongoing campaign of air strikes in the small, hyper-crowded territory, killing 20,000 innocent civilians as of the latest count – a count that grows by another thousand every few days – with half of those casualties being children. Over a thousand people are buried beneath rubble, while Israel’s destruction of neighborhoods has displaced 1.6 million Palestinians. Children have taken to writing their names on their bodies and limbs so they can be identified by their families if anyone in their family survives. And our US government just keeps funding this, no questions asked, as Israeli leaders refer to the Palestinians as “human animals” and promise to “turn Gaza into a parking lot.” Collective punishment as described here is considered a WAR CRIME, and the actions of Israel in Gaza are becoming GENOCIDAL.
But wait! This Israeli invasion of Gaza didn’t just happen out of the blue, for no reason! This past October 7, in a surprise attack reminiscent of 9-11, HAMAS – both a terrorist organization AND the de facto government of Gaza, which has sworn to “wipe Israel off the face of the earth” – murdered over 1200 Israelis, including 40 babies, kidnapped 240 civilians and brought them to Gaza, where they’ve released a few as bargaining chips but are still holding over 150; they wounded thousands and fired thousands of rockets against Israeli cities and towns. Some of the more garish rumors of cruelty (like the “beheaded babies”) turned out to be the sort of wartime propaganda the US is susceptible to from its allies, but still, the Oct 7 attack was so horrific that nearly everybody condemns it.
But wait! History didn’t just start on 10/7/2023. The oppression, displacement, and dehumanization of Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, has been going on for 75 years. Human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Israel’s own B ‘Tselem have called Gaza “the world’s largest open-air prison,” due to the conditions imposed by Israel’s illegal 16-year blockade, preventing anyone from entering or leaving, and resulting in 80% of the people relying on humanitarian aid, 63% having too little food, 96% of the water being undrinkable, and electrical power being sketchy and scarce, a situation imposed by Israeli leadership that has called Palestinians “drugged cockroaches in a bottle” who “breed and bleed and advertise their misery.”
We could do this all day. But this story is about what happened at…
Santa Ana Council 12-5-2023.
You may have heard, last Tuesday Santa Ana’s two progressive Councilmen Benjamin Vazquez and Johnathan Hernandez brought a resolution to Council, calling for a CEASEFIRE in Gaza (I should say, an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza, as no American really thinks they can tell Hamas what to do and we don’t fund them) – this became Item #19 on the Dec. 5 agenda. SPOILER ALERT, it didn’t pass, because of the insistence of Thai and Jessie on a compromise motion, the abstention of Phil and David, and the gleeful sabotage of Mayor Valerie.
This was ONE LONG-ASS RESOLUTION, and I wonder how many of the speakers there (50 in favor, 10 against) actually read through it. (You can read it here.) It includes 27 “WHEREAS” clauses, most of which comprise an encyclopedia of Israeli wrongdoing and the various respectable folks (especially Jews) who’ve condemned it. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack is dispensed with quickly, described as “unprecedented” and “devastating.” It calls for not only an immediate ceasefire (as controversial as that turns out to be), but also an end to “all existing and any future US military aid to Israel.”
I asked a Palestinian friend who was advocating for this resolution, don’t you think it’s a little one-sided, and the answer was, “That’s because it’s intended to balance off all the pro-Israeli resolutions and propaganda that are out there.” Oh. OK. That makes sense I guess. We shouldn’t look to ONE resolution to give the entire picture of anything. Except, this sets up a Council that votes for such a resolution to be called “anti-Israel” (which according to still-prevailing bullshit as well as the US Congress is the same as “anti-semitic.”)
But the BIG problem critics – a minority of speakers but a majority on the Council – had with the resolution was the call for a CEASEFIRE. Is calling for a ceasefire, as propagandist-for-hire Matt Cunningham puts it, “Tantamount to Support for Hamas”? We’ll look at that question later, but what the supporters of Israeli policy wanted Tuesday night was NO resolution, and they got that, partly thanks to the moderates Thai and Jessie, partly thanks to the nakedly hostile Mayor Valerie Amezcua, and partly thanks to…
The Abdicators: Phil & David
Councilman Phil Bacerra, always prepared with superior snark, excused himself from any discussion on the matter, doing his council comments segment early, and ridiculing the majority as playing “Model U.N.” and busying themselves with matters that should be none of their concern. This drew enthusiastic applause from the couple-dozen supporters of Israeli policy, clustered around the front-left of the chamber.
Phil’s usual ally David Penaloza said nothing at all, but absented himself from the proceedings like Phil’s mute shadow, albeit skulking around the corners of chambers, which is why he doesn’t get his picture here.
[Since I’m always trashing Phil, I want to point out that his intelligence and acerbic wit are welcome in other contexts – such as earlier in the meeting when he criticized the management-heaviness of homelessness nonprofit CityNet – something we agree with from experience, as did the rest of the Council. A progressive Council needs a conservative or two like Phil Bacerra.]
Many speakers took issue with Phil’s “Model UN” ridicule – this IS a concern of Santa Ana residents!
- These crimes are being committed with their tax dollars!
- Many Santa Ana residents – Arabs, Muslims, and Jews alike – are experiencing harassment and worse during this crisis.
- There are Santa Ana residents with family in Gaza even!
- Congressional reps Lou Correa and Katie Porter are totally non-responsive, unquestioning backers of anything Israel wants to do.
- And martyred Palestinian peace activist Alex Odeh, killed by Israeli terrorists in Santa Ana in 1985, is memorialized by a statue in front of the library. (We’ll talk more about him later.)
Mayor Valerie, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy her time on the dais messing with the peaceniks…
Pinche Mayor Valerie
The smirking malignant Mayor who seems to be angling hard for no second term announced at the beginning that she had “not taken a side” – but immediately made a mockery of that claim by pointedly asking Jeffrey Katz up to give the Pledge of Allegiance. Jeffrey Katz, the outspoken Israel supporter who’d been lobbying Council hard against the resolution (and Floral Park Republican who ran for Council in 2020 and got beaten by Jessie Lopez.)
Having this outspoken Israel apologist give the Pledge was unmistakably meant to telegraph that Israel is a “US ally” for better or worse. Katz first loudly counted out each councilmember before leading the Pledge with a big smirk on his face; then when walking back down the aisle, “gave five” to a rabbi in the audience, saying (according to a Palestinian friend of mine who was sitting nearby) “I think we got this.” (Cued up here)
As there were over 100 people wanting to speak, and over 80% of them in favor of the resolution, Mayor Valerie decided to give speakers 2 minutes each for a total of 2 hours – reasonable enough. This resulted in 50 speakers in favor and 10 against. Both sides heckled and clapped now and then, but Valerie only picked out the right side of the room to scold and eject, which was pure pro-ceasefire. Johnathan had to point out that the anti-ceasefire side was making just as much noise.
One anti-ceasefire commenter asked if he could speak early “because the Mayor filled out a comment card for me” – something the Mayor later denied when questioned by Johnathan. At another point, a rabbi who’d filled out a speaker card had to leave early, and Valerie allowed another anti-ceasefire lady to take his place – unfair to all the folks who’d gotten there in time but were crowded out by the two-hour limit. The Mayor rolled her eyes conspicuously throughout the meeting when speakers would describe Israeli abuses. And she capped it all off when she finally deigned to speak babble, casting doubt on the authenticity of photos of dead and wounded Palestinian children. (Cued up)
“… I don’t understand what you’ve gone through, if you’ve lived in that type of violence. But I have seen violence, here, front and center, and, nothing compared to what is going on. Right now. Children? I’ve seen the pictures. Whether they’re factual or not…”
“Whether these are factual or not.”
[On a side note, Anaheim residents are right to wonder why WE, with our much bigger budget, do not have a YouTube channel OR Zoom comments like Santa Ana and MOST OTHER CITIES IN THE COUNTY enjoy.]
The Moderates: Thai & Jessie
Of course the resolution WOULD have passed if Councilwomen Thai Viet Phan and Jessie Lopez (fresh from winning her recall election) had not been convinced to prepare a shorter, compromise version which left out any mention of a ceasefire. (Or if Johnathan and Ben had backed that compromise version.) THAT I can print here:
Ben, really wanting to get SOMETHING passed, but heart set on a CEASEFIRE, tried to get Thai to add that to her resolution, but Thai wouldn’t budge, wouldn’t change a word, so the two men at first, reluctantly, agreed to give Thai’s resolution an “urgency” to get it on the NEXT meeting. But THAT move required all five of those present, and Valerie gleefully voted NO, grinning at the spectacle of her old progressive enemies not being able to accomplish anything. Johnathan later jumped ship on the ceasefire-less resolution in a second vote, so that went down too. Activists are now calling Thai and Jessie “heartless cowards.” And word on the street is they are going to try to bring this back, but I don’t know how.
Thai recommends THIS, on Instagram, as the most accurate re-telling of the resolutions’ failure.
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Additional Thoughts ‘n’ shit:
Is Calling for a Ceasefire Supporting Hamas??
That’s what our old nemesis Matt Cunningham argued in a long passionate screed that must have kept him up all night. He compared it to “asking, in 1941, for the US to declare a ceasefire with the Japanese Empire after its sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in order to ‘bring an end to the violence.'” Later he compared it to a ceasefire with Nazi Germany in early ’45, a ceasefire with North Korean Communists in July 1950, or a ceasefire after Gettysburg with the Confederacy.
We know that Matt “blogging doesn’t pay the bills” Cunningham works HARD for those who pony up for him, and that has recently included the Santa Ana POA, which hates the four Santa Ana progressives. But this piece really has some FEELING, some PASSION behind it. To help make his point, he even repeats widely discredited propaganda, like much of this:
Hamas terrorists… beheaded babies, burned their victims alive, tortured and killed them in front of their families, raped women of all ages. These monsters in human form reveled in their murderous rampage, broadcasting it over social media, committing atrocities that beggar the imagination.
THOSE ARE THE COLD, HARD, BLOODY FACTS.
Except, a lot of these “facts,” not so much. Matt has a record of uncritically promulgating the propaganda of the powerful against the weak. Remember how he kept repeating the lies of the cops who killed Kelly Thomas, how Kelly had superhuman strength and was beating the hell out of them… until we all saw the photos and video? Or a few years earlier when he swore up and down to the innocence of pedophile-priest-protecting Monsignor Urell, to the point where he even carelessly (or purposely) released the personal info of sex-abuse victims? Well, here on the OC blogosphere we remember all that and more.
We Americans who call for a ceasefire just want to see an end to all the indiscriminate killing in Gaza. We are paying for what the Israelis are doing, we can’t tell Hamas what to do. But more than that, the residents of Gaza deserve to be able to live like human beings. Hamas is enabled by Gazans’ despair, AND by Israeli leadership who ALSO don’t want a two-state solution and are looking for any excuse to wipe the Palestinians off the map.
**********
Shock Doctrine
Everyone should have read Shock Doctrine, a post-9/11 book by Naomi Klein, or at least be familiar with the basic thesis. Elites latch on to any crisis, natural or man-made, and use it as an excuse to do whatever they were already wanting to do. Sometimes they even create that crisis, or passively let it happen when it’s to be reasonably expected.
I bring this up because the 10-7 attack was either a colossal and uncharacteristic intelligence failure on Israel’s part, or else… some in Israeli leadership LET it happen, because they’ve been wanting an excuse to “turn Gaza into an [unpopulated] parking lot.”
Israeli leadership which was already in crisis mode because of its ever-more unpopular corruption.
I don’t know, but it’ll be unsurprising if that turns out to be true.
Remember Alex Odeh!
Israel’s anti-peace forces (as well as Palestine’s anti-peace forces) have frequently assassinated effective peace leaders, whether Jewish or Palestinian. One of those great leaders was killed right in SANTA ANA, in 1985, as was mentioned by several of the pro-ceasefire speakers on Tuesday. ALEX ODEH was his name. ALEXANDER MICHEL ODEH. I’m tired and will copy the next few paragraphs from the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee’s site:
October, 11 2016 – Today marks the 31st Anniversary of the terrorist attack in Santa Ana, California, which killed Mr. Alex Odeh, who at the time was serving at the West Coast Regional Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). Mr. Odeh was killed when a powerful pipe bomb exploded as he unlocked and opened the door of the ADC office. In addition to killing Alex Odeh, the act of terrorism injured several other victims.
Mr. Odeh dedicated his life to ADC and social justice; he joined the organization in 1982. Mr. Odeh was at the forefront of combatting the stereotyping of Arabs and biased Middle Eastern reporting in the media. Mr. Odeh’s dedication brought ADC into the forefront as a civil rights organization by 1983, only three years since our founding in 1980. Mr. Odeh fought tirelessly to build inter-faith unity between Jews, Muslims and Christians in Southern California. On the day of his assassination he was scheduled to give a speech at Congregation B’nai Tzadek, a Jewish synagogue in Fountain Valley.
Prior to Mr. Odeh’s assassination he was subjected to numerous hate-motivated threats to his life and safety because of his advocacy for Arab and Palestinian-American rights. An exemplary civil rights activist, he was dynamic and he never let the threats deter him from his work for society.
Following Mr. Odeh’s assassination in 1985 the FBI classified the bombing as an act of domestic terrorism and designated the investigation into the case as the highest national priority. However, despite solid leads, advancements in technology and forensics which should have aided in the investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators, no arrest has been made. [read more here.]
The prime suspect in Alex’ murder was extradited to Israel, where he’s kept safe from justice. There is a statue of Alex standing in front of the Santa Ana Public Library. I wonder if Phil Bacerra knows any of this, or cares.
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It was good to see SO MANY speakers Tuesday night who care about Palestinians in Gaza. While things have not improved at all in the Occupied Territories in recent decades, Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians have a higher profile in America than ever before, and more and more Americans, especially younger ones, see injustice for what it is. This is becoming a problem for President Biden. Much of our government stays stuck in its habitual subservience to “whatever Israel wants,” but IT IS SAID that “When the people lead, the leaders will follow.”
And now I’m tired, and will sign off.
It’s ironic hearing Zionists complain about barbaric behavior.
There is like this Rabbi here in OC, Richard Steinberg and he is responsible for propagating most of the disgusting rhetoric against Arabs and Arab Americans. He’s very powerful and alway has something to say about hate crimes, as long as it’s his type of hate crime. Like White cops beating or shooting POC’s isn’t a hate crime for him. Definitely violence by the mostly European settlers in the West Bank isn’t a hate crime for him either. He’s a piece of work! Who is funding this guy, is it the ADL? They are a hate group and shouldn’t be a part of the conversation because they training IDF soldiers. This information is all on Google and Instagram.
The rabbi of whom you speak is the Irvine Police Department’s chaplain.
His brother is one Darryl Steinberg – mayor of Suckramento and former member of California Jewish Legislative Caucus.
Of concern is the latter lobbies for legislation which chills free speech critical of Israel and works to suppress anti-Israel or Palestinian narratives or history in ethnic studies programs and curricula and on college campuses.
https://www.google.com/search?q=mayor+of+sacramento&rlz=1C1AWFA_enUS831US898&oq=mayor+of+sacramento&aqs=chrome..69i57j46i512j0i512l7j0i390i512i650.6203j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
The rabbi is a Orange County Human Relations Committee Commissioner.
The rabbi was noticeably silent when the Irvine Mayor got caught enabling known Turkish Nationalist Genocide Deniers.
He doesn’t speak out against the city being partnered with those same known Turkish Nationalist Genocide deniers.
But don’t you dare vandalize a synagogue. He will seek to run you out of town.
Most of this Zionist DARVO is being instigated by an Irvine rabbi, Rick Steinberg. He is over-the-top pro Israel and always talking about hate crimes in OC, even hate crimes that haven’t happened yet.. Except when the hate crime is against POC, like the Black student at CSUF. He also didn’t talk about when churches were shot up, like the Chinese man who shot into a Taiwanese church. Has he spoken about the recent hate crime on Mater Dei? No he has not.
Not to be rude, your ads are distracting. I wanted to clarify DARVO. DENY, ATTACK AND REVERSE VICTIM AND OFFENDER. It can apply to any situation including wars. The Jews are blaming everything on Palestinians, after having suffocating them for 75 years and now murdering 25,00 Palestinians in a week.
Also, should mention Steinberg has ties to the ADL and they are the ones training the IDF. This information is available on Google.. ADL is a hate group, they are facilitating destruction of Palestinians.
I don’t know why these people thought anyone would care about what they think. It’s hard to argue with people who posit that Santa Ana has enough problems of its own.
For sure somebody is paying for Jerbal’s outrage, but again the same question: why would they they think anyone would care what he thinks?
“Elites latch on to any crisis, natural or man-made, and use it as an excuse to do whatever they were already wanting to do.”
It sure looks that way. Either that or they hide.
“Well, here on the OC blogosphere we remember all that and more.”
We sure do.
We also remember the burned teddy bear/votive candle schtick (liberals have no sense of humor) and the grubbing for soiled twenties courtesy of a strip club owner.
And then there’s the $200 per hour writing turgid prose for the local guild of Rob Reiner’s horrible It Takes a Village Commission.
We’re getting close to the ten-year anniversary of that Teddy Bear!
https://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2013/12/chmielewki-and-cunningham-have-a-bit-of-fun-at-the-expense-of-anaheim-and-humanity/
I warned him about that, too. Not out of kindness, but a sort of fun perversity that he naturally ignored.
It was done for the benefit of the APOA. But as King Henry’s message to the Dauphin: His jest shall savour but a shallow wit, when thousands more weep than did laugh at it.
You warned Matt about the Teddy Bear prank? I hadn’t heard about that.
As I look at it, I wrote my story about it on the 16th. He did his prank/story on the 12th, the day after the 4-year anniversary of the killing of Theresa Smith’s son Caesar Cruz (Dec. 11.)
And now that I re-read the story and the comments… He put up his story on the 12th (which just happens to be the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a connection I never made but he must have as he used Guadalupe candles) and it was up for FOUR DAYS, until I wrote MY story on the 16th at 3:30 pm (after being tipped off about it by Zenger), Matt took it down at 6, the Voice of OC wrote about it at 10pm (without crediting me), and then it went NATIONAL, with everyone crediting the Voice. Story of our life.
I left a comment on the post when I read it – something about an incoming shot at his waterline. He made some snotty answer, still not understanding the caliber coming his way.
If perspicacity were one of his traits he wouldn’t be the tone-deaf Jerb.
Ahh — like Dustin Hoffman’s character warning Custer in Little Big Man? (A great and apparently all but forgotten movie, by the way.)
Mind you, it played out at BOS and Irvine immediately before Santa Ana.
Oh it also played out in the OC Human Relations Commission.Rabbi Dicky
Steinberg was one of two commissioners opposing a resolution re Islamophobia. CAIR-LA condemned him for his opposition.
https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-la-denounces-ochrc-commissioners-who-voted-against-resolution-condemning-islamophobia-thanks-commission-for-addressing-hate-in-orange-county/
Good for the OCHRC!
I would not say that Rabbi Steinberg has no place on the OCHRC. But I will say that I’m glad to see him slapped down when he overreaches. Yes, there is bigotry and violence against Jews. But the bigotry and violence against Muslim Palestinians is more prevalent and less socially condemned. That’s a perfect situation for OCHRC to weigh in and help balance the scales.
What about the Jewish and Christian Palestinians, Greg? Sheesh.
The bigotry and violence against Muslim Palestinians is a hell of a lot more pronounced than those against Christians, if you haven’t noticed. As for Jewish Palestinians — you mean Israelis? Sheesh back at you.
No I mean Arab Jews.
Oh, do you mean Sephardim, or Sephardic Jews, who lived in Arab (and some other non-European) countries?
To my knowledge, neither they or their host countries considered or now consider them to be “Arabs.” It’s a separate lineage. That’s part of the problem Jews have had in the world; hence the need for a homeland.
Greg,
I think you are confusing Hamas and Hezbollah re Iranian funded. Hamas is backed by Qatar and Turkey and some claim originally Israel’s blessing to destabilize the Palestinian Authorities political power.
I know who’s who, thanks. I have no idea where you get the idea that I was confused. And among the people who claim that it has had (not “originally,” but at various times) the blessing of Netanyahu in particular as a means of delegitimizing the Palestinian Authority are me — and anyone else who has serious read about the relevant history. But thanks for jerksplaining.
Farrakhan calls for fighting. Fails to mention dustup with local Armenian community. Swings at Wagner. Throws council members under the bus. So whack!
https://youtu.be/u5kljdL7Wiw
I got the idea from your article where you claim Hamas is Iran funded. That’s where.
This article? MY article. Is this in dispute?
Oh, I misspoke. Sorry, Greg. I thought this was a Greg piece. It’s not in dispute. Hamas is an Arab/Turkish funded and backed proxy not an Iranian one. Both countries give Hamas safe-harbor in their borders not Iran.
I truly apologize Greg. I thought you were the scrivener of this timely piece.
Apology accepted. But I’ve never heard that Hamas is Turkish funded, which I’d think would come up all of the time if true, given that Israel and Turkey are generally allies. Do you have one of your famous cites for that claim?
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/12/11/middleeast/qatar-hamas-funds-israel-backing-intl/index.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-security-forces-escorted-suitcases-cash-hamas-qatar-report-2023-12?amp
You’d get published more if you at least took the time to describe what is in these links of yours.
Aren’t those two self explanatory and pertinent?
Erdogan doesn’t believe Hamas is a terrorist organization.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-erdogan-says-hamas-is-not-terrorist-organisation-2023-10-25/
Erdogan threatens Israel if they kill any Hamas on Turkish soil and stresses Hamas must be involved in any effort to rebuild.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-warns-israel-of-very-heavy-price-if-hamas-members-harmed-on-turkish-soil/amp/
10 things you should know about Turkish Hams relations: safe haven and passports, intelligence support and financial support.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/11/29/10-things-to-know-about-hamas-and-turkey/
Erdogan unwilling to cut ties with Hamas in favor of normalization with Israel.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/10/20/erdogan-turkey-hamas-ties-israel-war-normalization/
Take the blinders off!
Let’s start briefly with the third one, from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies — the link is to their Wikipedia page — which is described as “part of the Israel Lobby.” Having poked around the site a bit, I see no reason to doubt that. I was being hyperbolic before when I asked if you were working for Netanyahu; now I’m really starting to wonder. I don’t consider them an unbiased source, especially if, as you (and they) say, Israeli-Turkish relations have soured.
This next bit is going to call for more mental flexibility than you tend to show, but the truth is the truth. Hamas has both a political and a military wing, and the former does not have much operational control over the latter. (This is common in liberation struggles; we saw this in Ireland and South Africa, for example.) So if, as seems likely, Erdogan is talking about the political arm of Hamas — the ones who receive safe haven and whom Israel is warned against assassinating — then he may well be right. I think that it’s clear that the military arm of Hamas has engaged in terrorism, but it’s not clear that the political side favored its horrific nature. I’d guess that they did want hostages — that and human shields are among the poor person’s tools to fight against the rich and powerful — but the rapes and mutilations and such seem more likely to be the actions of psychotic hotheads, who are likely part of the military wing. Hostages would have sufficed to bring forth massive retaliation by Israel; these atrocities did not serve Hamas in terms of international support, but they may have helped the military wing in internecine struggle with the political wing. (Suffice it to say that I don’t think that Turkey wants any paramilitary hotheads on its own soil; if ant were there they wouldn’t need the Israelis to kill them.) It is in the Netanyahu regime’s interest, being opposed to the political goals of Hamas even more than preserving under 2000 lives (some of which they may now be in the process of drowning in seawater as they flood the tunnels), to conflate the political and military wings of Hamas; that way they have no plausible negotiation partner and thus cannot be pressured to negotiate. And while I can accept that some in the political wing are wholly down with the hotheads, most of them, based on reports I’ve heard and seen, had not expected anything as gruesome as what happened on 10/7.
I’m no fan of Erdogan, but he’s pretty much like the leadership of Egypt in wanting to increase his leadership of the Muslim world, much of which is concentrated in Saudi Arabia and Iran. So supporting Hamas’s political wing, both financially and in personal security, is undertaken to advance that purpose. That’s par for the course for insurgencies. And, obviously, Israel’s gruesome and massively disproportionate attacks on Palestinians who took no part in the 10/7 massacre makes it impossible for Erdogan to normalize relations with Israel; much of the world likely regrets currently having normalized relations with Israel.
So, thanks for acting as our Israel Lobby correspondent! Not what had I expected of you, but I guess any opposition to Turkey is good opposition, right?
Does IDF ask someone’s religion before shooting? They bombed a church in Gaza. This comment doesn’t make sense What is the evidence Christians are treated better? Christians and Muslims are united against Israeli oppression. Instagram @monitor.the.pigs
That comment was referring to treatment of the two groups within the U.S., not in the Middle East.
Umm I wasn’t the one who claimed Hamas was funded by Iran.
That would be the pro-Israel lobby because the pro-Israel lobby doesn’t publicly lash out at Turkey.
Me neither. Did anyone actually say that?
Your partner in editing did Greg.
Well, he’s not as obsessed with who funds whom as some in that region.
But if we’re talking corrections: you never responded to my comments about Turkey funding Hamas — political wing, not military wing — by the way. Was that distinction news to you? If not, were you deliberately misleading?
I didn’t realize Iran funding Hamas was in question, it’s what I kept hearing on the news. If you two both agree it’s not true I’ll take it out of my story. No great loss.
Iran funds Hezbollah (in Lebanon), not Hamas (in Gaza).
You are splitting hairs. Hamas is a political organization. They run the government. Won elections. Even Vern’s article acknowledges Hamas is the defacto government.
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Hamas is, of necessity, a shadowy organization. It’s political leaders are visible; it’s military leaders are less so — and there’s no reason to think that they take (or at least honor) any “orders” by the political leaders. I get that you want Turkey to be complicit in the ground fighting, but it’s not.
The city of Irvine does not have a ceasefire resolution on the agenda tonight. But the tribe is here opposed to it. 119 speakers.
The IPd had to intervene at the Irvine council meeting tonight.
Non-agendized public comments on the city’s phantom “ceasefire in Gaza resolution” continues in Irvine. Its been almost 4 hours now.
Circling back to Tuesday’s city council meeting. CAIR-LA pipes in claiming alleged hate crimes occurred which require a police investigation. The saga continues.
https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-la-calls-for-police-investigation-into-alleged-hate-crime-during-irvine-city-council-meeting/
Where is Rabbi Dicky Steinberg??? He certainly didn’t show up to the JCC to chill with Farrah for Hanukkah
Hey look! Jewish anti-semites! lol! Irvine tribe members are besides themselves!
https://truthout.org/articles/protesters-shut-down-los-angeles-highway-to-demand-ceasefire-in-gaza/
But wait i thought international matters aren’t municipal concerns. Mujajajjajajajajaja! This was the Zionist spiel in Irvine Tuesday night. It’s not in your jurisdiction to support a ceasefire the local Zionists cried. Wahwahwahwah.
Except if you are in Beverly Hills cuz you Better be pro-Israel or else!!
https://beverlyhillscourier.com/2023/10/19/beverly-hills-city-council-passes-resolution-in-support-of-israel/
Huntington Beach same as Beverly Hills. Stand with the colonial settler nation committing genocide live on your TV. No local tribe members were opposing the resolution for being beyond the municipality’s jurisdiction.
Rabbi Peter “Petey” Levi whom I fondly refer to as kishkah in a kippah, made sure to speak in Stanton re Pro-Palestinian resolution but not in Irvine this Tuesday. Did he speak in Santa Ana last week? Hmm.
https://voiceofoc.org/2023/12/stanton-council-condemns-terrorism-as-oc-officials-weigh-in-on-palestine-and-israel/
LA County too.
https://laist.com/news/politics/la-county-supervisors-vote-to-support-israel-at-tense-meeting
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/us/israel-gaza-ceasefire-local-governments.html
https://english.aawsat.com/opinion/4720481-frustrated-washington-pro-palestinian-activists-take-their-fight-city-hall%20(Same%20article;%20no%20paywall)
________________ has problems.
https://truthout.org/articles/its-time-to-break-with-the-adl-as-a-source-for-news-and-research-on-extremism/
While today’s links were pretty useful, you’ve lost your permission to use Yiddish here, including your pidgin Yiddish.
Yes, the Jewish community is heterogeneous on this issue. And AIPAC/AJC is going to spend wildly to wipe out the apostates. Apostately yours, &c.
Judaism is not merely a religion. So, what you are saying is some Jewish Zionists are indeed anti-Semitic when they claim to be speaking for all Jews and then name call those tribe members that think, speak ans act differently than them. If Zionism is not racism, neither can anti-Zionism be.
Greg,
Do you think those Hamas cells that were busted in Denmark and Germany this week were from the political or military branch and do you think they were carrying Turkish passports?
I think the facts on the ground are contrary to your grasp of them.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/copenhagen-police-danish-intelligence-make-arrests-suspicion-preparations-attack-2023-12-14/
So. Iran wasn’t directly behind October 7th attacks, but they do support Hamas via Hezbollah in Lebanon. But, it is incorrect to state that Hamas is merely a Iran funded terrorist organization.
https://apnews.com/article/lebanon-israel-palestinian-hamas-hezbollah-iran-2ccfaa49139358e6d2add89878a0cfe4 (Hamas claims Iran was not behind October 7 attacks)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-lebanon-iran-fm-meets-with-hezbollah-chief-and-hamas-and-islamic-jihad-officials/amp/
https://ecfr.eu/article/iran-hamas-and-islamic-jihad-a-marriage-of-convenience/
Btw, ceasefire protesters got run out of Santa Ana council meeting last night.
Your final sentence could use some further development and amplification. Your assertions that A supports C because A supports B and B supports C could use the opposite.