UPDATED: See No Evil

I have lived long enough to think I have seen the worst things that humanity has to offer. I shan't enumerate examples here, since they are legion. But not all evil deeds are acts of commission. Many deep moral stains originate in omissions, failures to act. The West's complicity in the Israeli-led Gaza genocide falls under both rubrics, of course.

In its passion to avoid any accusation of anti-semitism (anti-semitism and criticism of Israel having been susscessfully conflated), the West is clearly complicit in the genocide. Indeed, even a modest support for Palestinians provokes rebuke and condemnation. In Ontario, for example, Hamilton Centre MPP Sarah Jama was censured for wearing the keffiyeh, rendering her persona non grata in the legislature and resulting in her ouster from the provincial NDP.

But such reprovals are not limited to the provinces. Indeed, Heather McPherson, an Alberta NDP MP, is now being singled out for rebuke.

A New Democrat MP was warned Monday that her decision to don a watermelon pin — a symbol of the Palestinian cause — could be construed as a political “prop” that has no place in the House of Commons. 

During question period, Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPherson took to the floor of the lower chamber to castigate Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government for its response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“Entire families have been decimated. Children are starving to death. When will the Liberals live up to their obligations?” McPherson said, calling for sanctions on the Israeli government and the implementation of an “actual arms embargo.”

That attempt to stir the conscience of the government was met with a stern warning from House Speaker Greg Fergus., suggesting her pin was a prop, supposedly forbidden in the House.

In a heated exchange over what is and is not permitted to be worn in the Commons, McPherson rose on a point of order to question Fergus’s suggestion.

“I have to tell you that I stand here proudly wearing the pin that stands in solidarity to Palestinian people, but people within this place are wearing pins for a various number of reasons,” McPherson said.

She referred to a moose hide pin that a number of MPs wear in the Commons, which was born from an Indigenous-led movement to end violence toward women and children. 

Then, for some sensitive' souls in the House, she went too far:

The NDP MP’s reference to poppies also being worn in the chamber for Remembrance Day, however, was met with outrage from the opposition benches, with Conservative MPs expressing disbelief on social media over the comparison. 

She also reminded members that she, along with others, wear a number of other pins, including a Ukrainian one, to mark a thousand days since Putin invaded Ukraine.

Funny thing about freedom of expression, isn't it? It is apparently only permitted when the state declares who is an acceptable target for denunciation. In the corrupted currents of this world, it would seem that Israel gets a free pass, no matter what crimes against humanity it perpetrates.

UPDATE: Predictably, the U.S. vetoed a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza:

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the war in Gaza because it is not linked to an immediate release of hostages taken captive by Hamas in Israel in October 2023.

The U.N. Security Council voted 14-1 in favor of the resolution sponsored by the 10 elected members on the 15-member council, but it was not adopted because of the U.S. veto.

The resolution that was put to a vote “demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

Hmm. Sounds to me that the resolution did call for the immediate release of the hostages, but I guess Israel's perennial, unconditional friend just can't bring itself to do anything other than perpetuate the carnage in Gaza.

More Genocide

While most of the mainstream media focus on the genocidal actions of Israel in Gaza, there is another taking place in the West Bank, euphemistically labelled '"settler violence." To call the actions by Israeli citizens and the IDF anything other genocidal is to do a grave disservice to truth.

The West Bank, under military occupation since 1967, has seen the spread of Israeli settlements over the years, in contravention of international law. Despite that, violence there has increased since the Hamas attack on Israel, yet has only drawn a mild rebuke from the U.S., calling it 'unacceptable.' In other words, carte blanche continues. And it seems this violence is happening with either the encouragement or the passive consent of the IDF.  

The latest violence resulted in one death and much property destruction.

Here is a brief video showing some of the horror:

  

So what is to be done? Is there the chance of a new direction, a new hope for a cessation of the widespread violence against the Palestinians, both in the West Bank and Gaza?? Peter Beinart has some thoughts on the matter, in terms of the tightrope Kamala Harris is currently walking.

When it comes to Israel, Ms. Harris should simply say that she’ll enforce the law.

The law in question has been on the books for more than a decade. It prohibits the United States from assisting any unit of a foreign security force that commits “gross violations” of human rights. Aid can be reinstated if the foreign country adequately punishes the perpetrators. Passed by Congress in 1997, it bears the name of former Senator Patrick Leahy — and it has been applied hundreds of times — including reportedly against U.S. allies like Colombia and Mexico.

However, there is a problem:

....it has never been applied to Israel, the country that over the past eight decades has received more U.S. aid, by far, than any other. That’s not because the Israel Defense Forces don’t commit serious abuses. “There are literally dozens of Israeli security force units that have committed gross violations of human rights” and should thus be ineligible for U.S. aid, a former State Department official, Charles Blaha, told ProPublica in May.

Lastly, there is strategic value for Israel if its violence can be curbed: 

Those who believe killing Palestinian civilians makes Israel safer should remember that Hamas often recruits fighters from the families of the bereaved. As Ami Ayalon, a former head of Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, wrote in 2020, “If we continue to dish out humiliation and despair, the popularity of Hamas will grow.”

One thing is certain. The status quo cannot continue. Too many lives are being brutalized and lost, and the only hope lies in a new direction from a new American government that is prepared to sanction and discipline the Jewish state.

 

The Language Of Genocide

 

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ”

― George Orwell

It is very easy, in the majority of cases, to become quickly inured to the world's suffering. Whether it be earthquakes and crime in Haiti, famine in Africa, or the war Russia is waging against Ukraine, we reach the point of compassion fatigue, facilitated no doubt by the lack of any apparent resolution to the dire circumstances so many experience in today's fractured world. 

One hopes against hope that the genocide taking place in Gaza may prove an exception, however, despite the efforts of so many to make the Israeli response to the October 7 attack by Hamas look both reasonable and necessary. And one of the latest to make such an effort is our own (were it not so) Stephen Harper.

Shree Paradkar writes:

On Wednesday, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper was in Jerusalem, shaking hands with the butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to his tweet, Harper witnessed "an Israel scarred by the unprovoked horrors of Oct. 7, but also united in its determination to end the threat of Hamas once and for all."

"Unprovoked." "Ending the threat of Hamas." Phrases being repeatedly used to justify the unjustifiable.

It is no doubt a human tendency to try to interpret the world along absolutist terms; things are either good or bad, thereby circumventing the hard work that critical thinking requires. For his fellow travellers, Stephen Harper is providing such a service.

But historical context is needed.

The Hamas commander named the attack "Al Aqsa Floods" saying it was meant to avenge Israel's brutal attacks on Al Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem — long a flashpoint site — during Ramadan in 2021.

Whatever one makes of that statement, it's a reminder that one can't look at what's happening without context. Insisting on erasing the context of current events — as seen with the repetition of the word "unprovoked" — is very much in Israel's interest. It allows Israel to position itself as the innocent party and to reduce the unspeakable violence it has unleashed to a "they-asked-for-it" rhetoric.

But there is much more involved here, years of abuse and repression that the world refuses to acknowledge.

There is so much mutual pain in the region that to ignore the underlying conditions of violence is to create conditions that lead to violence.

Some of these conditions include decades of repressive and vicious Israeli military occupation in Palestinian territories, with Israel routinely displacing, imprisoning and killing Palestinians. Israel's illegal blockade segregated Gazans from the world for years by banning them from travelling outside. The majority of Gazans are refugees who face sweeping restrictions on the entry and exit of goods. Israel even controlled the flow of electricity and water; more than 90 per cent of the water in Gaza was unfit for consumption before Oct. 7. A Washington Post report found there had been no natural surface water in Gaza since the early 2000s.

For even greater context, there is an array of videos available on YouTube attesting to the mistreatment of Arabs in the entire region.

Paradkar also talks about how the Palestinian cause has been conflated with Hamas and Islamic extremism, making it easier to dehumanize them, meaning

no matter how Israel treats Palestinians, whether it attacks Gaza's hospitals, kills and maims children, doctors, academics and journalists, or whether the International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel must take action to prevent genocidal violence by its armed forces, in Israel's view and in the eyes of its Western allies, it remains the wronged party.

It is this mentality that Harper has shamefully tapped into, making it easier to minimize and justify Israel's ongoing atrocities. 

Decades ago, George Orwell warned us about the destructive effects of political language. Sadly, it seems we have learned little to nothing in the intervening years.

Sacrificing Isaac

Yesterday's post dealt with the fact that climate change has thus far resulted in Canada warming twice as fast as the rest of the world; of course, much worse is to come.

Today's post deals with the group who will be most devastated by the catastrophe now enfolding the world: our children. But they are not taking their cruel fate lying down, as you will see in the following report, which starts at the 18 minute mark:



The Mound recently wrote a post called Crimes Against Humanity, about our willful acceleration of climate change. I highly recommend it. All things considered, our species has proven itself to be a short-sighted one. And now we can add infanticide and genocide to our impressive curriculum vitae.

Every North American Should Watch This

I'm often a critic of mainstream media, but the following is an example of what they can accomplish when they have the will:



H/t Ricochet