Israel House Demolitions
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Israel’s PR problem: Itself
The problem for proponents of Israel as a ‘normal’ state, is Israel itself. Over the past eleven months, Israel’s murderous, ethnic cleansing in Gaza, and now escalating in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, have been displayed on our screens for all to see. It is not a good look to destroy hospitals, kill and Continue reading
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Cry Justice! A trashed international rules-based system
If ever there were an international rules-based system, it is trashed now. Drained of authority and meaning, it is singularly unable to do what it is supposed to do. The Geneva Conventions, upon which the rule of law is supposedly based, their high-principled intent now made mockery. Even as their courts pass judgment on Israel’s Continue reading
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Hamas: an erroneous silencing. Part two
This is Part two of a two-part article. In Part one I focus on the wrongness and futility of proscribing Hamas. Here, in Part two, I set out in outline Hamas’s position on ceasefires and ultimate objectives. Hamas: from 1988 to now Hamas’s original 1988 Charter prompted accusations of antisemitism, because it characterised the conflict Continue reading
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Hamas: an erroneous silencing
This is Part one of a two-part article. In Part two I outline Hamas’s general position on what, for it, constitutes an acceptable negotiated settlement. I aim to publish part two in five days’ time, Tuesday 25 June. It is not possible to defeat Hamas. Therefore, as a war aim, it is irrational for Israel Continue reading
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Diaspora Jews and moral schizophrenia
It surely is paradoxical – ‘Paradox’ a person, thing, or situation that has two opposite features and therefore seems strange – that Jews in the UK live, prosper, and have the same civil, religious, and political rights as any other UK citizen. Yet, so many UK Jews support, often vehemently, a state – Israel – Continue reading
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Palestine and the strategic indifference of the West
We are witnessing a process of strategic indifference to the fate of the Palestinians, in Gaza, of course, but also not to be forgotten in the escalation of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. By strategic indifference, I mean that the USA, the UK and the West in general, have demonstrated, only Continue reading
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Israel does not have a right to exist – nor does any other state
People have the right to exist – not states. States are political formations, born out of the interaction of any number of factors – economic, ethnic, topographical, military, form of governance, and so forth. They are not sentient beings in any meaningful way. It is, therefore, simply a category mistake to assimilate the concept of Continue reading
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Palestinian citizens of Israel and the politics of fragmentation
Little attention has been given to the position – the plight – of Palestinian citizens of Israel. This was always generally true. Since the 7th October, however, their position, always precarious and constrained, has worsened considerably. The Palestinian citizens of Israel, as those in the OPT, are also the victims of an Apartheid regime. In an Continue reading
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Before 7th October
Zone of Interest is a depressing, fascinating British film, performed entirely in German. It charts the life of Rudolf Höss, Auschwitz’s Nazi commandant who, along with his family – wife, five children – lived in the family home. That home, along with its extensive, walled and well-tended garden, abutted Auschwitz concentration camp such that it Continue reading
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Israel and the West: A joint enterprise in genocide/ethnic cleansing
Do they, Biden and Sunak, turn away their faces, avert their eyes, block-up their ears, against the images and sounds of Gaza so desperately pleading for their attention? Paying the cries no heed, committed only to perverse, bloodless political calculation, the USA, the UK, the West in general, now are Israel’s collaborators in an Continue reading
About Me
This is Bernard Spiegal’s blog.
I write mainly about Palestine/Israel and related issues; sometimes other stuff too
Bernard Spiegal 