Zionism
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Football anyone? Travels in irony
It’s an odd sight, PM Starmer falling over himself to seek additional resources to enable Birmingham police to cope with the ‘high risk’ possibility that were Maccabi football fans allowed to attend their November Europa League game against Aston Villa, violent disorder emanating from the Maccabi fans was a realistic possibility. The ‘high risk’ designation Continue reading
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Trump’s peace plan. Really?
It’s over one hundred years since the then League of Nations, in 1922, bestowed upon Britain a mandate over Palestine. Much has come to pass in the intervening years, yet the spirit of the Mandate, and its anchor point, the 1917 Balfour Declaration, is with us still, finding expression in Trump’s so-called Gaza peace plan. Continue reading
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They know what they do
I’ve said it myself: ‘there is one person who can stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and the West Bank too, simply by picking up the phone to Netanyahu.’ That is President Trump. But that statement is not entirely correct, for there is another potential force that were it to be so minded has the capacity Continue reading
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No hindrance placed in their way
Victory is near. So at least must the West Bank Israeli-Jewish settlers’ assess as they consume by fire, bullet and bulldozer Palestinian land, livelihoods – and lives. No hindrance placed in their way. In Gaza, too, the death knell sounds as Israel busies itself with the dirty – but it must be done! – business Continue reading
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Two-states: solution or chimera?
This seems to me to be axiomatic: It is not possible to construct a viable, and just – note ‘and just’ – independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. The so-called ‘two-state solution’ is no solution at all. I have rehearsed the arguments supporting the propositions above, here and here and here and here, and therefore will Continue reading
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A willed desire not to know
At various points over the years of this blog, I’ve asked whether Israel has the internal resources – psychological, ethical, social, spiritual – to take a critical view of itself, and its founding ideology, Zionism. Thus far, it has not developed such a capacity. In a way, this is not surprising, for so pervasive is Continue reading
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The curtailment of truth-telling: Palestine Action and the assault on freedom
Evil-doers abhor truth. Therefore it must be smothered, distorted, silenced, concealed. That is what thematically connects the British Government’s intention to proscribe Palestinian Action with the Israeli government’s decision to close access to Israeli state archives. The Israeli state archives are the source material upon which Israel’s ‘new historians’ – for example Avi Shlaim and Continue reading
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Apposite comparison? Nazi attitudes and behaviour, and Israel?
In our daily talk, but also when addressing more specialist areas of endeavour, we deploy the tools of analogy and comparison, comparing one thing or behaviour with another, as aids to understanding and insight. And, sometimes, to remind ourselves of the standards we would like to uphold. In this noticing of similarities, we do not Continue reading
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Is Israel in descent?
Is it too far out of left field to suggest that Israel is crumbling? That the manifestations of its seeming military prowess’ now yet again being visited on Gaza, but also in the West Bank, are actually the gasps of a wounded and failing entity? When a country goes to war, it’s generally expected that Continue reading
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Zionism and the Jewish Establishment
For some, the stories told in foundational texts – Old and New Testaments, the Mahabharata and so forth – are parables and myths illuminating paths to right conduct. For others of a more literalist bent, what is written is hardcore objective historical fact, pointing, in a no-nonsense way, to what has happened in the past, 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 