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From October, Israel will be able to kill vaccinated children
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, reports that hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s children – 90% coverage – have received the first of two required polio vaccinations. The second round should take place at the end of September. So, come, say October/November, Israel will find comfort in the knowledge that the Gazan children it will continue… Continue reading
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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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Israel knows how to break things, but not how to fix them
According to a Pew survey published in May, based on enquiry undertaken in March and early April, thirty-nine percent of Israelis think that Israel’s military assault on Gaza is ‘about right’. Thirty-four percent, however, believe the military assault has ‘not gone far enough’; and a paltry nineteen percent think it has ‘gone too far’. Might… Continue reading
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It’s Hezbollah. Or is it? Caution required
It hits you first: the grotesque hypocrisy of Prime Minister Netanyahu, responsible for the deaths and maiming of thousands of Palestinian children, expressing sympathy for the twelve Druze children killed at Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israel annexed Golan Heights. His heart, apparently, is broken. He emoted: Among the victims were young children… Continue reading
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What we see should not be possible to do
You’ll have noticed. It’s slipping away. Barely a news item now. A brief clip of the devastation, then reversion to ‘informed’ interviews and comment. Will there, won’t there, be a ceasefire? Who rejects a ceasefire? Who accepts a ceasefire? Like a tennis match, back and forth, the ball soaked in blood and viscera, spraying the… 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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Archbishop Welby and the Chief Rabbi : Conjoined in error
I’m a Jewish member of the Lambeth Witness Group (LWG), which is part of the wider organisation the Campaign against Misrepresentation in Public Affairs, Information and the News. Otherwise known as CAMPAIN (without a ‘g’). On the 25 June, the LWG congregated outside Westminster Abbey to give voice, though a series of speeches, to our… 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
About Me
This is Bernard Spiegal’s blog.
I write mainly about Palestine/Israel and related issues; sometimes other stuff too
Recent Posts
- Israel’s right to a self-determined Jewish state – a fallacy
- Moral harm and the Jewish Establishment
- Sanctioning the settlements: A bullet bitten. A space opened up.
- Chief Rabbi Mirvis: Moral purpose shattered
- A charade and a reflection on relative time: Jewish Establishment meets with Foreign Secretary Miliband
