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Just numbers?
Some numbers: 17, 15, 16, 14, 17, 17, 17, 16, 10, 16, 16, 14, 17, 16, 17, 15, 14, 14, 17, 15, 17,11, 8, 5, 17,10, 5, 16, 2. Twenty-nine numbers. Added together, they come to 401. Those numbers can be expressed as an average. Do that, and the answer is 13.8. In addition, when… Continue reading
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Good riddance: two state ‘solution’ is dead
The two-state solution is dead, notwithstanding that various governments, the EU, the Palestinian Authority, along with sundry organisations, Jewish and not, tenaciously cling to what was always an ill-conceived, unjust idea. For many, the reasons for now proclaiming the ‘solution’ dead beyond the possibility of resurrection, tend to focus on what might be characterised as… Continue reading
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Israeli demonstrations. Democracy: What democracy?
Israeli air force pilots, soar through the sky unhindered, unopposed, their lethal, precision-guided ordnance primed to be unleashed against Gazan targets far below. The child, the mother, the brother, sister could not be so precise. They were at home unaware that precision was so precisely to strike them down. But that’s OK, they were not… Continue reading
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A restrictive, hostile environment for protest.
The Government was in a hurry, it needed its latest legislation curtailing fundamental freedoms to be on the statute book in time for King Charles 111 Coronation on the 6th May. The Government achieved its aim, the Public Order Act 2023 became law on the 2nd May. Despite Government denials that the legislation was rushed… Continue reading
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Diane Abbott misspoke. It’s not a hanging offence
So, she misspoke herself. Made a mistake, one she acknowledged. Not enough, though. Diane Abbott has also to be excoriated, accused of making antisemitic remarks in her letter to the Guardian responding to Tomiwa Owolade’s Observer article, ‘Racism in Britain is not a black and white issue’. Thus, Abbott acknowledged that Irish, Jewish and Travellers… Continue reading
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They too also weep
The pain is excruciating. Beyond bearing. You could see it in their faces. Their hands… Their hands touching… Touching their lifeless child, or the coffin that encloses them. The tears falling… A barren moisture, presaging no hope of future growth. Surely, it’s universal, a parent’s anguish in the face of their child’s life cut short. … Continue reading
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Israel: Trapped in an oxymoron
Readers may need to be reminded: There are Palestinians living in the state of Israel. One could be forgiven for not appreciating this given the way UK mainstream media reports the so-called ‘democratic’ protests within Israel. But the truth needs to be told: Palestinians comprise around 20% of the population of the state, rising to… Continue reading
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Israel broken? Repairable?
The symbolism couldn’t be starker. On the one hand, the many Israeli flags held aloft by Jewish religious nationalists as they marched through Jerusalem’s Muslin Quarter on Jerusalem Day, May 2022, shouting ‘Death to Arabs’. On the other, the many Israeli flags held aloft around the country this March 2023, notably in Tel Aviv, by… Continue reading
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The Alternative: Building a Movement of Liberation Against a Colonial Regime, Not Demonstrating to Defend “Jewish Democracy”
Originally posted on Free Haifa: Statement of the One Democratic State Campaign February 21, 2023 (The following declaration was published on the ODSC site. It was originally published in Arabic.) Since Israel’s Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, announced sweeping “reforms” in Israel’s judicial system, intended to nullify the power of the Supreme Court to declare… Continue reading
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Israelis protest – for some, not all
So, Israelis know how to protest. They can be roused. Generally quiescent and indifferent to burning injustices – the murderous iniquities – that their state daily perpetrates against Palestinians, when their own interests are pricked, they know how to yelp. And yelp they do, furious at the impending curtailment of their freedoms, the potential diluting… 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 