Don't take sides

Published: Sun, 10/22/23

There is a short film doing the rounds by the American comedian Ryan Long which makes a joke of how people think that ought to react to the events in Israel and Gaza over the last couple of weeks. It is funny, and also deeply sad, in the way Mr Long reveals the childish and superficial way that far to many people understand, and react, to events as reported in the media. The situation has moved on since the film was posted but it is still worth spending a couple of minutes watching (link below).
Do I really want to weigh in on the tragic events of the past couple of weeks? Only with trepidation since, as the video suggests, taking sides is simply to fall into yet another polarising trap which has been set for the whole world. Do you remember Covid, BLM, Ukraine? Anyone notice a pattern?
But what about the victims? Don’t the Israelis have the right to defend themselves? Don’t the Palestinians have the right to resist oppression and the theft of their lands? On one level the answer is yes, on both counts. However, if the Israelis can’t defend themselves without displacing and killing Palestinians. And Palestinians can’t resist oppression and displacement without terrorising and killing Israelis. Then the results can only be more victims, many of them innocent civilians including women, children, and the elderly.
All human beings who suffer harm are victims, and all victims are individuals who have suffered trauma, fear, or injury. What about combatants? An armed enemy can perhaps be killed in a combat situation. However, anyone who is killed, maimed, wounded, or suffers post traumatic stress (which may just be a modern term for a guilty conscience at having killed and maimed others, and participated in the suffering and destruction of war) is a victim too.
So, which side is in the ‘right’ where the latest Middle East conflict is concerned? Was Hammas acting on behalf of the Palestinians in a courageous and righteous act of defiant resistance against 75 years of Israeli oppression? Is Israel now fully justified in its belief that Palestinians are nothing but bloodthirsty terrorists who must be eliminated, or at least driven out of all territories which Israel controls, before Jews can ever feel safe?
Is it impossibly hard to know who is in the right and deserves the world’s sympathy and support? And who is in the wrong and thus deserves all the retribution coming to them?
From what I can see neither side is in the ‘right’ since this whole tragic episode has FALSE FLAG stamped all over it. Since the last Israeli election in 2022 Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to put together a workable government. The parties who would make a government at highly nationalistic and there were huge anti-government demonstrations and large numbers of reservists effectively resigning from the IDF (Israeli Defence Force).
On the other hand, Hammas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood which is a creation of Western Intelligence Agencies. There isn’t space to cover 75 years of Palestinian politics (I have linked below to a brilliant article by Scott Ritter which tells you all you really need to know), Suffice to say Hammas was created for three purposes. 1. To manage the population of the world’s largest open air prison, otherwise known as Gaza. 2. To split the Palestinians between two opposing factions so that they cannot present a united front to Israel or the wider world. 3. To carry out relatively minor acts of terror on a regular basis such as fairly harmless rocket attacks in order to demonstrate that Palestinians cannot possible peacefully co-exist with the Jewish inhabitants of Israel.
It is well known that Gaza is the most closely guarded, intensively monitored, and its access most rigorously controlled place in the world. It is said that a cockroach cannot crawl under the perimeter fence without setting off an alarm. And yet, Hamas militants were able to plan for a remarkably effective military operation which must have taken a great deal of planning, organisation, logistics, training, and access to large quantities of sophisticated weaponry, including modern small arms, drones, and anti-tank weapons, and the necessary ammunition. Yet, somehow the Israelis failed to notice all these preparations. The Egyptians did know that something was going on and high level officials warned the Israeli government over a week in advance. However, the Israelis chose to ignore these warnings and now blame ‘intelligence failures’ for not being prepared for the attack last week. It also seems that the IDF was effectively stood
down at the time the Hamas attack was launched out of Gaza and no effective response was mounted for many hours.
Qui Bono? A week later and Netanyahu was firmly in charge of his country with a government of national unity. Israelis are largely united in their grief and their anger against Hamas. Western leaders are fawning all over Israel promising their unwavering support for Israel’s right to ‘defend’ itself. The USA is now promising tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. It just remains to be seen how many Palestinians will be eliminated from Gaza. Even the Western world might object to full scale mass killing and ethnic cleansing. However, when a hospital is blown up killing over 500 people it turns out, according to the President of the USA, to have been caused by a misfired Palestinian missile. I expect that we will hear of a great many more ‘misfired’ Palestinian munitions as the body count mounts up. The only other question is whether or not the Egyptians can be persuaded to open their border to enable the
inhabitants of Gaza to escape the promised Israeli onslaught. It is unlikely that any who do leave by that route will be allowed to return.
It should be clear enough by now that conflict serves the purposes of a very small number of people who have the money and the inclination to manipulate the world though narrative management, manipulation of emotions such as fear, grief, anger, and the ownership of politicians, their parties, the ‘mainstream’ media, educational institutions etc etc.
Nobody ‘wins’ in any conflict where one group of victims are manipulated into fighting another group who are just as much victims of deception and propaganda. The only victory for you, me, and all other ordinary people is in recognising the process of manipulation and refusing to collude with it. The situation in the Middle East, the ongoing war in Ukraine) and the problems of the wider world may seem depressing. However there are always signs of hope. The Conservatives have just lost two by elections in the UK. It seems that although Labour took the seats, it was not because large numbers of people switched parties, just that the turnout dropped dramatically and the Conservative voters just couldn’t be bothered to turn out and support the current regime. I am not suggesting that a Labour government under Kier Starmer would be any improvement, just that it is encouraging that so many voters are disenchanted with the current
regime. In the 1960s there was what we would now call a meme which went: ‘What if they held a war and no one came?’ What indeed?
We are not helpless victims. The manipulation of our minds and beliefs could not be more obvious, and we only collude with evil if we choose to. It is time to take responsibility for our own minds and what we collude with.
regards
Graham
PS We can take responsibility for our own responses to conflict when we understand the principles of combat. When I teach martial arts my primary concern is to get people thinking about their intention and recognising the intentions of others, this is the only way to manage and resolve conflicts. My next course will be at Tickon, East Yorkshire, on the 4th of November http://iceandfire.org.uk/tickton041123.html

Links:
Ryan Long’s video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Pw_TxBe7w
Why I no longer support Israel by Scott Ritter. It is long but no one seems to really understand the nature of modern war and conflict like Mr Ritter https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/why-i-no-longer-stand-with-israel?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=6892&post_id=137939790&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=12rp6g&utm_medium=email
So, what was going on with the Israeli security forces on the 7th of October? https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/grim-questions?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=581065&post_id=138112003&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=12rp6g&utm_medium=email



Graham Butcher
21 Beaver Road
Beverley East Yorkshire HU17 0QN
UNITED KINGDOM

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