Herod and Netanyahu walk into a bar...

Published: Thu, 12/21/23

In the early 1980s my parents visited Israel. My father had always been rather pro-Israel, as were a lot of his generation. There were a lot of Jewish people living in North London, I went to school with several of them and we had Jewish neighbors who we got on very well with. I think my father had a vague sense that Israel was somehow bringing some culture and civilisation to an otherwise benighted area of the world. While in the Holy land my father, even as a tourist, witnessed the treatment of the Palestinians and came back with different point of view. I remember him saying that if the Jewish Israelis were not careful how they continued to treat the native population they would be heading for trouble.

For the December screening at the church film club we saw The Nativity Story, made in 2006. The script mashes up the narratives from both Luke and Mathew’s gospels (which are actually quite different to the point of being incompatible) creating what is effectively a cinematic School nativity play. However, within those limitations the film is very well done with a sinister performance from the veteran actor Ciaran Hinds as Herod. The monarch is notorious of course for ordering the killing of the baby boys in Bethlehem in a vain attempt to eliminate any future threat to his rule. I think that Herod Antipas and Benjamin Netanyahu could meet up in a bar and pass a very pleasant evening discussing the most ingenious ways of terrorizing the populations they hoped to control.
A particularly bizarre story from Gaza last week described a trap which killed several members of the IDF. The bait was some lifelike dolls and recordings of babies crying loudly. Apparently the IDF can always be trusted to go after the children and so the lure was lethally irresistible. I can’t help thinking that here we have some kind of karmic payback for Herod’s wickedness and the thugs who carried who carried out his orders.
As the acknowledged death toll of Palestinians in Gaza passes 20,000 dead, most being women and children and the actual total of people just missing under the rubble being much higher, even the most ardent supporters of Israel are finding it difficult to justify mass murder on this scale. The usual escape route is to say that it is time to ‘work seriously towards a two state solution’. Unfortunately for that fig leaf Netanyahu has been publicly boasting that he personally has been preventing any idea of a two state solution. If it was going to happen a Palestinian state would have been established decades ago anyway.
The only future for Palestine, ‘from the river to the sea’ is a one state solution. Palestine could be a land of equal rights for all its inhabitants. However, the Jewish population is already in a slight minority and the Palestinian population has a younger demographic and a higher fertility rate. Such a solution would be the end of the Jewish supremacist Zionist ethnostate. The alternative one state solution is the continued elimination of the Palestinian population by displacement and murder (or just call it ethnic cleansing and genocide) with the survivors living under a brutal form of apartheid, until they too can be disposed of and the Zionist nightmare is realised. An Israeli Council Head, David Azoulai, has called for the total displacement of the Gazan population to Lebanon and then the total destruction of the area so that it can become a museum to the might of the IDF, just like Auschwitz is today. And yes, he uses the
example of Auschwitz, sounds like a call for a final rather than a two or one state solution.
And yet, enough support for Israel continues to prevent UN resolutions calling for ceasefires to pass. Applying Bobcat’s ethical principle of ignorance and collusion there is no longer any excuse for ignorance (although it would help if the media actually told the real story of what happened on October the 7th, see link below). So, why the continued collusion with Israel by the Western political classes? In Britain the major political parties have ‘Friends of Israel’ organisations and being a member is extremely beneficial to your elevation in the political hierarchy. You might manage to by pass this assistance and still achieve a position of leadership but you won’t last long, the rise and fall of Jeremy Corbyn being a classic example. In the USA AIPAC (America Israel public affairs committee) channels billions of dollars from wealthy Zionist donors into winning elections for favoured candidates. The manipulation comes in the
form of generous campaign funding and favourable media exposure. If you did manage to somehow bypass AIPAC then the ADL (Anti-defamation League) will bring you down eventually (although they may have bitten off more than they can chew in Elon Musk, we shall see).
The result of all this interference in politics is that anyone aspiring to achieve more than low level office has to make a decision. Not to compromise with the system and find something else to do. Or, when the Zionists say ‘jump’, ask, ‘how high’? This habit of Zionist collusion is now so deeply ingrained that politicians find themselves in a dilemma. Voters used to be mainly unaware of who really controlled their governments. Now, the true loyalties of ministers, prime ministers, and presidents are clearly revealed. If a majority of people are aware of zionist interference in our political system will it be possible to win elections while still taking Israeli money and colluding with Zionist ethnic cleansing?
When you hear a politician still talking about Israel’s right to defend itself and ‘working towards a two state solution’ they are actually calculating the right moment to switch from accepting Zionist support to openly throwing Israel under a bus. This attitude applies just as much to ‘alternative’ parties such as Reform. Richard Tice (leader of Reform) revealed as much in his response to a question on Gaza on R4 Question time a couple of weeks ago.
So, what does the future hold for Israel and the Palestinians? So far the change is coming from the Palestinians in their struggle in Gaza supported by the Houthis and Hezbolla. I know that these groups are created and funded by states such as Iran who don’t want to destroy the status quo any more than the US or Europe does. However, the militants on the ground seem to have decided that enough is enough and they are taking action. If your freedom means enough to you you have to be willing to fight for it, if not with violence then at least with a recognition of reality and refusal to collude with evil. Ignorance is no longer an option, and neither is collusion, the only question is whether we move into a sane world the easy way or the hard way. Israel does not need to be defeated, the Zionist ethnostate needs to be exposed, only full exposure of the reality that is Israel can bring an end to this sorry chapter.
I would like to wish everyone a happy Yule, and as the days lengthen once again let us look forward to a brighter, happier, and more peaceful new year.
regards
Graham
Links
There never was going to be a two state solution https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2023/12/19/going-mask-off-about-the-two-state-solution-lie/
The Gaza conflict gets seriously bizarre https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2023/12/18/the-idf-are-so-good-at-killing-israelis-they-should-consider-joining-hamas/
Yes, it really is ethnic cleansing at the least https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/12/18/716590/Israeli-council-head-calls-for-turning-Gaza-into-empty-museum-like-Auschwitz
It is the demographics stupid https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/the-war-in-gaza-its-not-about-hamas-its-about-demographics/
What really happened on the 7th of October https://www.jonathan-cook.net/2023-12-15/media-israel-7-october/
Graham Butcher
21 Beaver Road
Beverley East Yorkshire HU17 0QN
UNITED KINGDOM

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