Not True

Four weeks ago, Israel began its military campaign to defeat Hamas, in retaliation for the attack on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,400 people, kidnapped some 240 others and destroyed a fundamental sense of security for all Israelis. Israel has a right to defend itself against this threat at its border, and the United States, its closest ally, has rightly pledged to stand by its side until that sense of security is restored.

NYT Editorial

Not true. It’s not a military campaign in retaliation, but a brutal vengeful response in violation of international law. Which border does the NYT editorial refer to, pre or post 1967? The right to a “fundamental sense of security” pertains both the Jewish people worldwide and to the Palestinian people in their own land. No exceptionalism should implicitly justify war crimes.

This situation makes Israel’s fight against Hamas exceptionally difficult. As a liberal democracy, the only one in the Middle East, Israel has made a commitment under international law to protect Palestinian civilians while pursuing its military objectives. While it is true that Hamas has made no such commitment, Israel holds itself to a different, higher standard. It cannot allow anger and the desire for vengeance to undermine its moral obligations.

NYT Editorial

Not true. Currently, Israel is not a liberal democracy but an authoritarian regime turned against its own democratic institutions by a coalition of extreme right zealots, led by Netanyahu, illegally expanding its settlements in the West Bank, and undermining a two-state compromise to the Zionist occupation of Palestine. The NYT editorial ignores that crimes of war have already been committed — before, on, and after October 7 — and for which terrorists on both sides should be held accountable. There is a moral equivalence for killing children, on both sides.

After weeks of airstrikes by Israel and the continued firing of rockets by Hamas, civilians in Gaza have paid a grave price. Thousands have lost their lives or suffered serious injuries. As reporters for The Times detailed, Gazans under siege “say there is a surge of severely injured children entering hospitals, doctors operating without anesthesia and morgues overflowing with bodies.” There are shortages of food, water and fuel needed to power everything from desalination plants to generators.

NYT Editorial

Not true. Civilians in Gaza have not paid a “grave price,” but rather, they have been slaughtered in an inhumane and criminal retribution campaign of collective punishment, reminiscing the ethnic cleansing of a wrathful Jehovah in Canaan centuries ago.

That is why so many of Israel’s allies, including President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have called for a humanitarian pause to see to the urgent and immediate needs of civilians. … While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far resisted them, those calls have grown louder and more insistent after Israel’s recent bombardment of the Jabaliya neighborhood in Gaza, which Israel said targeted Hamas militants located there. UNICEF, a children’s aid organization, described the damage as “horrific and appalling,” and it said in a statement that the attacks follow weeks of bombardment “that have reportedly resulted in more than 3,500 children killed.”

NYT Editorial

Not true. A “humanitarian pause” is necessary but not sufficient. Netanyahu must resign to prevent a wider military conflagration in the Middle East. The United States Middle-East policy should not be determined by a foreign regime. The United States government must diligently work to prevent a worldwide conflict. Abusing its veto power in the United Nations Security Council to cover for crimes of war is not the way to accomplish it.

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Anti-Zionism is NOT antisemitism

I drafted the definition of antisemitism. Rightwing Jews are weaponizing it

Kenneth Stern

Kenneth Stern | The Guardian

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“All the News That’s Fit to Print.”
–Adolph S. Ochs

Protesters mass outside Netanyahu’s house as anger grows

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