one thing that has come clear to me with the most recent news out of Israel (I read Haaretz daily, which is surprisingly even-handed and fair in its reporting, considering it is an Israeli newspaper), is that Bibi is a dangerous lunatic and he is endangering the survival of Israel. I am starting to wonder if he is doing to Israelis what Hamas has been doing to the Palestinians--using them as cannon fodder because he wanted this war to save his sorry ass. He did, after all, fund Hamas, and he did, after all, know all about their plans for Oct 7th. The explanations given are that he was placating Hamas with the money, to prevent a war, and that he and his generals didn't believe Hamas had the capacity to pull off their plans for the pogrom. But come on, really? If their intelligence is any good, they should have known they had the resources to do what they have done. Could Bibi have thrown those 120O Israelis who were killed and the women raped and the hostages taken under the proverbial bus so that he would have an excuse to wipe out the Palestinians for once and for all? Were his own countrymen intended collateral damage?

I know that is a pretty dark and cynical suspicion, but it's hard for me to believe the official explanations. I haven't watched Netanyahu very closely so I don't know if that fits with his character. I do know Trump would be capable of doing something like that, and that lots of people have compared Bibi to Trump.

Also the information coming out about the rapes Hamas committed is haunting me. It's like I feel the resonance of that horror, and then the further horror that no one who should be is speaking out or condemning those rapes--not the UN, not the feminists....

I've started watching a series of podcasts produced by Jews United for Democracy, and they are interviewing very knowledgeable, smart, and insightful experts on Middle East affairs. I think all of you would be interested in what these folks have to say. The podcasts go back to well before Oct 7 and were focusing on preserving democracy in America. Lately there are three or four a week.

Here's the link:

https://www.jewsunitedfordemocracy.org/past-events/

quote:

I know that is a pretty dark and cynical suspicion, but it's hard for me to believe the official explanations. I haven't watched Netanyahu very closely so I don't know if that fits with his character. I do know Trump would be capable of doing something like that, and that lots of people have compared Bibi to Trump.

Yes, too dark and cynical. Netanyahu (and other governments as well) were content to let the sleeping dog lie, and to play internal Palestinian politics while occasionally "mowing the grass," to use the appalling metaphor.

I DO think he is trying as best he can to take advantage of the turn of events AFTER the fact.

I devoutly hope his opponents will find some political way (not the Rabin method) to terminate his ugly hold on Israeli politics. We will get no progress toward a stable long run solution while his biblical literalist coalition is in power.

Some of the Tunnel Network

Quite a building project. Lots of cement, lots of $$$.

IDF made substantial gains in northern Gaza recently.

Shrink please.

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If you haven't read yesterday's investigative report by the NYT, you need to. I'm posting a gift link, no paywall. Thousands of Palestinian civilians joined in to this butchery and celebrated it. 80 percent of Palestinians now say they support Hamas and what it did to Israelis. There are letters to the editor in the comments link worth reading, some from Israelis, who point out that the Times left out credible accounts of children being raped until their pelvises shattered and they died. I hope the people who think they are supporting a "liberation" from "colonization" will read this and check their own moral compasses.

I know most of you are not in that camp. But you can share this article and wake people up. I don't think I can continue to be associated with anyone who reads this and still wants to say "but" or "whatabout."

‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/1...ytcore-android-share

Alas, this is all well known and well documented. The NYT basically collated it for a general audience.

The people who think inside a rigid "white supremacy under every rock, Zionism (among all the nationalisms) is the vile one, de-colonization justifies blood and rape" ideological box have already "contextualized" all of this to fit the narrative.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..._Peace_Not_Apartheid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ace_in_the_Holy_Land

I'd like to read these two books by Jimmy Carter.

I don't doubt history will remember him kindly.

What a legacy he will leave us.

North Gaza almost fully cleared. More movement into southern strongholds. This is probably why Israel is withdrawing several battalions from Gaza for training and so that people can go back to their jobs.

Shrink, please.



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Latest map updates (three: one north, one central, one south). North Gaza is fully occupied. In the south, the only area not yet under ground assault is the Rafah area.

Shrink please.

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Very interesting maps, cheers.

Any up to date maps to share?

Am thinking War Mapper does the maps .

The site:

https://www.warmapper.org/

Also on X:

https://twitter.com/War_Mapper.../1741539713654120494

Ah, thank you.
Seems there are lots of Hamas/Palestinian fighters in KJ. The initial report of the ICJ is expected on Friday and I'd been wondering how far the hostage rescue/counter-incursion had progressed.

It's no longer first story on any news channel we get via Sky, except Al-Jaz which mostly repeats pictures and propaganda.