Politics

[Dr Gloom 24564]

15 hours ago, Rayvin said:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/19/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-take-control-gaza-uk-france-canada-threaten-action

 

We appear to be locked in to protest vociferously while Netanyahu ethnically cleanses Gaza.

 

the pictures of the developing famine in gaza are turning my stomach. i argued with friends - and on here - in the immediate aftermath of the october 7 attacks about israel's right to respond to the attack by hamas. i can no longer do so with any conviction. what we're seeing is exactly as you describe. smotrich let the veil fall when he called to clear gaza of all palestinians. chilling. and words which sickeningly sound like those used during events in mid 20th century europe.

 

my family - and i'm convinced a majority of israelis, for that matter - can see through it but they are seemingly as powerless to stop it as we are here in the west. the far-right nationalists and religious fundamentalists in netanyahu's fragile coalition are calling the shots and it is no longer about returning the hostages and destroying hamas, if indeed it ever was. the horrific events of october 7 have been used as an opportunity to cling to power and to turn gaza - and its people - to rubble. meanwhile bibi's biggest cheerleaders are in the whitehouse while europe is apparently too spineless or powerless to do anything about it. 

[Rayvin 6665]

1 minute ago, Dr Gloom said:

 

the pictures of the developing famine in gaza are turning my stomach. i argued with friends - and on here - in the immediate aftermath of the october 7 attacks about israel's right to respond to the attack by hamas. i can no longer do so with any conviction. what we're seeing is exactly as you describe. smotrich let the veil fall when he called to clear gaza of all palestinians. chilling. and words which sickeningly sound like those used during events in mid 20th century europe.

 

my family - and i'm convinced a majority of israelis, for that matter - can see through it but they are seemingly as powerless to stop it as we are here in the west. the far-right nationalists and religious fundamentalists in netanyahu's fragile coalition are calling the shots and it is no longer about returning the hostages and destroying hamas, if indeed it ever was. the horrific events of october 7 have been used as an opportunity to cling to power and to turn gaza - and its people - to rubble. meanwhile bibi's biggest cheerleaders are in the whitehouse while europe is apparently too spineless or powerless to do anything about it. 

 

I get that this is a difficult one and honestly it always has been for me as well because I no more want to see Hamas massacring people than I do Netanyahu, but just to set out - we're all culpable for this, it's not unique even to Israelis, let alone Jewish people. We all stood by and let this entire situation develop into what it has.

 

I mean as you say, Trump has emboldened this absolutely, so you then also have to share the blame around with people who resisted voting for Harris over this stuff. I might well have been one of those people if I were an American (I'm not 100% on that but I can't rule it out), in which case I would certainly feel personally culpable to some extent. As useless as the Democrats are on this, it is hard to imagine it being this bad with them at the helm. I don't know what any of us can do, against any government, anywhere - I'm tempted to say that the only thing we actually can do is to continue to vote for politicians that believe in an international rule based order to things because it's about the only way any modicum of control is every applied. But to be frank, this is more on the US than the rest of us - this is what the world without US leadership looks like, it seems. Isolationism leads to atrocity.

[Rayvin 6665]

1 hour ago, Craig said:

I see Starmer is changing his mind on the winter fuel allowance and wants more pensioners to be eligible. 

Change of heart or another reaction to the local election results? Either way he's coming across as fucking indecisive and with it, weak as fuck.

 

He's so reactive. It's really interesting tbh but it's actually consistent with his strategy pre-election. Just sit back and react to things - which at the time felt like a decent approach, let your enemy make a mistake etc, but it's a bit weird to see it continue on into government. As you say, needs to be far more decisive about these issues and move on from them. It feels like he's just bouncing around based on polling numbers.

[Craig 7889]

I've repeatedly said I'll hold my tongue on my feelings about what is going on in the middle east, but 18 months on, it's increasingly difficult to do so. 

Hamas may be recognised as a terrorist organisation by many nations, including the UK and they did fire the first shots in this episode on 7th October 2023, but the response since from Israel has been ridiculously disproportionate. 

They're viewing Hamas and Palestine as one of the same - they're not! And there's been far too many 'incidents' where the Israelis are claiming an error of judgement on their part. The most prominent one of that was the incident with the Palestinian Red Crescent where unbeknown to the Israeli forces, it was being recorded and proved beyond doubt they were talking a load of shit. 

It's nothing short of Genocide IMO. And the west has, until now, largely stood by and watch it happen. It's disgusting.

[Gemmill 53633]

Tomorrow's headlines today:

 

HAYTON BREAKS 18 MONTH SILENCE ON GAZA

[Craig 7889]

5 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

He's so reactive. It's really interesting tbh but it's actually consistent with his strategy pre-election. Just sit back and react to things - which at the time felt like a decent approach, let your enemy make a mistake etc, but it's a bit weird to see it continue on into government. As you say, needs to be far more decisive about these issues and move on from them. It feels like he's just bouncing around based on polling numbers.

That's a wholly acceptable rhetoric when you're in opposition, but the minute you walk into Number 10 you need to bin off that practice else your tenure is going to be very short indeed. Perhaps the Southport incident and ensuing civil unrest so early into his government took his eye off the ball and he's playing catchup ever since, but it's no excuse in reality. 

Taking GB News as a sole media channel to an event is hard to forgive for me. It's not about the broadcaster chosen per se, it's the control of the media as a whole I'm uncomfortable with - it wouldn't have mattered who he'd chosen - the mere fact he's being selective convinces me he's trying to drive support. 

[Craig 7889]

2 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

Tomorrow's headlines today:

 

HAYTON BREAKS 18 MONTH SILENCE ON GAZA

Haven't you got your latest Android buzz-toy to re-flash or something?

[spongebob toonpants 4606]

6 hours ago, Rayvin said:

As useless as the Democrats are on this, it is hard to imagine it being this bad with them at the helm.

You don't have to imagine it, the genocide started with Biden in office and he, or whoever was working his reanimated corpse, did nothing but sell them arms and cover Isreal back

 

History will not be kind on the West's response to Isreal