Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[1] fair use.
I may have underestimated this: Will the hostage situation[2] be Binymanin Netanyahu’s undoing? He’s been harshly criticized for Israeli intelligence failures that enabled the Hamas attack.[3] And he’s being criticized for his conduct of the operation in Gaza,[4] which may be intentionally disproportionate,[5] and the abject absence of an end plan.[6]
I don’t see it getting any easier for him. Ehud Barak is likely correct—I suspect, if anything, he underestimates the matter—that international tolerance for Palestinian suffering is nearing an end.[7] And though the conflict is in the Gaza Strip, West Bank settlers are now on an ethnic cleansing rampage[8] while the mask has been ripped off Israel’s genocidal ambitions.[9]
Even if you support Israel and even if you consider me an anti-Semite because I condemn Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, you have to admit that the bigoted and arguably fascist pronouncements of extreme right-wing government ministers[10] make this all just a little too blatant. And if you can’t see that, you’re in for a hell of a shock, because it’s crystal clear the world most definitely does, and that whatever else the Hamas attack has accomplished, it led Israel to rip that mask off.
Jamie Dettmer, “Israel has only weeks to defeat Hamas as global opinion sours, former PM Ehud Barak says,” Politico, November 7, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/ehud-barak-israel-palestine-war-hamas-global-opinion-sours/
Jamie Dettmer, “A broken Netanyahu is miscalculating over Gaza, former Israeli PM says,” Politico, November 8, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/09/west-bank-israel-settlers-violence/
Ruth Michaelson, Julian Borger, and Emine Sinmaz, “Netanyahu rejected ceasefire-for-hostages deal in Gaza, sources say,” Guardian, November 9, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/09/netanyahu-rejected-ceasefire-for-hostages-deal-in-gaza-sources-say
Victor Reklaitis, “Israel plans four-hour pauses in northern Gaza, White House says,” MarketWatch, November 9, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/israel-plans-four-hour-pauses-in-northern-gaza-white-house-says-0508ac84
Laura Wagner and Will Sommer, “Hundreds of journalists sign letter protesting coverage of Israel,” Washington Post, November 9, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/11/09/open-letter-journalists-israel-gaza/
Illiberalism
Gilead
Abortion, reproductive freedom and health
Fig. 1. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Kris Maher and Jon Kamp, “Ohio Voters Enshrine Abortion Access in State Constitution,” Wall Street Journal, November 8, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/election-day-ballots-ohio-abortion-maine-texas-colorado-d9922480
Hannah Knowles and Caroline Kitchener, “Abortion rights advocates win major victories in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia,” Washington Post, November 8, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/07/abortion-ohio-kentucky-virginia-elecitons/
- [1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [2]Ruth Michaelson, Julian Borger, and Emine Sinmaz, “Netanyahu rejected ceasefire-for-hostages deal in Gaza, sources say,” Guardian, November 9, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/09/netanyahu-rejected-ceasefire-for-hostages-deal-in-gaza-sources-say↩
- [3]Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “A Majority of Israelis Think Netanyahu Should Resign,” New Republic, October 12, 2023, https://newrepublic.com/post/176200/majority-israelis-think-netanyahu-resign; Noga Tarnopolsky, “Netanyahu Is Losing the War at Home,” New York, October 12, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/10/in-the-israel-hamas-war-netanyahu-is-losing-at-home.html↩
- [4]Jamie Dettmer, “Israel has only weeks to defeat Hamas as global opinion sours, former PM Ehud Barak says,” Politico, November 7, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/ehud-barak-israel-palestine-war-hamas-global-opinion-sours/↩
- [5]Ishaan Tharoor, “The punishing military doctrine that Israel may be following in Gaza,” Washington Post, November 10, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/11/10/israel-dahiya-doctrine-disproportionate-strategy-military-gaza-idf/↩
- [6]Jamie Dettmer, “A broken Netanyahu is miscalculating over Gaza, former Israeli PM says,” Politico, November 8, 2023, ↩
- [7]Jamie Dettmer, “Israel has only weeks to defeat Hamas as global opinion sours, former PM Ehud Barak says,” Politico, November 7, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/ehud-barak-israel-palestine-war-hamas-global-opinion-sours/↩
- [8]Louisa Loveluck, “Settler violence is erasing Palestinian communities in the West Bank,” Washington Post, November 9, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/09/west-bank-israel-settlers-violence/↩
- [9]Democracy Now! “Judith Butler on Hamas, Israel’s Collective Punishment of Gaza & Why Biden Must Push for Ceasefire,” October 26, 2023, https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/26/judith_butler_on_hamas_israels_collective; Democracy Now! “Palestinian Lives Matter Too: Jewish Scholar Judith Butler Condemns Israel’s ‘Genocide’ in Gaza,” October 26, 2023, https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/26/judith_butler_ceasefire_gaza_israel; Khaleda Rahman, “Israel Committing ‘Textbook Case of Genocide,’ Holocaust Historian Says,” Newsweek, October 17, 2023, https://www.newsweek.com/holocaust-historian-israel-committing-genocide-raz-segal-1835346↩
- [10]Democracy Now! “Judith Butler on Hamas, Israel’s Collective Punishment of Gaza & Why Biden Must Push for Ceasefire,” October 26, 2023, https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/26/judith_butler_on_hamas_israels_collective; Democracy Now! “Palestinian Lives Matter Too: Jewish Scholar Judith Butler Condemns Israel’s ‘Genocide’ in Gaza,” October 26, 2023, https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/26/judith_butler_ceasefire_gaza_israel; Khaleda Rahman, “Israel Committing ‘Textbook Case of Genocide,’ Holocaust Historian Says,” Newsweek, October 17, 2023, https://www.newsweek.com/holocaust-historian-israel-committing-genocide-raz-segal-1835346↩