The news media is still desperately obsessing on its New Years themes, retrospectives on 2023, prognostications for 2024, all of it—absolutely all of it—asinine. They should be ashamed of such horseshit. Instead, I’m guessing we’ll get another load of it tomorrow.
Illiberalism
Gilead
Fig. 1. The emblem of the Republic of Gilead. Icewizie, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Rick Perlstein’s article[1] is essential reading as we enter an election year in which we see the consequences of voting, election after election, for the “lesser evil.”
Rick Perlstein, “You Are Entering the Infernal Triangle,” American Prospect, January 3, 2023, https://prospect.org/politics/2024-01-03-you-are-entering-the-infernal-triangle/
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.
Chris Geidner, “Fifth Circuit holds that federal ER law doesn’t protect abortion care,” Law Dork, January 2, 2024, https://www.lawdork.com/p/fifth-circuit-emtala-texas-er-abortion-care
Imperialism
Israel
Fig. 1. John Bolton and Binyamin Netanyahu at a press conference. Office of U.S. National Security Advisor, August 20, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
If Hezbollah responds as promised to Israel’s attack in Beirut, which killed a Hamas leader,[2] Binyamin Netanyahu may very well have an excuse for the wider war he and his government so desperately crave.[3]
Dion Nissenbaum et al., “Top Hamas Leader Killed in Suspected Israeli Strike in Beirut,” Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-fights-on-three-fronts-as-it-debates-how-to-end-gaza-war-1c74c512
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,[4] fair use.
Guess who is looking even more feckless than before?[5]
This rhetoric [calling for the removal of as much as 90 percent of Gaza’s population] is inflammatory and irresponsible. We [the United States government] have been told repeatedly and consistently by the Government of Israel, including by the Prime Minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately.[6]
Bezalel Smotrich, “the [Israeli] finance minister who also has authority over West Bank settlements,” is unrepentant,[7] and, so, it would seem, is the Israeli government, reportedly in talks with Congo to take in Gazans.[8] Supposedly the Israeli attorney general has warned ministers about indiscreet statements,[9] but it is clear that Binyamin Netanyahu shares his hardline ministers’ sentiment.[10]
Dion Nissenbaum et al., “Top Hamas Leader Killed in Suspected Israeli Strike in Beirut,” Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-fights-on-three-fronts-as-it-debates-how-to-end-gaza-war-1c74c512
Ron Kampeas, “Biden administration, Reform Jewish leader slam Smotrich and Ben Gvir for calling for Palestinians’ removal from Gaza,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 2, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2024/01/02/politics/biden-administration-reform-jewish-leader-slam-smotrich-and-ben-gvir-for-calling-for-palestinians-removal-from-gaza
- [1]Rick Perlstein, “You Are Entering the Infernal Triangle,” American Prospect, January 3, 2023, https://prospect.org/politics/2024-01-03-you-are-entering-the-infernal-triangle/↩
- [2]Dion Nissenbaum et al., “Top Hamas Leader Killed in Suspected Israeli Strike in Beirut,” Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-fights-on-three-fronts-as-it-debates-how-to-end-gaza-war-1c74c512↩
- [3]Polina Ivanova, “Israel’s Benny Gantz threatens to intensify military action against Hizbollah,” Financial Times, December 28, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/dd48d1c3-da86-4e52-a934-c76fc31e63e1; Shira Rubin and Ruby Mellen, “Israel’s war in Gaza threatens to spill into Lebanon and beyond,” Washington Post, December 27, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/27/israel-lebanon-gaza-hamas-palestinians/; Vivian Salama, Dion Nissenbaum, and Benoit Faucon, “Biden Convinced Netanyahu to Halt a Pre-Emptive Strike Against Hezbollah,” Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/how-biden-averted-a-second-front-by-convincing-israel-not-to-attack-hezbollah-on-oct-11-e14a0a3b; Times of Israel, “National security adviser indicates war against Hezbollah likely once Hamas is defeated,” December 9, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/national-security-adviser-indicates-war-against-hezbollah-likely-after-defeat-of-hamas/; Neri Zilber and Raya Jalabi, “Israel warns of regional conflict risk as Iran tensions increase,” Financial Times, December 26, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/6932a369-f3f6-46e5-be1f-ce47e14e5ece↩
- [4]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/↩
- [5]James Politi and Felicia Schwartz, “Biden’s troubled Gaza strategy: ‘the US looks feckless,’” Financial Times, December 22, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/edebf6ef-155e-4aad-a41b-7e31016cad96↩
- [6]Matthew Miller, quoted in Ron Kampeas, “Biden administration, Reform Jewish leader slam Smotrich and Ben Gvir for calling for Palestinians’ removal from Gaza,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 2, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2024/01/02/politics/biden-administration-reform-jewish-leader-slam-smotrich-and-ben-gvir-for-calling-for-palestinians-removal-from-gaza↩
- [7]Matthew Miller, quoted in Ron Kampeas, “Biden administration, Reform Jewish leader slam Smotrich and Ben Gvir for calling for Palestinians’ removal from Gaza,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 2, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2024/01/02/politics/biden-administration-reform-jewish-leader-slam-smotrich-and-ben-gvir-for-calling-for-palestinians-removal-from-gaza↩
- [8]Tori Otten, “Report: Israel in Talks With Third Country to Expel Palestinians Entirely,” New Republic, January 3, 2023, https://newrepublic.com/post/177837/report-israel-expel-palestinians-gaza-third-country-congo↩
- [9]Times of Israel, “Attorney general said to warn ministers to be careful when talking about Hamas war,” November 14, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/attorney-general-said-to-warn-ministers-to-be-careful-when-talking-about-hamas-war/↩
- [10]Ryan Grim, “Netanyahu’s Goal for Gaza: ‘Thin’ Population ‘to a Minimum,’” Intercept, December 3, 2023, https://theintercept.com/2023/12/03/netanyahu-thin-gaza-population/↩