This evening in Israel

[panopticon]

Very insightful analysis by Daniel Nisman in Haaretz.

###

Gaza endgame: Whom will Israel crown victor?
By Daniel Nisman, 4th August 2014



To prevent an ongoing war of attrition, Israel will have to make concessions during the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire negotiations. But to whom: Hamas or Mahmoud Abbas?

One of the most destructive periods in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears to be nearing its end. Israeli ground forces have unilaterally disengaged from all but two fronts inside Gaza, Egyptian mediation efforts are back underway, and both leaderships have begun cautiously presenting their case for victory.

But despite the tragic toll on human life and physical destruction, hugely disproportionate to the Palestinian side, the conditions aren’t ripe for calm in Gaza. Hamas’ tangible goals for this conflict have not yet been met, and Israel has thus far failed in deterring Palestinian factions from continuing to fire rockets. Most importantly, the two main roots for conflict over the past six years are still deeply entrenched in the sand of Gaza: The blockade and Palestinian militarization.

Consider the original objectives of each side at the outset of the conflict. Israel’s goals are primarily security-oriented. Taking a lesson from the Second Lebanon War, Netanyahu was careful not to raise expectations of ousting Hamas. From the beginning, his goals were to vaguely “deliver a blow” to the group that would “restore calm to the south,” or in other words, reset the deterrence clock. As the conflict progressed however, Israel’s goals evolved to destroying Hamas’ attack tunnel network. The Israeli government had also begun to demand from the international community that Palestinian groups be disarmed in exchange for lifting the blockade.

Hamas’ goals were primarily political and economic, seeking tangible concessions from Israel and Egypt regarding an easing of the blockade and prisoner releases, while demanding the Palestinian Authority pay the salaries of 42,000 unpaid civil servants in Gaza. As the conflict intensified, Hamas floated other demands, such as the building of an international seaport and airport, international assurances for rebuilding Gaza, and guarantees from Israel that targeted assassination bids on their leaders would stop.

But the past 48 hours have witnessed a notably shift in Hamas’ strategy. Meeting in Cairo, Hamas shelved its demands from Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Together, Hamas, Fatah and the Islamic Jihad formulated a list of eight demands which are aimed entirely at Israel. Egypt is set to present a proposal to Israel in the coming days that includes four of these demands. With Israel unable to say no to its most important regional ally, serious truce negotiations will then begin for the first time in the conflict.

From here, three scenarios could transpire which will determine whether or not Operation Protective Edge is the last of its kind or another just another round in the cycle of violence:

War of Attrition

Israel’s decision to disengage unilaterally had initially delivered a blow to Hamas’ strategy, and quite possibly forced them to throw in their lot with Fatah and Egypt in order to corner Jerusalem and force its negotiators back to Cairo.

The gaps, however, between Israel and Hamas are still wide. Negotiations risk hitting a snag on nearly every issue regarding the blockade – particularly with regard to de-militarization and which Palestinian faction controls Gaza’s border crossings. Netanyahu is also knows that acquiescing to demands by both Fatah and Hamas to release prisoners would amount to political suicide.

It is clear that fighting will continue during these negotiations, with Egypt suddenly backing down from its initial plan which called for both sides to stop shooting first and then start talking. With its thousands of remaining rockets and command-and-control structure still intact, Hamas can continue fighting for several weeks in the hopes forcing Israeli concessions at the negotiating table. This fighting would involve a “drizzle” of rocket fire, including to Tel Aviv over the coming weeks, in an effort to divide Israeli public opinion and provoke Israel into internationally costly disproportionate retaliation.

Hamas wins

Israel has already begun to downplay concerns that it will be dragged into a war of attrition, warning that it will not hesitate to enter Gaza once again to stop the rocket fire. But behind the scenes, it is well understood that no military option will stop the rocket fire without a huge toll on human life and Israel’s political capital. Eventually, concessions will need to be made during these negotiations. The question remains, to whom: Hamas or Mahmoud Abbas.

The more concessions Israel provides directly to Hamas, particularly regarding an easing of the blockade, the more Hamas will be afforded a crucial victory that may reverse its political demise. By matching its perceived military successes, or so-called “victory images” of commando incursions and long-range rocket attacks, with tangible economic concessions, Hamas’ popularity would increase substantially at the expense of its Fatah rivals in the West Bank, setting the stage for the next round of violence.

Abbas returns to Gaza

As Israelis cynically say, “Abbas cannot ride back into Gaza on IDF tanks.” Yet this last scenario is becoming increasingly prevalent in the rhetoric of Israel’s centrist and leftist politicians, and is ultimately the endgame of Egypt’s chokehold on Hamas.

Even with the Palestinian unity government still in place, the Palestinian Authority, with Abbas at its head, will only be able to restore full control in Gaza if Hamas’ militia is unable to re-arm.

To enable these conditions, the international community will need to remain steadfast in demands that Hamas and other Palestinian militants disarm in exchange for a lifting of the blockade, while staking a position that all such concessions go through the Palestinian Authority - granting Abbas the position of sole Palestinian power broker, and empowering him to gradually re-implement the security arrangements of the Oslo accords in Gaza once again.

It is no coincidence that this last scenario is the hardest to achieve. Empowering moderates is the only way to uproot those two main factors of conflict in Gaza, the blockade and militarization. For Netanyahu, accepting Abbas as a partner in Gaza will inevitably mean accepting Abbas as a partner in the West Bank, something which could tear apart his political coalition. But with rocket fire spreading across Israel with each passing round of fighting in Gaza, perhaps the current Israeli government will realize that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can no-longer be ‘managed’: A political solution must be reached while moderates in the Middle East are – still - on Israel’s side.

Daniel Nisman is President of the Levantine Group, a geopolitical risk and research consultancy based in Tel Aviv.

Source

[panopticon]

Cameron must be getting ready for the next election. Got to be seen to be doing something even if it is a: review of the current position in relation to the possible examination of future measures taken without any need for a binding agreement on proposals defined within the review &/or analysis stage of the proposed agreed upon licences evaluation.

Or maybe he just didn't want to be seen to be getting outdone by the French & Argentinians...

Still, better than the Australian position (which I am ashamed of)...

In a worrying side note, this is about the 10th article I've seen today (in the main stream media) that has Israel described as "the Jewish state".

I find that unsettlingly close to "the Islamic State"...

What bought that on?

###

Britain says reviewing arms exports to Israel over Gaza conflict
LONDON Mon Aug 4, 2014

(Reuters) - Britain is reviewing all arms export licenses to Israel in response to the Jewish state's escalating conflict with Hamas in Gaza, a government spokeswoman said on Monday.

Israel launched an offensive against Hamas almost four weeks ago following a surge in cross-border rocket salvoes. Gaza officials say 1,797 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed, while Israel has lost 64 soldiers in combat and three civilians to Palestinian shelling. [ID:nL6N0Q91CL]

"We are currently reviewing all export licenses to Israel to confirm that we think they are appropriate," a spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters. The decision to conduct the review was taken last week, she said.

According to a report by a British parliamentary committee last month, outstanding government-approved contracts for export of dual use or military goods to Israel are worth more than 7.8 billion pounds ($13.12 billion). These include contracts to supply body armor, drone components, and missile parts.

"Clearly the current situation has changed compared to when some licenses will have been granted, and we're reviewing those existing licenses against the current situation but no decisions have been taken beyond going back again and reviewing," the spokeswoman said.

Britain's opposition Labour party has accused Cameron of not condemning Israel's behavior forcefully enough, a charge he rejects.

($1 = 0.5944 British Pounds)

Source

[panopticon]

HRW preliminary on the fighting in Khuza’a and claims about some IDF soldiers actions (long and has some mildly disturbing details so not posted only linked to). (pan#)

Gaza: Israeli Soldiers Shoot and Kill Fleeing Civilians
Fighting in Khuza’a Shows Grave Dangers to Families Seeking Safety
4th August, 2014

[panopticon]

Finally Netanyahu speaking candidly back during the 2nd Intifada explaining how he manipulated everybody and would use the "Israel is defending itself" to justify any attack the IDF undertook.

Woman: Wait a moment, but then the world will say "how come you're conquering again?"

Netanyahu: the world won't say a thing. The world will say we're defending.

Woman: Aren't you afraid of the world, Bibi?

Netanyahu: Especially today, with America. I know what America is. America is something that can easily be moved. Moved to the right direction.

Child: They say they're for us, but, it's like...

Netanyahu: They won't get in our way. They won't get in our way.

(Full transcript below)

This is from a newscast on Israeli TV in 2010 (source).

English translations of Netanyahu's conversation start at ~3:00 (green box)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=z6KLFrye9Xk

Below is a Washington Post article on same.

###

Netanyahu: 'America is a thing you can move very easily'
By Glenn Kessler, July 16, 2010

The United States and Israel have made a huge effort this month to patch up the sometimes difficult relationship between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. But a newly released video of Netanyahu, speaking in an unvarnished manner in 2001 about relations with the United States and the peace process, may cause some heartburn at the White House.

"I know what America is," Netanyahu told a group of terror victims, apparently not knowing his words were being recorded. "America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won't get in their way."

Netanyahu also bragged how he undercut the peace process when he was prime minister during the Clinton administration. "They asked me before the election if I'd honor [the Oslo accords]," he said. "I said I would, but ... I'm going to interpret the accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the '67 borders. How did we do it? Nobody said what defined military zones were. Defined military zones are security zones; as far as I'm concerned, the entire Jordan Valley is a defined military zone. Go argue."

Gideon Levy, a left-leaning columnist for Haaretz newspaper, declared: "This video should have been banned for broadcast to minors. This video should have been shown in every home in Israel, then sent to Washington and Ramallah. Banned for viewing by children so as not to corrupt them, and distributed around the country and the world so that everyone will know who leads the government of Israel."

Of course, the video is from nearly ten years ago. Opinions change, based on circumstances and experience. But who knows what leaders are really saying when they think the cameras aren't filming?

Source

###

Transcript (from here):

Bibi:...The Arabs are currently focusing on a war of terror and they think it will break us. The main thing, first of all, is to hit them. Not just one blow, but blows that are so painful that the price will be too heavy to be borne. The price is not too heavy to be borne, now. A broad attack on the Palestinian Authority. To bring them to the point of being afraid that everything is collapsing...

Woman: Wait a moment, but then the world will say "how come you're conquering again?"

Netanyahu: the world won't say a thing. The world will say we're defending.

Woman: Aren't you afraid of the world, Bibi?

Netanyahu: Especially today, with America. I know what America is. America is something that can easily be moved. Moved to the right direction.

Child: They say they're for us, but, it's like...

Netanyahu: They won't get in our way. They won't get in our way.

Child: On the other hand, if we do some something, then they...

Netanyahu: So let's say they say something. So they said it! They said it! 80% of the Americans support us. It's absurd. We have that kind of support and we say "what will we do with the..." Look. That administration [Clinton] was extremely pro-Palestinian. I wasn't afraid to maneuver there. I was not afraid to clash with Clinton. I was not afraid to clash with the United Nations. I was paying the price anyway, I preferred to receive the value. Value for the price.

In the following segment, Bibi boasts about how he emptied the Oslo Accords of meaning by an interpretation that made a mockery of them:

Woman: The Oslo Accords are a disaster.

Netanyahu: Yes. You know that and I knew that...The people [nation] has to know...

What were the Oslo Accords? The Oslo Accords, which the Knesset signed, I was asked, before the elections: "Will you act according to them?" and I answered: "yes, subject to mutuality and limiting the retreats." "But how do you intend to limit the retreats?" "I'll give such interpretation to the Accords that will make it possible for me to stop this galloping to the '67 [armistice] lines. How did we do it?

Narrator: The Oslo Accords stated at the time that Israel would gradually hand over territories to the Palestinians in three different pulses, unless the territories in question had settlements or military sites. This is where Netanyahu found a loophole.

Netanyahu: No one said what defined military sites. Defined military sites, I said, were security zones. As far as I'm concerned, the Jordan Valley is a defined military site.

Woman: Right [laughs]...The Beit She'an Valley.

Netanyahu: How can you tell. How can you tell? But then the question came up of just who would define what Defined Military Sites were. I received a letter -- to me and to Arafat, at the same time -- which said that Israel, and only Israel, would be the one to define what those are, the location of those military sites and their size. Now, they did not want to give me that letter, so I did not give the Hebron Agreement. I stopped the government meeting, I said: "I'm not signing." Only when the letter came, in the course of the meeting, to me and to Arafat, only then did I sign the Hebron Agreement. Or rather, ratify it, it had already been signed. Why does this matter? Because at that moment I actually stopped the Oslo Accord.

Woman: And despite that, one of our own people, excuse me, who knew it was a swindle, and that we were going to commit suicide with the Oslo Accord, gives them -- for example -- Hebron...

Netanyahu: Indeed, Hebron hurts. It hurts. It's the thing that hurts. One of the famous rabbis, whom I very much respect, a rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, he said to me: "What would your father say?" I went to my father. Do you know a little about my father's position?

...He's not exactly a lily-white dove, as they say. So my father heard the question and said: "Tell the rabbi that your grandfather, Rabbi Natan Milikowski, was a smart Jew. Tell him it would be better to give two percent than to give a hundred percent. And that's the choice here. You gave two percent and in that way you stopped the withdrawal. Instead of a hundred percent." The trick is not to be there and be broken. The trick is to be there and pay a minimal price."

djonesowens1writes: At a point in the middle of the video Netanayhu asks the camera man to stop taping, but he continues... Netanyahu says what he really thinks for the first time: He brags about how easy is to manipulate the USA and he proudly explains how he sabotaged the Oslo process.

[panopticon]

Report from Channel 4 news Paul Mason about the latest assault on a UN emergency shelter and the IDF's Rafah operation (mildly graphic images):

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=JYSuD-LnpAI

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=GPzjKZtPI1E

-- Pan

[panopticon]

Reports that Hamas & factions have agreed to the Egyptian ceasefire proposals.

Israeli Government saves face after announcing all tunnels destroyed (just announced last tunnel destroyed -- mission complete?).

Hamas saves face after troops withdrew and whatever is in the ceasefire agreement (siege left, fishing extension, money from international community etc)
France wins because, well they're the French ( ) and their foreign minister only just had a little hissy fit @ Israel (source).

Some reports that a 72 hours ceasefire will come into effect tomorrow @ 8:00 am (Gaza time). That would be 11 hours time if accurate.

All depends if the Israeli Government can sell the ceasefire to the public after all the build-up to war they went through.

I think if this continues on for much longer the Israeli Government will lose control (especially after the 2 attacks in Jerusalem today) and they'd be in the 3rd Intifada...

Time for some moderates to come forward and stop the madness (interesting, not much chatter about this coming from Israeli commentators... Maybe waiting for confirmation or possibly don't want to say anything because of public sentiment).

Anyway, 8:00 am would be the morning of Tisha B'av.

-- Pan

[Observer1964]

Senator David Norrisl Israel bombs first and weeps later.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=keS-LDl_ewA

[Billy]

[QUOTE=Observer1964;861222]Senator David Norrisl Israel bombs first and weeps later.

Well said that man. http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas....5?opendocument

peace

[panopticon]

Looks like Israel is serious about this ceasefire.

They've withdrawn troops.
Rebuilding Gaza's internment fences.
Been only intermittent bombing from the IDF.

Hamas & factions seem serious too with only a few rockets being launched over night.

72 hour ceasefire comes into effect in around 5 minutes.

Maybe if there'd been proper negotiations at the beginning (or even three weeks ago) more than 1800 Palestinians wouldn't be dead, 10,000 injured, 1000's of homes destroyed and $5 billion dollars worth of damage caused.

El-Sisi & Egypt has some questions to answer about that...

-- Pan

[panopticon]

Palestinian foreign minister to push for Israel war crimes case at ICC
By Jussi Rosendahl, August 5th, 2014

THE HAGUE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki will on Tuesday visit the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands as he pushes for a war crimes case against Israel after nearly a month of fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The visit takes place shortly after Israeli and the Islamist Hamas movement entered a 72-hour truce mediated by Egypt in an effort to pave the way for an extended ceasefire.

Israel and the Palestinians have traded allegations of war crimes during the Gaza assault, while defending their own actions as consistent with the international law.

Malki asked the United Nations last month to end what he called Israel's impunity and said it "must be held accountable for its crimes."

Last week, the United Nations launched an inquiry into human rights violations and crimes alleged to have been committed by Israel during the offensive, amid a far higher civilian death toll on the Palestinian side.

The ICC, created more than a decade ago to prosecute individuals for war crimes, is a court of last resort, meaning that it will only intervene when a country is found to be unwilling or unable to carry out its own investigation.

Israel is not a member of the ICC and the court therefore has no jurisdiction to investigate. Jurisdiction could be granted in a UN Security Council resolution, but Israel's ally the United States would have the power to block any such proposal.

Gaza officials say 1,834 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the war. Israel has countered that almost half those killed have been militants.

Israel says 64 of its soldiers and three civilians have been killed since fighting began on July 8, after a surge in Palestinian rocket launches.

Amnesty International on Monday appealed to the United States to halt transfers of fuel shipments to the Israeli military. It said there was mounting evidence of war crimes from both Israel and the Palestinians, adding that an ICC investigation was crucial in stopping the cycle of violations.

In the Netherlands, Malki is due to visit the ICC in the morning, the Palestinian delegation in The Hague said. He will later meet with Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans and give a news conference. (Editing by Anthony Deutsch and John Stonestreet)

Source

[panopticon]

Democracy Now! interview with Chris Gunness from UNRWA talking about the IDF attack resulting in multiple dead and wounded at an UN emergency shelter:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=x0WAWfdI3wA

-- Pan

[panopticon]

UK Politician resigns because she can no longer support the Governments policy on Gaza which she see's as being 'morally indefensible'.



###

Baroness Warsi quits as Foreign Office minister over Gaza
August 5th, 2014



Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi has resigned from the government, saying she can "no longer support" its policy on Gaza.

She wrote on her Twitter feed that she was leaving with "deep regret".

Lady Warsi, who was previously chairman of the Conservative Party, became the first female Muslim cabinet minister when David Cameron took office in 2010.

She grew up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and worked as a solicitor before entering politics.

Lady Warsi was demoted from the cabinet to a middle-ranking Foreign Office post in 2012. She was made minister for faith and communities at the same time.

She wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: "With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza."

One of five daughters of Pakistani immigrants, Lady Warsi studied at Leeds University, later working for the Crown Prosecution Service before setting up her own legal practice.

Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on 8 July with the stated aim of ending rocket attacks and destroying tunnels used by Palestinian militants.

Gaza officials say the four-week conflict has killed 1,800 Palestinians. Some 67 Israelis have also died.

Lady Warsi has called on Twitter for more international action to end the crisis.

On 21 July, she wrote: "The killing of innocent civilians must stop. Need immediate ceasefire in #Gaza. Leadership required on both sides to stop this suffering."

Three days later she added: "Can people stop trying to justify the killing of children. Whatever our politics there can never be justification, surely only regret #Gaza."

Backbench Conservative MPs have been calling on David Cameron to take a more robust line with Israel amid concerns its actions are disproportionate.

Source

[panopticon]

So, ceasefire is still holding. Israel did what Hamas wanted as a pre-cursor to a ceasefire agreement -- withdrew.

Now talks are under way in Cairo to see if a more permanent solution can be found. Will Netanyahu & his merry group be willing to reduce the blockade? Will the Lieberman solution be taken into consideration? Will they let fishermen fish? Will Gaza's power plant be rebuilt/refurnished?

The Israeli cabinet is meeting in about ten minutes and I can only imagine that there will be some kicking going on... I just hope it isn't a can down the road...

If the IDF were to suddenly renew the assault, which I doubt, sunset is at 7:35 (Gaza time -- so just under 3 hours from this post time). That will end Tisha B'av this year.

Articles of interest:

Under American Bombs in Gaza
IDF troops leaving Gaza: 'We'll be back again'
Lieberman slams plan to involve Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza
In Gaza, there is no such thing as 'innocent civilians'
Gaza Strip: 'Gazans to Blame Just like Germans for Electing Hitler' Says Israeli Ex-General
If the Gaza Truce Holds, What Then? 5 Possible Outcomes
Gaza war may just be a taste of what’s to come
Egypt plans to dig new Suez Canal costing $4 billion -- Note: McKinsey & Co.

Finally, the Gaza Crisis Appeal provided this graph showing displaced persons in Gaza's UNRWA emergency shelters as of 31 July 2014:


Source document from UNOCHA

As noted in the above image, there are a quarter of a million people in UNRWA emergency shelters. 92 shelters are operational and capable of handling 1000 persons. At present they are assisting 3 times that amount on average (ie 3000 persons).

In addition the UN updated estimates are that another quarter of a million displaced people were living with friends or family.

This means that at least a quarter of the 1.8 million people living in Gaza are now displaced.

Maybe they can return home soon, if they have a home to go to.

-- Pan

[panopticon]

The re-education program is about to begin.

What we saw didn't happen. What I've presented in this thread wasn't real.

How do I know that there is about to be a massive pro-Israel media campaign?

I look to history and some newly released polls data that has come out in the US showing that support for Israel in this assault was not there amongst the young.

Amongst Republican youth the sheer number of civilian casualties, economic hardship and destruction of, well, everything has made it impossible for many to support the Israeli Governments use of force.

Wait for FOX news & co to come out with a re-spun "truth".

The UNRWA will be made to look like it deserved to be bombed and those inside were terrorists or collaborators.

All the dead children will be made to look like unfortunate collateral damage as a result of terrorists using them as human shields.

It has already started with reports asking why Hamas didn't agree to the terms presented by Egypt weeks ago.

Memories are short it seems and need to be "taught the truth" before the reality of it takes hold...

I said this "conflict" wouldn't last much beyond 4 weeks. The economic toll for Israel would be too high, as would the political capital. It's also important to notice that the longer this assault continued the more the "truth" which was being spun by vested interests began to fall apart.

Netanyahu, Israel & the US do not negotiate with terrorists. Seems they did a pretty good job of looking like they did though.

As Barak Ravid puts it:

It won’t matter how anyone tries to whitewash the talks in Cairo, the reality is that Benjamin Netanyahu is on the verge of his third diplomatic agreement with Hamas in five-and-a-half years as prime minister.
Source

As I said, wait, we are about to be told the new truth...

-- Pan

[Swan]

Two ways to support the people of Gaza:

http://onefamily4gaza.wordpress.com/english-2/

http://shiptogaza.se/en

[Billy]

Why US and Israel wants to ban this video.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5XlEZoi1c

Video description.

Published on Jul 18, 2014

This nice Jewish American speaks truth about her experience in occupied Palestine... It will make you cry...

[panopticon]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KeQreXngtwo

From Youtube description:

The Dividing Line, is an independent film by Jeff Stewart. Filmed in Palestine in 2009 and 2010. Jeff interviewed dozens of people for this film, including some of the poorest and most oppressed, to some of the most influential people in Palestine, including ministers to President Mahmoud Abbas, and Dr. Mustafa Barghouti former minister to Yasser Arafat, and now world renowned Palestinian human rights activist (nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2010) Jeff logged in more than 600 miles on foot,1500 miles by car, and spent hundreds of hours of research to make The Dividing Line. This film is perhaps the most comprehensive and down to earth look at what life is really like for Palestinian citizens to date.

[panopticon]

Notice how after the 72 hour ceasefire agreement and IDF troop withdrawal the Israeli Government announced that back on July 11th they'd caught the mastermind of the Hamas financed (Gaza based leadership no less) kidnapping ring? (Tie that bow, draw that string)

Evidently his name is Hossam Kawasmeh and he's confessed to everything.

Of course this contradicts everything that had been found out previously and spoken candidly about on the record by police investigating the case and information ISA (Shin Bet) agents reported relating anonymously.

It also contradicts what Diskin said in his Spiegel interview:

Diskin: Hamas didn't want this war at first either. But as things often are in the Middle East, things happened differently. It began with the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank. From what I read and from what I know about how Hamas operates, I think that the Hamas political bureau was taken by surprise. It seems as though it was not coordinated or directed by them.

SPIEGEL: Netanyahu, though, claimed that it was and used it as a justification for the harsh measures against Hamas in the West Bank, measures that also targeted the joint Hamas-Fatah government.

Diskin: Following the kidnapping of the teenagers, Hamas immediately understood that they had a problem. As the army operation in the West Bank expanded, radicals in the Gaza Strip started launching rockets into Israel and the air force flew raids into Gaza. Hamas didn't try to stop the rockets as they had in the past. Then there was the kidnapping and murder of the Palestinian boy in Jerusalem and this gave them more legitimacy to attack Israel themselves.
Source

Like I said, the re-write in is progress...

-- Pan

[Bob]

Posted by panopticon (here)
The re-education program is about to begin.

What we saw didn't happen. What I've presented in this thread wasn't real.

How do I know that there is about to be a massive pro-Israel media campaign?

I look to history and some newly released polls data that has come out in the US showing that support for Israel in this assault was not there amongst the young.

Amongst Republican youth the sheer number of civilian casualties, economic hardship and destruction of, well, everything has made it impossible for many to support the Israeli Governments use of force.

Wait for FOX news & co to come out with a re-spun "truth".

The UNRWA will be made to look like it deserved to be bombed and those inside were terrorists or collaborators.

All the dead children will be made to look like unfortunate collateral damage as a result of terrorists using them as human shields.

It has already started with reports asking why Hamas didn't agree to the terms presented by Egypt weeks ago.

Memories are short it seems and need to be "taught the truth" before the reality of it takes hold...

I said this "conflict" wouldn't last much beyond 4 weeks. The economic toll for Israel would be too high, as would the political capital. It's also important to notice that the longer this assault continued the more the "truth" which was being spun by vested interests began to fall apart.

Netanyahu, Israel & the US do not negotiate with terrorists. Seems they did a pretty good job of looking like they did though.

As Barak Ravid puts it:

It won’t matter how anyone tries to whitewash the talks in Cairo, the reality is that Benjamin Netanyahu is on the verge of his third diplomatic agreement with Hamas in five-and-a-half years as prime minister.
Source

As I said, wait, we are about to be told the new truth...

-- Pan

BeeBee (a small round piece of metal) is saying "it is all hamas's fault, they killed the children", over and over on those networks, Fox carrying the primary feeds.

[panopticon]

Posted by Bob (here)
BeeBee (a small round piece of metal) is saying "it is all hamas's fault, they killed the children", over and over on those networks, Fox carrying the primary feeds.

G'day Bob,

Thanks for the confirmation on Fox etc.

It is so obvious what is going to happen that I don't need to explain any further.

What I will explain though is the reason I know it will happen.

There is a well known process whereby children learn how to see the world, how to understand what is going on around them and their place within that society.

Different theorists describe this in different ways depending on their underlying opinion of what explains the social world, their "grand narrative".

Anyway, almost every person is taught from an early age that they belong. They belong to a family, to a country, maybe to a religion. The list goes on. It helps us all understand who we are. Our individual identity is largely constructed through this process and our values formed from it. They can alter later in life but in general our underlying understanding of the world, our habitus, comes from this period.

That is why I know there will be a re-write.

We are told that the Nation-State is good. US citizens are told the their Natiom-State is good. British citizens are told their's is good. Australian, Israeli, Norwegian etc., all are told their Nation-State is good. Sometimes mistakes are admitted to and there is a whole lot of belly staring that goes on within the media etc about why these things happened. Usually this progresses/encourages the construction of the "Nation-State is good" narrative because "surely only a good country can admit to and then look at its faults so we can rectify them. This proves we are a good country."

What is happening now in Israel and the US (to a lesser extent elsewhere) is this narrative. The controlled examination via politicians and media talking heads of this story. It is being deconstructed before our eyes and a new narrative will be constructed to replace it.

For this new story to take root it needs to be carefully tended, ground work must be done and it must be trained in just the "right way" to gain acceptance.

There must be reasons given to explain actions taken.
The Nation-State must be shown to be "good".
Voices saying "this is not right" must be accepted or marginalised depending on how dominant they are within society.

This is the reconstruction process around the identity of "citizen".

It bolsters and encourages the "Nation-State as Country" narrative.
It constructs the story of "Country before ethnicity" and, to a lesser extent, the "Country before religious belief" story amongst many more. These stories can marginalise some segments of a society leading to Othering of those segments (I wont go into this but Othering helps in understanding the construction of an individuals identity as well as understanding criminalisation, bigotry, racism, sexism, bullying, marginalisation etc).

My belief is that the Nation-State narrative is a destructive one that is deliberately made divisive. This is done to increase/manipulate money/currency, control and power within segments of the political/economic/corporate etc "ecosystem".

It is also important to note that the way I view this process comes from my understandings of Permaculture processes. When I use the word "construct" it presents an underlying control narrative in the mind of the reader. That human's "construct" their society. Historically, that has been largely poppy-cock.

We are part of a process, a social ecosystem if you will, that involves many different voices all constructing the narratives of their segments of society. Historically this has been largely an organic process trained in a particular way by the elite of a society (often through violence). Within our present society, since the industrial revolution took hold, many of these stories have been constructed with the assistance of various media outlets.

Now we enter a new period where it is just possible that this will not be so much a construction process but an organic one. Where individual voices rise and construct the new identity within the social. Where "I" changes in meaning and no-longer can identity be constructed around "Nation-State is good" stories. Look at the stories from social media talking about Arab and Jewish couples refusing to be enemies. Here are some pictures:









Compare that with the introduction of a "hotline" by an extremist group in Israel who last year 'opened a hotline enabling members of the public to inform on women so that they can be persuaded to end the relationship' and that 'the service is meant to “save the daughters of Israel”' (source). I may be a bit weird but I don't like this at all.

I have hope that we will all be part of the construction of a new society based more on the first option (people getting along) than the second.

Let us watch this new story unfold.

-- Pan