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moose eater

moose eater

Well-known member
A 'Guest Opinion' from the local paper in Fairbanks Alaska, written by a distant neighbor and former political ally, Rob Mulford, who not only spent time in Palestine, staying with a famil(y/ies) there, but also traveled with Code Pink into the tribal outlands in Pakistan during Obama's bizarre, inhumane, and somewhat wholesale use of CIA drone missile strikes, which were found to be based on -VERY- loose (one might say 'non-existent') intel, per articles later published by Jeremy Scahill.

Anyone who categorically paints Israel as inherently civilized beyond reproach and Palestine as terroristic heathens in this mess has been digesting WAY too much twisted propaganda.... Just ask Rachel Corrie.

>>>""A revolution of the heart and peace in the Middle East

Robert Mulford, Oct 26, 2023

"Cruelty has a human heart,” poet William Blake wrote.

In Palestine, I saw this cruelty reflected in the faces of the oppressed, victims of a continuous policy of settler colonialism that has been ongoing now for 75 years.

I saw it reflected black and blue from forehead to collarbone in the face of an 85-year-old woman — joined in prayerful vigil with a delegation from the World Council of Churches — sitting in a tent on a street corner in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Israeli settlers accompanied by Israeli police had tossed her on her head out of the home that had been hers since 1957. Spray-painted on the sidewalk and neighboring walls were words written in Hebrew, “Death to the Arabs.”

I saw it infused as stress-lines in the face of a young man named Hammed as the two of us sat in the upstairs lobby of the Ramallah, Palestine, Merryland Hotel; each trying to teach the other the colloquial basics of our individual language. These lines turned sorrowful as Hammed explained that he and his wife had named their little girl Marium after the mother of Issa (Jesus); that he and 3-year-old Marium had left their home in Gaza after the little girl’s mother was killed in an Israeli aerial attack, and that Marium had been diagnosed with leukemia. Reading over letters of introduction written in Arabic and English from doctors in Gaza, I learned that Marium’s needs were critical and that she had been accepted for treatment in Jordan. The trouble was getting her there. The two had been turned back by Israeli checkpoints each time they attempted the relatively short distance from Ramallah to Amman, Jordan.

A few weeks later as I was preparing to leave Ramallah I joined little Marium sitting on the hotel lobby couch. As she pointed to various furnishings, I diligently tried to pronounce their Arabic names; my attempt eliciting a jubilant giggle accompanied by Marium’s proper pronunciation. When her dad stopped by a short time later, I asked him if he had been able to get his daughter into treatment. Choking back tears, he replied no.

The human heart, however, does not have to beat to the rhythm of cruelty. I have met Israeli Jews who — at great risk to their person, freedom and livelihood — have taken a courageous stand in opposition to the ethnic cleansing policies of their state. One of them, my friend Yonatan Shapira, a former Israeli Defense Forces helicopter pilot, has faced severe ridicule and even death while fighting for the rights of Palestinians at the fence imprisoning the 2.3 million people of Gaza, as well taking part in an attempt at sea to break Israel’s blockade, which for the past 16 years has kept the people of Gaza on the edge of starvation.

While taking part in a protest of the separation wall where it cuts the villagers of Bil’in off from their farmlands, I had the honor to meet a small group of young Israeli Jews who, braving the onslaught of launched gas grenades, flash-bang grenades and rubber-tipped bullets, each of which had killed protesters in past demonstrations, climbed the fence and pleaded with their fellow Israeli countrymen to stop the oppression of Palestinians and allow them access to their farmlands. As we were leaving latter that afternoon, two of them caught up with me, one asking, “You are American, are you not?” When I replied, “Yes,” one of them chastised me, saying, “This whole mess is on your shoulders, brother. This nightmare won’t end until the United States stops financing it.”

In the spirit of journalist and activist Dorothy Day who posited, “The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?”, I concur.

Congress, President Biden it’s time we forged swords into plowshares, feed the hungry, house the homeless, clothe the cold and develop energy systems that do not choke the life out of our planet. Your investments in weaponry and war will only return abject misery, death and genocide.


Robert Mulford is a systems integrator living in Fairbanks."""<<<

((*My note: And also a Vietnam-era veteran))

(**There, I've broken my silence here 3 times in one day. I'll flagellate myself properly later in repenting) ...
 
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moose eater

moose eater

Well-known member
www.aljazeera.com

A history of the US blocking UN resolutions against Israel

Over the past five decades, the US has blocked at least 53 UN Security Council resolutions critical of Israel.
www.aljazeera.com www.aljazeera.com

www.amnesty.org

Chapter 3: Israeli Settlements and International Law

www.amnesty.org www.amnesty.org

www.barrons.com

Total Siege Of Gaza 'Prohibited' Under International Law: UN

Israel's total siege of the Gaza Strip, depriving civilians of goods essential for survival, is banned under international law, the United Nations human rights chief said on Tuesday.
www.barrons.com www.barrons.com
 
Cannavore

Cannavore

Well-known member
Veteran
F9nq1B5WEAEslud
 
Roms

Roms

from the future
Veteran

Several Ukrainian soldiers join the Russian army as volunteers​

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by News Cameroon

As fighting continues in Ukraine, a new Russian military special unit has emerged. According to a news agency report Sputnik, this unit is made up of former Ukrainian soldiers who obtained Russian nationality and who freely enlisted in the Russian army.

According to reports, the new military unit, made up of former Ukrainian prisoners of war, will fight against kyiv's armed forces. These men registered as volunteers in the Moscow troops, reports Sputnik.

The media also reports that “the volunteer battalion named after Bogdan Khmelnitsky, military and political leader of the XNUMXth century Ukrainian Cossacks, formed of former Ukrainian soldiers, joined the Cascade unit of the Donetsk People's Republic».

After taking the oath, the soldiers will leave for the front, told Sputnik battalion commander Andrei Tishchenko. The oath will be taken at the end of the training period, according to him.

source: The Sam La Touch Blog
 
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