Best Of

Interesting interview....
Democracy Now
Israeli Scholar Neve Gordon on Israeli Mass Surveillance in Gaza & Use of AI to Kill Palestinians

"Israel is a small country and the degree of separation between either a person that was killed or a person that was kidnapped in Israel, the maximum degree of separation is probably one degree. So, everyone knew someone or knew someone that knew someone, and there was this kind of immense pain. Alongside that pain, there was also a major fear because everything seemed to have collapsed. The major IDF intelligence apparatus was not working, the defense system was not working, the fence was breached without any problems, and the whole apparatus of the state seemed not to be functioning. So, most Israelis were in great pain, were in great fear, but also immediately came this notion of revenge, kind of a sense we have to hit back, we have to hit back hard, and so forth.
My fear is that most Israelis are still trapped, still stuck in that October moment and unwilling to lift their eyes to see basically the genocide unfolding in the Gaza Strip. That's what we've been seeing in the past 6 months, is this horrific, devastating, massive killings of civilians. I mean Hamas killed 30 Israeli children on October 7th, and that is horrific. Israel has killed close to 15000 children, not counting those that are under the rubble since October 7th. We need to understand that figure 15000 children have been killed. We have women, thousands of women have been killed, and thousands of innocent men have been killed. Israel categorizes all the men as terrorists, but thousands of these men were not fighters. They were just men that were in the homes with their wives, with their children, and their homes were bombed."
Neve Gordon

It's worth noting that this conflict isn't about Jews defending Western democracy versus Muslim terrorists, as Netanyahu often portrays it. I think it's more about the state of Israel, whose majority population happens to be Jewish, and the Palestinian people, predominantly Muslim. There are many Jewish people around the world who also oppose what the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinian people. they have adopted the slogan "Not In Our Name"... This conflict is about a settler colonial apartheid state "Israel" versus the indigenous population who oppose the occupation and the theft of their lands

This situation is no different from what has occurred throughout the history of colonialism....

The Powhatan Confederacy (Virginia, USA): Led by Chief Powhatan, this confederation of Native American tribes in Virginia resisted English colonial expansion in the early 17th century, notably during the Anglo-Powhatan Wars.

The Pueblo Revolt (New Mexico, USA): In 1680, various Pueblo peoples in present-day New Mexico, led by figures like Popé, coordinated a successful revolt against Spanish colonial rule, driving the Spanish out of the region for over a decade.

The Aztec Resistance (Mexico): After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521, indigenous groups in present-day Mexico, such as the Tlaxcalans, continued to resist Spanish rule for years, sometimes aligning with the Spanish against their common enemies.

The Tupac Amaru II Rebellion (Peru): In the late 18th century, José Gabriel Condorcanqui, known as Tupac Amaru II, led a major indigenous uprising against Spanish colonial rule in Peru, demanding an end to oppression and exploitation.

The Maori Wars (New Zealand): Throughout the 19th century, the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand fought a series of conflicts against British colonial forces, known as the New Zealand Wars or the Maori Wars, over land rights and sovereignty.

The Algerian Resistance (Algeria): Algerian resistance against French colonial rule was significant, with notable figures like Emir Abdelkader leading armed uprisings against the French in the 19th century. The struggle for independence culminated in the Algerian War of Independence from 1954 to 1962.

The Mahdist Revolution (Sudan): Led by Muhammad Ahmad, who proclaimed himself the Mahdi (a messianic figure), this movement rose up against Anglo-Egyptian rule in Sudan in the late 19th century. The Mahdists inflicted a major defeat on British forces at the Battle of Khartoum in 1885.

The Libyan Resistance (Libya): Libyan tribes, led by figures like Omar Mukhtar, fiercely resisted Italian colonization in the early 20th century. Mukhtar's guerrilla tactics against Italian forces in Cyrenaica earned him the nickname "The Lion of the Desert."

The Yemeni Revolts (Yemen): Yemeni tribes, particularly in the north, resisted British colonial rule during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The British faced numerous uprisings and conflicts, including the Aden Emergency in the 1960s, as Yemen sought independence.

The Arab Revolt (Middle East): During World War I, led by figures like Sharif Hussein bin Ali of Mecca and his son Faisal, Arabs in the Middle East revolted against Ottoman rule with the support of the British. This revolt played a significant role in the eventual dismantling of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of Arab states.

Allow Buddhism to shape your politics, not the other way around.