Zionism
About the Israel - Palestinian Conflict
Torture & Rape of Prisoners in Israel
This is an Al Jazeera documentary published by Al Jazeera on June 9, 2026 reporting on the torture and rape of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Caution: some viewers may find this documentary sexually explicit and disturbing.
Comment: Al Jazzera stories and reporting have an established track record of being accurate and true.
There are no words for this brutality. Those who engage in dehumanizing others are, in fact, dehumanizing themselves.
Why is there no central loud and authoritative moral voice within Israeli society calling the people and their leaders to accountability? Why is there no loud collective outcry from the nation’s rabbis condemning this behavior and exhorting their fellow citizens to show mercy and love? Christians have the Pope. Is this genocidal brutality, in fact, being sanctioned by the Torah? Deuteronomy 20:16-17. At this point, I’m convinced that Zionism is a disease. The Zionists, of all people, should realize how evil ethnic cleansing and genocide is. “Do NOT do unto others what you would have them NOT do unto you!”
However, after a brief glance, it is apparent that both Islam and Christianity have abundant episodes of the ethnic cleansing and genocide of other humans in their own histories. My condemnation of Zionism must be joined by condemnation of both Christianity and Islam. The three Abrahamic faiths have failed in their responsibility to prevent ethnic cleansing & genocide. And, I suspect, neither have the other two major faith traditions complied with this moral imperative: Hinduism & Buddhism.
Perhaps we are standing on new ground historically: maybe these historical atrocities were committed without the actual direct witnessing of them by the general public in those days. What’s new today is the ubiquitous presence of digital media everywhere witnessing these atrocities and bringing it to phones and living rooms everywhere on the planet, making many humans virtual eyewitnesses to these atrocities. And these episodes provide a direct appeal to our instinctual human morality. And this, then, could be the basis for a new sustainable morality and ethics. And let's disregard the various ethnocentric ideologies that justify violence against the outside groups!
PBS Newshour Video: Palestinian and Israeli writers reflect on bridging divides in 'The Future is Peace'
Left -- $9 million apartment for sale in Tel Aviv. Meanwhile (right) 45 miles away in Beit Hanoon in Gaza
A Tale of Two Ghettos
Version 1: The Zionist Plan for Gaza and Ghettos for the Palestinians
According to the report given below from Al Jazeera, it appears that Israel is quietly establishing permanent military control over the entire Gaza strip. Furthermore, confirmed by an indepedent source, it appears that Israel is going to break up the population of ~2.5 million Palestinians and confine them into separate ghettos of 25,000 Palestinians each. The math adds up to ~100 separate ghettos.
Version 2: The 1939 Nazi Plan for the Jews in Europe
A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history
In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, “in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.” Thus Rashid Khalidi, al-Khalidi’s great-great-nephew, begins this sweeping history, the first general account of the conflict told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective.
Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members—mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists—The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age. He highlights the key episodes in this colonial campaign, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to the endless and futile peace process.
Original, authoritative, and important, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.
The Future is Peace -- Aziz Abu Sarah & Maoz Inon
“[A] short but immensely poignant account of a shared journey across Israel and the West Bank . . . raw with pain and rage and yet bravely insistent on the imperative of hope.”—The New York Times
“We do not see ourselves as Palestinians and Israelis, or as Jews and Arabs, but as human beings who believe in fostering a culture of dialogue, a culture of forgiveness, and a culture of peace. To those who see only division lines, we say: If you must divide us, let it be as those who believe in peace and equality and those who don’t … yet.”
School Bombing in Minab, Iran
![The aftermath of an Israel strike on a school in Minab, Iran [Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA via Reuters (Al Jazeera – March 3, 2026)]](https://primary.jwwb.nl/public/x/c/q/temp-sdsxcuaxjrfmgwrgpujm/school-bombing-standard.jpg?enable-io=true&enable=upscale&crop=1.6292%3A1%2Coffset-y0&width=800)
The aftermath of an Israel strike on a school in Minab, Iran [Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA via Reuters (Al Jazeera – March 3, 2026)]
This article appeared on the Al Jazeera website on March 3, 2026. It is straightforward and convincingly documented.
It appears that the US government, as well as the Israeli government engaged in a deliberate act of terrorism resulting in the murder of 165 innocent civilians, mostly girls between the ages of 7 to 12 in southeastern Iran.
What's even more disturbing about this article is that it appears that this policy of terrorism on innocent civilians has been carried on for some time now by our (US) government, as well as by the Israeli government.
Below is Google Gemini's definition of "state terrorism":
State terrorism is the systematic use of violence, intimidation, and terror tactics by a government against its own population or foreign citizens to achieve political objectives, maintain power, or suppress dissent. It involves state agents performing acts like extrajudicial killings, torture, and forced disappearances.
Wikipedia +3
Key aspects of state terrorism include:
Direct Perpetration: Unlike state-sponsored terrorism (where states support non-state actors), state terrorism is carried out directly by government agents.
If this Al Jazeera story is true, it appears that we Americans are citizens of an official terrorist state. If that is true, what the moral implications for us American citizens?
The definition of terrorism stated above leads to another disturbing implication: The policy of state terrorism stated above bears a strong resemblance to what ICE was trying to get away with in Minneapolis last month. This implication is further strengthened by Kristi Noem's insistence on labeling Renee Good and Alex Pretti as "domestic terrorists". This resembles the well known tactic of blaming the victim for the crime committed against them.
The Heroes in Southern Lebanon
The term “hero” is greatly overused (or abused) these days. But in this 6-minute clip from PBS Newshour, dated March 25, medical workers in Nabih Berri Hospital in the war area in southern Lebanon are interviewed and their unceasing effort to provide vital medical care to the local citizens is documented. Dr. Ali Omeis and Dr. Hassan Wazni are among those heroes. It is unsafe for them to go home to their families at night, so they sleep in the hospital. They mention that Israeli bombs landed close to their hospital recently, and they know that they might be the next potential targets of a deliberate Israeli bomb strike. Despite that, they have made it clear that they intend to stay on the job and continue providing vital medical care at this endangered hospital. This is exceptional courage, selflessness and empathy. These medical workers are true heroes, and they have my total admiration and respect.
Previous Material
News Reports:
This article strongly suggests Israel’s genocidal intent. -- What Israeli Soldiers’ Videos Reveal: Cheering Destruction and Mocking Gazans -- https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/world/middleeast/israel-idf-soldiers-war-social-media-video.html
Videos:
A 1-hour talk given by Christopher Hitchens about the war in Gaza and what it means for him, the Palestinians, the Israelis and us. Quite emotional, factual and with hard-hitting moral implications for all of us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlcqsKvTSPw
Brief Animated History of the Question of Palestine put out by the United Nations:
https://youtu.be/yBjMbe24Vu0
Links:
A very detailed and informative 5-part education put out by the United Nations on the Origins & Evolution of the Palestine Problem.
https://www.un.org/unispal/history2/origins-and-evolution-of-the-palestine-problem/
Summary of the history & background of the Israel-Gaza Crisis on the United Nations website:
https://www.un.org/en/situation-in-occupied-palestine-and-israel/history
The basics of Zionism from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism
Websites:
Al Jazeera web page devoted to the Israel – Palestinian conflict. I have found the Al Jazeera carries stories about this conflict that are not found on Western media websites. I have also come to largely trust the quality and factualness of reporting from Al Jazeera, although the point of view put forth is largely from an Arab viewpoint. I have found confirmations of many of Al Jazeera’s stories on other Western media.
https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/israel-war-on-gaza/
Comments on the Israel - Gaza Crisis
The next day, I began to behold the intended response of the Israeli government. Even before their attack, I knew what was coming. The Israelis were going to compound the horror of what was inflicted on them by inflicting the same horror upon the 2 million people living in Gaza. The horror of what was coming at first and later was actually happening literally awakened and sickened me in the middle of the night for at least two nights. This horror pitched me into a spiritual crisis for at least a week. My crisis was this: I did not want to be a human being anymore. If I could have vectored off the earth, into outer space and into some other form of being that did not involve being a human, I would be sorely tempted. I did not want to be a member of what to me is the most violent and predatory species on the face of the earth, that was fully capable of doing this to one another. I’m still struggling with how to have a constructive relationship with such a violent species as we are.
Every night now, PBS carries an episode of “War in the Holy Land”. It should be renamed “War in the Unholy Land.” Any land that is at the center of horrific bloodshed, not just now, but over at least 2 millennia, if not longer; any land that serves as the historical and ongoing violent collision point of three violent Abrahamic religions should not be called “Holy”. The site of so much bloodshed, murder, warfare and hate is cursed. In my mind, this is the “Unholy Land”.
Some facts (and there are lots of facts now) have emerged out of this fog, at least in my mind, in no particular order. I offer these to my readers:
First, based on my reading on the historical background presented on the UN website, this Israel – Palestinian mess is almost entirely a creation of the West. The British kicked this mess off in between WWI and WWII, by listening to and supporting the concept of Zionism put forth by Theodor Herzl and his colleagues. France played its part, largely in Lebanon, but the US has largely picked up where the British left off. Israel is now the largest recipient of American financial, military aid and diplomatic aid. Israel is basically a client state of the U.S. As a result, the US bears a lot of responsibility for the behavior of its client state and its moral excesses and/or shortcomings. This topic can be greatly expanded.
Second: The attack on October 7 and Israel’s response has greatly polarized the US, Europe, the Middle East and basically the world itself. The polarization in the US is now very apparent and has become violent, resulting in the deaths of both Jewish and Palestinian people here in the US. And the label “anti-Semitism” is now being hurled about and wielded like a big club, often in an effort to stifle criticism of Israel and its conduct. Its converse “Islamophobia” is also being wielded like a big club, sometimes to stifle criticism of Hamas and other parties in the Middle East, like Iran and Hezbollah.
I am thoroughly convinced, and I’m not the only one, that criticizing Zionism and the actions, statements and attitudes of the current Israeli government does not, in and of itself, constitute anti-Semitism. It is NOT anti-Semitic to criticize Zionism or the Israeli war in Gaza. Many Jewish people already do this. In any case, it’s best to get over our emotional obsession with labels, “lift the hood”, and examine the facts underneath.
Third: Based on my reading, not to mention the very thorough research and presentation of a case put forward by the government of South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICL), there is credible evidence that Israel is engaged in a process that most likely can be described and meets the legal definition of “genocide”. At the very least, the actions of the Israeli government meet the definition of ethnic cleansing. These are both international crimes and crimes against humanity. This is very serious. Over 27,000 people, many of them children, have perished in this war in Gaza. It appears that Israel is engaged in an effort to destroy the infrastructure of Gaza: schools, hospitals, businesses, marketplaces, homes, electrical supplies and even the water supply. This strongly suggests that Israel is rendering Gaza uninhabitable. On top of that, Israel appears to be deliberately targeting the civilian population directly, bombing them in their homes and indiscriminately shooting them in the streets. Furthermore, Israel is severely limiting their food, water and medical supplies, and according the several agencies including the UN and the WHO, putting hundreds of thousands of people in danger of outright famine, starvation and disease. Israel has effectively displaced almost the entire Palestinian population from their home and herded them to the southern border. There is talk among Israeli government officials about “voluntary migration” – forcing people out of their native land and making the survivors into permanent refugees.
If one refers to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other documents like it, one of the universal human rights is the right to self-determination. It appears to me that the Palestinians have been deprived of their right to self-determination for over 75 years. And in this current horror, many of their other basic human rights are being denied also. Human rights are a very important consideration in this whole crisis, and I firmly believe that there will be no peace for Israel, the Palestinians, or the entire Middle East, until the basic human rights of all involved are acknowledged and concrete steps are taken to assure these human rights are assured by all governments and agencies involved.
Fourth: The roots of this violence are buried deep in human nature and in three prevailing Abrahamic religions in the area. This topic needs more expansion and discussion. Since I’m a former Christian, I’ll call attention to the violent writings and “history” put forth in the Christian Bible. In the Old Testament, a violent God engages in all kinds of unspeakable violence. This violence, at least in the writings, includes God’s determination to drown all the people and animals in a vast violent universal Flood. The violence continues as God exhorts His Chosen people to invade the Promised Land. Apparently this so-called omniscient and omnipotent God overlooked a small detail when He brought his people to His Promised Land. People were already living there. So, God orders His chosen people to invade, attack these people who were living in the land (peacefully) and commit large-scale genocide. The book of Joshua is a splendid exposition of God’s genocidal tendencies. These writings have had a considerable effect on providing a religious sanction for all kinds of violence and warfare conducted by Christian governments and the West in general.
At the risk of being labeled anti-Semitic, I want to point out that the first 5 books of the Christian Bible constitute the Jewish Torah. And the rest of the Old Testament are part of what is now called the Jewish Talmud. My point: the same violence embedded in the Christian scriptures is also embedded in the sacred Jewish writings. And I suspect that these violent writings are used to sanction all kinds of violence by some Jewish people and the Israeli government itself against non-Jewish people. Most of the most extreme violence and/or calls for violence are coming from the more fundamentalist Jewish sects and politicians. Bear in mind that I do not paint all Jewish people or Israelis with that brush. Just as in the US, there appears to be a whole range of religious persuasions or orientations in Israel, from the literalist ultra-orthodox Jewish groups to outright atheists in Israel, some of whom call themselves “Jewish”.
I am certainly not Arab or of Islamic background. But my literal reading of the Quran, as well as listening to the history of the Islamic peoples (a good book called “Fields of Blood” by Karen Armstrong), I am convinced that the Quran has violent roots also. I encounter passage after passage in Quran where God (Allah) threatens the disobedient and unbelievers to eternal torment in hell as punishment. This is certainly unmistakable violence. And it is my conviction that, just as in Christianity and Judaism, there is a whole spectrum of belief, from Islamic fundamentalism, and it’s my understanding that Hamas is one of those literalist sects, to very liberal and peaceful interpretations: Sufism and Rumi immediately come to mind.
My contention here is that attention must be paid to the religious aspects to human violence, and especially to the violence in this region. As a species, I am convinced that we humans must seek and aspire to forms of religion that repudiate violence of all kinds, to a more pacifist forms of religion that will help shepherd us violent humans toward a more inclusive and peaceful world. We humans are now capable of this, and we could do this if we choose to. Religion and spirituality are very important to humans and religion could and should play an important role in guiding us into a more peaceful and prosperous future.
Otherwise, what’s the point? More and more violence? “Survival of the most violent?” If this is the direction we want to go as a species, let’s have a nuclear Armageddon soon and get mushroom cloud phase over with quickly. This apocalyptic event will spare a lot of humans and the planet a lot of suffering and then Mother Earth can get on with reconstituting a new post-Anthropocene Era of life on earth.
First posted 2-5-2024