1) “US blocks peace in Gaza, supporting Israel's genocidal war on civilians”, Oct 21, 2023, Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report, duration of video 33:48, at < https://www.youtube.com/watch?
2). “US faces defeat in geopolitical war in Gaza”, Oct 16, 2023, M. K. Bhadrakumar, Indian Punchline, at < https://www.indianpunchline.
3). “No takers for a West Asian war but war seems inevitable”, Oct 20, 2023, M. K. Bhadrakumar, Indian Punchline, / at < https://www.indianpunchline.
4). “This is another Iraqi WMD moment. We are being gaslit”, Oct 18, 2023, Jonathan Cook Blog, at < https://www.jonathan-cook.net/
5). “Propaganda Blitz: How Mainstream Media Is Pushing Fake Palestine Stories”, Oct 13, 2023, Alan Macleod, Mint Press News, at < https://www.mintpressnews.com/
6). “Exclusive: ‘Mutiny Brewing’ Inside State Department Over Israel-Palestine Policy. Morale is low, and some staffers are preparing to formally express their opposition to President Joe Biden's approach, officials told HuffPost”, Oct 19, 2023, Akbar Shahid Ahmed, Huffington Post, at < https://www.huffpost.com/
~~ recommended by dmorista ~~
Introduction: The “War” between Hamas and the IDF rages on though, at this point, it can hardly be called a war; as the heavily armed IDF continues to bomb Gaza while preparing for a land invasion of Gaza, against non-existent military resistance. The video from Item 1)., “US blocks peace in Gaza, ….”, and the commentary from Items 2)., “US faces defeat in geopolitical war in Gaza” & 3)., “No takers for a West Asian war but war seems inevitable”, all point out that while the Israelis, armed to the teeth with U.S. weaponry, seem poised for a difficult but inevitable military triumph the likely consequences of that victory for Israel are not that positive. Ben Norton, who produced the video in Item 1 is a long-term critic of U.S. actions in The Global South. He emphasizes that the Global Balance of Power has shifted against the U.S. and Israel with the rise of the BRICS powers, led of course by China. M. K. Bhadrakumar who posted the two relatively short articles in Items 2 & 3 at his blog is a Marxist former diplomat from India. He personifies the differences in the points of view of leading figures in places like India and those expressed by many leaders in the developed countries of the Global North. The geographical depiction, of the lineup of developed vs developing nations, is shown in Maps 1 and 2 here below. Map 1, that shows the countries that have already recognized Palestine as a state; and Map 2 that displays the Rich Countries (developed) versus the Poor and Middle Income Countries (developing) are not exactly the same but it is certainly striking just how similar is the alignment between the two blocs of countries. The biggest difference, in territorial terms, is that Russia has recognized Palestine but is classified as a developed country by The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTAD). Also, the countries of Eastern Europe have recognized Palestine but are classified as developed countries by UNCTAD; and a couple of the more effective rich social democracies, namely Sweden and Iceland, have recognized Palestine. Most notably in the other direction, Mexico and Panama have not recognized Palestine due to their close association with the U.S. The overwhelming impression from Map 1). is that the great majority of the Earth's surface consists of places that are much more supportive of the Palestinians than of the Israelis.
Maps: Countries that have Recognized Palestine as a Legitimate State; Global South vs Global North; & The Shrinking Palestinian Lands in Israel.
Both of the Articles 4)., “This is another Iraqi WMD moment. ….”, and 5)., “Propaganda Blitz: ….”, address the glaring issue of the control, by Zionists and their allies, of the Corporate Controlled Media dialogue on what is happening in Israel. Article 4 looks at the latest event, used by the Zionist noise machine to shape public opinion in the U.S. and other Western places. The bombing of the Hospital has been dismissed as due to an errant Islamic Jihad rocket, a point of view that Cook finds absurd. We should note here that the IDF has a long record of bombing hospitals, schools, universities, churches, mosques, and refugee camps. Article 5 looks at the general issue of how the Corporate Controlled Media serves the Israeli propaganda and disinformation agenda. It examines several misleading stories, including the perhaps most sensational story the “Beheading of 40 infants” that originated in the disinformational imagination of a rabid West-Bank Israeli Settler. The article includes 9 front pages from various U.S. and British newspapers, here are three:
Article 5 also looks at the ways that the Israel / Zionism promoting media disciplines reporters and announcers who do not toe the line. The article noted that: “ …. CNN fired anchor Marc Lamont Hill for calling for a free Palestine. Katie Halper was fired from The Hill for (accurately) calling Israel an Apartheid state. The Associated Press dismissed Emily Wilder after it became known that she had been a pro-Palestine activist during her college years. And The Guardian sacked Nathan J. Robinson after he made a joke mocking US military aid to Israel. These cases serve as examples to the rest of the journalistic world. The message is that one cannot criticize the Israeli government’s violent apartheid system or show solidarity for Palestine without risking losing their livelihoods.” (Emphases added)
Finally there are rumblings of massisve levels of dissent inside the U.S. Department of State, these are discussed in Item 6). the article, “Exclusive: ‘Mutiny Brewing’ Inside State Department ….”. The article points out that:
“Two officials told HuffPost that diplomats are preparing what’s called a “dissent cable,” a document criticizing American policy that goes to the agency’s leaders through a protected internal channel.
“Such cables are seen within the State Department as consequential statements of serious disagreement at key historical moments. The dissent channel was established amid deep internal conflict during the Vietnam War, and diplomats have since then used it to warn that the U.S. is making dangerous and self-defeating choices abroad. (Emphasis added)
"The cable would come in the wake of Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official, announcing his resignation on Wednesday. After more than a decade of working on arms deals, he said, he could not morally support the U.S.’s moves to supply Israel’s war effort.
“ 'In the last 24 hours, I’ve been getting an immense amount of outreach from colleagues... with really encouraging words of support and a lot of people saying they feel the same way and it’s very difficult for them,' said Paul, ….” (Emphasis added)
No doubt the long history of brutal oppression and the impossible position of the Palestinians, and the way the current and past wars have affected the policies undertaken by the countries that surround Israel, plus much of the rest of the world, have had an impact on the professional opinions and positions taken by members of the U.S. State Department. The grim territorial situation faced by the Palestinians is shown in Map 3 below.
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US faces defeat in geopolitical war in Gaza - Indian Punchline
China’s Special Envoy on Middle East Zhai Jun met the envoys of Arab states in Beijing at the latter’s request for a group meeting to discuss the grave situation in Gaza, Beijing, October 13, 2023
One hundred years after the Arab Revolt (1916-1918) against the ruling Ottoman Turks amidst the impending defeat of Germany and the Triple Alliance in World War I, another armed uprising by the Arabs has erupted — this time around, against Israeli occupation, in the backdrop of the looming defeat of the United States and the NATO in Ukraine War — presenting a thrilling spectacle of history repeating unabridged.
The Ottoman Empire disintegrated as a result of the Arab Revolt. Israel too will have to vacate its occupied territories and make space for a state of Palestine, which of course, will be a crushing defeat for the US and marks the end of its global dominance, reminiscent of the Battle of Cambrai in Northern France (1918) where Germans — surrounded, exhausted and with disintegrating morale amidst a deteriorating domestic situation — faced the certainty that the war had been lost, and surrendered.
The torrential flow of events through the past week is breathtaking, starting with a phone call made by Iran’s President Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi to the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday to discuss a common strategy toward the situation following the devastating attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, against Israel on October 7.
Earlier on Tuesday, in a powerful statement, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had emphasised that “From the military and intelligence aspects, this defeat (by Hamas) is irreparable. It is a devastating earthquake. It is unlikely that the (Israeli) usurping regime will be able to use the help of the West to repair the deep impacts that this incident has left on its ruling structures.” (See my blog Iran warns Israel against its apocalyptic war.)
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Raisi’s call to the Crown Prince aimed to “support Palestine and prevent the spread of war in the region. The call was good and promising.” Having forged a broad understanding with Saudi Arabia, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held discussion with his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, during which he called upon Islamic and Arab countries to extend their support to the Palestinian people, emphasising the urgency of the situation.
On Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian embarked on a regional tour to Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Qatar through Saturday to coordinate with the various resistance groups. Notably, he met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha. Amir-Abdollahian told the media that unless Israel stopped its barbaric air strikes on Gaza, an escalation by the Resistance is inevitable and Israel could suffer a “huge earthquake,” as Hezbollah is in a state of readiness to intervene.
Axios reported on Saturday citing two diplomatic sources that Tehran has delivered a strong message to Tel Aviv via the UN that it will have to intervene if the Israeli aggression on Gaza persists. Simply put, Tehran will not be deterred by the deployment of 2 US aircraft carriers and several warships and fighter jets off the shores of Israel. On Sunday, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan acknowledged that the US couldn’t rule out that Iran might intervene in the conflict.
In the meantime, while Iran was coordinating with the resistance groups on the military front, China and Saudi Arabia shifted gear on the diplomatic track. On Thursday, even as the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was heading for Arab capitals after talks in Tel Aviv, seeking help to get the hostages released by Hamas, China’s Special Envoy on the Middle East Zhai Jun contacted the Deputy Minister for Political Affairs of the Saudi foreign ministry Arabia Saud M. Al-Sati on the Palestine-Israel situation with focus on the Palestine issue and the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza, in particular. The contrast couldn’t be sharper.
On the same day, an extraordinary event took place in the Chinese foreign ministry when the Arab envoys in Beijing sought a group meeting with Special Envoy Zhai to underscore their collective stance that a “very severe” humanitarian crisis has emerged following Israel’s attack on Gaza and “the international community has the responsibility to take immediate actions to ease the tension, promote the resumption of talks for peace, and safeguard the Palestinian people’s lawful national rights.”
The Arab ambassadors thanked China “for upholding a just position on the Palestinian question … and expressed the hope that China will continue to play a positive and constructive role.” Zhai voiced full understanding that the “top priority is to keep calm and exercise restraint, protect civilians, and provide necessary conditions for relieving the humanitarian crisis.”
After this extraordinary meeting, the Chinese Foreign Ministry posted on its website at midnight a full-bodied statement by Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi titled China Stands on the Side of Peace and Human Conscience on the Question of Palestine. This reportedly prompted a call by the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan to Wang Yi.
Interestingly, Blinken too called Wang Yi from Riyadh on October 14, where, according to the state department readout, he “reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s right to defend itself and called for an immediate cessation of Hamas’ attacks and the release of all hostages” and stressed the importance of “discouraging other parties (read Iran and Hezbollah) from entering the conflict.”
Succinctly put, in all these exchanges involving Saudi Arabia — especially, in Blinken’s meetings in Riyadh with Saudi FM and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while the US focused on the hostage issue, the Saudi side instead turned the attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The state department readouts (here and here) bring out the two sides’ divergent priorities.
Suffice to say, a coordinated Saudi-Iranian strategy backed by China is putting pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire and to de-escalate. The UN’s backing isolates Israel further.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s exit is to be expected but he won’t throw in the towel without a fight. US-Israel ties may come under strain. President Biden is caught in a bind, harking back to Jimmy Carter’s predicament over the Iran hostage crisis in 1980, which ended his bid for a second term as president. Biden is already backtracking.
Where do things go from here? Clearly, the longer the Israeli assault on Gaza continues, the international condemnation and demand to allow a humanitarian corridor will only intensify. Not only will countries like India which expressed “solidarity” with Israel lose face in the Global South, even Washington’s European allies will be hard-pressed. It remains to be seen whether an invasion of Gaza by Israel is anymore realistic at all.
Going forward, the Arab-Iran-China axis will raise the plight of Gaza in the UN Security Council unless Israel retracted. Russia has proposed a draft resolution and is insisting on a voting. If the US vetoes the resolution, the UN GA may step in to adopt it.
Meanwhile, the US project to resuscitate the Abraham Accords loses traction and the plot to undermine the China-brokered Saudi-Iranian rapprochement faces sudden death.
As regards the power dynamic in West Asia, these trends can only work to the advantage of Russia and China, especially if the BRICS were to take a lead role at some point to navigate a Middle East peace process that is no longer the monopoly of the US. This is payback time for Russia.
The era of petrodollar is ending — and along with that, the US’ global hegemony. The emergent trends, therefore, go a long way to strengthen multipolarity in the world order.
No takers for a West Asian war but war seems inevitable - Indian Punchline
For the first time since Gaza crisis began, Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Baqeri engaged with Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on October 19, 2023.
There is no question that smart power enhances foreign policy. Since the notion of “smart power” entered international diplomacy some two decades ago, a major regional power, Iran, is applying it to an actual conflict situation.
Smart power is about the strategic use of diplomacy, persuasion, capacity building, and the projection of power and influence combined together in ways that are cost-effective and have political and social legitimacy.
Certainly, Tehran is dipping into its investments heavily in alliances, partnerships and institutions (and non-state actors) at all levels to expand its influence and capacity and establish the legitimacy of its action in the developing situation surrounding Gaza.
The remarks by Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during a televised interview on Monday following a regional tour that took him to Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Qatar and closed-door meetings with the leaders of the resistance groups, stand out as an audacious display of smart power aiming at nudging the ground situation towards the diplomatic track at a crucial juncture when dialogue and diplomacy are at a premium.
Iran’s top diplomat, a career diplomat by profession before entering politics from the position of deputy foreign minister, warned that the resistance leaders “will not allow the Zionist regime to do whatever in the region” and may take “preemptive measure in the coming hours.”
Amir-Abdollahian said that during his meetings with leaders of the resistance front, they believed that “an opportunity should be given to political solutions” to end Israel’s brutal strikes against the fully blockaded Gaza Strip. However, all scenarios are open to the resistance groups, especially the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, and they have also made meticulous calculations.
Such dexterity to combine hard and soft power into a successful strategy is putting Iran in an influential position at a defining moment in the geopolitics of West Asia. The West’s cautious attitude toward Iran since the crisis erupted on October 7 testifies to this reality.
Right from the initial stages, top US (and Israeli) officials said that Iran was complicit in the Hamas’ October 7 attack, but their intelligence couldn’t identify a direct Iranian role. Neither the CIA nor Mossad picked up intelligence about an Iran-backed plot before the Hamas assault.
Gen. Charles Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned Iran not to get involved. “We want to send a pretty strong message. We do not want this to broaden and the idea is for Iran to get that message loud and clear,” he told reporters on October 10. President Biden reiterated that warning.
On Wednesday, Biden’s statements while visiting Israel also eschewed any rhetoric against Iran. While reiterating that Israel should act under international law and urging Netanyahu to exercise restraint — Biden implicitly messaged the crucial importance of avoiding a conflict with Iran.
So indeed was the case during Biden’s address to the nation since returning to the White House on October 19. Through the past four decades of mutual hostility, the US and Iran have acquired mastery over an unwritten code of conduct to tread softly so that friction points did not lead to confrontation and conflict. They largely succeeded in keeping things that way. It is entirely conceivable that in the present fluid situation, Washington and Tehran communicate with each other, especially since neither wants a regional war today. (See my blog Why Biden lied on Gaza hospital attack)
This matrix needs to be understood despite the reality that there is no daylight between Tehran and Hezbollah — and Hezbollah is by far the strongest and toughest of the groups in the Iran-led ‘axis of resistance’ in West Asia.
Certainly, in hard power, Iran is no pushover. By coincidence, on October 18 the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 lapsed unconditionally, which lifts the restrictions on Iran from undertaking activities related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran’s defence ministry since asserted in a statement that it has plans to expand the missile and weapons capabilities, take part in arms trade and “meet the needs of the country’s security, and participate more actively in international affairs than in the past.”
Without doubt, this will not only boost Iran’s “hard power” but deepen and expand its military cooperation with Russia and China. This is hugely consequential, since Iran is the key ‘influencer’ today to avert a regional war. It comes as no surprise that for the first time after the Gaza crisis began, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Baqeri held a telephone conversation with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shuigo on Thursday and urged that Israel’s “savage behaviours will not be tolerated and independent governments must show a serious reaction.”
Baqeri added, “The continuation of the Zionist regime’s crimes and direct support and assistance provided to it by some countries have further complicated the situation and can lead to the involvement of other players.”
Equally, in soft power, Tehran has successfully broken out of its regional isolation. Fundamentally, Iran-Saudi rapprochement, brokered by China, is a game changer in the geopolitics of the region and is a force multiplier for Tehran’s exercise of smart power. Last Wednesday, it was with a phone call to the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from President Ebrahim Raisi that Tehran shifted gear on the diplomatic track.
That was a profound gesture on Iran’s part. Abdollahian also held a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Jeddah yesterday on the sidelines of the OIC foreign ministers’ meeting on October 19.
As the Saudi moves testify, Riyadh swiftly moved to the centre stage to engage with Beijing. (See my blog US faces defeat in geopolitical war in Gaza.) Indeed, the Saudi stance transforms the regional mood and makes it very challenging for Washington to pursue the old strategy of ‘divide-and-rule’, as apparent from the Saudi rebuff to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Regional states that marked their distance from the resistance groups traditionally, have called for ceasefire and de-escalation, and refuse to condemn Hamas.
The big question, however, remains: What about the Israeli resolve to decapitate Hamas and occupy Gaza? Israel continues to stand on the brink of a military assault in Gaza Strip. Significantly, the Russian prognosis on this front is rather gloomy. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said at a Kremlin meeting with Putin on Monday, that the situation “is tending to get worse. The operations undertaken by the Israeli military are indiscriminate. There remains the looming threat of a ground operation encompassing an incursion into Gaza… Diplomatic efforts on various fronts are intensifying. In principle, the risk of this conflict spiralling out of control is substantial.”
The paradox is, while there are no serious takers for a West Asian war, that alone may not suffice to avoid a war if the Israeli army’s forthcoming assault in Gaza falls short of its objective to destroy Hamas and/or Netanyahu decides to widen the war for geopolitical purposes and/or to extend his floundering political career which is nearing a dead end.
This is another Iraqi WMD moment. We are being gaslit
It’s not just ‘unlikely’ that a Palestinian rocket hit the Gaza hospital. It’s impossible. The media know this, they just don’t dare say it
Let’s say it again: The BIGGEST fake news comes from the establishment media. When the stakes are high, it barely bothers to hide its role as mouthpiece for Western propaganda.
This is another Iraqi WMD moment. We are being gaslit. Believe your eyes and ears, and the laws of physics, not the lies being peddled by our leaders and media about last night’s missile strike on the Baptist hospital in Gaza:
1. No Palestinian group has a rocket that can hit a hospital, killing hundreds. What they have are glorified fireworks that can cause minor damage and the occasional death or two. If Hamas or Islamic Jihad could cause the kind of damage that happened last night, you would hear about it happening in Tel Aviv or Ashkelon too. You don’t, because they can’t.
2. Israel’s apologists (and there are lots of them) are sharing all sorts of videos unrelated to the hospital strike. But the video of the strike itself shows that an incredibly large and powerful weapon is used. Listen to the noise the missile makes just before the hit – that whooshing noise is caused by its phenomenal velocity as it cuts through the air. That is not the noise of a falling Palestinian rocket.
If you watch videos being shared of Palestinian rockets being fired, notice how slowly they travel. Almost at a snail’s pace. If they fail, they drop at free-fall speed, not the near-supersonic speed of the missile that hit the hospital. To think otherwise is to misunderstand the laws of physics.
3. Israel’s apologists are trying to further muddy the waters by suggesting that either a Palestinian rocket fell, or was intercepted, and the rocket or fragments of it hit a very large ammo dump in the hospital. Let’s just accept the racist premise that hundreds of families were quite happy to seek safety next to a huge stash of explosives in the middle of a relentless Israeli bombing campaign. Let’s also accept the fantastical idea that a falling glorified firework or fragment of it could penetrate the hospital’s strong walls and set off such an explosion. If all this was true, you would still see a series of secondary explosions as the arms were detonated by the initial explosion. You don’t because there is only one explosion – from an enormous missile.
4. It’s a desperate psyop, so Israel has now released a recording of two Hamas militants conveniently having a chat after the missile strike, discussing whether they or Islamic Jihad did it. This is the same Israel that did not detect months of planning by Hamas that was needed to organise its breakout 10 days ago. But Israel got lucky this time, it seems, and just happened to be listening in when Huey and Louie decided to self-incriminate.
Remember Israel has a whole unit of ‘mistaravim’, Israeli Jewish undercover agents trained to pose as Palestinians and secretly operate among Palestinians. Israel produced a highly popular TV series about such people, set in Gaza, called Fauda. You have to be beyond credulous to think that Israel couldn’t, and wouldn’t, rig up a call like this to fool us, just as it regularly fools Palestinians in Gaza.
Most of the people spreading these lies know they are lies, including the media, and most especially the Middle East and defence correspondents. At least a few, like the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen and Jon Donnison, are trying cautiously to suggest it’s unlikely a Hamas rocket could cause damage on the scale seen at the Gaza hospital. But it’s not unlikely. It’s impossible, and they know it. They just don’t dare say it.
ropaganda Blitz: How Mainstream Media Is Pushing Fake Palestine Stories
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After Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, IDF forces responded with airstrikes, leveling Gazan buildings. The violence so far has claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people. Western media, however, show far more interest and have much greater sympathy with Israeli dead than Palestinian ones and have played their usual role as unofficial spokespersons for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Extraordinary Claims, Zero Evidence
One case in point is the claim that, during their incursion into southern Israel, Hamas fighters stopped to round up, kill and mutilate 40 Israeli babies, beheading them and leaving their bodies behind.
The extraordinary assertion was originally reported by the Israeli channel i24 News, which based it on anonymous Israeli military sources. Despite offering no proof whatsoever, this highly inflammatory claim about an enemy made by an active participant in a conflict was picked up and repeated across the world by a host of media (e.g., in the United States by Fox News, CNN, MSN, Business Insider, and The New York Post).
Meanwhile, the front pages of the United Kingdom’s largest newspapers were festooned with the story, the press outraged at the atrocity and inviting their readers to feel the same way.
Extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence, and a story like this should have been met with serious skepticism, given who was making the claim. The first question any reporter should have asked was, “Where is the evidence?” Given multiple opportunities to stand by it, the IDF continually distanced itself from the claims. Nevertheless, the story was simply too useful not to publish.
The decapitated baby narrative was so popular that even President Biden referenced it, claiming to have seen “confirmed” images of Hamas killing children. This claim, however, was hastily retracted by his handlers at the White House, who noted that Biden was simply referencing the i24 News report.
The story looked even more like a piece of cheap propaganda after it was revealed that the key source for the claim was Israeli soldier David Ben Zion, an extremist settler who had incited race riots against Palestinians earlier this year, describing them as “animals” with no heart who needs to be “wiped out.”
Manipulating the U.S. public into supporting the war by feeding them atrocity propaganda about mutilating babies has a long history. In 1990, for instance, a girl purporting to be a local nurse was brought before Congress, where she testified that Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein’s men had ripped hundreds of Kuwaiti babies from their incubators and left them to die. The story helped whip the American public up into a pro-war fervor. It was later revealed that it was a complete hoax dreamed up by a public relations firm.
The Murdered Girl Who Came Back to Life
Another piece of blatantly fake news is the case of Shani Louk. Louk attended the Supernova Festival, ambushed by Hamas. It was widely reported that Hamas murdered her (e.g., Daily Mail, Marca, Yahoo! News, TMZ, Business Insider), stripped her, and paraded her naked body trophy-like through the streets on the back of a truck. Louk’s case incited global anger and calls for an overwhelming Israeli military response.
There was only one problem: Louk was later confirmed to be alive and in hospital, a fact that suggests the videos of her on the back of a truck were actually images of people saving her life by taking her to seek medical assistance.
Few of the outlets irresponsibly publishing these wildly incendiary stories have printed apologies or even retractions. The Los Angeles Times was one exception: after publishing a report claiming that Palestinians had raped Israeli civilians, it later informed readers that “such reports have not been substantiated.”
Lionizing Israel, Dehumanizing Palestinians
Few readers, however, see these retractions. Instead, they are left with visceral feelings of anger and disgust towards Hamas, priming them to support Western military action against Palestine or the wider region.
In case their audiences did not get the message, op-eds and editorials in major newspapers hammered home this idea. The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed entitled “The Moral Duty to Destroy Hamas”, which insisted to readers that “Israel is entitled to do whatever it takes to uproot this evil, depraved culture that resides next to it.” Thus, the outlet implicitly gave Israel a free pass to carry out whatever war crimes it wished on the civilian population, whether that is using banned chemical weapons, cutting off electricity and water, or targeting ambulances or United Nations officials.
The National Review’s editorial board was of a similar mind, stating that “Israel needs a long leash to destroy Hamas.” This long leash, they explained, meant giving Israel far more time to carry out the destruction of Gaza. Western leaders would have to refrain from criticizing Israel or calling for calm and peace.
The message was clear: international unity was paramount at this time. Mere trifles such as war crimes must be overlooked. And while Israel and its people were treated with special sympathy (e.g., Washington Post), the other side was written off as bloodthirsty radicals. While the phrase “Palestinian terrorists” could be found across the media spectrum (e.g., Fox News, New York Post, New York Times), its opposite, “Israeli terrorists” was completely absent from corporate media. This, despite casualties on the Palestinian side outnumbering Israelis.
Underlining the fact that Israeli lives are deemed more important is the way in which deaths from each side are reported. The BBC, for example, told its readers that Israelis have been “killed” while people in Gaza merely “died,” removing any agency from its perpetrators and almost suggesting their deaths were natural.
Context-Free Violence
Missing from most of the reporting was the basic factual background of the attack. Few articles mentioned that Israel was built upon an existing Palestinian state, and that most of the inhabitants of Gaza are descended from refugees ethnically cleansed from southern Israel in order to make way for a Jewish state. Also left unmentioned was that Israel controls almost every aspect of Gazan’s life. This includes deciding who can enter or leave the densely populated strip and limiting the import of food, medicine and other crucial goods. Aid groups have called Gaza “the world’s largest open-air prison.” The United Nations has declared the conditions in Gaza to be so bad as to be unlivable.
One of the principal reasons that this crucial context is not given is that it could influence Western audiences into sympathizing with Palestinians or supporting Palestinian liberation. Giant media corporations are largely owned by wealthy oligarchs or by transnational corporations, both of whom have a stake in preserving the status quo and neither of whom wish to see national liberation movements succeed.
Some media outlets make this explicit. Axel Springer – the enormous German broadcaster that owns Politico – requires its employees to sign its mission statement endorsing “the trans-Atlantic alliance and Israel” and has told any staff members that support Palestine to leave their jobs.
Other outlets are slightly less overt but nonetheless have Israel red lines that employees cannot cross. CNN fired anchor Marc Lamont Hill for calling for a free Palestine. Katie Halper was fired from The Hill for (accurately) calling Israel an Apartheid state. The Associated Press dismissed Emily Wilder after it became known that she had been a pro-Palestine activist during her college years. And The Guardian sacked Nathan J. Robinson after he made a joke mocking US military aid to Israel. These cases serve as examples to the rest of the journalistic world. The message is that one cannot criticize the Israeli government’s violent apartheid system or show solidarity for Palestine without risking losing their livelihoods.
Ultimately, then, corporate media play a key role in maintaining the occupation by manipulating public opinion. If the American people were aware of the history and the reality of Israel/Palestine, the situation would be untenable. For those wishing to maintain the unequal state of affairs whereby an apartheid government expels or imprisons its indigenous population, the pen is as important as the
‘Mutiny Brewing’ Inside State Department Over Israel-Palestine Policy
President Joe Biden’s approach to the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine is fueling mounting tensions at the U.S. government agency most involved in foreign policy: the State Department.
Officials told HuffPost that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his most senior advisers are overlooking widespread internal frustration. Some department staff said they feel as if Blinken and his team are uninterested in their own experts’ advice as they focus on supporting Israel’s expanding operation in Gaza, where the Palestinian militant group Hamas is based.
“There’s basically a mutiny brewing within State at all levels,” one State Department official said.
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, fighting in the region has killed more than 4,000 people, and Israel is preparing a ground invasion of Gaza that is expected to claim tens of thousands of additional lives.
Biden and Blinken say they want to help Israel decisively defeat Hamas, but that they do not want to see suffering among ordinary Gazans or a broader regional conflict. Both have recently visited Israel, and Blinken is prioritizing an attempt to open the Gaza-Egypt border to allow humanitarian aid into the besieged region and let some civilians out.
Two officials told HuffPost that diplomats are preparing what’s called a “dissent cable,” a document criticizing American policy that goes to the agency’s leaders through a protected internal channel.
Such cables are seen within the State Department as consequential statements of serious disagreement at key historical moments. The dissent channel was established amid deep internal conflict during the Vietnam War, and diplomats have since then used it to warn that the U.S. is making dangerous and self-defeating choices abroad.
The cable would come in the wake of Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official, announcing his resignation on Wednesday. After more than a decade of working on arms deals, he said, he could not morally support the U.S.’s moves to supply Israel’s war effort.
“In the last 24 hours, I’ve been getting an immense amount of outreach from colleagues... with really encouraging words of support and a lot of people saying they feel the same way and it’s very difficult for them,” said Paul, whose departure was first reported by HuffPost.
Paul described that as surprising: “My expectation was that no one would want to touch me with a 10-foot barge pole... because of the sensitivity of anything to do with Israel.”
Contacted for comment for this story on Thursday, a State Department representative directed HuffPost to remarks earlier in the day from agency spokesperson Matthew Miller.
“One of the strengths of this department is that we do have people with different opinions. We encourage them to make their opinions known,” Miller said in those remarks. “It, of course, is the president that sets policy, but we encourage everyone, even when they disagree with our policy, to let... their leadership know.”
“Secretary Blinken has spoken to this on a number of occasions, when he’s said that he welcomes people exercising the dissent channel,” he went on. “He finds it useful to get conflicting voices that may differ from his opinion. He takes it seriously, and it causes him to reflect on his own thinking in terms of policymaking.”
Biden and Blinken have publicly spoken of both Israel’s right to defend itself and their expectation that Israel will “abide by all international law,” Miller said.
“Multiple officials said they have heard colleagues talk about quitting.”
Key decisions are made at the highest level by Biden, Blinken and a handful of others. But rank-and-file State Department officials are involved in an array of other important and controversial elements of the American response to the Israeli-Palestinian violence.
On Wednesday, the U.S. mission to the United Nations ― a State office ― vetoed a U.N. resolution backed by many countries that condemned all violence against civilians, including by Hamas, and endorsed humanitarian aid for Gaza. State will also help administer the additional military aid for Israel and humanitarian assistance for Palestinians that Biden has authorized.
State Department staff are trying to simultaneously conduct delicate diplomacy, respond to calls from Congress to demonstrate huge support for Israel and regard for Palestinian lives, and manage global outrage over the impression that the U.S. is providing cover for excessive Israeli force.
Counterparts in Arab governments are telling State Department officials the U.S. is at risk of losing support in their region for a generation, a U.S. official told HuffPost.
It’s unclear whether Blinken — who returned to Washington on Wednesday after a five-day trip across the Middle East, during which he met with officials in seven countries — understands the crisis of morale in his department.
“There’s a sense within the workforce that the secretary doesn’t see it or doesn’t care,” a State Department official said, saying that the feeling extends to high-ranking figures at the agency. “And it’s almost certain he’s not aware of just how bad the workforce dynamics are. It’s really quite bad.”
The negativity is surfacing in a variety of ways. One official described peers as “depressed and angry about it all,” while another said some staff are experiencing “resignation.” That official recalled a colleague in tears during a meeting over their view “that U.S. policy statements emphasized support for Israel over the lives of Palestinians.”
Senior State Department officials have privately discouraged the agency from using three specific phrases in public statements, HuffPost revealed last week: “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm.”
In one office, a manager told their team that they know staff with extensive international experience are unhappy with Biden’s plan ― particularly the sense that the U.S. will do little to ensure Israeli restraint ― but they have little chance of changing it, an official present at the meeting said.
Multiple officials said they have heard colleagues talk about quitting as Paul did. One U.S. official described Paul’s decision as a shock and a major loss for the department.
The severity of the language in the dissent cable, and the number of State Department officials who sign it, will offer a picture of how alarmed staffers are at America’s response to the situation in Gaza and how broad the disagreement with Biden’s policy is ― and could determine whether it actually inspires a change in course.
Such cables often attract dozens or even hundreds of signatures, and the dissent channel is seen as a vital way to elevate opposing views without fear of retaliation because State’s policies bar retaliation against those who use it.
“I think it does make a difference to senior leadership,” Paul said.
But the process has been under threat this year, as House Republicans have pushed to access a dissent cable prepared amid Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“The efforts to obtain the Afghanistan dissent cable by Congress do make it more difficult to talk about dissent cables in general, and do make some people think twice,” Paul said.
Global affairs professionals, particularly those with ties to the Muslim-majority world who worry about being targeted, have long been concerned about being seen as taking a stand on Israel-Palestine.
That anxiety has often affected policymaking, according to Sarah Harrison, a former Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security official now at the nonprofit Crisis Group.
“This is an environment that has been cultivated by Democratic and Republican administrations alike,” Harrison recently wrote on X. “If you work in the federal government and question anything Israel does you are sidelined and silenced.”
Staff across the Biden administration have told HuffPost they are experiencing a chilling effect at work. One person said there was “a culture of silence” around expressing their views on Israel-Palestine, and another said they felt “shame” at working within the U.S. government at this moment.
Some State Department staffers place particular blame for the bubbling discontent on Blinken’s deputy chief of staff for policy.
Tom Sullivan ― a powerful figure who is the brother of Biden’s top national security adviser, Jake Sullivan ― has “consistently overruled” the idea of greater outreach from the secretary to State Department personnel, one official said.
In high-level meetings, Tom Sullivan usually focuses on asking what Israel wants or highlighting its needs ― upsetting colleagues who feel the priority in crafting a plan for support should be on U.S. interests, a U.S. official told HuffPost.
Staffers do not feel comfortable challenging Sullivan because of his brother’s rank, the official continued.
On Thursday evening, Blinken sent out an all-staff message reviewing State Department contributions to his trip. HuffPost obtained the note.
“We asked a lot of you. And once again, under tremendous pressure, you delivered,” the secretary wrote. “I know that, for many of you, this time has not only been challenging professionally, but personally ... You are not alone. We are here for you.”
“Let us also be sure to sustain and expand the space for debate and dissent that makes our policies and our institution better,” the message continued.
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