{"id":250847,"date":"2023-12-25T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=250847"},"modified":"2023-12-19T06:15:42","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T06:15:42","slug":"that-cant-be-true-about-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/12\/that-cant-be-true-about-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"That Can\u2019t Be True about Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><em> Israel\u2019s actions are so horrific and depraved I keep thinking I must be misinterpreting what I\u2019m reading or disregarding a claim as over the top, only to find out it\u2019s true.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hospital bulldozed and shelled: Kamal Adwan was only hospital in northern Gaza\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/elLWLGVN158?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>17 Dec 2023<\/em> &#8211; Israeli forces\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/12\/17\/pa-health-minister-seeks-probe-into-deadly-israeli-raid-on-gaza-hospital\"  rel=\"\">reportedly<\/a>\u00a0drove bulldozers over hospital patients in tents and buried people alive. Palestinian officials are seeking an urgent probe into allegations of an IDF bulldozer attack on patients at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, killing some twenty people.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s one of those things where even after everything that\u2019s happened you still look at it and go \u201cI must be reading this wrong.\u201d You\u2019d be considered a monster if you killed livestock in that way.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>IDF troops\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/2e299603-2fed-4855-9694-9801008c48dc\"  rel=\"\">killed escaped Israeli hostages<\/a>\u00a0who were holding up a white flag, apparently because they mistook them for Palestinian civilians holding up a white flag (Israeli forces have a\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/report\/2009\/08\/13\/white-flag-deaths\/killings-palestinian-civilians-during-operation-cast-lead\"  rel=\"\">long and well-documented history<\/a>\u00a0of killing Gazans while they are waving white flags). The only reason they bothered to check if the abductees might be people whose lives they care about was reportedly because one of them had a \u201cwestern appearance\u201d, i.e. looked white.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine being held hostage by Hamas for months, finally escaping, trying to make your way back home, and then getting killed by your own military forces because they mistook you for Palestinian civilians.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>Israel supporters always say \u201cHamas just needs to surrender and everything will be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Surrender? You mean wave a white flag?<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>Friendly fire\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thegrayzone.com\/2023\/10\/27\/israels-military-shelled-burning-tanks-helicopters\/\"  rel=\"\">during Oct. 7<\/a>, friendly fire\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ynetnews.com\/article\/rkjqoobip\"  rel=\"\">on the battlefield in Gaza<\/a>, friendly fire executions of Israeli prisoners. The IDF are so good at killing Israelis they should start making GoPro videos with red triangles about it.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5f34ec25-11cb-49a1-96f2-9475bdf4dc5d_720x716.png 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5f34ec25-11cb-49a1-96f2-9475bdf4dc5d_720x716.png 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5f34ec25-11cb-49a1-96f2-9475bdf4dc5d_720x716.png 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5f34ec25-11cb-49a1-96f2-9475bdf4dc5d_720x716.png 1456w\" type=\"image\/webp\" sizes=\"100vw\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cMossad discovers sinister Hamas plot to just sit back and wait for the IDF to destroy Israel via friendly fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the Israel-Hamas War, it\u2019s the Israel-Babies and Children And Women And Journalists and Healthcare Workers and UN Staff and Hospital Patients and Civilian Infrastructure and Israeli Hostages and Sometimes Occasionally Hamas War.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s interesting how outside the IDF Israel and its supporters are predominantly all about freeing the hostages, but within the IDF the attitude toward the hostages seems at best to be depraved indifference and at worst outright hostility.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>Some weeks ago I saw\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/revdefeat\/status\/1727682104933363770\"  rel=\"\">a Hamas claim<\/a>\u00a0being circulated on Twitter that Hamas fighters had been luring IDF troops into ambushes by playing recordings of the sounds of children, and it was working because Israeli troops reliably go after kids. I didn\u2019t pay much attention to the claim at the time, thinking \u201cNo way, that one can\u2019t be true,\u201d but now the IDF is indignantly\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IDF\/status\/1735651616416514381\"  rel=\"\">complaining<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cIn an attempt to ambush our troops, Hamas terrorists connected dolls to speakers playing crying sounds and set them up in an area rigged with explosives.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png 1456w\" type=\"image\/webp\" sizes=\"100vw\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"sizing-normal\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png\" sizes=\"auto, 100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png 1456w\" alt=\"\" width=\"503\" height=\"614\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/570297d0-de49-4728-992f-5ea9b4c44021_503x614.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:614,&quot;width&quot;:503,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null}\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>This\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.caitlinjohnst.one\/p\/israels-savagery-is-so-shocking-its\"  rel=\"\">keeps happening<\/a>. Israel\u2019s actions are so horrific and depraved that I keep thinking I must be misinterpreting what I\u2019m reading or disregarding a claim as too implausibly over the top, only to find out that no, that\u2019s exactly what happened. As bad as I know Israel is, it keeps finding new ways to show me I still don\u2019t know the half of it.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s so hard to say who\u2019s in the right in this conflict. On one side you\u2019ve got facts and evidence and a nonstop deluge of raw video footage documenting massacres of civilians day after day after day, but on the other side you\u2019ve got people calling you an anti-semite if you disagree with them. It\u2019s very complicated.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>It is not a coincidence that (A) video documentation of Israeli atrocities in Gaza has been extremely damaging to Israeli information interests and (B) journalists in Gaza are being killed by Israeli attacks at a rate which\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2023\/nov\/21\/israel-hamas-war-is-deadliest-conflict-on-record-for-reporters-says-watchdog\"  rel=\"\">has no historical precedent<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_104267\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Bulldozed-hospital.png\" class=\"image-anchor\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-104267\" src=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Bulldozed-hospital-1000x560.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 860px) 100vw, 860px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Bulldozed-hospital-1000x560.png 1000w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Bulldozed-hospital-500x280.png 500w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Bulldozed-hospital-768x430.png 768w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Bulldozed-hospital-1536x859.png 1536w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Bulldozed-hospital-2048x1146.png 2048w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Bulldozed-hospital-260x145.png 260w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Bulldozed-hospital-160x90.png 160w\" alt=\"\" width=\"860\" height=\"482\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104267\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-104267\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>The bulldozed encampment at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza (Al Jazeera screenshot)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>If you follow the \u201cThey started it!\u201d, \u201cNo they started it!\u201d arguments of the Israel-Palestine conflict back to their source at the beginning, you come to \u201cPalestinians should have laid down and accepted their violent mass displacement and theft of their homes by Israel in 1948.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>People are still yelling about \u201cFrom the river to the sea\u201d chants at pro-Palestine demonstrations, but you know if a different pro-Palestine chant becomes ubiquitous it will with 100% certainty be attacked as evil and anti-semitic too. Pro-Palestine slogans aren\u2019t opposed because anyone sincerely believes they support genocide, they\u2019re opposed because they are pro-Palestine.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>Biden\u2019s presidency has turned out to be everything anti-imperialists feared it would be, and so much worse.<\/p>\n<p>________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-180156\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly\u00a0<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\" ><em>at <\/em><\/a><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\" >Medium<\/a>. <em>Contact: <\/em><a href=\"..\/..\/..\/..\/TRANSCEND\/T%20M%20S\/TO%20POST\/A%20BYLINES\/admin@caitlinjohnstone.com\">admin@caitlinjohnstone.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2023\/12\/17\/caitlin-johnstone-that-cant-be-true-about-israel\/?eType=EmailBlastContent&amp;eId=d3f77482-6ffc-46b1-b132-986c967757d9\" >Go to Original \u2013 consortiumnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israel\u2019s actions are so horrific and depraved I keep thinking I must be misinterpreting what I\u2019m reading or disregarding a claim as over the top, only to find out it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":180156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[928,532,1854,101,100,2898,87,865,1029,88,2414,2415,2416,3120,715,767,771,475,427,2897,880,99,124,70,92,965,1025,886],"class_list":["post-250847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","tag-bds-boycott-divestment-sanctions","tag-colonialism","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-cultural-violence","tag-direct-violence","tag-ecocide","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-israeli-apartheid","tag-israeli-army","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-jewish-settlers","tag-massacre","tag-middle-east","tag-nakba","tag-netanyahu","tag-palestine","tag-sociocide","tag-state-terrorism","tag-structural-violence","tag-united-nations","tag-usa","tag-violent-conflict","tag-war-crimes","tag-west-bank","tag-zionism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250850,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250847\/revisions\/250850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}