Gaza: Are These Things True? Or Are They Lies? I Find It All Quite Disturbing

Screen Shot: October 22, Gaza

The current horrors in Gaza show no signs of abating. As one Palestinian on Twitter put it, "No words to describe the horror we live every hour!" (I will continue to refer to the social media platform in this manner because it seems easier than "X, which was formerly Twitter") 

Certainly there is a propaganda war going on, so one has to find ways to differentiate reality from myth or disinformation.

For this reason, I am sharing here a batch of statements and observations, and you can help us by affirming, clarifying or disproving in the comments.

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IS THIS TRUE?
During an Al Jazeera segment on Israel's bombing of Al-Wafa Hospital, they needed to pause to update viewers that Israeli airstrikes had also just killed the wife and children of one of their reporters, Wael Dahdouh, in an airstrike on a refugee camp they were ordered to flee to.

Source: Posted on Twitter

IS THIS TRUE?

Netanyahu, the leader of Israel’s Master Race Democracy, declares, “We are the people of the light, they are the people of darkness,” then vows to fulfill biblical prophecy through the bombardment of Gaza.

There's no such thing as Geneva Conventions. This is all theatre for Westerners. Like children believing in Santa Claus.

Source: Posted on Twitter

IS THIS TRUE?

Israel has not stopped bombing gaza despite the UN’s vote for ceasefire, please continue being vocal, emailing/calling politicians, and attending protests for at least a ceasefire and humanitarian aid

Source: Posted on Twitter

IS THIS TRUE?

We are at the point where ambulances and civil defense crews no longer rescue anyone in Gaza. 

They have no fuel to move and it is too dangerous to move in the first place.

Corpses and injured people are laying in the streets and under the rubble of their bombed houses

Source: Posted on Twitter

IS THIS TRUE?
Sy Hersh says that Netanyahu’s plan is to turn Gaza into another Hiroshima without the use of nukes. But nukes could be next.

Source: Posted on Twitter

IS THIS TRUE?
The Situation in Gaza 

I had the opportunity to communicate with some members of my family. The situation is unbelievable. Hungry dogs are eating the remains of bodies buried under the rubble in Gaza City. The smell of decay pervades the city. There will be catastrophic health consequences. Food and clean water are scarce. One of my nieces was taken to the hospital because of lack of food two days ago. People are beginning to experience starvation in its most literal sense. They spend 7 hours in line to receive a single piece of bread for each member of the family. When food is found, it's exorbitantly expensive. If this continues before our very eyes, it will turn into a horrendous BLACK MOMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY.

Source: Private email to a friend earlier this past week

IS THIS TRUE?
From Chris Hedges:
Israel was founded on lies. The lie that Palestinian land was largely unoccupied. The lie that 750,000 Palestinians fled their homes and villages during their ethnic cleansing by Zionist militias in 1948 because they were told to do so by Arab leaders. The lie that it was Arab armies that started the 1948 war that saw Israel seize 78 percent of historic Palestine. The lie that Israel faced annihilation in 1967, forcing it to invade and occupy the remaining 22 percent of Palestine, as well as land belonging to Egypt and Syria. 

Israel is sustained by lies. The lie that Israel wants a just and equitable peace and will support a Palestinian state. The lie that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. The lie that Israel is an “outpost of Western civilization in a sea of barbarism.” The lie that Israel respects the rule of law and human rights. 

Source: Israel's Culture of Deceit

IS THIS TRUE?
Israel has violated more UN Security Council Resolutions than any other country.

Source: Middle East Monitor

IS THIS TRUE?

A. Israel has been occupying Gaza  and killing civilians before Hamas existed

B. Israel’s indiscriminate bombing has killed hostages

C. Israel is holding thousands of innocent Palestinians

D. Israel does NOT have to do what it’s doing
Source: Posted on Twitter

IS THIS TRUE?
A United Nations official stated that “these events didn’t happen in a vacuum.” Israel immediately denounced this statement as antisemitism.

IS THIS TRUE?

HERE are the only countries who voted on the side of the United States and Israel regarding Gaza situation: Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Fiji, Guatemala, Hungary, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, and Tonga. 

IF THERE IS ANYTHING INACCURATE ON THIS PAGE, PLEASE POST CORRECTIONS IN THE COMMENTS. PERSONAL ATTACKS WILL BE MODERATE

What was the 1932-33 Holodomor Horror?

Sigmund Freud. He studied dreams.

Sigmund Freud chose to publish his epic Interpretation of Dreams in the year 1900 because he and his peers believed the 20th century would see the fruition of humanity's Golden Age. How unexpectedly different the 20th Century proved to be. World Wars, Cold War, military disasters like Viet Nam and Afghanistan, genocides, apartheids, African horrors like Idi Amin and Rwanda's tribal slaughter, the Spanish Flu epidemic (50 million killed worldwide, 675,000 in the U.S.), Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the perpetual threat of nuclear war... OK, you get the picture. I do not believe the idealists of 1900 had a clue what lay ahead.

Though I've oft heard reference to the massive quantities of deaths produced by Stalin and Mao in their efforts to acquire and maintain power, I was not familiar with the word Holodomor, so it intrigued me to read about it yesterday.

The word Holodomor means "to kill by starvation." It is used in reference to what occurred in the Soviet Union because it has now been recognized as an intentional man-made genocide of the Ukrainian people carried out in 1932-33 by the Soviet government under Stalin.

The Wikipedia account goes on to say, "The term Holodomor emphasizes the famine's man-made and intentional aspects, such as rejection of outside aid, confiscation of all household foodstuffs, and restriction of population movement. Whether the Holodomor was genocide is still the subject of academic debate, as are the causes of the famine and intentionality of the deaths."

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FAST FORWARD
This past week I noticed a story about potatoes being dumped in Idaho. Someone else sent me a story about lettuce being plowed under. Once you look and see stories about the food chain breaking down, it's easy to wonder how far this (our current pandemic) will play out.

All my life I've heard expressions like "the cure was worse than the disease." Is our government's initial knee-jerk mass closures and panic-driven determination to "do something quickly" doing more harm than good?

Are all the inefficiencies and poorly thought out "remedies" due to good intentions gone bad? It's easy to see how some conspiracy theorists have already begun to conclude that it's "all part of a bigger plan."

* * * *

Well, let's not overthink it. Here's a song to give you a lift as you enter another day of lockdown. Freight Train Blues, Doc Watson.

Related Links
Holodomor at Wikipedia, source material for this blog post.
COVID-19 Highlights the Harms of Bad Food Regulations and the Benefits of Lifting Them
Coronavirus creates glut within previously tight potato market
'Food supply chain is breaking,' Tyson Foods chairman says as processing plants continue to close

Food Crisis Update

It sure is nice to wake up in the morning with a refrigerator full of food. That's a luxury not experienced by a large portion of our world. Let's not take it for granted.

This is my weekly periodic update on the current state of hunger in our world. The causes vary, but the consequences are the same. Children suffer and die from malnutrition that makes them vulnerable to disease. Here are three countries with serious issues even as we speak. (or rather, as I speak, since I occasionally talk out loud when I am writing.) The situations in these three countries were highlighted in a Minneapolis Star article this week.

North Korea: People are possibly starving to death as food rations continue to be slashed. The army of more than a million stopped military exercises in order to help raise crops. After three years of non-assistance, the U.S. is resuming food aid, which experts predict will arrive too late. An estimated 200,000-300,000 people may starve to death without aid, according to sources in Seoul.

Somalia: Because of deteriorating conditions and armed conflict, as well as rising global food and fuel prices, plus severe drought, the country is experience a serious crisis.

Ethiopia: According to the article, "Ethiopia's top disaster response official said 4.5 million Ethiopians need emergency food aid, about a million more than thought."

The irony is that much of the aid that is provided to these nations and their communities is doing more damage than good. Sometimes free food arrives and the local farmers who have worked to grow crops lose out because they cannot sell their food. In other words, the blessing is disruptive and while making food available for some it hurts the livelihood of others.

In other situations, there are U.S. mutual funds whose investors profit from the hardships caused by the food crisis. The mutual funds loan money to local people, but at exorbitant interest rates. The "free money" seems at first to be just what the poor family needed, but these people often do not understand the fine print associated with this "generous" loan. The damage is heart rending, though U.S. investors feel good because their money is being used to fund organizations purportedly helping the world's needy to get them on their feet.

Add to these challenges the problems of political corruption, deep seated hatreds, violence and despair... and you have a bad brew. The people living in the world's shadows have much to overcome. Step one is enough nourishment to survive another day. But this is only step one. The need is far more vast... and deeper.

For information on how to help make a small difference in the war against hunger, visit Farms International
"Doing Good That Is Good."