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Hamas/Israel conflict: news and discussion

That’s not how self determination works…
Err. . . I think that you will find that it is.

The right of nations to self-determination is the principle that is widely recognised, not the right of any other group. It would be absurd to advocate that any non-national group had the right to form its own state. For a start, there not would be clearly identified territory on which this state could be established.
 
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The Romany people have been persecuted in many lands. Their ancestors came from left India about one thousand years ago. Should they have the right to "return" to India and carve out a state for themselves?
 
Yes, without exception, the modern nation state comprises a territory in the control (at least in theory) of a single political authority. That's the most parsimonious definition, I think. Within that, you may have nation-building ideas about national languages or cultures or shared historical myths, but those are not essential to the definition - there are plenty of multilingual, multicultural nation states.

Other kinds of nations and states can of course be imagined, and in the future they may become a reality. But right now, that's not how things work.
 
The Romany people have been persecuted in many lands. Their ancestors came from left India about one thousand years ago. Should they have the right to "return" to India and carve out a state for themselves?
Not just to move there, but to turf out everyone else currently living there, making them stateless.
 
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The states in the Americas are not nation states.
This is why the USA defines its "nationhood" in terms of values like "freedom" rather than in terms of language or culture, I think.
 
The states in the Americas are not nation states.
This is why the USA defines its "nationhood" in terms of values like "freedom" rather than in terms of language or culture, I think.
Plenty of shared historical myths. 'Founding Fathers', etc., held in almost religious reverence.

But again, these are all optional extras. They're added in in order to foster a sense of nationhood, but they don't comprise the practical reality of the state.
 
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Not much detail so far, but this could be an interesting and unwelcome development if there's any substance to it.

Europe arrests foil alleged Hamas anti-Jewish attack


German authorities say they have made four arrests of suspected Hamas members linked to an alleged plot to attack Jewish sites. Danish authorities also said they had arrested three people in Denmark accused of preparing an attack. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the threat was "as serious as it gets". It was not clear whether the Danish and German investigations were linked.
 
Jeez, awful person:


Hotovely is proper scum (I mean, not surprising for someone in that position, but there you go). Naamod have been protesting her for a few years now:
Hotovely is a racist. Her appalling record throughout her political career includes:
  • Calling the Nakba an “Arab lie”
  • Inviting the far-right Jewish supremacist organisation Lehava to speak in the Knesset (the Israeli parliament)
  • Publicly opposing relationships between Jews and Arabs
  • Referring to Israeli human rights activists as “war criminals” and comparing them to a fifth column
  • Accusing Palestinians of being “thieves of history” who have no heritage or connection to Israel-Palestine
  • Calling for the Israeli flag to fly over the Temple Mount – a violation of the status quo in a holy site for both Muslims and Jews
  • Stating that the occupation is “a myth” and, as Settlements Minister, directly upholding Israel’s illegal presence in the West Bank
  • Leading the campaign for annexation and claiming that biblical texts entitle Israel to the entirety of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea

Anyway, posted this over on the UK demos thread, but can't hurt to crosspost here:
 
Anyway, posted this over on the UK demos thread, but can't hurt to crosspost here:
Do you know what "cutting ties" means? as in how does that affect Elbit?
 
Do you know what "cutting ties" means? as in how does that affect Elbit?
See, up until this happened, I assumed they were basically the landlords for the UAV Engines site in Shenstone, so cutting ties would mean the factory getting evicted. Which isn't just me being daft, e.g. this Freedom article refers to them as Elbit's landlords as well. But that seems to be not what it means, so I suppose it means that they'll have to find a new company to do whatever Fisher German was doing, but presumably they'll now be a much less attractive client if everyone knows that the last people who signed that contract got pressured out of it.
That Freedom article says FG "leases and manages the Shenstone property", so maybe they're looking to sell the site lease to someone else? Fuck knows really, the property management industry is not my strong point. Fisher German's website says "Let's build lasting value together. We have the experience and the expertise to help clients achieve their ambitions", if that helps you work out what they actually do at all? Hopefully some urbs have more understanding of property management than I do.
 
See, up until this happened, I assumed they were basically the landlords for the UAV Engines site in Shenstone, so cutting ties would mean the factory getting evicted. Which isn't just me being daft, e.g. this Freedom article refers to them as Elbit's landlords as well. But that seems to be not what it means, so I suppose it means that they'll have to find a new company to do whatever Fisher German was doing, but presumably they'll now be a much less attractive client if everyone knows that the last people who signed that contract got pressured out of it.
That Freedom article says FG "leases and manages the Shenstone property", so maybe they're looking to sell the site lease to someone else? Fuck knows really, the property management industry is not my strong point. Fisher German's website says "Let's build lasting value together. We have the experience and the expertise to help clients achieve their ambitions", if that helps you work out what they actually do at all? Hopefully some urbs have more understanding of property management than I do.
It will be site services such as maintenance and repair, cleaning the khazi etc. There are loads of companies that do it but given Elbit probably has MOD certified stuff on site whoever takes over will need to be properly vetted so the pool will be smaller. Most likely Elbit will end taking the services in house.
 
Analysis: Is the Houthi threat to world order worse than the war on Gaza?
aljazeera.com 13 Dec 2023
Washington is reportedly trying to put together a coalition of 12 nations to counter the Houthi threat to shipping. Warships from at least four nations’ navies: US, France, United Kingdom and Israel are already active in the Red Sea and some have successfully thwarted attacks against themselves and against land targets in Israel.

With a coalition, the number of warships would increase and they could attack targets inside Yemen like launch sites, command facilities and missile storage sites.

Besides ships in the Red Sea, the Houthis continued targeting Israel, undeterred by the lack of tangible results. Israel intercepted a number of long-range missiles, some by land-based antimissile defences, others over the Red Sea south of Eilat by Israeli fighter jets. On at least one occasion, Israel’s most modern plane, the F-35 was used.

Fully aware of the coalition brewing, the Houthis want to prevent it from becoming active and functional. Earlier this month, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, member of the Houthi political bureau, warned Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that if they joined such a coalition, the Houthis would target their oil rigs and storage facilities. The threat is realistic, both countries’ oil infrastructure is well within range of Houthi missiles.

Any major attack on oil facilities on the Arabian Peninsula would be a clear escalation and a global one at that, as it would push oil prices up and raise insurance rates for international tankers loading along the shores of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

It would be both paradoxical and cynical if the conflict with so much suffering and destruction that failed to move the world were to escalate through attacks on neutral ships.
 
Not much detail so far, but this could be an interesting and unwelcome development if there's any substance to it.

Europe arrests foil alleged Hamas anti-Jewish attack

I think unwelcome development is already here. Get the Terrorism hype in the media using those puppet states that are in your hand. The ceasefire protests in Copenhagen have been daily since the beginning of the war and are contradicting the governments pro Israel stance. So you have to scare them into supporting the status quo again.
And have just read in Danish news that 2 of those arrested were released the same day without charge.
 
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I think unwelcome development is already here. Get the Terrorism hype in the media using those puppet states that are in your hand. The ceasefire protests in Copenhagen have been daily since the beginning of the war and are contradicting the governments pro Israel stance. So you have to scare them into supporting the status quo again.
And have just read in Danish news that 2 of those arrested were released the same day without charge.

sounds like you're right about terrorism hype, and that of course is an unwelcome development in itself.
 
Hotovely is proper scum (I mean, not surprising for someone in that position, but there you go). Naamod have been protesting her for a few years now:


Anyway, posted this over on the UK demos thread, but can't hurt to crosspost here:

Just to add in Israeli terms she is centre right as she is member of Likud party.

In Israel her views would not be as controversial as they are here

She is outspoken in her views. But in a way I prefer that. She says it how it is.

Party like Likud never had serious interest in a two state solution. At least she says this openly.

As this is the kind of people running Israel the question for me is why our government and the present leadership of Labour party are giving so much support to Israel.
 
Just to add in Israeli terms she is centre right as she is member of Likud party.

In Israel her views would not be as controversial as they are here

She is outspoken in her views. But in a way I prefer that. She says it how it is.

Party like Likud never had serious interest in a two state solution. At least she says this openly.

As this is the kind of people running Israel the question for me is why our government and the present leadership of Labour party are giving so much support to Israel.
they have painted themselves into a corner in recent years due to the tactics used against jeremy corbyn.
 
they have painted themselves into a corner in recent years due to the tactics used against jeremy corbyn.

TBF I think that lets them off a lot of their responsibility here, suggesting that they've trapped themselves. Even the nonsense position they've taken - that we support Israel in defending themselves as long as they do so legally - is not one that traps anyone; the obvious get-out is that the Israelis are breaching international law so we cannot support the ongoing acts and call for a ceasefire. We've had multiple daily examples of obvious breaches of international law by the Israeli government for more than two months now, so that they haven't changed course says pretty clearly that the Labour leadership are in favour of what is being done in Palestine.

They do all think the AS stuff was critical in getting rid of Corbs, but even that is mainly an ego thing given that it was the one thing they can lay claim to that they did to get rid of him that didn't lead to them being ridiculed. In reality none of it had that much of an effect - the obvious splits in Labour, Brexit and the unprecedented support thrown behind Johnson in the 2019 election was what got rid of him in the end.
 
Administrative Detention.

The practise of locking people up, without trial, and without access to the evidence against them.

To the surprise of probably nobody, this started under the British Mandate in 1945. We have all the best ideas. It has continued ever since. It is meant to be a last resort measure, when their is a real presence of danger and no other way of dealing with that than detention.

Since October 7th, Israel has been locking up Palestinians under this order at a higher rate than ever. There are now 2800 in prison. On October 7th, there were 1300. 1300 was already a 30 year high. And since then, Israel has admitted putting prisons into 'emergency mode', whereby the living conditions of prisoners are reduced. This includes, but is not limited to, the removal of bedsheets, blankets, extra clothes and food rations, and all contact with the outside world. And that's just what they admit to. (Other detainees have alleged they have been beaten, tear-gassed and had dogs set on them).

But wait. There are defenders of this. Meet Maurice Hirsch, former director of military prosecutions in the West Bank, 2013-2016. He says - Israel was "not only meeting international law but far surpassing it", by allowing detainees to appeal and ensuring that their detentions were reviewed every six months.

Sounds reasonable. Until you realise that detainees cannot effectively defend themselves, or appeal, because they have no access to the evidence against them.

Military courts have a 99% conviction rate.

But Hirsch has more. "We see administrative detention being used by the Americans in Guantanamo, so we know that this measure is internationally recognised and accepted," he added. "And since this is an internationally accepted measure, why should it be only Israel that is prevented from using it?"

G-Bay. The justification.

So you may get released after 6 months. You may not. It may be a year. It may be 2 years. You don't know. You live, in hell, with uncertainty. And when (if) you do get released it is just into a bigger prison. The second State prison we call Palestine.

Full article here from the communists at the BBC. But I think I've summarized it well for you.

 
"And since this is an internationally accepted measure, why should it be only Israel that is prevented from using it?"
Cos antisemitism, presumably. And nobody has complained about Guantánamo Bay, clearly. It's not been condemned by the UN as an "Ugly chapter of unrelenting human rights violations".

Laughable even on his own laughable terms. Typically slack of the BBC to let the comment pass without adding any comment. 'Balance.'
 
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