Solidarity with the Jewish community in Manchester

Zack Polanski is such a good communicator. This is a perfect response to the people who are blaming anti-genocide protesters for the Manchester attack.

Council Estate Media (@councilestatemedia.uk) 2025-10-03T09:52:48.859Z
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Israeli hero who refused to kill Palestinian kids

History remembers people like Itamar as moral titans.

Owen Jones (@owenjones.bsky.social) 2025-10-03T13:34:11.590Z
Posted in Evidence of Israeli Fascism and Nazism and Genocide, Gaza, Massacres & genocides, News from the apartheid, Owen Jones, Videos | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Israeli hero who refused to kill Palestinian kids

Deir Yassin Massacre: A Brutal Legacy 

Background 
The Deir Yassin massacre took place on April 9, 1948, when around 130 fighters from the Zionist paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi killed at least 107 Palestinian Palestinian villagers, including women and children, in Deir Yassin, a village of roughly 600 people near Jerusalem, despite having earlier agreed to a peace pact. The massacre occurred while Jewish militia sought to relieve the blockade of Jerusalem during the civil war that preceded the end of British rule in Palestine.

In Deir Yassin’s silent streets, a tale of sorrow weaves,
Where history recalls a haunting, tragic eve.
April’s breath held heavy, 1948’s embrace,
As shadows cast by conflict darkened this sacred space.

Irgun, Lehi, peace defied,
Deir Yassin, where innocence died.
Covenant decayed, memories shred,
Silence echoes, hearts in dread.

Palestinians in fear, homes betrayed,
Arab resolve stirred, intervention displayed.
Deir Yassin’s wounds, echoes remain,
Hadassah convoy, sorrow’s relentless bane.

78 lives lost, truth exposed,
In secrecy’s folds, haunting disclosed.
Stories told, illuminate peace’s gains,
A history where sorrow refrains.

Posted in Evidence of Israeli Fascism and Nazism and Genocide, Massacres & genocides, News from the apartheid, Palestinian history, Peace | Tagged | Comments Off on Deir Yassin Massacre: A Brutal Legacy 

Israeli Apartheid Held Hostage: How Netanyahu and the Far Right Have Turned a Nation into Their Property

Phalapoem editor, 21/09/25

For decades, Israeli apartheid has been a country of sharp political divisions, and has always been captured by a radical majority . Under the iron grip of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition of ultra-nationalist, religious-right ministers, the state itself now appears more like the private property of extremists who are willing to gamble the nation’s future for their own survival.

Power for Power’s Sake

The ongoing war in Gaza—prolonged well beyond the point of any strategic necessity—has become the ultimate instrument of political leverage. While families of Israeli hostages plead desperately for a deal that would bring their captured soldiers home, Netanyahu and his far-right allies stonewall negotiations and reject ceasefire proposals.

Instead of prioritizing life, the government prioritises genocide and political optics: projecting “strength,” appeasing settler movements, and clinging to office amid corruption trials and collapsing public trust.

The War That Serves the Religious Lunatics

Ending the war would mean confronting hard truths—about the government’s failures on October 7, about the genocide and starvation  Gaza, and about the need for a political settlement.

For Netanyahu, ending the war also means facing the music at home: a corruption trial, protests that once filled Tel Aviv’s streets, and a fractured Likud party ready to unseat him.

For the terrorist ministers—Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich—war is the perfect distraction and a vehicle for their twisted messianic and racist agenda: deepening settlements, expanding military control over the West Bank, and crushing any path toward Palestinian statehood.

Mediators Targeted, Hope Undermined

The recent assassination of key mediators in Qatar—a move widely interpreted as a deliberate sabotage of ongoing prisoner-exchange talks—exposes the government’s true extermination priorities.

Killing those trying to build bridges is not just reckless; it is a calculated act to keep the flames of conflict burning, ensuring that no deal can threaten the coalition’s grip on power.

A Nation in Chains

Israeli apartheid has never been democracy, but always held hostage by leaders who treat the state as a personal fiefdom. The terrorists from far right controls key ministries: finance, security, and justice. Policies of genocide, starvation, annexation, ethnic clean sing , are now simply the government doctrine.

Meanwhile, Palestinians bear the main cost: fascist occupation, starvation, ethnics cleansing, demolition of houses, hospitals, schools and universities, prisoners remain in captivity, tens of thousands of children and women  die in an endless war, and global isolation of the apartheid regime deepens.

The Way Forward

Breaking this stranglehold will require courage from within—from Israeli civil society, opposition parties, and military leaders who recognize that Netanyahu’s survival strategy is not Israel’s survival strategy.

It will also demand unflinching pressure from allies, particularly the United States and Europe, to make clear that support for Israel does not mean support for endless war or authoritarian drift.

Until then, Israeli apartheid will remain what it has tragically become: a nation owned by its most extreme leaders, a property of fear and ambition, while the dream of peace grows ever more distant.

Posted in Gaza, Massacres & genocides, Palestinian art & culture, Palestinian diaspora, Palestinian history, Phalapoem editor, Starvation war, Voice of Palestine | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Israeli Apartheid Held Hostage: How Netanyahu and the Far Right Have Turned a Nation into Their Property

Documenting their own crimes

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246 Journalists Murdered by Israeli Occupational Forces During the War on Gaza 

Background 
Journalism is in the process of being eradicated in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s refusal to heed calls to protect media personnel. The situation is dire for Palestinian journalists trapped in the enclave, where ten have been killed in the past three days, bringing the total media death toll in Gaza since the start of the war to 246. 





Gaza's lament resounds, ink stifled in despair,
246 journalists fallen, a grievous share.
In the grip of Israeli occupation's test,
Pens laid to rest, truth suppressed.

Locked gates of Rafah, a plea to the world,
Break the silence, let truth be unfurled.
Occupation's weight on storytelling quills,
A century's sorrow, the journalistic hills.

International eyes denied, entry's plea,
Gaza's stories veiled, yearning to be free.
No refuge, no escape, in this perilous dance,
Reporters seeking safety, a fleeting chance.

A plea for protection in occupation's grasp,
Journalism strives amidst a tumultuous rasp.
Beneath the Palestinian sky, resilience thrives,
Global voice, break the silence wide.
Posted in Gaza, Justice, Massacres & genocides, News from the apartheid, Palestinian history, Poems | Tagged , , | Comments Off on 246 Journalists Murdered by Israeli Occupational Forces During the War on Gaza 

In Handala’s Playground: Season 2, Episode 3: Selective Morality, Deadly Consequences

Phalapoem editor, 1/10/2025

Handala: (still with his back turned, voice calm but piercing) You call yourself a chancellor of peace, Olaf, yet your hands are drenched in the blood of children. Gaza bleeds, and you supply the knives. How do you sleep? Or do you not see their eyes?

Olaf Scholz: Germany stands by its allies. Israel faces threats—

Handala: Threats? My children are unarmed. My homes are rubble. You call that a threat? You punish one nation for crossing borders, yet arm another that bulldozes them. You call it diplomacy, I call it murder in a suit.

Olaf Scholz: We must maintain balance. One cannot equate historical guilt with present policy…

Handala: Balance? You preach morality selectively. You remember Auschwitz but forget Gaza. You jailed your own citizens for protesting, accusing them of anti-Semitism, while turning a blind eye to the genocide you arm. You punish voices for truth, yet shield those who commit crimes against humanity. How deep is your hypocrisy? Deep enough to drown millions of innocent lives?

Olaf Scholz: The situations are different… Ukraine is one, Israel is another…

Handala: Ah, yes, selective outrage. Ukraine is sacred, Gaza is invisible. One deserves sanctions, the other deserves bombs. One deserves protest, the other deserves arrest. One deserves your voice, the other deserves silence. How comfortably dangerous hypocrisy tastes when served as policy!

Olaf Scholz: We are navigating complex international realities…

Handala: Complexity! The children do not negotiate reality. Your “complexities” are excuses. Weapons in their hands, starvation in their stomachs, death in their streets—your policies write the ledger. And you call it strategy. No. It is betrayal. The deeper your hypocrisy, the louder history will judge you.

(Handala slowly steps back, his small figure an immovable monument of defiance. His words echo like a verdict.)

Handala: Remember, Olaf: power without justice is cruelty. Alliance without conscience is complicity. History does not forgive, even if politicians try to bury it beneath speeches and treaties. You chose which lives matter, and the world remembers.

(He turns fully away, leaving silence heavier than any political statement. The weight of moral truth crushes the empty rhetoric of hypocrisy.)

Posted in Gaza, In Handala’s Playground, Massacres & genocides, Palestinian art & culture, Phalapoem editor | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on In Handala’s Playground: Season 2, Episode 3: Selective Morality, Deadly Consequences

Tony Blair Should Be on Trial for War Crimes, Not Running Gaza

Donald Trump wants to put the former British prime minister on a new board to manage post-war Gaza. Here’s why that’s a terrible idea.

MEHDI HASAN, SEP 30, 2025

Source:

Blair on July 13, 2023, in London. Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

There was a time when Donald Trump believed the issue of Israel and Palestine could only be solved by Jared Kushner. “If you can’t produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can,” he told his son-in-law on the eve of his first-term inauguration in 2017, before bizarrely appointing the then-36-year-old property developer to lead on the issue.

Now, nine months into his second term, Trump is pinning his hopes for peace in the Middle East on a much more experienced but even more controversial figure: 72-year-old Tony Blair.

Yes, that Tony Blair.

In his 20-point “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” released by the White House on Monday, the ninth point jumps out from the text:

“Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza. This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace,” which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair.”

Sorry, what? Putting Tony Blair in charge of any kind of peace effort in the Middle East is like making the arsonist the head firefighter; the burglar the chief detective.

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The Butcher of Gaza

Born in ’49, with a heritage profound,
A history etched, in israeli ground.
In Eldridge town, where tales are spun,
A leader rose, Netanyahu by name, begun.

In 2014, a grim toll was paid,
Gaza’s anguish, where thousands laid.
Indictments followed, charges of trust,
Bribery and fraud, a legal thrust.

Then came October, a dark descent,
Gaza’s attack, a fatal event.
Gaza’s butcher, Erdogan’s mournful call,
A title forged where compassion did fall.

Posted in Gaza, Massacres & genocides, News from the apartheid, Palestinian history, Poems | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Butcher of Gaza

ICC seeks arrest of Israel’s Netanyahu over war crimes in Gaza

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Sinwar, Haniyeh and Deif also sought by court over war crimes 

Netanyahu (left) and Gallant (picture isn’t part of the original article)

By MEE staff

Source

Published date: 20 May 2024

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three leaders of Hamas, on the grounds of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the prosecutor’s office announced on Monday. 

Alongside Gallant and Netanyahu, the Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, its military wing’s commander-in-chief Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, better known as Mohammed Deif, and its political leader Ismail Haniyeh were named in a statement by chief prosecutor Karim Khan. 

Gallant and Netanyahu face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges over the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare; wilfully causing great suffering; wilful killing; intentional attacks on a civilian population and extermination, alongside several other charges.

In his statement accompanying the charges, Khan wrote: “My Office submits that the evidence we have collected, including interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, authenticated video, photo and audio material, satellite imagery and statements from the alleged perpetrator group, shows that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.”

He added: “Israel, like all States, has a right to take action to defend its population. That right, however, does not absolve Israel or any State of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law.

The Hamas leaders also face charges related to extermination, murder, the taking of hostages, sexual assault and torture, alongside several more charges.

Regarding the charges, Khan said: “My Office submits there are reasonable grounds to believe that [Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh] are criminally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians in attacks perpetrated by Hamas (in particular its military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades) and other armed groups on 7 October 2023 and the taking of at least 245 hostages.”

“The Nazis also spoke in the name of “morality” even then there was nothing there but good old antisemitism as we have experienced in all generations. Haters of Israel come and go, Israel’s eternity will not lie.” Smotrich said.

“I would like to strengthen the hands of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense. Their arrest warrants are the arrest warrants for all of us.” He added.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has also condemned the ICC decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders as “beyond outrageous.”

Diplomatic setback

The arrest warrants sought by Khan will be presented to the judges who sit at the ICC and they will decide whether to grant them.

Monday’s announcement is the most significant diplomatic setback for Israel in decades and comes as it tries desperately to protect its international reputation amidst its devastating war in Gaza.

More than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since Israel began military operations there on 7 October. The majority of those are women and children.

ICC condemns retaliation threats after Israeli arrest warrant reports.

For weeks there has been speculation amongst Israelis that ICC arrest warrants were in the works.

In late April, the Israeli media outlet Ynet reported that Israeli leaders were worried about arrest when travelling to Europe on the basis of secretly issued arrest warrants.

Another Israeli newspaper, Maariv, reported that Netanyahu was “frightened and unusually stressed” about the prospect of the ICC issuing a warrant for his arrest and was seeking US help to pressure the organisation.

Israel has threatened to retaliate against the Palestinian authority should the ICC issue warrants, while Republican members of Congress have threatened Khan directly with sanctions should he proceed with the case.

The state also faces separate charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after South Africa filed a case over the conduct of its war on Gaza

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