Facing Hermon: Palestinian History 1918-to-Today’s Holocaust

Blackjack Bibi ….  see TPS Note at the end

I won’t comment on the Chris Hedges video. I was more interested in Dickie Hermon’s comment (see https://thuppahis.com/2023/12/19/chris-hedges-mea-culpa-on-palestine-for-the-westernworld/ … ).

The first thing to be said is that it is unfair and unreasonable to insinuate that Hedges is a holocaust denier. It is wrong to suggest with a guess that he might be, and it is clear Dickie has no evidence to support that claim. He is on weak ground here.

Richard Hermon in https://thuppahis.com/2023/12/19/chris-hedges-mea-culpa-on-palestine-for-the-westernworld/

Michael, Please see my previous comments! on this subject .My position is clear These guys are “SPIN DOCTORS” putting their own spin on what they want to put across .in 1948 when Israel declared itself a state after the UN had given its approval and History states that the Arab nations all declared war on Israel and attacked it ,this Person states that the Zionists attacked the Palestinians ,at that point his veracity went out the window .I guess that he would also say that the Holocaust was Israeli propaganda.
with my warmest regards
Dickie HERMON

The main point to be made however is that the comment lacks historical context.

Palestinians were living on these lands for centuries in Palestine. The British seized control of Palestine after WW One after the defeat of the Turks who had ruled this area as part of the Ottoman Empire. Then came along the Earl of Balfour (Arthur James Balfour) who made the infamous declaration under his own name that this land should be for Jews, with the proviso that in creating a land for Jews, the Palestinians and indigenous peoples living there would not be displaced. That latter part of the declaration was never honoured by the British.

The Balfour Declaration was a colonial document. The British had no legitimate right to make such a document, little alone impose it on an existing state. They did so only as a colonial Empire-cum-victor of WW1. There was no UN at that time to discuss or vote on it. Worse still, the Palestinians and Arabs were not consulted. There was no referendum in Palestine like Australia recently had with The Voice referendum. That is an important point. The Arabs didn’t approve it, regardless of the UN. So, when their lands were taken and the State of Israel imposed on the Arabs/Palestinians in the mid/late1940s, it was natural for them to resist, and continue to resist till this day, as indeed any people of any nation would do under similar circumstances.

It is worth noting that Israel was founded on terrorism by those who later became the political elites of the new state. They assassinated an UN official who had been sent out to mediate between the Arabs and the Jews. They bombed the King David Hotel and they planned to assassinate Winston Churchill.

That is a bit of context missing from Dicke Hermon’s remarks. His assumption – that it is all the Arabs fault – is oversimplistic.

What Israel is doing in Gaza is a genocide: collective punishment, destroying civilian lives on such a massive scale, and destroying hospitals, are all war crimes. Netanyahu and the IDF claim Israel is “the most moral military in the world”, and they look after Palestinians better than anyone else, but in truth, the Israelis are profoundly immoral and sick.

And if you look at what former heads of Shin Bet have said (and these guys are not like Netanyahu), “when it comes to waging war against Palestinians, there is no morality”. “Morality doesn’t come into it”. (See the documentary “The Gatekeepers”, especially the chapter in the film on the subject of morality).

I cannot understand how people can sit by and cheer on Israel in their slaughtering of Palestinians who have been denied a state since the late 1940s. 132 UN officials have been murdered by Israel, along with their families. UN schools and humanitarian sites have been destroyed. Over 100 journalists have been murdered by Israel, along with their families. There are now almost 70,000 casualties – comprising 20,000 dead, 50,000 wounded. 25% are school children, 75% are women, children, and the elderly. In actual numbers, 8,000 Children and 6,200 women have been slaughtered by Israel. They kill everyone and anyone they see = 330 health professionals have been killed. More recently, Israel simply ran bulldozers over them. There are currently almost 10,000 Palestinians buried under the rubble, 1,680 Palestinian families have been destroyed. 25 hospitals and 138 health centres have either been destroyed or no longer operative. None of this slaughter has anything to do with fighting Hamas. This is a war against the Palestinian people, not Hamas.

Israeli politicians have talked about the “final solution” (they use this phrase), either killing all Palestinians and forcing the rest of them out of Gaza and the West Bank into Egypt and Jordan. Israeli politicians have pulled out the old-testament to decide the borders for Israel – there is no UN support there, and there is zero chance of that ever happening, but that is their intention. The West sits by, salivating like Pavlov’s dogs in this genocide.

At the end of WW2 and for several decades afterwards, there was a lot of sympathy for Israel at the end of WW2, but not anymore. This bizarre government in Israel has destroyed their credibility in the world, eroded any sympathy they previously had, except among older Westerners (young Westerners look at what is happening and are shocked, so rightly so, they support Palestine). At the UNGA recently, 153 countries voted for a ceasefire in Gaza. Only the US, Israel, Austria, and a few insignificant places like Micronesia and Paraguay supported Israel. 23 countries abstained. In other words, 90% of the world is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and all Israel can do is stick their thumbs up at the UN and yell at them accusing the world of being “hypocrites” and supporters of Hamas. Anyone who believes such nonsense is either delusional or evil.

A Note from the Editor, Thuppahi, 22 Decmber 2023:

 Richard Hermon (a Sri Lankan Burgher in Australia), in my experience, is a sharp and fearless commentator. However, he is –like me –in his eighties as far as I know and will have no fear of reprisals.

“B-Bibi” is a local in Australia and apparently needs to protect his trade. Likewise, two Sri Lankans  — one in Australia and the other in USA – felt the need for anonymity in commenting sharply in hostility to Israel’s actions. SEE items conveying the views of  “A Sri Lankan in Brisbane”

• https://thuppahis.com/2023/10/22/the-gaza-clash-its-ramifications-fundamental-grounding-a-sri-lankans-reading/

…. AND … in general the clear weight of the articles in Thuppahi – whether posted by Sri Lankans or Americans – has been HOSTILE to Israel’s present actions (I will soon be constituting a Bibliography tha displays this leaning).

I have not applied my usual practice of imposing highlighting within Blackjack Bibi’s article because my info on the Gaza War is sketchy. HAMAS and some of the Arab states are not angels and I remain puzzled by the factors guiding Hamas in their October 7th intervention. But, that said, I see Netanyahu as a reincarnation of Hitler and the actions of the Israeli state in both Gaza and the West Bank as a puzzling dose of Nazi-like pursuits.

*********************