“Right, so here is the truth that according to the Zionist logic must be given a circuit for most the citizenry of this world to believe:

1. Palestinians have been colonizing their own land.
2. Palestinians have been bombarding their own people and killing them so that Zionists will settle more colonies.
3. Palestinians have done Nakba (Palestinian exodus) themselves after they did their own ethnic cleansing.
4. Palestinians intimidate Palestinians on daily basis and not Zionists.
5. Palestinians confiscate their own lands on daily basis and not Zionists
6. Palestinians slash off their own social services daily and not Zionists.
7. Palestinians are the settlers that had come to Palestine in 1948.

So here is the thing, lets us give it a circuit.”

–Kashmiri Zafar Iqbal

Burmese reporters Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo were released from prison where they were to sentenced to seven years for investigating the massacre of ten Rohingya men. Their release is almost certainly due to political pressure on Suu Kyi & the generals.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-journalists-idUSKCN1SD056?

A beautiful RamadanMubarak/Ramzan Mubarak from Rollie Mukherjee.

According to a report in rightwing media, throughout the Saudi-coalition bombing campaign in Yemen, starting with Obama & continuing under Trump, the US has provided logistical support including refueling, target intelligence, & many of the bombs used that have killed between 60,000 & 80,000 people. An estimated one-third of the airstrikes between March 2015 & March 2018, many with US-made bombs, hit civilian targets including schools, homes, mosques, hospitals, food stores, farms, water & power facilities, funeral homes, & a school bus full of kids.

The antiwar movement is too engaged with supporting the Iranian, Syrian, Venezuelan, & Russian regimes to organize massive international opposition to the slaughter in Yemen.

Days after the Easter Sunday massacre in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan army chief Mahesh Senanayake told a BBC interviewer that some of the 12 suicide bombers had traveled to Kashmir & parts of India (Bangalore & Kerala state) probably for terror training & to make links with other subversive groups. Reacting sharply to the unsubstantiated accusation, a top intelligence official in Srinagar (who did not wish to be named) said there was no proof that any of the bombers had visited Kashmir for terror training or any other “subversive activity.” An official in the Indian Home Ministry backed him up, saying that after investigation Sri Lankan security officials had themselves ruled out the possibility.

Asked why the ‘threats’ were not taken seriously after receiving intelligence information from India, General Senanayake said: “We had some information & intelligence-sharing, situations & military intelligence on a different direction & the others were different & there was a gap that everybody could see today.” Intelligence officials in Kashmir & India are still trying to figure out what the hell he was trying to say.

One of Netanyahu’s campaign promises was that if he won a fourth term he would start to annex & extend Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. For those who still cling to the pipe dream of a bantustate solution, this would be the death blow to those delusions & is the accompaniment to genocide in Gaza. This eventuality is, unfortunately, the logic of the Oslo Accords which legitimized occupation & annexation. It’s the very nature of the Accords which were, when they were signed, a betrayal.

Many take great umbrage at identifying Chomsky or Finkelstein as Zionists or call themselves anti-Zionists when they advocate a bantustate solution for Palestinians. But fundamental to Zionism, a rightwing, supremacist, & colonialist ideology, is a Jewish-only state which Chomsky & Finkelstein both support. If you accept massively truncating Palestinian self-determination to accommodate Zionist colonialism & the existence of a supremacist, Jewish-only entity, you are a Zionist. There’s no two ways around it. If you don’t want to be called a Zionist, give up the reactionary undemocratic idea of a Jewish-only state.

That’s why many years ago Palestinian visionaries proposed a democratic, secular state where Jews & Palestinians can live as equals, as brothers & sisters. That would require a transformation in political consciousness among Israeli working people which can be accomplished by building Palestinian political power internationally. We should also consider that Israel suffers all the tensions & inequalities of any capitalist society. The social & political conflicts that entails can help to weaken the hold of Zionist ideology. Effective, uncompromising political leadership is required. An inclusive democratic state is the only workable solution, first because bantustates are nothing more than a capitulation to colonialism & would always be jeopardized by a militarist, supremacist state right next door; & second because it incorporates Palestinian self-determination along with a humanistic solution for Israelis who were born in Palestine & think of it as their home. Will the transition be difficult? Of course, but not as difficult as living on a permanent war footing & engaging in genocide against Palestinians. Not as difficult as life is for this little boy in Gaza traumatized by Israeli snipers & warplanes.

(Photo of boy in Gaza, May 5 2019 from Activestills.org)

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US & the rate keeps rising. Illegal drug (cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine) use is also increasing with an estimated 28.6 million Americans aged 12 & older (almost 10% of the population) using. An estimated 54 million people over age 12 have used prescription drugs (pain killers, sedatives, tranquilizers, stimulants) for non-medical reasons. Illegal drug use combined with illegal prescription drug use is 25% of the US population. Alcoholism from age 12 claims over 16 million Americans (almost 5% of the population) & since so much drinking, especially among kids, the elderly, & women, is secret, this is likely an underestimate.

It’s an unhappy place here in capitalist America. Some can say it’s due to widespread mental illness but then the question must be asked, ‘why so much mental illness in one of the most privileged countries on the planet’? This is not to minimize or demean the wrenching psychic suffering of so many but to suggest that maybe, just maybe, capitalism, with its competitive ethos, militarist orientation, & massive inequalities, doesn’t really work that well for human beings, doesn’t & can’t create a world comfortable & suitable for human beings to live in.

Israeli snipers shot & killed four teenage boys (ages 13, 14, 15,17) at the Great Return March on April 10th this year. Palestinians & human rights groups have more than once pointed out that Israel targets children for execution at the marches & by bombing. Between March 30, 2018 when the marches began to March 22, 2019, at least 41 children were executed & more have been killed since, including a 16-year-old girl last Friday. Thousands of others have been seriously injured. A radio show host asked the Israeli Education Minister if “we had gone too far” in killing 14-year-old Mohammed Ayoub & he answered “If he had gone to school like every other kid there wouldn’t have been a problem.”

This would be a good time for American leftists to take a break from their sectarian disputes, apolitical party-building schemes, & campaigning for Sanders & Warren to talk about real-life politics like the genocidal siege of Gaza. Knock-knock, reality is calling.