Which protests will the UK state declare unacceptable next?
It may come as a surprise, then, that it has taken this long for the USA to be directly and openly involved with Israel in its wars against its immediate neighbours. Support overt and covert, aid, munitions yes, but never actual direct military involvement. Depending on your point of view, the USA has waged war elsewhere – Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan – but this sets a dangerous precedent, not least 'pre-emptive' strikes coupled with the declaration from Netanyahu that the US strikes were carried out in 'full coordination with the Israeli military".
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Can we believe Trump when he says the hits were so successful that everything was 'completely and totally obliterated' and now, 'it's over'? We had all heard in advance of a supposed two-week window for negotiations, knew of the USA jet and navy movements. Surely Iran took its own pre-emptive actions to safeguard and remove who and what it could. So is it game over for another few years, or a generation perhaps, as die-hards on both sides lick their wounds with ultra-nationalistic spittle?
None of this will help Palestinians and a two-state solution, nor the Israeli families waiting for the return of hostages. If anything, it has been a balletic manoeuvre, of killing, mayhem and destruction orchestrated by Israel, with USA drawn into what is a new war, no matter how short, as a full partner.
And what of Israel: what does this current extreme-right-wing government want, apart from keeping Netanyahu out of prison? Is this a long war strategy from Israel, continuing to participate in destabilising remaining neighbouring countries with future land grabs in mind? Gaza, the West Bank, then Arab country after Arab country, all leading to the creation of Greater Israel? With American and British expats in Israel numbering nearly one million, just two of the many nationalities making up the returning diaspora, the safety of the rogue state of Israel is guaranteed.
READ MORE: Prestwick Airport releases statement on US war planes row
The last outpost of colonialism created in the 20th century, forced on those living there for centuries, as the West tried to expunge the guilt of centuries of pogroms and a genocide.
Sadly this is no end, merely a pause. Palestinians will continue to be slaughtered, either starved or killed in some desperate attempt to find food, as the West wrings its hands in fake despair.
As non-violent protest here in the UK is proscribed, yet genocide continues, who and what is next? When you stand in solidarity and support for the freedom of others, what next will be unacceptable to the state? When we stand for our own freedom, what will they outlaw? Then we should never forget Nelson Mandela when he said: 'We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians'.
Selma Rahman
Edinburgh
KELLY Given hit the nail on the head in Thursday's paper when she used the phrase 'carefully curated political apathy'. She summed up in four words what I've been banging on about for years – the deliberate policy of successive UK governments to turn people off politics and to ensure a tiny but successful fan base for both Labour and the Tories. The establishment lives in fear of the day that the majority of the population wake up and pay attention, hence their love of low voter turnout. How they must laugh as they trumpet about democracy.
Jim Butchart
via email
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