Benjamin Netanyahu - Genocidal Maniac and War Mongerer - A Case for Genocide and War Crimes to be answered

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide lays out the laws and the punishments for the crimes of genocide and the definitions and provides a term of reference with which to look at the actions of Israel acting on the orders of Netanyahu. Article 2 of the aforementioned convention

...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:(a) Killing members of the group;(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The Convention was brought in 1948 by the UN and became law in 1951, just six years after the end of World War 2

Each of the acts above can be seen and evident in Israeli policy in Gaza and the occupied territories.
(a)
Israel has flagrantly breached this rule when they deliberately targetted schools in heavily populated civilian areas of Gaza. Schools have been targetted (including UN schools) about five times at this stage resulting in a loss of life mostly that of children. Complete neighbourhoods in Gaza have been cleared because of Israeli airforce. One neighbourhood in Gaza was shelled out of it and destroyed in an hour, a ******* hour? (https://twitter.com/sheeraf/status/494064158791331840). UNICEF has condemned the atacks on children and has said that the attacks are deliberate on children, this straight from the horses mouth, a UN affilated agency (http://www.worldbulletin.net/world/1...inian-children)

In an interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday, Awad said Israeli forces had deliberately killed 264 children in Gaza, which is equal to 11 children per day, and injured more than 2,000."Where's the international community's reactions to the slaughtering of children in Gaza? Where are the international human rights covenants?" she asked.

(b) Is it worth going into the bodily harm being inflicted, its all apparent from the above post but the mental torture alone is being laid on with a trowel. Deliberate propogandising by shills like the Times Of Israel. Breaking up families and moving them from Gaza city into refugee camps all the whilst dividing them to try and break their spirit. Israeli soldiers have also violently broken into homes of families to terrorise the children, beat them into submission and mentally torture them to tell them they wont be set free unless they make a declaration to not join Hamas.

(c) Users on here should be deeply familiar with the conditions of the camps that Palestinians are still living to up to this point in time. Camps in Lebanon have been described as being over crowded and many of those in the camps depend on the good will of others and the UN and locals for food rations. These are people whom have been displaced because of the settler policy or fleeing genocide being committed by the Israeli army . Every few years there are floods which create hazardous conditions which lead to illness and disease like typhus etc. Refugee camps are the Israeli way of 'Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;'

(d) Records have shown that for a seven year period (2000 - 2007) there was about 35 deaths of women from Palestine who went into labour. THese women were denied access to medical treatment and then died of later complications, thus denying both the mother a life and the child being born. (http://newint.org/blog/2011/07/13/pa...at-checkpoint/). Conditions in Palestine have been described from the article that I just linked to as being fairly inadequate. A specialist mentioned in the article outlines the coditions that the women have to put up with

The Thaddeus and Maine “Three Delays Model” identifies the main causes of needless death of a mother and, often, her newborn. The first delay is getting out of the home when a woman needs emergency care; the second is in getting to the facility; and the third is when the facility can’t help her because it doesn’t have the right equipment or supplies. All three are at play in the occupied Palestinian territory.’

(e) This is defined as

may be imposed by direct force or by through fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as persons under the age of 14 years.

Rocketing schools? Breaking into their homes? Detention?

War Crimes are not just a recent phenomena either. Read the following, a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the details that it goes into. Previous recommendations that had been recommended had not been adhered to and Israel continued to ignore the plight of the Palestinians through its direct action against them.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies...2%2037_AEV.pdf

As reported above, significant prima facie evidence indicates that serious violations
of international humanitarian law as well as gross human rights violations occurred
during the military operations of 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, which were
compounded by the blockade that the population of Gaza endured in the months prior to Operation Cast Lead and which continues.

Just in the last three hours as I was researching this, Salon.com published this cracking article which covered more ground than I ever could.Summing up some of the points it makes
-Denying Palestinians access to water-Deliberate settlement of the West Bank with shifted Jewish settlers.-Disproportionate targetting of children.-Deliberate targetting of churches and mosques
And one point of note that counters Israeli propoganda (Netanyahu had called this a double war crime by Hamas)

The claim that Hamas bares the responsibility for Palestinian civilian deaths is ludicrous. A recent NY Times Article published on July 23, 2014 stated that “there is no evidence that Hamas and other militants force civilians to stay in areas that are under attack – the legal definition of human shield.” Jeremy Bowen, a BBC Middle East reporter in Gaza, confirmed this as well. On July 25, Amnesty International reported that there is no evidence “at this point [behind the notion] that Palestinian civilians have been intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the current hostilities to “shield” specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks.”

Democratic Left and the Fall of Labour

Labours downward spiral could lay in its embracement of freemarket economics in the 1980's via their Democratic left members. Proinsias De Rossa thought the Workers Parties marxist views hampered its views electorally and saw neo liberal economics as their saving grace . Sean Garland aside, the cabal of ex lefties turned into a new group , the Democratic Left. This consisted of six TDs including Eamonn Gilmore and Pat Rabbitte. At their founding conference they were

democratic socialist party. We believe that the idea of socialism coupled with the practice of democracy provides the basis for the radical transformation of Irish society. We aim to be a feminist party. An environmental party. A party of the unemployed and low-paid. A champion of personal freedom. A friend and ally of the third world. An integral part of the European Left

Soon after 1997 the Democratic left merged with Labour and this inevitably laid the path to the downfall. Liz Mc Manus and Pat Rabbitte became deputy leader and leader respectively and then later on Eamonn Gilmore. Gilmore at this point liked to paint himself as a man of the people, a person of the working classes and anti bourgoise.

Pic from Irish Election Lit!

In a manifesto published in 1992, there are hints of a lean towards neo liberal reforms in places like energy .
http://michaelpidgeon.com/manifestos...0GE%201992.pdf

An Energy Tax, geared to encouraging conservation
and creating extra jobs, could also belp raise additional monies
while achieving desirable social and environmental objectives.

Other things though are more noticeable on terms of housing . Pyrite remedial works and houses built to substandard levels still pop up from time to time. Back in 1992 DL was proposing a redress scheme for those whose buildngs were found to be in a state of disrepair because of substandard works.

Full defects protection legislation is needed for
both owner-occupiers and tenant purcbasers against longer-term
design and construction defects on bebalf of the developer and
local authority. There must be legislation to ensure that bouse
and flat construction is of the bighest standard aod that it
complies with international standards with regard to materials
and safety

The rest of the document reads like a normal socially liberal document one would expect. Increasing corporation tax and better representation for women and fighting the then decriminalisaton of homosexuality which was to eventually come about. When did the DL members in Labour eventually become fully neo liberalists?

While in opposition they were quick to snap at the heals of the government on its policies. Liz Mc Manus has written at length on her blog about the problems in our health system (she has since retired) and this document is a far cry from the current policies of the governemnt where those very same DL members are invovled in cuts to those in the working class. I cant put my finger on it. Is it Labour are now selling their arse to FG for a few scraps from the table of political power and go along with whatever ruse that Hoga,Shatter or Reilly pull out of their arse? There was a pamphlet written around the time of the WP/SL split that predicted the downfall of the Labour party when they 'absorbed' DL .

I apologise if post is slightly disjointed but its an issue worth discussing,chartering the downfall of Labour needs to look at when the DL Quislings sold themselves out....

Cause I can’t change, I can’t change the world alone

Is Gender a Social Construct?

Conchita is the bearded drag queen from Austria that won peoples hearts with her/his song, 'Rise like a Phoenix'. Reading the comments under the video on youtube, users were shifting uncomfortably to see a man impersonating a woman with a beard as it combined elements of both genders. They thought both should be just fitting into either camp , male or female. This spurred me on to look at the issue a little bit more and see what the current thinking is on it out there at the moment. This lead me to http://thefeministagenda.blogspot.ie...of-gender.html

In the blog post quite rightly it details that humans are assigned a gender from the time they are born based on their genetalia and should they be intersex they are then placed in either camp conveniently so that society can make life easier for them and label it. Certain emotions are thought to be kept under wraps lest men should be seen as being wimps should they cry . (Might contribute to why there is so much suicide amongst men in Ireland being taught to not convey their emotions and any manifestations of poor mental health being seen as effeminate or weak - which is not true but people do still think like that.)

Some cultures have seen that there is a third sex or gender. The Fa'afafine are widely accepted in Polynesian culture and have come ro represent a normal way of life in American Samoa etc. These people are accepted as normal members of society.

On our deathbeds....Thoughts of Jack Hornfield

A buddhist philosopher and thinker...he had three questions...
On our death beds
How much did we love?How much life did we live?Did we make a difference?
All of this is paraphrased but yeah, what do others think?

Im in a philosophical mood!!

Where is the Israeli left?

Labour are like Labour in Ireland, suppose to represent the working class but serve the interests of the capitalist elite. Traditionally the party of the left they are now more to the centre than the left where they were. A difference may have been made if Yitzhak Rabin had survived and not been assisinated. They did support the Oslo accords and brought Israel into line with an expansion of welfare programmes in the sixties/seventies. They failed in the 2000s as members heavily criticised them for heavy support of businesses. The rest of the Israeli left is a rag tag group. The rest of the Israeli left...



Peace Now supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and was critical of government's policy in withdrawing from Lebanon after the 1982-6 war and the subsequent withdrawal from South Lebanon.
Geneva Initiative and The People's Voice (HaMifkad HaLeumi), two peace initiatives led by prominent Israeli and Palestinian public figures that surfaced in 2004. These initiatives were based on unofficial bilateral understandings between the two sides, and offer models for a permanent agreement.
HaHistadrut ("The Union"; short for "the General Union of the Workers in Israel"), an umbrella organization for many labor unions in Israel. In the past, was identified with the different forms of the Israel Labor party; nowadays, the chairman of the Histadrut is Offer Eyni. The former chairman Amir Peretz became head of the socialist One Nation party, which eventually merged into Labor in 2004, which Peretz led from November 2005 to June 2007.
Several radical left-wing organizations calling soldiers to refuse service in the West Bank and Gaza; the best known are Ometz LeSarev ("Courage to Refuse") and Yesh Gvul (There's a limit/border).
Ma'avak Sotzialisti (Socialist Struggle) campaigns against privatisation and the worsening conditions faced by workers and young people in Israel.


What happened to them?

Repeal the 8th Ammendment

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/doctors-told-they-can-withdraw-life-support-for-clinically-dead-pregnant-woman-30863340.html







All of the case raised so many questions as to how to best judge the situation. There are so many twists and turns that its impossible for anyone to judge what should happen, the old adage doctors differ and patients die here could be replaced with the mantra that legal teams differ and patients die such is the intensity of the legal wrangling that goes back and forth. Legally there are two problems at hand with these judgements - time and a problem with the law, human rights law especially being extremeley abstract. During the time this case was being heard, the womans life machine was left on resulting in massive infections and organs failing on an extreme level, notwithstanding the details reported in the media which I'll refrain from mentioning. As for the law being abstract, all of it is so open ended from the interpretation of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013 to the human rights law on the topic, nothing is clear on the topic giving doctors and those within the medical profession more and more confusion delaying matters.
HSE guidelines must also be ammended to clarify positions when and how a termination can be carried out to lesser the burden on doctors. A doctors job is to treat patients, it is not to argue philosophically over aiding a foetus when the mothers life takes precedence, any other faulty position stems from the catholic ethos the medical profession has been unduly placed under.
Women suffer unfairly under the 8th Ammendment, this law places equality on the life of a foetus, a group of cells that has not attained any degree of personhood on parity with that of an adult woman, most of whom can think for themselves, fully autonomous human beings. Numerous falsehoods are contained within that eight ammendment as well, creating this weird boundary where were a foetus to poison a woman and dehabilitate her nothing is to be done but if it kills the mother then it can be. The falsehood is in the interprtation that is taken by the conservative element of Ireland still in existence. Ireland only brought in the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013 when A,B,C vs Ireland was referred to Ireland and this forced Irelands hand. Nothing to be proud of.
#Repealthe8th and stop the impasse....

Irish Schools focus purely on academia - what about other skills?

“Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”

A novel written in the 19th century, scarily things are the same a hundred and twenty years on. Schools now tend to focus on English, Maths, Irish and then four to five other subjects yet nothing prepares young people for the savage side society comes out with. There should be as much time on encouraging people to

-Network with other people
-Cognitive behavioural therapy
-Develop empathy
-Good emotional intelligence

Rather than creating an automoton , then again perhaps the status quo may find this goes against them....