Résumé posted by Richard Seymour

The realpolitik.

Israel will never accept a sovereign Palestinian state in "Judea and Samaria", and opposes the Palestinian unity government.

Israel blamed Hamas for the murder of three Israeli teenagers.  It waged war on Hamas in the West Bank on this pretext.  Hamas did not murder the three teenagers.  Israel stands by its claim.

Hamas fired rockets in reply.  Israel waged war by air and then land on Gaza, on this pretext.

Part of Israel's stated mission is to destroy Hamas's military capability.  It isn't working.

The other part of Israel's mission is to "downgrade" Hamas's political support.  Popular support is the infrastructure of any political movement.

As such, Israel is destroying Gaza's life-support systems.  Hospitals, oil depots, the only power station, refugee centres, schools.  War on the civilian population.  This is the Dahiya doctrine in action.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the two regional bulwarks of counter-revolution at the moment, are deep into the planning of this war.  By burying Gaza, Israel, the major regional ally of Egypt's dictatorship, might finally bury the remaining embers of the 'Arab Spring'.  This is a nexus of power that is full of peril for all democratic and radical forces in the Middle East.

Israel's global allies are rattled by Netanyahu's adventurism, but firm in their fundamental strategic alignment toward the apartheid state.

The EU, as such, condemns deaths on 'both sides', but does not condemn 'both sides'.  As ever, only Israel has the right to self-defence.  Israel thanked its foreign ministry staff for achieving this result.

But Israel remains concerned about the other side of Europe, the protests and their echo in a growing murmur of official criticism.  There is antisemitism, they point out.  And certainly, there is.  Even with the inventions and bogey men and bad faith invocations of Kristallnacht and the Holocaust, it is hard to miss.  But, invoking this threat, Israel demands strict regulations on the format and content of future demonstrations.  They want to make up what they're losing in 'soft power' with coercion.  Some EU states are already way ahead of them.

Washington is not happy with its client.  Bibi goes too far.  The Likudniks are crazy.  There is a rift.  Washington might send more money.


The discourse.

86.5% of all Israeli Jews reject a ceasefire.

The Labour opposition leader said: "I speak often with Netanyahu; he has taken a restrained and reasonable position, bearing in mind the pressure on him."

The kibbutzim are among "the staunchest supporters" of Israel's war on Gaza.

In Israel, "the one percent" are those who turn out to antiwar protests.  And they say, when the sirens go off, "the fascists in front of us are more dangerous than the rockets on the way."

Some Israelis strip and write "I heart IDF" and "Fuck Hamas" on their bodies.

Some of them say: "Kill them already, Arabs are whores."

Some Israelis tell Arabs: "Don't even think about a Jewish woman."

Some of them say: "Call me extreme and inhuman, but its about time to exterminate all the Arabs’ land".

Some of them chant: "There's no school tomorrow, there's no children left in Gaza!"

Some of them sing: "Gaza is a graveyard.  Gaza is a graveyard.  Gaza is a graveyard.  Gaza is a graveyard."

Some of them beat up antiwar protesters and chant: "Death to Gaza."

Some of them want to "kill all Palestinian mothers".


The bodies.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza counts 1,255 dead this morning.  The last two days have seen the worst bombing yet.  We don't know how many are dead.

Israel bombs hospitals.  Israel says Hamas hides rockets there.  Israel bombs hospitals.

The Al Quds hospital will stay open and continue to treat people after Israeli tanks shelled the eighth floor.  Because upstairs being bombed is the new normal.

There are massacres.  Massacres which take place in order to spare the IDF tactical defeats.

Israel bombs schools.  The IDF made a statement about bombing a school.  There is footage.  And who are you going to believe?  Israel or your lying eyes?  Israel was told the location of a school 17 times.  Israel bombed the school.  Israel bombs schools.

Israel has instructed 400,000 Palestinians to flee northern Gaza.

It has said it will treat any remaining Palestinians as combatants.

UNRWA says: 43% of Gaza is now off limits.

UNRWA's spokesperson says: "We'll soon have a situation where there are tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of Gaza.  Nowhere to go.  No electricity.  No Water.  No food.  No blankets.  No safe UN shelter - by the way, they aren't safe anyway because they get hit as well."

In Gaza, you go to sleep "knowing that there is nobody with any power to move or help you".

In Gaza, you try to sleep to the sound of bombs, saying: "This is in my area. I can't stop crying. I might die tonight."