GUEST BLOG: Patrick O’Dea – They are us -They are not us
After the terror attack on the Muslim community in New Zealand, Prime Minister Ardern famously told the world “They are us”
They are us, the fiction
According to the leaked script, she is shown sobbing alone, and comforted by Winston Peters, who consoles her in Te reo Māori.
The New Zealand government has condemned the Hamas terror attack on IsraelThey are us, the reality
Israelis – They are us;
“New Zealand condemns unequivocally the terror attacks led by Hamas on Israel. We are appalled by the targeting of civilians, and the taking of hostages which violate fundamental international humanitarian law principles,” Acting Prime Minister. Chris Hipkins
John Minto has called on the current government of Christopher Luxon to condemn the genocide in Gaza
“Government must condemn genocide in Gaza” John Minto
Palestinians – They are not us
The current acting Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is a lawyer, Winston Peters is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as both a lawyer and head of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister Peters would be well aware of the international legal definition of the crime of genocide and of his ethical moral duty to condemn it.
‘Extermination’
Israel’s war on Gaza is quite clearly a war of extermination, in method identical to the German extermination of the Warsaw Ghetto.
The word to describe this kind of war was first coined in 1944 by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin.
The two tiered Israeli Justice System that routinely imprisons Palestinians indefinitely, without any charges or any trials, admits that Hamas for all the savagery of their attack on October 7 was not committing genocide.
In legal terms for a genocide to be proved, the prosecution must not only show evidence of mass murder, but evidence of the intent to commit mass murder. Usually “intent” is the hardest thing to prove in making the case for genocide.
Even the prosecutors at Nuremburg struggled to find official statements by the Germans of their intent to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe.
However, unlike most other allegations of genocide, Israel’s intent is the most easiest thing to prove, with multiple statements by Israel’s government and military officials declaring that their intent to cut off food and water and other means of life to make Gaza “unlivable”.
Not least of these statements of intent, is the notorious statement made by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoking a biblical reference to killing every man woman and child, who harms Israel.
“Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
We know for a fact that the 17 Hamas fighters captured alive by Israel on October 7 will not be charged and tried by Israel with committing or intending to commit genocide. More like they will be murdered and buried in the desert without trial, as is typical of country that routinely flouts international and domestic legal norms and laws and gets away with it.
Yes, the Israelis “are us”
Patrick O’Dea is a staunch Unionist and human rights activist
Based on much of the Middle Easts dearth of human rights, free speech, democratic process, rights based universal freedoms, political association and free press then no, They are not like us.
The problem for the unconstrained progressive lefts oppressed/oppressor paradigm is if the oppressed are medieval murderous barbarians intent on overthrowing western liberal democracies then their allies.
@Nathan,. Agree with you 100pc on 1 and 2.
Calling on Arabs to taking in Palestinians however, is nonsense. Why would you promote uprooting people from land they have been living in for centuries to appease other people who settled in a hundred or wo years ago?
We should not be surprised that MPs that proved spineless on socioeconomic issues prove equally craven when it comes to IDF arocities.
They (Israel) are not us, they finance wankers like the Whale, an inveterate enemy of the Left, and their smear campaign against Corbyn is unforgiveable.
There is no reason to tolerate their special pleading.
“No calling out for freeing the hostages…why?”
I am calling for the freeing of the hostages Nathan, all of them, including all the thousands of Palestinian hostages, men women and children, held by Israel.
“No calling out for further sanctions against Hamas…why?”
Why? Because what further sanctions do you recommend that I could possibly call for Nathan?
Israel has cut off food and water, fuel and electricity, medical aid and sanitation and removed their shelter.
What’s left? Air?
“No calling out for Arab nations to take in Palestinians…why?”
Why? Because Nathan it’s like calling for Hitler to expel the Jewish population of Europe and asking other countries to take them.
Because it’s like calling for Putin to expel the Ukrainian people from Ukraine and asking other countries to take them.
Because, it’s like calling for a “Final Solution to the Palestinian Problem”
Because there are just not enough trucks busses and even roads in the whole of Egypt to carry 2 million people across 300 km of the Sinai Desert. Which means they would have to walk, most if not all to die on the way.
It’s because Israel refuses to open any other exits from Gaza.
It’s because Israel had blown up Gaza’s only sea port.
It’s because when the Israeli Zionists do, just as the German Nazis did, and every other genocidal regime have done, inevitably determine that it is physically impossible to ethnically cleanse millions of people from a territory. It leaves only one option.
But Israel’s politicians and military leaders have already made that determination, which is why they are committing genocide now. But you already knew that. Didn’t you Nathan?
“In short, if you like/love Palestinian people, you would demand the above…but you don’t.””
The Palestinian people don’t need that sort of love.
Hamas crossing into Israel and deliberately targeting, murdering. torturing and setting fire to houses full of Jews is clearly genocide.
Civilians being put in the path of Israeli munitions is also clearly genocide by Hamas. You haven’t got a leg to stand on once you can get your head around that.
Given the muppets on the streets and the level of support for Hamas on this blog the barbarians are no longer at the gate they are in the house!
Meh. We’re all human. Most of us aren’t “special”. They are us includes everyone in prison, everyone who are not in prison. They are us includes the psychopaths and sickos, the gaslighters and thickos. They are not us includes…. only no one. We are all responsible for the parts we play today. We are humanity. To get along requires Empathy. It is that simple.
Nathan, why the boner for Israel? You said you are not jewish. That’s possibly true as a neighbour of mine who is jewish, said he is ashamed to be jewish because of Israel.
Three Isaeli hostages shot dead by Israeli soldiers – what’s not to like? (to use a jewism)
Of the three Israelis that were shot on sight while trying to surrender to the IDF, two were killed outright, one was wounded and made it into a building where he was hunted down and murdered while he begged for his life in Hebrew.
There is no way this was a “mistake”. To be hunted down and deliberately executed while unarmed and wounded and shirtless is not a mistake. No matter who they thought he was it was a deliberate act of murder. Despite what the IDF claimed this wounded shirtless man could in no way be mistaken for posing a threat. It was his bad luck to be found alive by the IDF in a kill zone.
This is just the latest atrocity in a long list of atrocities committed by the IDF that these men were unfortunate to get caught up in.
There is no way this was a mistake. But part of a systematic campaign of extermination of anyone found alive in the ruins of Northern Gaza.
The was no mistake, these three murdered men were unlucky to be in Gaza in the middle of an ongoing systematic deliberate genocide. As is common practice the perpetrators will not be brought to justice for murdering in cold blood a wounded unarmed man. Already the IDF and Israeli authorities are making excuses for the killers. Which will give, as it is intended to give, impunity to the IDF to continue their campaign of committing atrocities like this.
And fools like Nathan say Hamas should surrender?
Even if they stripped completely naked and barefoot and carried white flags and begged for their lives they would be executed.
And even if Hamas surrendered to this fate to save their people, they know what happens to civilians when there are no Palestinian fighters around.
Israeli forces accused of crushing Palestinians using bulldozers in the courtyard of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital.
….“The bulldozer has destroyed a great deal of the hospital’s facilities,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah in southern Gaza, said on Sunday morning. “It crushed people and their tents in the courtyard and some 20 people were crushed and buried under the rubble,”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/17/pa-health-minister-seeks-probe-into-deadly-israeli-raid-on-gaza-hospital#
Like the Wehrmacht in the Warsaw Ghetto, bloodthirsty racists like Nathan would celebrate Palestinians being crushed to death under the treads of bulldozers. Or driven to their deaths in the Sinai Desert.
…An initial IDF probe into the hostage-killing incident suggests all three men were shirtless, with one carrying a makeshift white flag. On seeing them, one Israeli soldier shouted “terrorists!” to the other forces, initiating fire at the men, according to reports. While two hostages were hit immediately and fell to the ground, the third managed to escape into a nearby building where despite pleas in Hebrew, he was also shot and killed, a military official said.
A soldier saw the hostages emerging tens of metres from Israeli forces in the area of Shejaiya, the official said. “They’re all without shirts and they have a stick with a white cloth on it. The soldier feels threatened and opens fire. He declares that they’re terrorists, they (forces) open fire, two are killed immediately,” said the military official. The third hostage was wounded and retreated into a nearby building where he called for help in Hebrew, the official said…..
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/dec/16/israel-gaza-war-live-updates-hamas-hostages-idf-protest-tel-aviv-news-palestine-us-biden-ceasefire-un?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-657d92b18f08a7f5b9267796
A genocide is going on right before our eyes.
If you ever wondered what you would have done during the Holocaust, you are doing it now.