I think what is needed here is a change of verbiage and attitude. Instead of saying this side is bad, or that side is wrong, we should be saying "NO MORE WARS". Singling out sides as bad and worse also forces us observers to take sides, and it divides us at a time when we need to be united in our concern for Mankind, Singling out sides causes everyone to fight each other, not just the two opponents in war. I think we all can unify, however, if we focus on a common goal - "NO MORE WARS". I do not want to hear "Hamas (or Russia) this", or "Israel (or Ukraine) that", blame creates division and hate, let's ALL work together to END WARS for good!
Never heard of him, and I am, at 65, a product of the US upper middle class white public school system. Thanks for the reference. American citizens have been raped by corporate money, organised religion, and dishonest elective representatives for far too long. Capitalism breeds greed and hate. Isn't it time for a change?
I am so tired of sharing the planet with all kind of religious fanatics ... Why there is nobody talking about a single secular state for all people living on the historical land of Palestine ? Nobody has any piece of land given by "god" ( if you ask me, the entire concept of divinity is failing human kind miserably, it is sufficient to look at this "holy" place - in 4 thousand years, they did not learn to treat their neighbour as equal ). Watching the war in Ukraine for 18 months, I thought I saw it all - but that's without counting on brave israeli army, which proudly killed at least five times more kids in two weeks. Can somebody explain to them that we would stop Hamas terror attack had we known about the plan, and that we have to use all means we have to stop them, since they announce a flood of war crimes coming ? If you cannot treat all kids of Earth as your own, you can't count yourself a part of civilized world - is it so difficult to understand ??? Thanks for all your work - maybe you can get the message through ....
You really need to take a history lesson. Of course, you may prefer to just march all Jews into a proverbial gas chamber. BTW: Why just Palestine? Why aren't Jews welcome to live safely in Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, etc. etc. etc. Or for that matter, Russia, Poland, Lithuania?
I see it didn't take long for someone to play the holocaust card. You have to get over confusing Jews with the state of Israel. The state of Israel is lead by their version of Trump, and for his ultra right wing crowd eliminating Palestinians is the goal. What Hamas did was inexcusable, but so is killing 5, 10, or however many times as many innocent Palestinians. Killing them can only create more animosity, and many more terrorists.
Get over it? Read article 7 and 32 of the convene at of Hamas. It is not just the dissolving of Israel, it calls for all of Muslim brotherhood to follow their lead and kill all jews on the planet.
Liz, darling. Did you not listen to the podcast? Jewish people themselves are calling for an end to the oppression of Palestine and the apartheid. You don't have to be antisemitic to oppose to the actions being taken by government of Israel. No oppression should ever happen, much less in the name of an entire race or group of people who are opposed to it.
Jewish people on the podcast with the convenience of living in nyc…The capacity of empathy for someone who endorses your extinction not just from the area but the planet is not a starting point for peace.
The charter of Hamas is not just the disolvement of Israel but of all Jews on the planet. This is not incongruent with the majority of Palestinians and until the Palestinians are willing to disavow such rhetoric the capacity for empathy is going to be limited.
Never hear Arabs talking about returning the land and property of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees expelled from Arab nations with the goal of killing them all in one place. A goal that has not fluctuated for a century.
And . . . you never hear the "pro-Palestinian" protesters calling for the hostages to be freed - which would open the door for a cease-fire and discussion. Of course, because most of the hostages are Jews, their displacement and deaths are perfectly fine to such protester. :-\
You get it. Thank you. Until the leaders of other countries (and a whole lot of US citizens) understand the fundamental premise of US freedoms, the world will continue to be inundated by religious idiocies like the Middle East. The US Constitution revolves around just one premise: All people are free to live in any manner they choose as long as they respect and do not infringe upon the right of all other people to live as they choose too. This approach was founded on the one problem that the American settlers had had in their homelands: That they were not free to worship as they desired.
Until the whole Middle East (and India) figure out what this means and how to implement it for themselves, they will continue to act like children who think that beating each other up and killing each other is the answer to their problems.
And what is more than just annoying is that we are talking about religions, not genetics. ANYONE can be Jewish or Muslim or….
How childish can they all be. How childish can we all be?
When the first bi-ped human stood erect and walked on this earth, they weren't clutching a title to a piece of real estate, or a notion of owning anything. History of indigenous people all over the planet shows a commonality of appreciation of and use of the land - to live off, and a sense of stewardship and responsibility. All boundaries, ownerships and nationalities or entitlements ever since have been based on conquest, claims, spoils of wars, commercial transactions and squatting. There is no 'natural entitlement' to any place by any group; so unless they've bought, won it in a war or stolen it - possession seems to be key. One would think that the 'three great religions' of the world could find a way to cut the cake into three pieces and build sturdy fences, but instead thousands of years of bloodshed continue with no peace or end in sight. I'm glad I live somewhere else!
Well put Mark. From what I have read, no Native American owned anything. The concept of ownership came from the invaders. The US is like a house with good structure. Doesn’t mean it can’t be burnt to the ground, and doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its problems and very strange family members, but I am glad to be living here too.
Michael, are you Jewish? Have you been to Israel? Have you read Thomas Friedman? He understands this complex issue as someone well versed in the Middle East- where he lived and raised his children.
Have you listened to the son of the Hamas leader who now lives in hiding for speaking the truth!
I am a Jew. I want a free Palestinian state WITHOUT Hamas. Hamas is killing their own children while they store fuel, food, medicine in their tunnels. Their covenant do not want a separate state. They want Jews annihilated. No other option. Do you understand that.
Read Thomas Friedman's articles since October 7.
Netanyahu will be removed by his people! He should. The Palestinians need to get rid of Hamas. Both were elected by their people.
Netanyahu should go, but you make it so simple. Children that were castrated on October 7 is no longer a concern. Israel should just lay down their arms.
We are .02 percent of world population. Two tenths of one percent. Maybe we want peace too.
Hamas must go! Palestinians need to be free and not be used by HAMAS.
WHERE is Egypt? Why are they not saving the Palestinian children? Why are they not opening the gate to let them be safe? Oh no- they want HAMAS to win! The Palestinian children are their shields also, if not why not open the gates? Yet, you say nothing about them. Why?
No simple solution. But you sound to many not for peace but for the end of Israel. An antisemitic proponent. Certainly not the person I thought was better. I seen the better in Traverse City where I live.
Go there - talk to the Israelis whose children were butchered. Read Thomas Friedman. Talk to Friedman.
Don't simplify this nightmare.
Remember- the Jews
First they came for the - LGBTQ+
and we stood up because 'Love Is Love and we are LGBTQ+.
Then they came for the & women
and we stood up because 'Women's Rights Are Human Rights and we are women.
Then they came for 18 immigrants
and we stood up because 'Families Belong Together' and we are immigrants.
Then they came for the Black community
and we stood up because 'Black Lives Matter and we are Black.
I totally agree! Jewish people seem to have targets on their backs, because there are so many people all over the world, including the USA, who hate Jews. How many times in the USA have we heard of Jews being the victims of hate crimes? I hate the fact that so many innocent Palestinians are being killed, just like I hated it when Hamas slaughtered so many innocent Jews, but Hamas went too far and now they and the people who accepted them are paying a terrible price. I just don't know how it would be possible for Israel to destroy Hamas without innocent people being killed, and that is what Hamas was counting on when they slaughtered those Jewish people, but it turned out they made a horrible miscalculation!
The concept of “proportional response” infuriates me - it is only expected of Israel. How do you determine proportional? The number of people killed or the number they tried to kill launching 5,000 rockets indiscriminately without warning….without calling for evacuation as Israel did.
How many dead Israeli citizens and children would there be but for the iron dome? “I’ll kill you if you let me near you” is what history has shown them. This is the only reason they live under a blockade. If he roles were reversed we would not be talking about draconian travel restrictions, we would be talking about mass genocide.
There can be no progress until the people of Palestine recognize the right of Israel and Jews on the planet to exist, there is no compromise for that. Whatever the sins of each sides forefathers, the reality is Jews of Israel are not having their grandparents land and property returned from the Arab nations that expelled them and they are not giving up the freedom and sovereignty won from wars they did not start.
This is a gut-wrenching topic. Thank you Michael for your podcast. I've only done a short search, but find very little if anything in the "major" print media covering this. OK, I only searched on NYT and Washington Post specifically in their sites. A few YouTube videos from 2 days ago. Have others found any coverage? The "current" problem, in my opinion, goes back those 70 some years ago. Cease fire now seems a darn good idea. Palestinian people don't equal Hamas. Israeli people don't equal Bibi's government. New elections all around. What a freaking mess. Don't forget Ukraine, however, and they are fighting for a democracy; they lose and we all lose. So complicated.
I disagree, majority of Palestinians do not have a problem with Hamas. They elected Hamas whose covenant is well known to anhiliate all Jews, not just in Israel but on the planet. Until Palestinians openly and loudly disavow such a charter, they will necessary live under the oppression of people who are trying to protect themselves from people who believe their path to heaven is killing Jews.
You are on the wrong side of history here. Since its founding Israel has been surrounded by neighbors who want it gone. They've gone to war against Israel repeatedly. It's lovely to ask for peace and a cease fire however the enemies of Israel all want it gone. How do make peace with an enemy that does not abide by cease fires and has never seen a proposed 2 state solution it would accept?
it's unfortunate that those who are willing to die for religious beliefs, don't demand empirical evidence to prove the validity of those religions. ...the scientific method proves that the concept of God exists. That the mind can contemplate, analyze, and appreciate that consciousness has evolved from atoms and electrons gives me all the inspiration I need. -
Seemingly back to atoms and electrons in a silicon substrate that also believe in "Gods".
Wetware is doomed. In the not too distant future it will all be armies of corporation A's bought spambots trolling corporation B's armies of spambots and vice versa.
Humans will be left out of the equation other than being "Consumers".
Thank you so much, Michael. This was very moving and encouraging. I’ve been writing President Biden advocating for the same things. Stop sending money for Israel’s wars, etc. I’m not Jewish, either, but like you I love JVP.
What we need is ONE state with equal rights for all. No one group favored over another, and everybody’s tradition respected. Israel wants all the land. No more of that! No state based on one religion or ethnicity has ever worked.
Thank you for playing the song, but most of the words were not clear. I know I can look up the poem.
Thank you for caring, Mike, and for talking to the demonstrators. I loved what the pediatrician said, in particular. Everybody spoke well.
Incredibly moving. I think the overall vision we can all adopt is love not fear. I’m pretty sure the bottom line will always be to stop the killing and live together in peace. But maybe that’s just naive on my part. The interviews with the Jewish people protesting at Grand Central were very clear and eloquent, with a deep commitment to a peaceful resolution, never discounting the horror of Oct 7. And I align with Michael Moore that we cannot condone any killing. The people that do are involved in vengeance which perpetuates the whole thing. That’s why groups like JVP and Plowshares appeal to my worldview. And Imagine has always been my favorite song. Sharing what I think is an aligned view which begins with a long quote from Rabbi Alan Lew:
It is too bad people who want to live in peace and safety can't do so.
It is too bad that Iran and other Muslim and/or Arab countries primarily fund terrorism and the use of Palestinians and others as human shields.
It is too bad nations other than Israel don't warn people before they drop bombs.
It is too bad we haven't come up with compassionate ways to wage war (e.g. use of a chemical that brings people happiness; arm wrestling.)
========
No pause, no cease-fire, no discussions until EVERY Israeli hostage is home safe and sound.
=============
History is easy to forget.
Here is where you can see a timeline of some of the persecution Jews faced from the year 250 C.E. until 1945 C.E. Keep in mind Judaism has been in existence 5784 years, so this timeline only represents the time since Christianity arose, and later Islam.
Of course, I don't expect sympathy for Jewish people . . . those of us who know history, know that Antisemitism inexplicably rises and falls in cycles, and there is no truly safe place. As the Jewish humor goes: "They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat."
We are selective in the dates we wish to go back to. In the end peace without side taking will stop both sides. The JVP has always stood for that kind of peace-where both sides arrive at a higher Truth and weapons are turned into farming implements.
I continue to ask that the land mass which comprises Israel and Palestine be redrawn. The map drawn up around 1947 makes no sense.
Split the land 50/50,
Split the Mediterranean coastline 50/50.
Split Jerusalem 50/50.
No fences. A friendly border. Figure out by mutual agreement who settles in the south and who settles in the north.
Equal amounts of land and nothing but love for all nations going forward. The current map is a tragic joke. Thank you, Michael, for pushing us to demand peace.
The original plan gave Arabs the majority of the land, they rejected it. Every attempt to trade land for peace has been rejected. The calculus is simple ..recognize Israel and Jews right to exist and there will be peace. The PLO which recognizes Israel runs the West Bank and their life is considerably better than Gaza. Hamas does not. Egypt recognized Israel and they returned the Sinai.
When Egypt recognized Israel they became the pariah of the Arab nations which is why egypt doesn’t want Palestinians to move freely into egypt eother.
“I’ll kill you if I can get you” is not a starting point for peace.
The spelling is all wrong... it is not the WORLD, it is the WARLD, because that is all we humans understand. Hatred, death and war, and money. WAR IS AT THE CENTER OF OUR CIVILIZATION.
Michael, thank you for taking this stand along with so many people who want to see peace in the world.
Thanks for always taking the side of humanity, and holding in your mind and heart both Jewish people and Palestinian people.
There are no human enemies. All life is precious. And heaven knows there is enough resource for every person on this planet to have a good life. As long as we have economic structures that support the insanity and irrationality that it is justifiable for some to have (and that is really a very very few number of humans) and the rest not to have, nobody is safe on this earth.
Only until very recently the idea that the sun will rise tomorrow is anything but - shallow inductive reasoning - a half witted primitive construct that's only two clicks better than the magical thinking of the ancients.
Requires a massive solar system wide network and eyes to the cosmic interstellar space to even begin to positively assert with greater certainty that the sun WILL actually appear to rise tomorrow.
"History did not begin on October 7." I hope readers will consider that Hamas owes its existence to Israel.
Listen to former Israeli officials such as Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s. Segev later told a New York Times reporter that he had helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement as a “counterweight” to the secularists and leftists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Fatah party, led by Yasser Arafat (who himself referred to Hamas as “a creature of Israel.”)
“The Israeli government gave me a budget,” the retired brigadier general confessed, “and the military government gives to the mosques.”
“Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation,” Avner Cohen, a former Israeli religious affairs official who worked in Gaza for more than two decades, told the Wall Street Journal in 2009. Back in the mid-1980s, Cohen even wrote an official report to his superiors warning them not to play divide-and-rule in the Occupied Territories, by backing Palestinian Islamists against Palestinian secularists. “I … suggest focusing our efforts on finding ways to break up this monster before this reality jumps in our face,” he wrote.
"There is nowhere in the world where Donald J. Trump is more loved, admired and respected than in Israel. There is nowhere in the world where Bibi Netanyahu is more loved, admired and respected than in the United States." -- Gideon Levy, a journalist for Ha'aretz.
Israel is not responsible for a population that believes in the anhilation of not just Israel but all Jews on the planet and that doing so is not just a territorial dispute but a religious duty. It is this covenant that has remained for 100 years.
Until Palestinians are willing to disavow such a charter, until they recognize Israel’s right to exist and Jews to exist there can be little progress.
‘I will kill you and all your people if you let me near you” is not a starting point for normal relations.
You must really hate Jews ... and the G-D of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- to reduce our brothers and sisters to those who believe in "annihilation." Torah-observant Jews existed for MANY centuries among Arab communities. Peacefully.
You need to hear the words of orthodox rabbi, Yaakov Shapiro, -- "How Zionism hijacked Judaism." You have absolutely NOTHING of value of add to the cause of peace.
I think what is needed here is a change of verbiage and attitude. Instead of saying this side is bad, or that side is wrong, we should be saying "NO MORE WARS". Singling out sides as bad and worse also forces us observers to take sides, and it divides us at a time when we need to be united in our concern for Mankind, Singling out sides causes everyone to fight each other, not just the two opponents in war. I think we all can unify, however, if we focus on a common goal - "NO MORE WARS". I do not want to hear "Hamas (or Russia) this", or "Israel (or Ukraine) that", blame creates division and hate, let's ALL work together to END WARS for good!
War is a racket. General Smedley Butler tried to warn us in 1935: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/smedley-butler-smash-the-war-racket
Never heard of him, and I am, at 65, a product of the US upper middle class white public school system. Thanks for the reference. American citizens have been raped by corporate money, organised religion, and dishonest elective representatives for far too long. Capitalism breeds greed and hate. Isn't it time for a change?
I like the pictures what would Smedley say ?
I so agree with you 🙏🙏🙏
I am so tired of sharing the planet with all kind of religious fanatics ... Why there is nobody talking about a single secular state for all people living on the historical land of Palestine ? Nobody has any piece of land given by "god" ( if you ask me, the entire concept of divinity is failing human kind miserably, it is sufficient to look at this "holy" place - in 4 thousand years, they did not learn to treat their neighbour as equal ). Watching the war in Ukraine for 18 months, I thought I saw it all - but that's without counting on brave israeli army, which proudly killed at least five times more kids in two weeks. Can somebody explain to them that we would stop Hamas terror attack had we known about the plan, and that we have to use all means we have to stop them, since they announce a flood of war crimes coming ? If you cannot treat all kids of Earth as your own, you can't count yourself a part of civilized world - is it so difficult to understand ??? Thanks for all your work - maybe you can get the message through ....
You really need to take a history lesson. Of course, you may prefer to just march all Jews into a proverbial gas chamber. BTW: Why just Palestine? Why aren't Jews welcome to live safely in Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, etc. etc. etc. Or for that matter, Russia, Poland, Lithuania?
I see it didn't take long for someone to play the holocaust card. You have to get over confusing Jews with the state of Israel. The state of Israel is lead by their version of Trump, and for his ultra right wing crowd eliminating Palestinians is the goal. What Hamas did was inexcusable, but so is killing 5, 10, or however many times as many innocent Palestinians. Killing them can only create more animosity, and many more terrorists.
Get over it? Read article 7 and 32 of the convene at of Hamas. It is not just the dissolving of Israel, it calls for all of Muslim brotherhood to follow their lead and kill all jews on the planet.
Liz, darling. Did you not listen to the podcast? Jewish people themselves are calling for an end to the oppression of Palestine and the apartheid. You don't have to be antisemitic to oppose to the actions being taken by government of Israel. No oppression should ever happen, much less in the name of an entire race or group of people who are opposed to it.
Jewish people on the podcast with the convenience of living in nyc…The capacity of empathy for someone who endorses your extinction not just from the area but the planet is not a starting point for peace.
The charter of Hamas is not just the disolvement of Israel but of all Jews on the planet. This is not incongruent with the majority of Palestinians and until the Palestinians are willing to disavow such rhetoric the capacity for empathy is going to be limited.
Why such vitriol? Michael's lovely post is to be lauded. Thanks again Michael!
Never hear Arabs talking about returning the land and property of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees expelled from Arab nations with the goal of killing them all in one place. A goal that has not fluctuated for a century.
And . . . you never hear the "pro-Palestinian" protesters calling for the hostages to be freed - which would open the door for a cease-fire and discussion. Of course, because most of the hostages are Jews, their displacement and deaths are perfectly fine to such protester. :-\
Sarka,
You get it. Thank you. Until the leaders of other countries (and a whole lot of US citizens) understand the fundamental premise of US freedoms, the world will continue to be inundated by religious idiocies like the Middle East. The US Constitution revolves around just one premise: All people are free to live in any manner they choose as long as they respect and do not infringe upon the right of all other people to live as they choose too. This approach was founded on the one problem that the American settlers had had in their homelands: That they were not free to worship as they desired.
Until the whole Middle East (and India) figure out what this means and how to implement it for themselves, they will continue to act like children who think that beating each other up and killing each other is the answer to their problems.
And what is more than just annoying is that we are talking about religions, not genetics. ANYONE can be Jewish or Muslim or….
How childish can they all be. How childish can we all be?
Stupid is as stupid does.
The Family of Man!
When the first bi-ped human stood erect and walked on this earth, they weren't clutching a title to a piece of real estate, or a notion of owning anything. History of indigenous people all over the planet shows a commonality of appreciation of and use of the land - to live off, and a sense of stewardship and responsibility. All boundaries, ownerships and nationalities or entitlements ever since have been based on conquest, claims, spoils of wars, commercial transactions and squatting. There is no 'natural entitlement' to any place by any group; so unless they've bought, won it in a war or stolen it - possession seems to be key. One would think that the 'three great religions' of the world could find a way to cut the cake into three pieces and build sturdy fences, but instead thousands of years of bloodshed continue with no peace or end in sight. I'm glad I live somewhere else!
Well put Mark. From what I have read, no Native American owned anything. The concept of ownership came from the invaders. The US is like a house with good structure. Doesn’t mean it can’t be burnt to the ground, and doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its problems and very strange family members, but I am glad to be living here too.
Michael, are you Jewish? Have you been to Israel? Have you read Thomas Friedman? He understands this complex issue as someone well versed in the Middle East- where he lived and raised his children.
Have you listened to the son of the Hamas leader who now lives in hiding for speaking the truth!
I am a Jew. I want a free Palestinian state WITHOUT Hamas. Hamas is killing their own children while they store fuel, food, medicine in their tunnels. Their covenant do not want a separate state. They want Jews annihilated. No other option. Do you understand that.
Read Thomas Friedman's articles since October 7.
Netanyahu will be removed by his people! He should. The Palestinians need to get rid of Hamas. Both were elected by their people.
Netanyahu should go, but you make it so simple. Children that were castrated on October 7 is no longer a concern. Israel should just lay down their arms.
We are .02 percent of world population. Two tenths of one percent. Maybe we want peace too.
Hamas must go! Palestinians need to be free and not be used by HAMAS.
WHERE is Egypt? Why are they not saving the Palestinian children? Why are they not opening the gate to let them be safe? Oh no- they want HAMAS to win! The Palestinian children are their shields also, if not why not open the gates? Yet, you say nothing about them. Why?
No simple solution. But you sound to many not for peace but for the end of Israel. An antisemitic proponent. Certainly not the person I thought was better. I seen the better in Traverse City where I live.
Go there - talk to the Israelis whose children were butchered. Read Thomas Friedman. Talk to Friedman.
Don't simplify this nightmare.
Remember- the Jews
First they came for the - LGBTQ+
and we stood up because 'Love Is Love and we are LGBTQ+.
Then they came for the & women
and we stood up because 'Women's Rights Are Human Rights and we are women.
Then they came for 18 immigrants
and we stood up because 'Families Belong Together' and we are immigrants.
Then they came for the Black community
and we stood up because 'Black Lives Matter and we are Black.
Now they are coming for = us,
but we stand alone because we are Jews
I totally agree! Jewish people seem to have targets on their backs, because there are so many people all over the world, including the USA, who hate Jews. How many times in the USA have we heard of Jews being the victims of hate crimes? I hate the fact that so many innocent Palestinians are being killed, just like I hated it when Hamas slaughtered so many innocent Jews, but Hamas went too far and now they and the people who accepted them are paying a terrible price. I just don't know how it would be possible for Israel to destroy Hamas without innocent people being killed, and that is what Hamas was counting on when they slaughtered those Jewish people, but it turned out they made a horrible miscalculation!
The concept of “proportional response” infuriates me - it is only expected of Israel. How do you determine proportional? The number of people killed or the number they tried to kill launching 5,000 rockets indiscriminately without warning….without calling for evacuation as Israel did.
How many dead Israeli citizens and children would there be but for the iron dome? “I’ll kill you if you let me near you” is what history has shown them. This is the only reason they live under a blockade. If he roles were reversed we would not be talking about draconian travel restrictions, we would be talking about mass genocide.
There can be no progress until the people of Palestine recognize the right of Israel and Jews on the planet to exist, there is no compromise for that. Whatever the sins of each sides forefathers, the reality is Jews of Israel are not having their grandparents land and property returned from the Arab nations that expelled them and they are not giving up the freedom and sovereignty won from wars they did not start.
Did you read Friedman today?
Absolutely.
Well said and thank you.
This is a gut-wrenching topic. Thank you Michael for your podcast. I've only done a short search, but find very little if anything in the "major" print media covering this. OK, I only searched on NYT and Washington Post specifically in their sites. A few YouTube videos from 2 days ago. Have others found any coverage? The "current" problem, in my opinion, goes back those 70 some years ago. Cease fire now seems a darn good idea. Palestinian people don't equal Hamas. Israeli people don't equal Bibi's government. New elections all around. What a freaking mess. Don't forget Ukraine, however, and they are fighting for a democracy; they lose and we all lose. So complicated.
on Instagram there is a video site, 'Eyes on Palestine," Evidently they have SIM cards so they can use the internet...
I disagree, majority of Palestinians do not have a problem with Hamas. They elected Hamas whose covenant is well known to anhiliate all Jews, not just in Israel but on the planet. Until Palestinians openly and loudly disavow such a charter, they will necessary live under the oppression of people who are trying to protect themselves from people who believe their path to heaven is killing Jews.
I love you Micheal, you are always in the right side of the history.
You are on the wrong side of history here. Since its founding Israel has been surrounded by neighbors who want it gone. They've gone to war against Israel repeatedly. It's lovely to ask for peace and a cease fire however the enemies of Israel all want it gone. How do make peace with an enemy that does not abide by cease fires and has never seen a proposed 2 state solution it would accept?
History doesn't have any sides - its a Mobius Strip.
it's unfortunate that those who are willing to die for religious beliefs, don't demand empirical evidence to prove the validity of those religions. ...the scientific method proves that the concept of God exists. That the mind can contemplate, analyze, and appreciate that consciousness has evolved from atoms and electrons gives me all the inspiration I need. -
Seemingly back to atoms and electrons in a silicon substrate that also believe in "Gods".
Wetware is doomed. In the not too distant future it will all be armies of corporation A's bought spambots trolling corporation B's armies of spambots and vice versa.
Humans will be left out of the equation other than being "Consumers".
A>B-B<A
But if one wants to keep this BS going for ever it should be re-written as,
A>B, B>A
Flip flop,
flip flop,
flip flop,
flip flop,
flip flop,
for the next 4000 years, and that is not even addressing the 'Sins" and shifting sand (dunes) of cultural relativism.
Don't get me started on Biblical Archaeology...
Thank you so much, Michael. This was very moving and encouraging. I’ve been writing President Biden advocating for the same things. Stop sending money for Israel’s wars, etc. I’m not Jewish, either, but like you I love JVP.
What we need is ONE state with equal rights for all. No one group favored over another, and everybody’s tradition respected. Israel wants all the land. No more of that! No state based on one religion or ethnicity has ever worked.
Thank you for playing the song, but most of the words were not clear. I know I can look up the poem.
Thank you for caring, Mike, and for talking to the demonstrators. I loved what the pediatrician said, in particular. Everybody spoke well.
Incredibly moving. I think the overall vision we can all adopt is love not fear. I’m pretty sure the bottom line will always be to stop the killing and live together in peace. But maybe that’s just naive on my part. The interviews with the Jewish people protesting at Grand Central were very clear and eloquent, with a deep commitment to a peaceful resolution, never discounting the horror of Oct 7. And I align with Michael Moore that we cannot condone any killing. The people that do are involved in vengeance which perpetuates the whole thing. That’s why groups like JVP and Plowshares appeal to my worldview. And Imagine has always been my favorite song. Sharing what I think is an aligned view which begins with a long quote from Rabbi Alan Lew:
https://joshliveright.substack.com/p/break-the-endless-cycle-of-violence
Mr. Liveright,
WOW! That was eye opening! Thank you soooo much for that. Rabi Alan Lew cuts through all the smoke and mirrors beautifully. I hope others read it too.
War is not healthy for anyone.
It is too bad people who want to live in peace and safety can't do so.
It is too bad that Iran and other Muslim and/or Arab countries primarily fund terrorism and the use of Palestinians and others as human shields.
It is too bad nations other than Israel don't warn people before they drop bombs.
It is too bad we haven't come up with compassionate ways to wage war (e.g. use of a chemical that brings people happiness; arm wrestling.)
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No pause, no cease-fire, no discussions until EVERY Israeli hostage is home safe and sound.
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History is easy to forget.
Here is where you can see a timeline of some of the persecution Jews faced from the year 250 C.E. until 1945 C.E. Keep in mind Judaism has been in existence 5784 years, so this timeline only represents the time since Christianity arose, and later Islam.
https://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/HistoryJewishPersecution/
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Of course, I don't expect sympathy for Jewish people . . . those of us who know history, know that Antisemitism inexplicably rises and falls in cycles, and there is no truly safe place. As the Jewish humor goes: "They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat."
We are selective in the dates we wish to go back to. In the end peace without side taking will stop both sides. The JVP has always stood for that kind of peace-where both sides arrive at a higher Truth and weapons are turned into farming implements.
Thank goodness! Love and compassion emanates from these beautiful souls. So much gratitude for the work you do Michael. All the best, Linda
I couldn't understand the words but the voices were so beautiful rising up in single chorus.
The insanity goes on. and will. We are watching it.
Michael, thank you for your heart! Bless you.
I continue to ask that the land mass which comprises Israel and Palestine be redrawn. The map drawn up around 1947 makes no sense.
Split the land 50/50,
Split the Mediterranean coastline 50/50.
Split Jerusalem 50/50.
No fences. A friendly border. Figure out by mutual agreement who settles in the south and who settles in the north.
Equal amounts of land and nothing but love for all nations going forward. The current map is a tragic joke. Thank you, Michael, for pushing us to demand peace.
The original plan gave Arabs the majority of the land, they rejected it. Every attempt to trade land for peace has been rejected. The calculus is simple ..recognize Israel and Jews right to exist and there will be peace. The PLO which recognizes Israel runs the West Bank and their life is considerably better than Gaza. Hamas does not. Egypt recognized Israel and they returned the Sinai.
When Egypt recognized Israel they became the pariah of the Arab nations which is why egypt doesn’t want Palestinians to move freely into egypt eother.
“I’ll kill you if I can get you” is not a starting point for peace.
The spelling is all wrong... it is not the WORLD, it is the WARLD, because that is all we humans understand. Hatred, death and war, and money. WAR IS AT THE CENTER OF OUR CIVILIZATION.
Michael, thank you for taking this stand along with so many people who want to see peace in the world.
WITH LOVE AND RESPECT.
RANDY
Right after Israel rids Gaza of the stench of Hamas. FYI most of the people in Gaza support Hamas in some way, shape or form Michael.
Thanks for always taking the side of humanity, and holding in your mind and heart both Jewish people and Palestinian people.
There are no human enemies. All life is precious. And heaven knows there is enough resource for every person on this planet to have a good life. As long as we have economic structures that support the insanity and irrationality that it is justifiable for some to have (and that is really a very very few number of humans) and the rest not to have, nobody is safe on this earth.
Ohhh I think there are a few choice asteroids lurking out there with humanities name on it.
(wink).
^^^ Better read with a wry smile + 1/2 scrumpy accent to it.
Only until very recently the idea that the sun will rise tomorrow is anything but - shallow inductive reasoning - a half witted primitive construct that's only two clicks better than the magical thinking of the ancients.
Requires a massive solar system wide network and eyes to the cosmic interstellar space to even begin to positively assert with greater certainty that the sun WILL actually appear to rise tomorrow.
"History did not begin on October 7." I hope readers will consider that Hamas owes its existence to Israel.
Listen to former Israeli officials such as Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s. Segev later told a New York Times reporter that he had helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement as a “counterweight” to the secularists and leftists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Fatah party, led by Yasser Arafat (who himself referred to Hamas as “a creature of Israel.”)
“The Israeli government gave me a budget,” the retired brigadier general confessed, “and the military government gives to the mosques.”
“Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation,” Avner Cohen, a former Israeli religious affairs official who worked in Gaza for more than two decades, told the Wall Street Journal in 2009. Back in the mid-1980s, Cohen even wrote an official report to his superiors warning them not to play divide-and-rule in the Occupied Territories, by backing Palestinian Islamists against Palestinian secularists. “I … suggest focusing our efforts on finding ways to break up this monster before this reality jumps in our face,” he wrote.
"There is nowhere in the world where Donald J. Trump is more loved, admired and respected than in Israel. There is nowhere in the world where Bibi Netanyahu is more loved, admired and respected than in the United States." -- Gideon Levy, a journalist for Ha'aretz.
very interesting
Israel is not responsible for a population that believes in the anhilation of not just Israel but all Jews on the planet and that doing so is not just a territorial dispute but a religious duty. It is this covenant that has remained for 100 years.
Until Palestinians are willing to disavow such a charter, until they recognize Israel’s right to exist and Jews to exist there can be little progress.
‘I will kill you and all your people if you let me near you” is not a starting point for normal relations.
You must really hate Jews ... and the G-D of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- to reduce our brothers and sisters to those who believe in "annihilation." Torah-observant Jews existed for MANY centuries among Arab communities. Peacefully.
You need to hear the words of orthodox rabbi, Yaakov Shapiro, -- "How Zionism hijacked Judaism." You have absolutely NOTHING of value of add to the cause of peace.