Stop calling it the "Israel-Hamas war". It's the Israel-Gaza massacre. Calling it the Israel-Hamas war creates the false impression that this is a war that is directed exclusively at Hamas when it's really an ethnic purge that's directed at all Palestinians in Gaza. 

The child body count alone makes it clear that this isn't a war against Hamas; I saw an anonymous account point out on Twitter that the number of children killed in this onslaught after one week already exceeds the total number of children killed after a year and a half of fighting in Ukraine, per the United Nations.

Laying complete siege to a civilian population and bombing anything that stands would be an extraordinary abomination in any war. And this is not a war, it's an enclosed shooting range with military explosives and human targets.

Reading by Tim Foley.

It's Not The 'Israel-Hamas War', It's The Israel-Gaza Massacre

The "human shields" argument is just bombing civilians and blaming it on someone else. That's all it's ever been.

The "human shields" argument is like if London had responded to an IRA attack by dropping thousands of bombs on Belfast, killing thousands of Irish civilians and hundreds of children, and justifying its bombing campaign by calling it an unfortunate but necessary measure to take out the IRA's Belfast Brigade because they're located in the same places as civilians.

It's like if the western political/media class defended and supported the carpet bombing of Belfast, saying "All those thousands of deaths are the fault of the IRA, because they're in Belfast where the civilians are. England has a right to defend itself, after all."

It's like if Belfast was walled in with nowhere for civilians to escape to, and London carpet bombed it targeting schools, churches and hospitals, and the western press framed this relentless assault on civilian buildings as "the UK-IRA war" in which London is exclusively bombing "IRA targets in Belfast".

It's like if the British spent a week dropping military explosives on locations it knew were packed with Irish children, and anyone who criticized this was accused of anti-Britishism and blood libel.

And to be clear this is not something I'd put past the British actually doing during the Troubles… if the Irish were Muslim and their skin was a little darker.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Bombing Kids And Blaming It On Hamas

One of the most destructive ideas in modern times is this notion that it's fine and appropriate for governments to act like monsters whenever anything bad happens to their country. We saw it happen with the United States after 9/11, and we're seeing it now with Israel.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The Insane Idea That Nations Get To Do War Crimes Whenever Something Bad Happens To Them

Normalize the phrase "the nonstop bombing campaign known as the nation of Israel".

Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel Is Just A Nonstop Bombing Campaign With A Flag

"But what I'd like to quickly document as things unfold is the highly unusual number of mass media reporters I've been seeing who haven't hesitated to point to Israel as the probable culprit."

Reading by Tim Foley.

Mass Media Reporters Aren't Buying Israel's Hospital Bombing Story

A new report from the UK's Channel 4 News adds to the surprising amount of opposition we're seeing in the mainstream press to Israel's narrative about the deadly explosion at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza this past Tuesday.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The Mainstream Press Keep Slamming Israel's Hospital Bombing Story

Can't stop tripping on how fast the west moved from arming and applauding Nazis to backing an actual genocide.

Reading by Tim Foley.

From Applauding Nazis To Backing An Actual Genocide In Under A Month

The western press have been finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to do reporting alongside the middle easterners they've been lying about for generations, and discovering that a lot of those middle easterners speak English and have a few things to say.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Middle Easterners Have Words For The Western Press Who've Been Lying About Them

The US-centralized empire is a giant network of allies, partners and assets spanning the entire globe. Many of the nations in this network, such as Israel, have strong ideologies and values systems that the empire must cooperate with to obtain their loyalty. But the empire itself has no ideology or values - it values nothing but planetary domination. The empire's motives are no more ideological than the motives of a mugger are ideological.

So the empire has no ideology, but it is held together by cooperation with individual governments who do. The problem this creates is that sometimes the ideologies of those states cause them to do things that go against the interests of the empire as a whole. Israel can just up and decide to commit a genocidal massacre in front of everyone. Saudi Arabia can decide it's going to dismember a Washington Post reporter with a bone saw. Proxies in Ukraine can keep saying Nazi things and sporting Nazi insignia in public. They do these things because unlike the top brass in the imperial power structure they are guided by ideology, with no regard for the need to preserve the empire's image as a "rules-based international order".

Reading by Tim Foley.

The US Empire's PR Crisis In Gaza

You see kids, Israel needs to keep dropping bombs on buildings full of children and targeting civilians with siege warfare and murdering Palestinians in the West Bank and censoring the media and arresting dissidents and killing journalists, because if it doesn't, the bad guys will win.

No no you don't understand: if Israel stops killing children by the thousands in its relentless bombing campaign, the nation could be taken over by murderous terrorists.

Reading by Tim Foley.

If Israel Stops Murdering Thousands Of Children, The Bad Guys Might Win

TPC320 X P1VKO X BASS FACE

Readings of all Caitlin Johnstone's articles, usually by her co-writer Tim Foley.