Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The resilience of the Palestinians, tenacious, irrepressible, stubborn always amazes the occupiers and appears shocking in the eyes of many Westerners. As at the time of the first Intifada in 1987, or the second in 2000, at the time of the armed actions on the West Bank or the mobilisation in favour of Jerusalem or the clashes around Gaza, under siege since 2007 and which has suffered six wars in 17 years (400 dead in 2006, 300 in 2008–2009, 160 in 2012, 2,100 in 2014, nearly 300 in 2021 and several dozen in the spring of 2023). The Israeli rulers accuse their enemies of ‘barbarity’, of disrespect for human life, in a word, of ‘terrorism.’ The accusation allows the accusers to wrap themselves in the cloak of righteousness and a clear conscience, camouflaging the apartheid system of an unbelievable brutality which oppresses the Palestinians every single day of their lives. Let me remind readers once again that many ‘terrorist’ organisations, pilloried as such in the course of recent his

One of the men who has made America great. One of the architects of American imperialist adventures.  A diplomat responsible for millions of deaths Related Does Kissinger require rehabilitation? Henry Kissinger in the Middle East How One Man Laid the Groundwork for Today’s Crisis in the Middle East

Note:  Gabon mentions the ‘egalitarian principles of the French Republic’. I wish he referred to when in its history the Republic has ever had those egalitarian principles in reality. Gabon does not put the word ‘Islam’ in inverted commas. Is ‘Islam’ one as it is often portrayed or attacked? Does the French state have a problem with the ‘Islam’ of the Saudi monarchy? Does it have a problem with the .’Islam’ of el-Sisi in Egypt?  Did the French state have any problem with Bourguiba’s and Ben Ali’s regimes when they banned the headscarf in Tunisia public institutions and repressed those who broke the law? ******* “Even more surprisingly given the extremist and openly anti-Republican nature of Philippe’s declarations - even former presidential candidate  Marine Le Pen  never advocated anything like this - there has been little reaction from the political class, media, and public intellectuals, with the notable exception of an  open letter  by a handful of academics. The general public has

Exposing the Hypocrisy of the West Related

“A demonstration for equality turned into an all-Jewish, Zionist demonstration advocating for Jewish supremacy in Israel. Once again, demonstrators said: don’t bother us about the occupation. We are dealing here with the judicial system; let’s not confuse the issues - as if the occupation does not overshadow everything and define the Israeli regime more than any of its other components. The hypocrisy and double standards of the Zionist left were once again revealed in all their ugliness.” Zionists only

The meaning of the ‘unbreakable bond’ Related Biden in 1986:  “The best three-billion-dollar investment”  

I think ‘Western imperialism’ in the title is an overstretch. The article does not deal with Western imperialism. Nor does it mention economic imperialism. “Starmer’s flame-war against the left has become so extreme that, as some critics have pointed out, both Pope Francis and Amnesty International would face expulsion from Starmer’s Labour Party were they members. ”

Palestine vs. Ukraine

“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” – Desmond Tutu “As with Martin Luther King, many of the same political leaders commemorating Tutu today would have been unlikely to mention him a day earlier, lest Tutu take the opportunity to speak his mind.  This is certainly why he was not invited to commemorate his friend and comrade, Nelson Mandela, at Mandela’s funeral eight years ago. Like King and so many others, we can be sure that all the praises of Desmond Tutu as the great moral compass of the world will be made safely, after he’s dead.  Before then would have been much too dangerous, and he was best ignored until

How the Jewish state’s founding ideology shapes it to this day Related Even the liberal Ban Ki-moon is better than the ‘liberals’ in power: “The starting point of a new approach must be to recognise the fundamental asymmetry between the parties. This is not a conflict between equals that can be resolved through bilateral negotiations, confidence-building measures or mutual sequencing of steps — the traditional conflict-resolution tools.  The reality is very different: a powerful state is controlling another people through an open-ended occupation, settling its own people on the land in violation of international law and enforcing a legal regime of institutionalised discrimination. Calls for a return to unconditional bilateral talks every time there is a fresh flare-up in fighting will only serve to perpetuate the status quo if these root causes are not addressed.  What has become increasingly clear in recent years is Israel’s intent to maintain its structural domination and oppression

U.S. Jim Crow Israeli Apartheid

A very belated report by Human Rights Watch. Let’s read it and see how much ‘antisemitism’ in it! “ Laws, policies, and statements by leading Israeli officials make plain that the objective of maintaining Jewish Israeli control over demographics, political power, and land has long guided government policy. In pursuit of this goal, authorities have dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated, and subjugated Palestinians by virtue of their identity to varying degrees of intensity. In certain areas, as described in this report, these deprivations are so severe that they amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.” Israel called into account A Threshold Crossed :  Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution

A movie Escape from Pretoria

The Specters of Comparison

" South Africa has a general election tomorrow, 25 years since the end of apartheid and six years since the death of Nelson Mandela. In those 25 years, the aspirations and hopes of most black South Africans (90% of the 58m South Africans) and, for that matter, many white South Africans, have been disappointed. In those 25 years, the majority have not seen any startling improvement in their living standards, education, health and public services." The dashing of a dream

"The label 'terrorist' works to identify a little enclave of evil, a sub-population of evil-doers, from whom the rest of humanity distinct. It works to hypocritically stratify global violence, so that we know who is entitled to its use, and whose rustiest weapon is an outrage." When the ANC were "terrorists"

UN report establishes Israeli apartheid

The 40-year old Israeli document that forms the backbone of an apartheid state