ISRAEL HAS MURDERED THE PALESTINIANS’ NELSON MANDELA. I hope you will share this, so people in the West can get to know who Ismail Haniyeh was, and the utter tragedy of what Israel has done.
Well, when you assassinate someone who is a lead negotiator, it certainly sends a very clear message about what outcome you want. It has been infuriating that Biden consistently gave his unwavering "ironclad" support to Israel, while it annihilated entirely innocent Palestinian men, women, children, and babies, as well as aid workers and journalists, and it's deeply disheartening to learn that Harris, too, is willing to support Israel, unless she only says that now, because she thinks the election will be close, and she's afraid to alienate any anti-Palestinian Americans. (It's too bad people like Biden, Harris, and others, apparently didn't read JFK's "Profiles in Courage.") But even if that's temporary, every day the US continues to support Israel is another day innocents, and negotiators, get massacred.
I should add that I grew up Jewish. I gave it up because there is no such thing as "god," so I don't have the entry criterion to be part of any religion, and because it became increasingly clear in my Jewish education that Jews focus intently on the Holocaust. Several of their other holidays are about other victimizations. It seemed that being Jewish was about feeling like a victim. So between one thing and the other, I quit. I am also virulently anti-religion. If anyone is personally spiritual, and likes whatever spirituality they adopt, that's fine. But imposing it on other people is, and always has been, deeply divisive and uncivilized. In any event, I appreciate why Israel was created, and I have no complaint about it. I have no complaint about Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, black people, women, or anyone else. But Israel is where it is because Theodor Hertzl lobbied hard for that area, and it was not a barren area. 1M Palestinians were displaced to make room for the Israelis. The Palestinians were given the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the Israelis have never stopped illegally invading these tracts, creating illegal settlements, and attacking Palestinians. Netanyahu is a true criminal, and he could not have been given a more welcome gift than he got on October 7. It has been his sustained excuse for a genocidal land grab: "from the River to the Sea."
Given your other very good and relevant words, I cannot understand why you write "...I appreciate why Israel was created, and I have no complaint about it." Don't you think that the Colonial-oriented Balfour Declaration (1917) [et seq] was an abominable affront to the indigenous Palestinians and the world?
I do, but given the Jews' history, even if you they brought some of it on themselves, they needed a safe homeland. Palestine was tricky, because there were people living there. Many of them were nomads, but this was their home. The Jews, by the way, love to talk about the Holocaust, and about the 6M Jews the Nazis killed. True, but the Nazis killed 12M people, half of whom were not Jews. In any event, choosing Palestine for the Jews could have been workable, with the Jews getting Israel, and the Palestinians getting the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but the Israelis did not respect the boundaries (or the Palestinians), and have never stopped making illegal incursions and trying to take it all. There are Hamas and PIJ leaders who will tell you that Palestinians don't have anything against Israelis and Jews. Their complaint is against people who mistreat them and steal their land. Zionists are fine, like Americans, French people, or anyone else who has a homeland and is proud of it. The problem, as you say below, is the colonizing part. That never had to happen, except some Israelis wanted more. And today, there are many Israelis who disagree with Netanyahu, and many who have recently been leaving Israel because of him. One of the most Jew-tolerant populations on earth now is the Germans. It wasn't Germans as a group who were the problem. It was Hitler. In Israel, it's more complicated, because illegal settlements in Palestinian territory, and attacks on Palestinians, have been going on for several decades, and not one Israeli government has intervened. So Netanyahu is particularly bad, but he's by no means the only one. And he and the Israelis have largely had the US to back them. There have been rare exceptions, of a sort. Carter negotiated peace between Israel and Egypt, and Clinton negotiated peace between Israel and the PLO. Biden has set the whole thing back badly.
And Trump got this moving, and emboldened Netanyahu, by moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus challenging the prior arrangement of Jerusalem as an international city that belonged equally to Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Fred, I'm puzzled. You say you quit Judaism because you don't believe in God. Why quit? Aren't a large number of Jews also non-religious like you but still identify with Judaism? In my readings, Judaism cannot be defined as solely a religion or culture or a cult or a nationality, etc.. It's a conglomeration of all these things, and each Jew has their own reason to identify with Judaism.
It seems however that one universal ethos among Jews is that The Tribe must survive forever. This is maybe the strongest ethos and I believe it's at the root of the Arab-Jew conflict and the Conquest of Palestine. A rival ethos - or maybe not a separate ethos - is the belief/support of Israel/Zionism; i.e., the idea that European diaspora Jews had the moral right to the land of Palestine, more so than the indigenous Palestinians. You said you were in that last category. I thus ask you whether you still regard yourself as part of Judaism?
Jim, let me take the liberty to correct a few things you said. First of all, I did not say I don't believe in "god." I said there's no such thing as "god." (If I didn't believe in "god," it would mean there's such a thing as "god," but I just can't bring myself to believe it. If there's no such thing as "god," it means that anyone who thinks there is is making it up. You know there is neither proof nor evidence of "god." You know that religions are called "faiths" and "beliefs." That's because you just have to have faith in them, and believe them, if you want to. And if you do, you confront a very slippery slope regarding which religion, which scripture, do you choose to think is right. Some of them compete with each other. (And the OT is internally inconsistent and contradictory.) If people get to decide that there's such a thing as "god," but there's no son of "god" or Messiah, or there is a "god" and a son of "god," but Mohammed is not the Prophet of "god," or that there is a son of "god"/Messiah, but it didn't come out as promised, so we're now waiting for a "second coming," but some of us don't agree with the Rastafarians that Haile Selassie is the "second coming" -- if people get to make those decisions -- then people are the real "god," because they know what's true and right. Second, you're right to say there are levels of observance and identification, and I said I don't identify with any of it. Frankly, and I'm sorry to be harsh about it, but I think it's pathetic to be part of a group whose important identification is as victims, of lots of other people. The ancient Egyptians enslave them, they get converted or thrown out of Spain in the inquisition, Shakespeare makes fun of them in "The Merchant of Venice." As a side issue, many Jews bring this on themselves. I don't observe any of it, because I don't have any feeling for any of it. If you're right that each Jew has his or her own reason to identify with the group, for the list of categories of reason you gave, I don't have any of those reasons. I have no feeling for religion at all (except I think it's the cause of intense and sustained misery and has been for millennia, I don't know what the culture is, apart from victimhood and jokes told be people like Jackie Mason, I'm not available for any cult (following all cults is blind and mindless), and Judaism is in no way a nationality.
I have no interest in whether or not the "Tribe" survives. As I said if individuals derive what personal benefits they experience from belief in some religion, I have no complaint. That's good for them. I see religion, or the thought that there's such a thing as "god," as offering three things. One, it gives people some fantasy about what happens to them after they die. Two, it creates for people who need a concept of it some sense of what life and the universe are about. (I think religion is for people with no imagination and an inability to tolerate anxiety.) And three, thinking there's such a thing as "god" that will judge you in some way is some people's reason for being decent people. (Although many militant believers are extremely indecent.) When I die, nothing will happen. I'll decompose, and that will be the end of it. I don't know what a "soul" is, but I'm not coming back. The universe, and life, are products of physics and chemistry. I treat people very well, and I don't need to feel threatened to do it.
European diaspora Jews, or any Jews, did not have a moral right to Palestine. After WWII, the world community considered a few different places, mostly in the Middle East and Africa, to set aside for the Jews so they would have a safe home. As I said Theodor Hertzl lobbied hard for Palestine, although it's not clear why, since the Jews had been defeated there and thrown out of there a few or several times over the past few millennia, and the world community, which had already reboundaried and created several new countries after WWI, agreed to give them the Israel part of Palestine. Yes, there were indigenous Palestinians, whom everyone chose to ignore. (I read one book that described Palestinians as "the niggers of the world.")
I'm not sure I understand your last question. I already said I don't. I'm very content outside what I consider to be that nonsense. Nor am I looking for any replacement. Are there questions about the universe and life that I can't answer (and neither can anyone else at present)? Sure. But that's OK. I just read something yesterday about certain mathematical and physical "constants" (gravity, speed of light, etc) that investigators have been trying to specify, and that have changed over the past 100 years or so, if slightly, according to who's trying to measure them. Wonderful. Keep at it. So interesting that the "constants" turn out not to be so constant. I don't need the exact answer to everything. I'm a psychiatrist. It's very hard work. It's like the target is always moving, and the patient and I are not always on the same page. I love it.
Jim, I forgot to address one comment you made. You said "a large number of Jews [are] also non-religious." Whether or not you think there's such a thing as "god," Judaism is a religion. It's one of several prominent ones. You can't be a "non-religious" Jew. Perhaps what you meant was that there are various levels of observance. And I would agree with you there. You can be ultra-Orthodox to Reform. There are some Jews who consider themselves "secular Jews," whatever that means. There are "Jews for Jesus," whatever that means. (If you're Jewish, you're waiting for the Messiah, and you don't think the Messiah has come. So if you accept Jesus as the Messiah, then you're no longer waiting, which means you've "evolved" to being Christian. Then, you have deal with the problem that the OT says what the world will be like when the Messiah comes, and it wasn't, and isn't. So now, the Christians have recalculated or recalibrated, and are waiting for a "second coming," but even though they were wrong once, they don't want to agree with the Rastafarians that Haile Selassie was it. I fully agree to let that be their problem, as long as they agree that the fact that I know there's no such thing as "god" is my problem. We'll all stay in our lanes. What a great idea the First Amendment was.) If what you think you know leads you to imagine that Jesus was a really nice, caring, thoughtful guy, there are and have been plenty of nice, caring, thoughtful people, and there's no reason to single out Jesus. By the way, if you never saw the documentary called "The 'God' Who Wasn't There," I recommend it. The guy who made it gets himself mixed up at the end, because he's just really still angry with the Christian school he attended, but it makes some very interesting points, like about all the other available Messiahs who were rejected as having been somehow "false."
But I just mean to say that religion is an unmanageable mess, and apart from the fact that it makes some people feel good, or less anxious, it's been destructive to society for a very long time.
"You do you," as they say, and don't worry about me. I'm fine.
I hope for some commentary here or elsewhere (anywhere) about a phenomenon that I have seen orchestrated and pulled off by the demonic Colonial Zionists too-too many times in my 60 years of observing the number one menace to world harmony: The Colonial Zionists "never miss an opportunity to exploit an opportunity" -- and one opportunity that appeals to them is the US periodic electoral cycle, when US political parties and their dumbed-down followers are distracted and extra vulnerable to being treated as 'Israel's' obedient servant. I've seen variations on this theme sooooo often. One is the 2007-8 POTUS cycle: between election day (11-03) and Obama's inauguration on 1-~20-'08, the Zionist horde unleased a massive assault on Gaza. It proceeded for 21 days starting in December, and -- like magic -- was turned off after those days of hell on earth for Gaza, o/a 1-18-2008. So the sadistic Colonial Zionists had made their point: outgoing Dubya could do nothing, incoming Obama could do nothing. It's same 'ol same 'ol here in 2024! Can anyone develop and confirm my analysis? -- it's "merely" the latest sordid chapter of the crazed Zionists' playbook/lust to control anything and everything ... worst, at this point in time, Colonial Zionist Israel's psychopathic Prime Monster Netanyahu is losing in Gaza and is determined to get US boots on the ground in Iran...thus, Lebanon/Hezbollah Syria/Golan Heights; Yemen's Houthis; now ASSASSINATION in Tehran of PhD Haniyeh, a man for whom I have utmost respect and solidarity. C'mon America (and the world): WE'VE BEEN HAD BY COLONIAL/GENOCIDAL ZIONISM! (Thanks for reading...Viva Palestine!--Hamas and ALL of Palestine!)
Thank you Marianne, hope you don’t mind me commenting on your writings, I keep going back to them.
I’m not religious but your writings are a shining light in these dark times. The Palestine are free, such a deep faith and unwavering determination. Their resilience is evident in their ability to maintain hope and continue living with dignity, as highlighted by the observation that Palestinians "continue to smile and love while the world watches them die". Even though the besieged people of Gaza and Palestine are facing a genocidal operation by the fascist Zionist occupation forces. Thank you again - I leave you with this quote from the Palestinian communist poet Muin Bseiso:
“Yes, we may die, but we will uproot death from our land”.
Thank you, Graham! How poetic said:) But if death should be uprooted from Palestine, the whole world has got to stop Israel, and fast. Netanyahu's genocide intent is getting clearer by the hour, now with closing the borders for humanitarian aid - and threatening that all the Gazans have experienced until now, is just peanuts compared to what will come. After the first day of Ramadan, Israel stopped all food and water from coming in. And no countries lift a finger to stop them. The only shining light I can see in these dark times is Palestinian resilience, which is beyond comprehension. And their courage. And their creativity. Gazan artists have struck back at Trump and his sick video of a future Trump Gaza. A friend in Gaza sent it to me, and asked me to distribute it wildly:) And hope you will too!
Stopping the ongoing human rights violations and ensuring justice and accountability requires a concerted effort from the international community. While no single state can stand up against the combined power of the United States and Israel, collective action through international organisations, diplomatic pressure, humanitarian support, and civil society engagement can surely make a significant difference.
I fear you will be right. However, everyone has to speak out. It is important to continue advocating for a just and peaceful resolution that respects international law and human rights.
I have shared the Gaza artists link on LinkedIn. Peace for Palestine is peace for us all.
Hello Minime! I just now saw the disgusting reply that came to your Palestine-supporting comment - from a clear genocide supporter. The name is in Hebrew, but I must assume he is a man, since he used derogatory words for the female private parts in his comment to you. It is now reported, and the comment is gone. Like you say, Hamas are heros, and the tragedy is that when the whole world does nothing, they seem to be the only ones who can save the civilian population. They get a very brave help from houties, but it is just way to little. Hamas needs all the support and sympathy we can give them. They are not terrorists - they are truly heros. https://mariannebergvall.substack.com/p/labelling-hamas-as-terrorists-perpetuates
Wasrael doesn't want peace. They don't care about the ridiculous " two-state solution " , they just want to murder babies and first graders so there's no one to oppose them stealing the land from its rightful owners over the next decades. Hamas has tried to bring peace, an end to the occupation, so Nazinyahu had their finest leaders killed. How anyone can support the ZioNazis is beyond me. Potato Biden, and now Twitler are an embarassment to American democracy. I object to what they've done, but literally nothing has changed since my US government armed and financed both sides in WW2. Source is Professor Antony C. Sutton. Read any of his books. Wall St., and the Rise of Hitler; Wall St., and FDR; How Wall St., funded the Bolsheviks; National Suicide. All of them point to America and the West, including Germany, providing money and weapons to " the bad guys " ...
Never have I understood or agreed with the idea Israel is above reproach. Criticism is not by default antisemitism. There are no good outcomes under this pretext
I absolutely agree that criticism of Israel's insane mass-murdering in Gaza have nothing to do with antisemitism. And also think that what is needed now is for more Jews to stand up strongly against it. That will more than anything counter the claim that criticism of Israel's deranged killing is somehow a criticism against Jewish people in all other places in the world. The claim is absurd, since they have no part in Israel's war-crimes at all. But just by being Jewish their protests and "not in my name" have a strong impact. And the children of Gaza need all the strong impact that can be mustered now.
This is a very enlightening piece. Thank you for putting it together. You know, 92 years ago the
World's jews came together and boycotted Nazi Germany, cresting significant financial damage to it. The effort was at first opposed by all major jewish organizations in the UK and US but individuals stood up and a growing jewish tide prevailed. This is what needs to happen again. Every jew opposing Israel. Neither Trump, not Starmer, nor Netanyahu could prevail against it.
Marianne, what a thorough and informative post. In addition to the numerous and longstanding insane depravities of nazisraeli, the bloody hands of their amerikkkan backers and facilitators must always be acknowledged.
Zionist, Israel and its allies (US,UK,some European countries) can never be the spokeperson of Hamas to us, people outside the conflict. Let Hamas speak for themselves without any misinterpretation and twisted narratives made by Zionist/Israel.
Abdeljawad Omar talks about this quite a lot. He wrote quite a lot and did entire podcast episodes on Mondoweiss for example about "The problem with Hamas and the western left" and talks about how people in the west are a) don't know what they're talkinv about when it comes to Hamas b) often don't accept that Palestinian people have the absolute right to resist in a violent manner and c) want so Palestinian people almost exclusively as victims and recipients of international aid.
Well, when you assassinate someone who is a lead negotiator, it certainly sends a very clear message about what outcome you want. It has been infuriating that Biden consistently gave his unwavering "ironclad" support to Israel, while it annihilated entirely innocent Palestinian men, women, children, and babies, as well as aid workers and journalists, and it's deeply disheartening to learn that Harris, too, is willing to support Israel, unless she only says that now, because she thinks the election will be close, and she's afraid to alienate any anti-Palestinian Americans. (It's too bad people like Biden, Harris, and others, apparently didn't read JFK's "Profiles in Courage.") But even if that's temporary, every day the US continues to support Israel is another day innocents, and negotiators, get massacred.
I should add that I grew up Jewish. I gave it up because there is no such thing as "god," so I don't have the entry criterion to be part of any religion, and because it became increasingly clear in my Jewish education that Jews focus intently on the Holocaust. Several of their other holidays are about other victimizations. It seemed that being Jewish was about feeling like a victim. So between one thing and the other, I quit. I am also virulently anti-religion. If anyone is personally spiritual, and likes whatever spirituality they adopt, that's fine. But imposing it on other people is, and always has been, deeply divisive and uncivilized. In any event, I appreciate why Israel was created, and I have no complaint about it. I have no complaint about Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, black people, women, or anyone else. But Israel is where it is because Theodor Hertzl lobbied hard for that area, and it was not a barren area. 1M Palestinians were displaced to make room for the Israelis. The Palestinians were given the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the Israelis have never stopped illegally invading these tracts, creating illegal settlements, and attacking Palestinians. Netanyahu is a true criminal, and he could not have been given a more welcome gift than he got on October 7. It has been his sustained excuse for a genocidal land grab: "from the River to the Sea."
Given your other very good and relevant words, I cannot understand why you write "...I appreciate why Israel was created, and I have no complaint about it." Don't you think that the Colonial-oriented Balfour Declaration (1917) [et seq] was an abominable affront to the indigenous Palestinians and the world?
I do, but given the Jews' history, even if you they brought some of it on themselves, they needed a safe homeland. Palestine was tricky, because there were people living there. Many of them were nomads, but this was their home. The Jews, by the way, love to talk about the Holocaust, and about the 6M Jews the Nazis killed. True, but the Nazis killed 12M people, half of whom were not Jews. In any event, choosing Palestine for the Jews could have been workable, with the Jews getting Israel, and the Palestinians getting the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but the Israelis did not respect the boundaries (or the Palestinians), and have never stopped making illegal incursions and trying to take it all. There are Hamas and PIJ leaders who will tell you that Palestinians don't have anything against Israelis and Jews. Their complaint is against people who mistreat them and steal their land. Zionists are fine, like Americans, French people, or anyone else who has a homeland and is proud of it. The problem, as you say below, is the colonizing part. That never had to happen, except some Israelis wanted more. And today, there are many Israelis who disagree with Netanyahu, and many who have recently been leaving Israel because of him. One of the most Jew-tolerant populations on earth now is the Germans. It wasn't Germans as a group who were the problem. It was Hitler. In Israel, it's more complicated, because illegal settlements in Palestinian territory, and attacks on Palestinians, have been going on for several decades, and not one Israeli government has intervened. So Netanyahu is particularly bad, but he's by no means the only one. And he and the Israelis have largely had the US to back them. There have been rare exceptions, of a sort. Carter negotiated peace between Israel and Egypt, and Clinton negotiated peace between Israel and the PLO. Biden has set the whole thing back badly.
And Trump got this moving, and emboldened Netanyahu, by moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thus challenging the prior arrangement of Jerusalem as an international city that belonged equally to Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Arturo, do you mean you can't criticize and blame them, or you can't even speak positively about them, either?
Fred, I'm puzzled. You say you quit Judaism because you don't believe in God. Why quit? Aren't a large number of Jews also non-religious like you but still identify with Judaism? In my readings, Judaism cannot be defined as solely a religion or culture or a cult or a nationality, etc.. It's a conglomeration of all these things, and each Jew has their own reason to identify with Judaism.
It seems however that one universal ethos among Jews is that The Tribe must survive forever. This is maybe the strongest ethos and I believe it's at the root of the Arab-Jew conflict and the Conquest of Palestine. A rival ethos - or maybe not a separate ethos - is the belief/support of Israel/Zionism; i.e., the idea that European diaspora Jews had the moral right to the land of Palestine, more so than the indigenous Palestinians. You said you were in that last category. I thus ask you whether you still regard yourself as part of Judaism?
Jim, let me take the liberty to correct a few things you said. First of all, I did not say I don't believe in "god." I said there's no such thing as "god." (If I didn't believe in "god," it would mean there's such a thing as "god," but I just can't bring myself to believe it. If there's no such thing as "god," it means that anyone who thinks there is is making it up. You know there is neither proof nor evidence of "god." You know that religions are called "faiths" and "beliefs." That's because you just have to have faith in them, and believe them, if you want to. And if you do, you confront a very slippery slope regarding which religion, which scripture, do you choose to think is right. Some of them compete with each other. (And the OT is internally inconsistent and contradictory.) If people get to decide that there's such a thing as "god," but there's no son of "god" or Messiah, or there is a "god" and a son of "god," but Mohammed is not the Prophet of "god," or that there is a son of "god"/Messiah, but it didn't come out as promised, so we're now waiting for a "second coming," but some of us don't agree with the Rastafarians that Haile Selassie is the "second coming" -- if people get to make those decisions -- then people are the real "god," because they know what's true and right. Second, you're right to say there are levels of observance and identification, and I said I don't identify with any of it. Frankly, and I'm sorry to be harsh about it, but I think it's pathetic to be part of a group whose important identification is as victims, of lots of other people. The ancient Egyptians enslave them, they get converted or thrown out of Spain in the inquisition, Shakespeare makes fun of them in "The Merchant of Venice." As a side issue, many Jews bring this on themselves. I don't observe any of it, because I don't have any feeling for any of it. If you're right that each Jew has his or her own reason to identify with the group, for the list of categories of reason you gave, I don't have any of those reasons. I have no feeling for religion at all (except I think it's the cause of intense and sustained misery and has been for millennia, I don't know what the culture is, apart from victimhood and jokes told be people like Jackie Mason, I'm not available for any cult (following all cults is blind and mindless), and Judaism is in no way a nationality.
I have no interest in whether or not the "Tribe" survives. As I said if individuals derive what personal benefits they experience from belief in some religion, I have no complaint. That's good for them. I see religion, or the thought that there's such a thing as "god," as offering three things. One, it gives people some fantasy about what happens to them after they die. Two, it creates for people who need a concept of it some sense of what life and the universe are about. (I think religion is for people with no imagination and an inability to tolerate anxiety.) And three, thinking there's such a thing as "god" that will judge you in some way is some people's reason for being decent people. (Although many militant believers are extremely indecent.) When I die, nothing will happen. I'll decompose, and that will be the end of it. I don't know what a "soul" is, but I'm not coming back. The universe, and life, are products of physics and chemistry. I treat people very well, and I don't need to feel threatened to do it.
European diaspora Jews, or any Jews, did not have a moral right to Palestine. After WWII, the world community considered a few different places, mostly in the Middle East and Africa, to set aside for the Jews so they would have a safe home. As I said Theodor Hertzl lobbied hard for Palestine, although it's not clear why, since the Jews had been defeated there and thrown out of there a few or several times over the past few millennia, and the world community, which had already reboundaried and created several new countries after WWI, agreed to give them the Israel part of Palestine. Yes, there were indigenous Palestinians, whom everyone chose to ignore. (I read one book that described Palestinians as "the niggers of the world.")
I'm not sure I understand your last question. I already said I don't. I'm very content outside what I consider to be that nonsense. Nor am I looking for any replacement. Are there questions about the universe and life that I can't answer (and neither can anyone else at present)? Sure. But that's OK. I just read something yesterday about certain mathematical and physical "constants" (gravity, speed of light, etc) that investigators have been trying to specify, and that have changed over the past 100 years or so, if slightly, according to who's trying to measure them. Wonderful. Keep at it. So interesting that the "constants" turn out not to be so constant. I don't need the exact answer to everything. I'm a psychiatrist. It's very hard work. It's like the target is always moving, and the patient and I are not always on the same page. I love it.
Concise?
Jim, I forgot to address one comment you made. You said "a large number of Jews [are] also non-religious." Whether or not you think there's such a thing as "god," Judaism is a religion. It's one of several prominent ones. You can't be a "non-religious" Jew. Perhaps what you meant was that there are various levels of observance. And I would agree with you there. You can be ultra-Orthodox to Reform. There are some Jews who consider themselves "secular Jews," whatever that means. There are "Jews for Jesus," whatever that means. (If you're Jewish, you're waiting for the Messiah, and you don't think the Messiah has come. So if you accept Jesus as the Messiah, then you're no longer waiting, which means you've "evolved" to being Christian. Then, you have deal with the problem that the OT says what the world will be like when the Messiah comes, and it wasn't, and isn't. So now, the Christians have recalculated or recalibrated, and are waiting for a "second coming," but even though they were wrong once, they don't want to agree with the Rastafarians that Haile Selassie was it. I fully agree to let that be their problem, as long as they agree that the fact that I know there's no such thing as "god" is my problem. We'll all stay in our lanes. What a great idea the First Amendment was.) If what you think you know leads you to imagine that Jesus was a really nice, caring, thoughtful guy, there are and have been plenty of nice, caring, thoughtful people, and there's no reason to single out Jesus. By the way, if you never saw the documentary called "The 'God' Who Wasn't There," I recommend it. The guy who made it gets himself mixed up at the end, because he's just really still angry with the Christian school he attended, but it makes some very interesting points, like about all the other available Messiahs who were rejected as having been somehow "false."
But I just mean to say that religion is an unmanageable mess, and apart from the fact that it makes some people feel good, or less anxious, it's been destructive to society for a very long time.
"You do you," as they say, and don't worry about me. I'm fine.
I hope for some commentary here or elsewhere (anywhere) about a phenomenon that I have seen orchestrated and pulled off by the demonic Colonial Zionists too-too many times in my 60 years of observing the number one menace to world harmony: The Colonial Zionists "never miss an opportunity to exploit an opportunity" -- and one opportunity that appeals to them is the US periodic electoral cycle, when US political parties and their dumbed-down followers are distracted and extra vulnerable to being treated as 'Israel's' obedient servant. I've seen variations on this theme sooooo often. One is the 2007-8 POTUS cycle: between election day (11-03) and Obama's inauguration on 1-~20-'08, the Zionist horde unleased a massive assault on Gaza. It proceeded for 21 days starting in December, and -- like magic -- was turned off after those days of hell on earth for Gaza, o/a 1-18-2008. So the sadistic Colonial Zionists had made their point: outgoing Dubya could do nothing, incoming Obama could do nothing. It's same 'ol same 'ol here in 2024! Can anyone develop and confirm my analysis? -- it's "merely" the latest sordid chapter of the crazed Zionists' playbook/lust to control anything and everything ... worst, at this point in time, Colonial Zionist Israel's psychopathic Prime Monster Netanyahu is losing in Gaza and is determined to get US boots on the ground in Iran...thus, Lebanon/Hezbollah Syria/Golan Heights; Yemen's Houthis; now ASSASSINATION in Tehran of PhD Haniyeh, a man for whom I have utmost respect and solidarity. C'mon America (and the world): WE'VE BEEN HAD BY COLONIAL/GENOCIDAL ZIONISM! (Thanks for reading...Viva Palestine!--Hamas and ALL of Palestine!)
This was a very sharp analysis! And no doubt you're right. Which just makes it all a little bit more scary.
This is an excellent summary. Everything they don’t want you to know or think about. I’m not afraid to say it. I stand with Hamas.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Thank you Marianne, hope you don’t mind me commenting on your writings, I keep going back to them.
I’m not religious but your writings are a shining light in these dark times. The Palestine are free, such a deep faith and unwavering determination. Their resilience is evident in their ability to maintain hope and continue living with dignity, as highlighted by the observation that Palestinians "continue to smile and love while the world watches them die". Even though the besieged people of Gaza and Palestine are facing a genocidal operation by the fascist Zionist occupation forces. Thank you again - I leave you with this quote from the Palestinian communist poet Muin Bseiso:
“Yes, we may die, but we will uproot death from our land”.
Thank you, Graham! How poetic said:) But if death should be uprooted from Palestine, the whole world has got to stop Israel, and fast. Netanyahu's genocide intent is getting clearer by the hour, now with closing the borders for humanitarian aid - and threatening that all the Gazans have experienced until now, is just peanuts compared to what will come. After the first day of Ramadan, Israel stopped all food and water from coming in. And no countries lift a finger to stop them. The only shining light I can see in these dark times is Palestinian resilience, which is beyond comprehension. And their courage. And their creativity. Gazan artists have struck back at Trump and his sick video of a future Trump Gaza. A friend in Gaza sent it to me, and asked me to distribute it wildly:) And hope you will too!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGnX9-pKduP/?igsh=NnN0ZWlzdWVrcnZq
Stopping the ongoing human rights violations and ensuring justice and accountability requires a concerted effort from the international community. While no single state can stand up against the combined power of the United States and Israel, collective action through international organisations, diplomatic pressure, humanitarian support, and civil society engagement can surely make a significant difference.
I fear you will be right. However, everyone has to speak out. It is important to continue advocating for a just and peaceful resolution that respects international law and human rights.
I have shared the Gaza artists link on LinkedIn. Peace for Palestine is peace for us all.
Hamas are international heroes
Hello Minime! I just now saw the disgusting reply that came to your Palestine-supporting comment - from a clear genocide supporter. The name is in Hebrew, but I must assume he is a man, since he used derogatory words for the female private parts in his comment to you. It is now reported, and the comment is gone. Like you say, Hamas are heros, and the tragedy is that when the whole world does nothing, they seem to be the only ones who can save the civilian population. They get a very brave help from houties, but it is just way to little. Hamas needs all the support and sympathy we can give them. They are not terrorists - they are truly heros. https://mariannebergvall.substack.com/p/labelling-hamas-as-terrorists-perpetuates
Wasrael doesn't want peace. They don't care about the ridiculous " two-state solution " , they just want to murder babies and first graders so there's no one to oppose them stealing the land from its rightful owners over the next decades. Hamas has tried to bring peace, an end to the occupation, so Nazinyahu had their finest leaders killed. How anyone can support the ZioNazis is beyond me. Potato Biden, and now Twitler are an embarassment to American democracy. I object to what they've done, but literally nothing has changed since my US government armed and financed both sides in WW2. Source is Professor Antony C. Sutton. Read any of his books. Wall St., and the Rise of Hitler; Wall St., and FDR; How Wall St., funded the Bolsheviks; National Suicide. All of them point to America and the West, including Germany, providing money and weapons to " the bad guys " ...
LONG LIFE TO THE RESISTANCE IN THE MIDDLE AST
Hamas and every resistance group around the colony are heroes!
Thanks for weaving all this together for me in one lesson. It just confirms what I have been reading for lots of years and taught me a lot more.
The Israeli and American propaganda machine works hard to distort the truths you have eloquently put in this real story
Never have I understood or agreed with the idea Israel is above reproach. Criticism is not by default antisemitism. There are no good outcomes under this pretext
I absolutely agree that criticism of Israel's insane mass-murdering in Gaza have nothing to do with antisemitism. And also think that what is needed now is for more Jews to stand up strongly against it. That will more than anything counter the claim that criticism of Israel's deranged killing is somehow a criticism against Jewish people in all other places in the world. The claim is absurd, since they have no part in Israel's war-crimes at all. But just by being Jewish their protests and "not in my name" have a strong impact. And the children of Gaza need all the strong impact that can be mustered now.
This is a very enlightening piece. Thank you for putting it together. You know, 92 years ago the
World's jews came together and boycotted Nazi Germany, cresting significant financial damage to it. The effort was at first opposed by all major jewish organizations in the UK and US but individuals stood up and a growing jewish tide prevailed. This is what needs to happen again. Every jew opposing Israel. Neither Trump, not Starmer, nor Netanyahu could prevail against it.
Marianne, what a thorough and informative post. In addition to the numerous and longstanding insane depravities of nazisraeli, the bloody hands of their amerikkkan backers and facilitators must always be acknowledged.
Zionist, Israel and its allies (US,UK,some European countries) can never be the spokeperson of Hamas to us, people outside the conflict. Let Hamas speak for themselves without any misinterpretation and twisted narratives made by Zionist/Israel.
The truth is always set aside when it comes to Isreal.
He was killed in Iran, his 3 sons were killed and his grandchildren were killed in Gaza.
And the mainstream media doesn’t even flinch?
When I hear Zionist talk and defend all these crimes I get physically ill. They are not on the side Humananity!
Abdeljawad Omar talks about this quite a lot. He wrote quite a lot and did entire podcast episodes on Mondoweiss for example about "The problem with Hamas and the western left" and talks about how people in the west are a) don't know what they're talkinv about when it comes to Hamas b) often don't accept that Palestinian people have the absolute right to resist in a violent manner and c) want so Palestinian people almost exclusively as victims and recipients of international aid.
a good man killed because he was attempting to to give his people a better life